Row over bid to highlight nation’s shame
A row has broken out over plans to highlight Scotland’s shameful role in the slave trade in the wake of the Charlottesville riots.
A new plaque to be placed on one of Edinburgh’s tal lest statues wi l l highlight a delay in abolishing the slave trade caused by 18th century politician Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville.
But the current viscount said the proposed inscription for the 150ft Melville Monument in St Andrew Square was “wrong in almost every particular”.
Dundas was the most powerful Scottish politician of his day, but is best known for delaying the abolition of slavery in 1792 when home secretary.
Nicknamed “the great tyrant”, he amended an anti-slavery bill to make abolition “gradual”, which historians say cost thousands of lives.
Campaigner Adam Ramsay, co-editor of openDemocracy, will meet bosses at Edinburgh City Council on Wednesday to discuss a form of words for a new plaque on the statue.
His public petition was first approved by councillors last September.
He wants the plaque to say: “A prominent politician and government minister, Dundas was controversial even in his own era. He worked diligently to delay the abolition of the slave trade, blocked movements for democracy in Scotland, mobilised troops to quash protests against the Highland Clearances and, as First Lord