Unconvincing defence

Colonialism: a moral reckoning Nigel Biggar william collins Rs.899 Pages 480 In an unabashed defence of British colonialism, the author has waded into familiar debates in a rather superficial manner In attempting to defend the empire Nigel Biggar, Director and Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral & Pastoral Theology at Oxford University, has waded into several familiar debates in a rather superficial manner, usually ignoring writings which do not serve his purpose, and relying on scholars whose positions coincide with his own. Perhaps this is partly due to his inadequate familiarity with historical literature on questions which are relevant for the moral assessment being undertaken by him. One example would suffice: the abolition of slavery. Britain was an active participant in the Atlantic slave trade for over 150 years before, beginning to realise towards the end of the 18th century that it was an evil business. This was, according to Biggar, the outcome of the efforts of abolitionists. Their successful campaign led to the end of the slave trade, and eventually slavery — hardly an original argument. In putting forth his argument he debunks the classic study of Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery. The book was first published in 1944 and reissued as a Penguin Modern Classic in 2022, indicating its continuing relevance. Williams demonstrated the linkages between the Atlantic slave-trade, slavery in the Caribbean, and the Industrial Revolution for which the slave trade was an important source of capital. But by the end of the 18th century, slavery was no longer economically viable. This became one of the factors prompting the abolition of slavery in the 1830s. After summing up Williams’ thesis, Biggar refers to some recent and not so recent writings which have critiqued or caricatured it. He is not interested in important writings which have deepened our understanding of slavery and its abolition, such as the studies of CLR James, W.E.B. Du Bois and more recently of Robin Blackburn. Nor does he take into account the role of slave resistance in creating conditions that led to the end of slavery. The role of the slave revolt in Haiti (Saint Domingue) in the 1790s can hardly be overemphasised in this context. The successful revolt shook the institution to its foundations. Blackburn’s significantly titled The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery: 1776-1848 (1988), which shifted the focus away from the abolitionist movement, is not mentioned even in the bibliography while there is just a passing reference to his later work, The Making of New World Slavery (2010). No serious discussion on this question can afford to disregard Blackburn’s massive volumes. Biggar’s estimate for the total number of slaves imported into the American continent by British merchants is 3,259,443, between 1660 and 1807 (the year in which the slave trade was outlawed), the generally accepted number. The Portuguese shipped around double that number between the 1500s and 1860s. This gives us an idea about the magnitude of the Atlantic trade. Nevertheless, the book is not concerned about the implications the enslavement of such…