The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-31 00:00:00

1.11 it

in 1.411, Ka% C,,11111419e11 a 04,119 males, and ik1,91, t females;
ah r.r..ess, if we tietv so term it, on the part of the ladies,
of no 1, f' than I n • or about per C. nt. over the other
Rvx if the eorr. et, bow is the elisperity ac-
counted for? There it, to 1M• sore, the dr gof the
army ‘llll navy—the accidents to a Web the males only are
exposed; there is emigrati .. , migration, and the absence
of our youth seckinl their fortunes in foreign countries.
All this is sonictliiag, we confess, which at the first gimlet•
might he coin:4l4.nd stifled, Id to account for the discre-
pancy of numbers. But we apprehend, when the facts
are more minutely examined, it will be found that these
cswos cannot protille, any midi result. By the MMUS, it
appears that the males have the majority till the age of
fifteen; so that it is apparent, that if the military and
naval Kerrie-est do drain so many youths, as is believed, the
diminution cannot fail to be notices' before this period of
life. More boys go to Fel, to the merchant service espe-
cially, before the are of sixteen than aft r it ; and a vast
proportiou of our army reeruirt are under that age ; and
yet, so far from the meshes in the census swing *shed
by it, the only material decrease is from the age of twenty
to thirty. This circumstance alone, ie. our opinion, stamps
the I ilasgow return for Islt (accurate as it no doubt is,
when compared with other returns,) with no small portion
UI finer. debility.

Etnieration,we are told, Mars heaviest upon the male
!inn of the popu!stion. This we admit ; and if the cen-
so,: we are examieing were that of same ivild part of the
is Scotland, or even of some improving agti-
cultural distr:et, we might be inthicAl to attribute the dis-
parity to migration alone. But this theory will not apply
to tgasgow ; for the current of ctnigration is, and for many
yens has hero, b, that city, and not from it; and Mat
male Ir.'s!. labonrcri! This is *or front Mr.
Cleland's winos, whereat he states that the population of
the city, during, the last three ;tetra, has increased 5,000 ;
oldie un the face of his returns, in the shape of birth!,
rite nuntlu r is not more, when the deaths arc subtracted,
than gnu p-r ammtn. We candidly confess, therefore,
that we must be scittical as to the truth even of his re-
turns. so long as the disparity of numbe►s of the sexes is
so frillitful, and the mote twee:ally while we have no con-
clusive 'WI but the ipxr eLrit of the Surveyor to show why
it should be so; for let it be remembered, that all his In-
ge:dote; lists furnish all inverse result from that given by
his census of twit. For instance, in the births, by the
hest return, and in the burials, by an almost perfect re-
turn, the numbers of males and females, at all the different
stages of niortality, are as nearly as possible equal. If in
the city of t lasgow, out of a population of 150 ($lO, there
be 11,000 more female:. than notes, why is it that we do
not find more kaiaks dying thou males, at least in propor-
tion to the difference in point of numbers? If there be
more fvonlcs living in 4:lasgow than males, surely it is but
reasonable to expect that more should die. But this dots
not !lawn, it would seem I So ftr from seeing the " wo-
mankind"' move off to their account, in proportion to their
alleged numbers, we actually find 2,355 malts, and only
'2.315 females in Mr. Cle'antl's mortality bill for ISIS.
What becomes of the surplus females we should like to
know? If they live fur ever, the census must undoubt-
edly be. correct, and we have only to mourn for the youths
of the North so situated.

