statistics of the slave trade to cuba, 1790-1867

8/12/2019 Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, 1790-1867

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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, 1790-1867Author(s): D. R. MurraySource: Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Nov., 1971), pp. 131-149Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/156557

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J. Lat. Amer. Stud. 3, 2, I31-149 Printed in Great Britain I3I

Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, 1790- 1867by D. R. MURRAY

IThe mostrecentas well as the mostcomprehensiveook on the statistics fthe Atlantic slave trade has been writtenby ProfessorPhilip D. Curtin.lThe AtlanticSlave Trade,A Census s a workwhich appliesmodern ech-niquesand sophisticated nalysis o the verydifficulthistoricalproblemofthe magnitudeof the Atlantic slavetrade.As Curtinhimselfstates: 'Thedimensionsof the nineteenthcentury lave tradehavealwaysbeena matterof controversy politicalcontroversy t the time and historicalcontroversysince'.' ProfessorCurtin'sbookwill not put an end to the controversy, utit does suggestfurtherareasfor research.More work needsto be done onthe historicalources romwhichthe statistics f the slavetradearederived.3This articleexamines he main sourcesavailable or assessing he importa-tion of slaves nto Cubafrom I790 to I867and analyses he statisticswhichthese sources yield in the light of Curtin's conclusions.4Historiansof theCubanslavetrade romJoseAntonioSacoonwardshaverealized hatthe two main bodiesof archivalmaterial elevant o a statisticalstudy of the last yearsof the slave tradeto Cuba are the customs houserecordsof Havana, coveringthe years 1790--821, and the reportsof theBritishCommissionerstationedat Havana from 1819.The periodI790 to1867is a convenientone to examine,since I790 was the firstyearof theso-called'open' Spanishslave tradeoperatingunder the conditions aiddown by the cedulaof 1789,and 1867was the last yearin which a docu-mented slave landing took place in Cuba. In contrast o the 'closed' orasientosystemwhichgoverned he Africanslavetradeto Cubabefore1789,the cedulaof thatyearrelaxed he restrictionsn foreigners ringingAfricanslaves nto the Spanishcolonies.At the sametime througha systemof sub-1 Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade, A Census (Madison, University of Wisconsin

Press, 1969). 2 Ibid., p. 231.3 One very good example of recent work along this line is Leslie Bethell, The Abolition ofthe Brazilian Slave Trade; Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question I807-i869 (Cam-bridge University Press, 1970), pp. 388-95.4 The material for this article is taken from a nearly completedmonographentitled 'Britain,Spain and the Abolition of the Slave Trade to Cuba'. The researchwas made possible bya grant from the Canada Council.


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132 D. R. Murraysidies it attempted to encouragemore Spaniardsto enter the slave trade fromAfrica instead of relying on foreigners.5The cedula of 1789 was modifiedslightly by another two years later,6 and a further cedula of 1804 extendedthe permission granted to Spaniardsand foreignersalike to participate n theslave trade to the Spanish colonies.7 It was not until a treaty was signedbetween Britain and Spain in 18I7 that Spain prohibited the trade in slavesbetween Africa and her transatlanticcolonies, but this prohibition did notbecome total until 30 May I820.8From 1790to I820 the African slave trade to Cuba was legal according toSpanish law. The number of slaves officially imported into Cuba throughHavana was recorded by the customs officials at Havana. The figures weregathered together in monthly returns by the Intendant of Havana and for-warded to Spain.9 A succession of historians have accepted (and published)these figures as accurate numbers for the slave trade to Cuba from 1790 to1820. Baron von Humboldt used them in his account of Cuba published in1826.10An American historian of Cuban slavery later published the samefigures in an appendix to his book on The History of Slavery in Cuba,I5Ii-i868. Professor Curtin argues that these figures can be accepted asreasonablefor the period they cover, and rejectsa viewpoint put forward in1842 by James Bandinel, an official at the British Foreign Office, that theHavana customs house figures ought to be doubled on account of illicittrade.l2 Curtin states in a footnote, 'Illicit trade may have existed but noevidence is available to show its level'.13

5 Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid (hereaftercited as AHN), estado, legajo 8.038, 'Realcedula de su magestadconcediendolibertadparael comercio de negros con la isla de Cuba,Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, y Provincia de Caracas,a espafiolesy extrangeros,baxo lasreglas que se expresan , 28 Feb. 1789. See also James Ferguson King, 'Evolution of theFree Slave Trade Principle in Spanish Colonial Administration', Hispanic AmericanHistorical Review, xxI (1942), 34-56.6 AHN, estado, legajo 8.038, 'Real cedula concediendolibertad para el comercio de negroscon los virreinatosde Santa Fe, Buenos Ayres, Capitaniagral. de Caracas,e islas de SantoDomingo, Cuba y Puerto Rico a espaniolesy extrangerosbaxo las reglas que se expresan',

24 Nov. 179I.7 Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Indiferente general, legajo 2770, 'Real cedula sobrecontinuaci6n del comercio de negros, y pr6rrogade su introducci6n, en la forma que seexpresa , 22 April I804.8 The text of the treatycan be found in British and Foreign State Papers, iv (1816-I7), 33-68.9 Many, although not all, of these returns still exist and can be found in the Archivo Generalde Indias, Seville, Audiencia de Santo Domingo, legajo 2207.10 Alexander von Humboldt, Essaipolitiquesur l'ile de Cuba(Paris, I826).11 H. H. H. Aimes, A History of Slavery in Cuba, I5.r to I868 (New York, I907, reprintedI967), p. 269.12 Curtin, op. cit., p. 36. For Bandinel's views, see James Bandinel, Some Account of theTrade in Slaves from Africa as connected with Europe and America from the Introduction13 For footnote, see p. I33.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, i79o-I867 I33There is no question but that this illicit slave trade existed even in the

'open' period from 1791 to I820. Havana was the only port listed in the1789 cedula where foreigners could introduce imported African slaves intoCuba; Spaniardsliving in Santiago de Cuba were permitted to go to foreigncolonies and purchase African slaves, but foreigners themselves were notallowed to sell African slaves at Santiago. The cedula of 179I increased thenumber of Cubanportsthroughwhich Spaniardscould import African slavesbrought in Spanish-owned vessels, but Havana remained the only port onthe island which foreign slave ships could legally enter. But the bulk of theslave trade from Africa to Cuba remained in foreign hands after I789, sothere were obvious reasons for merchants and plantersin the outlying areasto connive at an illicit tradein slaves.

