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.