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W.

W. Empire pod UK.com. Hello and me,

me, William Durand. Hello and welcome to Empire with me Anita Arnan.

And me, William Durample.

And this is part two on the abolition of slavery.

And if you didn't hear Tuesdays, go back and listen.

It's brilliant because we have a fabulous guest in the shape of historian

Michael Taylor who's written this wonderful book called The Interest, which catalogues the stages from Britain being the biggest slave-owning nation in the world to actually

being the spearhead of the abolition first of the trade and then of slavery itself.

So the last episode was really about how it wasn't the same thing.

There were two different things going on here. The abolition of the trade was one

thing which was

abolished on the Royal Navy that went out and stopped slave carrying ships. But that is not the same as saying that actually slavery was abolished on the same day

because actually as Michael pointed out rather startlingly in the last episode of the pod,

the number of slaves increased after that abolition of the trade.

And so we pick up now, you had introduced us to this rather marvelous character Thomas

foul Buxton the leader of the anti-slavery society I'm going to read you to

something that he said in Parliament in in May 18. The state of slavery is repugnant to the principles of the British Constitution

and of the Christian religion. It ought to be gradually abolished throughout the British colonies and this is a new message isn't it Michael Taylor that actually the whole thing has got to go now not not just part, the whole thing.

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