The Press.
London, England, 1856-09-13 00:00:00

grdant.

A BANQUET TO THE CRIMEAN SOLDIERS NOW IN
IRELAND is definitely determined on. An influential
meeting took place at the Mansion-house on Monday
to settle the necessary preliminaries. Lord Gough,
in a spirited address, promised his cordial co-
operation. His lordship, alluding to a suggestion
that some of our gallant elliet- should be asked to
the dinner, said :
It so happened that yesterday I received a letter from
Marshal Duke de Malakoff, whom you lately knew as
Marshal Pelissier, and, among other things, he stated that
he proposed to fulfil a promise be made to me when in the
Crimea, that he would come to visit me in Ireland. I
thoughtit would be gratifying to you to hear this. I sin-
cerely hope that he will come, and I am convinced my
warmhearted countrymen will give him a truly cordial wel-
come on his arrival in this country.
A subscription of 501. was announced from his Excel-
lency the Lord Lieutenant, in addition to a long list
from the noblemen and gentlemen of Ireland. It
was resolved that the invitations to the dinner should

SATURDAY,

not be limited to soldiers natives of Ireland, but
should include all Scotch and English soldiers at
present serving in the country.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE CHURCH EDUCATION
SOCIETY have issued their annual report, to which is
attached an address upon the present position and
prospects of the association. The committee resolve
to adhere staunchly to their system.

GENERAL SIR COLIN CAMPBELL has arrived in
Dublin, and was entertained at dinner on the 9th by
his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, at the Viceregal
Lodge.

THE REV. T. O'MALLY, a Roman Catholic clergy-
man, suggests that the chaplains, Protestant and
Roman Catholic, who had accompanied the army at
the seat of war, should be entertained at the ap-
proaching Crimean banquet.
THE sixth and concluding part of the census
of Ireland, for 1851, has been issued this week from
the office of the Census Commissioners. The report
to the Lord Lieutenant is brief but pregnant with
important facts. The number of people in this year
1856, in Ireland, is lower by nearly half a million
than it was in 1851. On tha 30th of March, 1851,
the population amounted to (1,552,385; on the Ist of
January last they numbered but 6,077,283, The
falling-off is attributed to emigration :
From table 37 it appears that the inhabitants of
Ireland have, by emigration, decreased 475,102 persons
from the 30th of March, 1851, to the 31st December, 1855,
so that at the present tune the population does not much
exceed six millions, and it is probable that this number is
still diminishing—owing to the emigrants from this
country continuing to be greater in amount than the as-
sumed excess of births over deaths. In these computations
we have taken the number of emigrants from Irish ports
only, as returned by the enumerators, because the returns
received by us from the Emigration Commissioners include
the Irish emigrants from all parts of the United Kingdom,
many of whom had been previously settled in England.
In reference to the famine and emigration of 1845
and the following disastrous years, the commissioners
set down the total decrease of the rural population
from that double cause at 19.85 per cent., or exactly
at 1,022,739. The commissioners state :
We beg to call attention to the extraordinary decrease in
the rural population, which resulted from the famine and
emigration of 1845 and following years. In the whole of
Ireland there has been a general diminution of the rural
population of 53 persons to the square mile of the entire
area; and of 104 to the square mile of arable land. The
decrease in the province of Connaught was so high as 60
persons to the square mile of the entire area, and 145 to
the square mile of arable land ; in Munster the decrease
was, to the entire area, 57 persons, and to the amble land
114, to the square mile. Ulster decreased at the rate of
4b to the square mile of the total area, and 126 to the
square mile of arable land, and the province of Leinster
decreased 45 persons for every square mile of its general
area, and by 58 for the square mile of arable land. In
some of the counties the proportionate decrease is very
high, partly caused by the increase in amble load, but
principally by the diminution in the numbers of the
people. All the counties have decreased in population
except Dublin, which shows an increase of 91 persons to
the square mile.
The commissioners conclude their report :

In conclusion, we feel it will be gratifying to your Ex•
cellency to find that although the population has been
diminished in so remarkable a manner by famine, disease,
and emigration between 1841 and 1851, and has been since
decreasing, the results of the Irish census of 1851 are, on
the whole, so satisfactory, demonstrating as they do the
general advancement of the country. We have shown in
the course of our observations that the extent of arable land
and the value of farm stock have increased since IR4l—
the worst class of houses is being replaced by a better
—that a smaller proportion of families is dependent on
their own manual labour for support—and that the educa-
tion of the people has favorably progressed.

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The commissioners engaged n the census of 1851
were W. Donnelly, Esq., LL.D., and W. Wilde, M.D.,
who were ably assisted by the acting secretary, Harry
Wilkie, Esq.