How Profitable Was the Slave Trade?

The Act of 1807 was habitually violated, as the traders knew that if one voyage in three was successful, they were abundantly remunerated for their losses.

Continuing The European Slave Trade Abolished,
our selection from A History of Slavery and Serfdom by John Kells Ingram published in 1895. The selection is presented in three easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The European Slave Trade Abolished.

Time: 1833

In consequence of the numerous petitions presented to Parliament, a committee of the Privy Council was appointed by the Crown in 1788 to inquire concerning the slave-trade; and Mr. Pitt moved that the House of Commons should early in the next session take the subject into consideration. Wilberforce’s first motion for a committee of the whole House upon the question was made on March 19, 1789 and this committee proceeded to business on May 12th of the same year. After an admirable speech, Wilberforce laid on the table twelve resolutions which were intended as the basis of a future motion for the abolition of the trade. The discussion of these was postponed to the next session, and in 1790-1791 evidence was taken upon them. At length, on April 18th of the latter year, a motion was made for the introduction of a bill to prevent the further importation of slaves into the British colonies in the West Indies. Opinion had been prejudiced by the insurrection in Santo Domingo and Martinique, and in the British island of Dominica; and the motion was defeated by one hundred sixty-three votes against eighty-eight.

Legislative sanction was, however, given to the establishment of the Sierra Leone Company for the colonization of a district on the west coast of Africa and the discouragement of the slave trade there. It was hoped at the time that that place would become the center from which the civilization of Africa would proceed; but this expectation was not fulfilled. On April 2, 1792, Wilberforce again moved that the trade ought to be abolished; an amendment in favor of gradual abolition was carried, and it was finally resolved that the trade should cease on January 1, 1796. When a similar motion was brought forward in the Lords the con sideration of it was postponed to the following year, in order to give time for the examination of witnesses by a committee of the House. A bill in the Commons in the following year to abolish that part of the trade by which British merchants supplied foreign settlements with slaves was lost on the third reading; it was renewed in the Commons in 1794 and carried there but defeated in the Lords.

Then followed several years during which efforts were made by the abolitionists in Parliament with little success. But in 1806, Lord Grenville and Fox having come into power, a bill was passed in both Houses to put an end to the British slave-trade for foreign supply, and to forbid the importation of slaves into the colonies won by the British arms in the course of the war. On June 10th of the same year Fox brought forward a resolution “that effectual measures should be taken for the abolition of the African slave-trade in such a manner and at such a period as should be deemed advisable,” which was carried by a large majority. A similar resolution was successful in the House of Lords. A bill was then passed through both Houses forbidding the employment of any new vessel in the trade. Finally, in 1807, a bill was presented by Lord Grenville in the House of Lords providing for the abolition of the trade; was passed by a large majority; was then sent to the Commons (where it was moved by Lord Howick); was there amended and passed and received the royal assent on March 25th. The bill enacted that no vessel should clear out for slaves from any port within the British dominions after May 1, 1807, and that no slave should be landed in the colonies after March 1, 1808.

In 1807 the “African Institution” was formed, with the primary objects of keeping a vigilant watch on the slave-traders and procuring, if possible, the abolition of the slave-trade by the other European nations. It was also to be made an instrument for promoting the instruction of the negro races and diffusing information respecting the agricultural and commercial capabilities of the African Continent.

The Act of 1807 was habitually violated, as the traders knew that if one voyage in three was successful they were abundantly remunerated for their losses, so that the enormous profits of the traffic afforded an insurance against the consequences of capture. This state of things, it was plain, must continue as long as the trade was only a contraband commerce involving merely pecuniary penalties. Accordingly, in 1811, Brougham carried through Parliament a bill declaring the traffic to be a felony punishable with transportation. Some years later another act was passed making it a capital offence but this was afterward repealed. The Law of 1811 proved effectual and brought the slave-trade to an end so far as the British dominions were concerned. Mauritius, indeed, continued it for a time. That island, which had been ceded by France in 1810, three years after the abolition, had special facilities for escaping observation in consequence of the proximity of the African coast but it was soon obliged to conform.

England had not been the first European power to abolish the slave-trade; that honor belongs to Denmark: a royal order was issued on May 16, 1792, that the traffic should cease in the Danish possessions from the end of 1802. The United States had in 1794 forbidden any participation by American citizens in the slave-trade to foreign countries; they now prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa into their own dominion. This act was passed on March 2, 1807; it did not, however, come into force until January 1, 1808. At the Congress of Vienna (opened November 1, 1814) the principle was acknowledged that the slave-trade should be abolished as soon as possible but the determination of the limit of time was reserved for separate negotiation between the powers. It had been provided in a treaty between France and Great Britain, May 30, 1814, that no foreigner should in future introduce slaves into the French colonies, and that the trade should be absolutely interdicted to the French themselves after June 1, 1819. This postponement of abolition was dictated by the wish to introduce a fresh stock of slaves into Haiti if that island should be recovered. Bonaparte, as we have seen, abolished the French slave-trade during his brief restoration and this abolition was confirmed at the second Peace of Paris, November 20, 1815 but it was not effectually carried out by the French Legislature until March, 1818.

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