456 HISTORY 



ment of the kind was to be inflicted until the recipient had become free from 

 the lacerations resulting from punishments already inflicted. The owner, or 

 the person authorizing the infliction of the penalty, was required to be present, 

 and to witness the application of it. The British Ministry and the Governors 

 of the Colony made attempts to have the flogging of female slaves dispensed 

 with altogether. The nearest approach to this that was ever attained was in 

 the provision that females above the age of twelve years could be punished 

 only in the presence of their masters, or that flogging could be commuted to 

 solitary confinement, or stocks, or distinctions of dresses, none of which was to 

 continue for a longer period than ten days. This commutation was at the 

 discretion of the master. Gaol and workhouse keepers were forbidden to 

 punish slaves committed to their custody, without the consent of the owners 

 or employers or of some competent court."' 



Violence towards whites was a very grievous offense for a slave to commit. 

 Assault on a white was punished with death, under the statute of 1784. Other 

 abuse of a white person, under th^ same statute, was atoned for by a fine of 

 £15, or corporal punishment, not limited in amount or in character."* In 

 1824 violence towards whites was made punishable at the discretion of the 

 magistrate before whom the case was brought. The statute of 1827 fixed the 

 penalty at fifty lashes for abusive language or threats against a white person. 

 The death penalty for an assault against a white with a dangerous weapon was 

 reenacted in 1830.'"" 



General Authority Over Slaves. — x\s a privileged class in a community 

 the whites were given certain general authority over all slaves in the Colony. 

 They used their influence of moral suasion for the preservation of order and 

 the prevention of trespassing on private rights by slaves. Although these duties 

 were in the main extra-legal, there were nevertheless some such requirements 

 expressed in the code. By the law of 1784 whites could disarm any slaves or 

 free colored persons whom they found at large with arms in their hands. By a 

 law of 1823 whites could authorize slaves to kill hogs, goats or sheep which 

 trespassed against the stock laws by running at large on the highways about 

 Nassau and its suburbs.^'' 



"MO Geo. IV, 13. 

 ""24 Geo. Ill, 1. 

 ^=="10 Geo. IV, 13. 

 "' 3 Geo. IV, 2. 