There are clear indications that the Spanish government was aware of thisillicit commerce and of its extent. As early as 179I the Intendant of Havanawas told to make sure that certain coastguardswere on the lookout for theclandestine entry of African slaves. The following year the Governor ofSantiago was warned by the Madrid authorities of their suspicions that alarge contraband slave trade was being carried on between Jamaica andSantiago. 4It would appear, then, that the permission granted to Spaniardsin Santiago de Cuba in the cedula of I789 to conduct the slave trade inSpanish ships merely gave an impetus to a long-standing clandestine tradebetween Santiago and Jamaica.The figures of slave imports into Havana for the years 1790-I82I, takenfrom the customs house records of Havana and given below in Table I,represent the numbers of slaves brought in legally through Havana in thisperiod, and cannot be taken as the total slave imports for the island of Cuba.These figures do not include the number of slaves legally introduced intoCuban ports such as Santiago and Trinidad, nor do they make any allow-ance for the contrabandtrade which continued throughout the 'open' slavetrade. Both Aimes and Curtin fall into the trap of accepting the Havanacustoms house figures as representing the total number of slaves importedinto Cuba, when at best they representthe minimum importation.Cuban historianshave been more aware of the inadequacyof these figures.In the hope of awakening his countrymen to the dangers of the slave trade,Jose Antonio Saco, in 1832,published an articleanalysing the statisticsof theAfrican slave trade to Cuba, using the Havana customs house records as the

of the Trade into modern Europe down to the present time, especiallywith referenceto theefforts made by the British Governmentfor its Extinction (London, 1842, reprinted I968),pp. 284-6. 13 Curtin, op. cit., p. 36, footnote29.14 AHN, legajo 8.038, summaries of letters to the Intendant of Havana, 24 Nov. 179I and tothe Governorof Santiagode Cuba, 4 Oct. 1792.


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134 D. R. MurrayTABLE I

Official importations of African SlavesYears NumbersI790 2,5341791 8,4981792 8,5281793 3,7771794 4, 64I795 5,8321796 5,7III797 4,5221798 2,0011799 4,94980oo 4,I45i80oI ,6591802 I3,8321803 9,67I1804 8,9231805 4,999

Through Havana, I790-182IYears Numbers80o6 4,395I807 2,56580o8 I,607I809 1,16218Io 6,672I8II 6,349I812 6,o8I81I3 4,770I814 4,32I1815 9,IIII816 I7,733I817 25,841I818 19,902I819 15,I471820 I7,I941821 4,122

TOTAL 240,721Source: Jose Antonio Saco, 'Analisis de una obra sobre el Brasil', Revista bimestre Cubana

(1832); reprintedin Coleccidn de papeles cientificos historicos, politicos y de otros ramos sobrela isla de Cuba (3 vols., Havana, I962), II, 74.

basic guide for the years 1790-I82I. 1 Saco added 60,000 or approximatelyone-quarter of the total to his total of 240,721 for the years I790-I82I tocover legal entries through other Cuban ports, customs omissions and con-traband trade.'6To accept Saco's calculationswould mean a total of 300,721slaves imported into Cuba during the years I790-1821, in addition to hisestimate of 98,684 as the number of slaves imported into Cuba before I789.17In round numbers then, the years of the 'open' slave trade saw 300,000African slaves brought into Cuba, in contrast to the Ioo,ooo imported beforeI789. Confirmationof the reliabilityof the original customs house records ofHavana can be found in a memorial sent by the Consulado of Havana to theSpanish Cortes in February I8iI, warning against any precipitateaction toabolish the slave trade. The Consulado stated that since 1789, IIo,ooo slaves15 Jose Antonio Saco, ' Analisis de una obra sobre el Brasil', Revista bimestre Cubana(1832);reprinted n Coleccidn de papelescientificos,histdricos,politicosy de otrosramossobre la islade Cuba(hereaftercited as Papelessobre Cuba(3 vols., Havana, I962), In,74.16 Saco, Papelessobre Cuba, I, 74-5.17 Ibid., p. 75.


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Statisticsof the Slave Tradeto Cuba, 1790-r867 135had been imported into Havana at a cost of 33 million pesos.18This figureroughly coincides with the totals from the Havana customs house recordsforthe period 1789-1810. A later Cuban historian, Fernando Ortiz, also basinghis calculationsupon the Havana customs records,agreed with Saco that anaddition of one-quartershould be made to cover clandestine trade, etc.'9Bandinel in his I842 account was probablygoing too far in doubling thecustoms house figures, but was correct in not accepting the numbersof slavesimported through Havana as the total imported into the island.20Bandinel'smain fault, which he shares with many other commentators on the Cubanslave trade, lies in calculating annual averages from small samples of ques-tionable yearly statistics. Based on the Havana customs house records, thenumber of slaves brought to Cuba each year fluctuatedwidely. The numberlegally imported through Havana alone jumped from 1,659in I80o to 13,832in the following year when there was a truce in the Napoleonic Wars.Similarly, at the end of the wars the number jumped from 9,1II in I815 to17,733 in i816, and in 182I it fell to 4,122 from I7,194 in 1820. As Sacoinforms us, the import figures for 1821 ostensibly represent those of expedi-tions which left Havana before the prohibition on the slave trade went intoeffect, and were therefore allowed by the Spanish authorities to return toCuba with their slave cargoes.21 t is the fluctuationsratherthan the averageswhich ought to interest the historian because they document the almostrhythmic rise and fall of the African slave trade to Cuba.ProfessorCurtin recognizes the imprecision of all statisticson the Atlanticslave trade and one of the valuable features of his book is his attempt todevelop new techniques of assessing the reliabilityof figures of slave imports.For Cuba he has framed a mathematical equation based on the premise that'Cuban slave imports of I774-I816 must account both for the growth of theCuban slave population from 1774 to 1817 and for any deficit caused by anexcess of deaths over births'.22 By working out his equation he postulates a3.5 per cent annual increase in the Cuban slave population and an impliedrate of net natural decreaseof 0.5 per cent per year between 1774and I8I7.23However interestingthis approach may be, the figures he uses in his equationmust be questioned. First, as has been shown, the limitations of the Havanacustoms house records have to be recognized. Second, how accurate are thepopulation statisticswhich he uses?18 Archivo General de Simancas, Simancas, estado, legajo 8277, ' Representaci6ndel Consuladode la Havana sobre las dltimas ocurrencias habidas en el Comercio de Negros ', no. 212,

24 Feb. 81ii.19 Fernando Ortiz, Hampa afro-cubana: los negros esclavos, estudio socioldgicoy de derechopublico (Havana, I9I6), p. 87.20 Bandinel, op. cit., pp. 284-5. 21 Saco, Papelessobre Cuba, n1,74.22 Curtin, op. cit., p. 32. 23 Ibid., p. 32.


