The great
humanitarian movement was the anti – slavery propaganda started by some eminent
men like William Wilberforce. Ever after the establishment of American colonies
England was involved in the slave trade. Even as early as 1771 fifty- eight
ships sailed from London , twenty – three from Bristol and one hundred and
seven from Liverpool. They transported 50,000 slaves that year. The slave-
trade was closely connected with the textile industry of Lancashire. The ships
from Liverpool carried cargoes of finished Lancashire cotton goods to Africa ,
exchanged them for negroes , took the slaves to America and returned to England
with cargoes of raw cotton, tobacco and sugar. The planters of the west Indian
islands and the American mainland bought English cotton goods to clothe their slaves,
and the supply of Negro labor from Africa enabled them to provide the raw
materials for the textile industry in Lancashire. This trade went on for years
together unquestioned by anybody.
One of the first to object to the
slave- trade on moral grounds was Dr. Johnson and another distinguished man who
opposed the inhuman practice was Horace Walpole. Later on the anti – slavery
movement started and it gathered momentum under the dynamic leadership of
William Wilberforce. They conducted public meetings and distributed pamphlets
to give the public a true picture of the sufferings of the slaves. As a result
of their efforts the slave – trade was abolished in 1807. The champions of the
movements did not stop their activities with this initial success. Their idea
was to set free all the slaves all over the British empire, and to achieve this
goal they continued the anti – slavery propaganda creating public opinion in
favor of their cause. It was achieved In 1833, the year in which Wilberforce
died. The anti – slavery movement had considerable impact on English social
life. It introduced into English life and politics new methods of agitating and
educating public opinion.
by..n.m.vasanth,b.a.
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