OF SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH COLONIES.
At the date of the surrender of Jamaica to the British arms, in 1655,
the slaves, who were few in number, generally escaped to the
mountains, whence they kept up a war of depredation, until at length
an accommodation was effected in 1734, the terms of which were not,
however, complied with by the whites--the consequences of which will
be shown hereafter. Throughout the whole period their numbers were
kept up by the desertion of other slaves, and to this cause must, no
doubt, be attributed much of the bitterness with which the subsequent
war was waged.
In 1658, the slave population of the island was 1400. By 1670 it had
reached 8000, and in 1673, 9504.[1] From that date we have no account
until 1734, when it was 86,546, giving an increase in sixty-one years
of 77,000. It was in 1673 that the sugar-culture was commenced; and as
profitable employment was thus found for labour, there can be little
doubt that the number had increased regularly and steadily, and that
the following estimate must approach tolerably near the truth:--
Say 1702, 36,000; increase in 29 years, 26,500
1734, 77,000; " " 32 " 41,000
In 1775, the total number of slaves and other
coloured persons on the island, was................. 194,614
And if we now deduct from this the number
in 1702, say........................................ 36,000
-------
We obtain, as the increase of 73 years............ 158,614
=======
In that period the importations amounted to......... 497,736
And the exportations to............................. 137,114
-------
Leaving, as retained in the island................ 360,622 [2]
or about two and two-fifths persons for one that then
remained alive.
From 1783 to 1787, the number imported was 47,485, and
the number exported 14,541;[3] showing an increase
in five years of nearly 33,000, or 6,600 per annum;
and by a report of the Inspector-General, it was
shown that the number retained from 1778 to 1787,
averaged 5345 per annum. Taking the thirteen years,
1775-1787, at that rate, we obtain nearly ........... 70,000
From 1789 to 1791, the excess of import was 32,289,
or 10,763 per annum; and if we take the four years,
1788-1791, at the same rate, we obtain, as the
total number retained in that period................. 43,000
-------
113,000
=======
In 1791, a committee of the House of Assembly made a report on the
number of the slaves, by which it was made to be 250,000; and if to
this be added the free negroes, amounting to 10,000, we obtain, as the
total number, 260,000,--showing an increase, in fifteen years, of
65,386--or nearly 48,000 less than the number that had been imported.
We have now ascertained an import, in 89 years, of 473,000, with an
increase of numbers amounting to only 224,000; thus establishing the
fact that more than half of the whole import had perished under the
treatment to which they had been subjected. Why it had been so may be
gathered from the following extract, by which it is shown that the
system there and then pursued corresponds nearly with that of Cuba at
the present time.
"The advocates of the slave trade insisted that it was impossible to
keep up the stock of negroes, without continual importations from
Africa. It is, indeed, very evident, that as long as importation is
continued, and two-thirds of the slaves imported are men, the
succeeding generation, in the most favourable circumstances, cannot
be more numerous than if there had been only half as many men; or, in
other words, at least half the men may be said, with respect to
population, to die without posterity."--_Macpherson_, vol. iv. 148.
In 1792, a committee of the Jamaica House of Assembly reported that
"the abolition of the slave trade" must be followed by the "total ruin
and depopulation of the island." "Suppose," said they,
"A planter settling with a gang of 100 African slaves, all bought in
the prime of life. Out of this gang he will be able at first to put
to work, on an average, from 80 to 90 labourers. The committee will
further suppose that they increase in number; yet, in the course of
twenty years, this gang will be so far reduced, in point of strength,
that he will not be able to work more than 30 to 40. It will
therefore require a supply of 50 new negroes to keep up his estate,
and that not owing to cruelty, or want of good management on his
part; on the contrary, the more humane he is, the greater the number
of old people and young he will have on his estate."--_Macpherson_,
iv. 256.
