most abominable iniquity has been notoriously favoured and encouraged in that solemn Court; but on what principle, is not easy to be conceived.

"The other manuscript book (marked Voucher No. 2) contains a copy of minutes taken in short hand the last term, on the 22d and 23d May, 1783, of the proceedings in the Court of King's Bench, on a motion for a new trial of the cause of the same parties mentioned above, concerning the value of those murdered Negroes! Thus the contest between the owners and insurers of the ship, though a mere mercenary business amongst themselves about the pecuniary value, and not for the blood, of so many human persons wickedly and unjustly put to death, has, nevertheless, occasioned the disclosure of that horrible transaction, which otherwise, perhaps, might have been known only amongst the impious slave-dealers, and have never been brought to light.

"It will, however, be necessary for me to add to these vouchers a brief statement (which is enclosed*) of the principal circumstances of the case, because the two manuscripts are inuch too long for the perusal of your Lordships, except in the way of reference to particular parts, as to vouchers of the facts. As there is some variation in the two accounts respecting the number of persons murdered, it is necessary to remark, that it appears upon the whole evidence, that no less than one hundred and thirty-three of the unhappy slaves on board the Zong were inhumanly doomed to be cast into the sea-(Voucher, No. 1, p. 2 and 3)—and that all the other numbers mentioned in the several accounts are to be included in that number-viz. the one hundred and twentytwo mentioned in the beginning of this letter, who were cast alive, as the owners and their witnesses assert, into the sea, with their hands fettered; also ten poor Negroes, who, being terrified with what they had seen of the unhappy fate of their countrymen, jumped overboard, in order to avoid the fettering or binding of their hands, and were drowned; and one man more, that had been cast overboard alive, but escaped, it seems, by laying hold of a rope which hung from the ship into the water, and thereby, without being perceived, regained the ship, secreted himself, and was saved. It is necessary also to add to the enclosed statement, some remarks, in answer to the arguments and doctrines of a very eminent and learned lawyer †, who, to the dishonour of his profession, attempted to vindicate the inhuman transaction.

• The narrative delivered to the Lords of the Admiralty will be found in the Appendix. +1 find the following note annexed to the original document of this letter, at this place:"Memorandum. John Lee, Esq., a Yorkshire man, who spoke very broad in the provincial dialect of that county, which has seldom been so grossly profaned as by this lawyer?" N. B. His name was not inserted in the letter sent to the Admiralty.

"The reality of the fact, according to the evidence produced, was testified upon oath in one of our highest courts of justice, and was notoriously admitted by both the contending parties. Mr. Robert Stubbs, late Governor of Annamaboo, &c., is a living witness to a part of the transaction, and is now in town. He told me himself, that he saw several of the poor creatures plunging in the sea that had been cast overboard, though he alleges that he did not see who cast them over; for he says, he was only a passenger in the ship, and had nothing to do in the transaction, but remained below at the time they were cast over. Also, the officers and crew of the ship William (Richard Hanley, late master), and the owners of the said ship, viz. Messrs. Gregson, Cave, Wilson, and Aspinal, of Liverpool, merchants (mentioned in Voucher No. 1), can probably give sufficient information where the guilty crew of the Zong, whom they employed, are to be found, as also their names, &c. And Mr. who defended the cause of the said owners, has attended their consultation, and was in possession of the evidence or deposition of James Kelsal, the chief mate of the Zong (Voucher No. 2, p. 44, cap. 29. orig.), will be able to confirm the notoriety of the fact; and so also will the attorneys employed in the cause on both sides the question,-viz. Messrs. Brograve and Lyon for the owners of the Zong, and Mr. Townley Ward for the insurers.

"Informed of all these particulars, your Lordships will now be enabled to judge whether there is sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution of the murderers-viz. the chief mate and the rest of the crew of the said ship Zong, or Zung-before the Grand Jury at the next Admiralty sessions. Luke Collingwood, the master, is reported to be dead, as also Richard Hanley, the master of the ship William above mentioned.

"With the greatest respect, my Lords," &c. &c.

Although the powerful manner, in which the account alluded to in the foregoing letter was drawn up by Mr. Sharp, gave fresh force to the natural interest of the cause, he nevertheless failed in his endeavours to bring a farther punishment on the perpetrators of the horrid tragedy. But the failure of his attempt, and the insult offered, in the expressions of the pleader, to feelings which the sense of mercy and justice had inspired, were doomed by the great Fountain of Mercy to be fatal to the wicked interests of slavery.

