[2] In 1789 Steele further, by erecting his estates into manors, and making his slaves copyholders bound to their tenements, and owing rent and personal service which they paid in labour on the demesne lands.
He also made efforts to employ the redlegs — the poor white population — and to set up local industries.
His essay excited considerable interest, and was discussed, among others, by Lord Monboddo and David Garrick.
[2] Steele's letters to Thomas Clarkson, describing the management of his estates, were published in 1814 in William Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery (1814).
Obadiah Rich in his Bibliotheca Americana Nova attributed to Steele a pamphlet An Account of a late Conference on the Occurrences in America (London, 1766).