The University of Hull Slave Rebellions in the Discourse of British Anti-Slavery being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Gelien Matthews - BA - History September 2002. I Acknowledgments I am indebted to many individuals in bringing this body of scholarshipto the stage at which it presently stands. First, I must express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor at the University of Hull, Professor David Richardson. His unfailing concern for my well being, his support of every academic adventureI embarked on during my three years at Hull, his patient, candid and useful criticism of the preparatory drafts of the thesis and his astute suggestionsfor surmounting the challenges that I faced as a research student have been noted and deeply appreciated.I am also grateful to the meticulous scrutiny with which my second supervisor, Professor David Eltis of QueensUniversity Canada,perused the early drafts of chaptersthat form the basis of the present thesis. To the two secretarieswho servedProfessor Richardson during my stay at Hull, the ever-efficient Gill Craig and the very pleasant and helpful Vikki Magee, I say thank you. I am also indebted to the University of Hull for the Black Diaspora Scholarship that maintained me financially during my three-year studentship and to the School of Economics, University of Hull, which also contributed to my financial support. I say thanks also to the Phillip Reckitt Trust Fund for sponsoringpart of my researchtrip to Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana at the end of my first year of postgraduatestudies in 2000 and to Arnold Matthew Publications who also contributed generously to that David Nicholls research trip. My gratitude goes out as well to the trustees of the Memorial Trust Fund who awardedme a bursary in 2002 making it possible for me to in Oxford Angus conduct research for the thesis at the Bodleian Library and the Dr. Diana Paton, Mrs. Library at Regent's College, Oxford. I am also thankful to Majorie Davis and other personnel of the Society for Caribbean Studies who offered me two bursaries that enabled me to attend and present papers at their seminars and 2 conferencesof 2000 and 2001. For the families who accommodatedme in their homes during the field trips I made to conduct researchfor the thesis, thank you very much. Thesefamilies are Margaret and Owen Minnot of Hope Pastures Jamaica, Margaret and Anthony Christy of St. Phillip Barbados, Janice and John Woolford of DemeraraGuyana, Dr. Christine Ayorinde of Jack Straw Lane of Oxford, England and Chris Essilfie of Hillsborough Court London, England. Finally, I am especially thankful to ProfessorBridget Brereton of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus who believed in my ability to make some useful contribution to this body of scholarship and who took the first steps in making my studies at Hull a reality. And of course, I must say thanks to God Almighty, my constant help and companion. He is the one who orchestratesfrom the beginning to the end my every endeavour. I give him the highest praise for the favours he has bestowed on me. 3 This study is dedicatedto Aisha, Tewana, Coreisha,Abiola, Sabrina, Orlanda, Avril, Kizzy and also Fana Zulu; 1997/1999 5c studentsof the SuccessLaventille Composite School of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. 4 CONTENTS PAGES Section I/ Chapter 1 6-46 Context and Approach Section 2/Chapter 2 47-88 Agitating the Question Chapter 3 89-135 The Other Side of Slave Revolts Chapter 4 136-186 Loaded With Deadly Evidence Chapter 5 /Apocalyptic Warning 187-246 Conclusion 247-251 Bibliography 252-277 5 Section 1 Chapter 1 Context and Approach The title of this thesis is "Slave Rebellions in the Discourse of British Anti-Slavery". The study is located within the broad history of British West Indian slavery and its two central themes are the British anti-slavery movement and the major nineteenth century slave revolts in the English colonies. Immediately, a study of this nature bears on the long-standing historical debate concerning the primacy of various agenciesin achieving slave emancipation.' This thesis, however, while it focuses on British abolitionists and West Indian slave rebels, does not set up rival campsbetween Anglo- centrism and Afro-centrism in its investigation of abolitionism in Britain. Its primary focus is neither on the dynamics of slave rebellions nor on the quintessential ideologies of British abolitionism. Essentially, it is not an exploration of the factor or factors responsible for the emancipation of British West Indian slaves. The thesis is a study of the links that abolitionist discourse established between anti-slavery in Britain and slave revolts in the colonies. The thesis fills a gap left in mainstream by demonstrating in narratives on the history of anti-slavery in Britain that slaves ' This debate has emerged from the works of Reginald Coupland, Frank Klingberg, G. R. Mellor, Seymour Drescher, Roger Anstey, C. L. R. James,Eric Williams, Richard Hart, Hilary Beckles, James Walvin, among other historians who insist that either religious and humanitarian factors, economic interests or the self-liberating efforts of the slaves themselveswere primary in achieving the abolition of be in historiographical slavery. A more detailed discussion of this debate will presented the section of the thesis. 