PART I.

THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY.

* * * * *

CHAP. I.

When civilized, as well as barbarous nations, have been found, through a long succession of ages, uniformly to concur in the same customs, there seems to arise a presumption, that such customs are not only eminently useful, but are founded also on the principles of justice. Such is the case with respect to _Slavery_: it has had the concurrence of all the nations, which history has recorded, and the repeated practice of ages from the remotest antiquity, in its favour. Here then is an argument, deduced from the general consent and agreement of mankind, in favour of the proposed subject: but alas! when we reflect that the people, thus reduced to a state of servitude, have had the same feelings with ourselves; when we reflect that they have had the same propensities to pleasure, and the same aversions from pain; another argument seems immediately to arise in opposition to the former, deduced from our own feelings and that divine sympathy, which nature has implanted in our breasts, for the most useful and generous of purposes. To ascertain the truth therefore, where two such opposite sources of argument occur; where the force of custom pleads strongly on the one hand, and the feelings of humanity on the other; is a matter of much importance, as the dignity of human nature is concerned, and the rights and liberties of mankind will be involved in its discussion.

It will be necessary, before this point can be determined, to consult the History of Slavery, and to lay before the reader, in as concise a manner as possible, a general view of it from its earliest appearance to the present day.

The first, whom we shall mention here to have been reduced to a state of servitude, may be comprehended in that class, which is usually denominated the _Mercenary_. It consisted of free-born citizens, who, from the various contingencies of fortune, had become so poor, as to have recourse for their support to the service of the rich. Of this kind were those, both among the Egyptians and the Jews, who are recorded in the sacred writings.[004] The Grecian _Thetes_[005] also were of this description, as well as those among the Romans, from whom the class receives its appellation, the [006]_Mercenarii_.

We may observe of the above-mentioned, that their situation was in many instances similar to that of our own servants. There was an express contract between the parties; they could, most of them, demand their discharge, if they were ill used by their respective masters; and they were treated therefore with more humanity than those, whom we usually distinguish in our language by the appellation of _Slaves_.

As this class of servants was composed of men, who had been reduced to such a situation by the contingencies of fortune, and not by their own misconduct; so there was another among the ancients, composed entirely of those, who had suffered the loss of liberty from their own imprudence. To this class may be reduced the Grecian _Prodigals_, who were detained in the service of their creditors, till the fruits of their labour were equivalent to their debts; the _delinquents_, who were sentenced to the oar; and the German _enthusiasts_, as mentioned by Tacitus, who were so immoderately charmed with gaming, as, when every thing else was gone, to have staked their liberty and their very selves. "The loser," says he, "goes into a voluntary servitude, and though younger and stronger than the person with whom he played, patiently suffers himself to be bound and sold. Their perseverance in so bad a custom is stiled honour. The slaves, thus obtained, are immediately exchanged away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of the scandal of his victory."

To enumerate other instances, would be unnecessary; it will be sufficient to observe, that the servants of this class were in a far more wretched situation, than those of the former; their drudgery was more intense; their treatment more severe; and there was no retreat at pleasure, from the frowns and lashes of their despotick masters.

Having premised this, we may now proceed to a general division of slavery, into _voluntary_ and _involuntary_. The _voluntary_ will comprehend the two classes, which we have already mentioned; for, in the first instance, there was a _contract_, founded on _consent_; and, in the second, there was a _choice_ of engaging or not in those practices, the known consequences of which were servitude. The _involuntary_; on the other hand, will comprehend those, who were forced, without any such _condition_ or _choice_, into a situation, which as it tended to degrade a part of the human species, and to class it with the brutal, must have been, of all human situations, the most wretched and insupportable. These are they, whom we shall consider solely in the present work. We shall therefore take our leave of the former, as they were mentioned only, that we might state the question with greater accuracy, and, be the better enabled to reduce it to its proper limits.

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 004: Genesis, Ch. 47. Leviticus XXV. v. 39, 40.]

[Footnote 005: The _Thetes_ appear very early in the Grecian History.--kai tines auto kouroi epont'Ithakes exairetoi; he eoi autou thentes te Dmoes(?) te; Od. Homer. D. 642. They were afterwards so much in use that, "Murioi depou apedidonto eautous ose douleuein kata sungraphen," till Solon suppressed the custom in Athens.]

[Footnote 006: The mention of these is frequent among the classics; they were called in general _mercenarii_, from the circumstances of their _hire_, as "quibus, non malè præcipiunt, qui ita jubent uti, ut _mercenariis_, operam exigendam, justa proebenda. Cicero de off." But they are sometimes mentioned in the law books by the name of _liberi_, from the circumstances of their _birth_, to distinguish them from the _alieni_, or foreigners, as Justinian. D. 7. 8. 4. --Id. 21. 1. 25. &c. &c. &c.]

* * * * *

CHAP. II.

The first that will be mentioned, of the _involuntary_, were _prisoners of war_.[007] "It was a law, established from time immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to oblige those to undergo the severities of servitude, whom victory had thrown into their hands." Conformably with this, we find all the Eastern nations unanimous in the practice. The same custom prevailed among the people of the West; for as the Helots became the slaves of the Spartans, from the right of conquest only, so prisoners of war were reduced to the same situation by the rest of the inhabitants of Greece. By the same principles that actuated these, were the Romans also influenced. Their History will confirm the fact: for how many cities are recorded to have been taken; how many armies to have been vanquished in the field, and the wretched survivors, in both instances, to have been doomed to servitude? It remains only now to observe, in shewing this custom to have been universal, that all those nations which assisted in overturning the Roman Empire, though many and various, adopted the same measures; for we find it a general maxim in their polity, that whoever should fall into their hands as a prisoner of war, should immediately be reduced to the condition of a slave.

