The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-04-30

tracts DOtn express ana Implied. 1t is Ger.
tainly SO With the title Of the parent to the
their minority. All people, savage, civil.
lied and enlightened, admit that the paren,
may righfully control the services of his
own offspring for . given period; he may
apply their labor for his own benefit, or be
may contract for its performance for the
benefit Of another. But it IL universally
admitted that this right of the parent to
control the services of his child grows out
of the application of labor and skill and
inent, shelter, and instruction for the child
during the years of the child's helpless
ness, and that having received this boun-
ty from the parent the child is under obli-
cations to return an equivalent; he 10 un-
der obligations to serve the father and the
mother until he shall have returned to
them an equivalent for the labor and
means that they have applied for his well
fare during the period Of his inability to
serve and protect himself. In this country
it is supposd that this obligation is dis
charged by the offspring in from eighteen
to twenty lone years from the date OF birth.
think in no civilized country is the pe-
riof! OF minority extended beyond the age
OF twenty-five years. When this Obliga-
tion shall have been discharged by the
child and the period Of his minority shall
have been terminated, the reason for the
obligation ceasing, the child acquires a
right to control his own labor.
The same principle, ! think, is involved
in the title Of the community to the service
of paupers and vagrants. Having provided
him with shelter, food, raiment, and pro-
lection, the community acquires = right, a
just title to the service Of the pauper or the
vagrant until it shall have received in re-
turn just equivalent for the means thus
apDliQd for his bpnQf3t
The same principle is involved in express
contracts. II is held believe, by all ju-
rists that a contract without consideration
is void; or at least it is vOidable on proving
the absence or failure of considerations
Then there is no difference in principle be-.
tween an express and an implied contract i;
nor between contract for service to he
performed and money to be paid; their va
lidity depends on TN existence Of a consid-
GRAFTON.
This leads me to inquire for the origin of
the title of the slaveholderto the services of
the slave. Whence did it originate? What
has he done for his slaves that places them
under obligations to serve him? If you
press this question he will say that he
bought his slave. Well, of whom did he
buy him, and what title had the vendor to
the property sold? He bought him of an
other, and 80 back in the chain of title un-
til finally, you will be told that he con-
quered him on the battlefield; he was a
captive in war; and the conquerer on the
battlefield acquired the right to control
the vanquished, the prisoner; and accord
ing to the usage Of civilized nations this
right would continue until the prisoner
thus captured Is fairly exchanged. or until
the end of the war, when the prisoner would
have to abide the conditions Of the terms OF
peace.
Now I will suppose that the prisoners
thus captured are never exchanged; that
no terms are ever agreed upon; that the
war never ends, or that in settling the con-
ditions of peace, the freedom of the pris-
oner IL not included; and then it will fol-
low that the title Of the victor to the van
quished would continue during his natural
life; but the captor could not, on any prin-
ciples Of justice with which we are acquain-
ted, extend his claim beyond this PERIOD
And il not, whence his title to the services
of the captive's offspring, from generation
to generation? According to orr ideas OF
Justice, it would be wrong to punish child
for the crimes Of his father; it would be
very cruel to visit on the offspring the mis-
fortune Of the parent. We are told by the
divine writer that the saying should NO
longer be maintained in Israel, that the
fathers have eaten sour grapes and that the
children's s teeth are set on edge. Whence,
then, the origin Of the Shareholders title to
the services Of the slaves children? Here
is the only answer that can be given: Par
tus seqal:tur UentreDs. This is the whole IL
tie, the title deed on which he must rely:
the offspring follows the condition of the
mother.
But why is the offspring required to fol-
low the condition Of the parent? is the
question at issue. On what reason is this
claim founded? To assert the existence OF
the custom, in law Latin, is not an answer
TO the inquiry. Finding the allegation in
the Latin tongue, or in the old Roman code,
may be satisfactory proof Of the existence
Of the custom Of enslaving the children OF
slave mothers among the old nations. As
n historical fact this may be admitted. 1t
may he admitted that this custom has been
handed down to the Christian era, and to
the present times, and is even now main
tanned in some of the States of the Union.
But this does not answer the question as to
the origin Of the title, the reason by which
it is supported, or the justice OF the claim.
For polygamy has had an equal antiquity;
1t, too, existed among the old nations, in
cluding the Hebrews, who lived under a
theocracy, and it too has been banded down
from them to the new era and has been toll
Grated bv some of the nations to the present
hour. and until within two or three years
last past, was tolerated by the local laws OF
a Territory within the jurisdiction OF the
United States. II antiquity justified the one
does it not equally justify the otherr
But again, sir, the immolation Of human
victims and their sacrifice to idols made 0i
stocks and stones and beasts and creeping
things and imaginary deities, representing
the basest passions known to the human
mind, had great antiquity; that custom,
too. has been tolerated from the beginning
Of history down to the present moment. II
antiquity of custom justifies it, is not this
aboniuation as equally we'll sustained as
slave,v3
At a very early period, we are informed
IN history. men ate the flesh OF those they
yano uis6ed in battle; and even that loathe-
some custom now exists in some OF the pop
ulous islands OF the Southern Seas. II the
antiquity Of the custom jnsttfies the en-
avsment Of the children Of the slave moth
er doe it not equally well justify this nor
rible custom als0f
But It may b said that the slave mother, not her
owing all the service which she can reason
ablv perform to her master, can have ne
time or means to apply in the support o.
her own ofIspring, and therefore whatever
Of labor or means may be applied by ner N
providing for her children belongs to the
owner Of the mother, 30 that the offspring
In that case wOuld not owe service IN re-