The Quality of Mercy - By Barry Unsworth Page 0,96

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The summons for theft and damages in the case of Jeremy Evans which Bolton and Lyons had threatened to bring against him had not so far been pursued. The two had repeatedly postponed the application for a hearing on the grounds that they were still preparing their case. It came to Ashton now that this delay could mean only one thing: they were afraid to proceed because they could not be certain of winning. He had announced countercharges of aggravated assault against all concerned in Evans’s commitment to the Poultry Compter, those who had ordered it, those who had carried it out, the notary who had signed the order for custody, if there was one, the keeper of the prison, who had incarcerated the man unlawfully.

This it was that had frightened them, he now began to feel sure of it. Their position, their claim to right of ownership in Evans, had been seriously weakened by the Lord Mayor’s ruling that Evans could go free, that he could not be detained in prison without just cause. The claim of right by purchase, the production of the bill of sale, had not been accounted just cause.

On his knees, in the loneliness of his bedchamber, he prayed for guidance. And in the spaces between the words and the silence that came after them, God spoke to him and gave him counsel: he was to take the initiative; he was not to wait on the flickering intentions of Messrs. Bolton and Lyons; he was to become the plaintiff and press the charge of abduction, not in regard to the taking of the man by force and holding him in prison, but in regard to the earlier attempt to deny his rig ht of residence in England and transport him to the West Indies. Abduction, not criminal assault, as he had originally intended.

Next morning, in the full flush of resolution, he went to see Stanton at his chambers in Chancery Lane. He announced his new intention and asked for the services of his friend in the conducting of the case.

“We will drop all charges against the agents of the business—slave-takers, corrupt prison officers, whoever they may be,” he said. “We will charge only the instigators, the two men who lay claim to ownership of Evans by purchase and contend that they have the right, by the fact of purchase, to remove him by force from England and return him to the West Indies. We will charge them with kidnap.”

However, he saw no answering enthusiasm on the other’s face but instead an expression of increased gravity. “Frederick, I think it unlikely in the extreme that we could win such a case, in view of the prejudice that exists. Mounting a defense against the claim of damages they were to bring against us, that is a different matter, it raises no fundamental issues.”

“But that is precisely why I want to bring the case, because it does raise fundamental issues. If it went in our favor, we might at long last get a ruling that brings into serious question the status of former slaves now domiciled in England.”

“The Lord Chief Justice would almost certainly refer the case to the Court of King’s Bench. He would preside over it himself. He has always avoided making any pronouncement from the bench that would go counter to the West India Interest. He has demonstrated this again and again. It would be the same again now. And if we fail, think what harm there would be to the cause of abolition. It would entrench the right of continuous ownership, perpetual ownership from the point of purchase, irrespective of national boundaries.”

Ashton looked at his friend in silence for some moments. The same prudence he had always valued, the same weighing of words. Yet now it was almost as if he were looking at a stranger. “So, then,” he said, “we rescue the man from the ship that was returning him to plantation slavery, we secure his release from the prison where he was unlawfully held, we find a house where he can be safe while the action for damages is pending. And having done all this, we draw back from questioning the fundamental issue of his right to residence on English soil. Horace, we must take risks, we cannot wait till we are certain of the outcome, or we will never achieve anything. We did not get the verdict we hoped for in this piracy trial, but all was not lost, your eloquence