"Yes," returns the clerk, bowing; and the gentlemen of the jury well
complimented by the judge, are discharged until to-morrow. The
attorney for the defence made a noble, generous, and touching appeal
to the fatherly twelve; but his appeal fell like dull mist before
the majesty of slavery. Guilty! O heavens, that ever the innocent
should be made guilty of being born of a mother! That a mother-that
name so holy-should be stained with the crime of bearing her child
to criminal life!
Two children, fair and beautiful, are judged by a jury of
twelve-perhaps all good and kind fathers, free and enlightened
citizens of a free and happy republic-guilty of the crime of being
born of a slave mother. Can this inquiring jury, this thinking
twelve, feel as fathers only can feel when their children are on the
precipice of danger? Could they but break over that seeming
invulnerable power of slavery which crushes humanity, freezes up the
souls of men, and makes the lives of millions but a blight of
misery, and behold with the honesty of the heart what a picture of
misery their voice "Guilty!" spreads before these unfortunate
children, how changed would be the result!
A judge, endeared to his own children by the kindest affections,
feels no compunction of conscience while administering the law which
denies a father his own children-which commands those children to be
sold with the beasts of the field! Mark the slender cord upon which
the fate of these unfortunates turns; mark the suffering through
which they must pass.
Pages:
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368