Lord Talbot were Attorney and Solicitor-General, this notion of a flave becoming free by being baptized, prevailed fo ftrongly, that the planters industriously prevented their becoming chriftians: upon which their opinion was taken, and upon their best confideration they were both clearly of opinion, that a flave did not in the leaft alter his fituation or state towards his master or owner, either by being chriftened or coming to England: that though the statute of Charles II. had abolished homagetenure so far that no man could be a villein regardant, yet if he would acknowledge himself a villein engroffed in any court of record, he knew of no way by which he could be entitled to his freedom without the confent of his master."

Thus far his lordship proceeds by the opinion of thofe two great lawyers, whofe decrees, when at the head of the Chancery, were feldom, if ever, reversed, and whose opinions might justly claim that due attention his lordship promifes to pay to them, because they were founded on the laws of God, as will appear by comparing them with that Tract published in the London Packet of June laft, where the fcripture doctrine of flaves was fully fet forth; and as chriftians we ought to adhere inviolably to this maxim, Thofe bounds which the Spirit of God has fet, ought never to be removed by men: and because they were ratified by the laws of men, so that our courts of record ftill maintained a power of fixing the master's property. "Yet, fays his lordship, (notwithstanding the inconvenient confequences felt from giving a decifion) we are clearly of opinion we ought to give judgment on the only queftion before us, Is the cause fufficient for remanding him? if not, he must be discharged. The cause is, he abfented and departed from his mafter's fervice, and refused to return and ferve him during his ftay in England, whereupon, by his master's order, he was put on board the ship by force, and there detained in fecure cuftody to be carried out of the kingdom and fold.”

The remainder of the fpeech is too vague to come into confideration, for it talks of foreigners being exempt from the laws of their own countries when in England, which is nothing to the cafe in point; it mixes the laws of hired fervants with thofe of purchased flaves, which is

fo

fo grofs an error, I can fcarce believe it could proceed from Lord Mans:field, but muft charge it to the inattention of the copier. It fays "the ftate of flavery muft be decided by pofitive law," yet produces no law; and though it afferts that no mafter was ever allowed to take his flave by force out of this kingdom, yet gives no inftance of any master's attempting it, and his having been prevented. We muft therefore look upon this as a cause novæ impreffionis, and ftate it fhort. An acknowledged flave refufes, while in England, to ferve the mafter who purchased him. Can that mafter carry him out of England, or must the flave be discharged here? For as to the words "taking a flave by force to be fold abroad,' as a Judge cannot be fuppofed to speak ad invidiam, we must fuppofe them a mistake, for no man can pofitively affirm the precife manner I fhall -difpofe of my property when out of the kingdom: I may retain my flave -in my own service, or if I do fell him, the laws of the island, where I then may be, will authorife me fo to do, and no laws in England will deftroy thofe laws abroad, which they have folemnly ratified. That part of the queftion then cannot come under confideration, but the whole is reduced to this: Can the laws of England discharge my acknowledged flave from the service he owes me? For, if I have a right to command his service, I have a right to command it in all parts of the world; and if he refuses, can the law take my real property away, because I endeavour to force him to a compliance? or must I be compelled to lodge a formal complaint with the Lord Chancellor every time he refuses to clean my fhoes? for fuch will be my cafe; for if I attempt to force him, he abfents himself; if I attempt to fend him where he may be useful, he complains, and the law discharges him, gives him his liberty; fo I have nothing to do but be his flave, let him do what he pleases, and maintain him in infolence and idleness. My hired fervant I can pay off, retain part of his wages for his neglect of business, and otherwife punish him for offences committed. My apprentice I can confine, and make him ferve out his time in Bridewell, if he absents himself; but my flave must be discharged, and gain his liberty at the expence and by the lofs of my property. Certainly, true liberty can never exift, where property is on fo tottering a foundation. Certainly,

2

Certainly, due attention was not paid to the opinion of those great lawyers, for if an "action of trover can lie for a flave," a flave must be property: "if a flave does not in the leaft alter his fituation or state towards his mafter or owner, either by being chriftened or coming to England," he must obey his master's commands, and then there can be no need of force. If the flave offends in the first instance by not obeying, it would be very hard to punish the master for an error in the manner of compelling him, and to bestow on the flave for his disobedience the greatest reward a flave can poffibly receive for years worn out in his master's ́service, a steady attachment to his intereft and conftant obedience to his commands.-As, after the authority of Sir Philip Yorke and Mr. Talbot, it were presumptuous to mention or quote authorities, I fhall only obferve that the inftitutions of Ina, King of the Weft Saxons, A. D. 692 (with advice and confent of his Father, of the Bishops, of all the Aldermen, and fage antients of his people, and of the affembly of the fervants of God) fettle the laws of flaves on the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, nor do I find any inftance of flaves being difcharged from their fervice, except the following, on which I leave every person to make his own reflections: Mahomet, finding the decoy of religion infufficient, added that other concomitant in popular disturbances, LIBERTY, proclaiming it to be the will of God that all men should enjoy it, and that he might set an example of it in his own family, discharged from servitude his own flave Zeidi, and entertained him as his equal. Hence flaves from all parts of Arabia forfook their masters, and fled to him as their Redeemer; by whose affiftance be enflaved the countries they came from, and they wantoned in the blood of their former masters.

