, and not the constitution of the
state [Lib. 12. c. 1.]. Pursuing this idea, instead of attempting a
general definition of slavery; I shall, by considering it under a
threefold aspect, endeavour to give a just idea of its nature.

I. When a nation is, from any external cause, deprived of the right of
being governed by its own laws, only, such a nation may be considered as
in a state of _political slavery_. Such is the state of conquered
countries, and generally, of colonies, and other dependant governments.
Such was the state of united America before the revolution. In this case
the personal rights of the subject may be so far secured by wholesome
laws, as that the individual may be esteemed free, whilst the state is
subject to a higher power: this subjection of one nation, or people, to
the will of another, constitutes the first species of slavery, which, in
order to distinguish it from the other two, I have called political;
inasmuch as it exists only in respect to the governments, and not to the
individuals of the two countries. Of this it is not our business to
speak, at present.

II. Civil liberty being, no other than natural liberty so far restrained
by human laws, and no farther, as is necessary and expedient for the
general advantage of the public [Blackstone's Com. c. 125], whenever
that liberty is, by the laws of the state, further restrained than is
necessary and expedient for the general advantage, a state of _civil
slavery_ commences immediately: this may affect the whole society, and
every description of persons in it, and yet the constitution of the
state be perfectly free. And this happens whenever the laws of a state
respect the form, or energy of the government, more than the happiness
of the citizen; as in Venice, where the most oppressive species of civil
slavery exists, extending to every individual in the state, from the
poorest gondolier to the members of the senate, and the doge himself.

This species of slavery also exists whenever there is an inequality of
rights, or privileges, between the subjects or citizens of the same
state, except such as necessarily result from the exercise of a public
office; for the pre-eminence of one class of men must be founded and
erected upon the depression of another; and the measure of exaltation in
the former, is that of the slavery of the latter. In all governments,
however constituted, or by what description soever denominated, wherever
the distinction of