iples of Villenage. He refuted
it again by showing it to be an axiom in the British constitution, "That
every man in England was free to sue for and defend his rights, and that
force could not be used without a legal process," leaving it to the
judges to determine whether an African was a man. He attacked also the
opinion of Judge Blackstone, and showed where his error lay. This
valuable book, containing these and other kinds of arguments on the
subject, he distributed, but particularly among the lawyers, giving them
an opportunity of refuting or acknowledging the doctrines it contained.

While Mr. Sharp was engaged in this work, another case offered, in which
he took a part: this was in the year 1768. Hylas, an African slave,
prosecuted a person of the name of Newton for having kidnapped his wife,
and sent her to the West Indies. The result of the trial was, that
damages to the amount of a shilling were given, and the defendant was
bound to bring back the woman, either by the first ship, or in six
months from this decision of the court.

But soon after the work just mentioned was out, and when Mr. Sharp was
better prepared, a third case occurred: this happened in the year 1770.
Robert Stapylton, who lived at Chelsea, in conjunction with John Malony
and Edward Armstrong, two watermen, seized the person of Thomas Lewis,
an African slave, in a dark night, and dragged him to a boat lying in
the Thames; they then gagged him and tied him with a cord, and rowed him
down to a ship, and put him on board to be sold as a slave in Jamaica.
This base action took place near the garden of Mrs. Banks, the mother of
the late Sir Joseph Banks. Lewis, it appears, on being seized, screamed
violently. The servants of Mrs. Banks, who heard his cries, ran to his
assistance, but the boat was gone. On informing their mistress of what
had happened, she sent for Mr. Sharp, who began now to be known as the
friend of the helpless Africans, and professed her willingness to incur
the expense of bringing the delinquents to justice. Mr. Sharp, with some
difficulty, procured a _habeas corpus_, in consequence of which Lewis
was brought from Gravesend just as the vessel was on the point of
sailing. An action was then commenced against Stapylton, who defended
himself on the plea, "That Lewis belonged to him as his slave." In the
course of the trial, Mr. Dunning, who was counsel for Lewis, paid Mr.
Sharp a handsome compliment; for he held in his hand Mr. S