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Crusade against the Slave-Trade. Oration by Cardinal Lavigerie at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society held in Prince's Hall, London, Tuesday July 31st, 1888 (With illustration)

London School of Economics Library

Slave Trade Abolition Anti-Slavery Society Crusade Africa Missionary Catholic France White Fathers

This speech by Cardinal Lavigerie, the Archbishop of North Africa, head of the Catholic missionary organisation of 'White Fathers' and leader of the "European Crusade against the African Slave Trade" (3) was delivered in French at the Prince's Hall in London, in July 1888, and appears translated into English in this pamphlet. Lavigerie was engaged on a speaking tour of Europe, in an attempt to raise support for his "Crusade". An article from the Daily News notes the enthusiastic welcome for Lavigerie in London, and suggests that while "the spectacle of a French Cardinal on the platform of an English Anti-Slavery meeting must have seemed to them something strange" (4), it was indicative of increased religious tolerance and co-operation. Lavigerie's speech appealed to British nationalism by praising the work of Livingstone in Africa, and long-standing abolitionist zeal in Britain. He denounced the slave raids on African villages and showed the audience a wooden yoke used in the transportation of slaves, stressing the "sacred obligation" (9) of European colonialism in Africa to end this slave trade.

Contains a list of the members of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society for 1888, both British and corresponding members abroad, including in Denmark, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (2). Also includes copies of the reports in the British press of the 'Crusade against the Slave-Trade' meeting (22-29), a short interview with Cardinal Lavigerie on the progress of the Crusade in Belgium (29), and a printed illustration of a slave raid on an African village (31).