Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-07-03

life at the mercy Of his captor and, 90 the latter Il
might deprive his prisoner Of lie, it lay at his dis
erection either to kill him or to keep him in life ms
his property. Such was certainly tho practice in
earlier days Of the Romans. History tells us that
such has been, and yet continues, the custom
among the negro tri1us in Africa. Certainly
there the natives sell their own race ne slaves !
they sell TO each other as they sold to the white
man while such sales were allowed 10y the laws o.
the white man. Thus it was that the ancestors of
those now held in bondage on this continent
brought From Africa with them their condition as
property. How it was acquired there, can now he
N subject of conjecture only, aud woeld DO an M
uuivy M fruitloss as vague, "--SDecch az Scqde,
March 10, 1858.
That is. the common law of England made men
property in the colonies who were held "a proper.
~ in Africa, and, because they were so held. All
who could he seized aud sold, and their descend
ants, were, by African law, property therefore,
these persons, whcl brough. to the colonies, car
,icd the African laws with them, and they, and
the defendants Of their women moreover, were TO-
be merely property The mistake Of the Senator
was not in the fact Of the adoption of the Ah
rican laws Of scrvitule, but in tho statement that
they were adopted Ivy the common law. They were
in dcroSatiOn Of it's first principles. The common
law, as cxpoundcl hy it's commentators and its
courts, adopted the law of nature, as given III
Genesis, as the basis Of property and 1t was only
because corrupt ministers, mcrcenary corporations,
planters t~hirsting for wealth, and cruel slave ira
Iders, conspircd to substitute the African code in
the colonies for the common law, that We Gud Sla
very there aud here.
Jude Tucker. the eminent Nirginian, speaking
OF the introduction Of the common law into the
colonies, says;
"Local circumstances, likewise, gave an carly
rise TO n less iustiliable departure from The prin
ciples OF the common law in sumo Uf the colonies,
In The establishment of Slavcry--a measure not to
be reconciled either to tho principles Of the law
Of nature, nor either 10 the most arbitrary cstab'
lishments in tbe English Government at that pc
ried - absolute Slavery, if it ever had any existence
in England, having beon abolished long beloro."-
fuckers BtackStOnG, 3SS.
Tho celebrated Nirginian should have known
that tho common law naturalized the law of all
countries, ut least ms to property brought from
them. Like the gods of the provinces incorpora-
ted by the Romans into It's concrete hierarchy, the
diverse laws of property Of the diverse types OF
civilization were adopted by this all gathering
common law. IF the English or French sailor,
who had been captured by the Algeriuo, and by
HIS law enslaved. should be brought by his pur.
chaser TO England or her colonies, the common
law continued him property, becausc he was
80 held whence he was brought. SO the
French barker would have carried his fran.
chi,e, and John Law might have flooded tho world
with his paper money az we'll from London or Bos-
ton a. from Paris. To such absurdities are men
driven.
The common law, indeed ! Why, the truth sim
ply is that the common law did and does not ere
ate property, but recognizes and protects as such
everything that is-claimed as property No ;
but everything that IS property by the laws OF
Christian States and never, as the merest tyro
knows, does it sanction the idea that man can be
the subject Of property
True it is, and pity It's It's true, that the African
codes in relation to the subjects Of property were
naturalized in the colonies. True it is, that those
who were held as property by those codes, were sc
held after transfer from the prison ship to the
slave plantation, and the blunderbuss and tht
scourse became the emblems OF authority there, al
in their distant home. True it is, THAT every moth
er's child, according to the law of the black ant
arid continent, became the merchandise of hin
who had enslaved the mother. True it is, tina
these codes we're at times, as revenge joined hand
with avarice, extended to the Indian as to the A
can captive and it is equally true that Europea
blood was unable to dissolve the chaia thu
wrought from foreign links. And true, alas it
that these African codes have so ~banished. the con
mon law of property, have so overturned the fun
damontal idea Of the civilization Of Moses and c
Christ, of modern Rome and of Westminster
that in the Jurisprudence OF this federation and
half these States. scarce anything is sacred bt
the right of one man to enslave his fellow-man.
| have said that the base idea Of human owe
ship was force. | have shown it to be SO in I'll
ancient codes, and i ask attention to tho law
property in those countries whence We have nat
rallied it.
The Senator from Virginia, before quoted, seen
at u loss 10 KNOW now tHlS COnIIlOn Ol property
80 brought from Africa" was acquired there
1t 10 no subjccture" at all, and | will show thor
who partake his doubts, that tho enquiry is nett
or "fruitlcss" nor vague"
As these African States have not favored I
with any cod or volumes of institutes, or CONNER
taries, or decisions, from which we can acertai
their laws, or such Of them as have been incorp'
rated into our own system, i am compelled to r
ly upon the customs of the country. 'Custom
the highest law" and by its observation we ca
see the process" by which man becomes propcrt
and the idea which lies at the base of the Africa
law of property.
Gray and Buchard, in their Travels in Wester
Africa, Up. l9l, describing the manner of wagin
war, say:
"The general object Of these detachments
the attack Of some small town or village, the j
carry off," "Scveral OF the
parties were sent out during our stayin Bondo
and with ono or two exceptions, came of Wet
rious-if the word can be made use of with pr
uriety in describing the ex ploits OF a horde
plunderers, whose chief ohjec. is invariably; t
obtaining of slaves, for whom they always find
market, either with the travelling merchants Of t
country or the Senegal vessels at Galam."
Captain Canct, n modern slave dealer, in his {
pericnce in the bushes, gives the manner i'll viii
he acqired n boat load in an emergency, at t
mouth Of the Matican river, coast Of Guinea,
give an extract (Imgo 22S-'9) to show the workin
of those laws of property which the common Ii
has SO kindly domiciicd among us:
Next day we proceeded to formal business.
His Majesty called a regular 'palaver' of his chi
and headmen, before whom | stated my daHtica, a
announced the terms. Very soon, several you
fiks were brought for sale, who | am sure, ne'
dreamed, at rising from last nights sleep, ii
they were destined for Cuban Slavery. My m
ohandise revived the memory of peccadilloes tt
hadbcen long forgotten, and sentences that we
forgiven. Jealous husbands, when they tasted 1
rum suddenly member their wives infdelit
aud sold their better halves for more of tho obi
ious fluid. In truth. l was exalted into a magici
uoroofing the village and leaving its crime a
wickodness to the eye of Justice. Law becaI
profitable. and virtue never reached so high
price. Before night, tho town was in q turmoil,
every man ~cadgeled his brains for an excuse
kidnap his ~neighbor, SO rs to share my CONNER
A the village was too small to supply the ent
gang Of fifty, l had rocource to the neighbour
Esettlements. whom my .hnnkers' or ngente did tn