64 Mr Harvey on the Increase of' the Population 
and much less any divisions relating to their ages. In the cen- 
sus of 1820, however, these very important particulars were at- 
tended to ; the males being separated from the females, and each 
sex divided into the four classes alluded to at the commence- 
ment of the paper. It was observed also, at the same time, as 
a circumstance much to be regretted, that the ages of the slaves 
do not entirely correspond with the classes into which the free 
males and females were divided ; and that, therefore, many in- 
teresting comparisons which might otherwise have been made, 
with the white part of the population, could not, under the pre- 
sent circumstances, be instituted. It would have been interest- 
ing, for example, to have been enabled to compare the slave po- 
pulation under ten years of age, with the free white population 
of the same class, and by this means to have considered, how 
far the general circumstances of the younger classes of slaves at 
all assimilate to the state of the free American population of 
corresponding ages ; whether slavery exerts any influence of a 
very baneful nature on the young ; and whether the freedom of 
the parent does not contribute, in a very powerful degree, to 
cherish a healthy and vigorous offspring. Some idea of the na- 
ture of this influence may be drawn from a Table which will 
speedily follow. Two classes, however, of the slave population, 
admit of a direct comparison with the free population ; that is, 
those of twenty-six and under forty-five, and of forty-five and 
upwards. If, indeed, we regard the aggregate of the classes 
below the former of these, in each case, as a single class, ano- 
ther comparison may be made, with each sex, below the age 
of twenty-six. 
If we take the total amount of each class of the free white 
population, in all the provinces, in 1820, it appears, that, for 
every 100 free white males of 26 and under 45, there were 354 
under 26 years of age, and 65 of 45 and upwards ; but that for 
every 100 male slaves of 26 and under 45, there were 334 un- 
der 26 years of age, and only 47 of forty-five years and up- 
wards. So also, for every 100 free females of 26 and under 45, 
there were 362 under 26, but only 63 of 45 years and upwards ; 
and for every 100 female slaves of 26 and under 45, there were 
345 under 26 years of age, and 46 of 45 years and upwards. 
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