THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9411300483
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
A judicial decision handed down in 1772 by Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of England, in favor of a Virginia-born bondsman with Norfolk connections was the initial impetus that eventually resulted in freedom for all African Americans in the English-speaking world.
The details are found in a lengthy article titled ``Somerset's Case and the Extinction of Villenage and Slavery in England'' in February 1864 issue of Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Briefly, these are the pertinent facts in the epoch-making case in which Lord Mansfield declared ``as soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England, he became free.''
During the middle of the 18th century, a Scotsman named Charles Stewart operated as a merchant and tobacco factor in Norfolk. While living in Virginia, Stewart bought a slave named James Somerset who, according to English court records, was an Old Dominion native. In 1769, Stewart was appointed cashier and paymaster of the Customs for North America by the British government. He then moved to Boston, where he remained until 1771. In that year, he appointed a deputy to replace him and returned to England, taking Somerset with him. Soon afterward, Somerset became ill, and his master turned him out into the street to die.
Fortunately, Somerset's condition came to the attention of Granville Sharp, a celebrated philanthropist. Sharp was also known as ``the father of the anti-slavery movement in England'' that was then rapidly gaining support from humanitarians in high places.
Notable among these were William Wilberforce, the parliamentarian, whose life had been devoted to the abolitionist cause, and Josiah Wedgwood, the potter, who designed and issued a medallion to foster the anti-slavery cause. Wedgwood's medallion, which showed the embossed figure of a chained and kneeling black slave against a white background with a surrounding motto ``Am I Not A Man And A Brother,'' became the official seal of the Slave Emancipation Society and is a collector's item today.
Under Sharp's care, Somerset regained his health. Stewart had him arrested and put in irons aboard the ship Ann and Mary, then anchored in the Thames River.
When Sharp learned of Somerset's plight and of Stewart's intention to ship him to Jamaica to be sold, he ``sued out a habeas corpus from Lord Mansfield'' and entered a suit against Stewart on the grounds of ``unlawful possession.'' The case, over which Lord Mansfield presided, attracted widespread attention, and its progress was avidly monitored by both anti- and pro-slavery proponents.
In the end, after several sittings of the court, Lord Mansfield took Somerset's side, remarking, ``The slave-holders will know, that, when they introduce a slave into this country as a slave, this air is too free for him to breathe in.''
In his summation, Lord Mansfield stated, ``The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself, from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.''
Nothing further is known concerning Somerset, who was freed by Lord Mansfield's decree on June 22, 1772, only a few years before Thomas Jefferson included his famous phrase ``all men are created equal'' in the Declaration of Independence.
Lord Mansfield continued to administer liberal justice until his death in 1793. He was buried beneath a magnificent marble monument in Westminster Abbey.
Meanwhile, the good work initiated by Lord Mansfield's decision continued to gain momentum.
In 1807, Parliament finally passed a bill outlawing the slave trade, while in 1833, another act abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. Regrettably, it took the great American blood bath of 1861-65 to accomplish the same objective in this country.
Even so, the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, passed in 1865, finally granted all African Americans the same status that Lord Mansfield had accorded James Somerset 93 years earlier. ILLUSTRATION: Illustration of Wedgwood's anti-slavery medallion.
by CNB