John Simkin
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In 1577, a group of investors that included Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, Christopher Hatton, John Wynter and John Hawkins, decided to support a plan for Francis Drake to take a fleet into the Pacific and raid Spanish settlements there. Two years later, Drake's The Golden Hinde was leaking badly and needed to be careened. On 17th June 1579 Drake landed in a bay on the the coast of California. According to Drake's biographer, Harry Kelsey: "Sixteenth-century accounts and maps can be interpreted to show that he stopped anywhere between the southern tip of Baja California and latitude 48° N."
Most historians believe that Drake had stopped in a bay on the Point Reyes peninsula (now known as Drake's Bay). Drake has been reported as saying: "By God's Will we hath been sent into this fair and good bay. Let us all, with one consent, both high and low, magnify and praise our most gracious and merciful God for his infinite and unspeakable goodness toward us. By God's faith hath we endured such great storms and such hardships as we have seen in these uncharted seas. To be delivered here of His safekeeping, I protest we are not worthy of such mercy."
A local group of Miwok brought him a present of a bunch of feathers and tobacco leaves in a basket. John Sugden, the author of Sir Francis Drake (1990) has argued: "It appeared to the English that the Indians regarded them as gods; they were impervious to English attempts to explain who they were, but at least they remained friendly, and when they had received clothing and other gifts the natives returned happily and noisily to their village."
On 26th June a large group of Miwok arrived at Drake's camp. The chief, wearing a head-dress and a skin cape, was followed by painted warriors, each one of whom bore a gift. At the rear of the cavalcade were women and children. A man holding a sceptre of black wood and wearing a chain of clam shells, stepped forward and made a thirty minute speech. While this was going on the women indulged in a strange ritual of self-mutilation that included scratching their faces until the blood flowed. Robert F. Heizer has argued in Elizabethan California (1974) that self-mutilation is associated with mourning and that the Miwok probably thought the British sailors were spirits returning from the dead. However, Drake took the view that they were proclaiming him king of the Miwok tribe.
Drake now claimed the land for Queen Elizabeth. He named it Nova Albion "in respect of the white banks and cliffs, which lie towards the sea". Apparently, the cliffs of Point Reyes reminded Drake of the coast at Dover. Drake had a post set up with a plate bearing his name and the date of arriving in California.
When the The Golden Hinde left on 23rd July, the Miwok exhibited great distress and ran to the hill-tops to keep the ship in sight for as long as possible. Drake later wrote that during his time in California, "not withstanding it was the height of summer, we were continually visited with nipping cold, neither could we at any time within a fourteen day period find the air so clear as to be able to take height the sun or stars."
Drake then sailed along the California coast but like Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo before him, failed to see the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay beyond. This is probably because the area is often shrouded in fog during the summer. The heat in the California Central Valley causes the air there to rise. This can create strong winds which pull cool moist air in from over the ocean through the break in the hills, causing a stream of dense fog to enter the bay.
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Do you know the work of Jon Allen?
Joanna
In Your Light
Going Home
Dead Man’s Suit
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It is believed that humans arrived in California from north-east Asia about 12,000 years ago. They divided and separated into groups that chose different areas to settle. This included the Chahuilla, Chumash, Gabrielino, Hopi, Karok, Klamath, Maidu, Miwok, Pomo, Papago, Maidu, Wintu and Yurok tribes. The anthropologist, Alfred L. Kroeber, has argued that large tribes were rare in California. He claimed that most lived in "tribelets" that contained up to 500 people.
Kevin Starr, the author of California (2005) has argued that by the 15th century "something approaching one third of all Native Americans living within the present day boundaries of the continental United States - which is to say, more than three hundred thousand people - are estimated to have been living within the present-day boundaries of California."
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An interesting story about the history of California. The first ever wagon train taking people from the Missouri to California left Sapling Grove on 9th May, 1841. John Bidwell, the leader of the expedition, later admitted that: "Our ignorance of the route was complete. We knew that California lay west, and that was the extent of our knowledge." In fact, before Bidwell's trip, no one had travelled overland from the east to the Pacific coast.
