EXTRACT
FROM A
REPRESENTATION
OF THE
INJUSTICE
AND
DANGEROUS TENDENCY
OF TOLERATING
SLAVERY;
OR
Admitting the least CLAIM of private Property in the Persons of Men in England.
By GRANVILLE SHARP.
FIRST PRINTED IN LONDON.
MDCCLXIX.
CONTENTS.
The occasion of this Treatise. All Persons during their residence in Great Britain are subjects; and as such, bound to the laws, and under the Kings protection. By the English laws, no man, of what condition soever, to be imprisoned, or any way deprived of his LIBERTY, without a legal process. The danger of Slavery taking place in England. Prevails in the Northern Colonies, notwithstanding the people's plea in favour of Liberty. Advertisements in the New-York Journal for the sale of SLAVES. Advertisements to the same purpose in the public prints in England. The danger of confining any person without a legal warrant. Instances of that nature. Note, Extract of several American laws, Reflexions thereon.
EXTRACT, &c.
Some persons respectable in the law, having given it as their opinion, "That a slave, by coming from the West Indies to Great Britain or Ireland, either with or without his master, doth not become free, or that his master's property or right in him is not thereby determined or varied;—and that the master may legally compel him to return again to the plantations,"—this causes our author to remark, that these lawyers, by thus stating the case merely on one side of the question, (I mean in favour of the master) have occasioned an unjust presumption and prejudice, plainly inconsistent with the laws of the realm, and against the other side of the question; as they have not signified that their opinion was only conditional, and not absolute, and must be understood on the part of the master, "That he can produce an authentic agreement or contract in writing, by which it shall appear, that the said slave hath voluntarily bound himself, without compulsion or illegal duress."
Page 5. Indeed there are many instances of persons being freed from slavery by the laws of England, but (God be thanked) there is neither law, nor even a precedent, (at least I have not been able to find one) of a legal determination to justify a master in claiming or detaining any person whatsoever as a slave in England, who has not voluntarily bound himself as such by a contract in writing.
Page 20. An English subject cannot be made a slave without his own free consent: but—a foreign slave is made a subject with or without his own consent: there needs no contract for this purpose, as in the other case; nor any other act or deed whatsoever, but that of his being landed in England; For according to statute 32d of Henry VIII. c. 16. Sect. 9. "Every alien or stranger born out of the King's obeisance, not being denizen, which now or hereafter shall come into this realm, or elsewhere within the King's dominions, shall, after the said first of September next coming, be bounden by and unto the laws and statutes of this realm, and to all and singular the contents of the same."
Now it must be observed, that this law makes no distinction of bond or free, neither of colours or complexions, whether of black, brown, or white; for "every alien or stranger (without exception) are bounden by and unto the law, &c."
This binding, or obligation, is properly expressed by the English word ligeance, (à ligando) which may be either perpetual or temporary. Wood, b. I. c. 3. p. 37. But one of these is indispensably due to the Sovereign from all ranks and conditions of people; their being bounden unto the laws, (upon which the Sovereign's right is founded) expresses and implies this subjection to the laws; and therefore to alledge, that an alien is not a subject, because he is in bondage, is not only a plea without foundation, but a contradiction in terms; for every person who, in any respect, is in subjection to the laws, must undoubtedly be a subject.
I come now to the main point—"That every man, woman, or child, that now is, or hereafter shall be, an inhabitant or resiant of this kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed," is, in some respect or other, the King's subject, and, as such, is absolutely secure in his or her personal liberty, by virtue of a statute, 31st Car. II. ch. 11. and particularly by the 12th Sect. of the same, wherein subjects of all conditions are plainly included.