Their finest hour: Churchill was wrong
He famously said, during the Battle of Britain: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"
But it wasn't. It was a fine hour indeed, but the finest hour of the British Empire was the outlawing of the slave trade, especially when you consider that just two years prior to the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade of 1807, the British had won the Battle of Trafalgar, and so had nearly complete command of the seas. Therefore, they were in a position to control the slave trade and reap enormous profits from it. Instead, they banned it, and devote naval resources for five decades to capturing slaving ships and freeing their cargo.
But it wasn't. It was a fine hour indeed, but the finest hour of the British Empire was the outlawing of the slave trade, especially when you consider that just two years prior to the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade of 1807, the British had won the Battle of Trafalgar, and so had nearly complete command of the seas. Therefore, they were in a position to control the slave trade and reap enormous profits from it. Instead, they banned it, and devote naval resources for five decades to capturing slaving ships and freeing their cargo.
Wow. Very interesting fact!
ReplyDeleteKudos to the British of that time.
A friend suggests that high tolerance of salt in Afro-America today (no idea if this is a fact) was simply because it was those who could survived the transport, given their rations, who landed and reproduced.
ReplyDelete