"
"It'll cost more than it's worth," said the pilot. "Take my plain
advice, Cap; never try that; our lawyers are lusty fellows upon
fees; and the feller'd rot in that old nuisance of a jail afore
you'd get him out. The process is so slow and entangled, nobody'd
know how to bring the case, and ev'ry lawyer'd have an opinion of
his own. But the worst of all is that it's so unpopular, you can't
get a lawyer worth seven cents to undertake it. It would be as
dangerous as an attempt to extricate a martyr from the burning
flames. Public opinion in Charleston is controlled by politicians;
and an attempt to move in a thing so unpopular would be like a man
attempting to speak, with pistols and swords pointed to his head."
"Then it's folly to ask justice in your city, is it?" asked the
Captain. "But your people are generous, a'n't they? and treat
strangers with a courtesy that marks the character of every
high-minded society?"
"Yes!--but society in South Carolina has nothing to do with the law;
our laws are gloriously ancient. I wish, Cap, I could only open your
ideas to the way our folks manage their own affairs. I'm opposed to
this law that imprisons stewards, because it affects commerce, but
then our other laws are tip-top. It was the law that our legislature
made to stop free niggers from coming from the abolition States to
destroy the affections of our slaves.
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