exist at all, since there are no other
maxims, on which it can be founded, even in the most equitable wars.

But if these things are so; if slavery cannot be defended even in the
most _equitable_ wars, what arguments will not be found against
that servitude, which arises from those, that are _unjust?_ Which
arises from those African wars, that relate to the present subject? The
African princes, corrupted by the merchants of Europe, seek every
opportunity of quarrelling with one another. Every spark is blown into a
flame; and war is undertaken from no other consideration, than that
_of procuring slaves:_ while the Europeans, on the other hand,
happy in the quarrels which they have thus excited, supply them with
arms and ammunition for the accomplishment of their horrid purpose. Thus
has Africa, for the space of two hundred years, been the scene of the
most iniquitous and bloody wars; and thus have many thousands of men, in
the most iniquitous manner, been sent into servitude.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 043: _Jure Gentium_ servi nostri sunt, qui ab hostibus
capiuntur. Justinian, L. 1. 5. 5. 1.]

[Footnote 044: _Serverum_ appellatio ex eo fluxit, quod imperatores
nostri captivos vendere, ac per hoc _servare_, nec occidere
solent.]

[Footnote 045: Nam sive victoribus _jure captivitatis_ servissent,
&c. Justin, L. 4. 3. et passim apud scriptores antiquos.]

[Footnote 046: Neque est contra naturam spoliare eum, si possis, quem
honestum est necare. Cicero de officiis. L. 3. 6.]

[Footnote 047: 1. Ut liberi suis legibus viverent. Livy, L. 30. 37. 2.
Decem millia talentum argenti descripta pensionibus aequis in annos
quinquaginta solverent. Ibid. 3. Et naves rostratas, praeter decem
triremes, traderent, elephantosque, quos haberent domitos; neque
domarent alios; Bellum neve in Africa, neve extra Africam, injussu P. R.
gererent, &c. Ibid.]

* * * * *

CHAP. VIII.

We shall beg leave, before we proceed to the arguments of the
_purchasers_, to add the following observations to the substance of
the three preceding chapters.

As the two orders of men, of those who are privately kidnapped by
individuals, and of those who are publickly seized by virtue of the
authority of their prince, compose together, at least[048], nine tenths
of the African slaves, they cannot contain, upon a moderate computation,
less than ninety thousan