A lithograph print depicting freedom and slavery. In ‘freedom’, to the right, a well-fed and contented family in the Caribbean seem happy with their lot, despite their enslavement; happy slaves dance in the distance while tropical plenty, in the form of an abundance of fruit and vegetables, occupies the foreground. In ‘slavery’, a destitute British family, burdened with taxation, bemoans its situation. In the centre, a man standing in a barrel invites the viewer to consider the apparent paradox. ‘Think of the poor suffering Affican [sic] called a Slave unpossess’d of any of the rights & privileges that you enjoy, while you sit under the vine of your Reform Bill and the fig-tree of your Magna Chart [sic]. He knows nothing of such blessings’.

With caption on the side: 'McLean's Monthly Sheet of Caricatures No. 32'. On the reverse of this one are two caricatures: 'Russian Policy' and 'Lord H-F-D's Fête Champêtre'.

The campaign for the abolition of colonial slavery coincided with widespread upheaval in Britain with calls for parliamentary reform and legislation to address the social problems associated with rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. This print brings the perceived irony of the anti-slavery campaign into sharp focus.

ZBA2500 is a coloured version of this work.