Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies: Wealth, Power, and Slavery

Edmund Burke was both a political thinker of the utmost importance and an active participant in the day-to-day business of politics. It is the latter role that is the concern of this book, showing Burke engaging with issues concerning the West Indies, which featured so largely in British
concerns in the later eighteenth century. Initially, Burke saw the islands as a means by which his close connections might make their fortunes, later he was concerned with them as a great asset to be managed in the national interest, and, finally, he became a participant in debates about the slave
trade.

This volume adds a new dimension to assessments of Burke's views on empire, hitherto largely confined to Ireland, India, and America, and explores the complexities of his response to slavery. The system outraged his abundantly attested concern for the suffering caused by abuses of British power
overseas, but one which he also recognised to be fundamental for sustaining the wealth generated by the West Indies, which he deemed essential to Britain's national power. He therefore sought compromises in the gradual reform of the system rather than immediate abolition of the trade or emancipation
of the slaves.


Author: P. J. Marshall
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/04/2019
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780198841203

About the Author

P. J. Marshall, Professor Emeritus, King's College, London

P. J. Marshall taught at King's College, London, from 1959 until his retirement in 1993 as Rhodes Professor of Imperial History. He is a past President of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the British Academy.

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