Zachary Macaulay 1768-1838: The Steadfast Scot in the British Anti-Slavery Movement(5 Liverpool Studies in International Slavery)

In 1833 Thomas Fowell Buxton, the parliamentary successor to William Wilberforce, proposed a toast to ‘the anti-slavery tutor of us all. - Mr. Macaulay.’ Yet Zachary Macaulay’s considerable contribution to the ending of slavery in the British Empire has received scant recognition by historians. This book seeks to fill that gap, focussing on his involvement with slavery and anti-slavery but also examining the people and events that influenced him in his life’s work. It traces his Scottish roots and his torrid account of years as a young overseer on a Jamaican plantation. His accidental stumbling into the anti-slavery circle through a family marriage led to formative years in the government of the free colony of Sierra Leone dealing with settlers, slave traders, local chiefs and a French invasion. His return to Britain in 1799 began nearly forty years of research, writing, and reporting in the long campaign to get rid of what he described as ‘this foul stain on the nation.’ James Stephen rated him as the most feared and hated foe of slave interests. His weaknesses and failures are explored alongside his unswerving commitment to the cause to which he gave his energy, sacrificed his business interests, and saw as a natural result of his strong religious faith. This book is a result of extensive research of Macaulay’s own prolific writings and seeks to illustrate the man behind them, his passions and his prejudices, his steely resolve and his personal shyness, above all his willingness to work unremittingly in the background, generating the power to drive the engine of anti-slavery to victory.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations List of Illustrations Chronology Introduction 1. From Inverary to the Sierra Leone River 2. Slave Traders and French Invaders 3. Captive in Love--to Selina Mills 4. The Trials of the Governor 5. Caught in a Multitude of Tasks 6. Clapham, Family and Friends 7. Attempting to Win France for Abolition 8. 'Let Us Look it Up in Macaulay'--The Anti-Slavery Arms Manufacturer 9. Commerce and Conflict 10. Triumph and Tragedy on the Path to Glory 11. As Others Saw Him--As We Might Assess Him Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Rev. Dr. Iain Whyte is a minister of the Church of Scotland and an Honarary Post-Doctoral Fellow of the University of Edinburgh. He was formerly Chaplain to the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Review :
A solidly researched and well written book that provides a much needed modern critical biographical study on the forgotten abolitionist, Zachary Macaulay. This is an overdue, fascinating and carefully researched account of one of Scotland's unsung heroes. This biography follows on from Iain Whyte's pioneering study, Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery, 1756-1838. Against the familiar leadership of dissenters, Quakers and evangelicals in Clapham, Whyte noted the distinctive pattern of abolition in Scotland, which brought together the Moderate and Popular wings of the Church of Scotland and did not preclude the auld licht conservatives during the eighteenth-century campaign. Although Eric Williams's recurrent presence acts as a counterfoil, Whyte's approach to abolitionism largely follows David Brion Davis's synthesising position of economic, political and religious elements which acknowledges that a variety of factors coalesced to produce abolition in 1807 and later emancipation in 1833. In this way Whyte's narrative works against the excesses of Williams's economic determinism to emphasise the role that protest plays in social transformation, particularly that of 'civilised and humane' religion, combined with committed leadership. The anti-apartheid movement in particular is laced through both books as a modern comparison. Whyte argues that the prominence of Enlightenment ideas of benevolence fused with a religious awakening to produce a distinctive Scottish response to slavery. This was combined with a rigorous attention to facts nurtured by the Scottish education system. (With the proviso that enlightened, educated, pious Scots could just as easily turn their talents to defending slavery.) These themes are embodied in Whyte's biography of Macaulay who has been somewhat ill-served by histories of abolition which have admired his scholarly rigour, but portrayed him as a stern, impersonal, humourless Caledonian. It is a stereotype which is not altogether over-turned but finessed by Whyte's extensive attention to copious personal letters and records: 'The picture of a man who was so driven by duty that he neglected his family and failed to sustain deep friendships through a cold aloofness cannot be sustained' (p. 144). Whyte's elegant prose will appeal to the growing numbers of researchers and students, at both postgraduate and undergraduate level, seeking to explore the area of slavery and abolition from a Scottish angle. Although Whyte has demonstrated the usefulness of a 'devolved' historiography, it is worth raising the warning of a certain degree of Scottish exceptionalism that could easily creep into this field as it expands. Does national background provide one filter amongst many through which political issues are distilled; or is Scottishness a vital ingredient that produces such 'steadfast' abolitionists? Macaulay's biography entails a circum-Atlantic journey from Inverary, to Glasgow, to a Jamaican slave plantation, before his return to Rothley Hall where his friendship with leading abolitionists changed the course of his life. His personal observations from his time as a book-keeper added some vital authenticity to the abolitionist cause. Macaulay would become a governor of the 'free black' colony at Sierra Leone where his lack of leadership skills and experience coincided with the difficulties of the new colony in the shape of settler politics, French invasion and local slave trading rulers. Whyte shrewdly notes: Foreign slave traders could not obtain their human cargoes without the cooperation of local Africans. This unpalatable truth has until recently been obscured by many African historians in the same way that a veil has long been drawn over Scottish involvement in the trade (p. 42). The strategy of maintaining focus on Macaulay's biography by referring to wider debates through footnotes is largely effective, although at times a broader context might have been welcome for the uninitiated. For example, what were the issues that provoked Olaudah Equiano to withdraw his support for the Sierra Leone colony that Macaulay spearheaded? Son of the manse Macaulay, who converted to evangelical anglicanism, appears a classic liberal reformer, seeking to ameliorate colonial slavery into gradual extinction through the three 'C's-commerce, civilisation and Christianity-while maintaining the gradations of civil society at home. Whyte notes that in the 1820s, 'the political scene saw a number of protests in favour of worker's rights and the extension of the suffrage, causes from which he and Hannah More shrank in horror' (p. 139). Nonetheless, Macaulay's 'steadfast' involvement in key areas is demonstrated by his editorship of the Christian Observer (1802-16) and the later Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter (1825-31). He would lead the protests against the exploitation of Saartjie Baartman, the 'Hottentot Venus'; and raised support for French abolitionists becoming, in Whyte's judgement, 'probably the most effective of them' (p. 165). Although Whyte is keen to rehabilitate the reputation of Macaulay, he does not shy away from ambiguities such as his support for East India sugar (also produced by bonded labour) in which he made investments. Nonetheless, he is effectively defended from the allegations of corruption and cronyism levelled at him by the notorious newspaper John Bull and the pro-slavery zealot James McQueen of the Glasgow Courier. If it is true that you can judge a man by the quality of his enemies, Macaulay certainly deserves this fair-minded, balanced and articulate account of his considerable achievements.