Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/410

Sharp was then brought against Sharp for unlawfully detaining the property of another; his legal advisers said they were not prepared to resist it in face of the declaration of Yorke and Talbot in 1729, affirming that masters had property in their slaves even when in England. Mansfield also declared against him, and Blackstone lent the weight of his authority to the same opinion. For the next two years Sharp devoted his leisure to researches into the law of personal liberty in England. His results were published in 1769 as ‘A Representation of the Injustice … of tolerating Slavery,’ to which he added an ‘Appendix’ in 1772. Meanwhile Sharp interested himself in other cases similar to Strong's, and the struggle was fought out in the law courts with varying success for three years longer. It was finally decided by the famous case of James Sommersett (see, An Argument in the Case of J. Sommersett, 1772; , Hist. of the Rise … of the Movement for the Abolition of Slavery, 1808, i. 66–78; and tracts in British Museum Library catalogued under ‘Sommersett, James’). After three hearings the judges laid down the momentous principle ‘that as soon as any slave sets his foot upon English territory, he becomes free.’ This first great victory in the struggle for the emancipation of slaves was entirely due to Sharp, who, ‘though poor and dependent and immersed in the duties of a toilsome calling, supplied the money, the leisure, the perseverance, and the learning required for this great controversy’ (, Essays in Eccl. Biogr. 1860, p. 540).

This question did not exhaust Sharp's benevolent energies. In addition to his researches in early English constitutional history and other studies, he spent much time and labour in searching for documents to prove the claim of Henry Willoughby, then a tradesman, to the barony of Willoughby of Parham, a claim which was established by resolution of the House of Lords on 27 March 1767. He took part in the opposition to the attempt to rob the Duke of Portland of the forest of Inglewood and castle of Carlisle, and published in 1779 a tract ‘Concerning the Doctrine of Nullum tempus occurrit Regi,’ on which the crown proceedings were based [see ;, third ]. He also agitated vehemently against the reported determination of the government to extirpate the aboriginal Carribees in the West Indies, pressing his views in person on Lord Dartmouth, the secretary of state. His sympathies were easily enlisted on behalf of the American colonies, and in 1774 he published ‘A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature.’ When the rupture became complete, he resigned his office in the ordnance department (31 July 1776) rather than assist in despatching war material to the colonies. He was now left without means, having spent his small patrimony in the cause of emancipation; but his brothers, William and James, who were then in a prosperous position, made provision for him.

Sharp's philanthropic activity now redoubled; in October General James Edward Oglethorpe [q. v.] sought his acquaintance, and Sharp joined in Oglethorpe's crusade against the press-gang. He wrote an introduction to the general's ‘Sailor's Advocate,’ and ‘moved all the powers of his age, political and intellectual, to abolish the impressment of seamen’ (ib. pp. 538–9;, pp. 168–70). In 1778 he published an ‘Address to the People,’ denouncing the arbitrary conduct of Lord North's ministry, and he vigorously supported the cause of political reform in England and legislative freedom in Ireland. On the close of the American war he started a movement for the introduction of episcopacy into the now independent states, in the course of which he corresponded with Franklin, Jay, and Adams. He was aided by Thomas Secker [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury, and his efforts were crowned with success by the consecration of the bishops of New York and Pennsylvania by Secker in 1787. For his efforts in this cause he was made an honorary LL.D. by Harvard University, Providence College, Rhode Island, and William and Mary College, Williamsburg.

But the abolition of slavery was still the main object of Sharp's life. In 1776 he published no less than five tracts on the subject, and in 1779 he began corresponding with many bishops with a view to establishing a society for the abolition of slavery. It was founded in 1787, the original members being all quakers except two, and Sharp as ‘father of the movement in England’ was appointed chairman. He took an active part in the movement, frequently interviewing Pitt, and after the French revolution broke out corresponded with La Fayette and Brissot, the leaders of a similar movement in France. Meanwhile the number of liberated slaves in England became a source of serious embarrassment, and as early as 1783 Sharp had conceived the idea of establishing a colony of freed slaves on the coast of Africa; Sierra Leone was finally selected as the site, and in 1786 Sharp published a ‘Short Sketch of the Temporary