[58] Scott Robertson, op. cit. p. 99 sq.
Among the nations of archaic civilisation slavery presents essentially the same characteristics as among the lower races. In ancient Mexico there were various classes of slaves—prisoners of war, criminals condemned to lose their freedom, children sold by their parents, and persons who had sold themselves. The relations between master and slave are represented as friendly.[59] “Slavery in Mexico.” says Mr. Bancroft, “was, according to all accounts, a moderate subjection, consisting merely of an obligation to render personal service, nor could that be exacted without allowing the slave a certain amount of time to labour for his own advantage.”[60] Masters could not sell their slaves without their consent, unless they were slaves with a collar, that is, runaway, rebellious, or vicious slaves, who in spite of two or three warnings did not mend their behaviour.[61] Their children were invariably born free;[62] and when their masters died they generally became free themselves.[63]
[59] Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, ii. 217, 221.
[60] Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, ii. 220 sq.
[61] Clavigero, History of Mexico, i. 360.
[62] Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 221.
[63] Clavigero, op. cit. i. 360.
In China the slave class is composed of prisoners of war, of persons who sell themselves or are sold by others, and of the children of slaves;[64] and in former days public slavery was a punishment for crime.[65] It is true that the penal code forbids the sale of free persons; according to the letter of the text even the father of a family must not sell his children,[66] and persons who voluntarily submit themselves to be sold are punished by law.[67] But these regulations are frequently transgressed; in times of distress children are often sold by their parents, and the kidnapping of children is an even more common source from which the supply of slaves is kept up.[68] The master’s power over his slave is not quite absolute,[69] but it seems to be fully as great as the father’s power over his child.[70] A master who falsely accuses his slave suffers no punishment for it; on the other hand, a slave cannot complain in a court of justice of ill-treatment from his master.[71] Yet the condition of slaves in China is generally easy enough.[72] “In all Chinese families of ‘the upper ten thousand,’ an intimacy exists between masters and men-servants on the one hand, and mistresses and female servants on the other. Servants not unfrequently make suggestions in reference to the well-being of the family, and in many instances, domestic matters of a grave nature are discussed before them.”[73] In Chinese novels the servant is the confidant of his master, and harsh behaviour towards slaves is only attributed to vicious persons;[74] according to the Divine Panorama, he who beats or injures his slave without estimating the punishment by the fault is tormented in hell.[75] Many travellers have pointed out the difference between the comparatively happy condition of slaves in China and the degraded position of the former negro slaves in European colonies and the United States of America.[76] “In China,” it is observed, “the identity of blood, colour, race, and habit between master and servant, operates as a restraint on the avarice, vices, and cruelty of the former, which would not be the case if they were of different races as in America.”[77]
[64] Biot, ‘Mémoire sur la condition des esclaves et des serviteurs gagés en Chine,’ in Journal Asiatique, ser. iii. vol. iii. 257 sqq.
[65] Ibid. p. 249 sqq.