Wednesday, October 30, 2024

"Britain ... introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it"

Robert Jenrick's assertion that the countries Britain colonised should be grateful to us, reminds me of a comment by the historian and first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Williams.

Wikipedia says:

He has been described as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, to independence on 31 August 1962, and republic status on 1 August 1976, leading an unbroken string of general elections victories with his political party, the People's National Movement, until his death in 1981. 

As a historian, he was best known for his book Capitalism and Slavery. Based on his doctoral thesis, it:

makes criticisms of the historiography of the British Empire of the period: in particular on the use of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 as a sort of moral pivot; but also directed against a historical school that saw the imperial constitutional history as a constant advance through legislation.

In other words, it attacks just the understanding of history that Jenrick urges upon us.

As Williams once observed of such views:

"The British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."

No comments: