The National Trust has taken a bold decision to publish details of the findings of a team of researchers investigating the history of families who occupied many of the great houses of Britain whose wealth was linked with Britain’s colonial past1.
Research Reports
In their report this week they state, “We believe that only by honestly and openly acknowledging and sharing those stories can we do justice to the true complexity of past, present and future, and the sometimes uncomfortable role that Britain, and Britons, have played in global history since the 16th century or even earlier.” They say that 29 of the properties now in their care have direct links with colonial slavery and the slave trade, and about one third of all their properties have some kind of connection to colonialism.
This supports the findings of Eric Williams, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, whose studies of enslavement in the Caribbean islands make uncomfortable reading. Williams used to be dismissed by most British historians for his Communist sympathies, but recent research has supported his basic contention that the profits from the trade in African slaves and the production of sugar in the West Indies was an important contributing factor to the economic growth of the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
Abolitionists Derided
Williams not only shocked the British public and offended historians with his detailed description of the inhumanities of the sugar plantations and the horrors of colonial slavery, but he contended that the abolitionists in Westminster were not motivated by humanitarian concerns. He derided the great British heroes of abolition such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Zachary McCaulay, Hannah Moore, Granville Sharp, Henry Thornton, Henry Venn, John Newton and many others.
I thought Williams was grossly unfair in his assessment of the abolitionists in Britain, but he certainly had a point in saying that by the late 18th and early 19th century the elite families in the great houses of Britain had acquired sufficient wealth from the slave trade to cause them to lose interest in the colonies. The profits from colonial slavery had fallen and sugar production was no longer the great goldmine producing rapid profits for investors. Industrial development in Britain had reached a stage of maturity, whereby the economy had a broad base and was less dependent upon colonial investment. The colonies could be abandoned to their fate.
Not a single penny was paid to the African slaves in the Caribbean islands who had provided the wealth that built many of the great country houses in the British countryside.
This, in fact, is the history of European colonialism. There has been no policy of investment in the economic, educational, or social development of former colonies. The 1833 Act of Emancipation in Britain allocated a vast sum of compensation paid to the owners of slaves in Britain for the loss of their ‘property’. But not a single penny was paid to the African slaves in the Caribbean islands who had provided the wealth that built many of the great country houses in the British countryside that are now owned by the National Trust, and which are visited by millions of British sightseers who admire the grandeur of the architecture, the beautiful fixtures and furnishings within, and the attractive gardens.
Modern Colonialism
In October 2015, British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica to talk about reparations and the legacy of slavery. But to the huge disappointment of Jamaicans, he did not come with any proposition to help develop further education or strengthen much needed social services. Rather, he announced that Britain was prepared to spend £25 million in building a huge prison!
Was this really to help the Jamaicans deal with a wave of criminality in the island? Certainly not! It was purely to help the situation in Britain, where the legacy of slavery has caused so many social problems in the migrant communities and among young people born in Britain with Jamaican ancestors. British prisons had so many of these young people that the authorities wanted to deport them to Jamaica to serve their sentences there! The Government wanted Jamaica to help solve British social problems!
Cayman Islands Shock
Our British hypocrisy shows no limits! The latest example shows that the mindset of British colonialism has not changed. It is seen in the shocking events that have occurred in the British dependencies of Cayman Islands this month. Foreign Office policy ties overseas aid to the enforcement of abortion and homosexual practices2.
The Government of the Cayman Islands has refused to accept this on grounds that they are a Christian nation honouring biblical principles. But the British Governor of the islands has overruled and forced into law both abortion and same-sex partnerships. This is being strongly opposed by all the churches in the Cayman Islands, but their protests have been dismissed by the Governor.
How dare we force our unbiblical social values upon those who are poor and powerless to resist our continuing colonial oppression!!! It is the same spirit that captured helpless Africans, transporting them across the ocean to a life of slavery in the Caribbean islands to produce sugar for British tables and vast luxury for those who lived in the great country houses of wealthy British families.
The Pandemic Increases
Of course, our newspapers and the BBC News do not report such disgraceful examples of present-day British colonialism! Instead, we express surprise that the coronavirus pandemic has got worse this month, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced further restrictions in an attempt to control the infections. But nobody stops to ask why God has allowed this pandemic to sweep across the nations.
Surely the time has come to be honest with people and tell them the truth about the judgement of God as well as his love!
Why do none of our church leaders examine the Scriptures and tell the people what the Bible says about God’s promises to bring judgement upon human arrogance and injustice, shaking everything in the days leading up to the second coming of Jesus? Surely the time has come to be honest with people and tell them the truth about the judgement of God as well as his love!
It is surely time we examined such Scriptures as, “The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted and they will be humbled… The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled… When he rises to shake the earth” (Isa 2:12-19).
1'Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic slavery'. National Trust,
2Cayman Islands governor approves same-sex partnerships law. Jamaica Observer, 7 September 2020
