1841 to 1851, indicates a most appalling ing between the last two censuses, indiminution of population, amounting to creased from seventeen and a fraction two per cent. per annum, or 20 per cent. millions to over twenty-three millions, for the entire ten years-a reduction or 36 per cent. During the same period, amounting to the total emigration from (leaving Ireland out of view,) the popu the whole United Kingdom from 1839 lation of Great Britain increased at the rate of 12 per cent. during ten years, or 1 2-10 per cent. per annum. to 1850. The contemplation of such a state of affairs is the more melancholy, when we consider that the great diminution of population, in place of being equalized through the period of ten years, must have occurred mainly within one or two years; a reduction of population sinking the number of people to a lower point than it was in 1821, when the first census of Ireland was taken, and it would appear in still stronger light if we were to calculate the natural progress the population would have made up to 1846, the year of famine, and estimate what should be the present population, if no unnatural cause had operated to reduce it. The decrease extended to no less than 31 counties and cities, and varied from 9 to 31 per cent., while the only increase which occurred was confined to 9 towns and cities, to which many probably fled to find relief. The greatest decrease occurred in the county of Cork, the population of which was reduced 222,246, viz.:- from 773,398 inhabitants in 1841, to 551,152 in 1851equivalent to a reduction of 28 per cent. The decrease in the several provinces was as follows, viz. :-Leinster, 305,960; Munster,564,344; Ulster, 382,084; Connaught, 406,942. These startling and appalling facts proclaim the reality of the sufferings experienced from the famine in Ireland; and it is some consolation to feel that our distance did not preclude those efforts in her behalf by our own citizens and government, without which the desolation would have been even more strongly marked. During ten years, the population of the entire kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland increased from 26,833,496 to 27,452,262, or at the rate of a little more than half a million in ten years. In the last fifty years, England and Wales increased 102 per cent., (males, 105; females, 97.50) Scotland, 78 per cent., (males, 84; females, 73.) The population of the United States during the past fifty years has increased at the rate of 337 per cent., and in ten years interven HOUSES.-By the last census, it ap pears that in the United States the number of houses occupied by free persons, amounted to 3,363,427. It would seem from the British reports, that the popu lation of that country is supplied with houses almost in the precise proportion as in our own country. The proportion being so very near alike in the two countries, it would be, perhaps, satisfactory to institute some inquiry concerning the character of what are termed "houses," by the British census, that we may be enabled to judge of the propriety of estimating the degree of comfort enjoyed by the people, by their house accommodations. While our country cannot boast of the princely residences of European countries-the occupancy of which is limited to comparatively few persons-we think there is a general sufficiency and comfort in the house-accommodations of the American people, and that in the most remote regions of our country, they exhibit a very satisfactory degree of comfort and cleanliness where their accommodations are most limited. The fact is notorious that, where wretchedness is at all general, there will be found a population which formed habits and imbibed tastes in a foreign land. In comparing the population of Great Britain and Ireland with the inhabited houses, it appears that the whole number of houses in Great Britain amounts to 3,669,437, being nearly one house to each six persons. In Ireland, the number of inhabited houses amounts to 1,047,735, being the proportion of two houses to each thirteen persons. The fact is somewhat extraordinary, that almost precisely in proportion to the diminution of the Irish population since 1841, has been the reduction in the number of houses. By this is not meant the "Inhabited Houses," but the whole number, including inhabited and uninhabited, built and building, the number of which, in 1841, was 1,384,360 to 1,115,007 in 1851; being a reduction of 269,353. The fact is unquestioned, that Population of Belgium, Prussia and France. 129 in a very great number of instances in of Ditricé, Director of the Statistical Ireland the term "house" should be un- Bureau. The subjects embraced, and derstood merely as applying to some- the divisions included, are public buildthing containing human beings, and ings enumerated as churches and houses not as indicating such a structure as the for prayer, school-houses, orphan and term usually signifies. poor asylums, buildings for the adminisBELGIUM-POPULATION AND HOUSES. tration of public affairs, justice, customs, -The population of Belgium, on the 31st &c.; buildings for ecclesiastical and December, 1845, amounted to 4,298,560; communal magistracies, military and on the 15th October, 1846, to 4,337,196. hospital buildings, private dwelling In the cities of Belgium, the houses houses, factories, mills, &c., stables and inhabited amount to 170,455, and those barns; population, male and female, at uninhabited to 9,302. In the rural com- the ages of 5, 7, 14, 16, 19, 24, 32, 39, 45 munes, the inhabited houses number and 60th year, and those over 60. They 629,393; the uninhabited 20,411. Total are enumerated also according to relinumber of inhabited houses 799,848; gion, as far as respects Evangelical uninhabited, 29,713. Of these houses Christians, Roman Catholics, Greek 78.20 per cent. had but one (basement) Christians, Menonites and Jews. The story; 18.32 per cent. were of two stories, deaf and dumb are returned as to age including the basement; and 3.48 per and sex, enumerating them at the ages cent. were of three or more stories, in- of 5, 15, 30, and over, respectively; and cluding the basement. Of