London
THERE WERE FEARFUL LOOKS as a lone protestor disrupted the solemn service at Westminster Abbey marking the 200th anniversary of the Parliamentary act to abolish the slave trade. "This is an insult to us," shouted Toyin Agbetu, campaigner for an organization promoting African-British identity. "You are a disgrace to our ancestors." Attendees--including the queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams--seemed stunned and anguished by the unscripted spasm of rage.

It was, in fact, an entirely predictable episode. The clamoring for apologies and reparations for slavery in England during recent weeks--stoked by steady coverage from the BBC--made Tuesday's incident almost inevitable. Last week, for example, London Mayor Ken Livingstone dismissed the contribution of parliamentarian William Wilberforce in defeating the slave trade and demanded national contrition. Livingstone called on all Londoners to repent their "squalid" evasion of guilt. In an op-ed for the Guardian, he summoned all residents to join him in "formally apologizing for London's role in this monstrous crime."

Similarly, Anglican leader John Sentamu used the BBC One Sunday program to call on the government to apologize. The second most senior cleric in the Church of England told the interviewer that Britain "should have the sense of saying we are very sorry and we have to put the record straight." (Several months ago, in fact, Tony Blair called Britain's role in the slave trade "profoundly shameful"; earlier this month he expressed "deep sorrow" for its support of the institution.)

Meanwhile, activist groups and politicians ratcheted up demands

That hope appears to be fading. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking to BBC's Radio 4, seemed inclined toward a scheme of faith-based compensation. "I haven't got a quick solution to that," said Rowan Williams. "I think we need to be asking the question and working at it." In his address at Westminster Abbey, the archbishop stressed the economic debt that modern-day Britain incurred from its exploitation of African slaves. "We, who are heirs of the slave-owning and slave-trading nations of the past, have to face the fact that our historic prosperity was built in large part on this atrocity."

THANKFULLY, the explicitly Christian dimension to the anniversary--the efforts of Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect--is getting renewed attention. Films such as Amazing Grace, which opened last weekend in London, and new Wilberforce biographies by Eric Metaxas and Conservative MP William Hague make the Christian inspiration for abolition compellingly clear. (To be fair, the BBC Online also takes note of Wilberforce's evangelical faith.)

Yet lost amid the din of apology talk are some provocative historical facts. Britain was not only was the first major European country to criminalize the slave trade after 1807: In the words of William Hague, the British government "lobbied, bullied, and bribed other nations" to get in line with the new policy. Between 1810 and 1850, the British Navy freed nearly 120,000 slaves--an effort that proved hazardous to the officers and seamen involved. "It was the Royal Navy who bravely enforced the abolition," Hague told members of Parliament. "And so the moral case, once made and enshrined in the law, was upheld over the coming decades through a commitment to international diplomacy and the application of British force."