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Devine identifies key factors against abolition in the 1790s: Haitian Revolution, war with France, economic importance of the economy of slavery, and widespread elite political support for slavery. Absolutely right. These are reasons that Dundas opposed abolition. 1/5
Or to put it another way: Dundas and the rest of the British establishment in the 1790s were committed to a British empire based on the defense and expansion of slavery, and to suppressing revolutionary antislavery wherever they could. 2/5
Dundas wasn't singularly responsible for the continued trafficking of African people, but as a major officer of state, played an important role. The focus on him now is because he's prominently memorialised in Edinburgh. The new plaque focuses on him for obvious reasons. 3/5
This is not about a particularly evil individual--which would be a relatively comforting story--but about the deep interconnections between slavery and British, including Scottish, history. Discussion of the monument should not be the end of this conversation. 4/5
It's worth noting too that Devine's argument is absolutely incompatible with the Melville family's claim that their ancestor was an abolitionist. 5/5
Also, as @FictionsofHaiti and @DrRachelDouglas point out, Devine's representation of the Haitian Revolution is wrong and recycles reactionary stereotypes https://twitter.com/FictionsofHaiti/status/1320653718245822464?s=20
Finally (?)--abolitionism was certainly up against a lot in the 1790s, but slaveowners were very worried about it and spent a lot of time and effort working to prevent it.
