Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/411

 its consequences, is indeed extreme; yet many of those consequences are

absolutely contrary to the municipal law of England. On the other hand, should we think the coercive power cannot be exercised, it is apw about fifty years since the opinion" to the contrary "by two of the greatest men of their own or any time. "This referred to the opinion of Yorke and Talbot, subsequently recognized as law by Lord Hardwicke, sitting as chancelor. "The setting fourteen or fifteen thousand men" — the estimated number of negro slaves in England — "at once loose by a solemn opinion, is very disagreeable in the effects it threatens." But "if the parties will have judgment, fiat justitia ruat cœlum, let justice be done, whatever be the consequence. Fifty pounds may not be a high price; then a loss follows to the proprietors of above £700,000 sterling. How would the law stand in respect to their settlement — their wages? How many actions for any slight coercion by the master? We can not in any of these points direct the law, the law must direct us."

Afterward, in giving judgment, June 22, 1712, Lord Mansfield said: "The only question before us is whether the cause on the return is sufficient, If it is, the negro must be remanded; if it is not, he must be discharged. The return states that the slave departed, and refused to serve, whereupon he was kept to be sold abroad. So high an act of dominion must be recognized by the law of the country where it is used. The power of a master over his slave has been exceedingly different in different countries. The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time itself from whence it was created is erased from memory. It is so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I can not say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England, and therefore the black must be discharged."

The continental congress which assembled in Philadelphia in 1784, made a declaration of colonial rights. As means of enforcing this claim of rights, fourteen articles were agreed to to form the basis of an "American Association," and in one of these articles the slave-trade was especially denounced; and entire abstinence from it, and from any trade with those concerned in it, formed a part of the association.