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1919 Slavery became a major international concern from the day in 1807 when the British outlawed their own slave trade. Once this step was taken it was clearly in Britain's interest to get rival colonial and maritime powers to follow suit in order to prevent this lucrative trade from passing into foreign hands and providing foreign colonies with needed manpower. In 1815 the British tried to get other powers to outlaw it and even to establish a permanent committee to monitor progress. However, their rivals saw this as an attack on their commerce and on their colonies. They would only agree to append a declaration to the Treaty of Vienna proclaiming that the slave trade was 'repugnant to the principles of humanity and universal morality'. This was an important step in the direction of the present human rights movement, but it had no practical value. There followed a long and bitter campaign, during which, by bribery and cajolery, the British secured a network of treaties giving the Royal Navy unique powers to search and seize suspected slavers flying the flags of other nations. 1 As the result of this campaign, the British came to view themselves as the leaders of an international 'crusade' against slavery, the burden of which they had borne almost alone. British statesmen recognized that the cause was popular with the electorate and that Parliament would sanction expenditure and high handed action against foreign countries if these were presented as anti

became

lavery became a major international concern from the day in 1807 when the British outlawed their own slave trade. Once this step was taken it was clearly in Britain's interest to get rival colonial and maritime powers to follow suit in order to prevent this lucrative trade from passing into foreign hands and providing foreign colonies with needed manpower. In 1815 the British tried to get other powers to outlaw it and even to establish a permanent committee to monitor progress. However, their rivals saw this as an attack on their commerce and on their colonies. They would only agree to append a declaration to the Treaty of Vienna proclaiming that the slave trade was 'repugnant to the principles of humanity and universal morality'. This was an important step in the direction of the present human rights movement, but it had no practical value. There followed a long and bitter campaign, during which, by bribery and cajolery, the British secured a network of treaties giving the Royal Navy unique powers to search and seize suspected slavers flying the flags of other nations.As the result of this campaign, the British came to view themselves as the leaders of an international 'crusade' against slavery, the burden of which they had borne almost alone. British statesmen recognized that the cause was popular with the electorate and that Parliament would sanction expenditure and high handed action against foreign countries if these were presented as antiSLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE AS INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

a major international concern from the day in 1807 when the British outlawed their own slave trade. Once this step was taken it was clearly in Britain's interest to get rival colonial and maritime powers to follow suit in order to prevent this lucrative trade from passing into foreign hands and providing foreign colonies with needed manpower. In 1815 the British tried to get other powers to outlaw it and even to establish a permanent committee to monitor progress. However, their rivals saw this as an attack on their commerce and on their colonies. They would only agree to append a declaration to the Treaty of Vienna proclaiming that the slave trade was 'repugnant to the principles of humanity and universal morality'. This was an important step in the direction of the present human rights movement, but it had no practical value. There followed a long and bitter campaign, during which, by bribery and cajolery, the British secured a network of treaties giving the Royal Navy unique powers to search and seize suspected slavers flying the flags of other nations.As the result of this campaign, the British came to view themselves as the leaders of an international 'crusade' against slavery, the burden of which they had borne almost alone. British statesmen recognized that the cause was popular with the electorate and that Parliament would sanction expenditure and high handed action against foreign countries if these were presented as antiSLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE AS INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

blockade against the ‘Arab slave trade,’ an amorphous non-state enemy.

but they all cited the same duty to promote civilisation in Africa and end the slave trad

The blockade occurred in the interim between the two great international conferences of the Scramble for Africa, the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference and the 1889–1890 Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference.

he Brussels Conference has received attention from historians as either the culmination of the abolitionist movement or an early step in the development of modern humanitarian diplomacy

chauvinists

Suzanne Miers, for instance, argued that the Brussels Conference was driven by political interests hiding behind humanitarian goals, going to far as to describe the intersection of antislavery activism and politics as the ‘antislavery game.

antislavery for political goals

The blockade was the most direct international action against the slave trade at the height of humanitarian activism around the issue but has largely been left out of narratives about 1880s antislavery. It demonstrates a different approach to antislavery than was pursued at either conference.

The blockade failed to achieve both its short-term and its long-term aims. It provoked anger among pro-imperial interests in both the United Kingdom and Germany.

