The Pamphlet
This pamphlet was drafted by the British Foreign and Anti-Slavery
Society in response to Lord John Russell's announcement that his
cabinet was considering that the ban on the import of Indian
laborers to Mauritius be lifted. In an attempt to dissuade this
action, the pamphlet describes John Scoble's account about the
abuses directed towards Indians uncovered during his trip to the
West Indies for the Central Emancipation Committee. Likewise,
the pamphlet attempted to display the Mauritian planter's
circumvention of Crown directives concerning the importation of
slaves and Indian laborers. Although Russell met with a
delegation of the abolitionists, he confirmed that the government
would proceed with its intention of reopening the exportation of
Indian laborers. With a few exeptions, the exportation of
indentured Indian labor to various British colonies lasted until
January 1, 1920, when the last indentured Indians in Fiji were
released from their contracts.
Its internet representation
The representation of this pamphlet on the World Wide Web mirrors
the structure and form of the original pamphlet when possible.
Therefore, the pagination matches that found in the original
(apparently, the number three had been skipped or accidently left
out when sequencing). Likewise, all capitalization and italics
match the original. The spacing between paragraphs differs in
places, as well as some of the indentation.
This project was completed by P. Allen Reichert on 12/17/96.
Further information on the Internet concerning indentured Indian labor and the Indian diaspora in general can be found at the University of California Berkeley site by clicking here.