Jane Austen in the Context of Abolition ‘a fling at the slave trade’ Gabrielle D.V. White 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. James) Jane Austen in the Context of Abolition ‘a fling at the slave trade’ Gabrielle D.V. White © Gabrielle D. V. White 2006 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 13: 978–1–4039–9121–8 ISBN 10: 1–4039–9121–9 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data White, Gabrielle D. V. Jane Austen in the context of abolition : “a fling at the slave trade” / Gabrielle D. V. White. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–9121–9 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(cid:2).7–dc22 2005047460 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne In memory of 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. GABRIELLED.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. InEmma, 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 Emmais 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. GABRIELLED.V. WHITE ix