The blockade exacerbated international conflicts rather than relieving them.

Anglo-German alliance to lead humanitarianism and the colonisation of Afric

The individual national action of the 1890s overtook other methods of humanitarianism in empire.

It combined claims that Africans needed European help with attacks on Islam as antimodern

Descriptions of slavery inevitably discussed an ‘Arab’ or ‘Muslim’ slave trade (often conflating racial and religious labels)

Africans appear in their rhetoric only as objects for European subjects to save.

They also downplayed Europe’s slave-trading past and glossed over the inconsistent implementation of antislavery policies.

East Africa had become the most dynamic region for the slave trade in the middle of the nineteenth century with the abolition of the slave trade in the Americas and British antislavery efforts in West Africa.

an increase in the use of slavery for production.

in a few

to gav, they cannot go awar too fast; for, even here, my Lady Dedlock has been bored to death. * Concert, assembly, opera, theatre, drive, nothing is new to mv Lruiy, under tiio worn-out heavens. On last .Sunday, when poor wretches were gay—within tho walls, playing with

family; above all. of my Lady, whom the world jfdmires; hut if my lady would only ho “a little more tree,” not quite so cold and distant. Mrs. Rouncewell thinks she would be moro affable. “ Tis almost a pity.” Mrs. Rouncewell adds—only “almost," because it borders on impiety to suppose that anything could bo bettor than it is, in such an express dispensation as the Dedloek affairs ; “that my lady has no family. lishe had had a daughter now, a grown young lady, to interest her, I think sho would have had tho only kind of excellence she wants.” “ Might not that have made her still more proud, grandmother ?” says Watt; who has been home and come back again, ho is such a good grandson. TO BE CONTINUED. MADAME ALBONI. Wo have already announced tho arrival in this country of Madame Alboni, tho famous European songstress, who is to fill a prominent place in musical comments and criticism, in America for tho next few months.— Our reader willho glad to learn who she is, what sho has done, and what are her pretensions ; and wo copy for their benefit tho following from tho .Vein York Times: Marietta Alboni was horn in Cesena, in 1820, of respectablo parentage. Her scholastic education was necessarily limited, as at tho age of eleven she was placed under the musical pupilage of the famous master Bagioli, one of the first musicians of tho day, from whom sho acquired tho rudiments of her art. For some timo sho enjoyed tho instruction of Rossini, at the Bologna Lycum, and eventually made her debut, about ton years sinco, at the great Theatre of La Seala, inMilan. Her success was brilliant, and was conformed by a run of four successive seasons. Following tho usual path of artistic merit, sho next commenced a series of engagements at Vienna, whence, after the most triumphant reception, she was carried off to >St. Petersburg by the# Czar.— 1ho famo of tho cantatrice, established at Vienna, was fully confirmed at the Russian capital, and given to Europe as a fixed fact. She turned her face Praiseward, giving concerts and entertainments of tho rarest excellence as sho pursued a circuitous journey through Germany, and was hailed at the centre of European taste with unqualified admiration. With tho exception of occasional engagements in London, and a recent journey to Brussels, sho has made her head-quarters at the French capital for tho past two years. One of tho scenes of her residence in Paris was a grand fete at Versailles, at which sho and the Prince President were the ruling spirits. Signorini Alboni is not a handsome woman: hut lias what is better—an untainted reputation, and a character for many virtues, among which liberality is not the least. She brings her train Signors Rove re and Sangoivanni, a tenor and baritone, accustomed to support her admirable voice. The voice of this celebrated cantatrice is, in musical parlance, contralto. Itisofwonderful compass, embracing, with perfect ease, the extreme upper and lower notes, and is managed with a skid and grace only surpassed by its rich melody and power. Though assigned to the contralto parts, at Her Majesty s Theatre, during tho great season of the World's Exhibition, she was the reigning attraction ot that aristocratic establishment. American Influence in Europe. —“ I onnnot help taking a very warm and eager interestin tho fortunes of yourpeople. There is nothing, and tltero never was anything so grand and so promising as the condition and prospects of your country; and nothing I conceive morecertain than that in severity years after this itscondition w illbe by furthe most important element in tho history of Europe. Itis very provoking that wo cannot live to seo it; hut it is very plain to me that the French revolution, or rather perhaps tho continued operation of tho causes which produced that revolution, has laid the foundations all over Europe, of an inextinguishable and fatal struggle between popular rights ami ancient establishments—between democracy and tyranny—between legitimacy and representative government, which may involve the world in sanguinary conflicts for fifty years, and may also end, after all, in the establishment of a brutal and military despotism fora hundred more, hutmust end. I think, in tho triumph of reason over prejudice and tho infinite amelioration of all politics, and the elevation of all national character. Now I cannot help thinking that the example of America, and tho influence and power which sho will every year be more and more able to exert, willhave a most potent and incalculably beneficial effect, both in shortening this conflict, in rendering it less sanguinary, and in insuring and accelerating its happy termination. Itake it for granted that America, either as ono or as many states, will always remain free, and consequently prosperous and powerful. She will naturally take the side of liberty, therefore. in the great European contest—and w hile her growing power and means of compulsion willintimidate i'.s opponents, the example not onlv of the practicability, but of the emin nt advantages, ofa system of perfect freedom, and a disdain and objuration of all prijudiees, cannot fail to incline the great body of all intelligent communities fur its voluntary adoption.’— Jahil J<j '»ry. It 5s surprising our statesmen »'o not s.*e. that is in tJw ir power to give mi ttlrnmt imineufeurabtu increase to the power *>t our nation in Eurep. by simply establishing Cheap f > o:(agc on the Ocean. — linh'fJt ndent. From the Iwlepeodent. I WISH 1 COLLD DU SOBETBIM. ** llare tou read Inclo Tom’s Cabin said a lady to her friend, a few days since. “Yes,” was the reply, “and O, how it makes me long to do something. Men ought to read it. AU mm ought to read it—they can do something.” Rut cannot woman do something? True she cannot nor does she wish to go to the ballot-box. but lies there not a power kick of this? Was not Hannibaleveran enemy to the Homan name?— When only nine years old, his father made hi m take a solemn oath never to he at peace with Rome. Isnot slavery afar greater foe toour country than was [hunt to the Carthaginian nation? And 0 mothers, as we wish our country free ofher greatest enemy, a« we wish bur children to enjoy the blessings of life, liberty, and happiness, temporal and eternal, let us follow the example of liainilcar, and early and parseveringly teach our Abucrtisemcnts. < ASH IVUD I7OR rags, canvas*, Kentucky bagging anil wood, delivered at the (iene»«e Paper Mills, Rochester, .\. V. October 30th, IB.il. PAPER HAMiIVG