It may here, perhaps, be not unworthy of remark, that the _involuntary_ were of greater antiquity than the _voluntary_ slaves. The latter are first mentioned in the time of Pharaoh: they could have arisen only in a state of society; when property, after its division, had become so unequal, as to multiply the wants of individuals; and when government, after its establishment, had given security to the possessor by the punishment of crimes. Whereas the former seem to be dated with more propriety from the days of Nimrod; who gave rise probably to that inseparable idea of _victory_ and _servitude_, which we find among the nations of antiquity, and which has existed uniformly since, in one country or another, to the present day.[008]

Add to this, that they might have arisen even in a state of nature, and have been coequal with the quarrels of mankind.

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 007: "Nomos en pasin anthropois aidios esin, otan polemounton polis alo, ton elonton einai kai ta somata ton en te poleis, kai ta chremata." Xenoph. Kyrou Paid. L. 7. fin.]

[Footnote 008:

"Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began, A mighty hunter, and his prey was man."

--POPE.]

* * * * *

CHAP. III.

But it was not victory alone, or any presupposed right, founded in the damages of war, that afforded a pretence for invading the liberties of mankind: the honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in the uncivilized ages of the world, contributed not a little to the _slavery_ of the human species. Piracy had a very early beginning. "The Grecians,"[009] says Thucydides, "in their primitive state, as well as the contemporary barbarians, who inhabited the sea coasts and islands, gave themselves wholly to it; it was, in short, their only profession and support." The writings of Homer are sufficient of themselves to establish this account. They shew it to have been a common practice at so early a period as that of the Trojan war; and abound with many lively descriptions of it; which, had they been as groundless as they are beautiful, would have frequently spared the sigh of the reader of sensibility and reflection.

The piracies, which were thus practised in the early ages, may be considered as _publick_ or _private_. In the former, whole crews embarked for the benefit[010] of their respective tribes. They made descents on the sea coasts, carried off cattle, surprized whole villages, put many of the inhabitants to the sword, and carried others into slavery.

In the latter, individuals only were concerned, and the emolument was their own. These landed from their ships, and, going up into the country, concealed themselves in the woods and thickets; where they waited every opportunity of catching the unfortunate shepherd or husbandman alone. In this situation they sallied out upon him, dragged him on board, conveyed him to a foreign market, and sold him for a slave.

To this kind of piracy Ulysses alludes, in opposition to the former, which he had been just before mentioning, in his question to Eumoeus.

"Did pirates wait, till all thy friends were gone, To catch thee singly with thy flocks alone; Say, did they force thee from thy fleecy care, And from thy fields transport and sell thee here?"[011]

But no picture, perhaps, of this mode of depredation, is equal to that, with which[012] Xenophon presents us in the simple narrative of a dance. He informs us that the Grecian army had concluded a peace with the Paphlagonians, and that they entertained their embassadors in consequence with a banquet, and the exhibition of various feats of activity. "When the Thracians," says he, "had performed the parts allotted them in this entertainment, some Aenianian and Magnetian soldiers rose up, and, accoutred in their proper arms, exhibited that dance, which is called _Karpoea_. The figure of it is thus. One of them, in the character of an husbandman, is seen to till his land, and is observed, as he drives his plough, to look frequently behind him, as if apprehensive of danger. Another immediately appears in fight, in the character of a robber. The husbandman, having seen him previously advancing, snatches up his arms. A battle ensues before the plough. The whole of this performance is kept in perfect time with the musick of the flute. At length the robber, having got the better of the husbandman, binds him, and drives him off with his team. Sometimes it happens that the husbandman subdues the robber: in this case the scene is only reversed, as the latter is then bound and driven, off by the former."

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this dance was a representation of the general manners of men, in the more uncivilized ages of the world; shewing that the husbandman and shepherd lived in continual alarm, and that there were people in those ages, who derived their pleasures and fortunes from _kidnapping_ and _enslaving_ their fellow creatures.

We may now take notice of a circumstance in this narration, which will lead us to a review of our first assertion on this point, "that the honourable light, in which _piracy_ was considered in the times of barbarism, contributed not a little to the _slavery_ of the human species." The robber is represented here as frequently defeated in his attempts, and as reduced to that deplorable situation, to which he was endeavouring to bring another. This shews the frequent difficulty and danger of his undertakings: people would not tamely resign their lives or liberties, without a struggle. They were sometimes prepared; were superior often, in many points of view, to these invaders of their liberty; there were an hundred accidental circumstances frequently in their favour. These adventures therefore required all the skill, strength, agility, valour, and every thing, in short, that may be supposed to constitute heroism, to conduct them with success. Upon this idea piratical expeditions first came into repute, and their frequency afterwards, together with the danger and fortitude, that were inseparably connected with them, brought them into such credit among the barbarous nations of antiquity, that of all human professions, piracy was the most honourable.[013]

The notions then, which were thus annexed to piratical expeditions, did not fail to produce those consequences, which we have mentioned before. They afforded an opportunity to the views of avarice and ambition, to conceal themselves under the mask of virtue. They excited a spirit of enterprize, of all others the most irresistible, as it subsisted on the strongest principles of action, emolument and honour. Thus could the vilest of passions be gratified with impunity. People were robbed, stolen, murdered, under the pretended idea that these were reputable adventures: every enormity in short was committed, and dressed up in the habiliments of honour.

