A Slaver's Schematic

Much is known about the British and American abolitionist pamphlets and newspapers that circulated in Europe and North America during the early 1800s. One example, abolitionist Thomas Clarkson's 1808 schematic of the slave ship Brooks, depicted enslaved Africans crammed together in the hold like cargo containers without any room to move. That infamous engraving appears frequently in publications, presentations, and exhibits about the Middle Passage.

Here at Rauner, we have a publication, Affaire de la Vigilante (1823), with a similar engraving that was made by Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie. De Lasteyrie was a founding member of the Society of Christian Morality, a group that started in 1821 with the aims of abolishing the slave trade, improving the conditions of French prisons, and providing aid to refugees, among others. Although this pamphlet is anonymous, it's a safe bet that it was written by a member of the Society, if not by de Lasteyrie himself.

Affaire de la Vigilante documents the capture of La Vigilante, a French slaver, by the British Navy on April 1, 1822, off the coast of Africa. The 345 enslaved people on board were liberated and then escorted to Sierra Leone. France had banned the slave trade in France itself in 1818, but would not require the same for French colonies until 1848. One scholar has suggested that France's lack of zeal in pursuing anti-slavery legislation for their colonies was because, in their minds, they connected the ban of slavery at home with Napoleon's defeat.

To explore a rare French abolitionist pamphlet, and to examine the schematic of La Vigilante, come to Rauner and ask to see Rare HT985 .A32 1823.