Is Cambridge right to have an inquiry into its historic slave trade links?

CAMBRIDGE University has announced it is carrying out a two-year inquiry into its links with the slave trade (Mail). At the risk of a knock on the door from the political correctness police, when will our chattering, liberal class get over this terrible period in history? Should there be protests about the suffering of Britons made slaves by the Vikings or the Romans, the countless serfs who suffered at the hands of the nobility, those rounded up by press gangs to serve in the Navy, and children sent up chimneys or used to operate dangerous machinery in the Industrial Revolution? Many of the African slaves were sold to Europeans by rival tribes. While we should not try to hide Britain’s role in the slave trade, no apologies or reparations should be required from today’s generations.

GEORGE HATCHMAN, Cheshunt, Herts.

THE object of the inquiry is not to apologise, but to understand more about the connections of the university with the slave trade. Is ignorance preferable to understanding, especially as recent court cases have shown that slavery has not been eradicated?

M. SPRINGER, Reading, Berks.

SLAVERY was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 through the efforts of William Wilberforce, a Cambridge graduate. No doubt those who think it necessary to visit the sins of the fathers upon their children in the matter of reparation will be in touch with the descendants of plantation owners in the U.S. Deep South, who used the victims of this vile trade. I wish them luck.

KEN SHARP, Newark, Notts. CAMBRIDGE students ought not to pick and choose history to suit their agenda of belittling their own country and ignoring context. While I hope we all agree slavery is an indefensible evil, we also need to recognise it was a feature of life throughout the ages. Students might be glad this country was among the first to ban this trade and should consider how to identify and help anyone who is being treated as a slave in the 21st century.

ANNE STILL, Tiptree, Essex.

AFTER it has completed its inquiry, the university might like to look at why it allowed itself to be a fertile breeding ground for recruiting Soviet agents in the Thirties. It could assess the damage it did to British interests at home and overseas, and award compensation.

GRAHAM WICKS, Attleborough, Norfolk. SLAVERY is a serious subject, but why concentrate on things that happened in the past? Slavery is still with us, probably even in Cambridge. If it is truly concerned, the university should focus on what can be changed. Learn from the past to change the future.

TONY STRAFFORD, Andover, Hants.