and the Union-the lovers of peace and order-with confidence oppose the force of reason and truth. Let the facts connected with this subject be known to our people, and the frothy effusions of the abolition-ists will cease to be dangerous.

SLAVERY AT THE SOUTH.

CHAPTER I.

Origin of Slavery-Slavery among the ancients, either Involuntary or Voluntary-Involuntary Slavery-from War-Piracy-CrimeBargain and Sale.

THERE are few topics which have been subjected to so much vague abstraction and empty declamation as slavery. Various theories have been suggested in relation to its origin; but, separated from hypocritical flourish and unmeaning cant, they amount at last to little else than an admission, that slavery origiginally sprung from the inequality of the race, and the necessities arising from that inequality. The sagacious and powerful subjected their inferiors to their control; and their inferiors, in return, were protected and fed. Nature and necessity created classes, which nothing but the refinements of education could remove. Mind subjected matter to its sway; the bold controlled the timid; the wise directed the weak; and while one class toiled, another counselled, fought and governed. This state of things is not, it must be admitted, accordant with our prin

ciples or feelings; but it would be difficult to prove that it is at war with nature.

"Slavery," says Voltaire, "is as ancient as war; war, as human nature." As far back as history gives us a record of the race, we find proofs of the existence of slavery. Immediately after the deluge, reference is made to it, (see Gen. ix. 25,) and from that period, throughout the whole range of Hebrew history, numberless evidences are given of its prevalence. Slavery existed and was common before and during the siege of Troy. Homer frequently refers to it. "No legislator of antiquity," to quote again from Voltaire, "attempted to abrogate slavery. Society was so accustomed to this degradation of the species, that Epictetus, who was assuredly worth more than his master, never expresses any surprise at his being a slave."

It is scarcely necessary to designate the nations of antiquity in which slavery prevailed. It was established in all. In those countries most celebrated for their liberality and refinement, the institution of slavery existed in its greatest extent. Egypt was crowded with a servile population. Hardy Sparta and liberal Athens owed much of their power to their numerous slaves. Carthage was also celebrated for the number of her bondmen; and her triumphant rival, Rome, won, in her countless conquests, millions of slaves. Paulus Emilius brought one hundred and fifty thousand slaves to Rome; and Augustus sold thirty-six thousand of the Salassii into slavery. Indeed, throughout the whole known world the institution of slavery appears to have prevailed. Sages and patriots, the wise and benevolent, joined in sustaining it; and the slaves themselves, while they suffered under a bondage not always the most lenient, regarded it as their destiny, and endured it without a murmur.

Slavery among the ancients was of two species,involuntary and voluntary. Involuntary slavery was that which resulted from war, from piracy or kidnapping, from crime, and from commerce.

Most nations have considered their right over their captives taken in war as absolute. Barbarous conquerors, and those impelled only by a sanguinary thirst for vengeance, sacrificed the lives of the subdued. When a gentler spirit, or more just idea of war, prevailed, the victim was spared, and became the slave of the conqueror. The Romans called their slaves servi, from servare, to save. The origin of the custom of sparing and enslaving captives, has been ascribed by some writers to Assyria, and by others to Lacedemon; but the probability is, that it prevailed long before it was practised by either of these nations. The improvement of agriculture, the organization of society, the increase of inhabitants, and the establishment of principles in relation to the right of property, tended to dissuade men from unnecessary slaughter, and to make the services of a bondman valuable. We may, therefore, suppose that the practice of enslaving prisoners was one of the earliest incidents of warfare. The humane principles now established as the law of nations that in war we have a right only to the use of those means which have a connexion morally necessary with the end in view, was unknown to the ancients; and whenever prisoners were not saved as slaves, they were slaughtered without mercy. The most clement of the Roman generals acted upon this principle; and the nations which combined to overturn the colossal power of the mistress of the world, adopted a similar policy. The latter, being generally pastoral in their mode of life, did not need the labour of slaves; and in their incursions on the Roman empire, waged a war of extermination, spar

ing neither women nor children. The period which elapsed from the reign of Theodosius to the reign. of Alboinus, in Lombardy, (from A. D. 395 to A. D. 571,) is, in consequence, considered by Robertson, the most calamitous epoch in the history of the world.

*We subjoin from Professor Dew's pamphlet on Slavery, a work written with great ability, and to which we invite the attention of the reader, the following instance of the manner in which war is prosecuted in Africa. It affords, by the way, an interesting fact, from which to estimate the comparative condition of the African in this country, and in his native land.

"It is needless to multiply instances further to illustrate the ideas of the ancient world in regard to their rights to kill or enslave at pleasure the unfortunate captive. We will not cite the example of Africa, the great storehouse of slavery for the modern world, which so completely sustains our position in regard to the opinions of men on this subject, farther than to make an extract from a speech delivered in the British House of Commons, by Mr. Henniker, in 1789, in which the speaker asserts that a letter had been received by George III. from one of the most powerful African potentates, the Emperor of Dahomey, which letter admirably exemplifies the African's notions about the right to kill or enslave prisoners of war. "He (Emperor of Dahomey,) states,' said Mr. H. 'that as he understood King George was the greatest of white kings, so he thought himself the greatest of black ones. He asserted that he could lead five hundred thousand men armed into the field; that being the pursuit to which all his subjects were bred, and the women only staying at home to plant and manure the earth. He had himself fought two hundred and nine battles, with great reputation and success; and had conquered the great King of Ardah-the king's head was to this day preserved with the flesh and hair; the heads of his generals were distinguished by being placed on each side of the doors of their fetiches: with the heads of the inferior officers they paved the space before the doors; and the heads of the common soldiers formed a sort of fringe or outwork round the walls of the palace. Since this war he had experienced the greatest good fortune, and he hoped in good time to be able to complete the out-walls of all his great houses, to the number of seven, in the same manner.

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