Slave trade | A collection of documents relating to the suppression of the slave trade

Slave Trade

A collection of seven documents relating to the suppression of the slave trade, 1838-82, comprising:

i-ii) Lord Palmerston, letter signed, as Foreign Secretary, to Lord Minto, asserting Britain's right to seize slave ships in rivers on the coast of Africa, which formed the basis of Palmerston's policy in suppressing the international slave trade, 2 pages, folio, integral blank, Foreign Office, 14 August 1838; with a supporting official copy of an opinion from J. Dodson, Advocate General, 3 pages, folio, 3 August 1838

iii) Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and for the Civilization of Africa, advertisement on a Mulready 1d. letter sheet, addressed to Rev. T. V. Fosbery, Godshill, Isle of Wight. postmarked Petworth, 5 November 1840

iv) Arthur Parry Eardley-Wilmot, R.N. A Letter to the Right Honorable Viscount Palmerston, M.P. [...] on the Present State of the African Slave Trade and the necessity of increasing the African Squadron. London, James Ridgway, 1853. 8vo, blue-green wrappers, spotting

v) [Parliament.] Anno decimo Sexto Victoriae Reginae. An Act for carrying into effect the engagement between Her Majesty and Syed Syf bin Hamood, the Chief of Sohar, in Arabia, for the more effectual suppression of the slave trade. [9 May 1853.]

vi) Anti-Slavery envelope designed, engraved, and printed by John Marshall, engraved with illustration and text ("Thus spake Britannia, Empress of the Sea, thy chains are broken, Africa be free"), second state, with additional imprint, 'Sold by Jane Jowett, 3 Camp Lane Court, Leeds. 1s/6d per 100 or 250 sent free by post for 4s/3d in Postage Stamps'. Unused

vii) W.E. Gladstone, autograph letter signed, to the Earl of Shaftesbury, acknowledging "the resolutions passed at the meeting recently held in Willis's Rooms" and assuring him that the government will "avail themselves of every opportunity for securing the suppression of slavery and the slave trade", 2 pages, 8vo, integral plank, mourning stationery of 10 Downing Street, 22 November 1882