Here's another act of pre-emptive self-abasement - Tony Blair expressing his deep sorrow for Britain's involvement in the slave trade.

Of course this doesn't go far enough for the knockers who delight in condemning every aspect of British history and enterprise. They want nothing less than a full and formal apology. But we have apologised already - 200 years ago - and in the most practical way possible: by abolishing the slave trade. This is how it came about.

In 1805 the House of Commons passed a bill that made it unlawful for any British subject to capture and transport slaves, but the measure was blocked by the House of Lords. In February 1806, Lord Grenville formed a Whig administration. Grenville and his Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox, were strong opponents of the slave trade. Fox and William Wilberforce led the campaign in the House of Commons and Grenville led it in the House of Lords.

Grenville made a passionate speech where he argued that the trade was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy" and criticised fellow members for "not having abolished the trade long ago". When the vote was taken, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20. In the House of Commons it was carried by 114 to 15 and it became law on March 25, 1807.

British captains who were caught continuing the trade were fined £100 for every slave found on board. Some people involved in the anti-slave trade campaign such as Thomas Clarkson and Thomas Fowell Buxton argued that the only way to end the suffering of the slaves was to make slavery illegal. And, in 1833, Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act. In summary, the slave trade was abolished by Christian parliamentarians and abolition was enforced by the Royal Navy.

In the midst of all this ridiculous mania for apologising for our past, certain key issues tend not to get so much as a mention. For example, the biggest slavers of all were the Muslims. As the historian Bernard Lewis wrote recently: "The processes by which Muslims acquired and transported slaves imposed appalling hardships. But from a traditional Muslim point of view, to abolish slavery would hardly have been possible. To forbid what Allah permits is almost as great an offence as to permit what Allah forbids.

"Slavery was authorised and its regulation formed part of Sharia (holy) Law; more importantly of the central core of Islamic social laws which remained intact and effective even when other sections of the Holy Law were tacitly or openly modified and replaced by modern codes."

Perhaps I was watching the cricket when central Muslim authorities apologised for their much bigger involvement in slavery? Of course, it is right to own up when we're in the wrong. But it is equally right - especially in the clash of cultures in which we now find ourselves - to celebrate and be proud of things we did right. Let's have less national self-abasement and more national pride.

* Peter Mullen is Rector of St Michael's, Cornhill in the City of London, and Chaplain to the Stock Exchange.