Some Caribbean nations have been touring European capitals
demanding reparations for slavery. Almost everywhere they are given
short shrift.
But in the leadership of the Church of England they may
have found people gullible enough to fall for it.
Will the newly-confirmed Dame Sarah Mullally, 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, be one of them?
In a virtue-signalling move the Church Commissioners plan to give away £100m from their charity funds to this cause, instead of using the money to support parish churches.
A group of 27 parliamentarians led by Katie Lam MP
has written to the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury calling the
proposal “legally dubious” as it diverts Church funds from their
original purpose.
The fact that hundreds of English churches are in need of funds for structural repair seems lost on the Church of England.
Of
course profiting from slavery is abhorrent. But those who advocate for
reparations to be paid by the UK seem to be ignoring a long list of
costs on the other side of the ledger. If Britain had dues to pay, those
debts are settled.
Firstly, Britain recognised slavery was repugnant as early as 1772 when a court case called Somerset famously ruled that slaves could not be held in England.
Secondly this country was amongst the very first to abolish the slave trade,
in 1807 (only Denmark was before us in 1803).
But unlike Denmark, the
UK was a global superpower at the time and our abolition sent a powerful
message worldwide. We were also one of the first world powers to
abolish slavery itself, in 1833.
Compare the Ottoman Empire
which only banned the African slave trade in 1857 and their last slaves
were not actually emancipated until the Turkish Republic was formed in
1924. Saudi Arabia maintained slaves as chattel until King Faisal
abolished the practice in 1962. Mauritania only legally abolished
slavery in 1981.
But
Great Britain, and later the UK, made a huge difference actively
fighting the evil slave trade world wide. The West Africa Squadron of
the Royal Navy lost up to 2,000 men fighting the slave trade.
This loss of life was often due to disease and illness.
The Squadron
lost so many people it was considered a graveyard posting by its
personnel at the time.
Some African leaders fiercely opposed attempts to stifle the trade.
But the Royal Navy rescued upwards of 150,000 Africans from slavery.
There are photographic examples from as late as 1906 of the Royal Navy
intercepting slave ships.
Almost everywhere they are given short shrift.
But in the leadership of the Church of England they may have found people gullible enough to fall for it.
Will the newly-confirmed Dame Sarah Mullally, 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, be one of them?
In a virtue-signalling move the Church Commissioners plan to give away £100m from their charity funds to this cause, instead of using the money to support parish churches.
A group of 27 parliamentarians led by Katie Lam MP has written to the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury calling the proposal “legally dubious” as it diverts Church funds from their original purpose.
The fact that hundreds of English churches are in need of funds for structural repair seems lost on the Church of England.
Of course profiting from slavery is abhorrent. But those who advocate for reparations to be paid by the UK seem to be ignoring a long list of costs on the other side of the ledger. If Britain had dues to pay, those debts are settled.
Firstly, Britain recognised slavery was repugnant as early as 1772 when a court case called Somerset famously ruled that slaves could not be held in England.
Secondly this country was amongst the very first to abolish the slave trade, in 1807 (only Denmark was before us in 1803).
But unlike Denmark, the UK was a global superpower at the time and our abolition sent a powerful message worldwide. We were also one of the first world powers to abolish slavery itself, in 1833.
Compare the Ottoman Empire which only banned the African slave trade in 1857 and their last slaves were not actually emancipated until the Turkish Republic was formed in 1924. Saudi Arabia maintained slaves as chattel until King Faisal abolished the practice in 1962. Mauritania only legally abolished slavery in 1981.
But Great Britain, and later the UK, made a huge difference actively fighting the evil slave trade world wide. The West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy lost up to 2,000 men fighting the slave trade. This loss of life was often due to disease and illness.
The Squadron lost so many people it was considered a graveyard posting by its personnel at the time.
Some African leaders fiercely opposed attempts to stifle the trade. But the Royal Navy rescued upwards of 150,000 Africans from slavery. There are photographic examples from as late as 1906 of the Royal Navy intercepting slave ships.
The nation of Sierra Leone was started as a settlement created by the British in 1787 for formerly enslaved people and became a British colony in 1808 and British protectorate in 1896.
Britain took out an enormous loan in 1833 to pay compensation to stop slavery. Worth tens of billions of pounds in today’s money it took 182 years to pay off this debt and current day British taxpayers only cleared the debt on the interest some ten years ago, in 2015.
If we are tallying up reparations then it would only be fair to deduct the value of thousands of British lives, the countless millions in expense and loss and the payment for protecting countries and shipping lanes for decades. Any court performing this exercise fairly may find that the UK has well and truly paid its debt.
As for the Church of England, they should be careful about being too eager to offer reparations.
There are several minorities for whom the Anglican Church has far fewer points of mitigation.
What about anti-Catholic Recusancy Acts between 1558 and 1888? And what about the Jews?
Although predating the Anglican Church, Archbishop Welby apologised to the Jewish community in 2022 for the anti-Jewish laws of 1222 which paved the way for the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, an exile that lasted for 360 years.
How much compensation is due for that? And thanks to recent pontifications current relations between the Church and the Jewish community have seen better days. One cannot help doubting that the Church Commissioners would be so eager to make reparations in that direction.