The struggle to end slavery: the anti-slavery argument. Source 1 transcript. Durham University Library

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The anti-slavery argument. Source 1 transcript

II. Question of the Slave Trade as it relates to the Interests of those directly engaged in it.

I. It has been maintained that the African Trade opens a wide channel for the beneficial investment of capital, and that the Abolition by suddenly throwing out of employment so great a proportion of stock, would give a serious blow to the commercial resources of the country.

In order to answer this, it will be sufficient to shew that the trade does not occupy any considerable part of the national capital – that the profits are of the description least beneficial to the country, and that the same capital, if excluded from this employment, would immediately and easily find a more advantageous vent.

According to the public accounts laid before Parliament from the Custom-house books, it appears that the official value of the exports to Africa during ten years, ending 1800, was £9,301,941 or £930,194 per annum. The average value of imports from Africa during the same period, was £83,725, leaving the sum of £846,469, for the capital employed in the Slave Trade; and although we should allow that the official value is a third less than the real value of the goods, the sum would not amount to more than £1,128,625, or not one thirty fourth part of the average capital employed in the exports of the country during the same period of time. And this is the trade which affords a demand for such a proportion of the National Stock, that its cessation must be attended with the instantaneous ruin of the British Commerce.

Simplified transcript
II. Question of the Slave Trade as it relates to the Interests of those directly enagaged in it.

I. It has been argued that trade with Africa is a great source of investment and that Abolition would bring this to an end, giving a serious blow to the commercial resources of this country.

In order to disprove this, it is necessary to show that the trade with Africa is not that important, that the profits are not very beneficial to the country, and that the same capital could easily be invested in a more advantageous way.

According to the Customs accounts that are presented to Parliament, the official value of exports to Africa between 1790 and 1800 was £9,301, 941 or £930, 194 per year. The average value of imports from Africa each year is £83,725. This leaves the sum of £846,469 that comes from the slave trade. Even allowing for the fact that the real value of the goods is one-third higher than the official value, it still only comes to £1,128, 625. This is just one thirty-fourth of the total value of exports from this country. And this is the trade that is so important to the country that its end would bring instant ruin to British commerce.

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