Page:Copley 1844 A History of Slavery and its Abolition 2nd Ed.djvu/24

6 or any neighbour who observes it may have the cruel parents taken before a magistrate, and punished according to their crime, while the poor child is properly taken care of. So, though an infant is entirely subject to its parents, it is not subject to their will. The laws of God and man protect it; and, if the will' of the parents is to do ill by their child, the will of the law is that they shall suffer for it. But all this is very different from slavery. The master is not entrusted with the slave by any law of God or nature; there is no tie of affection to bind them to each other, and to secure the wise, and kind, and beneficial exercise of authority on the part of the master, or to bind the slave to willing and cheerful obedience. Then again, it is not the good of the slave that the master has in view in the relation, but his own profit. It is not that the slave-master undertakes to protect the helpless, till they have strength and ability to take care of themselves, and then let them go free. The grown up slaves are quite as capable as he is of taking care of themselves and their children, and would much rather do it their own way. Beside, the master has no intention of letting them go free at any future time: he will either employ them in his service as long as they live, or sell them to some other person.

An apprentice is subject to the will of his master; but not absolutely, or without conditions. For, first, he is at liberty to choose his own trade and master, nor can he be bound to serve but with his own consent. It is usual for a youth who is about to be apprenticed, to try for a short time first, on purpose that he may be able to judge whether he shall be likely to be satisfied with the conditions of