West India Colonies

MacQueen's 1824 book argues that the abolition of slavery in the colonies would threaten the future of the British Empire.

Published in 1824, this book is an attack on the British anti-slavery campaign of the early nineteenth century. MacQueen (1778–1870) argues that abolition in the colonies would bring chaos and barbarism to these territories. This volume remains an essential document in the context of post-colonial studies.James MacQueen (1778–1870) was one of the most outspoken critics of the British anti-slavery campaign in the 1820s and 1830s. A former manager of a sugar plantation in the Caribbean, he was editor of the Glasgow Courier, a paper that favoured West Indian merchant interests and opposed rights for slaves. First published in 1824, this book is a direct attack on contemporary anti-slavery campaigners, such as William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, whom MacQueen holds responsible for 'the dreadful misrepresentations scattered abroad' about West India colonies and the planters. MacQueen, who insists on calling himself an enemy of slavery 'in the abstract', argues that abolition in the colonies would lead to insurrections, bringing chaos and barbarism to these territories. This, in turn, would lead to the loss of the British colonies. This volume remains an essential document in the context of post-colonial studies.