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Show 106 ON THE SLAVERY AND COMMERCE made capable of being trmu(erred, becaufe no government whatfoever is inveil:ed with fu ch a power. Thus then may that flavery, in which only the idea of labour is included, be perfeCtly equitable, and the delinquent will always receive his punilhmcnt as a man; whereas in that, which additionally includes the idea of property, and to undergo which, the delinquen't mull: previoully change his nature, and become a brute; there is an inconfiil:ency, which no arguments can reconcile, and a contradiCtion to every principle of nature, which a man need only to appeal to his own feelings immediately to evince. And we will venture to alfert, from the united obfervations that have been made upon the fubjecr, in oppofition to any arguments that may be advanced, that there is fcarcely one of thofe, who are called African conviCts, on whom the prince has a right to infliCt a punilhment at all; and that there is no one whatever, whom he has a power offentencing to labour for the benefit of an unolfendcd individual, and much lefs whom he has a right to fell. Having oF T!IE HuMAN SPECIES. "'* Having now fully examined the arguments of thejeJ!l'rs, and having made fuch additional remarks ns were nece1I1ry, we have only to add, that we cannot fufliciently exprefs our deteil:ation at their conduCt. Were the reader coolly to refleCt upon the cafe of but one of the unfortunate men, who arc annually the viCtims of avarice, and confider his Jituation in life, as a father, an huiband, or a friend, we are fure, that even on fuch a partial refleCtion, he mull: experience confiderable pain. What then mull: be his feeling s, when he is told, that, fince the llavc-trade began, t nine 111i!liom of men have been torn from their deareil: conneCtions, and fold into llavery. If at this recital his indignation lhould arife, let him confider it as the genuine produc- • There are inllances on the African continent, of parenJs felling their cbildre/1. As the Oavcs of this dcfcription are fo few, and arc fo irregularly obtained, we did not think it worth our while to confider them as forming a11 order; :md, as God never gave the parent a power over his child to make him mft rable, we tr~ft that any fanhcr mention of them will be unnecc!fary. . t Ab\>c Raynal, 1-lifi. PI,i!. vol. 4· P. 'H· tion |