A state of subordination and certain inequalities of rank and
condition are inevitable in every stage of civil society;
But when
the subordination is carried to so great a length that the persons
and services of one part of the community are entirely at the
disposal of another part, it may then be denominated a state of
slavery, and in this condition of life a great body of the negro
inhabitants of Africa have continued from the most early period of
their history, with this aggravation, that their children are born
to no other inheritance.
The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion of
three to one to the freemen. They claim no reward for their
services except food and clothing, and are treated with kindness or
severity, according to the good or bad disposition of their masters.
Custom, however, has established certain rules with regard to the
treatment of slaves, which it is thought dishonourable to violate.
Thus the domestic slaves, or such as are born in a man's own house,
are treated with more lenity than those which are purchased with
money. The authority of the master over the domestic slave, as I
have elsewhere observed, extends only to reasonable correction; for
the master cannot sell his domestic, without having first brought
him to a public trial before the chief men of the place. But these
restrictions on the power of the master extend not to the care of
prisoners taken in war, nor to that of slaves purchased with money.
All these unfortunate beings are considered as strangers and
foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may
be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the
pleasure of their owners.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 84 of 167
Words from 22610 to 22908
of 45368
