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Show 70 ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCE are ell:ablifl1ed by the voice of God, mull: contain in their annihilation a folid argument to prove, that there cannot be any property whatever in the human jpecies. We may confider alfo, as a farther confirmation, that it is impoilible, in the nature of things, that liberty can be bought or .fold I It is neither }lleable, nor purchq[able. For if any one man can have an abfolute property in the liberty of another, or, in other words, if he, who is called a mafler, can have a jlffl right to command the actions of him, who is called aflave, it is evident that the latter cannot be accountable for thofe crimes, which the former may order him to commit. Now as every reafonable being is accountable for his actions, it is evident, that fuch a right cannot jlfflly exill:, and that human liberty, of collrfe, is beyond the poflibility either of .fole or purchaft. Add to this, that, whenever you fell the liberty of a man, you have the power only of alluding to the body: the mind cannot be confined or bound: it will be free, though its manfion be befet with chains. But if, in every fale of the human .JPecies, you are under the neceility of con- (idering OF THE HuMAN SPECIES. fide ring your llave in this abfhacted light; of alluding only to the body, and of making no all ufion to the mind ; you are under the neceility alfo of treating him, in the fame moment, as a brute, and of abufing therefore that nature, which cannot otherwife be confidered, than in the double capacity of .foul and body. But fame perfon, perhaps, will make an objection to one of the former arguments. If men, from the .fuperiority of their nature, cannot be confidered, like lands, goods, or houfes, among poifeilions, fo neither can cattle: for being endued with life, motion, and fenlibility, they are evidently .fuperiour to thefe." But t)lis objection will receive its anfwer from thofe obfervations which have been already made; and will difcover the true reafon, why cattle are ju(l]y to be efl:itnated as property. For firll:, the right to empire over brutes, is rl{ltural, and not adventitious, like the right to empire over men. There are, (econdly, many and evident ligns of the in.feriority of their nature; and thirdly, theirliberty can be bought and fold, becaufe, being void of reafon, they cannot be accountable for their actio1,s. E 4 We |