Page:Copley 1844 A History of Slavery and its Abolition 2nd Ed.djvu/38

20  Or, if the will and sovereignty of God, Bids suffer it awhile, and kiss the rod. Wait for the dawning of a brighter day. And snap the chain the moment when you may."

 

If liberty is the birthright of every human being, in what manner have persons become slaves? This is a very natural question. We should think liberty so dear a blessing, that every one would most strenuously maintain and defend it, and watch against every thing that might endanger it. Fellow feeling, we should think, would also prompt every man to defend this sacred right of his neighbour against encroachment; and that, if an attempt should be made to enslave one man, the whole neighbourhood would rise to defend or rescue him; and that thus slavery must be of very rare occurrence, and its extensive prevalence absolutely impossible. This, however, is very far from being the true state of the case.

Among the causes of slavery may be mentioned—


 * 1) Crime.—On account of their crimes, some persons have been condemned to labour in a state of slavery for a limited time, or for the remainder of life.
 * 2) Captives taken in war have been either detained and employed as slaves in public works, or sold to individuals, or appropriated by the captors for their own private use, as any other part of the booty taken in war. Persons thus becoming slaves,