This brings up
the question of the rendition of fugitive slaves, which we have just
considered.
"But being free in my own country, and having been, therefore,
unlawfully sold into Algerine Slavery, or having been captured, or
stolen, you would, I trust, make proper resistance in my behalf."
"But," said Mr. North, "The ancestors of my fugitive friend Nesimus,
were taken from freedom in their own land and were reduced to slavery.
Must he and his descendants be slaves forever for the sin of the
original captors, or for the misfortune of his ancestors?"
"Birth in slavery long established makes all the difference in the
world, Mr. North," said I. "If I am born in slavery, under a government
ordaining slavery, that is a different case from that of one taken out
of a passenger ship and sold as a slave."
"Then if you and your wife," said he, "were taken out of a passenger
ship, and you should happen to have a child born in slavery, that child
must remain a slave, even if you go free?"
"No, Sir," said I; "the child born under such circumstances is as
rightfully free as its parents. But take this case: I, being captured
and held as a slave, my master gives me a wife, lawfully a slave.
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