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136 D. R. MurrayThe figures for Cuba given in Table 7 of Professor Curtin's book areheaded 'Slave Population' and are taken from the six official censuses

carried out in Cuba between 1774and i86i.24 The table is reproducedbelowas Table 2. Using these figures Professor Curtin calculates the rate of increaseTABLE 2

The Slave Population of Cuba, I765-1867, taken from Curtin's Table 7,'The Slave Populations of Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1765-1867'Place and dateCuba

Slave populationRate of increase p.a.over period indicated (%)

1774 44,3001792 85,900i8I7 199,10O1827 286,9001841 436,5001861 367,400

Source: Curtin, The AtlanticSlave Trade, p. 34.

3.5 (I774-I816)3.7 (I774-91)3.4 (I792-1816)3.7 (1817-26)3.0 (1827-40)- 09 (1841-60)

per annum of the slave population over the whole period. Curtin's figures,which he has rounded off to the nearest hundred, agree with those used byJose Antonio Saco in an article published in 1865,with the exceptions of thefigures for I79I and I86I.25 There are minor differences for these years,although the statistics in both tables are derived from the same sources.Saco's table is reproducedbelow as Table 3.

TABLE 3Cuban Population Figures, I775-186I, According to the Official Censuses

Years'775I79I1817182718411846i86i

Whites96,440I33,559

239,830311,051418,291425,767757,612

Slaves44,33384,590I99,145286,942436,495323,759370,553

FreeColoured30,84754,152114,058

I06,494152,838I49,226232,493

TotalColoured75,180

138,742313,203393,436589,333472,985603,046

Total171,620272,301553,033704,487

1,007,624898,7521,360,658

Source: Jose Antonio Saco, 'De colonos africanosen Cuba y sus inconvenientes', RevistaHispano-Americana,II (12 May 1865), 9. The figures for 1846 are taken from Public RecordOffice, London, F.O. 84/789, Kennedyto Palmerston,no. 4, I Jan. 1850.24 Ibid., p. 34.25 Jose Antonio Saco, 'De colonos africanos en Cuba y sus inconvenientes , Revista Hispano-Americana, I (I2 May I865), 9-I4.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, I790-I867 I37A comparison of Table 2 with Table 3 reveals that Curtin takes noaccount of the free coloured population in his analysis.Yet the distinct impli-

cation of his premise is that the deficit in the slave population was onlycaused by an excess of deaths over births. Obviously, if the Cuban censusfigures can be trusted at all, there was a substantial growth in the freecoloured population of Cuba from I775 to I86i, due to manumissions andnatural increase. Deficits in the slave population which had to be balancedby slave imports were caused both by an excess of deaths over births and bymanumissions.

But an even more basic problem with Curtin's argument is the uncer-tainty of the accuracy of Cuban population statistics in the nineteenthcentury. How far can the statistics themselves be trusted? Curtin acknow-ledges in a footnote that 'reports of slave populations at various dates arenot always in perfect agreement, and the Cuban census of I846 has been setaside as suspect by Cuban scholars'.26 The Consulado of Havana in I8IIwas aware of the inadequacies of the early censuses. It stated in a report toMadrid, 'up to now we have not had a complete and exact census of theisland .27 In his very first article on the Cuban slave trade, written in 1832,Saco drew attention to the notorious inaccuracy of Cuban census figures,especially where the slave and free coloured population were concerned.28He was more specific about the reasons for the inaccuracyof the censuses ofI827 and I84I in a later pamphlet on the slave trade.23The hacendados in1827were loath to admit how many slaves they held because they feared theimposition of a new tax on planters to help Spain pay for the expenses ofher military forces then in Cuba. The number of free coloured listed in the1827 census was equally unrealistic. There was a continuing fear among boththe peninsular and creole European population of a large increasein the freecoloured population, undoubtedly connected to the growing numbers ofemancipados, or African slaves ostensibly freed by the Havana Mixed Com-mission Court from captured slave ships. Comparing the I817 figures withthoseof 1827,the number of freeAfricans, or coloured as the Cubans referredto them, appears to have diminished considerablyin ten years.30In estimat-ing the Cuban population in 1825, Humboldt arrived at a figure of I30,000as the number of free coloured in contrast to the 1827 census figure ofio6,494.3126 Curtin, op. cit., p. 32, footnote 25.27 BibliotecaNacional, Madrid, MSS I461323, 'Nota sobre la poblaci6nde Ia Ysla de Cuba',20 July I8xI. 28 Saco, Papelessobre Cuba, II, 76.29 Ibid., II, I36-7. The pamphlet entitled 'La supresi6ndel trafico de esclavosafricanos en Iaisla de Cuba, examinadacon relaci6na su agriculturay a su seguridad', was first publishedin Paris, I844. 30 See Table 3. 31 Humboldt, op. cit., p. 1I7.


