[W] Amelioration of Slavery, published in No. 16 of the Pamphleteer.
"The actual condition of the hundred thousand emancipated blacks and persons of color in the British West India Colonies, certainly gives no reason to apprehend that if a general emancipation should take place, the newly freed slaves would not be able and willing to support themselves. On this point the Returns from fourteen of the Slave Colonies, laid before the House of Commons, in 1826, give satisfactory information: they include a period of five years from January 1, 1821, to December 31, 1825, and give the following account of the state of pauperism in each of these colonies.
"Bahamas.—The only establishment in the colony for the relief of the poor, appears to be a hospital or poor-house. The number passing through the hospital annually was, on the average, fifteen free black and colored persons and thirteen whites. The number of free black and colored persons is about double that of the whites; so that the proportion of white to that of colored paupers in the Bahamas, is nearly two to one.
"Barbadoes.—The average annual number of persons supported in the nine parishes, from which returns have been
sent, is nine hundred and ninety-eight, all of whom, with a single exception, are white. The probable amount of white persons in the island is fourteen thousand five hundred—of free black and colored persons, four thousand five hundred.
"Berbice.—The white population appears to amount to about six hundred, the free black and colored to nine hundred. In 1822, it appears that there were seventeen white and two colored paupers.
"Demerara.—The free black and colored population, it is supposed, are twice the number of the whites. The average number of white pensioners on the poor fund appears to be fifty-one, that of colored pensioners twenty-six. In occasional relief, the white paupers receive about three times as much as the colored.
"Dominica.—The white population is estimated at about nine hundred; the free black and colored population was ascertained, in 1825, to amount to three thousand one hundred and twenty-two. During the five years ending in November, 1825, thirty of the former class had received relief from the poor fund, and only ten of the latter, making the proportion of more than nine white paupers to one colored one in the same number of persons.
"Jamaica is supposed to contain twenty thousand whites, and double that number of free black and colored persons. The returns of paupers from the parishes which have sent returns, exhibit the average number of white paupers to be two hundred ninety-five, of black and colored paupers, one hundred and forty-eight; the proportion of white paupers to those of the other class, according to the whole population, being as four to one.
"Nevis.—The white population is estimated at about eight hundred, the free black and colored at about eighteen hundred. The number of white paupers receiving relief is stated to be twenty-five; that of the other class, two; being in the proportion of twenty-eight to one.