Written during Cuban patriot José Antonio Saco's European exile, this pamphlet examines the impact that the abolition of the slave trade would have in Cuba. Saco's foreword considers the kind of political reception his pamphlet might receive in Spain, from "the biased and the impartial, friends and enemies" to his "fierce adversaries" (4). His answer to the question posed by the title is no, the abolition of the slave trade would not harm Cuban agriculture. He cites the prosperity of the British colonies since 1807, and also mentions the free labourers working in Venezuela, Mexico, Haiti and some Puerto Rican plantations. Saco describes the slave trade and slavery as a "disasterous" or "ill-fated" system which has caused much mortality and suffering among its victims (13).