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Sur la législation anglaise relative à la traite des noirs, et sur l'état des nègres affranchis

Bibliothèque de la Société de l'histoire du Protestantisme français, Paris

Legislation Slave Trade British French Europe Emancipated Review Journal Article

This article explains the development of a "spontaneous league of European nations" (1) against the slave trade. It gives a number of reasons for the growth of European abolitionism - from key figures who spoke out against the trade, to the impact of the French revolution. Coquerel sees European abolition as an inevitability, and the slave trade as a shadowy remnant of a past age, which had no place in modern trading practices. He defends Britain's abolition of the slave trade from charges of cynicism, explaining how the law was implemented and the positive effects it had. He also compares British and French abolitionist political culture since the 1780s - "that memorable era, when the cause of black freedom united the most prominent citizens of France and England" (20).

Image ©SHPF, Paris. Article originally published in the August 1820 edition of the monthly Paris-based scientific and literary review journal, La Revue Encyclopédique, and subsequently printed as a pamphlet by Baudouix Frères. Coquerel, a member of the Société de la Morale Chrétienne, also translated and wrote the French introduction for Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton's speech in the House of Commons calling for the gradual abolition of slavery: Discours prononcé dans la Chambre des Communes d'Angleterre, à l'appui de la motion pour l'adoucissement, et l'extinction graduelle de l'Esclavage dans les Colonies anglaises (1823).