BOOK III. CHAP. V. 493 



SECT. III. 



Remarks on the Negroe Regulations. 



THE Negroe code of this ifland appears originally to have 

 copied from the model in ufe at Barbadoes ; and the legiflature of 

 this latter ifland, which was thefirfl: planted by the Englifh, reforted 

 to the Englifh villeinage laws, from whence they undoubtedly 

 transfufed all that feverity which charaderizes them, and fhews 



the 



evident no capital punijl:ment is here meant. But, " If he continue a day or two" alh<e, " he (liall 

 " not be pimi(hed ; tor he is his inoney." Strange (lays Montefcjuieu), that a civil law 

 fliould thus relax the law of nature ! 



One Lockwood (who was afterwards proved to be a lunatic) inhumanly butchered his flave; 

 which gave rife to this aft. I remember one inftance of a man convicted upon it ; and, it being 

 his lirft otTence^ he was burnt in the hand. 



By the law of Pcnnfylvania, a white owner, who kills his Negroe flave with malice prepenfe, 

 is liable to futfer rfivi//' for it. There is not, however,' any example thereof an owner having 

 been executed tor this crime. A few years ago, a inafter murdered his flave j upon which, his 

 friends, and even the magilirates, fecretly advifcJ him to leave the country, a5, otherwife, they 

 could not avoid apprehending him ; in which cafe, he mull be adjudged to die, according to the 

 law, without any hope ot faving him. This lenity (fays Kalm) was employed, that the Negroes 

 might not have the fatistaition of feeing a maikr executed for killing his flave; tor this would 

 lead them to dangerous defigns againft their mafters, and to fet too high a value upon themfelves. 

 I mull beg leave here to differ a littic in opinion from this writer. An impartial e;:ecutiun of 

 juftice, and the law, upon thofe who wantonly fhed innocent blood, muft inevitably attraft a 

 high vener;uion to fuch a law from the Negioes, and induce them to regard murder In the moft 

 atrocious light, when they fee it punifhed with fuch exemplary feveiiiy without refpeft of per- 

 fons ; for, furely, no pretence can juftify fuch execrable deeds : the guilty perfon puts hinuelf out 

 of all protection of human law, when he commits the crime; he ceafes to be conlidered as a 

 man; he becomes a favage bead; and, whatever may be his complexion, the good of fociety and 

 found policy require he (hould fuller capitally, as an example of terror to Black as well as White. 

 At prefent, a Negroe fees only what may juftity him in retaliation. The law of the Whites 

 plainly tells him, " If a white n»an murders a white man, he ought to die for it ; but, if a white 

 *' man murders a black man, he ought to be acq^uittal !" Is not the Negroe led to efpoufe the 

 very fame principle and creed ex coirjerjb? '• 1 belie%-c," be inay fay, " that it is a very great 

 " crime for a Negroe to murder a Negrce; but for a Negroe to murder a white inan is no crime 

 " at all ; at lealt, I inleras much from the law of the Whites, which ine.ifures the extent of guilt, 

 " not according to reafon, but according to the tiniflure of the Ikin ; they favour the VVhile> and 

 " we the Black, wuh enual propriety andjuftice." 



It was, I think, very much to the honour of government, that the following inftruftions were 

 given to tome of the iirll commanders in chief of this ifland : 



" You fliall endeavour to get a lav/ pafled for reftraining of any inhuman feverity, by reafon of 

 " ill mafters or overfeers, that may be ufcd towards their Chrllfian fervants, or other flaves. And 

 " you are alfo, with the aflillance of the council and nflembly, to find out the befl means tofaci-- 

 "litate and encourage the converfion of Negroes to the ChriJfian religion.'.' 



"And: 



