Mr. Sharp, with some
difficulty, procured a _habeas corpus_, in consequence of which Lewis
was brought from Gravesend just as the vessel was on the point of
sailing. An action was then commenced against Stapylton, who defended
himself on the plea, "That Lewis belonged to him as his slave." In the
course of the trial, Mr. Dunning, who was counsel for Lewis, paid Mr.
Sharp a handsome compliment; for he held in his hand Mr. Sharp's book,
on the _Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery in
England_, while he was pleading; and in his address to the jury he spoke
and acted thus:--"I shall submit to you," says Mr. Dunning, "what my
ideas are upon such evidence, reserving to myself an opportunity of
discussing it more particularly, and reserving to myself a right to
insist upon a position, which I will maintain (and here he held up the
book to the notice of those present,) in any place and in any court of
the kingdom, that our laws admit of no such property[A]." The result of
the trial was, that the jury pronounced the plaintiff not to have been
the property of the defendant, several of them crying out, "No property,
no property."
[Footnote A: It is lamentable to think that the same Mr.
Pages:
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117