Page:A Chapter on Slavery.djvu/18

 in power. It is simply the result of circumstances so operating as to permit that natural love of rule, which exists in every unregenerate heart, to carry itself into act and unrestrained indulgence. Hence we may expect to find the custom of slavery existing from very ancient times. For as soon as evil was born in the human heart, that self-love, which is its essential principle, would begin to show itself in the desire to bring others into subjection and servitude. The father would tyrannize over his children, the older brother over the younger ones, the stronger over the weaker. The patriarch would seek to exercise absolute sway over his family and dependents; and in the contests, which self-love would soon cause to arise between one shepherd and another, captives would be taken, who would at once be made slaves, — that is, would be compelled to remain in subjection to their conqueror, and labor for his comfort and at his pleasure. Wherever might is made the only law of right, a state of slavery at once ensues. Then, as communities became enlarged, and small kingdoms established, the king or ruler would be the master of his subjects, holding their property and lives at his disposal Such, we know, is the state of nearly all Oriental countries to this day: the inhabitants are all in a manner slaves, — the king is their general master. The example set by the superior would be followed by inferiors: each subject would, in his turn, have slaves, as many as he was able to procure and support. These would be captives taken in war, or sometimes insolvent debtors, or, in fine, any persons whom superior wealth or power could bring into one's possession. Thus slavery, beginning in early times,