Sir John Gladstone made a fortune as a Demerara sugar-planter and a key supporter of the British policy of amelioration in which slavery would be “improved” by making it more “humane.” Unlike resident planters in the British West Indies, who were firmly opposed to any alteration to the conditions of enslavement, and unlike abolitionists, who saw amelioration as a step toward abolition, Gladstone was a rare but influential metropolitan-based planter with an expansive imperial vision, prepared to work with British politicians to guarantee his investments in slavery through progressive slave reforms. This article intersects with recent historiography highlighting connections between metropole and colony but also insists on the influence of Demerara, including the effects of a large slave rebellion centered on Gladstone's estates (which illustrated that enslaved people were not happy with Gladstone's supposedly enlightened attitudes) on metropolitan sensibilities in the 1820s. Gladstone's strategies for an improved slavery, despite the contradictions inherent in championing such a policy while maintaining a fierce drive for profits, were a powerful counter to a renewed abolitionist thrust against slavery in the mid to late 1820s. Gladstone showed that that the logic of gradual emancipation still had force in imperial thinking in this decade.

中文翻译：

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约翰·格莱斯顿爵士和 1820 年代关于改善英属西印度群岛奴隶制的辩论

约翰·格莱斯顿爵士作为德梅拉拉的糖农和英国改善政策的主要支持者发了大财，通过使奴隶制更加“人道”来“改善”奴隶制。与英属西印度群岛的居民种植园主不同，他们坚决反对对奴役条件进行任何改变，也不同于将改良视为迈向废除奴隶制的一步的废奴主义者，格莱斯顿是一位罕见但有影响力的大都市种植园主，具有广阔的帝国视野，准备与英国政客合作，通过渐进的奴隶改革来保证他对奴隶制的投资。这篇文章与最近强调大都市和殖民地之间联系的史学相交，但也坚持德梅拉拉的影响，包括以格莱斯顿为中心的大规模奴隶叛乱的影响。关于 1820 年代都市情感的 s 庄园（这表明被奴役的人对格莱斯顿所谓的开明态度并不满意）。格莱斯顿改善奴隶制的战略，尽管在支持这种政策的同时又保持强烈的利润驱动力存在内在矛盾，但它有力地反驳了 1820 年代中后期废除奴隶制的新一轮反击。格莱斯顿表明，逐渐解放的逻辑在这十年的帝国思想中仍然具有影响力。是对 1820 年代中后期废除奴隶制的新一轮反击的有力反击。格莱斯顿表明，逐渐解放的逻辑在这十年的帝国思想中仍然具有影响力。是对 1820 年代中后期废除奴隶制的新一轮反击的有力反击。格莱斯顿表明，逐渐解放的逻辑在这十年的帝国思想中仍然具有影响力。