Strong, in this situation, sent, as was usual, to his godfathers, John London and Stephen Nail, for their protection.  They went, but were refused admittance to him.  At length he sent for Mr. Granville Sharp.  The latter went, but they still refused access to the prisoner.  He insisted, however, upon seeing him, and charged the keeper of the prison at his peril to deliver him up till he had been carried before a magistrate.

Mr. Sharp, immediately upon this, waited upon Sir Robert Kite, the then lord-mayor, and entreated him to send for Strong, and to hear his case.  A day was accordingly appointed.  Mr. Sharp attended, and also William McBean, a notary-public, and David Laird, captain of the ship Thames, which was to have conveyed Strong to Jamaica, in behalf of the purchaser, John Kerr.  A long conversation ensued, in which the opinion of York and Talbot was quoted.  Mr. Sharp made his observations.  Certain lawyers, who were present, seemed to be staggered at the case, but inclined rather to recommit the prisoner.  The lord-mayor, however, discharged Strong, as he had been taken up without a warrant.

As soon as this determination was made known, the parties began to move off.  Captain Laird, however, who kept close to Strong, laid hold of him before he had quitted the room, and said aloud, “Then I now seize him as my slave.”  Upon this, Mr. Sharp put his hand upon Laird’s shoulder, and pronounced these words:  “I charge you, in the name of the king, with an assault upon the person of Jonathan Strong, and all these are my witnesses.”  Laird was greatly intimidated by this charge, made in the presence of the lord-mayor and others, and, fearing a prosecution, let his prisoner go, leaving him to be conveyed away by Mr. Sharp.

Mr. Sharp, having been greatly affected by this case, and foreseeing how much he might be engaged in others of a similar nature, thought it time that the law of the land should be known upon this subject.  He applied therefore to Doctor Blackstone, afterwards Judge Blackstone, for his opinion upon it.  He was, however, not satisfied with it, when he received it; nor could he obtain any satisfactory answer from several other lawyers, to whom he afterwards applied.  The truth is, that the opinion of York and Talbot, which had been made public and acted upon by the planters, merchants, and others, was considered of high authority, and scarcely any one dared to question the legality of it.  In this situation, Mr. Sharp saw no means of help but in his own industry, and he determined immediately to give up two or three years to the study of the English law, that he might the better advocate the cause of these miserable people.  The result of these studies was the publication of a book in the year 1769, which he called “A Representation of the Injustice and dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery in England.”  In this work he refuted, in the clearest manner, the opinion of York and Talbot.  He produced against it the opinion of the Lord Chief