London, July 1, 1772.

MERCATOR.

From Mercator's obfervations in this and his preceding Tract, it is plain that he apprehended the declaring flaves free in England would make them free in the Colonies alfo. In defence of which opinion it has been observed that the Act of 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 22. exprefsly declares, "All laws, customs, &c. practifed in any of the Plantations, repugnant

to

to any laws already here, or to this act, or any other law hereafter to be made, relating to those Plantations, fhall be null and void." Others again affert that the Colonies, having received their Conftitution from: the King, are not fubject to any laws of the British parliament, but to the acts of their own affemblies, when once they have received the royal affent. It might be dangerous, it would certainly be indifcreet to attempt to deprive them of what muft fo fatally affect their whole property, and therefore, it is rather to be fuppofed that Lord Mansfield meant virtually to prohibit bringing any negroes to England, and that, tho' the lenity of our laws could not suppose any abfolute flaves in England, yet they were still subject to those who bought them, and could be employed by no one else. Summerfet, the negro, was a prifoner, and his judge naturally his advocate, fpeaking for and leaning to the merciful fide of the question; but there is no doubt that the fame judge would punish any man severely, who inveigled a Negro from his mafter under the idle pretence of universal liberty: for as this was a civil caufe, and the very Habeas Corpus act (if we allow that to include foreign flaves, as its object). fays exprefly that "Perfons charged with process in any civil cause shall be kept in cuftody for fuch fuit," his order of being discharged could only mean his release from fuch imprisonment, as fuppofed him rather a Felon, than a Debtor. In this light his Lordship's decifion will not have the bad effects with which Mercator charges it. His next Tract recapitulates the two former, mentions the enfranchisement of flaves by Mahomet, and the cruel confequences that attended it ; and then proceeds, as follows::

A due attention to this laft fact, and the preceding authorities, might: be deemed an adequate bulwark of our own liberties, and a fufficient. fecurity of our properties; but to obviate all doubts, I fhall reconfider flavery, as a Christian, and as a British free-born fubject. As a Christian, the Epiftle of St. Paul to Philemon clearly fhews me, that that great apostle allowed flavery to be legal. Onefimus, the flave of Philemon, had robbed his mafter and fled to Rome, where he was converted to Christianity by St. Paul's preaching. To prove this converfion perfect, St. Paul enjoins him to restore himself and his services to his master, and that he might go with lefs apprehension of punishment, fends this

epiftle

10

[B]' epiftle by him, in which no injunction is laid on Philemon to receive: him as an absolute free man on account of his having been baptized; but the favours he asks for him are all asked, and acknowledged as on his own account: he promises to indemnify Philemon for his lofs: he expreffes his wish that he could have kept Onefimus, but declines it, as not having his confent whofe property he was, and with the greatest humility befeeches him for love's fake to receive this true, convert and fincere Chriftian, his fon whom he had begotten in his bonds," as free, because he had inftilled fuch principles in him, that he might depend on his being hereafter faithful and useful. Had flavery, been contrary to Christianity, would this have been the ftile of that apoftle, whofe boldness, in fpeaking the truth, and zeal in defending it, were as confpicuous as his knowledge and learning. He was bred at the feet of Gamaliel improved abilities could not be imposed upon, and his integrity of heart would never have permitted him to have fent Onefimus back in any degree of uncertainty, had the laws of God enfranchised him,, or esta-, blifhd univerfal freedom. In the Acts of the Apoftles alfo, the chieft captain at Jerufalem told St. Paul, on his calling himself a Roman, With a great fum obtained I this freedom. St. Paul anfwered, But I was free: born. His birth-right, not his religion or locality, made him free.

his

As a Christian then, I can, with a fafe confcience purchase negro flaves, and when they are my property difpofe of them where I please by, virtue of the rights I am entitled to, as a British free-born subject: for, among thefe rights fettled by Magna Charta, and confirmed in the reign of Henry III. are the following:-Magna Charta, cap. 1. We have granted to all the freemen of our realm, for us and for our heirs for ever, thefe liberties underwritten, to have and to hold to them and their heirs! of us and our heirs for ever.-Cap. 9. The city of London fhalbhave all the old liberties and cuftoms which it hath been used to have.-Cap 4. For. offences a freeman's villein fhall be amerced.-Cap. 29. No freeman fhall: be taken, imprifoned, or diffeized of freehold, liberties or free cuftoms, but by a lawful judgment of peers, or by the law of the land. So far:1 He that takes Magna Charta; now obferve 1 Edw VI. cap. 3. a fervant or beggar idle three days together, hall have him as his flave,

A

and: