Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/133

Rh {|cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" &ensp;12,644 free inhabitants in theſe 8 counties. To find the number of ſlaves, ſay, as 284,208 to 259,230, ſo is 12,644 to 11,532. Adding the third of theſe numbers to the firſt, and the fourth to the ſecond, we have, 567,614 inhabitants of every age, ſex, and condition. But 296,852, the number of free inhabitants, are to 270,762, the number of ſlaves, nearly as 11 to 10. Under the mild treatment our ſlaves experience, and their wholeſome, though coarſe, food, this blot in our country increaſes as faſt, or faſter, than the whites. During the regal government, we had at one time obtained a law, which impoſed ſuch a duty on the importation of ſlaves, as amounted nearly to a prohibition, when one inconſiderate aſſembly, placed under a peculiarity of circumſtance repealed the law. This repeal met a joyful ſanction from the then ſovereign, and no devices, no expedients, which could ever after be attempted by ſubſequent aſſemblies, and they ſeldom met without attempting them, could ſucceed in getting the royal aſſent to a renewal of the duty. In the very firſt ſeſſion held under the republican government, the aſſembly paſſed a law for the perpetual prohibition of the importation of ſlaves. This will in ſome meaſure ſtop the increaſe of this great political and moral evil, while the minds of our citizens may be ripening for a complete emancipation of human nature.
 * &ensp;&ensp;3,161
 * &ensp;
 * free males above the age of 16.
 * &ensp;&ensp;3,161
 * ditto under 16.
 * &ensp;&ensp;6,322
 * free females.
 * }
 * &ensp;&ensp;6,322
 * free females.
 * }
 * free females.
 * }
 * }
 * }