Note 168 — LETTER III.

Gibbon’s reference to this passage is not fair. He says (chap. lxviii. note), ‘Busbequius expatiates with pleasure and applause on the rights of war, and the use of slavery among the ancients and the Turks.’ In the first place Busbecq merely throws out a suggestion, which he would be sorry for his friend to take in sober earnest. Secondly, we must remember the evils existing in Busbecq’s days, which slavery would have remedied; (i.) it was the common practice to put to death all prisoners of war, who could not pay ransom; e.g. see Busbecq’s letter of November 13, 1589, to Rodolph. Slavery in this case would be a mitigation of their fate, (ii.) At that time death or mutilation were the punishments for almost every offence. Busbecq’s project is an anticipation of the more merciful system of modern times which has introduced penal servitude, which is really ‘a just and mild form of slavery.’