SLAVE, SLAVERY, SLAVE-TRADE. The word slavery has various acceptations, 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 io Eastern countries, and that of the negro slaves in many parts of Africa and America. A mitigated form of this condition has existed up to the present time in the case of the serfs in Russia and Poland, though in the former, at least, it is about to be abolished ; and still exists among a similar class in India 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 can not 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 authority till they are of age. He can bequeath hie chattels and savings at his death. His life is protected by the law. ' The slave of the Greek and Roman nations had none of them advan tages, any more than the negro slave of our own times; he was bought and sold in 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 punishment upon him ; he could not marry; and if he ' cohabited with a woman, he could be separated from her and his children at any time, and the woman and children sold The distinc tion therefore between the slave and the serf is essential. The villeins of the middle ages were a kind of serfs, but their condition seems to have varied considerably according to times and localities. In the present article we treat only of the real slave of ancient and modern times.
Slavery, properly so called, appears to have been, from the earliest ages, the condition of a large proportion of mankind in almost every country, until times comparatively recent, when it has been gradually abolished by all Christian states, at least in Europe. The condition of slavery constitutes one great difference between ancient and modern society. Slavery existed 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 masters, who could sell them, and inflict upon them corporeal punishment, and even iu some cases put them to death. But the Hebrews had also slaves of their own nation. These were men who sold themselves through poverty, or they were insolvent debtors, or men who had committed it 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. (Exod. xxii.) Not only the person of the debtor was liable to the claims of the creditor, hut his right extended also to the debtor's wife and children. Moses regulated the condition of slavery. He drew a wide distinction between the alien slave and the native servant. 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 servitude Again, every fifty years the jubilee caused a general emancipation of all native servants.
The sources of the supply of slaves have been the same both in ancient and modern times. In ancient times all prisoners 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 Aoriginal population, and to keep the women and children. As, however, dealing in slaves became it 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 Phoenicians, and the Etruscans or Tyrrhenians, had the character of being men-stealers ; and also the Cretans, Ciliciaus, Rhodians and other maritime states. Another source was, sale of men, either by themselves, through poverty and distress, or by their relatives and superiors, as is done now by the pttty 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.