Of the 69 people in Bidwell's party who set out from Sapling Grove, only 33 people reached Marsh's Fort on 4th November. They were clearly playing for high stakes. Four of the party, John Bidwell, Josiah Belden, Charles Weber and Robert Thomas, all became multi-millionaires. It was indeed the land of opportunity.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWcalifornia.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWbidwell.htm
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People might be interested in seeing an earlier photograph of Cleveland Cram.
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The first ever wagon train taking people from the Missouri to California left Sapling Grove on 9th May, 1841. John Bidwell, the leader of the expedition, later admitted that: "Our ignorance of the route was complete. We knew that California lay west, and that was the extent of our knowledge." In fact, before Bidwell's trip, no one had travelled overland from the east to the Pacific coast.
Of the 69 people in Bidwell's party who set out from Sapling Grove, only 33 people reached Marsh's Fort on 4th November. They were clearly playing for high stakes. Four of the party, John Bidwell, Josiah Belden, Charles Weber and Robert Thomas, all became multi-millionaires. It was indeed the land of opportunity.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWcalifornia.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWbidwell.htm
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Living in San Francisco was, for me, a dream come true. It was not easy to get used to, after knowing where everything was in NYC, but I found myself transformed by the natural beauty and the people. One needs to have an embracing attitude though; whether it is the cost, the density, the eccentricities, or at times the rather arrogant sense of entitlement of those who live there that the rest of us have to deal with. I was dragged away from SF kicking and screaming and now my family keeps me in the Twin Cities, but I am committed to spending as much time there and in CA as I can.
I have just come back from San Francisco. It is my favourite US city. One of the reasons I like San Francisco is that it fully embraces change. It has been argued that every technological advance that has taken place over the last 100 years can be traced back to California. Kevin Starr, the author of California (2005) has argued that the character of the people of the state has been moulded by the 1848 Californian Gold Rush.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAgoldrushC.htm
I am also very fond of San Diego. Both cities have that relaxed, tolerant attitude that reflects the best of the US. I was less impressed with Los Angeles. However, the real highlight of the trip was spending time in Yosemite. We don’t have places like that in the UK.
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You will find a very detailed history of California here:
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The daughter of William Yarrington, who was a student at the University of Miami with Grant Stockdale, has sent me this photograph dated January, 1938. The man with Stockdale is Campbell Gillespie.
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Any help on finding information on this individual (sergio arcacha smith) is appreciated. Goodle just ain't cutting it! Any public documents or JFK released information? Thx
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Thank-you, John. Someone recently within the past month or so post inside a thread - Bobby Baker's account of Averell Harriman urging John Kennedy to put Lyndon Johnson as VP on the ticket. Does someone remember what thread that "cut and paste" is on? It is probably from a book or oral history.
I have Bobby Baker's book Wheeling and Dealing and it is not in there in Chapter 9 which is titled "Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles" which is Baker's account of the 1960 Democratic convention and how Johnson got put on it.
Baker does not have a lot of credibility with me on that matter; I think he is covering up the intimidation and strong arm tactics that LBJ and Sam Rayburn used on John Kennedy in order to get LBJ on the ticket as VP.
Having said that I would like to find again (it is in some Education Forum thread) where Bobby Baker said Averell Harriman was for LBJ as VP.
Type in "Averell Harriman" in the search bov (top right).
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Well, this thread is dead!
You asked - now you got.
In Europe we are amazed by the fact that so many people in the US refuse to believe that Obama is an American citizen. I suppose it must be the crazy right-wing media they have in the US.
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In April 2011 Bosch was released by the US authorities after he was found not guilty on all 11 counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud. The head of Cuba's parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, denounced the trial as a "shameful farce" and accused the judge, Kathleen Cardone, of not allowing jurors to see crucial evidence. He added: "There were things the jury did not know." Cardone, a district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. She joined the court in 2003 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
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Orlando Bosch dead at 84, says Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/27/v-fullstory/2188315/prominent-exile-militant-orlando.html
With the release of Luis Posada from custody last month and the death of Orlando Bosch yesterday, it becomes even more certain that we will never discover who killed JFK.
