The British West India Interest and Its Allies, 1823–1833

Abstract

Abstract Between the foundation of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1823 and the passage of the Slave Emancipation Act in 1833, the British West India interest mounted a pervasive and influential campaign in defence of colonial slavery. This article gives the fullest account yet of the strength and activities of the West India interest during that decade of debate and argument. Moreover, this article demonstrates that the West Indians—far from a reactionary political rump—successfully created a broader pro-slavery lobby. First, the West Indians cultivated the support of numerous leading conservative periodicals such as Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, the Quarterly Review, and Fraser’s Magazine. Secondly, the West Indians courted the political favour of several leading Tories of the day, among them Canning, Huskisson, Peel and Wellington. Consequently, this article shows that pro-slavery sympathies were prevalent and influential with British print and political culture until 1833. It concludes that, for many Britons and especially British conservatives, colonial slavery—as much as the monarchy, the aristocracy and the Established Church—was an essential element of national life.