Considering the numbers of young men who leave the
United Kingdoms, to supply my foreign depemkncies, it
would not be surprising, although the aggregate of our
population return sl Id show a trifling surplus on the
side of the females. But to say that our males are led to
the slicuildes, to the extent above stated, is too much to
be easily credited. Supposing Mr. Cleland's census to he
accurate, and that one in thirty-three persons dies an-
nually (as he states in another place), and that females pre-
molder/lie I/ per cent. over the males, throughout the three
kingdoms, we must upon such data conclude, that abont
three milli ms and a half of our male population are swal-
lowed up beyond seas alone, independent of what die
at home, every thirty-three years—that is to say, totally
disappear from our enumeration, and never again appear
in it : or in other words, that foreign establishusents, and
the army and nary, consumer--for that is the word—abont
10 &moo young men orrnsorke !
This extraordinary and melancholy conclusion, to which
11Pu are forced by the disparity of the sexes in the Glas-
gow returns, only requires to be placed in figures to be
shown to be absurd ; what then can we say for the returns
themselves ? We should consider that although our co-
lonial, naval, and military establishments require incenant
recruiting, still the men who enlist, or go to sea, or are
imprevell, are not all killed even in time of war, nor do
all those, who seek to improve their fortunes abroad, die
aliens, or beyond seas. On the contrary, a vast proportion
of them return, and help to swell the population list in the
vicinity of their birth-place, before they figure ill the bills
of mortality. Hut if we are to believe the Glasgow and
other returns, 101,000 of these persons, full grown male
adults, in the prime of life, go annually, the Lord knows
where, and are never heard of more!

A few days ago we had the Government population re-
turns for Ireland, and in the gross amount, or the " sup-
posed total," as Mr. Cleland would call it, of 6,1401,1427,
there is an exr.•ss of females over males of 117.975. It is
far from bring probable that emigration could have pro-
duced this disparity in Ireland any more titan in Glasgow,
for the Irish liftmen seldom crosses the Atlantic without a
wife and a swarm of children, an article for which there
is still a demand in the back settlements of the States;
and what proves that neither the army nor the navy OCCSV.
'ions the difference is, that in Munster. according to the
same returns, where more men are enlisted than in any
other part of the island, and out of which I htblin and Eng-
land itself drain a certain number of labourers annually,
there are reported to he 90,119 males, and only 950,493
females! whereas in Ulster, where manufactures floUrish,
and where the natives of Connaught find employment,
which they cannot tin at home, the nudes are reported to
be 968,061, and do females 1,0:10.433! Item we see an
excess of nudes, where the probability is that the females
arc most abundant ; while, on the other hand, the females
are returned most crous, by an • •nse proportion,
where the probability is that the male population is the
greatest. or at least nearly on a par with the female, as it
should be.

I mention these incongruities principally to show how
little dependence can be placed on Government returns
effected on the present plan, and I exhibit them along with
the Glasgow returns, the alleged most accurate in the
kingdom, to show that even the hest are far front be-
ing perfect. If these returns have any pretensions to cor-
rectnesa, it is surpassing strange that the male population
is the smallest in thine places into which emigration flows,
and the largest whence it issuer !
Mr. Cleland is entitled to great merit for the intense ap-
plication be has bestowed on statistics, and the Magistrates
of Glasgow to all praise for encouraging and facilitating in-
quiries which it is the duty of the Government to do upon
an extensive scale ; but it is impossible not to see that so
long as these documents bear the impress of error so strik-
ing upon their fare, we must pause before we adapt their
results to a system. or attribute a value to them, un the
more of accuracy, which they do not pessess.
It is difficult, I confess, to arrive at accuracy ; but
much might be accomplished if proper means were em-
ployed, and the Government could be dunned into the libe-
rality of providing, a fund for the purpose. For example,
the number of births is of paramount importance. It is in
vain to try to ascertain the real increase and decrease of
our population, if we can only tell how maay persons arc
!nickel, witl t being able to say how many are born.
Hail we once the births and deaths, with any fair portion
of accuracy, we would have data by which we could infer
the truth or error of the gross amount of our population.
In a few years the returns by census would be a check upon
the returns cf the bills of mortality, and rice revs.:. But
when we hear Mr. Cleland almost despairing of arriving
at this correctness, we have indeed some cause to doubt its
practicability. And yet we think an attempt might be
made. A premium, or rather a bounty up in every child,
brought by its parent to be registered, would, in my hum-
ble apprehension, Oren the object in view. It is only
among the poorest and most irregular claimer of the com-
munity (with the exception of the religions sects alluded
to), that baptism is neglected or disregarded, and registra-
tion unattended to. A bonus of a single shilling to all who
apply, or the. ad. to those in extremely poor circumstances,
would speedily bring the ne.:ligent parent to the register-
office. I should like melt to see the Magistrates of Glas-
gow the first to rese:t to axis exp,sojcet. The sum rrlnind

