roperty and a matter of course in our own foreign possessions as they
were a short time since in the Southern States of America. So
completely was this the case, that when a slave was brought to England
by one of our countrymen, he was considered his master's absolute
property. However, this was happily brought to an end more than a
hundred years ago. A slave named Somerset, who had been brought by his
master to this country, fell ill, and his master, thinking that he would
be of no more use to him, turned him adrift. But a charitable
gentleman, Mr Granville Sharp, found him in his wretched state, had
pity on him, and got him restored to health. Then his old master,
thinking that now he would be of service to him, claimed him as his
property. This led to the matter being taken up; a suit was instituted;
and by a decision of the Court of King's Bench, slavery could no longer
exist in England. That became law in 1772. The poet Cowper has some
beautiful lines on this subject:--

"`Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall.
That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud
And jealous of the blessing. Spread it, then,
And let it circulate through every vein
Of all our empire, that, where Britain's power
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.'

"Still, we could hold, and did hold, slaves to a large extent in some of
our colonies. Now the great object of Clarkson and Wilberforce was to
get slavery abolished throughout the British dominions all the world
over; in other words, that it should not be lawful for a slave to exist
as a slave in any of our possessions. But they had a hard and steady
fight for years and years in pursuit of their great object. Patience,
faith, calm courage, perseverance, these were the noble constituents of
their moral heroism. Thomas Clarkson, from youth to manhood, from
manhood to old age, devoted himself unreservedly to the one great
purpose of obtaining freedom and justice for the oppressed negro. His
work was to collect information, to spread it on all sides, to agitate
the question of the abolition of slavery throughout the United Kingdom
and the world. William Wilberforce's place in the work was different.
His part was to introduce Clarkson's plans to the notice of Parliament,
and to advocate them with his wonderful eloquence, and to persevere in
that advocacy with untir