part of the ceremonial law of the Jews, now superseded and become obsolete, but it is manifestly a moral law, a branch of the moral revealed law of God, which is of eternal obligation. And all the colonial laws, that are contrary thereto, are ipso facto null and void according to the constitution of England, and cannot be effectual to recover any such pretended penalties, if this proper plea be opposed to them: for even a statute of Parliament, enacted and formed by all the requisite authority of king, lords and commons, must be deemed equally null and void for any purpose that is directly contrary to an express law of God!

Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. H. Thornton are at a great distance in the country, and indeed most of the leading members of our society are out of town: and, besides, we have no funds, having spent all long ago! As to myself, I have sunk so much money in a variety of litigations on behalf of the poor Blacks, that it is absolutely out of my power to afford any further pecuniary assistance; but, as I have actually established the practice of rendering the Habeas Corpus Act effectual for relief in all such cases, I hope you will find no difficulty in proceeding under the direction of some honest and intelligent lawyer. I remain with great esteem, Dear Sir,

Your affectionate friend and
Humble servant,
GRANVILLE SHARP.
Mr. Harry Gandy, at Bristol.

the neglect, and said that "even now it was better late than never," or words to that effect.

It is therefore under a painful sense of this inexcusable neglect that I take up the pen, not with a view to apologize for the shameful omission, because I know it will admit of none, but just to say, what ought to have been said almost a year since, that thy acceptable letter had its desired effect: for in a day or two after it came to hand, I had another opportunity with the merchant and Captain Alleyn, who, on perusing thy letter, and finding us determined to defend poor Harry Harper, they readily relinquished their claim and released the prisoner, and settled the matter to mutual satisfaction: previous to which we had employed an attorney, who on reading thy letter, asked me if the gentleman who wrote it, was not a counsellor. I told him he was not professionally so, but in point of legal knowledge, he was superior to most of them.

I dont know that ever I was guilty of such a breach of correspondence before, which is the more reprehensible as the end, by that now alluded to, was so fully and completely answered; so that it justly and deservedly precludes even the hope of a reply to this, although such, comprised but in a single line, would administer great relief to the uneasy mind of thy obliged and affectionate friend,

HARRY GANDY.
Granville Sharp, London.

Mr. Granville Sharp.

Bristol, 8th of 8th Mo. 1797.

DEAR FRIEND,

HY obliging favour, dated this

TH

day twelve months, was, for its important coutents, perused by such a number of friends here to the African cause, that for a while I actually knew not where it was; so that when I found it, the time for answering it was so far elapsed, that I omitted, through that and some other causes, doing it to this day: which I mentioned a few days since, with real concern to our worthy friend Richard Philips, who justly reproved me for

general abolition of the infamous traffic by the legislature: and, besides, the society has not met for a long time, and their funds are entirely expended. I am not a member of the Philanthropic Society, and am quite unacquainted with their rules, but I apprehend that it would not come within the usual practice or rules of that society to advance any money towards paying the expense of sending the boy to London.

To satisfy your third question"What success has attended similar attempts to rescue from slavery poor Negroes who have accidentally been brought into other British ports?"It is necessary that I should acquaint you that I was obliged to defend myself at a heavy expense against an action at law for having set a Negro at liberty in the year 1767, one Jonathan Strong; that my prosecutor, James Kerr, Esq. a Jamaica planter, was at length nonsuited and paid triple costs; that I then printed the . arguments which I had drawn up for my own defence against an opinion formerly given by the Lords Hardwick and Talbot jointly, when the one was Attorney General and the other Solicitor General (a copy of which had been produced to intimidate me), stating, "that a slave by coming from the West Indies to Great Britain or Ireland, either with or