THE BRITISH PRESS

annually would be but small ; and general publicity is the
main thing required to make it eif..ctual. Let us have the
births accost-tidy, and merit will be accomplished.
The next cor.siderstion is to el .rise gOalle militia of set-
ting this mania of snide eliserepstiey to rest. This doctrine
must be much more thoroughly investigated before we can
conscientiously swallow it. My opinion is, that the ap-
parent &Heathen :irises from reluctance on the part of
parents, guardians, niasteni, and lodgers of youth, to give
true subteen to the surveyors. .1 few years am the Mi-
litia Law was the dread of all lwrsons in the humbler
ret:•ka of life; and a thousand tootles of evasion were re-
sorted to to elude 'te return. I have known aeheilules
filled un with wrong name 4, and many returned with wil-
ful omissions of the flesh:nation of persons residing
in the house. I have even known the names of
servant girls returtual as the cognomen!, of eligilde
If, therefore, so much artifice and fraud
were practised to avoid the cnnsequencesi of a ballot, at so
much teersonal and is cuniary hazard, what are we to ex-
pect when similar inquiries arc made by persons whcse
object in so doing, notwithstanding all the assurances to
the contrary. many of the working classes conceive to be
the same as that contemplated by the militia schedul.l?
The simplest mode of surmounting these prejudices is
to increase the number of surveyews, who should, if poi-'
&Ade, reside in the midst of their own census—bear a good
natal., among the people anion,: whom they are to make
their scrutiny; Lc, if passible, known to, and conver.iant
with the &Knelt families, seed as much as possible dif-
ferent in their elearamer and habits from the tax-gatherer,
and the poor's rote collector. In towns, let a man of this
sort he selected in every strait or lime, or in whatever peer-'
lion of the street t r lane with which he is hest acqusinta
The cost, ite this way, will, no doubt, he augmented ; for
it will be more expensive to employ ten respectable men
for one.day, than one ex-taxgatherer a cx-exciseman (the
terror of the whole vicinity, as was done last census) for
one. But by this plan the work will be better done, and
sonic kind of honest reliance may then be placed on the
results.
London, Dee. 29, 1821.

PROPOSED
ERRCT!o% OP CHURCHES AVI) CHIPPER
Inc tiii PARISH Or sr. ANDREW, HOLBORN.

Yesterday, • meeting of the Inhabitants of the Linden Liberty
of this ll'ansh, was held in the sew Inquest-mom, St. Andrew's
court, in pursuance of the foliowing printed requiiiticat, addressed
to) Mr. Alexander Willson, the Cliureirearden

....-....-
•• IVe, the under:Jigned inhabitants, householders of lb. City
Liberty of tiu• I•rrish of St. Acdrevr, Holborn, request you to call
an early meeting of the inhabitant householders of the said Liberty,
to take into consideration a communication made to Mr. Jasper
Taylor, and klr. Henry respecting "rhe Erection of
Churches and Chapels' w this parish. and the finding of sites,
plan., and estimates for the earn, and providing tor their future
mainteustice, and the fund, or respective funds. uut of which tba
several expci.ses should be paid or appall:med."

