Note 507) — VII.

Lord Liverpool aan Wellington, 23 Sept. 1814: „It would be desirable to have some producible record that we had offered to France a pecuniary compensation, or an island, for the immediate abolition of the Slave Trade. Some such proposition is certainly expected by the Abolitionists. I have the less disinclination to the offer of an island for this object, since it has been determined to retain Demerary, Essequibo and Berbice. The retention of them will add in some degree to the colonial jealousy which exists on the continent of Great Britain; and I have reason to believe that the planters and merchants interested in the settlements in question did not expect that we should keep them. Under these circumstances, I think we can afford to offer a West India colony for the accomplishment of an object which the nation has certainly so much at heart” (Ged. VII, 184).