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Slavery

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Howells, for introducing this historic debate—historic in terms of its importance and of its subject. There is probably no one more able than the noble Baroness to introduce a debate such as this; her own experiences, her way of handling things in this country and the work that she has done have made her an example to us. We have heard excellent speeches, many reflecting the long road from the start of slavery in the16th century and indeed way further back than that. As the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, said, slavery certainly goes further back than that. That leads me to the great evangelical movement of the Clapham Sect at the end of the 18th century, which has not been mentioned today. It galvanised William Wilberforce to oratorical heights in 1807, which ensured that Parliament was sufficiently swayed at last to legislate to abolish the slave trade. It was not until 1833—another 20 years—that slavery was itself ended by this country. The great moral movement against slavery, begun in the late 1780s, was one of the first great extra-parliamentary agitations. As the noble Lord, Lord Solely, reminded us, it was the politics of the pressure group. People wrote and spoke of their indignation and outrage. In Manchester, 11,000 men—no women were allowed—signed a petition against it, and Josiah Wedgwood produced his famous anti-slavery badges, asking: "““Am I not a man and a brother””." As has been said, the churches led the crusade, the Quakers, in particular being a dominant force in the evangelical movement. Zachary Macaulay, son of a minister from Inveraray and father of one of our most famous Victorian historians, who had been governor of Sierra Leone, was one of the significant influences in the anti-slavery movement. Returning to this country from Sierra Leone and living in Clapham, he attended Holy Trinity church on the north side of Clapham Common, where he met like-minded people such as Wilberforce, who combined Christian principles with political acumen and were determined to see the end of the trade. It was they among others who galvanised Wilberforce to drive the anti-slave trade Bill through Parliament and to reverse the previous rejection of the Bill—regrettably by this House—in 1792. Noble Lords have all spoken of the terrible inhumanity involved in transporting millions of people—men, women and children—from the continent of Africa to the Caribbean, the loss of life and deprivations that they suffered on the ships that carried them to the miserable lives of intense labour and suffering that they were forced into to support the cultivation and trade of the sugar industry. The Caribbean is to us now a place of beauty and relaxation; indeed, I hope to go there in the not too distant future. But in the 18th and 19th centuries it was one of the centres of and caused one of the most brutal chapters in the history of man’s inhumanity to man. The efforts of the Clapham Sect started the unravelling of the slave trade. The outlawing of slaves being carried in British ships, though as the noble Lord, Lord Solely, reminded us not only in British ships but in those of many other nations, was enforced by the Royal Navy. It is perhaps ironic to recall that less than 200 years ago a Royal Navy squadron was based in Sierra Leone to prevent the transport of slaves from that country, which wasone centre of the trade, and in May 2000 British servicemen were sent there again to restore stability in the country which had been racked by years of civil war. It was of course to Sierra Leone that many of the slaves, freed as a result of the abolition of slavery, returned as ““free”” men, given small, but inadequate, plots of land and minute financial recompense, for the years literally under the yoke. The noble Baroness, Lady Howells, spoke movingly of this transatlantic trade which took place in the part of the world from which she comes. She in particular, along with the noble Lord, Lord Newby, talked of the legacy there—and the noble Lord of the impact of trade, the obstacles to trade, and the importance of the fair trade movement now. Many of the original slaves’ descendants are now in this country. Many came over on the ““Windrush”” and in other migrations, too. They form a vibrant, exciting and inspiring part of our diverse population. It has not always been like that, and the building up of relations in our communities is still one of the most important things that we need to do. Many speakers, including my noble friend Lady Hooper, spoke of the need for education, both about slavery and the understanding of other people’s cultures and histories. The parts to be played over the next few months by exhibitions in museums in Liverpool and Bristol, as well as in our own Westminster Hall, in promoting tolerance and understanding will be enormously important. The noble Baroness, Lady Young, made a powerful speech in that respect. The noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, gave us a most fascinating exposition of worldwide slavery and Humphrey his camel will stand in my memory for some time to come. Would it not be wonderful if we could now bask in the satisfaction of knowing that our ancestors brought to an end the exploitation of people and that as a result of their efforts there would never be a repeat of the subjugation of whole peoples to the will and at the whim of others. But we know that that is not to be and many of the speeches today have borne testimony to that. The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, who brings such vital experience to the House and who works so hard in her own right to help with these issues, the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds have all spoken powerfully today. History is littered with examples, many of which have been cited, and even in our own times millions of people across the world are denied freedom, dehumanised and treated as property to be bought and sold, even though this is illegal under international law. The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, and the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, referred to the Council of Europe convention. Some are born into slavery; some are sold; some are inherited over generations as property. Whether we like it or not, it happens. Are we sure that we can say that it does not happen here? Clearly, from listening to the speeches today, we know that we cannot. We know too if we listen to the accounts of people who are trafficked to this country as domestic slaves, often hidden from our view—badly treated, underfed, denied liberty. That is one of many reasons why our immigration processes are being transgressed and have on many occasions become completely ineffective. We should celebrate today that it was this country, under the hand of morally outraged citizens, that brought legalised slavery to an end. Perhaps what we cannot do is celebrate the end of the outrage of modern day slavery; that has yet to come. I once again thank the noble Baroness, Lady Howells, for introducing the debate. Like the noble Lord, Lord Clinton-Davis, I have learnt a lot today.