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A few weeks ago someone posted Bobby Baker's version of the machinations at the 1960 Democratic convention; Baker stated that Averell Harriman was asking JFK to put Lyndon Johnson on the 1960 ticket as VP.
Could someone post that Baker thread again or direct to the thread where it was cut and pasted into?
One of my themes is the close ties of Lyndon Johnson and his Texas oil men Clint Murchison, Sr. and H.L. Hunt to the PEAK of post WWII US intelligence. Averell Harriman, Skull and Bones, longtime diplomat, certainly fits in that category. He was also a business partner with Prescott Bush, the father of George Herbert Walker Bush, who I also think was involved in the JFK assassination.
So where is that Bobby Baker link on the 1960 Democratic convention?
Thanks in advance.
You will find what I have on Bobby Baker here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbakerB.htm
See the following for debates on Bobby Baker and LBJ here:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4332
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2310
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6161
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In case you missed this:
Cuba has denounced as a "farce" the acquittal in the United States of Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA agent who is accused of terrorist attacks against the island.
The foreign ministry said Friday's verdict, which found the 83-year-old not guilty on all 11 counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud, showed the US continued to protect a known terrorist.
"This is an additional demonstration of the support and shelter the American authorities have historically given him," it said in a statement over the weekend.
A jury in El Paso, Texas cleared Posada Carriles after deliberating for just three hours, an unexpectedly swift climax to a closely watched 13-week trial which cast fresh light on the octogenarian's lengthy career as an anti-communist agent. The defendant, a hero to militant anti-Castro exiles, hugged his lawyers and told reporters he was grateful to the US, the court and the jury for what he said was a fair trial.
"What happened here should serve as an example for justice in my country, Cuba, which is unfortunately in the hands of a dictator."
Posada Carriles, who as a student came into contact with a young Fidel Castro, opposed the revolutionary government which seized power in 1959 and three years later joined a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles.
The attack flopped but he escaped, was trained in sabotage by US handlers and spent the next decades plotting to kill Castro and other leftwing targets in the region.
He moved to Venezuela where he was accused of masterminding the 1976 suitcase bombing of a Cubana Airlines jet that killed 73 people, including the national fencing team. Months earlier his links with the CIA were severed, according to declassified US documents.
Posada Carriles escaped from a Venezuelan jail in 1985, where he spent eight years awaiting trial for the atrocity, which he denied, and resumed plotting against Castro. In an interview with the New York Times he took responsibility for 1997 bomb attacks against Cuba's tourist industry, which killed an Italian tourist in a Havana hotel, but later recanted the confession.
He was arrested in possession of explosives in Panama in 2000 and charged with plotting to assassinate Castro at a regional summit. He served four years in jail before being pardoned by Panama's outgoing president, Mireya Moscoso, prompting accusations of political cronyism between Panama, Cuban exiles in Miami and the Bush administration.
In 2005 Posada Carriles surfaced in Miami. The US refused Cuban and Venezuelan extradition requests, claiming he would not receive a fair trial in either country. Caracas and Havana accused the US of hypocrisy in allowing the region's most notorious terrorist to live freely and openly while amid the post 9/11 "war on terror".
Soon afterwards US authorities charged Posada Carriles with the relatively minor offences of lying to immigration officials about how he entered the US and his role in the Havana bombings. More than 20 prosecution witnesses testified in the court.
Jurors heard him speaking English in recordings by Ann Bardach, the New York Times journalist to whom he spoke about the bombings, despite later claiming he did not speak the language.
Observers expected convictions on at least some of the charges but the jury stunned prosecutors with a swift, unanimous and complete acquittal.
"We're obviously disappointed by the decision," said a justice department spokesman, Dean Boyd.
The head of Cuba's parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, accused the judge, Kathleen Cardone, of not allowing jurors to see crucial evidence.
"The stupid and shameful farce is over," he told AP. "There were things the jury did not know."
Venezuela's government denounced the trial and verdict as "theatre" and said Washington continued to shelter a mass murderer.
