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Show 176 DESPOTISM In these considcra1ions we shall find a complete reply to a taunt frcqucn11y thrown in our teeth by the advocates of the Jcaality of slavery. \tVhat rnore absurd, they ~ay, th~n to question a legality recognized and admitted ever since the settlement of the country! But why absurd? From a period long preceding the settlement of North America down to the famous decision in Somerset's case, three or four years before our declaration of independence, the legality of slavery was also recognized and admitted in England. It required the indefatigable per~evcrance of a Granville Sharpe, the enlightened humanity of a lVIansftcld, an age awake to the rights of humanity, and a communi1y frC'c, in a great measure, from the bias of interest, to draw up "from the deep well of the law" that "amiable and admirable secret," "No stave can breathe in Englund." " The Jmowle<.lge of the law," says my Lord Coke, "is lilw a deep well, out of which each man draweth according to the strength of his understanding.". ls it too much to hope, that we shall yet have Amencan judges with hearts and understandings strong enough to draw up out of that same deep well the twin secret, that there is not, and never was, any legal ~lavery in America 7 It is not strength of understanding that has failed us. Have we not had on the bench of the United States Supreme Court a Jay, a Wilson, a Marshall, a Story? What has been lack· ina is heart, conscience, courage; more than all, the su~rounding support of an enlightened and ~mma~e public opinion, to sustain our judges in lookmg th1s lurking devil of slavery in the face. No court of justice in the United States has ever yet dared do 1t, lest being called upon to decide against the legality of slavery, they might be called upon, m so domg, to ~et at defiance a conglomcra1ion of interests aud preJUdices which they hav·c not had courage to brave, lN AMERICA. 177 which no prudent court could be expected to brave. And what has been wanting, no less than a fearless court, a court daring enough to face, in the cause of justice and right, the ferocious prejudices of a fero. cious nation-has been, a learned, independent, fearless bar. 'fhc court alone, unaided by the bar, is incapable of administering justice. I)oints must first be presented, before they can be decided; and how much depends on the manner and the medium of their presentation! Would the English law of treason ever have been stripped of so many of its terrors, and reduced so much within the limits of justice and moderation, but for the earnest struggles of an Erskine and a Curran? Had O'Connell been an ordinary lawyer, or an ordinary culprit, would the English House of Lords ever have seen those flawt~ in his indictment which the Irish judges had overlooked? No council has ever yet been retained for the slaves; no body of influential friends has ever appeared, to impress upon the judges the necessity of serious investigation, and to assure them of support in sustaining the right. 'rhc case has gone by default; or rather, it has never yet been entered in court. SECTION II. Slavery as a Colonial Institution. Servitude in the Middle Ages existed in England under two forms. Villeins in gross were slavel:i, in several respects the same as ours, transferable from master to master, like any other chattel. Villeins regardant were serfs, attached to the soil, in~eparable from it, and transferable only with it. These same two forms of servitude, but recently aboli~hed in Hungary, may still be seen in Rusijia. Villeinage |