Today is the 200th anniversary of the time Britain became the first country in the world to ban slavery.
In this article the Bishop of Rochester tells us why we shouldn't apologise for slavery......
Bishop: 'Why I am NOT saying sorry for slavery'
By MICHAEL NAZIR-ALI, Bishop of Rochester
25th March 2007
Daily Mail
Shackled protestors on the march from Hull
This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Act of Parliament.
The procession from Hull to mark this anniversary has been accompanied by a chorus of 'mea culpas' from the great and the good.
Politicians, religious leaders and social activists have all joined in to bewail the undoubted horrors of slavery and to apologise for British complicity in this social evil.
Those marching have been shackled hand and foot and have been wearing sweatshirts saying: "So sorry."
And yet this should be a time of celebration and of thanksgiving for Britain's role in bringing this great oppression and cruelty to an end. Why do the leaders and people of this country find it so difficult to acknowledge their achievements and to recognise the true source of their moral commitments?
If a civilisation is constantly criticised, run down and apologised for, the danger is that its virtues will cease to flourish.
According to W.E.H. Lecky, the great historian, the Act of Abolition, and the struggle that led to it, marks the very few perfectly virtuous pages in the history of this nation.
One remarkable feature of the movement was how a few committed people were able to mobilise a great number to the cause so quickly, remembering how difficult communications were in those days.
Member of Parliament William Wilberforce's efforts got slavery banned in Britain and her Empire in 1807
It is no exaggeration to say that the movement against the slave trade was the precursor of many other pressure groups to improve conditions for working men and women in this country, to rescue children from premature work and provide schools for them, and generally to struggle for human dignity and equality.
Thomas Clarkson, the son of a Cambridgeshire vicar, devoted his life to campaigning against slavery and is regarded as the founder and father of the movement. William Wilberforce was the engine that drove it and the hymn-writer John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) was the experience and inspiration behind it.
All of these people came to oppose slavery, and the slave trade on which it depended, because of their deeply-held Christian beliefs. They were not content with the humane treatment of slaves or with the amelioration of their working and living conditions.
They had read in their Bibles that all human beings had been created from 'one blood' and in the image of their Creator. The African was 'a man and a brother' and could not, therefore, be enslaved.
The Clapham sect, to which many of the campaigners belonged, was also interested in missionary work. It was hard for them to hold that people could be evangelised and enslaved at the same time.
Their strongly-held views on equality also led them to work for improvement in the lives of the poor in Britain. Although the campaign was led by relatively few people, it should not be imagined that it was elitist.
Thousands of ordinary men and women signed petitions to Parliament urging the abolition of the trade.
There was the famous boycott of sugar produced by slave- owning planters. Hundreds of thousands of people either gave up sugar or substituted it with honey, maple syrup or sugar from the East. From 1795 there was a progressive boycott of slave-produced goods.
Not only was Britain a pioneer in abolishing this evil trade in human beings, it also played a significant part in persuading other European powers to prevent their ships from continuing the trade.
The 1815 Congress of Vienna marks a watershed in these efforts. At the Congress, leading European countries agreed to end the trade, though it took a considerable time for this decision to be implemented.
At one time, Britain was even prepared to pay certain countries to stop trading in slaves. All of this arose from a moral and spiritual vision that all human beings had been created equal and had the right to be free.
Soon after the passing of the Act, the Royal Navy was active off the African coast in intercepting slave-ships and liberating the slaves on them.
With the help of the Church Mission Society, many of those freed slaves were resettled along the West African coast, especially in Sierra Leone.
There, they joined freed slaves from Britain, Nova Scotia and the Caribbean. Much Christian activity towards the heart of West Africa was spearheaded from Sierra Leone and by those freed slaves.
The mea culpa brigade is so vociferous about Western involvement in the slave trade that it neglects the role Africans themselves played.
It ignores also the huge involvement of Arabs, particularly in East Africa. Even today, much of the population of the Arabian Peninsula is made up of the descendants of slaves. In some of these countries slavery was abolished only in the 20th Century.
