Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass | Page 4

What does its
presence imply but the absence of all fear of God, all regard for man,
on the part of the people of the United States? Heaven speed its eternal
overthrow!
So profoundly ignorant of the nature of slavery are many persons, that
they are stubbornly incredulous whenever they read or listen to any
recital of the cruelties which are daily inflicted on its victims. They do
not deny that the slaves are held as property; but that terrible fact seems
to convey to their minds no idea of injustice, exposure to outrage, or
savage barbarity. Tell them of cruel scourgings, of mutilations and
brandings, of scenes of pollution and blood, of the banishment of all
light and knowledge, and they affect to be greatly indignant at such
enormous exaggerations, such wholesale misstatements, such
abominable libels on the character of the southern planters! As if all
these direful outrages were not the natural results of slavery! As if it
were less cruel to reduce a human being to the condition of a thing,
than to give him a severe flagellation, or to deprive him of necessary
food and clothing! As if whips, chains, thumb-screws, paddles,
blood-hounds, overseers, drivers, patrols, were not all indispensable to
keep the slaves down, and to give protection to their ruthless oppressors!
As if, when the marriage institution is abolished, concubinage, adultery,
and incest, must not necessarily abound; when all the rights of
humanity are annihilated, any barrier remains to protect the victim from
the fury of the spoiler; when absolute power is assumed over life and
liberty, it will not be wielded with destructive sway! Skeptics of this
character abound in society. In some few instances, their incredulity

arises from a want of reflection; but, generally, it indicates a hatred of
the light, a desire to shield slavery from the assaults of its foes, a
contempt of the colored race, whether bond or free. Such will try to
discredit the shocking tales of slaveholding cruelty which are recorded
in this truthful Narrative; but they will labor in vain. Mr. DOUGLASS
has frankly disclosed the place of his birth, the names of those who
claimed ownership in his body and soul, and the names also of those
who committed the crimes which he has alleged against them. His
statements, therefore, may easily be disproved, if they are untrue.
In the course of his Narrative, he relates two instances of murderous
cruelty,--in one of which a planter deliberately shot a slave belonging
to a neighboring plantation, who had unintentionally gotten within his
lordly domain in quest of fish; and in the other, an overseer blew out
the brains of a slave who had fled to a stream of water to escape a
bloody scourging. Mr. DOUGLASS states that in neither of these
instances was any thing done by way of legal arrest or judicial
investigation. The Baltimore American, of March 17, 1845, relates a
similar case of atrocity, perpetrated with similar impunity--as
follows:--"_Shooting a slave._--We learn, upon the authority of a letter
from Charles county, Maryland, received by a gentleman of this city,
that a young man, named Matthews, a nephew of General Matthews,
and whose father, it is believed, holds an office at Washington, killed
one of the slaves upon his father's farm by shooting him. The letter
states that young Matthews had been left in charge of the farm; that he
gave an order to the servant, which was disobeyed, when he proceeded
to the house, _obtained a gun, and, returning, shot the servant._ He
immediately, the letter continues, fled to his father's residence, where
he still remains unmolested."--Let it never be forgotten, that no
slaveholder or overseer can be convicted of any outrage perpetrated on
the person of a slave, however diabolical it may be, on the testimony of
colored witnesses, whether bond or free. By the slave code, they are
adjudged to be as incompetent to testify against a white man, as though
they were indeed a part of the brute creation. Hence, there is no legal
protection in fact, whatever there may be in form, for the slave
population; and any amount of cruelty may be inflicted on them with
impunity. Is it possible for the human mind to conceive of a more

horrible state of society?
The effect of a religious profession on the conduct of southern masters
is vividly described in the following Narrative, and shown to be any
thing but salutary. In the nature of the case, it must be in the highest
degree pernicious. The testimony of Mr. DOUGLASS, on this point, is
sustained by a cloud of witnesses, whose veracity is unimpeachable. "A
slaveholder's profession of Christianity is a palpable imposture. He is a
felon of the highest grade. He is a man-stealer. It is of no importance