Free Negroes in the Northern United States [pp. 573-581]

FREE NEGROES IN THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES.
years, show that out of 101 deaths in that establishment, 54 died of
consumption; of these 40 were colored and only 14 white.
In the Weathersfield (Connecticut) penitentiary, from March, 1811,
to March, 1844, the average of deaths was 2.82 per cent. for whites,
and 10.96 per cent. for colored.
In the Eastern penitentiary of Pennsylvania, for three years ending
1843, 1.85 per cent. of the deaths were white, while 6.63 per cent.
were black.
In the Philadelphia prison, for the ten years ending 1845, of 1179
white and 1089 black prisoners, the deaths among the former were 1
in 46, among the latter 1 in 12. When the difference in population
is considered, these returns, besides the great mortality, show the
frightful immorality and crime of the black population of this city.
Dr. Ginon, the physician of this prison, in alluding to the great
disproportion of deaths between whites and blacks, says, in explanation of the cause: "If my experience, &c., justify, I would say,
without hesitation, it is owing entirely to their utter neglect of the
necessary mzeans of preserving health, extreme sensuality, 6,c."
In the New-York penitentiary, in 1846, there were six t,mes as many
colored persons (in proportion to the population) as there were
white.
Dr. Welsh, in his report of 1844, says: " It appears, from the
records of the State prison of Connecticut, that since the commencement of the institution, in 1828, half of the deaths hlave been amonog the
blacks, amounting to 5.40 per cent., while among the whites they were
only 1.07 per cent!"*
All this (and we have no room for more) shows the extent to
which crime has spread among the free blacks in the Northern States,
and the great mortality prevailing in their prisons. But if we leave
the prisons and compare the number of deaths among the free
negroes of all the Northern States, with that occurring amnong the
Southern slaves, we find it to be nearly double.
"W e have positive data," says Dr. Nott, "for the mortality of
the free negroes in the Northern States, where the climate, as well as
social condition, is unfavorable to this class; and the ratio is from
one death in twenty to one in thirty annually of the entire number. In
Boston, the most Northern point, the mortality is highest; and rather
less in New-York and Philadelphia."t But in Charleston, among
*See De Bow's Trade and Commznerce of the United States. Southern and Western States,
page 362.
t Indigenous Races of the Earth, page 388 and 391.
The following table will enable the reader to compare this great mnortality with that of
zome of the European States:
In Lombardy from 1827 to 1828.............................. 1 death in 31
"France from 1825 to 1827.................................. 1 " 39.5
"Prussia from 1821 to 1824.................................. 1 " 39
Holland, 1824....... 1 " 40
" Austrian Empire from 1825 to 1830......................... I " 43
Denmark, 1819............................................. 1 " 45
"Germany, 1825............................................. 1 45
Sweden from 1821 to 1825..................................1': 45
Great Britain from 1800 to 1804............................ 1 " 47
Canton de Vaud, 1824....................................... 1 " 47
"Scotland, 1821............................................ 1" 50
The mortality of the blacks in our Northern States, says Dr. Nctt, averages about double
that of the whites.
579