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that country against him. Their discontent had led them to take arms; but on the death of the Emperor Joseph, his successor Leopold found means to appease them. Much ill humour, however, still remained among them. Matters were not much better in Hungary, where the Emperor Joseph had much disgusted the nobles. Prince Kaunitz thought it would be more advantageous to the Emperor Leopold to regain the affections of his discontented subjects, than to embark in a war with France. But this wise minister was overruled: war was resolved on; and the King of Prussia became the ally of the Emperor. Mr. Burke seems to have had more difficulty in England. He at length prevailed on the party of the great Whig families to declare for war. But Mr. Pitt hesitated. He yielded at last with reluctance. But though he consented that war should be undertaken, he does not appear ever to have adopted Mr. Burke's opinion, as to the motive for the war. Mr. Burke's opinion was, that war should be undertaken to re-establish France exactly in that state in which it had existed

before the commencement of the Revolution; or, according to the technical language of that day, to re-establish the ancien regime. Mr. Pitt viewed it as a political war; the object with him was a diminution of the power of France. The two objects were inconsistent with each other. The crusade has lasted nearly thirty years. Europe has already suffered much; and I fear her sufferings are not at an end.

CHAP. XV.

On the Slave Trade.

I was in the House of Commons during the discussions on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; but I never voted on the subject : there were circumstances which led me to hesitate: and where I doubted on which side I ought to vote, I thought it most safe to abstain from voting at all. No man can like the Slave Trade. It is oppressive to the slave; it is more injurious to the master, for it corrupts his morals; accustoming him to believe, that he may live with other human creatures without being subject to the restraint of moral duties. (Note 23.)

Perhaps there is no country in Europe in which the proportion of slaves to freemen was at one time greater than it was in England. I apprehend that this was owing to the Heptarchy. The division of the country

into seven kingdoms produced wars: wars occasioned captives, and captives became slaves. Servi quia servabantur. The wise decisions of our courts of law, assisted by. other circumstances, effectuated enfranchisement. I will mention some of these circumstances. First, the courts of law decided, that an illegitimate child could not be a slave, or, as our law calls him, a serf, or villein. He could inherit no advantage from his parents; it would, therefore, have been unreasonable that he should have inherited a disadvantage. Secondly, if the female slave, or, as she is called in our law books, a niefe, married a freeman, she became enfranchised during the coverture, and her children were free; which rule is contrary to the maxim of the Civil Law, partus sequitur ventrem, as is remarked by Sir Edward Coke. Thirdly, if the male slave became a monk he became free. It was the same if the female slave became a nun. There were many other decisions of the courts of law, which favoured the enfranchisement of villeins. I will only mention one more, and I shall select that because it was made at so late a period as the reign of

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Richard II., and in opposition to the wishes of the legislature. If A, the villein of B, brought an action in a court of law against B, and B pleaded in bar of his action, though A failed in his suit, yet A, the villein, became enfranchised; for B, by pleading in bar to his action, had treated A as a freeman; and he could not afterwards falsify his own admission. To prevent this inconvenience, B was under the necessity of pleading in abatement, or disability of A's person. His plea, therefore, would regularly have run in these words, "That he, B, was not bound to answer A's action, because that he, A, was his villein, regardant to B's manor of Wellington in the County of Somerset." To this plea in abatement, A, according to the regular course of pleading, ought to have replied in these words, viz. ; "That he, A, was free, without this: that he, A, was the villein of B, regardant to B's manor of Wellington in the county of Somerset." Then, according to the ordinary rules of pleading, this question, whether A was a villein regardant to B's manor of Wellington in the county of Somerset, ought to have been tried by a jury of

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