“We long to see the day when the law will assert its majesty, and stop the wanton destruction of life which almost _daily_ occurs within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth. _Men slaughter each other with almost perfect impunity._ A species of Common Law has grown up in Kentucky, which, were it written down, would, in all civilized countries, cause it to be re-christened, in derision, _the Land of Blood_.” Such was the official confession of a Slave-Master, Governor of Kentucky. And here is the official confession made the same year by the Slave-Master Governor of Alabama:-- “We hear of homicides in different parts of the State continually, and yet have few convictions, and still fewer executions. Why do we hear of _stabbings and shootings almost daily_ in some part or other of our State?” A land of blood! Stabbings and shootings almost daily! Such is official language. It was natural that contemporary newspapers should repeat what found utterance in high places. Here is the confession of a newspaper in Mississippi:-- “The moral atmosphere in our State appears to be in a _deleterious and sanguinary condition_. Almost every exchange paper which reaches us contains _some inhuman and revolting case of murder or death by violence_.”[83] Here is another confession, by a newspaper in New Orleans:-- “In view of the crimes which are daily committed, we are led to inquire whether it is owing to the inefficiency of our laws, or to the manner in which these laws are administered, _that this frightful deluge of human blood flows through our streets and our places of public resort_.”[84] And here is testimony of a different character:-- “As I left my native State on account of Slavery, and deserted the home of my fathers to escape the sound of the lash and the shrieks of tortured victims, I would gladly bury in oblivion the recollection of those scenes with which I have been familiar; but this may not, cannot be.”[85] These are the words of a Southern lady, daughter of the accomplished Judge Grimké, of South Carolina.