94

Letters on the slave trade: first published in Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle; and since re-printed with additions and alterations

Translated into French by "a very eloquent pen", and published in the Journal de Paris, according to Benjamin Frossard (La Cause des Esclaves Nègres, vol. 1, 63).

Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature, University of London. Friends House Library, London. British Library.

Letters Slave Trade Manchester Abolition National

In this 1787 pamphlet, Cooper describes the abolition of the slave trade as a national duty: "if we claim Freedom as our birth-right, and glory that the 'very air of our country is too free for a slave to respire'; we are in honour bound to assist in exterminating the most diabolical exertion of political tyranny..." (4). His letters provide an overview of the slave trade, citing early abolitionist writings and eye witness accounts from the work of Benezet, Woolman, Sharp, Wesley, Clarkson, Abbé Raynal etc., as well as the slave ship Zong trial of 1783.

A supplement to this popular abolitionist pamphlet was published the following year, giving figures for the consumption of African slaves in the Americas: Supplement to Mr Cooper's Letters on the Slave Trade (Warrington: W. Eyres [printer], 1788).