In most of the slave States the law is silent on this subject; but that it is the established custom is proved by laws restraining the excessive abuse of this power, in some of the States. Thus in one State there is a fine of ten shillings, in another of two dollars, for making slaves labor on Sunday, unless it be in works of absolute necessity, or the necessary occasions of the family. There is likewise a law which provides that "any master, who withholds proper sustenance, or clothing, from his slaves, or overworks them, so as to injure their health, shall upon _sufficient information_ [here lies the rub] being laid before the grand jury, be by said jury presented; whereupon it shall be the duty of the attorney, or solicitor-general, to prosecute said owners, who, on conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine, or be imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the court." The negro act of South Carolina contains the following language: "Whereas many owners of slaves, and _others_, who have the care, management, and overseeing of slaves, _do confine them so closely to hard labor, that they have not sufficient time for natural rest_; be it therefore enacted, that if any owner of slaves, or others having the care, &c., shall put such slaves to labor more than _fifteen_ hours in twenty-four, from the twenty-fifth of March to the twenty-fifth of September; or more than _fourteen_ hours in twenty-four hours, from the twenty-fifth of September to the twenty-fifth of March, any such person shall forfeit a sum of money not exceeding twenty pounds, nor under five pounds, current money, for every time he, she, or they, shall offend therein, at the discretion of the justice before whom complaint shall be made." In Louisiana it is enacted, that "the slaves shall be allowed half an hour for breakfast, during the whole year; from the first of May to the first of November, they shall be allowed two hours for dinner; and from the first of November to the first of May, one hour and a half for dinner: provided, however, that the owners, who will themselves take the trouble of having the meals of their slaves prepared, be, and they are hereby authorized to abridge, by half an hour a day, the time fixed for their rest." All these laws, _apparently_ for the protection of the slave, are rendered perfectly null and void, by the fact, that the testimony of a negro or mulatto is _never_ taken against a white man. If a slave be found toiling in the field on the Sabbath, who can _prove_ that his master commanded him to do it?