The West India colonies; the calumnies and misrepresentations circulated against them. by James MacQueen (1778-1870) - 1825

• One of the most outspoken hired pens against abolition •

James MacQueen (1778-1870).

The West India colonies; the calumnies and misrepresentations circulated against them.

London, Longman & Hurst, printed by Brickwood, 1825.

8°. XXVI, [10], 427, [1] pp.

With errata slip at dedication page and errata leaf before page 1.

Contemporary boards with paper label to spine.

Wholly untrimmed.

An apologia for the Caribbean slave economy, sponsored by the West India Planters. Author James MacQueen (1778-1870), Scottish geographer, journalist and businessman, "was the most vituperative pro-slavery advocate of the period, acquiring the soubriquet 'the Glasgow king of Billingsgate'." (see Taylor). He wrote the present West India colonies to refute the charges levelled against "West Indians" (those in favour of West Indian slavery) by emancipationists, specifically Clarkson's Thoughts on the Necessity for improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies (1823). MacQueen aimed to "oppose the rash, unjust, and dangerous measures now proposed for the abolition of personal Slavery in the West Indies". The work is dedicated to the chairman of the Society of West India Planters and Merchants, Charles Ellis (1771-1845) and he was rewarded handsomely by them for this proslavery publication: the West India committee granted him one hundred guineas for covering his publishing expenses.

Condition: binding worn along the edges and slightly stained, title label rubbed. Endpapers foxed, rest minor foxing.

Reference: cf. Sabin 43643 (first edition).

Literature:

Lambert, David. "White Creole Culture, Politics and Identity During the Age of Abolition" in: Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography, 38 (2005), pp. 145-46.

Taylor, Michael. "Conservative political economy and the problem of colonial slavery, 1823–1833." in: The Historical Journal, 57, 4 (2014), pp. 973-99.