in that court, as if God had spoken. And then Justice raised her sword, and, while the timorous slave and the arrogant master listened, the justice who was appointed to speak said:
"Immemorial usage preserves the memory of positive law long after all traces of the occasion, reason, authority, and time of its introduction are lost; and in a case so odious as that of the condition of slaves, must be taken strictly (tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported). The power claimed by this return never was in use here. We cannot say the cause set forth by this return is allowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom, and therefore the man must be discharged."
That was said on Monday, June 22,1772. From that day slave-traders lost England as a landing-place — lost her waters even as ports of call while their human cargoes were on board. The slave-trade had been actually restricted regardless of business considerations.
Not only did the case of Somerset serve to restrict the territory of the slave-traders; the stir it created in public talk was of tremendous effect. For it should be recalled that under the laws of England and of the colonies in those days it was libellous to tell the truth in public print about the ill-treatment a slave might receive from his master, unless, indeed, the story of it were first told in open court during a trial involving the matter. The cases which Granville Sharp brought into court enabled the masses of the English-speaking people who held no slaves to learn lawfully how slaves were treated by slave-own-