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138 D. R. MurraySaco informs us that in 1841 there were political motives for not revealingthe exact number of slaves in the island. David Turnbull, the British Consul

in Havana and an avowed abolitionist,had persuadedPalmerston to proposeto Spain that the powers of the Mixed Commission Court in Havana beincreased in order to enable it to ferret out slaves who had been illegallyimported into Cuba since I820. Since most of the slaves on the plantationsin I84I had entered the island illegally after 1820, the Cuban planters, facedwith this threat, had good reason not to reveal how many slaves they actuallyowned.32

Confirmation of the unreliability of Cuban census figures prior to I861is found in an analysis of the Cuban population made in I843 by the thenBritish Consul-General n Havana, JosephCrawford. Referring to the Cubancensus of I84I he says,All Slave holders,when they are requiredby Governmentagents to state thenumbersthey possess,are in the habit of returningmuch less than they actuallyown, frequentlynaming only one half, being fearful that such returnsmay beconnectedwith some plan of Taxation, and in one District last year when thestatisticswere requiredby the capitdnde partidoonly Four hundredand oddSlaves were returned, whereas there are in that District upwards of onethousand.33

Crawford also reported that the Cuban government itself had politicalreasons for distorting the population figures. It feared a reaction from thecreole population if it were known how rapidly Cuba's slave population wasincreasing and thereby continuing to worsen the disproportionbetween theraces in the island. And the published figures, of course, were ammunitionfor Britain in her campaign to wipe out the illegal slave-trade to Cuba.When Captain General Leopoldo O'Donnell forwarded the census of I847 toMadrid, he had to confess that, although all the statistics were checked verycarefully, the results showed a decline in the Cuban population since I84I.34Since for him it was unquestionable that the Cuban population hadincreased during this period, the answer could only be errors in the 1841census. After this unhappy experience with censuses, the Madrid autho-rities issued repeatedroyal orders prohibiting the formation and publicationof censuses.3 Not until I86I was another full census compiled and pub-lished. Far from being a reliable check on the accuracyof the slave importa-32 Saco, Papelessobre Cuba, in, I36.33 Public RecordOffice, London (hereaftercited as P.R.O.), F.O. 84/463, Crawford to Palmer-ston, no. 35, 23 Oct. I843.34 AHN, ultramar, legajo 4655, O'Donnell to Secretario de Estado y del Despacho de laGobernaciondel Reino, 28 Nov. 1847.35 AHN, ultramar, legajo 4648, Jose de la Concha to Ministro de la Guerra y Ultramar,no. I294, reservado,9 June I859.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, i790-i867 I39tion statistics, Cuban censuses must be treated with great caution. Curtin'suse of them not only as a check upon import figures, but also as a meansof determining the annual growth rate of the Cuban slave population alongwith the net natural decrease rate shows far more confidence in the censusesthan they warrant.36

IIBecause the African slave trade to Cuba was illegal after 1820, accuratefigures of the number of slaves imported into the island are even moredifficult to find than in the preceding period. Curtin, in his analysis, rightlyrejects the figures compiled by H. H. S. Aimes for the years I82I-65.37 Yethis own method of computing annual averages from published ForeignOffice estimates in 1845, 1848and 1865is far from ideal.38Since the ForeignOffice estimates came from figures supplied by the British Commissionersin Havana, the remainder of this article attempts to assess the reliability ofthese figures as a guide to the extent of the illegal slave trade to Cuba fromI82I to I867.Britain was fortunate in having continuous diplomatic or quasi-diplomaticrepresentation n Cuba from I8I9, first through the Commissionersappointedto the Havana Mixed Court as a result of the treaty signed by Britain andSpain in i8I7, and supplemented by consular staff in Havana from I833.39From I819 to I864 five men served as British Judges on the Havana MixedCourt, Henry Theo Kilbee (I819-28), William Sharp Macleay (1828-36),James Kennedy (1837-52), George Canning Backhouse (1852-5) and JosephT. Crawford (I855-64). Britain was representedin Havana by three Consulsfrom 1833 to I864, Charles David Tolme (I833-40), David Turnbull (I840-2) and Joseph T. Crawford (I842-64).4? In i855 the positions of Judge onthe Mixed Court and Consul-General were amalgamated and thereafter heldby the same man. Each of the men mentioned above remained in Cuba longenough to become knowledgeable about the country, and in certain casesbecame experts on those aspects of Cuban life and society which were ofinterest to the Britishgovernment.

Nothing concerned the British government more than wiping out theillegal slave trade to the island. Every British representativein Cuba was36 Curtin, op. cit., pp. 40-3. 37 Ibid., pp. 36-7. 38 Ibid., pp. 37-40.39 David Tolme was appointed the first British Consul in Havana in I833. P.R.O., F.O.

72/415, Shee to Tolme, draft, I6 Sept. I833. Britain had appointeda consul to Santiago deCuba in I830.40 Biographical information on these men can be found in the following places: Kilbee,P.R.O., F.O. 72/215, Vaughan to Wm Hamilton, i6 March I818; Macleay, Dictionary ofNational Biography; Kennedy, Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography(6 vols., Truro,Netherton and Worth, I892-192I). For the others see the Foreign OfficeLists from I854.


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140 D. R. Murrayrequired to do his utmost to achieve this and to report to the Foreign Officeany supposed breach of the slave trade treatiesin force between Britain andSpain.41The reports of these representatives,beginning in I819, provide theonly continuous information on the illegal slave trade to Cuba available tohistorians today. All the statistics of the trade given to Parliament weretaken from the correspondenceof British officials in Cuba. Curtin, in relyingon Foreign Office estimates prepared from time to time for Parliament, isusing 'processed' as opposed to 'raw' data.42Whether the statistics givento the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Slave Trade in 1848 were'cooked ', as he alleges, is really irrelevant since the original reports fromwhich they were derived remain for the examination of any investigator.43But there is no evidence in the official records of a Foreign Office plot in1848to bolster the blockade policy with weighted statistics.44The decade 1820-30, the first decade of the illegal slave trade to Cuba, isthe one for which statistics of the number of slaves landed are hardest tofind. Yet it is possible to piece together a tentative estimate of the arrivalsin the Havana area based on the reports of the British Commissioners.Robert Jamesonreportedon I September 1821 that since the end of October1820 twenty-six slavers carrying 6,4I5 slaves had entered Havana.45 Aimesincluded this figure as the total number of arrivals for 1821, which it is not,but it corroborates Saco's figure of 4,122 for I821.46 In his annual reportdated I January 1825, H. T. Kilbee enclosed a list of slavers covering theyears 1821-5. This list contains his estimate of the number of slave expedi-tions which landed at or near Havana from 1822-4, respectively ten, fourand seventeen.47Kilbee thought an averageof 250 slaves per ship was a 'lowcalculation', but on this basis the arrivals in the Havana area would beapproximately 2,500 in 1822, 1,000 in 1823 and 4,250 in 1824.Kilbee's report in 1826 was more specific. Thirty-seven slavers hadreturned to Cuba, bringing II,I90 African slaves.48He calculated that halfthis number was imported into the rest of Cuba, for a total importation of17,885 for 1825. The annual report for 1826 stated that fourteen expeditionsarrived at Havana in 1826, of which three were captured, carrying in all41 A supplementarytreaty between Britain and Spain was signed in I835. The text of thetreatycan be found in British and Foreign State Papers, xxII (1834-5), 343-74.42 Curtin, op. cit., p. 39, Table9A.43 Ibid., p. 38.44 The correspondencein 1848 between Foreign Office officials and members of the Parlia-mentarySelect Committeecan be found in P.R.O., F.O. 84/739.45 P.R.O., F.O. 84/13, Jamesonto Clanwilliam, I Sept. 182I. RobertJamesonwas Commis-sioner of Arbitration rom I8I9 to 1823and author of Lettersfrom the Havana, during 1820