"The US government's protection of Posada Carriles has become an emblematic case of the US double standard in the international fight against terrorism," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Posada Carriles's lawyer said he planned to return to his home and family in Miami. Leaders of Miami's Cuban exile community said he should be left to live in peace and that it was time to look ahead, not backwards.
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Lord Grenville
In February, 1806 Lord Grenville was invited by the king to form a new Whig administration. Peter Jupp has argued: "Despite all his misgivings Grenville proved to be a very hard-working prime minister with a distinctive style of management. In keeping with the professionalism he had encouraged in the home and foreign departments, he conducted business in a methodical and businesslike manner and developed a system in which he worked closely with Fox and the other party chiefs but in about equal measure with the other departmental heads. This was supplemented with regular cabinet meetings, at least once and sometimes twice a week. The result was a form of departmental government in which Grenville tried to supervise the whole without his colleagues feeling that they were being treated like ciphers."
Grenville, was a strong opponent of the slave trade. Grenville was determined to bring an end to British involvement in the trade. Thomas Clarkson sent a circular to all supporters of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade claiming that "we have rather more friends in the Cabinet than formerly" and suggested "spontaneous" lobbying of MPs.
Grenville's Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox, led the campaign in the House of Commons to ban the slave trade in captured colonies. Clarkson commented that Fox was "determined upon the abolition of it (the slave trade) as the highest glory of his administration, and as the greatest earthly blessing which it was the power of the Government to bestow." This time there was little opposition and it was passed by an overwhelming 114 to 15.
In the House of Lords Lord Grenville made a passionate speech where he argued that the trade was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy" and criticised fellow members for "not having abolished the trade long ago". When the vote was taken the bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20.
In January 1807 Lord Grenville introduced a bill that would stop the trade to British colonies on grounds of "justice, humanity and sound policy". Ellen Gibson Wilson has pointed out: "Lord Grenville masterminded the victory which had eluded the abolitionist for so long... He opposed a delaying inquiry but several last-ditch petitions came from West Indian, London and Liverpool shipping and planting spokesmen.... He was determined to succeed and his canvassing of support had been meticulous." Grenville addressed the Lords for three hours on 4th February and when the vote was taken it was passed by 100 to 34.
William Wilberforce commented: "How popular Abolition is, just now! God can turn the hearts of men". During the debate in the House of Commons the solicitor-general, Samuel Romilly, paid a fulsome tribute to Wilberforce's unremitting advocacy in Parliament. The trade was abolished by a resounding 283 to 16. According to Clarkson, it was the largest majority recorded on any issue where the House divided. Romilly felt it to be "the most glorious event, and the happiest for mankind, that has ever taken place since human affairs have been recorded."
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Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood, the thirteenth and youngest son of the potter, Thomas Wedgwood, was born in Burslem, Stoke, on 12th July 1730. His mother was the daughter of the Unitarian minister at Newcastle under Lyme. At the age of nine Josiah left school and joined the family business at Churchyard Works. His father had died in 1737 so Josiah was apprenticed to his elder brother.
After an attack of smallpox at the age of eleven, his health deteriorated and work as a potter became difficult. The disease which left his right knee permanently weakened. Unable for a while to work as a potter, Josiah spent his time reading and researching about the craft of pottery. According to his biographer, Robin Reilly: "Josiah nevertheless acquired considerable skill as a thrower and completed his apprenticeship. He continued to work for his brother until 1752, when he formed a partnership with John Harrison and Thomas Alders of Cliff Bank, Stoke-on-Trent. Two years later he was taken into partnership by Thomas Whieldon, one of the most respected potters in England, at his factory at Fenton Vivian, near Stoke. According to his experiment book, Wedgwood's work with Whieldon was largely concerned with the improvement of ceramic bodies, glazes, colours, and shapes, and it is clear that his efforts were directed principally towards the development of lead-glazed, cream-coloured earthenware (creamware) and the creation and improvement of coloured glazes."
Wedgwood ended the partnership with Thomas Whieldon in 1759 and started his own business at Burslem. Wedgwood loved experimenting and invented what became known as green glaze. In 1763 he patented a beautiful cream-coloured pottery. As this was very popular with Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of George III, and it became known as Queen's Ware. Wedgwood now turned his attention to developing what was known as Egyptian Black objects. This included inkstands, salt-cellars, candlesticks, life-sized busts and vases. These black basaltes were sometimes decorated with encaustic colours, silvering, gilding or bronzing.
