Dundas is a Hero
There is a movement in the United States called the 1619 Project. It was created by the New York Times, and it aims to change the founding date of America as a sovereign nation from 4 July 1776, to the alleged and disputed date when the first slaves arrived!
It is a deliberate (and racially-charged) attempt to reframe American history from "Land of the Brave" to "Land of the Slave"; to change from a generally hopeful and optimistic national story of American goodness, to a shameful story of oppression involving all things bad.
The intention is to break down the sense of the good, and replace it with an overall sense of the bad; to change the aroma from fragrant to foul.
This is because, for revolutions to succeed, the past must first be destroyed so life can begin from the present moment.
The BLM movement in the UK takes the same approach to British history.
It's working from the same script. It wants the history of Britain to be reframed as one of "oppression", as a direct consequence of "racism" (by white people), which apparently is the origin of everything – the secular "original sin" – the evil centre of every single matter in our country. This ideology is called "Critical Race Theory" or CRT for short, and has become very influential in sections of academia since the 1970s. It is now coming into its own.
It's a divisive and absurd ideology, but that doesn't stop it being a dominant and aggressive one in the media, academia and politics; and a very lucrative one for race-hustlers of all colours.
Here in Scotland, the BLM approach fits smoothly into the SNP's anti-British story.
After all, for the SNP, the story of Britain is one of the alleged "oppression" of Scotland.
As pro-UK people, we know that story is rubbish. But that is how the SNP councillors, MSPs, MPs and many of its members and supporters see things, even when the opposite truth of things is staring them in the face.
They know that by attacking our British history in this way, it will help to break down the sense of the goodness, the rightness, the legitimacy, of the Union itself.
Therefore, the SNP is happy to go along with BLM's lies, and its false and divisive and racially-charged ideology, because it helps to promote their aim of breaking up Britain.
They will do this even when it is famous Scottish people who are being attacked. They have no sense of loyalty to such Scottish people.
Therefore, it's left to pro-UK people such as ourselves to defend the honour of such men and women. It's a mantle we're happy to hold!
SNP PLAN TO DESECRATE DUNDAS
This brings us back to Henry Dundas and his statue in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, which the SNP council, in hock with the local BLM people, are intending to befoul.
They are intending to append a plaque, "to explain Henry Dundas's history and to acknowledge his role in delaying the abolition of the slave trade."
This is now at the Planning Application stage (see below).
"Delaying the abolition" is factually wrong. It is an utter misrepresentation of the facts. It is, basically, a blatant lie.
It is astonishing that such a plaque is even being considered.
So, what's the story?
The year was 1792 and the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, wanted to abolish slavery. To those worthy ends, Dundas, who was Home Secretary, introduced the word "gradual" as an amendment in a proposed abolition Bill.
He did this because he knew he could not get the Bill through the House of Commons unless that was explicitly stated. In any case, abolition would have to be gradual since the economy of so many Caribbean islands – not to mention business interests of many MPs and Lords – depended upon slavery at that time.
Introducing the word "gradual" is the reason why the SNP and BLM people say that he somehow "delayed" the abolition. However, that is where their study ends, and they don't look to see what happened next.
What happened next was that his amendment was successful, in that it ensured that a previous defeat in the House of Commons was turned into a 230-85 victory for the abolitionists. However, the Bill was then presented to the Lords, where it failed, meaning the Bill was not enacted.
It wasn't until 15 years later, in 1807, that the Slave Trade Act was passed, resulting in the ban on the trade in slaves in the British Empire. (And it wouldn't be until 1833 that the actual practice of slavery was abolished in the British Empire via the Slavery Abolition Act.)
So, Dundas's amendment succeeded in getting the Bill through the Commons but – through no fault of his own – the Lords rejected it.
Therefore, in what possible way can it be said that Dundas's amendment delayed the abolition of the slave trade? Indeed, if anything, it helped to move the concept of "abolition" forward a pace.
THE WORDING ON THE PLAQUE
The proposed wording can be read by clicking on the icon under 'View' at 'NEW PLAQUE TEXT' here.
A particularly nonsensical part of it is intending to state that:
While Home Secretary in 1792 and first Secretary of State for War in 1796 he was instrumental in deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade...As a result of this delay, more than half a million enslaved Africans crossed the Atlantic...In 2020 this plaque was dedicated to the memory of the more than half-a-million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundas's actions.
That is an absolute travesty; a false, absurd and distorted representation of the facts!
We are meant to believe that Dundas's genuine, and partly successful, attempt to get the Bill passed is somehow responsible for "delaying" the passing of such a Bill, and "as a result" and as a "consequence" he is responsible for "half a million" Africans being enslaved?
This is such a blatant misrepresentation of the facts that we have to assume that the people who say such things have not even studied the matter at all, or at best do not understand how the British Parliament works.
As someone also pointed out on the internet, by claiming that "enslaving half a million Africans" was a "consequence" of inaction for 15 years, then maybe we should erect more plaques to inaction. How about we erect a plaque saying, for example, "As a result of Nicola Sturgeon not sending more money to Africa, millions are dying of preventable diseases"!
It's absurd, and it's a nasty attack on a great Scotsman, and a great Briton's honour. It cannot be allowed to pass.
DUNDAS IS A HERO!
In response, and instead of berating him, we must emphasise that he did his best to get the abolition Bill through Parliament in 1792, and he almost succeeded, were it not for the Lords.
Dundas always opposed slavery and is on record as stating, "That the slave trade ought to be abolished, I have already declared." He owned no slaves. Furthermore, as we've stated previously Dundas, as Lord Advocate, won the 1778 case which established that slavery was illegal in Scotland.
He was a proponent of Gaelic; he removed the status of "serfs" from miners; and unusually at the time, he advocated that Irish Catholics should get the vote.
His opponents will also state that at the end of his political career he was "impeached". This word simply means "charged", usually by one's peers. What they are less keen to emphasise is that on every single charge he was overwhelmingly found not guilty! You can see the breakdown of the acquittal votes here.
To accuse him of holding back the abolition of the trade in slaves is illogical and simply wrong.
Yet it is all part of the anti-British history agenda of the BLM movement (explained at the start of this article) which the SNP council in Edinburgh is quite happy to hitch its anti-Union wagon onto for its own political ends.
YOUR CHANCE TO OBJECT
If you would like to object to the erection of the illogical, factually wrong, biased, disrespectful, and ahistorical – lacking all historical context – plaque, then please go to the Planning Applications Comment page of Edinburgh Council here and leave a positive and diplomatic comment in his defence. And remember to click the "Object" button towards the bottom of the form.
The organisation Save Our Statues has also objected on the basis of the physical damage which will be suffered by the statue itself, as per its objection below.
FURTHER READING
We've written extensively on this matter, and campaigned physically against the BLM movement in Edinburgh, as can be seen and read (and heard) at the links below.
The Dundas Declaration (Our Declaration in front of the BLM group at the foot of the Dundas Monument in Edinburgh on 20-6-20)
Who Was Henry Dundas (Speech on 20-6-20)
Britain's War Against the Slave Trade (Speech on 20-6-20)
Defending Dundas Against the Hateful Mob (12-6-20)
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