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Observaciones sobre la esclavitud y comercio de esclavos por J. G. Alexander; é informe del Dr. Madden sobre la esclavitud en la isla de Cuba

Biblioteca Nacional de España. Friends House Library, London.

Observations Slavery Slave Trade Cuba Spanish Public Opinion British Abolition

This pamphlet, published in Barcelona by Alexander and Madden, attempts to sensibilise Spanish public opinion to the continuing "complicated iniquities" (3) of the illegal transatlantic slave trade. The introduction summarises European and American abolitionist movements, while the text itself is a letter by Madden which details his eye-witness experience of colonial slavery in Cuba, and dismisses the idea of 'mild' slavery in the Spanish colonies. The authors argue that the abolition of slavery is the only sure means of stopping illegal slave trading to the Americas.

Although the initials of the author are given as "J.G.", this pamphlet is likely to have been written by George William Alexander, author of a similar pamphlet published the following year in Portugal. Additional author: Dr Richard Robert Madden. Cites recent abolitionist writings including Gurney's A Winter in the West Indies (1840), Alexis de Tocqueville's report on colonial slavery to the French Chamber of Deputies, and Madden's Address on Slavery in Cuba (1840).