Josiah Wedgwood married his third cousin, Sarah Wedgwood, on 25th January 1764. According to his biographer, Robin Reilly: "Sarah was a substantial heiress and brought with her a considerable dowry, said to have been £4,000, which came under Wedgwood's control. It was a love match, successfully negotiated in spite of initial opposition from her father, and there is ample evidence that the marriage was a happy one. Sarah was intelligent, shrewd, and well educated - better, in fact, than her husband - and they shared a broad sense of humour and a strong sense of family duty. In the first years of their marriage, she helped Josiah with his work, learning the codes and formulae in which he recorded his experiments, keeping accounts, and giving practical advice on shapes and decoration." Sarah had seven children: Susannah Wedgwood (1765–1817), John Wedgwood (1766–1844), Josiah Wedgwood II (1769–1843), Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805), Catherine Wedgwood (1774–1823), Sarah Wedgwood (1776–1856) and Mary Anne Wedgwood (1778–86).
Wedgwood was quick to realise the importance of canal transport. In 1766 he joined with the Duke of Bridgewater and James Brindley in becoming involved in the building of the Trent & Mersey Canal. The canal begins within a few miles of the River Mersey, near Runcorn and finishes in a junction with the River Trent in Derbyshire. It is just over ninety miles long with more than 70 locks and five tunnels, with the company headquarters in Stone in Staffordshire.
In April 1768 Wedgwood's leg was amputated, without anaesthetic, in his own house, by a local surgeon. By June, he was sufficiently recovered to visit his Burslem factory. In November, 1768, Wedgwood and Thomas Bentley of Liverpool became partners in a company producing ornamental vases. These products were very popular and in 1771 Wedgwood built a new factory called Etruria where he employed famous artists such as John Flaxman to design his vases. At the new works Wedgwood greatly increased the output of his workers by introducing what later became known as "division of labour". This involved subdividing all the skills of the potter (mixing, shaping, firing and glazing) and allocating each job to a specialist worker. When the canal was finally completed Wedgwood was able to bring Cornish clay to his Etruria factory. Wedgwood also used the canal to transport the finished goods by barge to Liverpool or Hull.
Robin Reilly has pointed out: "It was not only the products of the Etruria factory that were innovative: the layout of the factory and the management techniques employed there were exceptionally advanced, and the finished estate included an elegant house, Etruria Hall, for the Wedgwood family, and housing for many of the workers. Wedgwood insisted on strict factory discipline but he subsidized an early form of sick-benefit scheme, and conditions for work at Etruria compared favourably with those to be found anywhere in Europe....From 1772 it was Wedgwood's policy to mark everything made at Etruria. He was the first earthenware potter consistently to mark his goods and the first ever to use his own name, which was impressed in the clay."
Wedgwood was an active member of the Unitarian Church. Like most Unitarians, Wedgwood was a political reformer. He supported universal male suffrage and annual parliaments. In 1780 he joined the Society for Constitutional Information and became friendly with other reformers such as Joseph Priestley, John Cartwright, John Horne Tooke, John Thelwall, Granville Sharp, Thomas Walker, Joseph Gales and William Smith and the Duke of Richmond. It was an organisation of social reformers, many of whom were drawn from the rational dissenting community, dedicated to publishing political tracts aimed at educating fellow citizens on their lost ancient liberties. It promoted the work of Tom Paine and other campaigners for parliamentary reform. Wedgwood told his friend, Thomas Bentley "that every member of the state must either have a vote or be a slave".
The following year his close friend, Joseph Priestley, had his house burnt down in Birmingham. He wrote to Priestley on 2nd September: "I persuade myself that you will rise still more splendid and more respected from what was intended to sink you. Your calmness and magnanimity on this trying occasion have put your enemies to shame. We esteem you in every point of view; and we are employed at this moment in drawing up a letter which is to be addressed to you by all the savants of the capital."
