in its very definition; and what fignifies the name, fays Hudibras, fince the thing is the fame? But the indifpenfableness of the measure has nevertheless (to continue the metaphor) given colour to the practice, and it is now feen in another light and view. But to return: If your Lordship fhould be of opinion, for opinion it must be, if there is no pofitive law, to ground your judgment upon, that Negroes in this country are free, I will place in oppofition to this, the opinions of the late Lord Chancellour Hardwicke, and his predeceffor the Lord Chancellour Talbot, to wit, that Negroes in this country are not free. Your Lordship perceives, that I take your opinion upon fuppofition only; the other opinions are well-known facts. To fearch then for the grounds of your opinion, without the certainty of its being fo, would be now premature and unneceffary: but, knowing the opinions of thefe two, great oracles of law, it is of neceflity to conclude, that they had the most fufficient foundation

foundation for them, feeing that it is allow ed on every hand, that no opinion was ever given in any cafe whatever with greater folemnity, or more deliberation, than these were. Now, my Lord, to investigate the reasons of these opinions, is one way,

perhaps, to arrive at the truth: but to follow men like these, in their researches, is a procedure fitted only to abilities fuch as your Lordship's are. As conjecture however is open to all, though pofitive knowledge is but the gift of a few; Ifhall therefore venture to suggest what might in part have led the ideas of these great and wife men to the conclufion which they have drawn, namely, that Negroes in this country do not become free. I have before ftated, my Lord, and have agreed with one of the learned counfel, that the condition of flavery among Negroes is unknown to the common law of this land that it is a new fpecies of flavery, which has arisen within, and not beyond, the memory of man, as is neceffary to the defcriptive qua

D 3

lity

3

lity of this kind of law; and, therefore, be ing not under the comprehenfion, it cannot be within the absolute provision of it, however reduceable thereto it may be made, by analogy, implication, or conftruction. I have said too, that acts of parliament are filent on this head. I have repeated what I had before ftated and faid, in order to draw this inference: that although the flavery of Negroes is unknown to the com mon law of this country, and acts of parliament are filent thereupon; yet the right which Mr. Steuart claims in the Negroe, Somerset, is a right given him by act of parliament.w

I must then apprize your Lordship, that from this inftant it is my intention to drop the term Slavery, at leaft as a term in argument with me. It is an odious word, that engendered this law-fuit, and now feeds and fupports it with the fuel of heated paffions and imaginations. Instead therefore of such prejudiced and unpopular ground, whereupon the cafe has hitherto been made to ftand,

3

ftand, I fhall take the liberty to remove its fituation, to change its point of view, and to reft it on the land of commercial Property; from whence, perhaps, it will. be feen, not only in a lefs offenfive light, but where alfo it may find a foundation more folid and fubftantial for its fup-> port.

It is matter of course, my Lord, to fay, that you are well acquainted with all the acts of parliament relative to the Royal African Company of England, from its eftablishment by charter in the reign of Charles the Second down to the present time [c]. Now, my Lord, the end of this company was trade: the object of that

trade

[e] I have referred to this period of the Negroetrade to Africa, because Acts of Parliament go no farther back in confirmation of it; but its commencement was of much earlier date. It began in this country about the middle of the 15th century, and was carried on by means of letters patent obtained by individual traders for their private emolument, until the growth of the English plantations in America, in the next century, made it an object of fuch impor

tance,

tråde Negroes, as the preamble to the act of the 23d of Geo. II. c. 31. thus ex pressly declares: "Whereas the trade to and from Africa is very advantageous to "Great-Britain, and neceffary for supplying the plantations and colonies there"unto belonging with a fufficient number "of Negroes, at reasonable rates, it is "therefore enacted, &c. &c." Whatever then, my Lord, is matter of trade, your Lordship knows, must be matter of

tance, as not only to render the establishment of a company neceffary, but of fuch profit, as to engage even crowned heads to be concerned therein. The firft charter was granted in the year 1661, in favour of the Duke of York; but being revoked by confent of parties, it was renewed in the year 1663, with more ample privileges than the former. The principal adventurers here, were Queen Catharine of Portugal, Mary Queen of France, the Duke of York, Henrietta Maria Duchefs of Orleans, Prince Ruperts aud others of the Court. Thus upon the ground of an exclufive Right was this trade continued, till, by the vast increase of the colonies, it became, in the bea ginning of the prefent century, a weight too heavy for the fupport of prerogative; and fo falling under the protection of Parliament, was made, as it now is, a free, open, and national concern.

property.