Category Archives: Defence of slavery
Horatio Nelson to Simon Taylor, 10 June 1805
21/02/1807
Horatio Nelson first met Simon Taylor during the American Revolutionary War, while stationed in Jamaica. The two remained in touch. As Nelson remarks towards the end of this letter, by 1805, they had been acquainted for about three decades. The letter was written while Nelson pursued the French fleet in the Caribbean, during the months […]
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Simon Taylor to George Hibbert, Kingston, 29 August 1804
29/08/1804
Taylor commented to George Hibbert on the failure of Wilberforce’s abolition bill to pass the House of Lords in 1804. By this time, he was fully aware that such a setback would be unlikely to deter future efforts by his political adversaries. He claimed, however, that if the British state were compelled to pay financial […]
Also posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Kingston, Revolution, Slave trade, Slave trade abolition, St Domingue/Hispaniola, The Letters, Trade Tagged Duke of Clarence, George Hibbert, Lady Stanhope, Lord Stanhope, Simon Taylor, William IV, William Wilberforce Comments Off on Simon Taylor to George Hibbert, Kingston, 29 August 1804
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 5 December 1792
05/12/1792
At the end of 1792, Taylor wrote to tell Arcedeckne about his fear at the prospect of an end to the slave trade. The Jamaican assembly had produced a report, laying out their opposition to abolition and emphasising the economic value of the current slave system to the mother country. Such economic arguments were an […]
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Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 5 December 1792
05/12/1792
Following a petition by free people of colour seeking civil rights to the Jamaican assembly, Taylor confided to Arcedeckne that he feared that events could go the same way in Jamaica as they had in French Saint-Domingue, where clashes between free people of colour and whites had preceded a large-scale slave uprising. He was worried […]
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Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 6 September 1789
06/09/1789
In September 1789, Taylor was pleased when parliament suspended making a decision on the question of the slave trade until its next session, hoping that what he saw as ‘the madness’ of abolitionism would subside in the interim. He began to rehearse several proslavery arguments that became familiar themes in the planter defence of slave […]
Also posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Enslaved people, Kingston, Slave trade abolition, Slave trading, St Domingue/Hispaniola, The Letters Tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor, William Dolben, William Pitt Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 6 September 1789