the entire the blind are returned by age and sex at number of houses, 160,500 were insured the ages of 15, 30, and over 30, respecagainst fire for the average amount of tively. They enumerate their horses, 6,811 francs. One-fourth of the Belgian asses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, and population is found inclosed in cities, goats, dividing the sheep into three and the other three-fourths spread over classes. By their census (1839), the the rural communes. Of the number of population of Prussia amounts todwelling-houses in cities, 72,407 had but one room for a family; 65,461 had two rooms; and 100,402 had three or more rooms for a family. In the rural communes, 82,047 houses had but one room for a family; 217,324 had two rooms, and 352,925 had three or more rooms for a family. PRUSSIA. For the first time the Prussion government has made provision for the publication of their statistics in an extended form. Their census was taken at the close of the year 1849, of which a portion of the results have been published in one large quarto volume, to be followed by two others, under the direction Males.. Total... Number of families Number of dwelling-houses... 8,162,805 8,168,382 16,331,187 .3,180,707 .1,945,174 Number of churches, 16,897; schoolhouses, 23,384; asylums for orphans and destitute persons, 5,710; civil, ecclesiastical, military, and hospital buildings, 35,353. The Evangelical Christians number.. .10,020,161 Roman Catholics POPULATION OF FRANCE. 66 6,076,252 11,973 9,579 given, together with the ratio of deaths either continent. As has been truly to the number living; and some con- observed, "a race of men, launched upon siderations were adduced, showing the the tide of existence, have by virtue of most feasible mode of arriving at the all the conditions, a determined course law of mortality. The work of condens- to run, which will make its own way, ing this order of statistics has been con- and fulfil its own destiny in accordance tinued with such discrimination as the with a system of laws as unalterable nature and value of the returns seemed and supreme as those which control the to require. A great diversity of opin- physical universe." Without enumeraions, it is well known, exists with re- ting the conditions and circumstances spect to the salubrity of the Northern of vital development, the practical conand the Southern, the maritime and the clusion arises, that the values of life for inland localities of our country; and on different branches of the Teutonic famino point, perhaps, could reliable infor- ly of nations, in temperate climates, will mation be more reasonably desired. It not greatly differ. And if the ratios of is not here proposed to discuss the nu- annual mortality, and the expectations merous inquiries which this important of life in America, should substantially branch of statistics suggests, how far agree with the like values in European it shall confirm existing opinions, or tables, the general correspondence would awaken an interest and prepare the way afford so many credentials of statistical for more full researches. The returns authority. With respect to the Northern being the first of their kind in the na- United States, the returns of Massachutional census, may seem to require some setts have been selected for comparison mode of verification; and in this view, with those of the national census of Engthe following investigations have been land. In applying the same mode of prepared. verification to the Middle States, the statistics of Maryland have been taken, the table described in last year's report being revised, and male and female lines distinguished. The computations have been executed by Mr. L. W. Meech, whose familiarity with the subject, and scientific qualifications, afford The great mass of the white population of this country is chiefly of Teutonic origin, with a large admixture of Celtic. Located in temperate latitudes, with a climate not greatly differing from that of Europe, the presumption naturally arises that the same laws of life would prevail, and to nearly an equal degree, a sufficient guarantee of their accuracy. on both sides of the Atlantic. In the absence of any assignable and special source of change, the universal law of self-preservation and protection might be assumed to produce like results upon then be compared as follows: In contrast with these results, are set the expectations of life in France. The proportion of deaths and the expectations of life at its several periods, may Proportion of Deaths in England and the United States. 131 the youthful character of the population of the new states, and the comparative absence of aged persons, who remain in the older states of the Union. The influence of this emigration will be understood by table 1, where, from the age of five to thirty, the deaths are only from one-half to one per cent., while above The expectation of life expresses in years and decimal parts of a year the future length of life to be lived, on an average, after attaining a given age. Thus, on arriving at the age of thirty, the average future lifetime of males, by the Massachusetts table, is thirty-four years, while that of females is thirtyfive and four-tenths. The expectations the age of fifty-five, the rate of deaths for other ages and columns of the table will readily be understood from mere inspection, though the analytic process of deriving the values requires much collateral research and professional experience. As the year is a natural unit of time, universally familiar, the expectation is doubtless the simplest method that could be devised for exhibiting, at a glance, the changing value of life. Viewed as a whole, the general correspondence, both of the ratios of mortality and the mean length of life, from independent sources, sufficiently verifies their accuracy. For general estimates, adopting the current classification of the states, the American census exhibits the following ratios of mortality, disregarding the ages at death: New-England States increases from two to thirty-five per cent. Wisconsin, and other Northwestern states, being newly settled