Last year The Guardian announced that the Scott Trust had commissioned an independent report that would investigate the paper’s historical links to the slave trade – after Guido pointed out that it had given unqualified support to the Confederacy during the American civil war, and its founder made his fortune in the cotton trade. Surely a cancellation offence for the woke…
Back in the 1860s the Manchester Guardian, as it was, gave unqualified support to the confederacy during the American civil war; even reprinting confederate propaganda against the slaves’ liberator, Abraham Lincoln.
“… it was an evil day both for America and the world when he was chosen President of the United States”
– Manchester Guardian, 10th October 1862
Upon the news of President Lincoln’s assassination, the Guardian described the president’s time in office as “abhorrent”, specifically the Proclamation of Emancipation – the act that declared “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” Perhaps the opposition to emancipation of slaves was driven by the views of their founder, John Edward Taylor, who made his money in the cotton trade – an industry that prospered on the backs of cotton-picking slaves.
On its bicentennial anniversary the paper claims “times change but the Guardian’s values don’t”. That’s all very well, Guido however wants to know, where is the report? The investigation was announced in July 2020, yet since then, Guido hasn’t read a word from either The Guardian or the Scott Trust itself on what they might’ve found. Did we miss its publication?
