دانلود کتاب An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies

from wikipedia

The Reverend James Ramsay (25 July 1733 – 1789) was a ship's surgeon, Anglican priest, and leading abolitionist.

In July 1761 Ramsay left the navy to take holy orders.[1] He was ordained into the Anglican church in November 1761 by the Bishop of London. Choosing to work amongst slaves on the Caribbean, he travelled to the island of Saint Christopher (now Saint Kitts), where he was appointed to St. John's, Capisterre in 1762, and to Christ Church Nichola Town, the following year.


As well as pastoring the members of his church he practised medicine and surgery, providing a free service to the poor of the community. Having been appointed surgeon to several plantations on the island, he was able to see firsthand the conditions under which the slaves laboured and the brutality of many of the planters.

He strongly criticised the cruel treatment and punishment meted out to the slaves, and became more convinced of the need to improve their conditions. This led him into involvement in local government, but he was the target of much antagonism and personal attack from the planters, who resented his interference, because of his measures to ameliorate the conditions of the slaves. His letters to the bishop of London illustrate the attitudes of the American colonists in the late 18th century.

Ramsay left St Kitts in 1777, exhausted by the continuing conflict with influential planters and businessmen. He returned to Britain and briefly lived with Sir Charles Middleton at Teston, Kent where Lady Middleton joined the cause of the campaign against the slave trade.