This marked the beginning of a new era of European involvement in Africa, and in Central Africa in particular.

However, the emphasis shifted towards territorial consolidation, which absorbed much of the exploratory effort of the involved nations since the 1880s.

Léopold’s ambitions were clear: as the sovereign of the smallest of the European states reaching out to Africa, he wanted to acquire a large territory that would give him international status among the other nations, at the same time allowing him to secure access to a vast reservoir of natural resources.

When Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, European interest in other parts of the continent grew, and the so-called “scramble for Africa” began in earnest. While Britain, France, and Portugal could build on and branch out from territories they had already established under their flag, Germany lagged behind in the race but acted vigorously to catch up.

Larger-scale regional maps were now needed — and were produced in profusion across Europe, to substantiate, both administratively and commercially, the consolidation of newly acquired European possessions.

As the market for up-to-date maps grew in the European nations engaged in colonizing Africa, so did the cartographic output by geographical establishments and societies.

They all published a plethora of more or less detailed maps of the continent and its constituent parts in order to illustrate and document the latest results of African exploration and the colonizing campaigns they supported, complementing the output of established suppliers of maps.

Two important events, one political, the other historical, are of relevance to our subject here.

reports that a plan to produce a large map of Africa was formulated towards the end of 1884,

The choice of Africa rather than other parts of the globe offered itself on account of the incredibly rich body of maps, travel, and exploration documentation that Perthes could still draw upon, and Africa ranked particularly high as a subject of interest in this time of heated colonial contest.

At least half of all the maps published in the PGM in the 1880s were of Africa, and the 1885 volume contained even more maps on Africa than on all other parts of the world together (eleven against eight, not counting thematic and general maps). 1