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and, indeed, would be handsome pay, for a person in one of the highest offices: this is one reason why a republican government diminishes the salary and the respectability of its officers; and this is also a reason why it is less durable than a monarchy; for the people must be regulated, and if they will not act as good subjects, they must be compelled; and they are compliable, or otherwise, in proportion as they are influenced by fear and hope. There is more fear occasioned by the grandeur and power of a monarchy; and there is more hope of exciting disorders in a republic. Governors must be just and virtuous; subjects must be loyal and contented; and then, the ruling principle being sufficiently powerful for the regulation of the people, the ship of the state may be triumphantly steered on the rolling waves, amidst the boisterous winds : this, and this only-is liberty; but, if the power of the helmsman be insufficient -if the government be ineffective- the vessel will become the sport of the elements, and, as it was with many of the ancient commonwealths, it will be totally wrecked.

The most perfect contrast to liberty is the condition in which a man is subject, body, goods, family, and inclination, to the will of a private individual. Cicero defines slavery of this kind as "the servitude of a degraded and abject mind, which possesses no will of its own." It is perfectly inconsistent with reason, that one man should be the degraded vassal of another. All men are equal by birth; they differ in fortune and rank; but a man should be bound no further than to voluntary

labour or subjection for the sake of a

tenance.

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The system of slavery is very ancient; it sprang up in the uncultivated ages of the world, and it has thriven most vigorously in the absence of knowledge and virtue. As nations become adorned with science and good principles, they generously break the galling chains of slavery. The English have done a great deal in this way, and will, without doubt, accomplish much more. It is said of Abraham, that he possessed 318 servants, born in his house, and trained to arms. But this was a species of slavery very different to that which is inflicted by planters and others, where the captive strangers are chained in companies, and forced to labour by the influence of the whip. Slaves, however, in this early period, were the complete property of their masters, and they were transferable at the will of their owners; and thus, when Abimelech wished to make some compensation to Abraham for the harm which he had done, he not only restored Sarah his wife, but gave him men-servants and women-servants. Slavery has been brought down to our own day, or nearly so, within this kingdom. Dr. Hamilton observes, that "in Scotland, till lately, labourers employed in coal-mines and salt-works were bondsmen. This remnant of slavery is now abolished without any detriment to society."

Almost all the ancient nations made slaves of the enemies which were taken in war. The Phoenicians were the first to make a traffic in human flesh; and this disgraceful practice has been

continued. In Africa, the trade in slaves has been carried to a most disgraceful extent; one nation makes war upon another, for the sole purpose of obtaining slaves for the market. The ancient Germans sometimes voluntarily sold themselves, with their wives and children, into perpetual bondage, for the purpose of gratifying their inclination for gambling.

Slavery originates in the basest passions of men, revenge, avarice, and cruelty; it may be expected, therefore, that it would not only be patronised by the worthless, but that the treatment of the poor captives would be sometimes brutal. At Sparta, they were shamefully used; in Athens and Rome, they were treated badly. The gladiators were slaves. Vedius Pollio threw many of his slaves into ponds, as food for lampreys! In Sicily, during the commonwealth, Demophilus used to shut up his slaves at night in dungeons, and lead them out in the morning, like beasts, to cruel labour. In Barbadoes, in the present day, the penalty for wantonly killing a slave is fifteen pounds! There will be very little proof of growing civilisation— of an increase of wisdom and virtue until slavery in every country be abolished.

Slavery is not only cruel to the slave with respect to his labour and treatment, but it naturally degrades him to the character of a brute. There is no stimulus to improvement, and no check to evil; for an advancement in knowledge would tend to make his condition less bearable, and an acquisition of property, in most cases, would belong to the master; and if they act brutishly, and live in

the condition and with the feelings of swine, they enjoy a low sensuality. They have little inducement to gain a good character; and few of them have any character to lose.

With regard to the emancipation of West India slaves, it may be observed, that a gradual abolition would be much more beneficial than a sudden one, not only to the sufferers, but to the interests of commerce. Freedom is useless to any man, except he be adapted for it, as useless as delightful scenery to a person afflicted with blindness; while the culture of estates, and the value of property, would be best preserved by a gradual change from slave labour to free labour. It is fair, also, that the disadvantage arising from an abolition of slavery should be borne by the state. The laws have made slavery legal; it is therefore a national affair. If the great body of the people be inclined to abolish it, which feeling is exceedingly praiseworthy, let them, with this philanthropy, make a little personal sacrifice, and then their conduct will be still more noble, and the abolition of slavery will be to the nation as honourable, as it will be to the poor African delightful.

CHAP. II.

ON WAR AND PEACE.

WAR has been a source of the greatest calamities. The saying of Lord Burleigh, in the time of Elizabeth, will be confirmed by every observing person in the present day; -"Warre is the curse, and peace the blessinge, of a countrie." It is only, as Erasmus used frequently to observe, "for want of experience, that war appears sweet." The passions are excited, and the imagination is pleased with the sounds of victory and glory; but we hear very little, and, by the blessing of Providence, we see very little, in this country, of the horrors connected with warfare.

War is generally produced by ignorance or vice. There have been wars of superstition and bigotry : in Egypt, battles were fought between the patrons and the opposers of crocodile worship; in Italy, during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, there were wars between the worshippers and the destroyers of images. The crusades destroyed tens of thousands of men, and a vast deal of treasure. And there have been wars for the sole purpose of conquest. It has been deemed a doubtful matter, whether wars of any kind be lawful. Most men acknowledge that aggression is culpable, but they admit that defensive war is allowable; and perhaps,

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