* Whom "Mr. David Lisle had brought over from Barbadoes," and afterwards" used in a barbarous manner, particularly by beating him over the head with a pistol." The consequence was, that Strong became afflicted with a complication of disorders, "and being therefore wholly useless, was left by his master to go whither he pleased." Mr. G. S.'s brother, Mr. William S. was an eminent surgeon. Among his poor patients, Strong applied. Mr. G. S. thus met with him, gave him money, and when cured, provided for him a place. Lisle, "his master, happened to see him," contrived to kidnap him, and sold him to Kerr "for thirty pounds;" but Mr. S. rescued him from "the Poultry Compter," where "he was conveyed without any warrant," till he could be put on board a ship for Jamaica. This Clarkson. Hist. Abol. I. 67-70. circumstance seems to have first turned Mr. Sharp's attention to the condition of Negroes. R.

without his master, doth not become free," &c. " and that the master may legally compel him to return again to the plantations." (Signed) P. York and C. Talbot, and dated 14th Jan. 1729.t All which I disproved as being contrary to the foundations of the English law.

After the publication of my book, in 1769, I set many more Negroes at liberty, recovering them, by writs of Habeas Corpus, from on board the ships in which they were confined: and by prosecuting their masters, until Lord Mansfield, in the case of James Somerset (whom I protected) was compelled to give up the point in 1772, and to acknowledge from the Bench (in opposition to the abovementioned opinion of York and Talbot, which he cited, as well as against his own former assertions and practice), that "a case so odious as the condition of slaves must be taken strictly: that tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported. That the power claimed by this return," (viz. the return made by James Somerset's master, Mr. David Lisle, ‡ a Lawyer, who afterwards challenged me to fight him, because I had liberated his servant,) "was never in use here or acknowledged by the law. That no master" was ever allowed here to take a slave by force to be sold abroad because he had deserted from his service, or for any other reason whatever.

We cannot say" (here his Lordship spoke in the name of all his brethren, the Judges on the Bench-"We can not say" "the cause set forth by this return is allowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom, and therefore the man (meaning James Somerset), must be discharged." This clear decision of the Court of King's Bench has since been recognized and admitted by other courts as unquestionable, particularly in the case of Cay and Chrichton in 1773, in the Prerogative Court (Doctors' Commons), by the then Judge, Dr. Hay, and afterwards in the High Court of Admiralty, on the 29th of June, 1776, in the case of Rogers, alias Rigges, against Jones. And yet I have still been obliged, even afterwards, to interfere for the relief of several other poor Negroes, and I always succeeded (God be thanked) in obtaining their liberty; but I never proceeded so far in the prosecutions against their masters, as to press them for the pecuniary penalties to which they are really liable by the Habeas Corpus Act, because I was always contented to stop proceedings as soon as they submitted and gave up the poor oppressed people.

As this long contested point is now so clearly determined, and the modes of proceeding for the relief of poor injured Negroes so thoroughly established, I think myself justified (after so much labour and expense) in declining to take upon myself any further burthen of expense either of time or money, because I cannot really afford either of them at present yet, as a farther auswer to your third inquiry above-mentioned, I have subjoined the copy of a letter which I wrote on the 8th of August, 1796, to Mr. Harry Gandy, of Bristol, on his application to me in behalf of a poor Negro. I did not receive his answer till the next year; it was dated exactly on the anniversary of my date, twelve months afterwards, (viz. 8th of 8th mo. 1797,) and contains a very handsome apology for having so long neglected to make his acknowledgment, and he added as follows:-"Thy acceptable letter had the desired effect: for in a day or two after it came to hand, I had another opportunity with the merchant and Captain Alleyn, who, on perusing thy

letter, and finding us determined to defend poor Harry Harper, they readily relinquished their claim and released the prisoner, and settled the matter to mutual satisfaction: previous to which we had employed an attorney," &c.

With respect to the present case of the poor boy at Falmouth, be assured that any person who shall attempt to carry him away out of the kingdom, against his will, must certainly be liable to a penalty of £500, besides triple costs; and that every person that shall have been advising, aiding or asisting in any such forcible carrying away, or even any attempt to carry him away, will also be liable to actions of debt for the same penalties: and this mode of proceeding by actions of debt is prescribed by law to facilitate the recovery of the pemalties, for which, either the boy himself or any other person is entitled to sue by the Habeas Corpus Act.

