A very scarce abolitionist pamphlet by John Sturge, brother of the celebratedr Joseph Sturge, who contributed a forward to this work. Joseph Sturge (1793–1859) was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist who founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International) and worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of slaves.

The pamphlet, originally scheduled to release concurrently with the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention, was finally released in one of the most contentious moments in post-emancipation British abolitionism, when two major organizations and two fundamentally different visions of how to suppress the global slave trade were in direct competition.

On one side stood Thomas Fowell Buxton and his Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilization of Africa, founded in 1839. This Society was set up in London in June 1839 to oppose the slave trade, with Fowell Buxton as its principal figure. Buxton's approach was ambitious and interventionist: he suggested the negotiation of treaties of abolition with individual West African rulers, whereby the rulers would renounce the slave trade and permit the establishment of British settlements on their land; settlers would cultivate crops introducing European agricultural methods, while British missionaries would spread Christianity among the Africans. 

On the other side stood Joseph Sturge and the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, founded also in 1839. In 1839, one year after abolition in the British dominions, Sturge led a small group to found the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, based on the ambitious objective of achieving emancipation and an end to slavery worldwide. This society continues today as Anti-Slavery International. 

John Sturge's pamphlet, with Joseph's foreword, represents the Quaker-pacifist critique of Buxton's Society and its book The African Slave Trade and Its Remedy. The disagreement was principled and fundamental. At an Anti-Slavery Convention, Sturge declared: "The word 'pacific' prohibits us from either directly or indirectly sanctioning a resort to arms even against the slave-trader." Buxton's plan required naval force, government expedition, and military backing — all anathema to committed Quaker pacifists.

Furthermore, Thomas Clarkson, the veteran abolitionist, was bewildered by the complexity of the anti-slavery politics of this moment; he endorsed Sturge's society, but then, after remonstration, wrote that he favored Buxton's as well. The confusion of even so senior a figure as Clarkson shows how genuinely divided the movement was.

The specific target of John Sturge's "Remarks" was the Niger Expedition of 1841, which sailed that same year. The Niger expedition of 1841 was mounted using three British iron steam vessels to travel to Lokoja, at the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers. The expedition was put into motion by an Exeter Hall meeting of 1 June 1840, chaired by Prince Albert. The organizers were the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and for the Civilization of Africa. This was a major state-backed enterprise, and the expedition was a dismal failure: of the 150 Europeans on the expedition, 42 died quickly, and there were 130 fever cases. 

John Sturge's pamphlet, appearing just as the expedition was departing, represents a principled and prescient critique of the entire enterprise — its reliance on government force, its paternalistic ideology, and its practical dangers — from the perspective of those who believed abolition must be pursued by moral suasion, boycott, and international diplomacy rather than naval intervention.

Exceptionally rare on the market with no examples in the trade at the time of cataloging and unrepresented at auction.

Sturge, John. Joseph Sturge [fwd]. Remarks on the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade, and the Civilization of Africa; and on “The Slave Trade, and its Remedy.” London. Hamilton, Adams, & Company. 1841. 16pp.

Good - in original wraps, still bound, but chipped and with some turns to corners, etc.,