(London, 1821). 46 Aimes, op. cit., p. 269.47 P.R.O., F.O. 84/39, Kilbee to Canning, no. 2, I Jan. I825.48 P.R.O., F.O. 84/5I, HavanaCommissioners o Canning, no. 3, I Jan. i826.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, i790o-867 1413,738 slaves.49Ten expeditions landed in the Havana area in 1827, bringing3,500 African slaves,50but the next year Macleay, the British Judge, wrotethat twenty-eight expeditions had come to Havana bringing not less than7,000 and this figure did not include slaves on captured slave vessels.51There were I,002 captured slaves in 1828, so the total was 8,002. The numberof slavers coming to Havana increased to thirty-three n 1829, and althoughMacleay did not estimate how many slaves were landed, 8,250 is a possiblefigure, using Kilbee's averageof 250 per ship.52The total of slaves landed inthe Havana area during the period 1821-9 is given in Table 4.

TABLE 4Number of African Slaves Landed in the Havana Area, i821-9

Number of Number ofYears Expeditions Numbers Years Expeditions Numbers1821 - 4,122 1826 14 3,7381822 IO 2,500 1827 I0 3,5001823 4 I,000 1828 28 8,0021824 17 4,250 I829 32 8,2501825 37 II,9IO

TOTAL 152 47,272Source: Annual reportsof the HavanaCommissioners,I82I-9.The British officials in Havana in the I84os became much more consciousof the importance of accurate statistics on the slave trade to Cuba, particu-

larly after the publication of Thomas Fowell Buxton's The African SlaveTrade in 1839. Buxton's purpose was to prove that the Atlantic slave tradewas much greater in the I83os than it had been before I807. His statistics,far more than those provided by the Foreign Office, createda public contro-versy. By taking statements from the British Commissioners at Havana outof context, Buxton estimated that 60,000 slaves a year were brought toCuba.53 His figures were immediately challenged by other abolitionists asbeing too high.54Buxton stood his ground, but the controversywas a subject49 P.R.O., F.O. 84/68, Havana Commissioners o Canning,no. 3, I Jan. 1827.50 P.R.O., F.O. 84/80, Havana Commissioners o the Earl of Dudley, no. 3, i Jan. 1828.51 P.R.O., F.O. 84/91, Macleayto the Earl of Aberdeen,no. 3, I Jan. 1829.52 P.R.O., F.O. 84/I06, Macleayto the Earl of Aberdeen,no. 3, I Jan. I830.53 Thomas Fowell Buxton, The African Slave Trade and its Remedy (London, I840, reprintedwith an introductionby G. E. Metcalfe,Dawsons, London, i968), pp. 29-34.54 See David Turnbull, Travels in the West, Cuba; with Notices of Porto Rico and the SlaveTrade (London, I840), pp. 361-7; and MacGregorLaird's review of Buxton's book in theWestminster Review, xxxiv (I840), 52-72.


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142 D. R. Murrayof debate at the Anti-Slavery Convention held in London during JuneI840.55

British officials in Cuba were just as concerned with the inaccuracy ofBuxton's statistics as were Buxton's abolitionistallies, especiallysince Buxtonhad obtained his statistics from the reports of the British Commissionersand the British Consul. David Tolme, British Consul in Havana from 1833to 1840,sent a dispatch to Lord Palmerston, dated 17 September I839, whichwas essentially a refutation of Buxton's statistics.56 Enclosed was a list'which is an estimate of the number of Slaves imported in the years 1830 to1838 inclusive . .. from vessels which afterwards entered this port..based on the lists compiled by the British Commissioners. Tolme doubtedthat very many slaves who had been landed at the outports had been left outof the list, becausenearly all slaverseventually came to Havana. He was alsoconvinced that relatively few slavers landed at the outports since the mainagriculturalarea where demand for labour was greatest was in the Havana-Matanzas region. Tolme believed a 20 per cent addition to his figures wouldmore than cover unknown landings.57

TABLE 5British Consul Tolme's Estimate of Slave Landings in Cuba, 1830-8

Number of Number ofexpeditions expeditionsaccording o accordingtothe reportsof the reportsofthe Havana the HavanaYears Numbers Commissioners Years Numbers Commissioners1830 9,808 (36) 1835 14,800 (5?)1831 10,400 (36) 1836 14,200 (43)I832 8,200 (27) 1837 15,200 (5I)1833 9,000 (27) I838 14,438 (50)1834 II,400 (33)

TOTAL 107,438 353Source: P.R.O., F.O. 84/280, Tolme to Palmerston,no. 18, I7 Sept. I839.

