THE EDITOR, Sir:
WAS QUEEN Victoria the Great Liberator of slaves?
It is indeed gratifying that many Jamaicans are becoming more and more conscious of the significant role that black people played in freeing themselves from the bondage of slavery.
Nevertheless, it would appear that there is still a lingering myth particularly amongst the older folk that Queen Victoria (Missis Queen) was the Great Liberator of slaves.
First, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the belief that Queen Victoria was ever involved in the movement against slavery. Second, there is not a shred of evidence that she issued a Royal decree to set the slaves free. In any event the issuance of a Royal decree would have been contrary to the British convention of constitutional monarchy.
According to this long-standing convention, all Bills to be enacted in law must originate in Parliament, and not in the royal household. It is, therefore, inconceivable that a freshly-crowned monarch would have ventured to overturn this conventional practice.
As Head of State the Queen was constitutionally obliged to sign all Bills and documents passed by Parliament. It must, therefore, be understood that the rendering of Queen Victoria's signature to the parliamentary document that proclaimed the end of slavery in 1838 was an automatic exercise, and is definitely not indicative of her role as a Great Liberator of slaves.
I am, etc.,
RUPERT JOHNSON
r.b.johnson@sympatico.ca
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada, M1C 3M7
