wonder, when we reflect on the inconsistencies of human nature. In all ages of the world, the men, who have been most jealous of liberty in their own persons, have been most willing to take it from others. The boon is too sweet to be distributed. The highest zest is given to the enjoyment by contrast. The liberty coveted is that resulting from instant obedience to every species of authority, in other words, the liberty of despotism. If an ancient traveller had wished to have seen the greatest amount of solid happiness, enjoyed by all ranks, he must have left republican Sparta and Athens, and visited the monarchy of Macedon. We ought, however, to consider that the civil polity of Greece was in general so arranged as, perhaps, to render slavery indispensable. The institutions of Minos, Lycurgus, and Solon, derived, doubtless, in a great measure from Egypt or from some other oriental source, were in many respects fundamentally wrong. They made agriculture, manufactures, mercantile pursuits, and all the useful arts, unpopular. The free citizens were intended either for soldiers, or politicians; the latter oftentimes furnishing employment for the former. Sparta, as has been remarked, was saved by war and ruined by peace. The theory of Lycurgus, in more than one respect, was at war with the human race. He instilled a stoical fortitude into the bosoms of the Spartans, which found no opportunity for exercise, except in enduring the chances of war, or witnessing the anguish of the Helots.

In the numerous wars, which desolated, and finally in conjunction with other causes, ruined the Grecian States, there was one signal alleviation. In the twenty seven years of the Peloponnesian war, along with the various miseries, which it occasioned, it brought very important benefits to the slaves. When all the neighbouring republics were friendly, the slave looked around in vain for refuge from the cruelty of an inhuman mas

but if they were hostile, it behoved equally the wealthy despot of many slaves, and the poor tyrant of one, to beware how he set the wretch upon comparing the risk of desertion with the hope of a better service. Even at Athens, where in general, they were better treated than elsewhere, war produced regulations to soften their condition. In the comedy of Aristophanes called the Clouds, (v. 7) we find an old country gentleman of Attica ludicrously execrating the war, because he was no longer allowed to beat his slaves.

The Grecian States suffered one of the most common and

pernicious evils of slavery-the absence of an enlightened and virtuous middle class ;-that part in society, which constitutes its true glory and defence. In Athens, this class of men could not be entrusted with any public office, give their votes in the assemblies, or have any share in the government. They were obliged patiently to submit to all the laws enacted by the citizens. Aristophanes compares them to chaff, as being an unprofitable and useless part of the commonwealth. The women were obliged to carry vessels of water, and also umbrellas to defend the free women from the weather. The men were taxed twelve drachmas annually, and the women six. Upon nonpayment of this tax, they were liable to be sold into slavery. Diogenes Laertius was actually sold because he had not wherewithal to pay this tribute. This was a natural effect of the institution of slavery. Almost every species of manual labour was considered degrading because performed by slaves. Emigrants, foreigners, and all those, who were not citizens, were in general compelled to resort to personal labour in order to obtain a subsistence. Consequently in the view of public opinion, they were fit subjects for oppression and insult. They stood between the slaves and freemen, and felt little sympathy for either, and in case of an insurrection, took part with the strongest. It was a grand defect in the Grecian forms of government, that they did not adequately provide for all the classes in the community. A large part of the population was cut off from all sympathy with the country. Where slaves abound, rich men can dispense with the labour of the poor, while the poor profit, in no way, from the prosperity of the rich. The consequences of this state of things forms one of the most prominent features of Grecian history.

Greece was at length absorbed in the Roman empire. Subsequently, the Roman slave trade, in that part of the world, seems to have been mainly carried on at Delos. That island rose into importance, as a commercial place, after the fall of Corinth, and grew an entrepôt, for trade of every sort, between the East and West, but principally for that in slaves. It was resorted to by the Romans more than by any other people, and the slave trade, which they encouraged, was so brisk, that the port became proverbial for such traffic, and was capable, says Strabo, of importing and re-exporting 10,000 slaves in a single day. The Cilician pirates made Delos the great staple for the sale of their captives, which was a very gainful part of their ocVOL. V. No. 17.

21

cupation. Delos ceased to be the great mart, after the Mithridatic war; and it seems probable, that, afterwards, the slave trade was transferred to the various ports nearest those countries, whence the slaves came; and, therefore, perhaps, to the cities upon the Euxine, to which the Romans might not have made direct voyages at an earlier time. Corinth was long the chief slave mart of Greece, and, from its situation, was likely to have much communication with the ports on the eastern side of Italy; but we meet with no authority for believing, that the Romans resorted much thither for slaves, or other commodities, before their conquest of Greece.

