CHAPTER IV. OF SLAVERY.
Sect. 22.
THE
natural
liberty
of
man
is
to
be
free
from
any
superior
power
on
earth,
and
not
to
be
under
the
will
or
legislative
authority
of
man,
but
to
have
only
the
law
of
nature
for
his
rule.
The
liberty
of
man,
in
society,
is
to
be
under
no
other
legislative power,
but
that
established,
by
consent,
in
the
commonwealth;
nor
under
the
dominion
of
any
will,
or
restraint
of
any
law,
but
what
that
legislative
shall
enact, according
to
the
trust
put
in
it.
Freedom
then
is
not
what
Sir
Robert
Filmer
tells
us, Observations, A. 55. a
liberty
for
every
one
to
do
what
he
lists,
to
live
as
he
pleases,
and
not
to
be
tied
by
any
laws:
but
freedom
of
men
under
government
is,
to
have
a standing
rule
to
live
by,
common
to
every
one
of
that
society,
and
made
by
the
legislative power
erected
in
it; a
liberty
to
follow
my
own
will
in
all
things,
where
the
rule
prescribes
not;
and
not
to
be
subject
to
the
inconstant, uncertain, unknown,
arbitrary
will
of
another
man:
as
freedom
of
nature
is,
to
be
under
no
other
restraint
but
the
law
of
nature. Sect. 23.
This
freedom
from
absolute,
arbitrary
power,
is
so
necessary
to,
and
closely
joined
with
a man's preservation,
that
he
cannot
part
with
it,
but
by
what
forfeits
his
preservation
and
life
together:
for
a man,
not
having
the
power
of
his
own
life, cannot,
by
compact,
or
his
own
consent, enslave
himself
to
any
one,
nor
put
himself
under
the
absolute,
arbitrary
power
of
another,
to
take
away
his
life,
when
he
pleases.
No
body
can
give
more
power
than
he
has himself;
and
he
that
cannot
take
away
his
own
life, cannot
give
another
power
over
it. Indeed,
having
by
his
fault
forfeited
his
own
life,
by
some
act
that
deserves
death; he,
to
whom
he
has
forfeited
it,
may
(when
he
has
him
in
his
power)
delay
to
take
it,
and
make
use
of
him
to
his
own
service,
and
he
does
him
no
injury
by
it: for, whenever
he
finds
the
hardship
of
his
slavery outweigh
the
value
of
his
life,
it
is
in
his
power,
by
resisting
the
will
of
his
master,
to
draw
on
himself
the
death
he
desires. Sect. 24.
This
is
the
perfect condition
of
slavery,
which
is
nothing
else,
but
the
state
of
war
continued,
between
a
lawful
conqueror
and
a captive: for,
if
once
compact
enter
between
them,
and
make
an
agreement
for
a limited power
on
the
one
side,
and
obedience
on
the
other,
the
state
of
war
and
slavery ceases,
as
long
as
the
compact endures: for,
as
has been said,
no
man
can,
by
agreement, pass
over
to
another
that
which
he
hath
not
in
himself, a power
over
his
own
life. I confess,
we
find
among
the
Jews,
as
well
as
other
nations,
that
men
did
sell
themselves; but,
it
is
plain,
this
was
only
to
drudgery,
not
to
slavery: for,
it
is
evident,
the
person
sold
was
not
under
an
absolute, arbitrary, despotical power:
for
the
master
could
not
have
power
to
kill him,
at
any
time, whom,
at
a
certain
time,
he
was
obliged
to
let
go
free
out
of
his
service;
and
the
master
of
such
a
servant
was
so
far
from
having
an
arbitrary
power
over
his
life,
that
he
could
not,
at
pleasure,
so
much
as
maim
him,
but
the
loss
of
an
eye,
or
tooth,
set
him
free, Exod. xxi.