Accepting, however, for the moment the figures of the census of 1791, merely for the sake of future comparison, let us see how the population of the island was distributed at this period. Of the 272,141 inhabitants shown by the census over half, or 137,800, were in the district of Havana, and almost one third of the latter number in the city itself. These were divided as follows: Whites, both sexes 73,000 Free colored, both sexes 27,600 Slaves, both sexes 37,200 ------- 137,800 One of the best reasons for believing that this 1791 census does not tell the whole story is that the proportion of white persons to the black slaves is practically two to one, while as a matter of fact the most eminent authorities are agreed that during the first half of the nineteenth century, and for some years previous, it was about 100 to 83, a matter which, as we shall see, was of grave concern to the Spanish colonists. It should be noted in passing that the greediness with which the Spanish conquerors regarded their possessions in the New World had marked effect on the difficulties of numbering the people. For too well the plantation owners had learned that a record of an increase in their possessions, an added number of slaves or signs of growing prosperity, meant that the long arm of the crown would stretch out to despoil by further taxation, added to the already heavy toll. It is no wonder, therefore, that the efforts of the census takers were impeded rather than furthered. In 1811, when the slave trade and the consequent increase of the black population was giving great concern to the more intelligent and far-seeing of the Cuban patriots, pressure was brought to bear on the Spanish government and on March 26 of that year, Señors Alcocer and Arguelles made a motion in the Spanish Cortes against the African slave-trade and the continuation of slavery in the Spanish colonies. A little later in the same year Don Francisco de Arango, an exceedingly erudite statesman, also made a remonstrance to the Cortes upon the same subject. This was in the name of the Ayuntamiento, the Consulado and the Patriotic Society of Havana. The text of this representation or remonstrance may be found in the "_Documents relative to the slave-trade, 1814_." Unfortunately in compiling the tables which were published in 1811 no new census was taken, and the increases in population from 1791 to 1811 were merely estimated. These estimates show a population of 600,000--a greater number, it is interesting to note, by many thousands than was shown by the census of 1817, with which we shall deal later. This population was distributed as follows: