Another element, however, which was not conducive to the betterment of the conditions of the negroes was the introduction of thousands of Chinese laborers. They contracted to work for a number of years at prices far below those usually estimated as fair, on the island. They were the very lowest type of Chinese, and brought with them many vicious influences and practices. No Chinese women were imported, and the Chinese men mingled freely with the negro women. The very worst kind of miscegenation was thus promoted, and the effect on the morals of the negroes on the estates where these Chinese were employed was very bad indeed.
In no other of the foreign colonies in America did the free negro so predominate as in Cuba. It was not at all a difficult matter for a black to gain freedom, since almost no real obstacles were placed in his way. Every slave who did not like his "condition of servitude" had a right to seek a new master, or to purchase his liberty, on payment only of the price paid for him.
Then, too, the religious education of the slaves came to be recognized as a matter of great importance. Religion played an important part in the life of the Spanish colonies in general. It was therefore only natural that they should employ every available means to convert the African slave from his "false heathen superstitions" to their own "true faith." Besides, it had long been the theory of tyrants that if men were imbued with religious fervor and taught self-immolation, they were thus rendered more docile under oppression. The slave code accordingly required every master to instruct his slaves in religion.
One of the first and most marked results of this encouragement of religious feeling was quite different from what had been expected or intended. That was, to arouse a strong and increasing repugnance to the legal continuance of the institution of slavery. This prevailed among the better class of owners as well as among the slaves themselves. More and more frequent became the custom of providing by will for the emancipation of slaves at the death of their masters. The natural affection, also, to which we have referred, which arose between slaves who acted as domestic or body servants and the owners who enjoyed such faithful service, conduced to the same end. The natural inclination of the humane master was to grant such servitors their freedom.
Despite these palliating circumstances, slavery was odious, and persistent negro insurrections began to cause serious concern to the white population. In hope of checking them by kindness, new laws were enacted. Legal restrictions were placed upon the hours of labor. It was decreed that except under certain stated conditions a master should not work his slaves more than nine or ten hours a day. When the exigencies of the season required greater efforts, sixteen hours were prescribed as the extreme limit, and the master was required to give extra pay for the extra time. But these regulations were difficult if not impossible to enforce. Indeed, we must assume that they were not meant to be enforced. They were for show and nothing more; and they remained practically a dead letter.
Religious scruples could not and of course did not prevent the performance of much labor on Sundays, and the needs of agriculture often made work necessary on holidays. There were routine duties to be performed every day. For these, two hours were regarded as sufficient, and to such time the code restricted the labor of Sundays and holidays. There was also a general provision under which slaves were granted the right to labor on their own account, paying a certain part of their wages to the masters and retaining the remainder from which they might, if they desired, create a fund looking toward their own eventual freedom.
One cannot escape the conclusion that during the periods of slavery, either in the United States or the Spanish colonies, the African negro was never really regarded—no matter how close and friendly his relations with his master—in the last analysis, as anything more than a sort of higher animal or at best a child. Men do not thrash their employes for disobedience, when there is any pretence of equality between master and servant. Animals are whipped to teach them obedience, and a child is chastised when he is naughty. The last was ever the corrective which the white master wielded against his disobedient or lazy slaves. It is true that nominally the laws of Cuba did not permit its brutal misuse. The slave code limited the amount of punishment for any offense to twenty-five lashes. Any more severe measures, if known, were the subject of careful judicial investigation, and the penalty for them on conviction was a fine of from $20 to $200. Unfortunately, however, these laws were not effective. It is obvious that a strong man can do much damage to a human being with 25 lashes. Infractions of the law were seldom reported. The frightened African, subject to his master, feared the results of reporting a violation of the law. He would have to stand trial before a jury, not of his peers but of white men, one of whose number was the aggressor. The other slaves—his witnesses—were far too afraid of what might befall them if they upheld the testimony of the complainant. Even the sluggish brain of the slave could picture, with dreadful anticipation, the anger of the master, and the subsequent retribution, much more severe than the original beating, should by any extraordinary chance the slave be triumphant and his master be compelled to pay a fine.
And so, in spite of the fact that in none of the colonies was the condition of the black freedman better than in Cuba,—far better than in Martinique, where free negroes were prohibited from receiving gifts from white people, and where they might be apprehended and returned to servitude if they could be convicted of the very natural act of aiding any of their less fortunate brothers to escape—and in spite of the laws which might, if not dead letters, have safeguarded the interests of the slaves, a feeling of dissatisfaction and unrest among the blacks was seething beneath the surface. The more knowledge they gained, and, curiously enough, the more concessions there were granted them, the stronger it grew, breeding trouble and bad blood between the white owners and the blacks, both enslaved and free, destroying mutual confidence and engendering a spirit of fear and distrust which was presently to break forth into open revolt.
The negroes hated the Spanish authorities, too, because they recognized them to be cowards and hypocrites, pretending one thing and doing another; oppressing the weak for their own gain, and siding with the powerful because it served their interests to do so. In such circumstances the drift toward slave insurrections was inevitable.