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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1044: DISCUSSION IN THE LORDS RESPECTING THE SLAVERY ABOLITION ACT.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

DISCUSSION IN THE LORDS RESPECTING THE SLAVERY ABOLITION ACT.

On the 27th of February the Earl of Mulgrave, whose efficient administration of the government of Jamaica had made him an authority on the West India slavery question, inquired of the secretary for the colonies, whether it was the intention of the present government to carry out the measure of emancipation recently passed through parliament. Lord Mulgrave strongly represented to the house the apprehensions entertained by the public that, in two respects, the government would differ from its predecessor:—the appointment of impartial magistrates—men not holders of slave property; and the protection of the missionaries, to whom the planters entertained an unjust prejudice, but who, in the experience of Lord Mulgrave in Jamaica, were a most useful body of men, who had in no way transgressed the bounds of their sacred calling in their conduct to slave or master. To these inquiries and remarks the Earl of Aberdeen replied very much in the tone and spirit in which he was accustomed to answer questions when, many years later, during the Russian war, he was prime-minister. He affected surprise that any one should suppose him an opponent to freedom; promised everything that popular opinion demanded; but betrayed, nevertheless, by his sneers and misrepresentations where the missionaries were concerned, and his deep sympathy with the planters, that his heart was set against justice and liberty to the poor apprentices. The Duke of Wellington brusquely said, that he had been opposed to the philanthropic view of the negro question altogether, but the bill passed by parliament he would not consent to see made a dead letter. The duke evidently said what he meant. The well-known honesty of his character assured the Earl of Mulgrave who accepted the reply. It was a good sign as to the policy which the cabinet intended to pursue on this question, that the Marquis of Sligo was requested to retain his office as Governor of Jamaica. The noble marquis was not an experienced politician or administrator; but in his management of the difficult and complicated concerns of Jamaica at that time, he proved himself to be a man of ability and honour.