110

Notices on the slave-trade: In reference to the present state of the British Isles

Anti-Slavery International, 'Recovered Histories' collection. Friends House Library, London. Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature, University of London.

Notices Slave Trade British Parliament Napoleon French Invasion Petition

This pamphlet attempts to reignite the debate over the slave trade by appealing to British patriotism, liberty, and the fear of French invasion during the Napoleonic wars. It argues that even if France did invade, the treatment received at the hands of Napoleon could not be as bad as the slave trade off the coast of Africa: "he would not drag us from our native soil [...] then convey us in chains to a distant region, under sufferings indescribable" (5). It offers a summary of the arguments against the slave trade, concluding with a call for Britain to address, as in 1792, the question of "the aggravated wrongs of Africa" (18).

Anonymous author, attributed to George Harrison. The footnotes in this pamphlet, which contain citations from the speeches of Pitt, Fox, Addington and other British politicians, are taken from the April 1792 parliamentary debate on the slave trade. A copy of the last petition to the House of Commons in 1792, from the Associated Presbytery of Caithness, is attached as an appendix.