An allegorical figure representing Justice hovers over the figure of Britannia, who is seated on a throne with a slave kneeling and praying at her feet. Although the slave wears shackles around his wrists and ankles, it is unclear whether his chains have been broken or remain intact. Behind him, a mother and child gesture toward Britannia. Ostensible subject of the engraving is Britain's renounciation of slavery. It accompanies the following lines in Montgomery's poem: "Britannia, -- she who scathed the crest of Spain, / And won the trident sceptre of the main, / When to the raging wind, and ravening tide, / She gave the huge Armada's scatter'd pride, / Smit by the thunder-wielding hand that hurl'd / Her vengeance round the wave-encircled world; / -- She shared the gain, the glory, and the guilt, / By her were Slavery's island-altar's built, / And fed with human victims; -- till the cries / Of blood, demanding vengeance from the skies, / Pierced her proud heart, too long in vain assail'd; / But justice in one glorious hour prevail'd : / Straight from her limbs the tyrant's garb she tore, / Spotted with pestilence,and thick with gore; / O'er her own head with noble fury broke / The grinding fetters, and the galling yoke, / Then plunged them in th' abysses of the sea, / And cried to weeping Africa -- 'Be free!' (p. 19-20), Plate in James Montgomery's Abolition of the Slave Trade: A Poem, in Four Parts (London: Printed by T. Bensley, for R. Bower, the proprietor, 1814), p. 18., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Imagery.
Creator
Worthington, William Henry, ca. 1795-ca. 1839, engraver
Date
Dec. 1, 1809
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare *Am 1814 Mon 13197.Q p 18, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2720
Divided into two halves, the masthead vignette contrasts the consequences of slavery and the benefits of emancipation. Scene to the left is a reworking of the original masthead illustration of 1831 showing a slave auction with a slave being whipped in the background and a capitol building adorned with a flag reading "Liberty." A common graphic strategy of abolitionists was to picture scenes of slavery alongside symbols of American freedom such as the capitol, the flag, etc. In this revised version, the slave auction is set on Freedom St., and joining it on the right is a scene showing emancipated slaves enjoying the benefits of freedom. Added vignette commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British colonies., Masthead from the Liberator, ed. William Lloyd Garrison (Boston: Published weekly at no. 25 Cornhill by Isaac Knapp), vol. VIII, no. 9 (March 2, 1838), p. 33., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Anti-Slavery Movement Imagery.
Date
[March 1838]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per L 21 1646.F v VIII n 9 March 2 1838 p 33, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2881
