Cover Story Black History Month
Te first volume came with the lugubrious title: “Substance of
the Debates on a Resolution for Abolishing the Slave Trade, which was moved in the House of Commons on the 10th June 1806, and in the House of Lords on the 24th June 1806, with an Appendix, containing Notes and Illustrations”. Te title of the second volume was equally a mouthful: “Abstract
of the Evidence delivered before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the years 1790 and 1791 on the part of the Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave Trade”. While the first volume contains an abridged verbatim report
of debates in both the House of Commons and House of Lords on a Resolution to abolish the African Slave Trade introduced by Britain’s first ever foreign secretary (or secretary of state) Charles James Fox, the second volume is an abstract of the evidence given before a House of Commons Select Committee by both pro- and anti-abolition campaigners of the time. Te publishers, Phillips and Fardon, explained in the Preface
of the second volume thus: “In consequence of the numerous peti- tions which were sent to Parliament from different counties, cities, and towns of Great Britain, in the year 1788, for the abolition of the Slave Trade, it was determined by the House of Commons to hear evidence upon that subject. “Te slave merchants and planters accordingly brought forward
several persons as witnesses, the first [on] behalf of the continuance of [the] Slave Trade, and [the] latter in defence of the Colonial Slavery. Tese were heard and examined in the years 1789 and 1790. Several persons were afterwards called on the side of the Petition- ers of Great Britain to substantiate the foundation of their several petitions, and to invalidate several points of the evidence which the others had offered. Tese were examined in the years 1790 and 1791. “Tis abstract then is made up from the evidence of the latter,
in which little other alteration has been made than that of bring- ing things on the same point into one chapter, which before lay scattered in different parts of the evidence; and this has been done to enable the reader to see every branch of the subject in a clear and distinct shape.” Phillips and Fardon further explained that: “Te evidence for
Africa and the Middle Passage, on the side of the Petitioners of Great Britain, is given by persons who have been to almost all the conspicuous parts of Africa, from the River Senegal to Angola. Many of them have had great opportunities of information, from having been resident on shore, or having been up and down the different rivers, or from having made each of them several voyages. “Among these, as well as among those who have only had the
opportunity perhaps of a single voyage, are to be reckoned several respectable persons of education, observation, and leisure, and it is to be observed that the information of the whole goes to things at different periods from the year 1754 to 1789.” What the publishers were trying to establish here is that the
evidence given before the Select Committee was kosher as it came from people who had been to Africa and the West Indies, and had seen with their own eyes the evils of the Slave Trade. But it is the first volume, carrying the debates in both Houses
of Parliament, that we shall concentrate on in this article for the meantime. Te first volume, according to the publishers, contains “a faithful report, though in a more compressed form than that in which they were delivered [in Parliament]... It seemed to be
30 | October 2011 | New African
Above: Charles James Fox, Britain’s first foreign secretary, who introduced the 1806 Resolution to abolish the African Slave Trade. Right: a late 18th-century cartoon depicting inhuman slave traders
highly desirable to preserve the substance of these speeches, as a record of the opinions which, after nearly 20 years of deliberation and enquiry, were entertained by our greatest statesmen, on one of the most momentous questions which perhaps ever agitated a legislative assembly.” Setting the context in which the report was published, Phillips
and Fardon explained that: “A bill was brought into Parliament, as early as in the last session as the circumstances of the country would permit, for cutting off some very important branches of [the African Slave Trade, though not total abolition]. Its object was threefold. “First, to give effect to the Order of Council which had been
issued at the close of the last year, prohibiting, with certain defined exceptions, the importation of slaves into the colonies conquered by the British arms during the present war. Second, to prohibit British subjects from being engaged in importing slaves into the colonies of any foreign power, whether hostile or neutral. Tird, to prohibit British subjects and British capital from being employed in carrying on, or assisting to carry on, a slave trade in foreign ships; and also to prevent the outfit[ting] of foreign slave ships from British ports.” After spirited debates in both Houses, the bill was carried
by large majorities, and passed into law. As Phillips and Far- don put it: “During the discussions to which this measure gave birth, both Lord Grenville [in the House of Lords] and Mr Fox [in the Commons] declared in substance that they felt
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