Thus the practice of domestic slavery appears to have been early established among the nations of antiquity; among the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Jews, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greek, and the Romans.
The same practice obtains at present among all those tribes of barbarians, in different parts of the world, with which we have any correspondence.
There are indeed but few slaves among the greater part of the savages of America; because, from the situation of that people, they have no opportunity of accumulating wealth for maintaining any number of servants.As, in ordinary cases, they find it burdensome to give subsistence to an enemy whom they have subdued, they are accustomed to indulge their natural ferocity by putting him to death, even in cold blood.If ever they behave with humanity to their captives, it is only when being greatly reduced by the calamities of war, or by uncommon accidents, they are under the immediate necessity of recruiting their strength;and as this rarely happens, the persons whose lives have been thus preserved, are not distinguished from the children of the family into which they are brought, but are formally adopted into the place of the deceased relations, whose loss they are intended to supply.(1*)The Tartars, on the other hand, who have great possessions in herds and flocks, find no difficulty in supporting a number of domestics.For this reason they commonly preserve their captives, with a view of reaping the benefit that may arise from their labour; and the servitude established among that people disposes them to treat their enemies with a degree of moderation, which otherwise could hardly be expected from their fierce and barbarous dispositions.
The same observation may be extended to the negroes upon the coast of Guinea, who, from their intercourse with the nations of Europe, derive yet greater advantages from sparing the lives of their enemies.At the same time it cannot be doubted, that, as the encounters of those barbarians have upon this account become less bloody, their wars have been rendered more frequent.From the great demand for slaves to supply the European market, they have the same motives to seize the person of their neighbours, which may excite the inhabitants of other countries to rob one another of their property.
Section II
The usual effects of opulence and civilized manners, with regard to the treatment of servants These institutions and customs are such as might be expected from the limited experience, as well as from the rude manners of an early age.By reducing his servants into a state of slavery, the master appears, at first sight, to reap the highest advantage from their future labour and service.But when a people become civilized, and when they have made considerable progress in commerce and manufactures, one would imagine they should entertain more liberal views, and be influenced by more extensive considerations of utility.
A slave, who receives no wages in return for his labour, can never be supposed to exert much vigour or activity in the exercise of any employment.He obtains a livelihood at any rate;and by his utmost assiduity he is able to procure no more.As he works merely in consequence of the terror in which he is held, it may be imagined that he will be idle as often as he can with impunity.This circumstance may easily be overlooked in a country where the inhabitants are strangers to improvement.But when the arts begin to flourish, when the wonderful effects of industry and skill in cheapening commodities, and in bringing them to perfection, become more and more conspicuous, it must be evident that little profit can be drawn from the labour of a slave, who has neither been encouraged to acquire that dexterity, nor those habits of application, which are essentially requisite in the finer and more difficult branches of manufacture.
This may be illustrated from the price of labour in our West-India islands, where it will not be doubted that the inhabitants are at great pains to prevent the idleness of their slaves.In Jamaica, the yearly labour of a field-negro, when he is upheld to the master, is rated at no more than nine pounds, currency of that island.When a negro has been instructed in the trade of a carpenter, the value of his yearly labour will amount at the utmost to thirty-six pounds; whereas a free man is capable of earning seventy pounds yearly in the very same employment.(2*)It is further to be observed, that, in a polished nation, the acquisition of slaves is commonly much more expensive than among a simple and barbarous people.
After a regular government has been established, the inhabitants of a country are restrained from plundering one another; and, under the authority of the magistrate, individuals of the lowest rank are sufficiently secured from oppression and injustice.In proportion to the improvement of commerce and manufactures, the demand for labour is increased, and greater encouragement is given to industry.The poor have more resources for procuring a livelihood, by such employments as are productive of little subjection or dependence.By degrees, therefore, people of inferior condition are freed from the necessity of becoming slaves in order to obtain subsistence; and the ancient agreement by which a free person resigned his liberty, and was reduced under the power of a master, being rendered more and more unusual, is at length regarded as inconsistent with the natural rights of a citizen.
