Hamilton
This thriving city, by actual count in 1854, contained two hundred and seventy-four colored persons, namely,
- St. Lawrence Ward . . . . . 51
- St. George’s Ward . . . . . 37
- St. Patrick’s Ward . . . . . 12
- St. Mary’s Ward . . . . . 34
- St. Andrew’s Ward . . . . . 140
- Total, . . . . . 274
The public schools of Hamilton contain about one thousand seven hundred pupils, of whom twenty-five are colored. Eight hundred scholars attend the Central School; and on the 12th of June, 1855, when the writer visited it, there were present but seven colored children, six of whom were girls.
It is much to be regretted that the colored people do not to a greater extent avail themselves of the advantages presented by the perfect equality of the English laws. Yet it is scarcely to be wondered at, when we consider that prejudice against them prevails to too great an extent in Hamilton. If the colored children were universally sent to school, prejudice would probably die out before many years: for those who attend the Central School, I have the best authority for saying, are as orderly and well behaved, and make as good progress in their studies, as the whites.
The commiseration felt for the colored population on account of their sufferings in the United States, seems to have been unduly modified by the disorderly conduct of a few among their number: still, the presence of “a moral and religious element to restrain and elevate” is perceptible in Hamilton. If the people can but “conquer their prejudices” much of good may be done. On the other hand, it is a question whether the colored people would not do well to give up their separate religious organizations, and separate schools, wherever they exist in Canada.
Many of the colored people in Hamilton are “well off;” are good mechanics, and good “subjects” in the English sense of that word.
