Slavery Defined. PROPERTY IN A HUMAN BEING. That we may proceed intelligently in the discussion of the subject upon which we have entered, it is important to understand precisely what American slavery is. Some learned men have confused this subject by confounding the relation of the slave with other relations from which it _essentially_ differs. An apprentice, a miner, hired laborer, serf or a villein is not a slave. All these relations lack, as we shall see, the distinguishing feature of slavery. The slave is placed in a condition far removed from any other class of human beings in enlightened, civilized, or savage society. He stands in a legal relation below all others. The American slave code describes the slave and slavery with remarkable precision and horrible distinctness. According to that code a slave is a CHATTEL. He is, body, soul and spirit, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, PROPERTY--the property of the master to whom he belongs; and slavery is that "peculiar institution" which, originating in piracy, systematically despoils human beings of their manhood--of all inborn rights, degrades them to the state of chattelhood, and forcibly detains them in that degradation. PROPERTY IN A HUMAN CREATURE is the _essential_ and _peculiar_ principle of slavery. This is the basis of the system, and all laws, regulations, usages, deprivations, wrongs, sins, sufferings and miseries which belong to the system are built upon this foundation. Numerous and cruel systems of oppression have existed but not one of them has ventured to lay sacrilegious hands upon "the image of God," and convert it into a _thing_ to be bought, sold, executed for debt, willed, and used as an article of merchandise. Slavery alone has done this. Some authorities will now be cited to prove the correctness of this definition. "The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings but among things, obtains in all these (slave) states." (_Judge Stroud._) "Slaves shall be claimed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns to all intents and purposes whatsoever." (_Law of South Carolina._) "A slave is one who is in the power of the master to whom he belongs; the master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing nor acquire anything but what must belong to his master." (_Law of Louisiana._) "A slave is in absolute bondage; he has no civil rights, and can hold no property, except at the will and pleasure of his master; a slave is a rational being, endowed with understanding like the rest of mankind; and whatever he lawfully acquires, and gains possession of by finding or otherwise, is the acquirement and possession of his master." (_Wheeler._)