His figure for 1838was based on his own information of slavers arriving inHavana as well as on the reports of the British Commissioners. Aimes con-55 Proceedingsof the GeneralAnti-SlaveryConvention, called by the Committee of the British

and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and held in London from Friday, 12 June I840 toTuesday, 23 June I840 (London, I841), p. 242.56 P.R.O., F.O. 84/280, Tolme to Palmerston, no. I8, 17 Sept. 1839. See also P.R.O., F.O.84/312, Havana Commissionerso Palmerston,no. 3, I Jan. I840.57 P.R.O., F.O. 84/280, Tolme to Palmerston, no. I8, 17 Sept. i839.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, 1790-1867 143suited Tolme's figures in preparing his own estimate. He attributed theincreased demand after 1835 to a re-export trade in slaves to the UnitedStates, rather than accepting the explanation of the British officials that theincrease was largely due to the replacement of slaves who died during thecholera epidemic in I833.58Tolme went to some trouble to justify the accuracyof his statistics,becausea work recently published,by one whose talents and philanthropy, towhich the humble tribute of my praiseis not wanting)entitle him to the con-fidenceof the public, may createsome misconception, nd I hold it to be essen-tially important, or many reasons,and amongothers,that we may judge of theproportionof the vesselscaptured o those which arriveand thereby he probableeffectof our navaloperationsagainstthe Trade, thatcorrect deasshouldprevailon the matter.59After the ParliamentarySelect Committee on the Slave Trade had reportedin 1848, the British Commission Judge in Havana sent a dispatch to Londonalso attacking Buxton's statisticson the slave trade.60Kennedy, like Tolme,believed the number of African slaves brought into Cuba in any one yearhad never exceeded 25,000, and his dispatch justifies his views. But hisreasons for exposing Buxton's mistakes ten years after Buxton had publishedhis work are illuminating, especially in the light of ProfessorCurtin's recentjudgement on the tactics of the Foreign Office in I848. Curtin states that'Like the anti-slavery propagandists themselves, the Foreign Office some-times found it useful to make the slave trade appear as evil as possible bymaking it appearas large as possible '.6

Kennedy opened his attack on Buxton by declaring, 'Sir F. Buxtonappears to me in all his statements to have taken extreme cases for theaverage, and thus has come to conclusions, which persons of very contraryfeelings to his have warped to their own purposes'; and later in the dispatchKennedy confesses: 'My principal object in submitting these observationsto Your Lordship is to express my humble hope, that the propositions ofthat party, which is so desirous of removing the Cruisersfrom the coast andof allowing the free renewal of the slave trade, may not be admitted by thelegislature'.62 All the officials of the Foreign Office in Cuba were staunchadvocates of Palmerston's anti-slave trade policies. When these wereattacked, ammunition for their defence was provided from Cuba. Thisammunition was not inflated statisticsof the slave trade to Cuba to make it58 Aimes, op. cit., p. 245.59 P.R.O., F.O. 84/280, Tolme to Palmerston,no. i8, 17 Sept. i839.60 P.R.O., F.O. 84/7I6, Kennedyto Palmerston,no. 63, 20 Dec. I848.61 Curtin, op. cit., p. 233.62 P.R.O., F.O. 84/716, Kennedy to Palmerston.no. 63, 20 Dec. I848. See also F.O. 84/753,Kennedy to Palmerston,no. 3, I Jan. I849.


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144 D. R. Murrayappear as evil as possible, but arguments to show that the slave trade wasnot as extensive as the British abolitionists alleged. William Hutt and hisallies in Parliament were really after Palmerston's expensive policy of usingBritish naval vessels to blockade West Africa. The British Judge in Havanawas well aware that inflated statistics of the slave trade to Cuba could beused by Hutt as proof of the inefficiency of the naval blockade; by provingthat Buxton's figures were too high, Kennedy hoped to undermine Hutt'scase and reinforce his own belief in the effectiveness of the British cruisers.

In their annual report at the beginning of 1842, the British Commis-sioners included a list showing the numbers of slaves who had been landedin the Havana-Matanzas area from 1835 to I84I.63 These figures wereobtained from the books of the slave traders in Havana. They provide acheck on the numbers in consul Tolme's estimate for the years 1835-8, thebiggest difference occurring for the year 1838. This list formed part of theestimate submitted by the Foreign Office to the Parliamentary Committeeon the Slave Trade in 1848, and Curtin includes the total for the years1836-40 as the British official estimate for Havana and vicinity.64This list isreproduced below as Table 6, with the British Commissioners' estimate ofthe number of expeditions each year in brackets.

TABLE 6List of the Numbers of Slaves Imported into the Havana-Matanzas Area,

1835-41, taken from the Books of the Cuban Slave TradersYears Numbers of Expeditions Numbers of Slaves

1835 47 (50) 15,2421836 4I (43) 14,0821837 29 (5I) 12,2401838 32 (5?) 10,4951839 31 (47) I0,9951840 28 (44) 10,1041841 21 (27) 8,893

TOTAL 229 312 82,051Source: P.R.O., F.O. 84/395, Havana Commissioners to Palmerston, no. 4, January 1842 andannual reports of the Havana Commissioners, 1836-42.In his report at the beginning of 1849, Kennedy, the British Commission

Judge, again justified the accuracyof the statistics submitted by the BritishCommissioners. Referring to I840, he stated that according to the books of63 P.R.O., F.O. 84/395, Havana Commissioners o Palmerston,no. 4, I Jan. I842.64 Curtin, op. cit., p. 39, Table 9A.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, I790-1867 145the slave traders, 11,756slaves had been brought to the vicinity of Havana.6-The figure of Io,104 for 1840 listed in the books of the slave traders, andgiven in Table 6, represented the numbers for the Havana district alone,but the addition of 1,652, representing the numbers of slaves landed atMatanzas, accounted for Kennedy's total of II,756. In their annual reportat the beginning of 1841, the British Commissioners added in the reportedfigures for the outports and arrived at a total of I4,470 slaves landed inforty-four expeditions during 1840.66They had reported forty-seven expedi-tions arriving during 1839, bringing probably about the same number ofslaves as had been introduced in 1838, which consul Tolme had estimatedat I4,438. It seems probable, therefore, that a figure of 14,500 for each ofthe three years, 1838, 1839 and 1840 would represent an upper limit to thenumbers of slavesbrought to Cuba.The slave trade to Cuba declined significantly during the I84os primarilybecause the repressive measures against the slave trade carried out by twosuccessive Captains-General, Valdes and O'Donnell, combined with theBritish naval blockade off the African west coast to discourage the Cubanslave traders. The British Commissioners in Havana reported that twenty-seven expeditions arrived in 1841 carrying 9,776 slaves.67Captain-GeneralValdes, on the other hand, put the figure for 1841 at 5,413 includingcaptured slaves, but his total is lower even than the numbers entered on thebooks of the slave traders.68British and Spanish figures are closer to agree-ment for 1842, a year in which the British Commissioners reported thearrival of only nine expeditions, two of which did not land slaves.69TheBritish Commissioners estimated that 3,000 slaves had been landed duringI842,70 in contrast to Valdes' report that 2,292 had been landed, of whom737 had been captured.7'In 1843 and 1844the slave trade to Cuba increased. From 1843the BritishCommissioners, in reporting their estimates of the number of slaves broughtto Cuba, followed the practiceof adding one-thirdto the total to account forunknown landings. They reported nineteen arrivals in I843 with not morethan 8,000 slaves, this figure including the one-third addition.7 Twenty-five65 P.R.O., F.O. 84/753, Kennedy to Palmerston,no. 3, I Jan. I849.66 P.R.O., F.O. 84/348, Havana Commissioners o Palmerston,I Jan. I84I.67 The numbers are taken from the monthly reports of the Havana Commissioners,P.R.O.,F.O. 84/348 and F.O. 84/395.68 AHN, estado, legajo 8.039, Valdes to Ministro de la Marinay Ultramar, no. 31, reservado,I June I843.69 P.R.O., F.O. 84/451, Havana Commissioners to Aberdeen, no. 5, 2 Jan. I843.70 P.R.O., F.O. 84/620, HavanaCommissioners o Palmerston,no. 4, I Jan. I846.71 AHN, estado, legajo 8.039, Valdes to Ministro de la Marinay Ultramar, no. 31, reservado,i June 1843.72 P.R.O., F.O. 84/508, Havana Commissioners to Aberdeen, no. 5, i Jan. 1844.


