Page:Copley 1844 A History of Slavery and its Abolition 2nd Ed.djvu/27

Rh and considerate than others; but, in point of law, whatever property a slave may acquire, belongs to his master. More than this, however kind the master may be, if he should happen to be unfortunate and poor, the slave, and all he has, may be sold for the payment of his master's debts; and under a new master he may be overworked, and beaten, and starved, even to death, and no one to take his part, or restrain his cruel oppressor.

Even a prisoner in England is better off than a slave. He may, for his crimes, be separated from society, confined in a prison, kept to hard labour, and fed upon bread and water; but, in all this, he is subject not to the will of another individual, but to the laws of his country. In the first place, if he had been obedient to the laws, he would not have been exposed to these hardships; and, in the next place, the jailor dares not punish him as much as he pleases, but as much, and no more, than the sentence of the law directs. He dares not keep him in prison a day longer than the appointed time, or make him suffer any hardship or privation beyond what his sentence directs: and, lest one man, being put in trust, might be tempted to be cruel and tyrannical to those under his care, there are many magistrates appointed in every county, whose duty it is to inspect prisons, and take care that prisoners are treated with justice and humanity by inferior officers. In a land of liberty, there is no such thing known, as "the entire subjection of one human being to the will of another;" there is no slavery!