In 1787 Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson and William Dillwyn established the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Other supporters were William Allen, John Wesley, Samuel Romilly, Thomas Walker, John Cartwright, James Ramsay, Charles Middleton, Henry Thornton and William Smith. Sharp was appointed as chairman. He accepted the title but never took the chair. Clarkson commented that Sharp "always seated himself at the lowest end of the room, choosing rather to serve the glorious cause in humility... than in the character of a distinguished individual." Clarkson was appointed secretary and Hoare as treasurer. At their second meeting Samuel Hoare reported subscriptions of £136.
Wedgwood joined the organising committee. As Adam Hochschild, the author of Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (2005) has pointed out: "Wedgwood asked one of his craftsmen to design a seal for stamping the wax used to close envelopes. It showed a kneeling African in chains, lifting his hands beseechingly." It included the words: "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" Hochschild goes onto argue that "reproduced everywhere from books and leaflets to snuffboxes and cufflinks, the image was an instant hit... Wedgwood's kneeling African, the equivalent of the label buttons we wear for electoral campaigns, was probably the first widespread use of a logo designed for a political cause."
Thomas Clarkson explained: "Some had them inlaid in gold on the lid of their snuff boxes. Of the ladies, several wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and this fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom." In this way, women could show their anti-slavery opinions at a time when they were denied the vote. Benjamin Franklin suggested that the image was "equal to that of the best written pamphlet".
In November 1794 Wedgwood's health began to fail. His face swelled and he suffered acute pain in the jaw, attributed to a decayed tooth. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he became unconscious. Josiah Wedgwood died, probably from cancer of the jaw, on 3rd January 1795, at Etruria Hall.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwedgwood.htm
After Wedgwood's death, his daughter, Sarah, continued the campaign against slavery and was a member of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery. At the conference in May 1830, Sarah suggested a plan for a new campaign to bring about immediate abolition. The following year they presented a petition to the House of Commons calling for the "immediate freeing of newborn children of slaves".
In 1833 Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act that gave all slaves in the British Empire their freedom. It contained two controversial features: a transitional apprenticeship period and compensation to owners totalling £20,000,000. Sarah joined James Cropper and Joseph Sturge in a new campaign and in 1838 the apprenticeship system was terminated.
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Samuel Romilly
Samuel Romilly was was a strong opponent of the slave trade. In 1787 Granville Sharp and his friend Thomas Clarkson decided to form the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Romilly gave his support to this organisation. Other supporters included William Dillwyn, William Allen, John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood, Thomas Walker, John Cartwright, James Ramsay, Charles Middleton, Henry Thornton and William Smith. His anti-slave trade activities brought him into contact with William Wilberforce and Jeremy Bentham.
Romilly argued that this large income enabled him to obtain political independence. For example, he supported the London Corresponding Society, an organisation that had been established by Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall, John Horne Tooke, Joseph Gerrald and Maurice Margarot in 1792. As well as campaigning for the vote, the strategy was to create links with other reforming groups in Britain. The society passed a series of resolutions and after being printed on handbills, they were distributed to the public. These resolutions also included statements attacking the government's foreign policy. A petition was started and by May 1793, 6,000 members of the public had signed saying they supported the resolutions of the London Corresponding Society.
Romilly did free legal work for the organisation and in 1797 he successfully defended John Binns, against a charge of seditious words. The Seditious Meetings Act made the organisation of parliamentary reform gatherings extremely difficult. Finally, in 1799, the government persuaded Parliament to pass a Corresponding Societies Act. It was now illegal for the London Corresponding Society to meet and the organisation came to an end.
In May 1804 William Pitt appointed Viscount Melville as his First Lord at the Admiralty. The following year Romilly was appointed a member of the legal team to conduct the impeachment of Melville. Eventually, Melville was forced to resign in April 1805, for failing to prevent the paymaster of the navy mixing public funds with his own money in a private account.
