BREEJAN BURRUN & PEARLISHKA BURRUN
Despite the legislation declaring slave trade illegal and the introduction of the Amelioration Policy, the abolitionists perceived no significant change for the better for the slave population. In fact, the slave masters did not give a damn about improving the working and the living conditions of their slaves as the slave trade continued to thrive clandestinely.
It is true that the British government imposed on the slave owners the keeping of register wherein were recorded the names of their slaves. However, the slave masters could easily falsify their records. In 1814, the British government went a step further and appointed a Protector of Slaves to look after the welfare of the slave population, but what could he do against the judiciary that was dominated by magistrates and judges who were close relatives of the slave masters and who, themselves, had interests in the plantation economy which depended heavily on slave labour?
The damning findings of Royal Commissioners Colebrooke & Blair
As a matter of fact, the Amelioration Policy did not have the expected effects, as we can judge from the report published by Royal Commissioners Colebrooke & Blair indicating that slave trade continued clandestinely well up to 1824. Figures speak for themselves. While under the governorship of General Decaen in 1809, the country had a population of 59,728 slaves, under Governor Farquhar it amounted to 74,493 in 1817!
The abolitionists found evidence in the increasing sugar production another clue that slave trade was still flourishing. «Depuis quelques années la production sucrière avait augmenté dans des proportions considérables: ce résultat n’avait pu être obtenu sans une augmentation de la main-d’oeuvre agricole, augmentation qui ne s’expliquait que l’introduction clandestine d’esclaves en violation de l’acte d’abolition de la traite.»(1)
The slave owners challenge the accusation of clandestine slave trade
It is through their mouthpiece, Adrien d’Epinay, that the slave owners managed to prove that the accusation of the abolitionnists was unfounded. «Le fait, établi par Adrien d’Epinay dans un article publié le 10 novembre 1827 dans la Government Gazette, que le chiffre de la population esclave était tombé de 87,000 en 1815 à 77,000 en 1826 constituait la meilleure preuve du contraire. Sur ces 77,000 esclaves il n’y en avait d’ailleurs que 30,000 seulement employés à l’exploitation des établissements sucriers. L’abandon des cultures telles que celles du café, de l’indigo, des denrées alimentaires même, qu’on recevait alors de l’Inde et de Madagascar, l’emploi de terres neuves – et par conséquent capables d’un rendement intensif – pour la culture de la canne, les perfectionnements sans cesse apportés à l’industrie suffisaient à expliquer pourquoi les produits du sol mauricien augmentaient en quantité, tout en diminuant en nombre.»(Ibid)
The stage set for the death blow to the slave society
However, William Wilberforce and the Anti-Slavery Society (ASS) were bent on doing away with the very practice of slavery and instituting a compassionate society. So, “from 1816 Wilberforce introduced a series of bills which would require the compulsory registration of slaves, together with details of their country of origin, permitting the illegal importation of foreign slaves to be detected.”(2)
However, deceived by the deceitful behaviour of the slave owners who did not bother to apply the Amelioration Policy, the abolitionists were compelled to harden their position. So “he (William Wilberforce) began publicly to denounce slavery itself, though he did not demand immediate emancipation.”(Ibid) This new position was followed by the creation in 1823 of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (which became later the Anti-Slavery Society). Wilberforce urged that “slavery was a national crime that must be ended by parliamentary legislation.
On the way to abolition with indemnity for the slave owners
It was obvious that if the British government was not in a hurry to act, the idea began to dawn of an abolition assorted with sort of indemnity to compensate the slave owners. Thus the British administration, at long last, opted to side with the abolitionists, which implied that, sooner or later, slavery would be done away with. That was clear evidence that the suppression of the slave trade had been a thorough failure in the same way that the Amelioration Policy had been a flop.
In Mauritius, the British authorities took all their time to declare slave trade illegal, which was done only in 1813. More years were wasted before the fallacy of the Amelioration Policy was exposed and the decision to abolish slavery for good taken. It would take some more ten years to enact and proclaim the abolition of slavery. As a matter of fact, it was only in 1833 that the British Parliament enacted the abolition of slavery in all the British empire including Mauritius. William Wilberforce died three years later, satisfied that the Bill was passed through Parliament and adopted. The abolitionists won the day in some sort although were unable to push through an abolition without indemnity.
References
- Toussaint, Auguste, Port-Louis, deux siècles d’histoire, 1735-1935, La Typographie Moderne, 1936. Une nouvelle édition de cet ouvrage est sortie en 2013 aux Editions Vizavi, Port-Louis.
- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia, 18 May 2009.