7. And lastly, because the proprietors have continuous labour at command, until slavery be abolished—of which there seems no present prospect. The slave population numbers about 350,000, and the free coloured population, about 90,000.
The consumption of sugar, during 1847, very singularly tallied with the production of the British Colonies that year—being exactly 289,000 tons; but as 50,000 tons of foreign sugar were consumed, an accumulation of British plantation sugar necessarily remained on hand.
The production of the French colonies was 100,000 tons, of which France received nine-tenths.
In 1836, Jamaica made 1,136,554 cwt. of sugar. In 1840, its produce had fallen off to 545,600 cwt.; but in the same years, Porto Rico had increased its sugar crop, from 498,000 cwt., to 1,000,000 cwt. In 1837, Cuba made 9,060,058 arrobas of sugar, equal to 132,765 hhds.; in 1841, it had increased to 139,000 hhds. The largest crop grown in the West Indies, since 1838, was that of 1847, which amounted to 159,600 tons.
The annexed returns of the sugar crops of Barbados and Jamaica, for a series of years may, be interesting:—
SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF BARBADOS, FROM 1827 TO 1846 AND 1851.
| 1827 | 18,109 | hhds. |
| 1828 | 28,533 | " |
| 1829 | 23,486 | " |
| 1830 | 26,360 | " |
| 1831 | 28,174 | " |
| 1832 | 19,761 | " |
| 1833 | 28,099 | " |
| 1834 | 28,710 | " |
| 1835 | 25,371 | " |
| 1836 | 26,358 | " |
| 1837 | 31,670 | " |
| 1838 | 33,058 | " |
| 1839 | 28,213 | " |
| 1840 | 13,589 | " |
| 1841 | 17,801 | " |
| 1842 | 21,607 | " |
| 1843 | 24,587 | " |
| 1844 | 23,147 | " |
| 1845 | 24,767 | " |
| 1846 | 21,936 | " |
| 1851 | 48,000 | " |
SUGAR CROPS OF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA, FROM 1790 TO 1851.
| 1790 | 91,131 | hhds. |
| 1791 | 91,020 | " |
| 1792 | ... | |
| 1793 | 82,136 | " |
| 1794 | 97,124 | " |
| 1795 | 95,372 | " |
| 1796 | 96,460 | " |
| 1797 | 85,109 | " |
| 1798 | 95,858 | " |
| 1799 | 110,646 | " |
| 1800 | 105,584 | " |
| 1801 | 139,036 | " |
| 1802 | 140,113 | " |
| 1803 | 115,496 | " |
| 1804 | 112,163 | " |
| 1805 | 150,352 | " |
| 1806 | 146,601 | " |
| 1807 | 135,203 | " |
| 1808 | 132,333 | " |
| 1809 | 114,630 | " |
| 1810 | 112,208 | " |
| 1811 | 138,292 | " |
| 1812 | 113,173 | " |
| 1813 | 109,158 | " |
| 1814 | 104,558 | " |
| 1815 | 127,209 | " |
| 1816 | 100,382 | " |
| 1817 | 123,766 | " |
| 1818 | 121,758 | " |
| 1819 | 116,382 | " |
| 1820 | 122,922 | " |
| 1821 | 119,560 | " |
| 1822 | 94,515 | " |
| 1823 | 101,271 | " |
| 1824 | 106,009 | " |
| 1825 | 72,090 | " |
| 1826 | 106,712 | " |
| 1827 | 87,399 " | |
| 1828 | 101,575 | " |
| 1829 | 97,893 | " |
| 1830 | 100,205 | " |
| 1831 | 94,381 | " |
| 1832 | 98,686 | " |
| 1833 | 85,161 | " |
| 1834 | 84,756 | " |
| 1835 | 77,970 | " |
| 1836 | 67,094 | " |
| 1837 | 61,505 | " |
| 1838 | 69,613 | " |
| 1839 | 49,243 | " |
| 1840 | 33,066 | " |
| 1841 | 34,491 | " |
| 1842 | 50,295 | " |
| 1843 | 44,169 | " |
| 1844 | 34,444 | " |
| 1845 | 47,926 | " |
| 1851 | 41,678 | " |
The average of the five years ending 1851, being the first five of Free trade, shows an annual export from Jamaica of 41,678 hhds.