ABSTRACT

Though this chapter is concerned with the slave trade in the last years of its existence, it is necessary to make some reference to the contemporary movement which resulted in its abolition. Throughout all the years covered by this book those concerned in the purchase and sale of negroes were conscious of the growing hostility of the nation. Several years before the outbreak of the French war, Parliament intervened to ameliorate the lot of slaves on the Middle Passage by the passing of a regulative act in 1788, and down to r807 there was always a vigilant party in England which was ready to denounce any who proved to be guilty of infringement of that measure. Shipowners, captains, planters, brokers and all concerned in this branch of commerce were never, in fact, wholly free from the fear of total abolition.