In reference to this extraordinary reasoning, Macpherson says, very
correctly--
"With submission, it may be asked if people become superannuated in
twenty years after being in _the prime of life_; and if the children
of all these superannuated people are in a state of infancy? If
one-half of these slaves are women, (as they ought to be, if the
planter looks to futurity,) will not those fifty women, in twenty
years, have, besides younger children, at least one hundred grown up
to young men and women, capable of partaking the labour of their
parents, and replacing the loss by superannuation or death,-- as has
been the case with the working people in all other parts of the
world, from the creation to this day?"
To this question there can be but one reply: Man has always increased
in numbers where he has been well fed, well clothed, and reasonably
worked; and wherever his numbers have decreased, it has been because
of a deficiency of food and clothing and an excess of work.
It was at this period that the Maroon war was again in full activity,
and so continued until 1796, when it was terminated by the employment
of bloodhounds to track the fugitives, who finally surrendered, and
were transported to Lower Canada, whence they were soon after sent to
Sierra Leone.
From 1792 to 1799, the _net_ import was 74,741; and if it continued at
the same rate to 1808, the date of the abolition of the trade, the
number imported in eighteen years would be nearly 150,000; and yet the
number of slaves increased, in that period, from 250,000 to only
323,827--being an annual average increase of about 4500, and
exhibiting a loss of fifty per cent.
In the thirty-four years, 1775-1808, the number of negroes added to
the population of the island, by importation, would seem to have been
more than 260,000, and within about 50,000 of the number that, a
quarter of a century later, was emancipated.
In 1817, nine years after importation had been declared illegal, the
number is stated [4] at 346,150; from which it would appear that the
trade must have been in some measure continued up to that date, as
there is no instance on record of any natural increase in any of the
islands, under any circumstances. It is, indeed, quite clear that no
such increase has taken place; for had it once commenced, it would
have continued, which was not the case, as will be seen by the
following figures:--
In 1817, the number was, as we see 346,150. In 1820, it was only
342,382; and if to this we add the manumissions for the same period,
(1016,) we have a net loss of 2752.
In 1826, they had declined in numbers to 331,119, to which must be
added 1848 manumissions--showing a loss, in six years, of 9415, or
nearly three per cent.
The number shown by the last registration, 1833, was only 311,692; and
if to this we add 2000 that had been manumitted, we shall have a loss,
in seven years, of 19,275, or more than five per cent. In sixteen
years, there had been a diminution of ten per cent., one-fifth of
which may be attributed to manumission; and thus is it clearly
established that in 1830, as in 1792, a large annual importation would
have been required, merely to maintain the number of the population.
That the condition of the negroes 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 for which I can find an account,) the number imported
and retained for consumption on the island amounted to no less than
16,228;[8] and yet the total number finally emancipated was but
23,471. The destruction of life appears here to have been enormous;
and that it continued long after the abolition of the slave trade, is
shown by the following comparison of births and deaths:--
1817.......................... 451 births, 902 deaths.
1818.......................... 657 " 1070 "
The total births from 1817 to 1831, were 10,144 in number, while the
deaths were 12,764--showing a loss of about ten per cent.
The number of slaves emancipated in 1834, in all the British
possessions, was 780,993; and the net loss in the previous five years
had been 38,811, or _almost one per cent. per annum_.
The number emancipated in the West Indies was 660,000; and viewing the
facts that have been placed before the reader, we can scarcely err
much in assuming that the number imported and retained for consumption
in those colonies had amounted to 1,700,000. This would give about two
and a half imported for one that was emancipated; and there is some
reason to think that it might be placed as high as three for one,
which would give a total import of almost two millions.
While thus exhibiting the terrific waste of life in the British
colonies, it is not intended either, to assert or to deny any
voluntary severity on the part of the landholders. They were,
themselves, as will hereafter be shown, to a great extent, the slaves
of circumstances over which they had no control; and it cannot be
doubted that much, very much, of the responsibility, must rest on
other shoulders.