Ending the conquest and civilian rule shifted France to antislavery policy

Evidence

Under peacetime conditions, the slave trade began to dwindle. In addition, the decision to create the Government General signaled an end to the protectorate era, as France’s new territories were now grouped into one supercolony. The advent of new civilian authorities in Dakar also marked the Third Republic’s desire to bring its overseas administration more in line with metropolitan values. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 333