(Signeciby eighteen Parishioners.)
At a little after twelve o'clock. Mr. Il't Laos. the Churchwarden.
was called to the ('hair, and briefly seated. that he had conceited
the meeting newly in compliance with the Itequisition of the
Parishioners, niEcially addressed to him, and stated that a notice
to that effect was also read in the ('hutch on Sunday last. Thus
far, he hail merely performed his duty : but the business for which
the parishioners were assembled,.would no doubt he fully and more
satisfactorily explained by soma of the Requisitionists.
Mr..l. '1 atv con observed, that it was certainly necessary to es-
plain the motives which actuated hint, and other gentlemen, to
come forward on the present occasion ; they arras from the follow-
ing circumstance :-.l)n Saturday. the 111th inst., a letter was pot
into his hands, purporting to inform him that his name was mum.
breed with the names of other gentlemen, calling themselves a
r• Church Committee," or a Committee for the erection of addi.
*Mind churches rather, in this parish--no t:oulst. a arlf-elecid body ;
and lie (Mr. Taylor) was requested to act with them in the fur.
thrrance of ohs proposed measure ; signed by Charlet Printer, as
Clerk to the Committee, and enclosire a string of Resolutions al-
ready adopted, which he should take occasion to read, as they
would show the inhabitants why the present meting was assent.
bled ; they were as follow. (Mark ! Gentlemen, it is entitled " A
Special Meeting of lnha'iitant Householders, held at the N'estry-
mann, the Heft day of treember, 1121; on ]heir ewe reinirilier,
Rev. Gilbert Ilerusforal, Rector, being in the Chair)" :
'• liesolveil—That the extent and population of ibis Parish,
comprising upwards of -111,tital souls, render it imperiously nee's-
wary that two chapels, at least, be built • one, in or near Sallion.
hill, fin the accommodation of the inhabitants of that district, acd
another in the Cpper Liberty.
rs That the local elevation of the present Chinch, at the eastern
extremity of the parish, renders it el peculiar importance that a
like facility of attending public worship should be alliarded to the
inhabitants, of the other parts of the pariah.
" The !lector having stated, that there was reason to believe
that the l'ommissioners fur applying the sum granted by Parlia.
mint for building additional churches and chapels, had reserved a
sum of '20,0001. for the exigencies of this parish, which, sinless
101111 claimed, on a specific plan to be stated for the purpose, might
be otherwise appropriated, and the opportunity thus lint.
•• It is highly desirable, that immediate measures should
be adopted for proceeding to claim the aid of the l'aiminissioners
by deteining on a site. and submitting to them plans for thenn
erection and maintenance of such chapels.
" That a Committee be forthwith appointed to tarry the fore.
going ttesolutions into effect, by ascertaining the several particulars
of site, plan, and estimate, as well with respite to building PS to
future maintenance, and the fund or respective funds out of which
the several expenses should be paid or apportioned ; and also to
consider and prepare the heads of a proper to he submitted to
Parliament, for o fleeting the object in question ; and to report the
result to a meeting of the Requisitionists, to be converted for the
purpose, preparatory to a general :nesting of the pariah en thesub-
ject.....
_
.

.-"That the following Gentlemen be nominated es such Came
trainee, with power toadd to their number (men all the districts of the
parish, as they may deem expedient :—The Rector, 3lesus. Wal-
ton, Illerewether, r. Pollock, Hargrave, Makerlry, Tooke, Bel.
lamy, Hentiltou, Duane., lambert, ('arelall. and 1/ax. Three to
constitute a etoritm. First meeting of the Committee appointed
for Friday, the 17th inst. at eight o'clock.
Ihigned) " lat.uertT Ilunesronn, ('hairman."
On receipt of this communication t continued Mr. Taylor) it was
evident to him that it was intended to throw the burthen of these
intended churches on the whole parielt ; and he therefore deemed
it right to mention the eircenisouice to some of his neigh.
bouts, and 'eke their opinion em the subject and after con.
suiting with hie friend Mr. It'idnell and others, lie was recom-
mended to write a refusal to act on the self created Committee,
or to take any part in the Liminess, until the sense of the whole
parish, in general rreethig aisenthled, was taken on the expediency
of the measure. However. as the initahatants of the I,ondon
Liberty were already subject to a heavy burthen in church rates
which the other liberties sere altogether free from, the present
meeting was desirable, if it were only for the purpose of secertain-
ing how far the inhabitants of the London Liberty might or might
not be interested in the measure, without at all interfering in the
primary question as to the necessity for the election of any addi-
tional churches or chapels in the parish.
The 11ev. 6ILDERT PE %IWO. It, in ft ply to some observa-
tions which had fallen from Mr. Taylor, in reference to the Reso-
lutions read by that gentleman, observed, that before he tthe Rev.
I ;end. mss ) left ',melon. some time in June last, he was waited upon
by several gentlemen of respectability, to consult him on the pro-
priety of meeting a new churn' in fOttle part of the Upper Liberty.
and to know in which way it could be beet afflcted. At that time,
lie merely pointed out what seemed to him the most advisable pro-
ceedieg, namely, tat call a meeting for the purpose of discussing
the subject fairly ; but for hie own part, since that time, he felt
considerable reluctance in interfering in the concerns of the parish,
unless, where his ditty called for such interference, because it
might possibly have been mixed up with another question respect-
ing certain rates that he claimed in the l'pper liberty, the pay-
ment of which, though at present in dispute, he made no doubt
sold be eventually enforced. However, on a repeated applies-
tion, he consented to call a meeting, which was held it. the Vestry-
',Kim, on the 13th inst. which mer'irg entered into the Resolutions
that had been just re al, and having resolved 'Dor into a (emu.,
mittme determined on calling another meeting fur the purple: of
obtaining, or numinaling lour Representatives trout Saffmti-hill
liberty, anal from the City Liberty, to whore the pnweeditige
would be deeeilcd, prim to going Into a whole meeting of the
parish. Whatever opinion geintlenirn might entertain as to the
propriety of his condoler, lie certain', felt that nn private consider'.
tions would have justified him in thiowing cold eater on a subject
of en much importance tat the great bulk of the parishioners.
31r. deputy Hi:Ey ES wished to know whether any sites for the
messed churchee had as yet been eleiennincd on ?
The Rev. Mr. Henri:runts replied there was one only, and
that even in pert. tor the Libertyofeaffronthilt.

.....
MT. J. TATI.OII rose to " 01;11ff." itt did not connive that
this meeting hut any thing at Al to do with the measures either
adopted, or proposed, by tilt self-eleeted Committer. If those
gentlemen tholight pmpte to biekl churehes, trusted they would
do so at their ownexpetge.

The Rev. Mr. Br Bistro' obligees', that it dii not appear by
the R.solutions passed at that Meeting that the London Liberty
were called upon to bear any pan of the expense.
31r. TAY I 0• slid hr thought that it •as the Only of the inha.
'Mame of that pan of the parish to guard against any future ex.
penses in the way of church rates ; and although the Resolutions
certainly did not say. in express terms, that they would be called
en to nontribtne a nunety of the chart:Au incurred, yet it was equally
certain that they abstained frost saving that they ledald no;, at sung
tuna: period, be rends red liable thereto.

Air. Joni Dr..% nen r ruse to oppose the proceedings of this
self-crea:ed %tinny t tee w:t:i considerable reluctance. on one accunt,
namely, that it was most desirable that full acisonsmodat ion should be
givsti to Ito whole parish. Ile did not blame those who had gat ap
those resolotiors tholepsrishioners had a right to call upon 11.• Itec-
W mcivr :hem :::::etning OP any ptnuchuil 6'uncnn, and tlic lttsctc:

