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THOUGHTS
UPON
SLAVERY.
THE FIFTH EDITION.
By JOHN WESLEY, A. M.
LONDON:
Printed by G. Paramore, North Green, Worship-Street;and sold by G. Whitfield, at the Chapel, City-Road; and at theMethodist Preaching-Houses, in Town and Country. 1792.
[Price TWO-PENCE.]
I.
1. By Slavery I mean Domestic Slavery, or that of aservant to a master. A late ingenious Writerwell observes, “The variety of forms in which Slaveryappears, makes it almost impossible to convey a justnotion of it, by way of definition. There are howevercertain properties which have accompanied Slavery inmost places, whereby it is easily distinguished from thatmild domestic service which obtains in our country.”[1]
[1] See Mr. Hargrave’s Plea for Somerset the Negro.
2. Slavery imports an obligation of perpetual service,an obligation which only the consent of the master candissolve. Neither in some countries can the master himselfdissolve it, without the consent of judges appointedby the law. It generally gives the master an arbitrarypower of any correction, not affecting life or limb.Sometimes even these are exposed to his will: or protectedonly by a fine, or some slight punishment, tooinconsiderable to restrain a master of a harsh temper.It creates an incapacity of acquiring any thing, exceptfor the master’s benefit. It allows the master to alienatethe Slave, in the same manner as his cows and horses.Lastly it descends in its full extent from parent to child,even to the last generation.
3. The beginning of this may be dated from the remotestperiod, of which we have an account in history.It commenced in the barbarous State of Society, and inprocess of time spread into all nations. It prevailedparticularly among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans,and the ancient Germans: and was transmitted by themto the various kingdoms and states, which arose out ofthe Roman empire. But after christianity prevailed, itgradually fell into decline in almost all parts of Europe.This great change began in Spain, about the end of theeighth century: and was become general in most otherkingdoms of Europe, before the middle of the fourteenth.
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4. From this time Slavery was nearly extinct, tillthe commencement of the sixteenth century, when thediscovery of America, and of the Western and Easterncoasts of Africa, gave occasion to the revival of it. Ittook its rise from the Portuguese, who to supp