Sir, - I was interested to read Simon P. Haden's discussion of Montserrat (September 3rd) and the assertion that "it is generally accepted that the Irish treated their slaves in a kindly fashion." It is just as well he added: "although there is little evidence to support this"; for, in fact, the generally accepted idea is nonsense. The Irish slaveholders on Montserrat were every bit as nasty as any in the British Empire.
Interested readers should take a look at my book If the Irish Ran the World, Montserrat 1630-1730, published this month by Liverpool University Press. - Yours etc.,
D.H. AKENSON,
Queen's University,
READ MORE
Kingston, Ontario,
Canada.