While researching the concept of slavery we looked at numerous resources on the web. An interesting article we ran across is posted on the website of the New York Times. While searching the newspaper's electronic archives we looked for articles related to Curaçao.

The oldest article in the New York Times' online archives that refers to “Curaçao” dates back to 1857. The article describes Dutch policies regarding slave emancipation and both criticizes and praises Holland. The Dutch are criticized for taking longer than their neighbors to abolish slavery. On the other hand the Dutch Government is praised for being the only ones to “pay a fair equivalent to the slaveholder for his slave”.

The article raises a number of issues of interest:

• The Dutch Government reimburses slave owners for the financial loss they will suffer due to the emancipation of all slaves. On the other hand, the slaves that will be emancipated “are obliged to contribute to the formation of a fund destined to pay back to the State the expenses of their emancipation.” In other words the latter will remain virtual slaves of the state until their debt to the state is settled. The fact that they gave up years of their lives to toil for their owners is valued at zero. After their emancipation they could continue doing so for the Government.
• The Dutch decided on abolition in 1857. The news apparently appeared in the Curaçaosche Courant in that same year. Yet it took another 6 years, until 1863, before slavery was actually abolished on the island. One wonders what took them so long.

The original article that was published by the New York Times on October 26, 1857 can be examined by clicking on the image below.

Click here for a transcript of the article.