JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

slavery was so odious that nothing could be suffered to support it put
positive law, and there upon ordered that the slave should be set at liberty.
The effect of that decision was that any man, whether Negro or
other wise, who set foot in England at once became free.
A case which brought to light the appalling conditions under
which the traffic in slaves was conducted was the case of the slave ship
Zong. In the year 1781 four hundred and forty slaves were shipped
from West Africa on the Zong destined for Jamaica. In the courses of
the voyage those slaves suffered terribly. Food ran so short that some
of them were thrown overboard; in fact the captain threw over board
more than one hundred as slaves. By the time they reached their destination
those slaves were reduced to almost one half of the original
number . The owners of the slaves brought at action against the under
writers seeking repayment for their slaves. These owners did not have
in mind the cause of freedom, but the cause of freedom was certainly
assisted. In the course of the trial the evidence produced, disclosed all
the horrors of the treatment those slaves received on the voyage from
West Africa to Jamaica 1 . Public feeling was aroused and many pamphlets
were written on the subject of Slavery on the conditions under
which slaves existed. At that time there was in St. Kitts a gentleman , the
Rev. Mr. James Ramsay , and it was largely due to his writings based
on his first hand knowledge of the conditions in these Islands, that in
1787 the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed.
Among the persons instrumental in forming the society were
Sharpe, Wilberforce and Clarkson. In 1807 Earl Petty, afterwards
Duke of Northumberland, introduced in Parliament a measure designed
to give freedom to the children of the slaves, but the Government of the
day was not interested in this measure and it fell through...
I look back on the pre-emancipation days with no feeling of bitterness,
without anything of the spirit of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.’ I look back to them rather with a feeling of compassion.
1 The slaves on the Zong were thrown overboard in mid-ocean after many of
them had died at sea. The owners realized that if the remaineder were landed
they would not realies a profit but if all were lost they could claim insurance.
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