Scandal of colonial rule
Subtitle: power and subversion in the British Atlantic during the age of revolution
By: James Epstein
Series: Critical perspectives on empire
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 289
ISBN-13: 9781107003309; 9780521176774
Subjects: Administration of Criminal justice; Trials, litigation; Social conditions; Colonies; HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain; Slavery; History
Description: "In 1806 General Thomas Picton, Britain's first governor of Trinidad, was brought to trial for the torture of a free mulatto named Louisa Calderon and for overseeing a regime of terror over the island's slave population. James Epstein offers a fascinating account of the unfolding of this colonial drama. He shows the ways in which the trial and its investigation brought empire 'home' and exposed the disjuncture between a national self-image of humane governance and the brutal realities of colonial rule. He uses the trial to open up a range of issues, including colonial violence and norms of justice, the status of the British subject, imperial careering, visions of development after slavery, slave conspiracy and the colonial archive. He reveals how Britain's imperial regime became more authoritarian, hierarchical and militarised but also how unease about abuses of power and of the rights of colonial subjects began to grow"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. Politics of colonial sensation; 2. A gentleman's way in the world; 3. 'Only answerable to God and conscience': justice unbounded by law; 4. Ruling narratives; 5. The radical underworld goes colonial; 6. In search of free labor; 7. Conspiracy in the archive; Epilogue: moving on.