This was not an end to slavery, as this only confirmed it was illegal to transport a slave out of England and Wales against his will. Slavery also persisted in the rest of the British Empire. As a result of the reporting of Mansfield's decision, public opinion and some newspapers gave the impression that slavery had been abolished by the ruling. Some historians believe that between 14,000 and 15,000 slaves were immediately freed in England, some of whom remained with their masters as paid or unpaid employees. However, it is questionable whether that many black people lived in England at the time, and most of them were already free men and women, or were runaway slaves who had evaded the authorities. The decision was vague enough to allow Africans to still be hunted and kidnapped in London, Liverpool and Bristol to be sold elsewhere. (Such an incident was recounted by Olaudah Equiano in 1774 in his autobiography, "An Interesting Narrative" (1789).)