When pioneers such as Livingstone and Stanley opened up the centre of Africa, they were vigorously opposed by the Arab slave-traders who feared that the coming of Christianity would spell an end to their trade - as, indeed, it did.
British missionaries persuaded the Sultan of Zanzibar to end the slave trade there in 1873 and the Anglican Cathedral was built on the site of the slave market.
The slave trade from the Gulf reached across the Arabian Sea as far as South Asia.
When Sir Charles Napier conquered Sindh province (now part of Pakistan) in 1843, his punning telegram to Whitehall had one word on it, "Peccavi' (I have sinned).
An immediate consequence was the demolition of the slave market in Karachi, Sindh's capital, which was replaced by the still-existing Empress Market, selling fruit and vegetables.
Alongside abolitionist leaders such as Clarkson, Newton and Wilberforce, there were the African Christian voices of freed slaves like Olaudah Equiano.
Such voices were informed, perhaps we should say inspired, by what they had read in the Bible about human dignity.
They were humble but dignified, insistent and yet gentle. Their account of the experience of slavery did much to influence public opinion in Britain. Their contribution to the ending of the slave trade and later of slavery itself should not be forgotten.
Britain was not only a pioneer in the abolition of the trade but, some years later, of the evil of slavery itself.
It has taken more than 100 years for this terrible practice to be eradicated, at least legally, from the planet.
However, as the continuing work of Anti-Slavery International testifies, there are new forms of slavery about. The struggle continues to release people from bonded labour, prostitution and the trafficking of men, women and children.
Today, we need a moral and spiritual vision so that we can support the courageous individuals and organisations engaged in the battle against these evils. Britain has a proud history in this area, which can be a source of inspiration for us in our efforts in our own times.
Let us then celebrate today the passing of the historic Act that led to freedom for so many. It is a time to acknowledge what has been achieved and what still needs doing.
It is a time for action and not just sentiment, a time to renew our commitment to human dignity and equality.
dailymail.co.uk
In this article the Bishop of Rochester tells us why we shouldn't apologise for slavery......
Bishop: 'Why I am NOT saying sorry for slavery'
By MICHAEL NAZIR-ALI, Bishop of Rochester
25th March 2007
Daily Mail
Shackled protestors on the march from Hull
This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Act of Parliament.
The procession from Hull to mark this anniversary has been accompanied by a chorus of 'mea culpas' from the great and the good.
Politicians, religious leaders and social activists have all joined in to bewail the undoubted horrors of slavery and to apologise for British complicity in this social evil.
Those marching have been shackled hand and foot and have been wearing sweatshirts saying: "So sorry."
And yet this should be a time of celebration and of thanksgiving for Britain's role in bringing this great oppression and cruelty to an end. Why do the leaders and people of this country find it so difficult to acknowledge their achievements and to recognise the true source of their moral commitments?
If a civilisation is constantly criticised, run down and apologised for, the danger is that its virtues will cease to flourish.
According to W.E.H. Lecky, the great historian, the Act of Abolition, and the struggle that led to it, marks the very few perfectly virtuous pages in the history of this nation.
One remarkable feature of the movement was how a few committed people were able to mobilise a great number to the cause so quickly, remembering how difficult communications were in those days.
Member of Parliament William Wilberforce's efforts got slavery banned in Britain and her Empire in 1807
It is no exaggeration to say that the movement against the slave trade was the precursor of many other pressure groups to improve conditions for working men and women in this country, to rescue children from premature work and provide schools for them, and generally to struggle for human dignity and equality.
Thomas Clarkson, the son of a Cambridgeshire vicar, devoted his life to campaigning against slavery and is regarded as the founder and father of the movement. William Wilberforce was the engine that drove it and the hymn-writer John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) was the experience and inspiration behind it.
All of these people came to oppose slavery, and the slave trade on which it depended, because of their deeply-held Christian beliefs. They were not content with the humane treatment of slaves or with the amelioration of their working and living conditions.