In 1806 Romilly entered the House of Commons as MP for Queenborough. When Lord Grenville was invited by the king to form a new Whig administration he invited Romilly to became his solicitor-general. Grenville, like Romilly, was a strong opponent of the slave trade. Grenville was determined to bring an end to British involvement in the trade. Thomas Clarkson sent a circular to all supporters of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade claiming that "we have rather more friends in the Cabinet than formerly" and suggested "spontaneous" lobbying of MPs. Romilly later recalled that at London dinner parties: "The abolition of the slave trade was the subject of conversation, as it is indeed of almost all conversations."
Grenville's Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox, led the campaign in the House of Commons to ban the slave trade in captured colonies. Clarkson commented that Fox was "determined upon the abolition of it (the slave trade) as the highest glory of his administration, and as the greatest earthly blessing which it was the power of the Government to bestow." This time there was little opposition and it was passed by an overwhelming 114 to 15.
In the House of Lords Lord Greenville made a passionate speech where he argued that the trade was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy" and criticised fellow members for "not having abolished the trade long ago". When the vote was taken the bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20.
In January 1807 Lord Grenville introduced a bill that would stop the trade to British colonies on grounds of "justice, humanity and sound policy". Ellen Gibson Wilson has pointed out: "Lord Grenville masterminded the victory which had eluded the abolitionist for so long... He opposed a delaying inquiry but several last-ditch petitions came from West Indian, London and Liverpool shipping and planting spokesmen.... He was determined to succeed and his canvassing of support had been meticulous." Grenville addressed the Lords for three hours on 4th February and when the vote was taken it was passed by 100 to 34.
Wilberforce commented: "How popular Abolition is, just now! God can turn the hearts of men". During the debate in the House of Commons, Samuel Romilly, paid a fulsome tribute to Wilberforce's unremitting advocacy in Parliament. The trade was abolished by a resounding 283 to 16. According to Thomas Clarkson, it was the largest majority recorded on any issue where the House divided. Romilly felt it to be "the most glorious event, and the happiest for mankind, that has ever taken place since human affairs have been recorded."
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Michael:
I found the Sutton article while searching for reviews of Dr. Mary's Monkey and, while I felt qualms about his tone, I decided to link it without comment due to some telling observations about that book. A criminologist would generally hold to a higher standard than I see in that book.
That having been said, Sutton's preset orientation points to one of the difficulties in our field, a rational consensus on which research is significant and, more important, a self-criticism of over-reaching research - the kind of research which causes us all to be painted by the same brush in certain academic circles. We've all seen examples of the kind of writings which make us cringe, and this feeds into this preset orientation.
One of the problems - on "both" sides - is what I call the threshold effect: Becoming so profoundly convinced of one view or another that critical analysis and objectivity take a back seat to the piling-on of (sometimes cherry-picked) evidence. And as I said, this affects both CTs and LNs. Sutton certainly seems to suffer it. On our side, it is becoming so enamored of a theory that we dismiss contrary evidence and criticism as somehow advancing a nefarious agenda. On the other side, it is dismissing contrary evidence and criticism as nut-case stuff. That's one reason I think we need to try harder, to strive for a higher level of research, documentation and plausibility. That's my main issue with Haslam's work (which, incidentally, pre-dates the Baker story): Despite what some over-the-threshold people see as copious documentation, as vindication of their own suspicions about Ferrie, etc., the documentation is virtually non-existent for the book's fundamental claims: that Ferrie knew Sherman; that they operated an underground medical lab in Ferrie's apartment; that it was a secret government project; and that Baker was a part of it. (Nearly as troubling is the circular corroboration: Baker supports Haslam, Haslam supports Baker!)
So I take some of Sutton's observations as useful, but I, too, could do without his smarmy over-the-threshold putdowns of serious research.
Sutton quotes this thread as an example of how Ed Haslam was unwilling to answer his critics.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10653
If you have not done so it might be worth taking a look at this thread.
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Watch this instead of the royal wedding.
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Richard S. Reddie, the author of Abolition! The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies (2007) has argued: "Some detractors have since denounced the Sierra Leone project as repatriation by another name. It has been seen as a high-minded yet hypocritical way of ridding the country of its rising black population... Some in Britain wanted Africans to leave because they feared they were corrupting the virtues of the country's white women, while others were tired of seeing them reduced to begging on London streets."
