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Count Leon de Laborde to Elizabeth Fry, about the article he had written for the Revue Française, which he was sending her, 16 Dec 1838

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Shelfmark: MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 444 Vol. 17, pp. 312-313

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He urges her to persuade the British Government to tackle the Egyptian government about the abolition of slavery and then to unite the friends of humanity so that they would send education and religion there. He expresses confidence that the British Government would not recoil from making such easy and inexpensive diplomatic moves after having already done so much for the anti-slavery cause. He suggests that as the slave trade annually produced for the Pasha of Egypt only 300,000 francs, the indemnity of a fraction of his dues would be enough to make him agree to abandon the trade. He assures her that it was necessary to emphasise only the justice of this cause against which could not be opposed, as in colonial slavery, the interests of the owners, the safety of society in general, and the obligations of the enslaved people themselves towards society, its laws, and duties. He reminds her that the people they were considering were not a slave society that wished to be free but a free society that did not wish to be dragged into slavery. He tells her that Mademoiselle Delessert was anxious to help her and had rallied her friends but that the French government and the country were cold on this matter and too involved with ephemera, though he was confident that it would [follow Britain's example] if she would exert herself in the cause in London.

Dates

  • Creation: 16 Dec 1838

Extent

2 pages

Language of Materials

  • English

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Shelfmark

MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 444 Vol. 17, pp. 312-313

Existence and Location of Copies

A microfilm (Micr. Brit. Emp. 17, reel 6) is available for use at the Weston Library.

Repository Details

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