demur or doubt on account of the plaintiff's complexion or idea of private property urged against him."
On the 20th February, 1771, the trial was had at the King's Bench, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield presiding. But so fraught was Mansfield's mind still, with the false views of the day, that although the jury, found Stapylton "guilty," the Chief Justice (such is justice often in human hands!) refused to proceed to judgment, and the criminals escaped. Against this proceeding of the judge, as against an open contempt of the laws of England, Sharp prepared a strong protest. The principles on which he proceeded, are thus expressed by himself, in a letter to Lord Carysport, in 1781: "This is the compendium or sum total of all my politics, so that I include them in a very small compass. I am thoroughly convinced that 'Right' ought to be adopted and maintained, on all occasions, without regard to consequences either probable or possible; for these (when we have done our own duty as honest men) must after all be left to the disposal of Divine Providence, which has declared a blessing in favor of right, 'Blessed are the keepers of judgment—and he that doeth righteousness at all times.'" Ps. cvi. 3.
SECTION II.
BUT the general right to freedom in England was yet made a matter of opinion. No permanent security was obtained against the pertinacious avarice and tyranny of the slaveholders and slave-dealers. This question wanted decision and both parties wished it decided. The slave party, wrapt in selfishness and deluded by legal sophistries, felt confident in their claims—and the friends of liberty, clothed in righteousness and firm in everlasting truth, knew that British law, brought forth in its purity, would support
