ID
250
Surname
Clarkson
First Name
Thomas
Title
Letter to François Guizot, 18 January 1841
Classification
Manuscript
Place of Publication
Publisher
Date
1841
Language
English
Translations
Theme
Abolition Campaigns
Source
Archives Nationales, Paris
Weblink
Document
Key Words
Letter Abolition Slavery Apprenticeship French Colonies National British
Precis
In this letter, Clarkson asks the newly appointed French minister for foreign affairs François Guizot to use his influence within the French cabinet to end slavery: "and may I be permitted to suggest, without an apprenticeship". Learning from the British experience during the 1830s, Clarkson suggests, would enable the French to pass a law of immediate abolition which would be "truly worthy of the French nation". Clarkson appeals to French nationalist sentiment by arguing that a law of abolition would be the source of "more true glory" for France than any military victory in the past. He appeals to Guizot and the rest of the French cabinet on the grounds of 'Justice, Humanity and Sound Policy'.
Notes
Archives Nationales, Fonds Guizot, 42 AP 219. This correspondence is also transcribed and translated into French in Nelly Schmidt, Abolitionnistes de l'esclavage et réformistes des colonies, 1820-1851 (Paris: Karthala, 2001), 514-15.