The Press.
London, England, 1856-10-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

our convict settlements shows that to separate
convicts from their criminal habits and con-
nections, and place them in circumstances
where strong inducements are held out to
honest industry, is the safest, perhaps the
only, mode of reclaiming them.
The island of Tasmania is 250 miles long
by 200 broad, and is watered by many
beautiful rivers. The pursuits of the settlers
aro almost entirely agricultural, and its cli-
mate and soil are equally well adapted to the
labours of husbandry. From what is said
here, we are inclined to regard it as one of the
most aristocratic of our settlements. The
landed proprietary, of whom mention is made,
seem to be enviably placed. They aro found.
ing new families, stamped broadly with the
characteristics of the English gentry. What
an opening is here for the younger branches
of our old houses. With something of Cfesar's
spirit in them—" I would rather be the first
" man in these Alpine valleys than the second
" man in Rome"—they might acquire a position
in our colonies equal to that held by the
fathers of their native land. Happily, in our
day, the tie that binds our colonies to the
mother country is a very close one. There is
little danger of its being violently severed.
All classes have friends and relatives in the
colonies, and there is constant intercourse be-
tween them, with, as regards the higher class
of settlers, frequent visits to England, for ends
of pleasure or business. Then the ties of
commerce materially help to rivet the ties of
family. It is convenient for colonial firms to
have one member resident in the place with
which they have dealings ; and that member
is not unfrequently a brother or son of one of
the principals in the establishment at home.
These various sources of intimate connection
all weaken the chances of any serious rupture
between England and her colonies ; while,
with the latitude of action allowed to the
latter, no opposition of interests is possible.
The advantages lie all on the side of con-
tinued union ; the disadvantages all on the
side of separation. Our colonies are more
firmly attached to the parent State than the
provinces of the United States, north and
south, are attached to each other. It should
be our policy to seize every occasion to
strengthen this connection ; and it is to be
regretted that in the late war an effort was
not made to raise colonial instead of foreign
legions, as the cause of the parent State and
the colonies is really one; and it would be as
natural for the latter to send forces to assist
us in our European struggles, as for the
former to send troops to put down a Kaffir
rebellion, or to repel the chance of foreign
invasion.

The volume of Captain Stoney is illustrated
with a number of plates, representing some of
the most striking natural beauties of Tas-
mania. The work is intelligent, practical, and
amusing, and tends to inspire bright hopes
for the future of our colonial empire.

The Census of Ireland for the Year 1851.
Part VI. Presented to both Houses of
Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.
Dublin : Thom and Sons.

THIS IS, in appearance, a most imposing
volume. It has prodigious columns of statis-
tics, with divers statements of figures,
relating to all classes and occupations in
Ireland, and undertakes to record such au
amount of knowledge about that country as
would greatly raise the estimate of human
omniscience and capacity. Recollecting the
difficulty of obtaining information of this sort
in Ireland, one is startled at finding the
smallest shades in the social strata of that
country indicated with such marvellous pre-
cision. Such an affected display of accuracy
is apt to put people ou their guard. When
Sir Benjamin Backbite, in The School for
Scandal, relates that " Charles's ball, after
" wounding Sir Peter, struck against a little
" bronze Shakespeare on the mantel-piece,
" glanced out of the window at a right angle,
" and wounded the postman, who had just
" come to the door with a double letter from
" Northamptonshire," the fallacy of pretend-
ing to know too much about it is cleverly
exposed. We must*say that there is a paraoo
and affectation of accuracy about this lybole

SATURDAY,

Report which ought to be provocative of criti-
cism. It is certainly very late to offer us, in the
last quarter of 1856, a census for thii year 1851.
In military matters, hospital returns of all
kinds, and in bureaucratic departments, where
each and every person is under supervised
control, it is possible to attain accuracy; but
in a society like that of Ireland, divided be-
tween hostile religions, it is hopeless to expect
that the constabulary force could succeed in
obtaining data sufficient for such a volume as
that before us. We shall presently show how
little the figures or assertions in this Report
are to be relied on. The " General Report "
and preliminary introduction is not drawn up
with the neatness and clearness appropriate
to statistics. It is a prolix piece of patch-
work, and exhibits much clumsiness in its
method. This is now the sixth part and tenth
volume of the series of reports addressed to
the authorities ; and the Commissioners com-
mence their Report with a most superfluous
narration of the powers given to them, and
with a tedious explanation of the forms A, B,
and C, which are afterwards printed at length,
and at a glance sufficiently explain themselves
to the eye. After stating the instructions of
the Commissioners to the police enumerators,
the Commissioners say :

It having been determined that, as in the Census of
1811, the enumeration should be taken by townlands,
parishes, baronies, and counties, according to the bounda-
ries laid down on the Ordnance maps, and that each Con-
stabulary district should, where not inconvenient, form a
Census district, under the superintendence of the Sub-
Inspector, or Head• Constable, in charge of it, we procured
maps from the Ordnance Survey department, and fur-
nished each officer with one for his district ; having pre.
viously caused the boundaries of the townlands, sub.
districts, and districts to be distinguished by different
colours.

To aid in the enumeration, the services of the Coast
Guard were made available—the Comptroller• General
having directed that the officers and men of that force
should afford assistance on all matters relating to the
Census.

The several enumerators having been appointed, and
districts assigned to them, the different forms—amounting
to upwards of a million and a half—were forwarded to
them, accompanied by full instructions as to their duties.
" A million and a half of forms " let loose
from Dublin on the police and constabulary of
Ireland, who were to bo the enumerators
What follows is significant :

We next endeavoured to prepare the public mind for
the approaching inquiries, by addressing a circular letter
to all persons throughout the country, whom we supposed
to possess, by reason of their rank or occupation, any
influence with the people—soliciting their friendly co.
operation, with a view to the removal of any prejudices
unfavorable to the Census. In this object we were ably
assisted by the public press in Ireland—our circulars
having been published in the various newspapers, and
special articles inserted in them, calling general attention
to the importance of giving correct information—thus
making widely known the objects for which these decen-
nial accounts of the population are taken.

