Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/406

 obedience, and the owners and other persons having the care and government of slaves may be restrained from exercising too great rigor and cruelty over them, and that the public peace and order of this province may be preserved," it is therefore enacted that "all negroes, Indians, mulattoes, and mestizoes (free Indians in amity with this government, and negroes, mulattoes, and mestizoes who are now free, excepted,) who now are or shall hereafter be in this province, and all their issue and offspring born and to be born, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be and remain forever hereafter absolute slaves, and shall follow the condition of the mother, and shall be claimed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal." This provision, which deprives the master of the power of manumission, and subjects to slavery the descendant of every slave woman, no matter how many degrees removed, nor who may have been the male ancestor, nor what the color, was subsequently adopted in the same terms by the Georgia Legislature as the law of that province. A suit for freedom might be brought by any white man who chose to volunteer for that purpose on behalf of any person claimed as a slave. in all such suits, "the burden of proofs shall lay upon the plaintiff, and it shall always be presumed that every negro, Indian, mulatto, and mestizo is a slave, unless the contrary can be made to appear, the Indians in amity with this government excepted, in which case the burden of proof shall lie on the defendant." Masters were forbidden to allow their slaves to hire their own time; to let or hire any plantation; to possess any vessel or boat; to keep or raise any horses, cattle, or hogs; to engage in any sort of trade on their own account; to be taught to write; or to have or wear any apparel (except livery servants) finer than negro cloth, duffils, kerseys, osnaburgs, blue linen, check linen, or coarse garlix or calicoes, checked cotton or Scotch plaid; "and any constable seeing any negro better clad, might seize the clothes and appropriate them to his own use. It was forbidden to work slaves on Sundays, under a penalty of five pounds; for working them more than fifteen hours daily in summer, and fourteen in winter, a like penalty was imposed. Upon complaint to any justice that any master does not provide his slaves with sufficient "clothing, covering, or food," the justice might make such order in the premises as he saw fit, and fine the master not exceeding £20. "And whereas cruelty is not only highly unbecoming those who profess themselves Christians, but odious in the eyes of all men who have any sense of virtue and humanity," the fine for the willful murder of a slave was increased to £700 currency, with incapacity to hold any office, civil or military, and in case of inability to pay the fine, seven years' labor in a frontier garrison or the Charleston work-house. For killing a slave in the heat of passion, for maiming, or inflicting any other cruel punishment "other than by whipping or beating with a horse whip, cowskin, switch, or small stick, or by putting in irons or imprisonment," a fine of £350 was imposed; and in case of slaves found dead, maimed, or otherwise cruelly punished, the masters were to be held guilty of the act unless they make the contrary appear.

No statute of North Carolina seems ever to have declared who were or