Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/261

 *partment of England, one day, in the surgery of his brother, saw a negro named Jonathan Strong, lame, unable to work, almost blind, very ill, and turned adrift in the streets of London, by his master, a lawyer in Barbadoes. The assistance of Granville Sharp, and of his brother William, the surgeon, restored Jonathan Strong to health, and obtained for him a situation. Two years afterwards, the Barbadoes lawyer recognized his slave, strong, healthy, and valuable, serving as a footman behind a lady's carriage, and he arrested the negro, and put him in prison, until there should be an opportunity to ship him for the West Indies.

Mr. Sharp appealed to the Lord Mayor, who, although he decided that he was incompetent to deal with the legal question of the black's freedom, released Strong, because there was no offence charged against him.

And then—it was in 1767—now more than a hundred years ago—then began the protracted movement in England in favor of the slave. The master of Jonathan Strong immediately commenced an action against Granville Sharp, to recover possession of his negro, of whom he said he had been robbed: and Sharp drew up the result of his study of the question, in a plain, clear, and manly statement, which, after having been circulated some time in manuscript, was printed in 1769, and was headed, "On the injustice of tolerating slavery in England."

It produced such an effect on the opinion of the public, that the lawyer abandoned his proceedings. Other cases soon tested the earnest philanthropy of the slaves' friend. The wife of one Styles was seized and sent to Barbadoes. Sharp compelled the aggressor