But as the notions of men in the less barbarous ages, which followed, became more corrected and refined, the practice of piracy began gradually to disappear. It had hitherto been supported on the grand columns of _emolument_ and _honour_. When the latter therefore was removed, it received a considerable shock; but, alas! it had still a pillar for its support! _avarice_, which exists in all states, and which is ready to turn every invention to its own ends, strained hard for its preservation. It had been produced in the ages of barbarism; it had been pointed out in those ages as lucrative, and under this notion it was continued. People were still stolen; many were intercepted (some, in their pursuits of pleasure, others, in the discharge of their several occupations) by their own countrymen; who previously laid in wait for them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while others seized by merchants, who traded on the different coasts, were torn from their friends and connections, and carried into slavery. The merchants of Thessaly, if we can credit Aristophanes[014] who never spared the vices of the times, were particularly infamous for the latter kind of depredation; the Athenians were notorious for the former; for they had practised these robberies to such an alarming degree of danger to individuals, that it was found necessary to enact a law[015], which punished kidnappers with death.--But this is sufficient for our present purpose; it will enable us to assert, that there were two classes of _involuntary_ slaves among the ancients, "of those who were taken publickly in a state of war, and of those who were privately stolen in a state of innocence and peace." We may now add, that the children and descendents of these composed a third.

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 009: Thucydides. L. 1. sub initio.]

[Footnote 010: Idem.--"the strongest," says he, "engaging in these adventures, Kerdous tou spheterou auton eneka kai tois asthenesi trophes."]

[Footnote 011: Homer. Odyss. L. 15. 385.]

[Footnote 012: Xenoph. Kyrou Anab. L. 6. sub initio.]

[Footnote 013: ouk echontos po Aischynen toutou tou ergou pherontos de ti kai Doxes mallon. Thucydides, L. 1. sub initio. kai euklees touto oi Kilikes enomizon. Sextus Empiricus. ouk adoxon all'endoxon touto. Schol. &c. &c.]

[Footnote 014: Aristoph. Plut. Act. 2. Scene 5.]

[Footnote 015: Zenoph. Apomnemon, L. 1.]

* * * * *

CHAP. IV.

It will be proper to say something here concerning the situation of the unfortunate men, who were thus doomed to a life of servitude. To enumerate their various employments, and to describe the miseries which they endured in consequence, either from the severity, or the long and constant application of their labour, would exceed the bounds we have proposed to the present work. We shall confine ourselves to their _personal treatment_, as depending on the power of their masters, and the protection of the law. Their treatment, if considered in this light, will equally excite our pity and abhorrence. They were beaten, starved, tortured, murdered at discretion: they were dead in a civil sense; they had neither name nor tribe; were incapable of a judicial process; were in short without appeal. Poor unfortunate men! to be deprived of all possible protection! to suffer the bitterest of injuries without the possibility of redress! to be condemned unheard! to be murdered with impunity! to be considered as dead in that state, the very members of which they were supporting by their labours!

Yet such was their general situation: there were two places however, where their condition, if considered in this point of view, was more tolerable. The Ægyptian slave, though perhaps of all others the greatest drudge, yet if he had time to reach the temple[016] of Hercules, found a certain retreat from the persecution of his master; and he received additional comfort from the reflection, that his life, whether he could reach it or not, could not be taken with impunity. Wise and salutary law![017] how often must it have curbed the insolence of power, and stopped those passions in their progress, which had otherwise been destructive to the slave!

But though the persons of slaves were thus greatly secured in Ægypt, yet there was no place so favourable to them as Athens. They were allowed a greater liberty of speech;[018] they had their convivial meetings, their amours, their hours of relaxation, pleasantry, and mirth; they were treated, in short, with so much humanity in general, as to occasion that observation of Demosthenes, in his second Philippick, "that the condition of a slave, at Athens, was preferable to that of a free citizen, in many other countries." But if any exception happened (which was sometimes the case) from the general treatment described; if persecution took the place of lenity, and made the fangs of servitude more pointed than before,[019] they had then their temple, like the Ægyptian, for refuge; where the legislature was so attentive, as to examine their complaints, and to order them, if they were founded in justice, to be sold to another master. Nor was this all: they had a privilege infinitely greater than the whole of these. They were allowed an opportunity of working for themselves, and if their diligence had procured them a sum equivalent with their ransom, they could immediately, on paying it down,[020] demand their freedom for ever. This law was, of all others, the most important; as the prospect of liberty, which it afforded, must have been a continual source of the most pleasing reflections, and have greatly sweetened the draught, even of the most bitter slavery.

Thus then, to the eternal honour of Ægypt and Athens, they were the only places that we can find, where slaves were considered with any humanity at all. The rest of the world seemed to vie with each other, in the debasement and oppression of these unfortunate people. They used them with as much severity as they chose; they measured their treatment only by their own passion and caprice; and, by leaving them on every occasion, without the possibility of an appeal, they rendered their situation the most melancholy and intolerable, that can possibly be conceived.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 016: Herodotus. L. 2. 113.]

[Footnote 017: "Apud Ægyptios, si quis servum sponte occiderat, eum morte damnari æque ac si liberum occidisset, jubebant leges &c." Diodorus Sic. L. 1.]

[Footnote 018:

"Atq id ne vos miremini, Homines servulos Potare, amare, atq ad coenam condicere. Licet hoc Athenis. Plautus. Sticho." ]

[Footnote 019: "Be me kratison esin eis to Theseion Dramein, ekei d'eos an eurombou prasin menein" Aristoph. Horæ.

Kaka toiade paskousin oude prasin Aitousin. Eupolis. poleis.]

[Footnote 020: To this privilege Plautus alludes in his _Casina_, where he introduces a slave, speaking in the following manner.

