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The Twelve Hours

Fifth hour

Enslavement

North America. Slave trade under a moral policy. Abomination of slavery on a sugar plantation.

[5.1] And now that we have found ourselves sailing around on the sea, let us then board such a slave ship and sail with it under a very favorable wind also, and that to North America.

[5.2] You see, this green strip that is beginning to appear is already a well-known North American eastern coastliner.

[5.3] See how it becomes clearer and clearer; see, you already notice a large city, provided with a large harbor.

[5.4] Now look, we are fully there, how it surges and teems with greedy people on the ships, in the harbor and on it's ramparts.

[5.5] Look now, the free slaves are just being put ashore, everyone is walking and running thereto; but there comes an exceedingly well-fed sugar plantation owner, and hires the slaves into his service.

[5.6] The ship's captain, who has done such a philanthropic work on these slaves, is not offered a shilling for the slaves he has brought, but merely a well-fed reward for his philanthropy.

[5.7] Now, you see, in this way, such cruel slavery gets an external semblance of humanity and philanthropy and charity; but inside it is nothing but the same slave trade, only under a moral policy.

[5.8] But since this is the case, let us have a little look at such a sugar plantation; and so that we do not have to search for long on our table, just look here at once!

[5.9] There, not far from the city, look, in the middle of the table is just the very important plantation of our before seen magnanimous rewarder of humanity.

[5.10] Look at a small part of his property, how a 100 of such poor people have to work always almost completely naked.

[5.11] See how behind every 10 a likewise good-looking slave bailiff, armed with shotgun and sword, and on top of it still holding a sharp hound-whip in his hand, and how a poor man just for a minute gets up from the earth to relieve his working pain, since almost all his limbs have become stiff from being constantly bent over - just look here and see for yourselves how cruelly the honest, careful bailiff immediately sets in motion his instrument of execution, in the use of which he is so skilled that each blow draws blood profusely from the body of the poor man who has been hit.

[5.12] You will think that perhaps these slaves are at least fed humanely, so that they would have sufficient strength for such work, in which Satan would have to succumb.

[5.13] I will not tell you, but look for yourselves at this little spot, and what you see is just such a slave meal.

[5.14] You certainly look for any bowl; but not only one, but many for so many slaves, the owner would have had to buy for money, and such a one asks, what comes cheaper than such a bowl, and after no lengthy thinking, the great speculator finds a hollowed tree trunk, like a large long trough, erected in the courtyard, more expedient.

[5.15] And now, in this long bowl, see the dish, which consists of nothing but legumes poorly cooked in water - either lentils, beans or, on holidays, a kind of field groats.

[5.16] With such food this trough is filled, and the workers are then invited either by the socalled slave ratchet or also by whip crack.

[5.17] It is understood, however, that only the slaves who work near are invited to this meal; those who work far away are either provided with a kind of bread, on which you would truly choke, or if the work far away is not too demanding, they are allowed to boil their wellknown midday meal there in a hut erected especially for this purpose.

[5.18] But, mind you, the meal may never last more than ¼ hour, except on a holiday. Anyone who would be late when the signal was given to go back to work, would have been subjected to the most severe maltreatment.

[5.19] Wooden spoons are used only on holidays. Now you would ask what other wages do these slaves receive? The most industrious ones, who work themselves to death day and night, get some rum and some fruits now and then, and even a worn-out jacket for holidays.

[5.20] This is about the most that these poor people receive in kindness; for the others, a sixhour sleep and the usual meal are all they get in return for their labor.

[5.21] Now you will ask whether such a philanthropic and magnanimous plantation owner have no master over him regarding the treatment of his slaves? Look, I cannot show you this in a picture, but tell you outright: No! - But in this respect he is an unlimited ruler over the life and death of his workers, and has the right to execute a disobedient slave by any means of death.

[5.22] In order that you may understand how marvelously cruel their laws are, I will show you an example of what hundreds, even thousands, experienced there.

[5.23] Recently, two slaves have escaped from such a devil because of too satanic treatment. A neighboring house had taken them in, for this neighboring house still had at least a small portion of human feeling in it's body.

[5.24] Immediately, the affected devil went to the authorities and complained about his fugitives; the neighboring house, well aware of the laws, immediately reported to the authorities and, because of the bitter complaints heard from the slaves, spoke out in their favor.

[5.25] Immediately a lawsuit arose between these two neighbors; and how do you think the wise judges decided this matter? I will give you the bare verdict here, and so you may most easily see it as it stands in the North America that was formed.

[5.26] There you have the verdict, which read thus: "The neighbor must deliver the two fugitives to the owner, either dead or alive, on pain of a fine of a 1,000 pounds; if they go, they may be brought there alive, but in case of refusal, the said neighbor must immediately shoot them down and deliver either their heads or their whole bodies to the owner, where the latter must then proceed as he sees fit.

[5.27] If, however, the said two fugitives should have absconded before the execution has taken place, then everyone has the necessary right to shoot them immediately on the footbridge and on the street, wherever they may be found.

[5.28] Now I must mention only one thing, so that you may fully know the infamy. In the judgment there was talk of the owner's discretion; what does this actually consist of? Look a little on My board again here! A small scene will answer you this question sufficiently.

[5.29] See there a pond, it is a fish pond of such an owner, and see, there in the corner of this pond lie just now two male and one female slaves, gagged; none of them has reached the twentieth year yet.

[5.30] At their side lies elderly female and male slaves, already dead; these two dead are the parents of these youths.

[5.31] Look therefore, the watchman stands up; for there approaches, as you see, the owner with two so-called gladiators, his two managers, and several slave-vassals.

[5.32] Look, now they are there with fearful expressions; his order or rather his discretion for these poor is that first the two dead are to be cut into small pieces, and then the pieces are to be thrown into the pond as food for the fish, then the girl is to be ungagged, slept on by all the slaves, if they feel like it, and only then prepared for the food for the fish; But the two boys shall each be bound on a pole, then scourged to death, and only then shall they also be prepared for fish food.

[5.33] See how the so much-praised constitution looks in the highly educated North America. - Now judge for yourself, by what name would such creatures be called?

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