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 "