"Quid tu me verò libertate territas? Quod si tu nolis, siliusque etiam tuus Vobis _invitis_, atq amborum _ingratiis_, _Una libella liber possum fieri_." ]

* * * * *

CHAP. V.

As we have mentioned the barbarous and inhuman treatment that generally fell to the lot of slaves, it may not be amiss to inquire into the various circumstances by which it was produced.

The first circumstance, from whence it originated, was the _commerce_: for if men could be considered as _possessions_; if, like _cattle_, they could be _bought_ and _sold_, it will not be difficult to suppose, that they could be held in the same consideration, or treated in the same manner. The commerce therefore, which was begun in the primitive ages of the world, by classing them with the brutal species, and by habituating the mind to consider the terms of _brute_ and _slave_ as _synonimous_, soon caused them to be viewed in a low and despicable light, and as greatly inferiour to the human species. Hence proceeded that treatment, which might not unreasonably be supposed to arise from so low an estimation. They were tamed, like beasts, by the stings of hunger and the lash, and their education was directed to the same end, to make them commodious instruments of labour for their possessors.

This _treatment_, which thus proceeded in the ages of barbarism, from the low estimation, in which slaves were unfortunately held from the circumstances of the commerce, did not fail of producing, in the same instant, its _own_ effect. It depressed their minds; it numbed their faculties; and, by preventing those sparks of genius from blazing forth, which had otherwise been conspicuous; it gave them the appearance of being endued with inferiour capacities than the rest of mankind. This effect of the _treatment_ had made so considerable a progress, as to have been a matter of observation in the days of Homer.

For half _his_ senses Jove conveys away, _Whom_ once he dooms to see the _servile_ day.[021]

Thus then did the _commerce_, by classing them originally with _brutes_, and the consequent _treatment_, by cramping their _abilities_, and hindering them from becoming _conspicuous_, give to these unfortunate people, at a very early period, the most unfavourable _appearance_. The rising generations, who received both the commerce and treatment from their ancestors, and who had always been accustomed to behold their _effects_, did not consider these _effects_ as _incidental_: they judged only from what they saw; they believed the _appearances_ to be _real_; and hence arose the combined principle, that slaves were an _inferiour_ order of men, and perfectly void of _understanding_. Upon this _principle_ it was, that the former treatment began to be fully confirmed and established; and as this _principle_ was handed down and disseminated, so it became, in succeeding ages, an _excuse_ for any severity, that despotism might suggest.

We may observe here, that as all nations had this excuse in common, as arising from the _circumstances_ above-mentioned, so the Greeks first, and the Romans afterwards, had an _additional excuse_, as arising from their own _vanity_.

The former having conquered Troy, and having united themselves under one common name and interest, began, from that period, to distinguish the rest of the world by the title of _barbarians_; inferring by such an appellation, "that they were men who were only noble in their own country; that they had no right, from their _nature_, to authority or command; that, on the contrary, so low were their capacities, they were _destined_ by nature _to obey_, and to live in a state of perpetual drudgery and subjugation."[022] Conformable with this opinion was the treatment, which was accordingly prescribed to a _barbarian_. The philosopher Aristotle himself, in the advice which he gave to his pupil Alexander, before he went upon his Asiatick expedition, intreated him to "use the Greeks, as it became a _general_, but the _barbarians_, as it became a _master_; consider, says he, the former as _friends_ and _domesticks_; but the latter, as _brutes_ and _plants_;"[023] inferring that the Greeks, from the superiority of their capacities, had a _natural_ right to dominion, and that the rest of the world, from the inferiority of their own, were to be considered and treated as the _irrational_ part of the creation.

Now, if we consider that this was the treatment, which they judged to be absolutely proper for people of this description, and that their slaves were uniformly those, whom they termed _barbarians_; being generally such, as were either kidnapped from _Barbary_, or purchased from the _barbarian_ conquerors in their wars with one another; we shall immediately see, with what an additional excuse their own vanity had furnished them for the sallies of caprice and passion.

To refute these cruel sentiments of the ancients, and to shew that their slaves were by no means an inferiour order of beings than themselves, may perhaps be considered as an unnecessary task; particularly, as having shewn, that the causes of this inferiour appearance were _incidental_, arising, on the one hand, from the combined effects of the _treatment_ and _commerce_, and, on the other, from _vanity_ and _pride_, we seem to have refuted them already. But we trust that some few observations, in vindication of these unfortunate people, will neither be unacceptable nor improper.

How then shall we begin the refutation? Shall we say with Seneca, who saw many of the slaves in question, "What is a _knight_, or a _libertine_, or a _slave_? Are they not names, assumed either from _injury_ or _ambition_?" Or, shall we say with him on another occasion, "Let us consider that he, whom we call our slave, is born in the same manner as ourselves; that he enjoys the same sky, with all its heavenly luminaries; that he breathes, that he lives, in the same manner as ourselves, and, in the same manner, that he expires." These considerations, we confess, would furnish us with a plentiful source of arguments in the case before us; but we decline their assistance. How then shall we begin? Shall we enumerate the many instances of fidelity, patience, or valour, that are recorded of the _servile_ race? Shall we enumerate the many important services, that they rendered both to the individuals and the community, under whom they lived? Here would be a second source, from whence we could collect sufficient materials to shew, that there was no inferiority in their nature. But we decline to use them. We shall content ourselves with some few instances, that relate to the _genius_ only: we shall mention the names of those of a _servile_ condition, whose writings, having escaped the wreck of time, and having been handed down even to the present age, are now to be seen, as so many living monuments, that neither the Grecian, nor Roman genius, was superiour to their own.