The only difficulty of the present case consists in the bad character of the boy, as he has been detected (you say) more than once in a theft." Now an habitual thief is, indeed, a slave in the very worst sense, being actually the property, as well as the son (by a fatal regeneration the wrong way) of the most cruel of all slave-holders, the devil himself, that

prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." (Ephes. ii. 2.)

But as the spiritual slavery of the poor lad has, probably, been occasioned by the unchristian negligence of a West Indian education, we may hope that a plain and friendly remoustrance addressed to his conscienceto his “natural knowledge of good and evil," with the addition of a little Christian instruction and charitable advice how he ought to resist the impulses of his worst master, (his master's master, the spiritual slaveholder,) by praying for the assistance of the Holy Spirit (which is absolutely promised to all that will faithfully ASK for that supreme gift in our Lord's name; so that PRAYER for it,

* Among a great variety of tracts, Mr. S. wrote one in support of diabolical agency and possessions in the most popular sense.

setting aside all delusive evasions about waiting,† is really a command,

Here is a hint of disapprobation at the peculiar opinions of his correspondent, who was one of the Society of Friends. In the Representation, &c. pp. 69, 70, speaking of a law in Barbadoes "to prevent people called Quakers, from bringing Negroes to their meetings," Mr. S. adds, "though I am sufficiently aware of the enormous errors of the Quakers, having carefully perused most of their principal authors, yet am I convinced, that their charitable endeavours to instruct these poor slaves, to the best of their knowledge and belief, will render them more acceptable to God, than all the other sects of nominal Christians (howsoever orthodox in profession of faith) who either oppose or neglect the same. O that this exemplary charity of the Quakers (however despicable their doctrines appear in many other respects) may provoke to jealousy and amendment those lukewarm Christians who profess and dishonour a more orthodox faith."

R.

which ought to be obeyed by all Christians, who hope to obtain "the exceeding great and precious promises" of being "partakers of the Divine Nature"), will, altogether, rescuing the poor lad from his spiprove the most effectual means of ritual tyrant: for "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY." Aud if he be afterwards taught to read, and placed as an apprentice to some useful artificer, as a carpenter, smith, or cooper, &c. he may certainly retrieve his character and become a useful and respectable member of society.

I am, with esteem for your benevolent character,

Sir,

Your humble servant,

GRANVILLE SHARP.

Dr. Richard Fox.

SIR,

June 20, 1817.

“An Old Unitarian," cannot fail of exciting some attention. I hasten to answer it, not from a desire to outstrip abler defenders, but because I am not an unhired advocate. I owe so much to the kindness and virtues of those whom your Correspondent has attacked, that my silence would be both unjust and ungrateful. It is not easy to meet an opponent who insinuates at least as much as he asserts; who designates ambiguously the class to which he belongs, and that which he accuses; and who seems a perfect master of that covert mode of attack by which Gibbon and others did much more injury to revelation than infidels of greater frankness. Such a style, however it may pain and wound, is not favourable to friendliness in controversy, for it seldom happens, as at the sacrifice of Iphigenia, that the knife is concealed from tenderness to the victim.

Who are the old and the new Unitarians, of whom your Correspondent talks so familiarly, as if they were well-known parties? From his Letter

for Calvinists and Churchmen. The terms are not new to me, but they are very variously applied. Sometimes they merely distinguish age; and certainly a Unitarian of sixty is old compared with one of five and twenty. But this is not your Correspondent's sense of the term, for many of the "sociétés ambulantes,” at which he sneers, owe their existence and prosperity to the powerful recommendation and exertions of such Old Unitarians as the late venerable Dr. Toulmin, and others resembling him in character, talent, zeal and age, who happily still survive. I have sometimes heard those of the present generation called new Unitarians: but who that lives is more zealous or active, more bold in stating unpopular, or more forcible in attacking popular doctrines, or more open and heretical ́ in politics, than Dr. Priestley? Those who hold the pre-existence of Christ, are called occasionally Old Unitarians; and the highly respectable gentleman whose talents, literature, celebrity and character deservedly place him at the