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146 D. R. Murrayexpeditions were reported in I844, but only eighteen definitely broughtslaves. There were 7,280 slaves known to have been landed, and the additionof one-third accounted for the Commissioners' estimate of Io,ooo.73From 1845 to 1848 the slave trade to Cuba reached its lowest level untilits abolition. While the British Sugar Duties Act of 1846 undoubtedlyencouraged the extension of slave-labourplantations in Cuba, as well as inBrazil, the Cuban demand for slaves was met initially through the transferof slaves from the declining coffee plantations to the new sugar estates. Thedelayed effect of the Sugar Duties Act made itself felt in the increaseddemand for slaves in the late I84os and I85os. The Commissioners believedsix expeditions arrived in 1845 bringing 950 slaves and, adding one-third,they reported an estimated total of I,300.74 The number of reported expedi-tions declined to four in 1846, and the Commissioners admitted that twoof these were doubtful reports.75Kennedy reported three suspectedlandingsin 1847and a portion of a fourth expedition was seized by the Cuban autho-rities.76 The respective estimates for these two years were I,500 and I,000.From I848 the number of slaves landed in Cuba began to increase again.The British Commission Judge gave 1,500 as the number of slaves landed in1848 from five expeditions, without adding in an estimate for unknownlandings.77Professor Curtin has published the figures provided by the Havana Com-missioners for the years I849-64, taking his totals from the estimate pre-pared for the Parliamentary Committee on West Africa in I865.78Thesefigures are included in Table 7 below as annual estimates. The figures inbrackets from I849 to 1867 are the same as those used by Curtin, with theexception of I853. There was a misprint in the return given by the ForeignOffice to Parliament and the estimatedtotal for 1853should be 12,500insteadof 2,500. Three figures are shown for i860. In that year the Havana Com-missioners began sending their reportsat the end of September.J. V. Craw-ford reported that 12,060 slaves were landed in Cuba during the first ninemonths of the year. He included the numbers of slaves captured by Britishand United States cruisersto arrive at the figure of I3,857, but he sent homea total estimate of 17,877, the original 12,060 with the usual addition of one-73 P.R.O., F.O. 84/561, Kennedy to Aberdeen, no. 4, i Jan. I845.74 P.R.O., F.O. 84/620, HavanaCommissioners o Aberdeen,no. 4, I Jan. 1846.75 P.R.O., F.O. 84/667, HIavanaCommissioners o Aberdeen,no. 3, I Jan. I847.76 P.R.O., F.O. 84/714, Kennedy to Palmerston,no. 5, i Jan. 1848.77 P.R.O., F.O. 84/753, Kennedyto Palmerston,no. 3, I Jan. I849.78 Curtin, op. cit., p. 39. The table presentedto the ParliamentaryCommittee on West Africain i865 is printed in full as an appendix to ArchibaldHamilton, 'On the Trade with theColouredRaces of Africa', Journalof the StatisticalSociety of London, xxxI (I868), 25-48.


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Statistics of the Slave Trade to Cuba, I790-I867 147third.79 The Foreign Office later did its own calculations, and arrived at afigureof 24,895.

TABLE 7Havana Commissioners' Estimate of the Number of Slaves Imported into

Cuba, I840-67 *

Numberof SlavesLandedI4,4709,776

2,2926,0007,280950

1,5006,5752,3253,6875,9439,3838,654

(I4,470)(9,776)(3,000)(8,ooo)(I0,000)(1,300)(I,500)(I,000)i,ooo)(I,500)(8,700)(3,100)(5,ooo)(7,924)(I2,500)

(11,400)

YearI855I8561857i858I859I86oI86x1862I863I864I865I8661867

NtExp4

not rnot r

imberof Numberof Slaveseditions Landed13 4,806 (6,408)14 5,478 (7,304)23 7,827 (10,436)I9 I2,744 (16,992)39 22,855 (30,473)2i I3,85772 ,877 (24895)34 I7,973 (23,964)14 8,44I (11,254);eported 5,630 (7,507)eported 5,105 (6,807)I I45 (I45)

3 I,443 (I,443)I _

TOTAL 407 187,639 222,834* The totals in brackets are the estimates published by the Foreign Office, except for 1841when no actual figure was published. For most years the published figures included theadditionof one-third to account for unknown landings.Source: Havana Commissioners' annual reports, 184I-68.

