These preliminary remarks prepare the way for the subject to which I
invite attention. Here I am naturally led to touch upon the _origin
of slavery_, and the principles which lie at its foundation, before
proceeding to exhibit the efforts for its abolition, and their final
success in the Barbary States.
The word _Slave_, suggesting now so much of human abasement, has an
origin which speaks of human grandeur. Its parent term, _Slava_,
signifying _glory_, in the Slavonian dialect, where it first appears,
was proudly assumed as the national designation of races in the
northeastern part of the European continent, who, in the vicissitudes
of war, were afterwards degraded from the condition of conquerors
to that of servitude. The Slavonian bondman, retaining his national
name, was known as _Slave_; and this term, passing from a _race_ to a
_class_, was afterwards applied, in the languages of modern Europe, to
all in his unhappy lot, without distinction of country or color.[8]
It would be difficult to mention any word which has played such
opposite parts in history,--beneath the garb of servitude concealing
its early robe of pride. And yet, startling as it seems, this word
may be received in its primitive character, by those among us who
consider slavery essential to democratic institutions, and therefore
part of the true _glory_ of the country. Lexicography, going beyond
this historical illustration, announces that "most probably the
original meaning was _independent_, _free_,"[9] thus making the slave
distinctively the freeman. In the revolutions of society, and among the
compensations of Providence for long-continued degradation, the slave
might yet regain this original ascendency, if, in an era of justice,
the highest condition were not where all are equal in rights.
[8] Gibbon, Roman Empire, Chap. LV. Vol. X. p. 190.
[9] Webster, Dictionary, word _Slave_.