The first, whom we shall mention here, is the famous Æsop. He was a Phrygian by birth, and lived in the time of Croesus, king of Lydia, to whom he dedicated his fables. The writings of this great man, in whatever light we consider them, will be equally entitled to our admiration. But we are well aware, that the very mention of him as a writer of fables, may depreciate him in the eyes of some. To such we shall propose a question, "Whether this species of writing has not been more beneficial to mankind; or whether it has not produced more important events, than any other?"

With respect to the first consideration, it is evident that these fables, as consisting of plain and simple transactions, are particularly easy to be understood; as conveyed in images, they please and seduce the mind; and, as containing a _moral_, easily deducible on the side of virtue; that they afford, at the same time, the most weighty precepts of philosophy. Here then are the two grand points of composition, "a manner of expression to be apprehended by the lowest capacities, and, (what is considered as a victory in the art) an happy conjunction of utility and pleasure."[024] Hence Quintilian recommends them, as singularly useful, and as admirably adapted, to the puerile age; as a just gradation between the language of the nurse and the preceptor, and as furnishing maxims of prudence and virtue, at a time when the speculative principles of philosophy are too difficult to be understood. Hence also having been introduced by most civilized nations into their system of education, they have produced that general benefit, to which we at first alluded. Nor have they been of less consequence in maturity; but particularly to those of inferiour capacities, or little erudition, whom they have frequently served as a guide to conduct them in life, and as a medium, through which an explanation might be made, on many and important occasions.

With respect to the latter consideration, which is easily deducible from hence, we shall only appeal to the wonderful effect, which the fable, pronounced by Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon, produced among his hearers; or to the fable, which was spoken by Menenius Agrippa to the Roman populace; by which an illiterate multitude were brought back to their duty as citizens, when no other species of oratory could prevail.

To these truly _ingenious_, and _philosophical_ works of Æsop, we shall add those of his imitator Phoedrus, which in purity and elegance of style, are inferiour to none. We shall add also the Lyrick _Poetry_ of Alcman, which is no _servile_ composition; the sublime _Morals_ of Epictetus, and the incomparable _comedies_ of Terence.

Thus then does it appear, that the _excuse_ which was uniformly started in defence of the _treatment_ of slaves, had no foundation whatever either in truth or justice. The instances that we have mentioned above, are sufficient to shew, that there was no inferiority, either in their _nature_, or their understandings: and at the same time that they refute the principles of the ancients, they afford a valuable lesson to those, who have been accustomed to form too precipitate a judgment on the abilities of men: for, alas! how often has _secret anguish_ depressed the spirits of those, whom they have frequently censured, from their gloomy and dejected appearance! and how often, on the other hand, has their judgment resulted from their own _vanity_ and _pride_!

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 021: Homer. Odys. P. 322. In the latest edition of Homer, the word, which we have translated _senses_, is _Aretae_, or _virtue_, but the old and proper reading is _Noos_, as appears from Plato de Legibus, ch. 6, where he quotes it on a similar occasion.]

[Footnote 022: Aristotle. Polit. Ch. 2. et inseq.]

[Footnote 023: Ellesin hegemonikos, tois de Barbarois despotikos krasthar kai ton men os philon kai oikeion epimeleisthai, tois de os zoois he phytois prospheresthai. Plutarch. de Fortun. Alexand. Orat. 1.]

[Footnote 024: Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci. Horace.]

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CHAP. VI.

We proceed now to the consideration of the _commerce_: in consequence of which, people, endued with the same feelings and faculties as ourselves, were made subject to the laws and limitations of _possession_.

This commerce of the human species was of a very early date. It was founded on the idea that men were _property_; and, as this idea was coeval with the first order of _involuntary_ slaves, it must have arisen, (if the date, which we previously affixed to that order, be right) in the first practices of barter. The Story of Joseph, as recorded in the sacred writings, whom his brothers sold from an envious suspicion of his future greatness, is an ample testimony of the truth of this conjecture. It shews that there were men, even at that early period, who travelled up and down as merchants, collecting not only balm, myrrh, spicery, and other wares, but the human species also, for the purposes of traffick. The instant determination of the brothers, on the first sight of the merchants, _to sell him_, and the immediate acquiescence of these, who purchased him for a foreign market, prove that this commerce had been then established, not only in that part of the country, where this transaction happened, but in that also, whither the merchants were then travelling with their camels, namely, Ægypt: and they shew farther, that, as all customs require time for their establishment, so it must have existed in the ages, previous to that of Pharaoh; that is, in those ages, in which we fixed the first date of _involuntary_ servitude. This commerce then, as appears by the present instance, existed in the earliest practices of barter, and had descended to the Ægyptians, through as long a period of time, as was sufficient to have made it, in the times alluded to, an established custom. Thus was Ægypt, in those days, the place of the greatest resort; the grand emporium of trade, to which people were driving their merchandize, as to a centre; and thus did it afford, among other opportunities of traffick, the _first market_ that is recorded, for the sale of the human species.

This market, which was thus supplied by the constant concourse of merchants, who resorted to it from various parts, could not fail, by these means, to have been considerable. It received, afterwards, an additional supply from those piracies, which we mentioned to have existed in the uncivilized ages of the world, and which, in fact, it greatly promoted and encouraged; and it became, from these united circumstances, so famous, as to have been known, within a few centuries from the time of Pharaoh, both to the Grecian colonies in Asia, and the Grecian islands. Homer mentions Cyprus and Ægypt as the common markets for slaves, about the times of the Trojan war. Thus Antinous, offended with Ulysses, threatens to send him to one of these places, if he does not instantly depart from his table.[025] The same poet also, in his hymn to Bacchus[026], mentions them again, but in a more unequivocal manner, as the common markets for slaves. He takes occasion, in that hymn, to describe the pirates method of scouring the coast, from the circumstance of their having kidnapped Bacchus, as a noble youth, for whom they expected an immense ransom. The captain of the vessel, having dragged him on board, is represented as addressing himself thus, to the steersman:

"Haul in the tackle, hoist aloft the sail, Then take your helm, and watch the doubtful gale! To mind the captive prey, be our's the care, While you to _Ægypt_ or to _Cyprus_ steer; There shall he go, unless his friends he'll tell, Whose ransom-gifts will pay us full as well."

