Chapter 21- A Side Wind

In Chapter 21 of Hochschild’s “Bury the Chains” a new type of strategy is implemented by the abolitionists. The chapter starts with a duel between the Prime Minister and a M.P. which signifies the dividedness of the British Parliament. James Stephen, like Wilberforce, was a conservative except on the topic of slavery, and made it his driving passion to abolish it. He used the St. Domingue revolution as an argument against slavery. Stephen proposed a new bill that banned British subjects from participating in the slave trade to any French colonies- Wilberforce was silent. The slave traders recognized this ‘sidewind’ as a threat and tried to sink it. They claimed that another country would resume the slave trade and not treat them with the same tenderness and care! The bill passed with a large number of supporters. A newly installed Prime Minister Grenville was much more committed to abolition, as slave trade became a serious political position for candidates. People were adopting a plan for a slow abolition rather than immediate and complete abolition; and on March 25, 1807 this bill passed abolishing the trade, followed by many events of resistance. Yet, most of the world still lived in bondage or slavery, the job was far from complete.