PREFACE

THIS exposition is the first part of my work in the history of slavery in Cuba. I have endeavoured here to point out salient features of the Spanish policy governing the slave trade in Cuba. My aim has been to show the causes of the trade in Cuba, its effects on Cuba, Spain, and, so far as they are closely related to the island, on the world; I have then gone into considerable detail in order to show the nature of the trade and the times. In doing this I have chosen to make large use of extracts for the purpose of bringing the reader as close as possible to the work of the writers themselves. Ftirthermore, political, social, and economic situations bearing on or influenced by the trade have been explained as fully as space would allow. Many things will, I feel sure, remain obscure or imperfectly treated; especially so, because I have not been able to treat of the domestic slave regime, with which I hope to supplement the contents of this book.