Tag Archives: William Pitt
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 […]
Posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Defence of slavery, Spanish Town, The Letters, Trade Also tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, George Grenville, Simon Taylor, William Grenville Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 5 December 1792
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 6 October 1792
06/10/1792
On his return to Jamaica, Taylor wrote to tell Arcedeckne about his voyage and the time he had spent in England, which was an even more disagreeable episode to him than when the sugar canes on his Holland estate had been afflicted by disease (‘the blast’). In particular, he despaired at British attitudes towards slavery […]
Posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Kingston, Plantation management, Pronatalism, Revolution, Slave trade abolition, The Letters Also tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor, William Grenville Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 6 October 1792
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 17 January 1791
17/01/1791
As the abolition debate continued, Taylor’s frustration rose and his language grew more colourful. In his view, abolitionists were behaving unreasonably by interfering with a lucrative system that he thought was best left to the oversight and management of slave-traders and slaveholders. His reference to events in the French islands is probably to the failed […]
Posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Kingston, Revolution, Slave trade abolition, The Letters, Trade Also tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Louis XIV, Simon Taylor, Vincent Ogé, William Wilberforce Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 17 January 1791
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 […]
Posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Defence of slavery, Enslaved people, Kingston, Slave trade abolition, Slave trading, St Domingue/Hispaniola, The Letters Also tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Simon Taylor, William Dolben Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 6 September 1789
Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 5 July 1789
05/07/1789
By July 1789, the House of Commons had launched an inquiry to the slave trade. Wilberforce made his first speech on the subject in May of that year, and it was clear that he had the support of his friend, Prime Minister William Pitt. Taylor was incensed by these turns of events in England and […]
Posted in Abolitionism, British Government, Defence of slavery, Enslaved people, Kingston, Slave trade abolition, Taxes/duties, The Letters, Trade Also tagged Chaloner Arcedeckne, Lord Sheffield, Simon Taylor Comments Off on Simon Taylor to Chaloner Arcedeckne, 5 July 1789