by persons chiefly in the prime of life, in the comparative absence of older persons, the per centage of deaths should be less, as it is indeed given by the census. This distinction will tend, in a considerable degree, to reconcile apparent differences in the returns. From the year 1840 to 1850 the population of the United States was augmented from seventeen millions to twenty-three millions, the increase being six millions in ten years. At the rate of annual mortality above stated, the total deaths, during the same period, were from two and a-half to three millions, being nearly equal to half the residual increase by birth and emigration. Thus, and in various other ways, which space number living here precludes to specify, statistics of the persistence of life, pointing ultimately to the removal of special causes of mortality, are essentially related to national happiness and advancement. Annual deaths, Ratio to the Middle States, with Ohio.....1.39. ...1.24.. .1 to 64 .1 to 73 .1 to 73 It will be seen that the values for the With respect to the longevity and three middle divisions strikingly agree vital characteristics of slaves and the free with the average for the United States, colored, the following epitome of life as a whole, representing one death to tables is given for three localities, seseventy-three living; and this is sub- lected from the Northern, Middle and stantially the ratio stated by Webster for Southern States. The values for Newinterior towns in 1805:- The annual England are deduced from the general deaths," he observed, "amount only to census, embracing 23,020 colored resione in seventy or seventy-five of the dents; that of Maryland is founded population." The inquiry might arise, upon the total returns of 90,368 slaves; in examining the preceding abstract, and that of Louisiana upon the aggre why the rate of deaths in the North- gate of 244,786 slaves, and 17,537 free western States should be so much lower colored, taken collectively. The relathan in the Middle States, and especially tive preponderance of female African New-England. In reply, the mere life is remarkable, while the prevalent ratios of mortality are not conclusive opinion of the greater mortality of male upon the question of relative longevity, without taking into account the proportions of young and aged, and the increase of population. Without attempting a full explanation, one source of the difference referred to undoubtedly lies in slaves in Louisiana is statistically confirmed. The table possesses a higher interest, not only from the definite and comprehensive information contained, but for being the first of the kind for the colored classes in the United States. 3-EXPECTATION OF LIFE FOR COLORED PERSONS. -New-England ~Maryland 35.36 25.85 21.07 11.33....10.93 5.38.... 6.16 3.43.... 3.34 Per Cent. .43.04 Completed Colored Colored Slaves Ago. male. female. male. Slaves Years. Years. Years. Years. .30 86 .22.83....28.75. 27.50 ...29.00. .23.25. NATIVITY OF THE POPULATION.-One of the most interesting results of the census is the classification of inhabitants according to the countries of their birth, presented, in an authentic shape, in No. 5 of the accompanying tables. We are thus enabled to discover, for the first time, of what our nation is composed. The investigations under this head have resulted in showing that of the free inhabitants of the United States, 17,736,792 are natives of its soil, and that 2,210,828 were born in foreign countries, while the nativity of 39,227 could not be determined. It is shown that 1,965,518 of the whole number of foreign-born inhabitants were residents of the free states, and 245,310 of the slave states. It is seen that the persons of foreign birth form 11.06 per cent. of the whole free population. The countries from which have been derived the largest portions of these additions to our population appear in the following statement: This view of the living immigrant population is important, as serving to cor rect many extravagant notions which have attained extensive currency. Another interesting branch of this inquiry, is that which concerns the inter-migrations of our native citizens among the states. The tables presenting a view of this movement will be most useful and valuable, in tracing the progress of different portions of the country. The facts developed will show how far one section has impressed its own characteristics and peculiar customs on others. It is found, that out of 17,736,792 free inhabitants, 4,112,433 have migrated and settled beyond the states of their birth. Three hundred and thirty-five thousand natives of Virginia, equal to twenty-six per cent. of the whole, have found homes outside of her own borders. South Carolina has sent forth one hundred and sixty-three thousand, which is thirty-six per cent. of all the native citizens of that state living in the United States at the date of the census, and the very remarkable proportion of 59 per cent. of those remaining in the state of their nativity, North Carolina has lost 261,575 free inhabitants, equal to 31 per cent., by emigration. Among the Northern states, Vermont and Connecticut have contributed most largely to the settlement of other parts of the country. Their proportion, about 25 per cent. of their native citizens, would exceed, perhaps, that of either of the Southern States already mentioned, were the number of slaves in the latter admitted as an element of the calculations. But the roving tendency of our people is incident to the peculiar condition of their country, Natives of Ireland in United States in 1850..961,719 and each succeeding census will prove 54,069 up, and men of scanty means cannot, by 29,868 a mere change of location, acquire a - 95,022 homestead, the inhabitants of each state 2,210,828 will become comparatively stationary, and our countrymen will exhibit the same attachment to the homes of their childhood, the want of which is sometimes cited as an unfavorable trait in our The proportion in which the several countries above named have contributed to the aggregate immigrant population, is shown in the subjoined statement: national character. |