What do you think?
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You can find a more comprehensive account of Hannah More here:
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The entry for Hannah More on Wikipedia is a complete copy and paste job from the learned article on her by S. J. Skedd that appears in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_More
Wikipedia stresses the fact that she was a social reformer and gives the example of her being against the slave trade. It is highly misleading to describe More as a "social reformer". Except for the case of the slave trade, she was a reactionary. Even before slavery was abolished in the British Empire she said: "These turbulent times make one sad. I am sick of that liberty which I used so to prize" (1820). For example, here are two passages from S. J. Skedd's article that Wikipedia appears to have missed:
In August 1789 Wilberforce stayed with her at Cowslip Green, and on visiting the nearby village of Cheddar he and More were appalled to find ‘incredible multitudes of poor, plunged in an excess of vice, poverty, and ignorance beyond what one would suppose possible in a civilized and Christian country’ (W. Roberts, 2.178). Encouraged by Wilberforce, More and her sisters resolved on a plan to alleviate their ignorance and hardship by setting up schools where the children of the poor would be taught to read. Following the pattern set by the charity schools of Robert Raikes and Sarah Trimmer, Hannah and Martha More rented a house at Cheddar and engaged teachers to instruct the children in reading the Bible and the catechism. More was adamant that the poor should not be taught writing, as it would encourage them to be dissatisfied with their lowly situation; over twenty years later she strongly criticized the National Society for teaching their school pupils the three Rs.
Hannah More's role as moral guardian of the nation became increasingly politicized as a consequence of the French Revolution. Horrified as much by the atheism as by the political radicalism of the revolutionaries, she denounced their attack on revealed religion in her Remarks on the speech of M. Dupont, made in the National Convention of France, on the subjects of religion and public education (1793), having waited in vain ‘for our bishops and clergy to take some notice of them’ (W. Roberts, 3.360). Tellingly Bishop Porteus insisted that she add her name to the publication in order to maximize its public impact; three editions appeared that year. Porteus also encouraged her to write the tracts for which she is best-known. To counter the revolutionary politics circulating in cheap editions of Tom Paine's Rights of Man she ‘scribbled’ Village politics: addressed to all the mechanics, journeymen, and day labourers, in Great Britain (1792) by ‘Will Chip, a country carpenter’, in which Paine's political ideals are ridiculed in a dialogue between a blacksmith and a mason. She was hesitant about writing such an overtly political work, yet the threat of revolution and war impelled her to write dozens of similarly loyalist, moral, and Christian tales specifically for the lower classes that were published anonymously as Cheap Repository Tracts (1795–8). A total of 114 tracts, including some by Sarah and Martha More, were sold for ½d. or 1d. every month from 1795 to 1798, funded by subscriptions, and distributed by booksellers and pedlars across the country; Hannah wrote forty-nine tracts and masterminded the whole operation. Sales were enormous: within four months 700,000 had been sold, within a year over 2 million. They were mainly bought by the middling and upper classes to distribute to the poor but they also found a ready market in the United States, and Bishop Porteus sent large quantities to Sierra Leone and the West Indies. Though their influence on their intended audience cannot be measured the Cheap Repository Tracts certainly ‘established themselves as the safe reading’ (Jones, Hannah More, 145) of the poor and paved the way for the work of the Religious Tract Society, founded in 1799.
The Truth About UFOs and Aliens
in Political Conspiracies
Posted
Many people believe in UFOs. It is based on the idea that there are a likely number of solar systems in the universe with potentially habitable planets. Therefore, life may well exist elsewhere. However, there are two very good reasons why aliens from outer space will not be able to contact us. The first one concerns the large distance between solar systems. The other reason is rarely mentioned.
The universe is 13.75bn years old. Life on Earth originated some 3.5bn years ago yet civilisation is only 10,000 years old and man has had the means to transmit and receive communications across space only for the last few decades. It is highly likely that this window of opportunity will not last for a very long time as the human race appears to be set on a course of destruction.
The same process will have taken place on other solar systems. However, it is highly unlikely, given the time-scale, that intelligent life, would ever have co-existed at any one time.