Referring to the Cartwright case of 1569, which had famously resolved ‘That England was too pure an Air for Slaves to breathe in’, Davy, addressing Mansfield, commented that, ‘I hope, my Lord, the air does not blow worse since. But, unless there is a change of air, I hope they will never breathe here; for that is my assertion,—the moment they put their foot on English ground, that moment they become free. They are subject to the laws, and they are entitled to the protection of the laws of this country, and so are their masters, thank God!’36
