In the preface of the published Proceedings of the General Anti-Slavery Convention, held in London in the summer of 1840, a brief statement of facts demonstrates a shocking reality.
In the United States of America, the slave population is estimated to be 2,750,000; in the Brazils, 2,500,000; in the Spanish colonies, 600,000; in the French colonies, 265,000; in the Dutch colonies, 70,000; in the Danish and Swedish colonies, 30,000; and in Texas, 25,000; besides those held in bondage by Great Britain in the East Indies and the British settlements in Ceylon, Malacca, and Penang, and by France, Holland, and Portugal in various parts of Asia and Africa, amounting in all to several millions more; and exclusive also of those held in bondage by the native powers of the east, and other parts of the word, of whose number it is impossible to form a correct estimate (London: British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. 1841).