Making this exception, he would
maintain, that no further importations were necessary. Few or no slaves had
been imported into Antigua for many years; and he believed, that even some
had been exported from it. As to Jamaica, although in one year fifteen
thousand died in consequence of a hurricane and famine, the excess of
deaths over the births during the twenty years preceding 1788 was only one
per cent. Deducting, however, the mortality of the newly imported slaves,
and making the calculation upon the Negros born in the island or upon those
who had been long there, he believed the births and the deaths would be
found equal. He had a right therefore to argue that the Negros, with better
treatment (which the abolition would secure), would not only maintain but
increase their population, without any aid from Africa. He would add, that
the newly imported Africans brought with them not only disorders, which
ravaged the plantations, but danger from the probability of insurrections.
He wished most heartily for the total abolition of the trade. He was
convinced, that it was both inhuman, unjust, and impolitic. This had always
been his opinion as an individual since he was capable of forming one.
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