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.
Review
"One of the most striking aspects of Marshall's book is its author's intellectual honesty. Despite his broad sympathy for Burke as a political thinker, on the specific issue of slavery and the slave trade Marshall is unwilling to evade the implications suggested by the evidence he meticulously adduces." -- Daniel I. O'Neill, The Journal of Modern History
"This book is the result not only of a huge amount of research but of decades of intellectual engagement with the question of 18th-century Britain's relationship -- both desired and actual -- with its colonies. For those who wish to learn in meticulous detail about how these arrangements worked, Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies will be immensely illuminating." -- Natalie Zacek, Reviews in History
"The book represents Burke scholarship at its very finest in the sense that it not only deepens our understanding of this remarkable political and intellectual virtuoso -- and as such he must be described despite his failings -- but also of the period as a whole in all its complexity. Marshall is neither in the business of exonerating nor that of crucifying Burke, and his tone strikes a masterful balance by avoiding smug realism and hysterical moralism alike. In short, this book is a must-read for all historians of eighteenth-century Britain, its empire and the slave trade." -- Max Skjönsberg, English Historical Review
"this work excels at using private and official correspondence and recorded speeches before Parliament to investigate the politics of British colonialism in the West Indies and in nuancing Burke's relationship with regulating the slave trade. This work would be particularly useful to scholars researching Burke's connections to the Caribbean and the slave trade as well as those interested in the political logics that guided the British abolitionist movement." -- Trevor Bryant, H-Net
"[a] meticulous study ... impeccable scholarship" -- Richard Bourke, Historical Journal
" Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies provides the most comprehensive historical portrait to date of Burke's views on slavery and of his wider participation in the politics of the British West Indies. Whereas Burke's attitudes toward the American and Indian colonies are by now familiar to Burke readers and the informed public, Marshall's book has unlocked a new trove of material and insights that will sharpen our understanding of his engagement with Britain's Caribbean possessions." -- Gregory M. Collins, Studies in Burke and His Time
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.
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.
Review
"One of the most striking aspects of Marshall's book is its author's intellectual honesty. Despite his broad sympathy for Burke as a political thinker, on the specific issue of slavery and the slave trade Marshall is unwilling to evade the implications suggested by the evidence he meticulously adduces." -- Daniel I. O'Neill, The Journal of Modern History
"This book is the result not only of a huge amount of research but of decades of intellectual engagement with the question of 18th-century Britain's relationship -- both desired and actual -- with its colonies. For those who wish to learn in meticulous detail about how these arrangements worked, Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies will be immensely illuminating." -- Natalie Zacek, Reviews in History
"The book represents Burke scholarship at its very finest in the sense that it not only deepens our understanding of this remarkable political and intellectual virtuoso -- and as such he must be described despite his failings -- but also of the period as a whole in all its complexity. Marshall is neither in the business of exonerating nor that of crucifying Burke, and his tone strikes a masterful balance by avoiding smug realism and hysterical moralism alike. In short, this book is a must-read for all historians of eighteenth-century Britain, its empire and the slave trade." -- Max Skjönsberg, English Historical Review
"this work excels at using private and official correspondence and recorded speeches before Parliament to investigate the politics of British colonialism in the West Indies and in nuancing Burke's relationship with regulating the slave trade. This work would be particularly useful to scholars researching Burke's connections to the Caribbean and the slave trade as well as those interested in the political logics that guided the British abolitionist movement." -- Trevor Bryant, H-Net
"[a] meticulous study ... impeccable scholarship" -- Richard Bourke, Historical Journal
" Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies provides the most comprehensive historical portrait to date of Burke's views on slavery and of his wider participation in the politics of the British West Indies. Whereas Burke's attitudes toward the American and Indian colonies are by now familiar to Burke readers and the informed public, Marshall's book has unlocked a new trove of material and insights that will sharpen our understanding of his engagement with Britain's Caribbean possessions." -- Gregory M. Collins, Studies in Burke and His Time
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.