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In: Slavery·Africa·History - British
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #10633.
Thomas Clarkson’s 1839 work is a meticulous chronicle of the parliamentary struggle to end the African slave‑trade. The narrative proceeds chapter by chapter, each covering a specific period of legislative activity, petitions, debates, and the author’s own investigative trips to Liverpool, Paris, and the West Indies. It records the ebb and flow of bills, motions, and committee reports from the late 1780s through the decisive 1807 abolition, then follows the post‑legislative efforts to enforce the law, confront foreign traffickers, and address the fate of enslaved peoples. The opening sections list the procedural milestones, privy‑council inquiries, House of Commons debates, and the eventual passage of the abolition bill, while the prefatory remarks frame the text as a testament to Clarkson’s and Wilberforce’s relentless advocacy.
Written in a formal, nineteenth‑century style, the book reads like a parliamentary diary interwoven with moral commentary. Its dense, documentary tone will appeal to scholars of British political history, abolitionist movements, and legal reform, as well as readers who appreciate primary‑source accounts of social activism. Those interested in the mechanics of legislative change and the moral arguments that shaped early‑modern humanitarian campaigns will find it a rewarding, if demanding, study.
The opening · free to read
CHAPTER XXI Further labours of the Committee to February, 1788.--List of new Correspondents.
CHAPTER XXII Progress of the cause to the middle of May.--Petitions to Parliament.--Author's interviews with Mr. Pitt and Mr. Grenville.--Privy Council inquire into the subject; examine Liverpool delegates.--Proceedings of the Committee for the Abolition.--Motion and Debate in the House of Commons; discussion of the general question postponed to the next Session.
CHAPTER XXIII Progress to the middle of July.--Bill to diminish the horrors of the Middle Passage; Evidence examined against it; Debates; Bill passed through both Houses.--Proceedings of the Committee, and effects of them.
CHAPTER XXIV Continuation from June, 1788, to July, 1789.--Author travels in search of fresh evidence.--Privy Council resume their examinations; prepare their report.--Proceedings of the Committee for the Abolition; and of the Planters and others.--Privy Council report laid on the table of the House of Commons; debate upon it.--Twelve propositions.--Opponents refuse to argue from the report; examine new evidence of their own in the House of Commons.--Renewal of the Middle Passage Bill.--Death and character of Ramsay.
CHAPTER XXV Continuation from July, 1789, to July, 1790.--Author travels to Paris to promote the abolition in France; his proceedings there; returns to England.--Examination of opponents' evidence resumed in the Commons.--Author travels in quest of new evidence on the side of the Abolition; this, after great opposition, introduced.--Renewal of the Middle Passage Bill.--Section of the slave-ship.--Cowper's Negro's Complaint.--Wedgewood's Cameos.
CHAPTER XXVI Continuation from July, 1790, to July, 1791.--Author travels again.--Examinations on the side of the Abolition resumed in the Commons; list of those examined.--Cruel circumstances of the times.--Motion for the Abolition of the Trade; debates; motion lost.--Resolutions of the Committee.--Sierra Leone Company established.
CHAPTER XXVII Continuation from July, 1791, to July, 1792.--Author travels again.--People begin to leave off sugar; petition Parliament.--Motion renewed in the Commons; debates; abolition resolved upon, but not to commence till 1796.--The Lords determine upon hearing evidence on the resolution; this evidence introduced; further hearing of it postponed to the next Session
CHAPTER XXVIII Continuation from July, 1792, to July, 1793.--Author travels again.--Motion to renew the Resolution of the last year in the Commons; motion lost.--New motion to abolish the foreign Slave Trade; motion lost.--Proceeding of the Lords
CHAPTER XXIX Continuation from July, 1793, to July, 1794.--Author travels again.--Motion to abolish the foreign Slave Trade renewed, and carried; but lost in the Lords; further proceedings there.--Author, on account of declining health, obliged to retire from the cause
CHAPTER XXX Continuation from July, 1794, to July, 1799.--Various motions within this period
CHAPTER XXXI Continuation from July, 1799, to July, 1805.--Various motions within this period
CHAPTER XXXII Continuation from July, 1805, to July, 1806.--Author, restored, joins the Committee again.--Death of Mr. Pitt.--Foreign Slave Trade abolished.--Resolution to take measures for the total abolition of the trade.--Address to the King to negotiate with foreign powers for their concurrence in it.--Motion to prevent new vessels going into the trade.--All these carried through both Houses of Parliament
CHAPTER XXXIII Continuation from July, 1806, to July, 1807.--Death of Mr. Fox.--Bill for the total abolition carried in the Lords; sent from thence to the Commons; amended, and passed there, and sent back to the Lords; receives the royal assent.--Reflections on this great event
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