SPANISH SLATE LAWS. 281 



excesses the slave i? exposed in the solitude of a planta- 

 tion or a farm, where a rude capataz, armed with a cutlass 

 (machete) and a whip, exercises absolute authority with impu- 

 nity ! The law neither limits the punishment of the slave, 

 nor the duration of labour ; nor does it prescribe the quality 

 and quantity of his food.* It permits the slave, it is true, 

 to have recourse to a magistrate, in order that he may enjoin 

 the master to be more equitable ; but this recourse is nearly 

 illusory ; for there exists another law, according to which 

 every slave may be arrested and sent back to his master 

 who is found without permission at the distance of a league 

 and a half from the plantation to which he belongs. How 

 can a slave, whipped, exhausted by hunger, and excess of 

 labour, find means to appear before the magistrate ? and if 

 he did reach him, how would he be defended against a 

 powerful master, who calls the hired accomplices of his 

 cruelties, as witnesses." 



In conclusion I may quote a very remarkable extract from 

 the Representation del Ayuntamiento, Consulado, y Sociedad 

 patriotica, dated July 20th, 1811. " In all that relates to 

 the changes to be introduced in the captive class, there ia 

 much less question of our fears on the diminution of agri- 

 cultural wealth, than of the security of the whites, so easy 

 to be compromised by imprudent measures. Besides, those 

 who accuse the consulate and the municipality of the Havan- 

 nah of obstinate resistance, forget that, in the year 1799, 

 the same authorities proposed fruitlessly, that the govern- 

 ment would divert attention to the state of the blacks in the 

 the island of Cuba (del arreglo de este delicado asunto.) 

 Further, we are far from adopting the maxims which the 



'Whereas some persons have of late been guilty of cutting off and 

 depriving slaves of their ears, we order that whoever shall extirpate an 

 eye, tear out the tongue, or cut off the nose of a slave, shall pay five hun- 

 dred pounds sterling, and be condemned to six months imprisonment." 

 It is unnecessary to add, that these English laws, which were in force 

 thirty or forty years ago, are abolished and superseded by laws more 

 humane. Why can I not say as much of the legislation of the French 

 islands, where six young slaves, suspected of an intention to escape, were 

 condemned, by a sentence pronounced in 1815, to have their hamstrinyt 

 tut! 



* A royal cedula, of May 31st, 1789, had attempted to regulate the 

 food and clothing ; but that cedula was never executed. 



