Amelioration or abolition? British consulship, Haitian recognition, and the question of colonial emancipation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Faced with the decline of British West Indian plantations and a growing abolitionist tide, Foreign Secretary George Canning embarked upon the policy of amelioration in 1823 with the aim of eradicating the worst excesses of British plantation slavery. Scholars have regarded the rise of ameliorationism within a British imperial framework, neglecting Canning’s use of a modernized consular service in this policy’s promotion, and obscuring its transnational links to other Caribbean locations. This paper argues that Canning’s flagship consular intervention, Britain’s consulate-general at the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, became a major factor in the advancement of colonial amelioration. Charles Mackenzie, the British consul-general to Haiti, adhered to Canning’s ameliorationism, despite Haitian officials’ active attempts to enlist his support in the recognition and legitimation of their radical emancipatory project. Mackenzie’s mission undermined the abolitionist cause, reinforced the policy of planter indemnification, and facilitated the marginalization of Haiti in the Atlantic world.