6 rebellion commandeeredhumanitarian attention. Slave rebels led abolitionists to carve out a narrative in history best defined as the slave rebellion discourse of British abolitionism. The experiencesof the colonised on one side of the Atlantic shaped a significant chunk of the discourse of the colonisers on the other side. The hypothesis here is that British abolitionists to a significant measure, though sometimes reluctantly, could not but respond to the fact that they were conducting an agitation against slavery on behalf of slaves who continually opposedenslavement. Within the ideologies they formulated about the servile regime, British abolitionists deposited a mass of ideas that reflected their sensitivity to the slaves' rebellion. They certainly denounced the slaves' violent solution to the West Indian question. However, the abolitionists went beyond denunciation to redefine and exploit the slaves' overt resistance so as to advance the objectives of the various phases of the slavery campaign they conducted in Britain. By so doing the abolitionists did not minimize their own role in the struggle but emphasisedthat slave rebels were active contributors in shaping the abolitionist slavery debate. Thus it was that the most depressedof subjects in the slave plantation colonies provided a most distinguished group of metropolitan spokesmenwith a discourse, which, while shielded from history, ought to be regarded as another dynamic episodein the making of the Atlantic world. 7 CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter One - This chapter provides an outline of the entire thesis. It identifies that this study lies within the context of British West Indian slavery history and the current historiographical debate concerning attempts to integrate the study of British anti- slavery and West Indian slave revolts. The chapter assertsthat the thesis is really a study in Atlantic history and that its central contribution to this body of knowledge is its examination of the slave rebellion discourse of British abolitionists; a hitherto unexplored aspect of nineteenth century British West Indian slavery history. An outline of the chapters is laid out here, a statement of the problem is given, the methodology is presented, the parameters are set and the expected outcome of the study is stated. Chapter one also provides a historical review of two hundred years of overt slave resistance and of the British anti-slavery movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Additionally, the chapter presents a historiographical assessmentof the state of the debate concerning attempts to integrate slave rebellion and British abolitionism. 8 Chapter Two - Agitating the Question This chapter is central to the theoretical framework of the thesis. It is a launching pad for exploring abolitionists' responses to slave rebellions. It probes the defensive arguments put forward by the abolitionists to dismiss pro-slavery propaganda that anti-slavery activities were stirring rebellion in the colonies. Through this examination, the foundation for integrating the study of slave rebellions within the broader theme of the British anti-slavery movement is established. The chapter underscores,however, that it was the rebellious conduct of the slavesthemselves that engendered both the pro and anti-slavery offensive and defensive propaganda conceming slave revolts. Chapter Three- The other side of slave revolts This chapter articulates the manner in which British abolitionists conceptualisedthe discussion here is attempt of the slaves to free themselves through rebellion. The a it has been progression from the issues raised in chapter two where shown that the n U. largely by attempting to shield themselves abolitionists responded to slave revolts from the blast of planter accusation.The juxta-positioning of chapterstwo and three, how discourse consequently, is to demonstrate the abolitionist slave rebellion performed different functions. The self-serving commentariesof abolitionists' counter the arguments discussedin chapter two gives way to a more slave-centredanalysis of Chapter that in depicting rebellions presentedin chapter three. three underscores slave 9 revolts the abolitionists