In two or three hours she would have been out of sight; but just at this critical moment the writ of habeas corpus was carried on board.

The officer, who served it on the captain, saw the miserable African chained to the mainmast, bathed in tears, and casting a last mournful look on the land of freedom, which was fast receding from his sight.

The captain, on receiving the writ, became outrageous; but, knowing the serious consequences of resisting the law of the land, he gave up his prisoner, whom the officer carried safe, but now crying for joy, to the shore.
But though the injured Africans, whose causes had been tried, escaped slavery, and though many, who had been forcibly carried into dungeons, ready to be transported into the Colonies, had been delivered out of them.
Mr.Sharp was not easy in his mind.

Not one of the cases had yet been pleaded on the broad ground, "Whether an African slave coming into England became free ?" This great question had been hitherto studiously avoided.

It was still, therefore, left in doubt.