The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign | Page 5

was in a course of deterioration in
this period, is clearly shown by the fact that the proportion of births to
deaths was in a steady course of diminution, as is here shown:--
Registered: ----------- 1817 to 1820............. 25,104 deaths, 24,348
births. 1823 to 1826............. 25,171 " , 23,026 " 1826 to 1829.............
25,137 " , 21,728 "
The destruction of life was thus proceeding with constantly accelerating
rapidity; and a continuance of the system, as it then existed, must have
witnessed the total annihilation of the negro race within half a century.
Viewing these facts, not a doubt can, I think, be entertained that the

number of negroes imported into the island and retained for its
consumption was more than double the number that existed there in
1817, and could scarcely have been less than 750,000, and certainly, at
the most moderate estimate, not less than 700,000. If to these we were
to add the children that must have been born on the island in the long
period of 178 years, and then to reflect that all who remained for
emancipation amounted to only 311,000, we should find ourselves
forced to the conclusion that slavery was here attended with a
destruction of life almost without a parallel in the history of any
civilized nation.
With a view to show that Jamaica cannot be regarded as an
unfavourable specimen of the system, the movement of population in
other colonies will now be given.
In 1764, the slave population of ST. VINCENT'S was 7414. In 1787,
twenty-three years after, it was 11,853, having increased 4439; whereas,
in four only of those years, 1784-87, the net import of negroes had been
no less than 6100.[5] In 1805, the number was 16,500, the increase
having been 4647; whereas the net import in three only, out of eighteen
years, had been 1937. What was the cause of this, may be seen by the
comparative view of deaths, and their compensation by births, at a later
period:--
Year 1822.................... 4205 deaths, 2656 births. " 1825....................
2106 " 1852 " " 1828.................... 2020 " 1829 " " 1831....................
2266 " 1781 "
The births, it will be observed, steadily diminished in number.
At the peace of 1763, DOMINICA contained 6000 slaves. The net
amount of importation, in four years, 1784 to 1787, was 23,221;[6] and
yet the total population in 1788 was but 14,967! Here we have a waste
of life so far exceeding that of Jamaica that we might almost feel
ourselves called upon to allow five imported for every one remaining
on the island. Forty-four years afterwards, in 1832, the slave
emancipation returns gave 14,834 as remaining out of the vast number
that had been imported. The losses by death and the gains by births, for

a part of the period preceding emancipation, are thus given:--
1817 to 1820................. 1748 deaths, 1433 births. 1820 to
1823................. 1527 " 1491 " 1823 to 1826................. 1493 " 1309 "
If we look to BRITISH GUIANA, we find the same results.[7]
In 1820, Demerara and Essequebo had a slave population
of............................... 77,376 By 1826, it had fallen to.........................
71,382 And by 1832, it had still further fallen to....... 65,517
The deaths and births of this colony exhibit a waste of life that would
be deemed almost incredible, had not the facts been carefully registered
at the moment:--
1817 to 1820................. 7140 deaths, 4868 births. 1820 to
1823................. 7188 " 4512 " 1823 to 1826................. 7634 " 4494 "
1826 to 1829................. 5731 " 4684 " 1829 to 1832................. 7016 "
4086 "
We have here a decrease, in fifteen years, of fifteen per cent., or 12,000
out of 77,000. Each successive period, with a single exception, presents
a diminished number of births, while the average of deaths in the last
three periods is almost the same as in the first one.
BARBADOES had, in 1753, a slave population of 69,870. In 1817,
sixty-four years after, although importation appears to have been
regularly continued on a small scale, it amounted to only 77,493. In this
case, the slaves appear to have been better treated than elsewhere, as
here we find, in the later years, the births to have exceeded the
deaths--the former having been, from 1826 to 1829, 9250, while the
latter were 6814. There were here, also, in the same period, 670
manumissions.
In TRINIDAD, out of a total slave population of 23,537, the deaths, in
twelve years, were no less than 8774, while the births were only 6001.
GRENADA surrendered to the British forces in 1762. Seven years after,

in 1769, there were 35,000 negroes on the island. In 1778,
notwithstanding the importation, they appear to have been reduced to
25,021.
In the four years from 1784 to 1787, and the three from 1789 to 1791,
(the only ones