282 EEPEESENTATION TO THE KING OP SPAIff. 



nations of Europe, who boast of their civilization, 

 regarded as incontrovertible; that, for instance, without 

 slaves there could be no colonies. We declare, on the con- 

 trary, that without slaves, and even without blacks, colonies 

 might have existed, and that the whole difference would have 

 been comprised in more or less profit, by the more or less 

 rapid increase of the products. But such being our firm 

 persuasion, we ought also to remind your Majesty, that a 

 social organization into which slavery has been introduced 

 as an element, cannot be changed with inconsiderate preci- 

 pitation. We are far from denying that it was an evil con- 

 trary to all moral principles, to drag slaves from one conti- 

 nent to another ; that it was a political error not to have 

 listened to the remonstrances of Ovando, the governor of 

 Hispaniola, who complained of the introduction and accumu- 

 lation of so many slaves in proximity with a small number of 

 free men ; but, these evils being now inveterate, we ought 

 to avoid rendering our position and that of our slaves worse, 

 by the employment of violent means. What we ask of your 

 Majesty, is conformable to the wish proclaimed by one of 

 the most ardent protectors ol the rights of humanity, by the 

 most determined enemy of slavery ; we desire, like him, that 

 the civil laws should deliver us at the same time from abuses 

 and dangers." 



On the solution of this problem depends, in the West India 

 Islands only, and exclusive of the republic of Hayti, the secu- 

 rity of 875,000 free men (whites and men of colour)* and the 

 mitigation of the sufferings of 1,150,000 slaves. It is evident 

 that these objects can never be attained by peaceful means, 

 without the concurrence of the local authorities, either colo- 

 nial assemblies, or meetings of proprietors designated by less 

 dreaded names, by the old parent state. The direct influ- 

 ence of the authorities is indispensible ; and it is a fatal 

 error to believe " that we may leave it to time to act." Time 

 will act simultaneously on the slaves, on the relations be- 

 tween the islands and the inhabitants of the continent, and 

 on events which cannot be controlled, when they have been 

 waited for with the inaction of apathy. Wherever slavery is 



* Namely : 452,000 whites, of which 342,000 are in the two Spanish 

 islands (Cuba and Porto Rico), and 423,000 free men of colour, mulattoes, 

 and blacks. 