In the epistles of Paul to the Grecian churches, there are a few allusions to slavery. Many of the poor choenix-measurers of Corinth, weary and heavy laden, doubtless welcomed with great eagerness, the doctrines of the gospel. Though among the foolish and weak, and despised things of that luxurious metropolis, yet God chose them to be the freemen of the heavenly city. The instructions which Paul gave to them were of this tenour: "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant (doulos)? care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman; likewise, he that is called being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God." The exhortation which Paul gives to the Thessalonians respecting manual labour, shows what class of the community he was addressing. The same apostle directs Titus, who had been left in Crete, where peasants and slaves, bearing the name of Periaeci, Clarotae, and Mnoitae, had existed from the earliest times, to "exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things."3 The apostle here adverts to those vices, to which slaves in all ages, have been peculiarly addicted-pilfering and petulance. The maid at Philippi, who had the spirit of divination, or of a

1 Cor. 7: 20-24.

2

21. Thess. 4:11. 2 Thess. 3: 10, 11, 12.

3 Titus 2: 9, 10. also Aristotle's Politics, bk. 2.

soothsaying demon, and who was very profitable to her masters, was doubtless a slave.1

There does not seem to have been any material difference on the whole, between the treatment experienced by the slaves under the Grecian and the Roman governments. The Helots might have enjoyed some advantages from the fact that they were the property of the State, and lived away from the immediate controul of masters, in a condition somewhat similar to that of the serfs of modern Russia, yet they were liable to the horrible cryptia. Previously to the reign of Antoninus Pius, the slave at Rome was much less protected by law and public feeling than the slave at Athens. At Sparta, slaves seem to have had hardly any hopes of ever being admitted amongst freemen. At Athens, emancipation was frequent; but the privileges of citizens rarely followed, even to a limited extent, and were conferred by public authority only. At Rome, the lowest slave could always look forward to manumission, and to obtaining the rank of a citizen, through the sole will of his master. Still, the Romans, like the Greeks, never came so far from the original view, of slaves being the absolute property of their owner, as to consider the master's rights limited to the unpaid services of the slave, and his powers restricted, to those of a domestic magistrate, for correction of slight misconduct, and for enforcement of obedience and exertion.2

The

The effect of Christianity, in meliorating the usage of slaves, though not sudden, was important. The various Christian emperours issued decrees, abridging the power of masters, and raising slaves above the level of insentient creatures. church openly condemned the barbarous treatment of slaves. Clemens Alexandrinus in the close of the second century, forbade the bishop to accept the oblations of cruel and sanguinary masters. At last Justinian did most to encourage improvement in the condition of bondmen, and to promote the ultimate extinction of slavery.3

1 Acts 16: 16.

2 See William Blair's Inquiry into the State of Slavery among the Romans, London 1833. Also Dunlop's History of Roman Literature. 3 Gibbon's Hist. Decline and Fall, chap. 44.

ARTICLE VI.

THE BRITISH WEST INDIES.

By the Editor.

THE possessions of Great Britain in and around the gulf of Mexico cannot fail to be objects of great interest to the inhabitants of the United States. They lie close upon our borders. The channels of communication are numerous and unobstructed. Exchanges in articles of commerce are varied and of great importance. The colonies are now, as we were once, dependencies of an European State. In addition, the climate, scenery, natural productions, and, particularly, certain classes of the population, present striking points of analogy to the Southern portions of this country. The sympathies between the coloured inhabitants of the two regions must become more and more quick and extensive. Moral and political changes in the West Indies must exert a gradual but finally a great effect on the servile population of this Union. No legal enactments, no armed cordon around Florida can prevent it. News of the progress of freedom will fly faster than civil proclamations. Human sympathies cannot be blocked up by negotiations nor by ships of war. Rumours of this sort will float on the winds of heaven. Besides, one of the most interesting experiments ever witnessed on the earth, is now in the first processes of developement. On the first of August 1834, a great number of human beings in the West Indies ceased to be slaves. They are now the subjects of written laws, of a free constitution, and of a limited monarchy, instead of an irresponsible will, and of a grinding bondage. This great change was effected too, not as in the case of Hayti, by the sword of civil and servile war, but by moral influence perseveringly exerted. In carrying the emancipation-bill through parliament, the British nation exhibited a far nobler spectacle, than in conquering the hundred millions of Eastern India, or in staying, on the fields of Belgium, the modern despot, or even in carrying her representative reform through fierce opposition to full success. It was a great achievement of philanthropy, wrought out before the civilized world. Still, the experiment is only in its inceptive stage. The negroes are yet,