That statement testifies to the difficulty of
obtaining the facts, and al izo to the likelihood
that the police would not obtain much volun.
tary assistance from the people at large. Tho
letter of the Commiosioners ran thus :
Sir,—We, the Commissioners appointed by his Excel-
lency the Lord Lieutenant to carry into effect the pro-
vision, of the Act 13 and 14 Vict., cap. 44, "for taking an
Account of the population of Ireland," on the 81st instant,
beg leave most earnestly to solicit your friendly co-opers-
tion in this very important object, by exerting your in-
fluence among the peasantry and the less enlightened
classes in your neighbourhood, so as to remove any pre-
judices which may exist, and induce them willingly to
afford the information asked for in the several print& d
forms, and thus facilitate the labours of the Enumerator?.
The great importance of these inquiries, and the universal
interest expressed as to the results of the approaching
Census of Ireland, will, we trust, excuse us for soliciting
your aid on this occasion. We need scarcely add that
upon the fidelity of the returns will chiefly depend their
statistical value.

Just so. " Upon the fidelity of the returns
" will chiefly depend their statistical value."
For " chiefly," as we conceive, the word ought
to have been " entirely." A priori, we might
say that to obtain accurate information on
such minute and complex forms as were sent
would be almost impossible. Let us now see
whether the knowledge so obtained can be
practically relied on. Let us take the town of
Belfast, and turn to the " Occupation Tables"
for that district (p. 414).
Amongst the class " ministering to food "
the Report puts down •' waiters—hotel and
tavern." Belfast is a city which swarms with
hotels, and how many " waiters " do our
readers suppose are ill Belfast? There are

OCTOBER 4, 1856.

four" male waiters "upwards of fifteen
" years of age," and there is " one " male
waiter "under fifteen years of age." Amazing
accuracy ! And still more amazing fact that
four men and a boy could serve all the hotels
in Belfast ! The report of " occupations " is
pleased also to inform us on the same page
that there are twenty " caretakers," but no
" conservators "in the town of Belfast. There
are only six malsters, and six distillers in the
same locality. It has not even one "wine
cooper:' nor one " salt manufacturer," nor a
" salesmaster." Still more extraordinary is
the fact (according to the Return) that there
are one hundred and one "gardeners," but
not a single unit to fill up the space left for
" nursery and seedsmen." There is neither a
" cheesemonger" nor a " poulterer " in all
Belfast, and only eight " tobacconists" ! These
latter are placed in the columns as " minister-
ing to food."
Belfast enjoys a deserved name for its
brilliant success in manufactures, and for its
great factories, full of the best and newest
machinery. It is strange, if true, that there
are only "two" makers of "agricultural im-
plements" in the capital of Ulster, adjacent
to the county of Down. But it is still more
situ ular that there is not one " toolmaker " in
the whole town ! There are (according to this
Rey ort) two "tinkers" and five "makers of
Jt w's-harps" in the place.
In the column " ministering to health"
there are forty-seven " physicians," fifty-two
" surgeons," and only ten " apothecaries," to
compound the prescriptions of the ninety-
nine doctors and surgeons of the locality. In
the table "ministering to education" there is
no " astronomer," and two " authors." How
very accurate!
In that "ministering to religion" there are
eleven clergymen of the Establishment, and
eight Roman Catholics, and no Unitarian
clergyman at all. What does the Rev. Henry
Montgomery, or Mr. Scott Porter, or the Rev.
T. D. Hincks say to this last assertion? With
so large a Roman Catholic population as is at
Belfast, it is singular that there should be no
"friar," and only a unit for "nuns and monks,"
and that there should be only two " Scripture•
readers " for that city. But there are fourteen
"unspecified" persons in the column "minis-
tering to religion."
Then comes a column for the "unclassified,"
which informs us that at Belfast there is not
one "ship agent," although it has thirty-five
pilots," and upwards of twelve hundred
sailors. That is certainly a very peculiar fact
The Report is really quite waggish at times.
It tells us that there are no " antiquaries "
(p. 416.) at Belfast. Neither is there a " mes•
merist" nor a "ventriloquist," and (fortunate
locality !) there is not a solitary unit for its
"quacks." Let our readers imagine the absur
dity of assigning a place for " quacks" in the
Census Report, as if Van Butchell himself
would confess to being a " quack."
There are but two " ballad-singers " in Bel-
fast, and there are no " fortune-tellers " there.
The fallacy of the returns is shown by refer-
ring to the last statement of the page before
us, that there are only thirty-eight" prostitutes"
in that crowded hive of manufacturino. in-
dustry.

Figures like these carry their own confuta-
tion. It seem that there are 27,103 males and
15,760 females, in the town of Belfast, upwards
of fifteen years of age There are but 1,370
males, and 1,734 females, " under fifteen years
of age," in the same town!
From what we have read and heard of this
pompous and most pretentious volume, we
incline to think that it does not merit the
public confidence; nor should we be surprised
if, in the next session, the expense of the
Irish Census Commission and its stringent
reform (if it is to continue) should become the
subject of animated discussion.

Medieval Preachers and Medieval Preaching.
A series of Extracts, translated from the
Sermons of the Middle Ages, chronologi-
cally arranged, with Notes and Introduction,
by the Rev. J. M. Neale, M.A. London :
Mozley.
WHILE we commend the goodness of Mr.
Neale's intentions, we are obliged to confess