It may not perhaps be considered as a digression, to mention in few words, by itself, the wonderful concordance of the writings of Moses and Homer with the case before us: not that the former, from their divine authority, want additional support, but because it cannot be unpleasant to see them confirmed by a person, who, being one of the earliest writers, and living in a very remote age, was the first that could afford us any additional proof of the circumstances above-mentioned. Ægypt is represented, in the first book of the sacred writings, as a market for slaves, and, in the [027]second, as famous for the severity of its servitude. [028]The same line, which we have already cited from Homer, conveys to us the same ideas. It points it out as a market for the human species, and by the epithet of "_bitter_ Ægypt," ([029]which epithet is peculiarly annexed to it on this occasion) alludes in the strongest manner to that severity and rigour, of which the sacred historian transmitted us the first account.

But, to return. Though Ægypt was the first market recorded for this species of traffick; and though Ægypt, and Cyprus afterwards, were particularly distinguished for it, in the times of the Trojan war; yet they were not the only places, even at that period, where men were bought and sold. The Odyssey of Homer shews that it was then practised in many of the islands of the Ægean sea; and the Iliad, that it had taken place among those Grecians on the continent of Europe, who had embarked from thence on the Trojan expedition. This appears particularly at the end of the seventh book. A fleet is described there, as having just arrived from Lemnos, with a supply of wine for the Grecian camp. The merchants are described also, as immediately exposing it to sale, and as receiving in exchange, among other articles of barter, "_a number of slaves_."

It will now be sufficient to observe, that, as other states arose, and as circumstances contributed to make them known, this custom is discovered to have existed among them; that it travelled over all Asia; that it spread through the Grecian and Roman world; was in use among the barbarous nations, which overturned the Roman empire; and was practised therefore, at the same period, throughout all Europe.

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 025: me tacha pikren Aigypton kai Kypron idnai. Hom. Odyss. L. 17. 448.]

[Footnote 026: L. 26.]

[Footnote 027: Exodus. Ch. 1.]

[Footnote 028: Vide note 1st. (Here shown as footnote 025).]

[Footnote 029: This strikes us the more forcibly, as it is stiled _eurreiten_ and _perikallea_, "_beautiful and well watered_," in all other passages where it is mentioned, but this.]

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CHAP. VII.

This _slavery_ and _commerce_, which had continued for so long a time, and which was thus practised in Europe at so late a period as that, which succeeded the grand revolutions in the western world, began, as the northern nations were settled in their conquests, to decline, and, on their full establishment, were abolished. A difference of opinion has arisen respecting the cause of their abolition; some having asserted, that they were the necessary consequences of the _feudal system_; while others, superiour both in number and in argument, have maintained that they were the natural effects of _Christianity_. The mode of argument, which the former adopt on this occasion, is as follows. "The multitude of little states, which sprang up from one great one at this Æra, occasioned infinite bickerings and matter for contention. There was not a state or seignory, which did not want all the hands they could muster, either to defend their own right, or to dispute that of their neighbours. Thus every man was taken into the service: whom they armed they must trust: and there could be no trust but in free men. Thus the barrier between the two natures was thrown down, and _slavery_ was no more heard of, in the _west_."

That this was not the _necessary_ consequence of such a situation, is apparent. The political state of Greece, in its early history, was the same as that of Europe, when divided, by the feudal system, into an infinite number of small and independent kingdoms. There was the same matter therefore for contention, and the same call for all the hands that could be mustered: the Grecians, in short, in _heroick_, were in the same situation in these respects as the _feudal barons_ in the _Gothick_ times. Had this therefore been a _necessary_ effect, there had been a cessation of servitude in Greece, in those ages, in which we have already shewn that it existed.

But with respect to _Christianity_, many and great are the arguments, that it occasioned so desirable an event. It taught, "that all men were originally equal; that the Deity was no respecter of persons, and that, as all men were to give an account of their actions hereafter, it was necessary that they should be free." These doctrines could not fail of having their proper influence on those, who first embraced _Christianity_, from a _conviction_ of its truth; and on those of their descendents afterwards, who, by engaging in the _crusades_, and hazarding their lives and fortunes there, shewed, at least, an _attachment_ to that religion. We find them accordingly actuated by these principles: we have a positive proof, that the _feudal system_ had no share in the honour of suppressing slavery, but that _Christianity_ was the only cause; for the greatest part of the _charters_ which were granted for the freedom of slaves in those times (many of which are still extant) were granted, "_pro amore Dei, pro mercede animæ_." They were founded, in short, on religious considerations, "that they might procure the favour of the Deity, which they conceived themselves to have forfeited, by the subjugation of those, whom they found to be the objects of the divine benevolence and attention equally with themselves."

