University of Johannesburg History 2A 2023

Tlic Christian element in Abyssinian Cliristianity is chiefly to be traced among tlic Cliurchmcn, in their extraordinary fondness for scliisms and theological clisputings, and among all classes, in the number- less saints, whose names are continually in tho mouths of tlie people.

Realities Most notably, the Brussels Act did not bind signatories to suppress slavery. None of the colonial powers was prepared to commit itself to this, although they all believed that it should be ended, and they all knew that as long as there was a market for slaves the traffic would continue. British experience with abolition had not been happy. In plantation colonies, freed slaves, instead of becoming more productive wage labourers, had where possible, opted to work for themselves as artisans or in other occupations, or to become subsistence farmers. Production had declined. In the tiny British footholds on the West Coast of Africa fear of losing their slaves threatened to drive away the native merchants upon whom the colonies depended, while in South Africa abolition had been a factor in promoting the Boer exodus known as the Great Trek. In their Indian empire, however, the British devised a form of emancipation which minimized these dangers and provided a model to be used in Africa as new territories were acquired. 5 They merely declared that slavery no longer had any legal status. This meant that no claims could be countenanced in court on the basis of slavery, hence slaves who wished to leave might do so. But slave holding was still legal, and slaves were not actually freed. This model of abolition was ideal for the government. It was cheap - no compensation needed to be paid to owners. The impact could be delayed by not informing the slaves of their rights. There was thus no large scale sudden departure and very little disruption of the economy or alienation of masters. The humanitarians, also disappointed with the results of outright abolition in the colonies, were willing to accept this solution because slavery in India was considered 'benign' - that is less cruel than its counterpart in the Americas — and slaves would not be suddenly freed without means of support. This, therefore, became the model of abolition used in most of British Africa. 6 As the empire expanded colonies, in which slavery had to be outlawed, were kept to a minimum and new annexations became 'protectorates' in which full colonial administrations did not have to be introduced, and 'native' customs including slavery could continue even if it had lost its legal status. Other powers found similar legal subterfuges to avoid freeing slaves, or 'they outlawed slavery but then did not enforce their laws. 7 As the scramble for Africa gained momentum none of the colonial rulers had the resources to risk alienating slave-owning elites, upon whose cooperation they often depended, or disrupting the economies of their nascent dependencies. They justified their failure to attack slavery by claiming that African slavery was also benign, and that once robbed of its cruellest features - slave raiding, kidnapping, and trading