CHAPTER VII.
OWNERSHIP IN MAN .-- THE OLD TESTAMENT SLAVERY.
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; FOR THIS IS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS." HOLY WRIT.
The rain still poured down in the morning, making it agreeable to us that we had the prospect of an uninterrupted forenoon for our conversation.
So when we found ourselves together again in the course of the forenoon, by the fire, we opened the discussion.
Mr.North inquired what I understood by the term "owning a fellow-creature." "I understand by it," I replied, "a right to use, and to dispose of, the services of another, wholly at my will.

That will must be subject to the whole law of God, which includes the golden rule.

I do not mean by it that a man owns the body of a man in such a sense that he can maim it at will, or in any way abuse it.

Ownership in men is power to use their services and to dispose of them, at will." "Now," said he, "who gives you a right to go to Africa or to a slave auction and to say to a human being, 'I propose to own you.' How would you like to have a black man come to you in a solitary place and say, 'My dear Sir, I propose to own you.

Henceforth your services are subject to my will.' ?" "As to Africa," said I, "and making slaves of those who are now free, we cannot differ.