These considerations, which had thus their first origin in _Christianity_, began to produce their effects, as the different nations were converted; and procured that general liberty at last, which, at the close of the twelfth century, was conspicuous in the west of Europe. What a glorious and important change! Those, who would have had otherwise no hopes, but that their miseries would be terminated by death, were then freed from their servile condition; those, who, by the laws of war, would have had otherwise an immediate prospect of servitude from the hands of their imperious conquerors, were then _exchanged_; a custom, which has happily descended to the present day. Thus, "a numerous class of men, who formerly had no political existence, and were employed merely as instruments of labour, became useful citizens, and contributed towards augmenting the force or riches of the society, which adopted them as members;" and thus did the greater part of the Europeans, by their conduct on this occasion, assert not only liberty for themselves, but for their fellow-creatures also.

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CHAP. VIII.

But if men therefore, at a time when under the influence of religion they exercised their serious thoughts, abolished slavery, how impious must they appear, who revived it; and what arguments will not present themselves against their conduct![030] The Portuguese, within two centuries after its suppression in Europe, in imitation of those _piracies_, which we have shewn to have existed in the _uncivilized_ ages of the world, made their descents on Africa, and committing depredations on the coast,[031] _first_ carried the wretched inhabitants into slavery.

This practice, however trifling and partial it might appear at first, soon became serious and general. A melancholy instance of the depravity of human nature; as it shews, that neither the laws nor religion of any country, however excellent the forms of each, are sufficient to bind the consciences of some; but that there are always men, of every age, country, and persuasion, who are ready to sacrifice their dearest principles at the shrine of gain. Our own ancestors, together with the Spaniards, French, and most of the maritime powers of Europe, soon followed the _piratical_ example; and thus did the Europeans, to their eternal infamy, renew a custom, which their _own_ ancestors had so lately exploded, from a _conscientiousness_ of its _impiety_.

The unfortunate Africans, terrified at these repeated depredations, fled in confusion from the coast, and sought, in the interiour parts of the country, a retreat from the persecution of their invaders. But, alas, they were miserably disappointed! There are few retreats, that can escape the penetrating eye of avarice. The Europeans still pursued them; they entered their rivers; sailed up into the heart of the country; surprized the unfortunate Africans again; and carried them into slavery.

But this conduct, though successful at first, defeated afterwards its own ends. It created a more general alarm, and pointed out, at the same instant, the best method of security from future depredations. The banks of the rivers were accordingly deserted, as the coasts had been before; and thus were the _Christian_ invaders left without a prospect of their prey.

In this situation however, expedients were not wanting. They now formed to themselves the resolution of settling in the country; of securing themselves by fortified ports; of changing their system of force into that of pretended liberality; and of opening, by every species of bribery and corruption, a communication with the natives. These plans were put into immediate execution. The Europeans erected their forts[032]; landed their merchandize; and endeavoured, by a peaceable deportment, by presents, and by every appearance of munificence, to seduce the attachment and confidence of the Africans. These schemes had the desired effect. The gaudy trappings of European art, not only caught their attention, but excited their curiosity: they dazzled the eyes and bewitched the senses, not only of those, to whom they were given, but of those, to whom they were shewn. Thus followed a speedy intercourse with each other, and a confidence, highly favourable to the views of avarice or ambition.

It was now time for the Europeans to embrace the opportunity, which this intercourse had thus afforded them, of carrying their schemes into execution, and of fixing them on such a permanent foundation, as should secure them future success. They had already discovered, in the different interviews obtained, the chiefs of the African tribes. They paid their court therefore to these, and so compleatly intoxicated their senses with the luxuries, which they brought from home, as to be able to seduce them to their designs. A treaty of peace and commerce was immediately concluded: it was agreed, that the kings, on their part, should, from this period, sentence _prisoners of war_ and _convicts_ to _European servitude_; and that the Europeans should supply them, in return, with the luxuries of the north. This agreement immediately took place; and thus begun that _commerce_, which makes so considerable a figure at the present day.

But happy had the Africans been, if those only, who had been justly convicted of crimes, or taken in a just war, had been sentenced to the severities of servitude! How many of those miseries, which afterwards attended them, had been never known; and how would their history have saved those sighs and emotions of pity, which must now ever accompany its perusal. The Europeans, on the establishment of their western colonies, required a greater number of slaves than a strict adherence to the treaty could produce. The princes therefore had only the choice of relinquishing the commerce, or of consenting to become unjust. They had long experienced the emoluments of the trade; they had acquired a taste for the luxuries it afforded; and they now beheld an opportunity of gratifying it, but in a more extentive manner. _Avarice_ therefore, which was too powerful for _justice_ on this occasion, immediately turned the scale: not only those, who were fairly convicted of offences, were now sentenced to servitude, but even those who were _suspected_. New crimes were invented, that new punishments might succeed. Thus was every appearance soon construed into reality; every shadow into a substance; and often virtue into a crime.

Such also was the case with respect to prisoners of war. Not only those were now delivered into slavery, who were taken in a state of publick enmity and injustice, but those also, who, conscious of no injury whatever, were taken in the _arbitrary_ skirmishes of these _venal_ sovereigns. War was now made, not as formerly, from the motives of retaliation and defence, but for the sake of obtaining prisoners alone, and the advantages resulting from their sale. If a ship from Europe came but into sight, it was now considered as a sufficient motive for a war, and as a signal only for an instantaneous commencement of hostilities.

