The day was at hand when the great philanthropist was to be vindicated, even by the lips of the great magistrate. The Slavery question could not be suppressed: the Chief Justice of England could not suppress it. Drive out Nature with a pitchfork, and still she will return. Only a few months elapsed, when a memorable case arose, which presented the question distinctly for judgment. A negro, James Somerset, whose name, in the establishment of an immortal principle, will help to keep alive the appellation of the ducal house to which it originally belonged,--was detained in irons on board a ship lying in the Thames, and bound for Jamaica. On application to Lord Mansfield in his behalf, supported by affidavits, December 3, 1771, a writ of _Habeas Corpus_ was directed to the captain of the ship, commanding him to return the body of Somerset into court, with the cause of his detention. In course of time, though somewhat tardily, the body was produced, and for cause of detention it was assigned, that he was the property of Charles Stewart, Esq., _of Virginia_, who had held him in Virginia as a slave,--that, when brought as such to London, he ran away from the service of his master, but was recovered, and finally delivered on board the ship to be carried to Jamaica, there to be sold as the slave and property of the _Virginia gentleman_.[153] As no facts were in issue here, the whole cause hinged on the Constitutionality of Slavery in England; and the great question which the Chief Justice had sought to avoid, and on which the Commentator had changed sides, was once again to be heard. [153] Since this Address, private papers have seen the light, by which it appears, that the claimant was cashier and paymaster of customs in North America, and for some years previous to this important case _resided in Boston_, where Somerset was known. Through all the arguments he is spoken of as from Virginia, and reference is constantly made to the laws of Virginia; nor is this mistake astonishing, when it is understood that an orator in Parliament once spoke of the "Island of Virginia," and nobody corrected him.--Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for 1863-64, p. 324: _Villenage_, by Emory Washburn.