In doing this he should apply his observations chiefly to Jamaica, which
contained more than half the slaves in the British West Indies; and if
he should succeed in proving that no material detriment could arise to
the population there, this would afford so strong a presumption with
respect to the other islands, that the House could no longer hesitate
whether they should, or should not, put a stop to this most horrid
trade.
In the twenty years ending in 1788, the annual loss of slaves in Jamaica
(that is, the excess of deaths above the births,) appeared to be one in
the hundred. In a preceding period the loss was greater; and, in a
period before that greater still; there having been a continual
gradation in the decrease through the whole time. It might fairly be
concluded, therefore, that (the average logs of the last period being
one per cent.) the loss in the former part of it would be somewhat more,
and in the latter part somewhat less, than one per cent; insomuch that
it might be fairly questioned, whether, by this time, the births and
deaths in Jamaica might not be stated as nearly equal. It was to be
added, that a peculiar calamity, which swept away fifteen thousand
slaves, had occasioned a part of the mortality in the last-mentioned
period.
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