The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-04-07
VOL. VII.

trade in English slaves to foreign countr;a.-
to Scotland and Ireland, at least--is w,u
proved; and that it went much further ia -.
dered probable by the anecdote, generally ,.
ceived of tho circumstance which induced po,.
Gregory the Great about A. d. 500, to spnd
St. Augustine into England. Passing one DO
through tho slave market at Rome and ~.
ceiving some chileren of great beauty who w.,
set up for sale, he inquired about their conr,.-
and finding they were English Pagaps h. !,
said to have cried out, in the Latin lapOna..
"NOn Angh, sed Angeii, torent 81 essen S.
Christiani +" that is, they would not bo A.
giles Tor English but Angels, if they ve,.
Christians" These were, doubtless the a..
haired, blue-eyed Anglo-Saxons with d,a;n.
which has since become more n,anjfes ,ho,
just then it seemed.
Of the rest of Europe it may be generals
stated, that the personal servitude which praw
out of the abuses of the foudal system was -,
ceedingly severe, but it is not supposed to bar.
equalled, in severity or degradation, the doma.
tic slavery of the ancients, or that amosp III.
European colonies on this side of the Atsrt,,
The feudal yillein of the lowest order was ~,
protected in his property, as against seizure BY
his master, and was subject to the most iguObI,
services, but there were many and important
circumstances which distinguished him mate.
rally from the Crock, Roman, or West IDds
slave. AS before stated, in the language of Lord
Coke, To all other persons than his master Ia
was free man, and as against them he had
rights of property. For excessive personal in.
juries by the master, he had redress at the su
OF the King; the life and chastity of the female
villein even of the lowest degree, were protect
ed effectually in point Of law, however feeblv
in fact; and their testimony except against
their lord, was received in the courts Of Justice
These advantages, trivial and uncertain as they
may seem, are yet really great mitigation Of
the state Of bondage, and sure pledge of its
eventual abolition Any, the least concession
of inyiolable right, is the little leavon which
leaveneth the whole lump inevitably The
milder form of servitude here mentioned. oh.
tanned in England exclusively. In France, and
on the continent generally, it had harsher
character.
The word Slavery is ordinarily and Justly
applied to every form of oppression to which
men are subjected, in body, mind, or estate II
is political, religious or personal, or any mix
ture of these, of which there are many and eZ
ceedingly unlike forms. The term is not at all
descriptive or distinctive of any particular con-
dition of which it is affirmed and its correla-
tive, freedom, is equally indefinite. Between
the slaves of the Roman Polio, who threw
such as gave him the slightest offence into his
fsh-ponds to fatten his lampreys, and the vii
lein regardant of the English noble, who could
not legally interfere with the family govern.
ment of his serf or expel him from the land On
which he was born, there was vast difference
of civil and domestic rights; and the chattel
slave of the West India planter, in law a mere
marketable commodity, is not in more abect
condition than the pariah or the loodra of the
East Indies, though these castles are made up of
men who are the legal owners of their own
bodies, and of the proceeds of their own labor
The tyranny of caste admits of no mitigation ;
it has no degrees; it is absolute. 1t does not
treat men as property but it does worse-it
treats them as civil and social machinery, in
which every Wheel pulley, lever, cog, and pin,
must keep its fixed position forever The pa.
riah has no value of any kind, he has no worth
in social estimation, and he cannot be sold for
money; the chattel slave in Virginia is worth
thousand dollars; his master and the com
munity have at least that amount of interest in
him, and he has that much hold upon them
The English pauper is, in law and in fact
nuisance in the land of his birth but he has
religious, and may attain to civil and po
litical liberty, and the poor-house commission.
ers even help him to find the country where
the utmost advantages of these latent rights
can be enjoyed in their fullness A modifca.
ton of the tyranny Of caste, founded in DIFF
ference of race and color, combined with the
dominion OF property, is the condition of the
American slave; but religious liberty and the
restraining influences Of civilized sentiment OBJ
tain for their ameloraton. The English vii
lein Of the middle ages was greatly more
wretched in physical circumstances than the
negroes now are in our Atlantic States but
the descendants of the former are the present
commoners and citizens of Great Britain; while
his better-fed and happier brother bondman Of
Virginia is still in hourly danger of the auction
block and forcible expatration.
The religious sentiments aud ecclesiastical
polty of different countries il another modifying
element of great efficiency. Christianity isevery-
where adverse in spirit to distinctions of caste,
but the principles Of the hierarchica order in tho
Catholic church renders them peculiarly odious
to her system. She claims to be universal EN-
bracing every variety of the human race in her
fraternal fellowship, holding none disqualified
by nation, color, rank, family, or condition, Tor
the priesthood and she ascribes mystical
dignity to the sacerdotal Office, that not untre
quently inverts tho relation between the op-
prcssor and the oppressed, and throws the he
reditary master upon his knees at the spiritual
tribunal of the born bondman. Professionalism,
notwithstanding its devotion to personal and
civil liberty, is yet chargesble with greater
respect of persons" and the antipathy De
tween white and black is much more intense o.
Washington City than at Rio Janeiro. lhe
piety Of the reform churches is much less ELL
cient against the policy Of property 10 man
than that of the mother church, for the reason
perhaps that they have less need for equity
and uniformity, than centralized unity eniorce'
upon the papal system.
The consideration Of those forms Of virtual
slavery, taking the word in its widest sense
which result from the inequality Of wealth De-