establishment the invaluable privilege of trial by jury, instead of inflicting summary punishment on the offender.

There were, among the Romans, public slaves, employed in various public services, especially to attend on the magistrates. They had yearly allowances granted to them by the public, and their condition was much more tolerable than that of private slaves. There were, also, slaves attached to the soil, from which they could not be separated, so that a person selling an estate had no right to remove his slaves, but sold them also as part of the property.

It should be observed that, harsh as the Roman laws appear to us, in giving a master the absolute power of life and death over his slave, it is no more than was given to a father over his own family. A father was at liberty to sell his children or grandchildren, or to put them to death. A son was in the strictest sense the slave of his father, for he could neither acquire personal liberty nor property during the life of his father, except the father were pleased to emancipate him, which was done by selling him three times in the presence of a magistrate. Daughters and grand-children, if sold once, were free of their father; and if they by any means regained their liberty, were not again liable to him; but a father having once sold his son, if he gained his liberty, the father might again lay claim to him, until he had been sold three times.

When a slave was freed by the voluntary act of his master, or redeemed from slavery by the benevolence of another person, he was called the freed man of such an one, and the patron retained various rights over him. If the patron was reduced

to poverty, the freed man was bound, in the same manner as a son, to support him, according to his ability. The patron, also, was expected to support his freed man, if poor; and if he failed to do this, was deprived of the rights of patronage. If a freed man died intestate, without heirs, the patron succeeded to his effects. If a freed man proved ungrateful to his patron, he was condemned to the mines, or at least reduced to his former condition of slavery. It may be observed, in passing, that these Roman laws, with which the apostle Paul, as a Roman citizen, was perfectly familiar, help us to perceive the beauty and force of many passages in his epistles, such as—"He that is called, is the Lord's freed man." "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which are his."

It may be interesting to observe, that Rome, who had made so many slaves, was, on some occasions, herself enslaved. More than twenty thousand Romans were carried away captives and in chains into Germany, who were afterwards rescued by the emperor Julian. And when Rome was destroyed by the Goths, multitudes of the citizens, beyond computation, were suddenly reduced to the miserable condition of captives and exiles. The Goths, however, had more need of money than of slaves, and they suffered them to be redeemed at a moderate price, either by the benevolence of friends or the charity of strangers.

At a much later period of the Roman history, a most absurd and fanatical war was undertaken, called a crusade, with the professed object of rescuing the spot of the holy sepulchre of our Lord,

at Jerusalem, from the hands of the Saracens. This is mentioned merely for the sake of observing two facts connected with it: first, that many feudal slaves were enfranchised, on condition of serving in those wars; and, next, that when the Roman arms were victorious, and a great part of Palestine was subdued and brought under the Roman government, among the laws enacted, we find some affecting the peasants of the land and the captives taken in war—not providing for their relief or protection as men, but for their preservation or recovery as property. Like hounds or hawks that had strayed from the lawful owner, they might be lost and claimed. The slave and the falcon were esteemed of the same value; but three slaves were reckoned only equivalent to one war horse!

SECT. VIII.—SLAVERY AMONG THE JEWS.

The closing incidents of the last section would bring us to notice feudal slavery in Europe; but we shall first go back to the period when, from the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, we broke off from sacred history, to gather up from other sources some particulars respecting ancient slavery in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. We resume the narrative and the institutes of scripture.

In the law of God, slavery is often spoken of as a punishment for idolatry and other sins; but in these cases it is rather declarative of the purposes of God than preceptive, or enjoining it on any person to inflict it. This distinction has been overlooked by the modern advocates of slavery, who have attempted to justify themselves by the plea that they were but fulfilling the purposes of

God, who has declared that the posterity of Canaan, the son of Ham, should be in servitude to their brethren; and that the degenerate Jews should be despised and oppressed in strange lands. We have no reason to conclude that the negroes are the descendants of Canaan; and, even if this were certain, no individual or nation can produce any warrant from the word of God for enslaving an African or oppressing a Jew. The general tenour of the word of God authorizes us to become co-workers with Him in promoting the happiness of mankind; but no person is required, or has a right, to inflict on others the judgments of God, without his express warrant and commission; else might the Jews, who "with wicked hands crucified and slew the Lord of glory," justify themselves by the plea that they only did what "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" appointed to be done. To return from this digression. The enslavement of the degenerate Jews is often predicted, and remarkably fulfilled ; so that the chapters which denounce these and other calamities may be read as a prospective history of the Jews to the present day. See Lev. xxvi.; Deut. xxviii., xxix., xxxii. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, immense numbers of the captives were sent to Egypt and other countries, and there sold for slaves, at a vile price and for the meanest offices; indeed, the multitude was so great, that purchasers could not be found for them all at any price, and, in consequence, many thousands were left to perish for want. At a later period, in several countries, particularly those remarkable for popish bigotry, Spain and Portugal, all the children of the Jews

were taken from them by the state, and compelled to be baptized, and to profess a religion which their parents abhorred, they neither having power to resist the violence done them, nor the means of rescuing their enslaved offspring. (See Deut. xxviii. 32.)

With respect to the holding of slaves among the Hebrews, it was placed under certain limitations as to the possession, and regulations as to the treatment, calculated to mitigate the condition of slaves.

In acquiring slaves, man stealing was, under the Mosaic law, reckoned a high crime, and invariably punished with death. Some have supposed that this restriction applied only to obtaining possession of the person of a free-born Israelite. Certainly it would be an aggravation of the crime to burst the bands of fraternal obligation, by compelling a brother to labour as a slave, and especially to sell him as a slave to idolaters; yet, on the whole, it appears that the crime of man-stealing intended the seizing or enticing away any human being, and employing him as a slave, or selling him unto slavery. Exod. xxi. 16; Deut. xxiv. 7. At all events, national distinctions are now done away, and it must be equally criminal to steal or buy a man of any nation or colour. It is a matter of rejoicing that our British laws are no longer chargeable with the inconsistency of condemning to death the man who, in England, should steal a horse or a sheep, yet uttering no censure against him if he should go to Africa and steal, or purchase of those who steal, hundreds of men and

women.

Slaves might be acquired as captives in war. This does not appear to have been permitted in

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