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Show ACCLIMATION; OR, TilE INFLUENCE OF " 'J'o aRcertnin tho races of men boat fitted to inhttbit and develop the resources of tliffor ut colonies, is n. most important inquiry, and one which has hitherto n.ttrn.ctod too Jittlo 11ltontion, both in this and other countries. Had tho government of Franco, for iustauoo, tLdvertod to the absolute i!llpossibility of any population increasing or keeping up it~ numbet·s under nn annual mortality of 7 per cont. (boing that to which thoi1· settlers aro exposed in Algiers), it would never. have entered on the wild speculation of cultivating tho ~oi l of Africa by Europottns, nor have wasted one hundred millions sterling, with no otho1· rosult tlmn tho loss of 100,000 men, who hnve fallen victims to tho climate of that country. lr1 such questions, militttry returns, properly orgttnir.od o.nd properly digested, afford one of tho most useful guid 8 to dit•oct tho policy of the colouiallogisl1Ltion: they point out tho limits intended by 1111turo for p11rtioular moos; and within which alone they cn.n thrive and iucroaso. They servo to indic11tc, to tho restless wttnderers of our race, tho boundaries which neither the pm·suit of we11lth nor the dreams of ambition should induce thorn to p11ss; 11nd proclnim, in forcible lo,nguage, that mMt, liko the elcmouts, is controlled by n. ~>ower which hath said : 'Hither sh11lt thou como, but no furtho1·.'" W c have thus gone through with tho statistics of Colonel Tulloch, which are remarkable for their fulness and tho unprejudiced tone m which they arc given. They would seem to show, very strongly, that c01·taiu races cannot become assimilated to certain climates, thongh they may to otltor climates far removed from their original birth-place. 'l,ho British soldiers and civilians enjoy even bettor health at the Capo Colony than in rcat Britain; while the necrro, in most regions out of Africa, whether within the Tropics-as in tho Antilles, or out of them-as at Gibraltar, is gradually e.·torminatod. W c shall now turn our attention to statistics which confil'ln, in a remal'l able manner, tho con lnsions of Col. Tulloch, r spccting the inHucnce of foreign tropical climates on negroes; and, on tho other hand, xhibit an increase, in tho same class of population, in tho United States, almost without a parallel, and certainly unprecedcnt d in ~my laborincr class, taken scparat ly; for tho n groes in this country are almost exclusively of that denomination. Tho following extract is taken from page 83 of tho" Compendium of tlte Beventlt OenBuB" of the United States, by tho able superintendent, J. B. D. DeBow, Esq. "Sl11very, which hnd existed in 1111 tho Mtions of antiquity, and throughout Europe during tho Middle Ages, wns introduced at 11n early d11y into tho Colonies. ~'he first intr·oduelion of Africnn slo.vos wo.s in 1020, by o. Dntch vessel from Africa to Virgini11. Mn. CAtt~Y, of Pennsylv11nia, in his work upon the sl11vo-trade, s11ys: • 'l'he tmdo in sltwes, to tho American colonies, wn.s too Sm11ll, before 1758, to 11ttrnot attention.' In that yoar, MAOl'IIEllSON (Annal.! of Oommerce) says 611 wore imported into Ch11rleston; 11nd, in 1706-6, tho number of those imported into Georgia (from their vnluttlion) could not h11vo exocoded 1482. From 1788 to 1787, tho Dritish West Indies exported to the Colonies 1892-noarly fiOO ~or 11nnum. These West Indios wore then the entrepot of tho tr11do; 11nd though they rocctved nearly 20,000 (MAOl'llf:ltSON) in th~ period 11bovo-nn.m d, they sent to tlto Colonies but that Bm11U number-proving the demand could not h11vo boon very largo. After a closo CLIMA'l'E AND DISEASES ON MAN. 387 argument, from tho ratio of incrcaso since tho first census, M1t. CAnBY is enabled to recur b11ck, and compute the popul11tion at o11rlior periods, sop11rating the native-born from those derived from importations. Setting out with tho fact th11t tho 8lave8 (bl11cks) numbered 66,850 in 1714, ho finds tl111t 80,000 of these were brought from Africa. Importations previous to 1716.. ...... ... ......... ......... ......... 80,000 between 1715 and 1750................. ............ 90,000 1761 " 1700.. ......... ......... ......... 85,000 1761 " 1770.. ......... .................. 74,000 1771 " 1700.. ......... ......... ......... 81,000 1700 " 1808.. ...... ...... ......... ...... 70,000 Total number imported ............................. 833,000 "Tho number sin eo 1700 is evidently too sm11ll. Ch11rloston alone, in tho four years, 1804-6-6-7, imported 39,076. Mttking, therofot·o, n. correction for such undor-ostim11te, and a very liberal increase to Mn. CAnt:Y's figures, tho whole number of Afric11ns, o.t all times, imported into tho United St11tos, would not oxoood 876,000 ~ 400,000. . "• Thus, in the United States, tho number of Afric11ns 11nd thotr descond11nts 18 nearly eight or ton to one of those who were imported; wlti!,t, in the British We8t I11dies, there are not two persorts remaining, for every five of tlte imported a11d their descmdml/8. This is soon from the following: Imported into Jam11io11 previously to 1817, 700,000 negroes-of whom and their descond11nts but 811,000 rom11inod, 11ftor 178 yottrij, to be cm11ucipnted in 1888. In tho whole Dritish West Indies, imported 1, 700,000-of whom 11nd their doscoudauts 060,000 remained for emancipo.tion.'-C.utllY." 22 IIm·e, then, we have reliable statisCics, eAtablishing tl~e astounding facts, that while tho blacks in the United States have lnet·eased tenfold, those of the British West Indies have decrcascc~ in tho proportion of five to two. Of the whole 1,700,000 and thmr progeny, but 660 000 remained at tho time of emancipation. I have not tho data at hand to speak with precision; but tho 'f~tct .i~ notorious, t.ha.t tho diminution in tho number of blacks, in the BJ·1t1Ah West Indtos, has boon going on more rapidly since .than befo;·? .th?ir o~~ncipation. 'ro what causes is all this to bo attnbutod? Il11B 1s a di{Iicnlt question, at pr ont, to answer. Certainly, no one w~ll cont nd that the subjo ·ts of roat Britain wero less humane to thmr ~ l.avcs than th~Ao of the United States; or that tho negroes in tho Bnt1 h West Incl10s were not in as good a physical condition, in former yo~rfl, as thoRo of tho United Statos.23 Climate, th n, with tho present 'hghts bef?ro us seems to have been the leading cause. 'l,horo is another, which I have not soon alluded to in those stntistics; and which mn.y or 22 At tho time I am writing, tho colored popullttion, sl11ve and ft·~e, in tho ~nitc~l StateR, must bo at least ten to one gt·oator th11n the irnp01't11tious. Tins populo.tton, 111 1860, o.mounted to 8,038,808; and, at the present moment, October, 1866, oxcc.edH ~,000,000 .. :m The condition, both mor11l and physical, has boon steadily improv1ng: 111 the Utnt~d States; and is now much bettor tb11n th11t of sl11ves httlf a century ngo, o.'ther her o~· m the West Indies. [Soc 11mple corrobomtions of pt·osont frco-nogt·o mortahty, at !amttlca, in the "Memorial of tho West Indi11n merchants and othet·s to Mr. Labouchcre," JUSt published (London Po&t, Doo. 20, 1866).- G. R. G.] |