The deduction that was to be formed from the scene that had

passed, was too obvious not to suggest itself even to the dullest observer. A high court of English judicature had heard one of the great organs of the law avow the case, in which he asserted, that "so far from the guilt of any thing like a murderous act," in casting one hundred and thirty-three living and unoffending human creatures into the sea, to perish there; so far from "any shew or suggestion of cruelty," there was not even a "surmise of impropriety in the transaction;" and that, to bring a charge of murder, against those who had acted this part of uncontrouled power, into an English court of law, "would argue nothing less than madness" in him who brought it thither*. To what could this stigma on the juridical code of England be ascribed? Not, surely, to the natural feelings in the heart of the great lawyer who pronounced it: that would be to impute to him an obduracy, an insensibility to human emotions, too gross to have found its way to so honoured and elevated a situation. The reverse was evident. He declared, as his great professional learning instructed him, the actual condition of the law in England, relative to the question before him, and asserted that it authorised the statement he had made; namely, that there existed the case, in which there was no legal impropriety in deliberately casting our unoffending and defenceless fellow-creatures into the sea, fettered, or otherwise prevented from hopes of succour. Where was the "heart so hard, or the head so inaccessible," that did not instantly take part against such a state of things, in a country, of which the enlightened laws and impartial justice were acknowledged as the boasts of human wisdom, and the patterns of human freedom?

This view of the case was eagerly seized by the sagacity of Granville. Besides the letter to the Lords of the Admiralty, he employed every means in his power to give the utmost publicity to the circumstances that had happened, and the arguments that had been employed. He sent an account of the whole transaction to the news

• The expressions printed in italics, were also used on this occasion by the Solicitor-General, who was employed for the owners.

papers-he handed about a copy of the minutes (which he had procured in short-hand) of the trial, and of the speeches on both sides he was also unwearied in diffusing his powerful and unanswerable remarks on the flagrant enormity of the case, which had been so strenuously vindicated;-and perhaps the cause of African freedom may thus reckon among the most effective instruments of its support, the masterly and successful arguments of the Solicitor-General, in the barbarian triumph upheld on that occasion over reason and human feelings, as well as over the otherwise enlightened policy of England.

But the following letters will evince the impression which Mr. Sharp's conduct had made on men of virtuous minds.

Dr. Hinchcliff, Bishop of Peterborough, to Granville Sharp, Esq. "Dear Sir, "Peterborough, August 31, 1783. "I return to you the enclosed narrative of one of the most inhuman barbarities that I ever read of. Were religion and humanity attended to, there can be no doubt that the horrid traffic would entirely cease; but they have too small a voice, to be heard among the clamours of avarice and ambition. Your benevolent endeavours to assist the wretched Africans, however unsuccessful in their favour, cannot be so in your own. As a friend to mankind, permit me to thank you, and to assure you that I am, "With the truest esteem and regard, dear Sir, your faithful friend, &c. J. PETERBOROUGH."

"Sir,

Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Chester, to Granville Sharp, Esq.

"George Street, Thursday.

"I return you many thanks for the copy of the letter you was so obliging as to send me. Your observations are so just, and so full to the purpose, that I can add nothing to them but my entire approbation.

"The letter in the newspapers I had seen before; and I had heard the shocking fact alluded to in it, from a friend of mine, who happened to be present at the trial. Your generous zeal in behalf of the oppressed and injured Negroes is highly commendable, and I hope the attention of the public will be excited by your humane endeavours towards this important object. I expect

soon, that a very excellent book on this subject will be published by a friend of mine in Kent, which I alluded to in my sermon, and shall take farther notice of it in a note.

"I am, Sir, your obliged, obedient Servant,

"B. CHESTER*.”

Mr. Sharp's personal activity in the relief of friendless slaves, continued for many years after the above trial. His memoranda notice an instance in a case of urgent danger, in 1786.

9. "Harry Demane, servant to

Jeffries, Esq.

1786, July 28.-Was informed by John Stewart, and Green, that Harry was trepanned by his master, and carried away and sent on shipboard. Went to the Lord Mayor, and to several Aldermen at Guildhall, also to Bow Street, and Litchfield Street, and could not get a warrant; and, no Judge being in town, I was disappointed of a writ of Habeas Corpus.

"29.-Sent Mr. Irwin to call at Mr. Mearn's, surgeon and apothecary in Bedford Street, where Mr. Jeffries lodged. Mr. Irwin took Mr. Fraser with him. They saw Mr. J., who was much frightened, and acknowledged the fact, and the name of the ship and the master.-Sent Mr. Irwin to Messrs. Douce and Bridgman, attorneys, who sent one clerk (Savage) with Irwin, Green, and Stewart, to Litchfield Street, to obtain a warrant; but were again refused, notwithstanding the additional evidence. The other clerk, Mr. Day, was sent to procure a Habeas Corpus, which he obtained of the Prothonotary's clerk, signed by the Court, and having the office seals affixed; and he brought it to me about nine o'clock.

"We then agreed that Mr. Savage should go to serve the writ,

• "Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Chester (but now Bishop of London), came forward as a new advocate for the natives of Africa. The way in which he rendered them service, was by preaching a sermon in their behalf before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Of the wide circulation of this sermon I shall speak in another place, and much more of the enlightened and pious author of it, who never failed to aid at every opportunity the cause which he had so ably undertaken."-History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade,