What you didn't know about the great Scottish poet Robert Burns

malaise

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Thu Mar-13-08 07:52 PM
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What you didn't know about the great Scottish poet Robert Burns

According to Professor Palmer, Burns (known for riveting verses such as A Man's A Man For A' That), bought a ticket in 1786 to travel to Jamaica to work as a slave driver. Burns ultimately did not make it to the island.

I'm reading a very interesting book Enlightenment Abolished-Citizens of Britishness by Geoff Palmer. A good friend lent me his copy. I'll soon have my own.

Here's a snip from Palmer's web site

During a visit to Register House, Edinburgh last year I noticed a poster referring to "The distribution of Scottish people around the world". With a smile I said to my host that I hoped people of Scottish descent in the Caribbean were included in this survey of the Scottish Diaspora. He turned and said goodbye quickly to get away from a Jamaican who had suddenly taken leave of his senses. Talking about Scottish-Caribbean history elsewhere in Scotland elicited similar responses.

Although Jamaica is only 146 miles long and no more than 50 miles wide, by 1800 there were 300,000 slaves, 10,000 Scots and a similar number of English. The Scots and English were mainly men and they administered the island and the enslaved black population. In 1795, the Caledonian Mercury noted that Jamaica's slave population was valued officially at £10.25 million. The same Scottish paper publicly disclosed the activities of West Indian slavery yet some Scots still think "It wisnae us" – the title of an excellent booklet from a young enlightened Scot which shows that the economic history of Glasgow is linked to the history of slave-grown tobacco and sugar and to the many Scotsmen who became millionaires from slavery.

How did the Scots join the slave business? Originally officially excluded from the English slave trade, Scots such as Colonel John Campbell left the failed Scottish colonial experiment in Darien, Panama and arrived in Jamaica between 1697 and 1700. He had a large family in Jamaica and died there in 1740, initiating the spread of the name Campbell all over the island. Today there are many more Campbells in Jamaica per acre than in Scotland. In 1707 Scottish politicians signed 25 Acts to unify the parliaments of Scotland and England. The Act that was signed first was Act 4 which allowed the Scots to join the English slave business. Young Scotsmen rushed to the Caribbean to make quick fortunes as slave masters, slave doctors and administrators. The great economic benefits of Caribbean slavery to Scotland were clearly apparent to Robert Burns who wrote a toast honouring the "Memory of those on the 12th that we lost', commemorating one of the most gruesome and crucial naval battles fought between the French, Spanish and the British. The prize was Jamaica. Like other young Scotsmen who wanted to change their lives making money from slavery, Burns bought his ticket for Jamaica in 1786, intending to sail from Greenock with Highland Mary but his new book of poems sold well and he did not sail. Later, Burns' new lady friend, Clarinda (Mrs McLehose), sailed to Jamaica to discuss the state of her marriage with her husband, a slave master. On her return she told Burns her husband told her to return to Edinburgh as he was quite happy in Jamaica with his "ebony woman and mahogany children".