Tidbits from "Bury the Chains"

Here are more odds and ends from the book, "Bury the Chains" by Adam Hochschild.

As Thomas Clarkson and his committee in Great Britain worked toward freedom for slaves, they knew that turning the tide of public opinion was crucial.  It was a great day when they were able to add Josiah Wedgwood, the famous pottery designer and manufacturer, and the maternal grandfather of Charles Darwin, to the committee.  He brought with him not only money, but also a talent for publicity and marketing.  After he was made Potter to the Queen, for example, he quickly sold a line of china he called Queensware. 

Wedgwood arranged for one of his craftsmen to design a seal for stamping the wax used to close envelopes.

It shows a kneeling slave with the words: "Am I not a man and a brother" inscribed around the figure.  It was reproduced everywhere "from books and leaflets to snuffboxes and cufflinks." Several ladies wore them as bracelets and as ornaments in their hair.  It became the equivalent of the buttons we wear for political campaigns.

This certainly raised awareness on the question of the slave trade.

Wilberforce was not a big man.  Just 5' 4" tall, he was prone to bad health.  The debates in Parliament were sometimes postponed as he battled illness.  Once, when he was particularly sick, his weight plummeted to 76 pounds!

In April 1791, during a debate on the House floor, William Wilberforce emphatically insisted  that ending the trade of slaves would not hurt, but rather help, the plantation economy.  Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who was a Member of Parliament (MP), responded that "the Africans themselves had no objection to the trade."

Unbelievable.  Simply astounding.

People all over England boycotted slave-grown sugar.  In response, the pro-slavery side wrote a pamphlet saying that sugar "is a mild, nutritious, vegetable substance; possessing a power of correcting the ill effects arising from a too free use of animal food."

Wouldn't that be interesting to see what their food pyramid looked like?  I could buy into that one.

Now you have heard something interesting.