prisoner, whom the officer carried safe, but now crying for joy, to the
shore.

But though the injured Africans, whose causes had been tried, escaped
slavery, and though many who had been forcibly carried into dungeons,
ready to be transported into the Colonies, had been delivered out of
them, Mr. Sharp was not easy in his mind: not one of the cases had yet
been pleaded on the broad ground, "Whether an African slave, coming into
England, became free?" This great question had been hitherto studiously
avoided; it was still, therefore, left in doubt. Mr. Sharp was almost
daily acting as if it had been determined, and as if he had been
following the known law of the land: he wished, therefore, that the next
cause might be argued upon this principle. Lord Mansfield too, who had
been biassed by the opinion of York and Talbot, began to waver in
consequence of the different pleadings he had heard on this subject: he
saw also no end of trials like these, till the law should be
ascertained, and he was anxious for a decision on the same basis as Mr.
Sharp. In this situation the following case offered, which was agreed
upon for the determination of this important question.

James Somerset, an African slave, had been brought to England by his
master, Charles Stewart, in November 1769. Somerset in process of time
left him. Stewart took an opportunity of seizing him, and had him
conveyed on board the Ann and Mary, Captain Knowles, to be carried out
of the kingdom and sold as a slave in Jamaica: the question was,
"Whether a slave, by coming into England, became free?"

In order that time might be given for ascertaining the law fully on this
head, the case was argued at three different sittings. First, in
January, 1772; secondly, in February, 1772; and thirdly, in May, 1772.