Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1927. THE SLAVE TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 January 1927, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1927. THE SLAVE TRADE.

In “British Slavery and Its Abolition,” Hr. W. L. Matheson gives a most exhaustive account of a grave abuse in British history and its ultimate reform. Villeinage, the feudal counterpart of slavery, had disappeared in England by the beginning of the 17th Century, But with the acquisition of colonies in America and the AVest Indies the slave trade with the Guinea Coast developed to assure a supply of labour. It was very lucrative, but was conducted with great inhumanity. Towards the end of the 18th. Century there was a movement for its abolition, and i n 1807, thanks to the efforts of VVilbert’orcc, it was prohibited. But (he prize.,, to be won were 'great jthc penalty provided for breaches of the law was a fine, and evasions ei e fiequent until it. was declared to be piracy, a capital offence. Meanwhile, other countries had followed England’s example, but some of them ucie at small pains to enforce the law. Nantes, for instance, was a recognised centre of the slave trade; the home Port of SO slave-ships. They had fals.o deck I :.—that is, a platform three feet high was superimposed on the, deck and in this the victims l were “crowded together in one mass of living corruption.” In correspondence the human cargo was referred to as “ebony,” and we read of so many “logs” being sold. However, eventually other Governments foil into line, and the traffic was suppressed. Although the slave trade had been abolished, the institution of slavery survived for many years, the children of si ayes being themselves slaves. It is curious to learn that, although in the Spanish colonies slaves

at cue time treated abominably, there was a period in which their condition was fair superior to that of slaves elsewhere. They had certain privileges, could own property, and could buy their freedom from their owners. But the closing' years of the slave era in the Spanish colonies witnessed a reaction. Some idea of’ their plight can be gathered from the fact that on the sugar plantations of Cuba the life of a slave was reckoned at from seven to ten years. Whatever might be said of the English practice, the English theory of slavery was vicious, for, according to it a slave was a chattel who must remain a slave to the end of his days, unless his master chose to emancipate him. Dr. Mathieson admits that many English masters, .particularly the owners of the great hereditary estates in the West Indie®, treated their slaves well, but that did not justify a. system which was inherently wrong. 1532 is popularly regarded as the year of abolition, yet the latter was only partial. Emancipated slaves were required to serve a term or compulsory apprenticeship under their former owners. The process ot liberation was completed'-by the Act ot 15.,,. Dr. Mathieson has written a detached and closely documented study of a subject which has been neglected by historians. We may regret that the British ever permitted slavery. But sve must remember that most men arc prOhe to accept the current ideas, of morality without question, and we may be proud of the fact that the British were among the first to put an end to the slave trade and to slavery.