Jane Austen in the Context of Abolition: ‘a fling at the slave trade’

239 Pages·2006·24.42 MB·English

by  Gabrielle D. V. White (auth.)

Jane Austen in the Context of Abolition
Also by Gabrielle D. V. White
REGIONAL ACCESS TO LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SOURCES: Report
(co-author, under former name G.D. V. Garthwaite, with A.M. fames)
jane Austen in the Context
of Abolition
'a fling at the slave trade'
Gabrielle D.V. White
© Gabrielle D. V. White 2006
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-9121-8
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First published 2006 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-54266-6 ISBN 978-0-230-50613-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-0-230-50613-8
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
White, Gabrielle D. V.
jane Austen in the context of abolition: "a fling at the slave trade" I
Gabrielle D. V. White.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Austen, jane, 1775-1817-Political and social views. 2. Literature
and society-Great Britain-History-19th century. 3. Antislavery
movements-Great Britain-History-19th century. 4. Political fiction,
English-History and criticism. 5. Slave trade in literature. 6. Slavery in
literature. I. Title.
PR4038.P6W47 2005
823'.7-dc22 2005047460
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
In memory
o{my mother-in-law
Sue White
1909-2004
'You quite shock me; if you mean
a fling at the slave-trade,
I assure you Mr Suckling was always
rather a friend to the abolition.'
Emma (Chapter 35)
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
1 'We have no slaves at home-then why abroad?' 1
Part I The Chawton Novels
2 Mansfield Park: Absenteeism, Autonomy and the Slave Trade 19
3 Emma: Autonomy and Abolition 52
4 Persuasion: Radical Change and the Royal Navy 73
Part II The Context in which Jane Austen Wrote
the Chawton Novels
5 Some Philosophers on Race and Slavery: Opposing Viewpoints 95
6 Abolitionist Influences on Jane Austen: Some Possibilities 128
7 Conclusion 152
Appendix 1 On Colonization: Samuel Johnson, The Idler, 1759 173
Appendix 2 Argument Against Slavery: Samuel Johnson, 1777 175
Appendix 3 William Cowper's 1785 The Task: extract quoted 177
by Thomas Clarkson 1807
Notes 179
Bibliography 204
Index 224
vii
Acknowledgements
I should like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a long-standing
debt to friends, colleagues and former students, but above all to my own
teachers and mentors especially Alan Montefiore, Michael Tanner, Ian
Hacking, David Holdcroft and my husband Roger White. I am also glad of
the encouragement of my step-daughter Tabitha.
For their encouragement, advice and comments on early drafts of
Chapters 2, 3 and 4, I am grateful to Charmian Knight and Luke Spencer at
the University of Leeds. On Chapter 5, Raymond Hargreaves discussed
Kant's German with me, Mark Day discussed Hume as a historian and I am
also grateful to Richard Francks, Ulrike Heuer, Chris Kenny, Matthew
Kieran, Mark Nelson, Andrew McGonigal, Peter Millican, Seiriol Morgan
and Adrian Wilson in the Leeds School of Philosophy.
I am particularly grateful to editors and the anonymous reader at
Palgrave Macmillan for suggestions and encouragement, and also to Derval
Small and to Alan Garthwaite.
I thank staff of the University of Leeds Library and Special Collections,
the Information Systems Services, staff of the Yorkshire Archaeological
Society, of the Museum and the Public Library at Lyme Regis, of the York
Minster Library, and of the British Library.
Above all, I am glad of the help, comment and encouragement of my
husband, Roger White.
GABRIELLE D.V. WHITE
viii
Preface
I argue that amongst its other riches Jane Austen's later fiction not only
presupposes the British outlawing of its transatlantic slave trade, but also
undermines the status quo of chattel slavery, the most extreme form of
slavery. Her last three novels were written in the first decade of the interim
period after the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade. It would be over 16 years
after her premature death in July 1817 that chattel slavery was abolished
for British colonies in the 1830s.
In Emma, Mrs Elton's talk of 'a fling at the slave trade' is integrated into
the novel as a whole. My focus is on that novel and my chapter on Emma is
at the heart of this book. There is a twist described by the crime novelist
P. D. James as the detective story element of this novel. The author gives
the reader all the clues, but the reader misinterprets, just as Emma herself
misinterprets.1 Since we are not in Jane Austen's position or that of her
contemporary audience, of being faced with an abolished slave trade and
yet unfinished business over those remaining in slavery, the dynamics of
the twist may be lost on ourselves. The twist alters the perceived circum
stances in which Jane Fairfax speaks out against governess trade and the
slave trade.
My keynote is William Cowper's question: 'We have no slaves at home
Then why abroad?' Since my emphasis is on the three later novels, my
chosen background material has been left until the second section. Slavery,
as is well-known, had been experienced world-wide in different cultures
since time immemorial, but concern would have been natural for her,
living when she did during the mobilization of massive popular support for
the abolitionist campaign.2
There is subtlety in jane Austen's allusions to people and thought
provoking references to writers, places and topics associated with the great
abolitionist campaign of her time. To stimulate thought in this way, I
believe, undermined the status quo of slavery.
GABRIELLE D.V. WHITE
ix