I wish, therefore, to compare slavery with fornication and adultery, and the violation of female purity by force. And, my hearers, I do not ask you to believe my naked assertion on this point, I will show you proof, as it has been my endeavor to do on every point previously considered. Look again at the laws. In Kentucky--'any negro, mulatto, or Indian, _bond or free, who shall at any time, lift his hand in opposition to any white person_, (mark the language) shall receive thirty lashes, on his or her bare back, _well laid on_, by order of the justice.' This regulation, or something very much like it, is believed to be in force in all the slaveholding States. Look now at the condition in which this places the poor female. She is at the uncontrolled will of the master. He may order her, by fear of the lash, into any secret place where he pleases; the same fear of the lash, enables him to accomplish all the hellish purposes of his heart, and then, by the same means, he can seal her lips in silence, that the crime be never divulged. During all this time, if she lift a hand against him, he can procure thirty lashes for her, to be well laid on, by order of the justice, in addition to all he pleases to inflict himself. Let us now just remember, that in addition to such a regulation, no person of color can be a witness against a white man in a court of justice, and you see the exact condition of the poor female slave. There is nothing, so foul in pollution, nothing so horrid in crime, but she may be driven by the lash, to be the victim of it, and she must not lift a hand in self-defence--and then she dare not divulge her wrongs, or if she does, there is no power on earth, from whom she can gain any redress; or even protection, against a repeated infliction of the same evils. If slaveholders had framed laws for the express purpose, of placing the purity and virtue of their females entirely in their own power, they could not have done it _more_ effectually, than it is now done. It would seem to be a system, framed for the very purpose, of giving them full power, to pollute by force, just as many as they pleased. At any rate, they know the power is in their hands, and there are developements enough which show that they are not slow to use it.[1] There are a multitude of facts on this subject, and I will just relate one or two, because I know them to be authentic.