England. Somerset ran away; was recaptured, and was placed on the ship Mary and Ann to be carried to Jamaica and sold. On learning this fact Sharp took the negro from the ship on the usual writ, and it was agreed that the case should turn on the broad question "Whether an African slave coming into England becomes free."
That was a trial to stir the kingdom, for it was an open attack not alone on the planters of distant colonies, but on the whole foreign commerce of the nation that had been developed, nurtured, improved, and brought to the leading place on the sea through the profits of the slave-trade. Worse yet, from a business point of view, it was an attack upon many interests ashore. The distilleries that made rum, the factories that made ropes, sails, and other ship fittings, even the whole industry of Manchester that turned out cloths for the African trade — all these were interested in the success of the slavers.
The wealth of the nation and the power of society gathered on one side. On the other side stood a timorous negro slave and Granville Sharp. Lord Mansfield in his robes presided.
For six months — from January to June, 1772, inclusive — blind Justice held the scales aloft in that court while learned counsel heaped this side and that with lore and statute bald, and strove with fierce as well as pleading breath to sway the poised beam. And then he who stood for the oppressed, rising above the obscuring, tape-bound "chaos of formulas," asked in a voice that was heard in spite of clamor:
"Shall the Right prevail in England?"
When those words were heard a hush fell upon all
