4 OCTOBER

CITY OF LONDON AUCTION – RUM, BRANDY AND ‘ONE NEGRO BOY’

[ 4 October 1743 ]

Today in 1743, a fairly routine sale took place at the Marine Coffee-House in Birchin Lane in the City of London, which comprised, according to an announcement placed in the Daily Advertiser ‘the following goods, Viz. 36 hogsheads of rum, 22 bottles of Cherry Brandy… cotton and linen trowsers.. wax and tallow candles… one negro boy.’¹ Although the vast majority of the three million slaves seized from Africa by British slave traders ended up working on plantations in the West Indies and the Americas, it was not unusual to see advertisements placed in British newspapers notifying the public of slave sales as well as announcements offering rewards for runaways. There were also frequent notices in the press for Caribbean plantations for sale along with the slaves working on them, typically promising that they were ‘all in the highest health and good condition.’

BRITISH MASSACRE OF THE ABENAKI PEOPLE, BURNING MANY IN THEIR HOMES

[ 4 October 1759 ]

In the early hours of 4 October 1759, 142 British troops, under the command of Major Robert Rogers, approached a large Native American settlement at Odanak on the Saint Francois river, some seventy miles south west of Quebec.²

LET THE SAUDIS DO AS THEY WANT TO, SO LONG AS THEY REMAIN AN ALLY

[ 4 October 1993 ]

On 4 October 1993, Lady Thatcher, addressing a conference entitled ‘Inside Saudi Arabia’ at London’s Chatham House, declared that she considered the country ‘a strong force for moderation and stability’ and that she was ‘a great admirer of Saudi Arabia and the leadership of King Fahd.’ She was pleased that Britain had no intention of ‘meddling in that country’s internal affairs,’ adding: ‘It is one of my firmest beliefs that although there are certain basic standards and goals we should expect from every member of the international community, the precise pace and approach must reflect different societies’ cultural, social, economic and historical backgrounds.’³ At the time she spoke, Britain was not just supplying Saudi Arabia with huge quantities of arms, but also training the Saudi National Guard, some of whom may have later fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

FOOTNOTES

1. Cited in Runway Slaves in Eighteenth Century Britain –  https://www.runaways.gla.ac.uk/for_sale/Runaway%20Slaves%20in%2018th%20C%20Britain%20-%20For%20Sale.pdf
2. Richard Gott, Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt, Verso, London, 2011 p. 21 and ‘The River Burns: Fort Odanak, 1704-59: The Search for Traces of a Fortified Abenaki Village,’ accessed online on 5 January 2019 at url http://www.fort-odanak.ca/riviere_brule-river_burns-eng
3. Cited in Mark Curtis, Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam, Serpent’s Tail, London, 2012, pp. 179-180.

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