is, therefore, a slave, whether the fruit of his labour be taken from
him directly or indirectly. If it be said, that he gives up this fruit
of his labour by his own will, and that it is _not forced from him_. I
answer, To be sure he _may_ avoid eating and drinking and may go naked;
but, then he must _die_; and on this condition, and this condition only,
can he refuse to give up the fruit of his labour; 'Die, wretch, or
surrender as much of your income, or the fruit of your labour as your
masters choose to take.' This is, in fact, the language of the rulers to
every man who is refused to have a share in the making of the laws to
which he is _forced_ to submit.

345. But, some one may say, slaves are _private property_, and may _be
bought and sold_, out and out, like cattle. And, what is it to the
slave, whether he be property of _one_ or of _many_; or, what matters it
to him, whether he pass from master to master by a sale for an
indefinite term, or be let to hire by the year, month, or week? It is,
in no case, the flesh and blood and bones that are sold, but the
_labour_; and, if you actually sell the labour of man, is not that man
_a slave_, though you sell it for only a short time at once? And, as to
the principle, so ostentatiously displayed in the case of the _black_
slave-trade, that '_man_ ought not to have _a property in man_,' it is
even an advantage to the slave to be private property, because the owner
has then a clear and powerful _interest_ in the preservation of his
life, health and strength, and will, therefore, furnish him amply with
the food and raiment necessary for these ends. Every one knows, that
public property is never so well taken care of as private property; and
this, too, on the maxim, that 'that which is every body's business is
nobody's business.' Every one knows that a _rented_ farm is not so well
kept in heart, as a farm in the hands of the _owner_. And as to
_punishments_ and _restraints_, what difference is there, whether these
be inflicted and imposed by a private owner, or his overseer, or by the
agents and overseers of a body of proprietors? In short, if you can
cause a man to be imprisoned or whipped if he do not work enough to
please you; if you can sell him by auction for a time limited; if you
can forcibly separate him from his wife to prevent their having
children; if you can shut him up in his dwelling place when you please,
and for as long a time as you please; if you can forc