They had read in their Bibles that all human beings had been created from 'one blood' and in the image of their Creator. The African was 'a man and a brother' and could not, therefore, be enslaved.
The Clapham sect, to which many of the campaigners belonged, was also interested in missionary work. It was hard for them to hold that people could be evangelised and enslaved at the same time.
Their strongly-held views on equality also led them to work for improvement in the lives of the poor in Britain. Although the campaign was led by relatively few people, it should not be imagined that it was elitist.
Thousands of ordinary men and women signed petitions to Parliament urging the abolition of the trade.
There was the famous boycott of sugar produced by slave- owning planters. Hundreds of thousands of people either gave up sugar or substituted it with honey, maple syrup or sugar from the East. From 1795 there was a progressive boycott of slave-produced goods.
Not only was Britain a pioneer in abolishing this evil trade in human beings, it also played a significant part in persuading other European powers to prevent their ships from continuing the trade.
The 1815 Congress of Vienna marks a watershed in these efforts. At the Congress, leading European countries agreed to end the trade, though it took a considerable time for this decision to be implemented.
At one time, Britain was even prepared to pay certain countries to stop trading in slaves. All of this arose from a moral and spiritual vision that all human beings had been created equal and had the right to be free.
Soon after the passing of the Act, the Royal Navy was active off the African coast in intercepting slave-ships and liberating the slaves on them.
With the help of the Church Mission Society, many of those freed slaves were resettled along the West African coast, especially in Sierra Leone.
There, they joined freed slaves from Britain, Nova Scotia and the Caribbean. Much Christian activity towards the heart of West Africa was spearheaded from Sierra Leone and by those freed slaves.
The mea culpa brigade is so vociferous about Western involvement in the slave trade that it neglects the role Africans themselves played.
It ignores also the huge involvement of Arabs, particularly in East Africa. Even today, much of the population of the Arabian Peninsula is made up of the descendants of slaves. In some of these countries slavery was abolished only in the 20th Century.
When pioneers such as Livingstone and Stanley opened up the centre of Africa, they were vigorously opposed by the Arab slave-traders who feared that the coming of Christianity would spell an end to their trade - as, indeed, it did.
British missionaries persuaded the Sultan of Zanzibar to end the slave trade there in 1873 and the Anglican Cathedral was built on the site of the slave market.
The slave trade from the Gulf reached across the Arabian Sea as far as South Asia.
When Sir Charles Napier conquered Sindh province (now part of Pakistan) in 1843, his punning telegram to Whitehall had one word on it, "Peccavi' (I have sinned).
An immediate consequence was the demolition of the slave market in Karachi, Sindh's capital, which was replaced by the still-existing Empress Market, selling fruit and vegetables.
Alongside abolitionist leaders such as Clarkson, Newton and Wilberforce, there were the African Christian voices of freed slaves like Olaudah Equiano.
Such voices were informed, perhaps we should say inspired, by what they had read in the Bible about human dignity.
They were humble but dignified, insistent and yet gentle. Their account of the experience of slavery did much to influence public opinion in Britain. Their contribution to the ending of the slave trade and later of slavery itself should not be forgotten.
Britain was not only a pioneer in the abolition of the trade but, some years later, of the evil of slavery itself.
It has taken more than 100 years for this terrible practice to be eradicated, at least legally, from the planet.
However, as the continuing work of Anti-Slavery International testifies, there are new forms of slavery about. The struggle continues to release people from bonded labour, prostitution and the trafficking of men, women and children.
Today, we need a moral and spiritual vision so that we can support the courageous individuals and organisations engaged in the battle against these evils. Britain has a proud history in this area, which can be a source of inspiration for us in our efforts in our own times.
Let us then celebrate today the passing of the historic Act that led to freedom for so many. It is a time to acknowledge what has been achieved and what still needs doing.
It is a time for action and not just sentiment, a time to renew our commitment to human dignity and equality.
dailymail.co.uk