But if the African kings could be capable of such injustice, what vices are there, that their consciences would restrain, or what enormities, that we might not expect to be committed? When men once consent to be unjust, they lose, at the same instant with their virtue, a considerable portion of that sense of shame, which, till then, had been found a successful protector against the sallies of vice. From that awful period, almost every expectation is forlorn: the heart is left unguarded: its great protector is no more: the vices therefore, which so long encompassed it in vain, obtain an easy victory: in crouds they pour into the defenceless avenues, and take possession of the soul: there is nothing now too vile for them to meditate, too impious to perform. Such was the situation of the despotick sovereigns of Africa. They had once ventured to pass the bounds of virtue, and they soon proceeded to enormity. This was particularly conspicuous in that general conduct, which they uniformly observed, after any unsuccessful conflict. Influenced only by the venal motives of European traffick, they first made war upon the neighbouring tribes, contrary to every principle of justice; and if, by the flight of the enemy, or by other contingencies, they were disappointed of their prey, they made no hesitation of immediately turning their arms against their own subjects. The first villages they came to, were always marked on this occasion, as the first objects of their avarice. They were immediately surrounded, were afterwards set on fire, and the wretched inhabitants seized, as they were escaping from the flames. These, consisting of whole families, fathers, brothers, husbands, wives, and children, were instantly driven in chains to the merchants, and consigned to slavery.

To these calamities, which thus arose from the tyranny of the kings, we may now subjoin those, which arose from the avarice of private persons. Many were kidnapped by their own countrymen, who, encouraged by the merchants of Europe, previously lay in wait for them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while the seamen of the different ships, by every possible artifice, enticed others on board, and transported them to the regions of servitude.

As these practices are in full force at the present day, it appears that there are four orders of _involuntary_ slaves on the African continent; of [033]_convicts_; of _prisoners of war_; of those, who are publickly seized by virtue of the _authority_ of their prince; and of those, who are privately _kidnapped_ by individuals.

It remains only to observe on this head, that in the sale and purchase of these the African commerce or _Slave Trade_ consists; that they are delivered to the merchants of Europe in exchange for their various commodities; that these transport them to their colonies in the west, where their _slavery_ takes place; and that a fifth order arises there, composed of all such as are born to the native Africans, after their transportation and slavery have commenced.

Having thus explained as much of the history of modern servitude, as is sufficient for the prosecution of our design, we should have closed our account here, but that a work, just published, has furnished us with a singular anecdote of the colonists of a neighbouring nation, which we cannot but relate. The learned [034]author, having described the method which the Dutch colonists at the Cape make use of to take the Hottentots and enslave them, takes occasion, in many subsequent parts of the work, to mention the dreadful effects of the practice of slavery; which, as he justly remarks, "leads to all manner of misdemeanours and wickedness. Pregnant women," says he, "and children in their tenderest years, were not at this time, neither indeed are they ever, exempt from the effects of the hatred and spirit of vengeance constantly harboured by the colonists, with respect to the [035]Boshies-man nation; _excepting such indeed as are marked out to be carried away into bondage_.

"Does a colonist at any time get sight of a Boshies-man, he takes fire immediately, and spirits up his horse and dogs, in order to hunt him with more ardour and fury than he would a wolf, or any other wild beast? On an open plain, a few colonists on horseback are always sure to get the better of the greatest number of Boshies-men that can be brought together; as the former always keep at the distance of about an hundred, or an hundred and fifty paces (just as they find it convenient) and charging their heavy fire-arms with a very large kind of shot, jump off their horses, and rest their pieces in their usual manner on their ramrods, in order that they may shoot with the greater certainty; so that the balls discharged by them will sometimes, as I have been assured, go through the bodies of six, seven, or eight of the enemy at a time, especially as these latter know no better than to keep close together in a body."--

"And not only is the capture of the Hottentots considered by them merely as a party of pleasure, but in cold blood they destroy the bands which nature has knit between their husbands, and their wives and children, &c."

With what horrour do these passages seem to strike us! What indignation do they seem to raise in our breasts, when we reflect, that a part of the human species are considered as _game_, and that _parties of pleasure_ are made for their _destruction_! The lion does not imbrue his claws in blood, unless called upon by hunger, or provoked by interruption; whereas the merciless Dutch, more savage than the brutes themselves, not only murder their fellow-creatures without any provocation or necessity, but even make a diversion of their sufferings, and enjoy their pain.

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FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 030: The following short history of the African servitude, is taken from Astley's Collection of Voyages, and from the united testimonies of Smyth, Adanson, Bosman, Moore, and others, who were agents to the different factories established there; who resided many years in the country; and published their respective histories at their return. These writers, if they are partial at all, may be considered as favourable rather to their own countrymen, than the unfortunate Africans.]

[Footnote 031: We would not wish to be understood, that slavery was unknown in Africa before the _piratical_ expeditions of the _Portuguese_, as it appears from the _Nubian's Geography_, that both the slavery and commerce had been established among the natives with one another. We mean only to assert, that the _Portuguese_ were the first of the _Europeans_, who made their _piratical_ expeditions, and shewed the way to that _slavery_, which now makes so disgraceful a figure in the western colonies of the _Europeans_. In the term "Europeans," wherever it shall occur in the remaining part of this first dissertation, we include the _Portuguese_, and _those nations only_, who followed their example.]

[Footnote 032: The _Portuguese_ erected their first fort at _D'Elmina_, in the year 1481, about forty years after Alonzo Gonzales had pointed the Southern Africans out to his countrymen as articles of commerce.]

[Footnote 033: In the ancient servitude, we reckoned _convicts_ among the _voluntary_ slaves, because they had it in their power, by a virtuous conduct, to have avoided so melancholy a situation; in the _African_, we include them in the _involuntary_, because, as virtues are frequently construed into crimes, from the venal motives of the traffick, no person whatever possesses such a _power_ or _choice_.]

[Footnote 034: Andrew Sparrman, M.D. professor of Physick at Stockholm, fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, and inspector of its cabinet of natural history, whose voyage was translated into English, and published in 1785.]

[Footnote 035: Boshies-man, or _wild Hottentot_.]

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End of the First Part.

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