830 



the Colonial Office was in possession of no pre- 

 cise information on that important point. But 

 the English government has recently, with the 

 most laudable purpose, employed means fitted 

 to solve this problem, connected more than any 

 other with the ideas of public security. The 

 free negroes at the Havanah, form 5-13ths, or 

 38 per cent j but their number in general can 

 only be estimated at 2-5ths. The estimate of 

 free men is not less uncertain in some colonies 

 than that of slaves. There are some individuals 

 who enjoy full liberty, but a liberty not legally 

 recognized. 



In the registers that indicate the population 

 of the islands, the words blacks and slaves are 

 generally taken for synonimous. There exists, 

 however, among the slaves, a small number of 

 mulattoes, and others of mixed race. I be- 

 lieve their number amounts at most to l-20th ; 

 and I calculated according to this supposition, 

 the number of the negro slaves in the table of 

 the black population of America. The nume- 

 ration of the island of Cuba furnishes a more 

 considerable result; that of l-10th to l-12th 

 in the town of Havannah. It possessed in 1810, 

 on a slave population of 28,700, pardos esclavos, 

 2300 ; morenos esclavos, 26,400. The great 

 towns in the Spanish islands are characterized 

 by this accumulation of mulattoes and slaves 

 of mixed race. 