The estimates from Cuba were not always accepted unquestioninglyby the Foreign Office officials, although the revisions were never madepublic. Thomas Ward, the Superintendent of the Slave Trade Department,questioned the accuracy of the figures submitted by the Havana Commis-sion Judge for the year I854.80Ward examined the dispatches of the BritishConsul-General in Havana who had reported a figure of 7,673 as thenumber of slaves landed, in contrast to Backhouse's estimate of 8,564. Byadding one-third, Ward arrived at an estimate of 10,230 ratherthan the pub-lished figure of 11,400. The Superintendent of the Slave Trade Department79 P.R.O., F.O. 84/1io6, J. V. Crawford to Russell, no. 15, 30 Sept. I860.80 P.R.O., F.O. 84/959, Memorandumdated 20 Feb. x855 on Backhouseto Clarendon, no. 5,i Jan. I855.

YearI840I84II842I8431844I845I8461847I8481849i85o185185II852I853I854

NumberofExpeditions4427

9I9256445

2077

I2I7I9


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148 D. R. Murrayin i860, William Wylde, was also sceptical of the figures submitted fromHavana for 1859. Instead of an estimate of 30,473, he thought the numberintroduced into Cuba was certainly not more than 25,000. He wrote: 'Weknow nearly every vessel that is engaged in the Slave Trade and the numberthat are known [to] have escaped with Slaves will hardly bear out MrCrawford's calculations, even making a large allowance for vessels of whichwe may have heard nothing.' 8The slave trade to Cuba increased greatly during the late I85os, asUnited States capital and ships poured into it. Improvements in technologyenabled faster and larger ships to be employed as slave traders.Two steam-ships alone accounted for 3,000 of the slaves introduced during 1859, andone steamship in I860 introduced 1,500 African slaves. With the expansionof the trade, the margin of error in reporting its dimensions necessarilywidened. The arbitraryaddition of one-third to an amount which was itselfonly an estimate, albeit an estimate made by experts on the best availableinformation, was bound to be confusing. Yet the Foreign Office stuck to itsmethod of calculating the number of slaves introduced. J. V. Crawfordreported at the end of September 1864 that 5,I05 slaves had been landed inCuba during the previous year, of whom 2,980 had been captured by theSpanish authorities. But he admitted that Captain-GeneralDulce refused tobelieve that any slaves had entered Cuba, other than those captured. In spiteof Crawford's uncertainty, the head of the Slave Trade Department addedone-third to the figure of 5,105 to arrive at the published figure of 6,807 forthe year.82

Recently the estimates of the British Commission for the later years of theslave trade to Cuba either have been attacked as being completely unreli-able83 or have been implicitly accepted because they agree with officialSpanish figures.84Neither view is correct. If properlyunderstood, the figuresprovided by the British Commissioners from Havana are a useful guide tothe extent of the African slave trade to Cuba. But it would be very surpris-ing indeed if the Spanish officials accepted these as accurate, since thiswould have been an open admission that all the British charges of the con-tinued violations of the slave trade treaties were true.81 P.R.O., F.O. 84/1130, Memorandumdated 6 Feb. I860.82 P.R.O., F.O. 84/1215, Memorandumby William Wylde, 29 Nov. I864 on J. V. Crawfordto Russell,no. 19, 30 Sept. 1864.83 Warren S. Howard, American Slaversand the Federal Law, 1837-1862 (Berkeleyand Los

Angeles, Universityof CaliforniaPress, I963), pp. 56-7.84 Curtin, op. cit., p. 39. Professor Arthur F. Corwin in his work, Spain and the Abolition of

Slavery in Cuba, 1817-1886 (Austin and London, University of Texas Press, I967), p. I43,falls into the same error, citing a Spanish figure as the estimated slave imports for I862when it is really the British estimate for I86I. The Spanishgovernmentrefused to accept itas accurate.


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Statisticsof the Slave Trade to Cuba, 1790-1867 I49The statistics of the slave trade were weapons in the war to abolish it.Each participant in the conflict produced his own for his own purposes.

The abolitionists in Britain took the highest estimate produced by theBritish Commissioners and published it as an annual average, stating in1862 that 30,000 to 40,000 slaves were taken to Cuba annually.85If Britishabolitionists claimed the Foreign Office underestimated the extent of theslave trade to Cuba, Spanish officials continually accused Britain of exag-gerating it. The Spanish Foreign Minister in 1853, the Conde de Alcoy,who himself had been one of Cuba's Captains-General,wrote an officialnote accusing the British officials in Cuba of basing their statistics onunproven allegations of slave landings.86No Captain-Generalwas preparedto accept the British statistics. Captain-General Josede la Concha, who commanded in Cuba three times, the secondtime from 1854 to 1859, wrote annual rebuttals of the British Commis-sioners' annual reports.87Captain-GeneralDulce, during his first term ofoffice from 1862-6, believed the British Consul-Generalhad special instruc-tions to inflate the slave trade statistics as part of British policy againstSpain. He claimed the number of slaves brought into Cuba from Septemberi86I to the end of September 1863did not exceed 3,475, a difference of overI5,000 from the British estimate.88

IIINo historian can say with any certainty how many African slaves weretransported to Cuba during the period of the Atlantic slave trade. Theapproach used in this article has been to suggest a range of probability.Carrying this to total figures for the whole period prior to 1867, thesewould range between 766,600and 8oi,8oo, the range during the years 1822to1867 being 367,200 to 402,400. Roughly half the slaves brought to Cubaduring the whole history of the Atlantic slave tradewere brought during theperiod of the illegal slave trade from 1821 to 1867.These totals do not differvery much from those of Curtin,89but the evidence on which the nineteenth-century figures were based suggests that the British information on thestatistics of the illegal slave trade to Cuba was not as spotty as Curtinimplies 0; properly used, the reports from Cuba can illuminate the natureand extent of the African slave trade to the island.85 Spain and the African Slave Trade. An Address to Spaniards;from the committee of theBritish and Foreign Anti-SlaverySociety (London, I862), p. i.8G AHN, estado, legajo 8.045, Conde de Alcoy to Lord Howden, I7 March I853.87 AHN, ultramar, legajo 3547, Concha to Ministro de Estado y Ultramar, no. 340, I2 JuneI857; Conchato Ministro de Ultramary Guerra, reservado,7 Nov. I859.88 AHN, ultramar, legajo 4692, Dulce to Ministrode Ultramar, no. 83, 12 June I864.89 Curtin, op. cit., p. 44, note 40. 90 Ibid., p. 238.

statistics of the slave trade to cuba, 1790-1867

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