SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE TRADE. The word slavery has various acceptation, but its complete meaning is the condition of an individual who is the property of another or others. Such was the condition of the " servi," or slaves among the Romans and Greeks ; such is still that of the slaves in Eastern countries, and that of the negro slaves in many parts of Africa and America. A mitigated form of this condition exists in the case of the serfs in Russia and Poland, and of a similar class in In dia and some other parts of Asia. The Russian and Polish serf is bound to the soil on which he is born ; he may be sold or let with it, but cannot be sold away from it without his consent ; he is obliged to work three or four days a-week for his master, who allows him a piece of land, which he cultivates. He can marry, and his wife and children are under his au thority till they are of age. He can be queath his chattels and savings at his death. His life is protected by the law. The slave of the Greek and Roman na tions had none of these advantages, any more than the negro slave of our own times ; he was bought and sold iu the market, and was transferred at his owner's pleasure ; he could acquire no property ; all that he had was his master's ; all the produce of his labour belonged to his master, who could inflict corporeal pu nishment upon him ; he could not marry ; and if he cohabited with a woman, he could be separated from her and his chil dren at any time, and the woman and children sold. The distinction therefore between the slave and the serf is essen tial. The villeins (villani) of the middle ages were a kind of serfs, but their condi tion seems to have varied considerably according to times and localities. In the present article we treat only of the real slave of antient and modern times.
Slavery, properly so called, appears to have been, from the earliest ages, the con dition of a large proportion of mankind in almost every country, until times com paratively recent, when it has been gra dually abolished by all Christian states, at lout iu Europe. The condition of slavery constitutes one great difference between antient and modern society. Slavery ex isted among the Jews : it existed before Moses, in the time of the Patriarchs ; and it existed, and still continues to exist, in many parts of Asia. The " servants " mentioned in Scripture history were mostly slaves : they were strangers, either taken prisoners in war or purchased from the neighbouring nations. They and their
offspring were the property of their mas ters, who could sell them, and inflict upon them corporeal punishment, and even in some cases could put them to death. But the Hebrews had also slaves of their own nation. These were men who sold them selves through poverty, or they were in solvent debtors, or men who had com mitted a theft, and had not the means of making restitution as required by the law, which was to double the amount, and in some cases much more. ( Erod. xxii.) Not only the person of the debtor was liable to the claims of the creditor, but his right extended also to the debtor's wife and chil dren. Moses regulated the condition of slavery. He drew a wide distinction be tween the alien slave and the native ser vant. The latter could not be a perpetual bondman, but might be redeemed ; and if not redeemed, he became free on the completion of the seventh year of his ser vitude. Again, every fifty years the ju bilee caused a general emancipation of all native servants.
The sources of the supply of slaves have been the same both in antient and modern times. In antient times all pri soners were reduced to slavery, being either distributed among the officers and men of the conquering army, or sold. When the early /Eolian and Ionian colonies settled in the islands of the /Egean Sea, and on the coast of Asia Minor, it was a frequent practice with them to kill the adult males of the aboriginal po pulation, and to keep the women and children. As, however, dealing in slaves became a profitable trade, the vanquished, instead of being killed, were sold, and this was so far an improvement. Another source of slavery was the practice of kid napping men and women. especially young persons, who were seized on the coast, or enticed on board by the crews of piratical vessels. The Phmnicians, and the Etruscans or Tyrrhenian, had the character of being men-stealers; and also the Cretans, Cilicians, Rhodians, and other maritime states. Another source was, sale of men, either by them selves through poverty and distress, or by their relatives and superiors, as is done now by the petty African chiefs, who sell not only their prisoners, hut their own subjects, and even their children, to the slave-dealers. Herodotus (v. 6) states that some of the Thracian tribes sold their children to foreign dealers.