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Show 8 lawyer been to reverse the late decisions; he suggested twice from the bench, in the course of the trial , how the question might be got rid of: but the hint was not taken ; the case was adjourned again and again, and judgme nt delayed. At last judgment was demanded, and on the 22d June, 1772, Lord Mansfield is reported to have decided in these words ; " Immemorial usage preserves the memory of positive law, long after all traces of the occasion, reaso n, authority, and time of its introduction , are lost; and in a cn se so odious as the condition of slaves, must be taken strictly ; ( tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported. ) 'l'he power claimed by tl.is return never was in use here. We cannot say the cause set forth by this return is allowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom; and therefore the man must be discharged." This decision established the principle that the "air of England is too pure for any slave to breathe," but the wrongs in the islands were not th ereby touched. Public attention, however, was drawn that way, and the methods of the stealing and the transportation from Africa, became noised abroad. The Quakers got the story. In their plain meeting-houses, and prim dwellings, this dismal agitation got entrance. They were rich: they owned for debt, or by inheritance, island property; they were religious, tender-hearted men and women ; and they had to hear the news, and digest it as they could. Six Quakers met in London on the 6th July, 1783; William Dillwyn, Samuel Hoar, George Harrison, Thomas Knowles, John Lloyd, Joseph vVoods, "to consider what step they should take for the reli ef and liberation of the negro slaves in the West Indies, and for the discouragement of the slal'e-trade on the coast of Africa." They made friends and raised money for the slave; they interested their Yearly Meeting; and all Eng- 9 IISh and all Amct·ican Quakers. John Woolman of New Jersey, whilst yet an apprentice, was uneasy in his mind when he was set to write a bill of sale of a negro, for his master. lie gave his testimony against the traffi c, in Maryland and Virg inia. Thomas Clarkson was a youth at Cambridge, E ngland, when the subject given out for a Latin prize dissertation, was, "Is it right to make slaves of othe rs against their will?, He wrote an essay, and won the prize; but he wrote too well for his own peace; he Legan to ask himself, if these things could be true; and if they were, he could no longer rest. He left Cambridge; he fell in with the six Quakers. They engaged him to act for them. He himself interested Mr. Wilberforce in the matter. The sh ipm astcrs in that trade were the g reatest miscreants, and g uilty of every barbarity to their own crews. Clarkson went to Bristol, made himself acquainted with the interior of the slaveships, and the details of the trade. The facts confirmed his sentiment, " that Providence had never made that to be wise, which was immoral, and that the slave-trade was as impolitic as it was unjust; " that it was found peculiarly fatal to those employed in it. More seamen died in that trade, in one year, than in the whole remaining trade of the country in two. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox were drawn into the generous enterprise. In 1788, the House of Commons voted Parliamentary inquiry. In J 791, a bill to abolish the trade was brought in by Wilberforce, and supported by him, and by Fox, and Burke, and Pitt, with the utmost ability and faithfulness; resisted by the planters, and the whole West Indian interest, ~nd lost. During the next sixteen years, ten times, year after year, the attempt was renewed by 1\'lr. Wilberforce, and ten times defeated by the planters. The king, and all the royal family but one, were against it. These debates are instructive, as they show on what grounds the trade was assailed and defended. Every thing generous, wise, and sprightly 2 |