Pamphlets on West Indian Slavery

Elizabeth Heyrick (1769–1831) and Alexander McDonnell (1794–1875) held opposing views on slavery in the British colonies at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Published in 1824 and 1827 respectively, these pamphlets remain key documents in the context of post-colonial debates.

This book contains two pamphlets showing two opposed points of view on the slavery question. British philanthropist Elizabeth Heyrick (1769–1831) was a strong supporter of complete emancipation for slaves in the British West Indies, and published Immediate, Not Gradual Abolition in 1824. This work not only criticises anti-slavery campaigners of the time, whose efforts Heyrick considered too cautious and indirect; they also call for a boycott of all slave-produced goods from the West Indies - particularly sugar - and underline the collective responsibility of British citizens in the matter. Alexander McDonnell (1794–1875) was an equally vigorous propagandist for the sugar-planters of the West Indies, and published Compulsory Manumission: or, An Examination of the Actual State of the West India Question, in 1827. These works show the strength of feeling on both sides of the argument in Britain nearly twenty years after the abolition of the slave trade.