r had no right to refuse, wt 111,11.: AN they art ed with decorum, and a pro.
per mead to the interest, to of;, I •m thep..ri►h,rut since the
hreakin; tip of thst Conamiller, wl.it h tt one period did so notch
' good fur the parish, whirl; so contl.knly embraced its peculiar
toterestl—since that p the i'it.v ht•erty hal suffered su murk
dont the inhabitants woult lot, a 1:3 ri4:it enit to COntr.little one
penny ft* years to vane, to Soy thtng that might be WIWI illgin the
pariah. If it were rontea.'.si :tn.; in:e church was .not enough for
so &react a populaii.in as o.e o.risli contained, then let those who
feel the want a uu.th.r rt,;.:riO;oe to it; and tilt; n it is reateto-
berl, the t the r Gbttov ha. airettly made a want liberal cool.
position for their I: .nine of !Oh,. uti.l the various eepenst, wen.
dant on the attlintiaelit of Orain 1e ram 11,:tUrr, k will he found
that the inhatitalt of alit u!..‘tti.- i.a.7,ing in the ratio of three-
fourths to that ;if the other ies oh the pat ;th ; in few, they had
already paid whit was pole tlittirrilent, or more Unto entsivalent to
any nwiely that might fall to tosir shnre for the providing of sites,
the erection of ehurehe., or their future itaainteoanee. lie would,
therefore, lmt to move 1.;11or•hig re.odutions, whirls lie traded
the Rev. GOlllOll3ll wtm!..l..dmit, were so shaped as to meet the
nr.corrrnre of nll.

I. a• That this 3ieetian view with great surprise and deep regret
intimation to rarire the of Wilding new churches or
chapels in chit pit WI, am: aly object to the anue, as far as
this Many may he Emmen:ell.
2. •• Th !los ..‘lerting as intention of interfering with
the coal part of tins *Pr application to Parliament, or
in the buildieg of new cliiticht sar cba,wl., or in the dialing of
sites, or „in iiartteiyairig in any ,-r.e said to be of ; but are
di:ten:dont! to roist to the itilloot atteuipts to make them liable
to any cepatoe for melt piapoN...
3. •• Thvt this .tie; hare come In this rinclusion. rot fmrn
miy desire ta ...los in tilt! r Jr of ac y wish that the county
lint Onrc lost, e'rot,l duipt but in roost...piens,
•,1 the exi•cme It.is Lit en at hi settle their tithe
oil-Akin in Yarhametit, di,. Keeling at; the other two
.try to, proposed to them by this
liberty ; aid eh, in enieeiptelie• tlie enormous disproportion iit
the MOO LOT :Mid 4 this Li..!•?r for, the support of the el. rgy tit
the whale the. do hope that the sense of
cavity jos, ice in the girl, 1.0.!i, of the inhabitants of Ott:County
pens of this parish. will ialnty tarn to atop forward to counteract
the prMeTit to miy future attempt io put au unjust a burden upon
this 1. ac eyes
4. " 11:4, from the foregoing weievy mosiioratinos. a Caws.
miller he now appointed. ronsisiimt of thirteen Inhabitants of this
liberty (with power to ail ro their :mother and form a Sub-Cain.
twitter), for the piemoar of a atcli:ng and resisting any attempt that
may he made to bring any increased expense upon the inhabitants
of this lihrrt."
-

A fifth Hes' dation wan then prepred, for the appointment of a
COMlllitiCr of thirteen, to watch ant report on whatever niesaures
might be taken by other pa-ta of the parinls calculated to throw any
expense on the inhabitarti of the City Liberty ; f3ve of said Com-
miner to fonit a quorum.
The lieu. Mr. fleet rsrottn admitted that there wag nothing, so
far an he could see, at all harsh or ohjec: humble in the tone of tho.e
resolution., with the exception of one wo.d, and that one of the
smallest in our language: that wan in the third resolution—" to
counteract the present or any future uttetnpt to put an unjust a bur-
den mot: this Liberty." The wort r" in this sentence implied that
the burden was already put on perhaps the word any would be
mete applicable, and folly as strong.
3lr. 1 Eattrix did not fel satisdi,nl w't)t the way in which the re-
solution would run, even by this alteration ; it would read " any
*Oust burden," dc.: now the word seas/ wan of very questionable
character, because what inigbt arrest. Just to some would perhaps
be considered unjust by others. 'I am didiculty, however, could be
got ores by striking nut the word unjust, and introducing in its
place the word linther.

The reimluti.in was in amended. and the whole were then pot
seriatim. and paiumsl, with some pertinent remarks fruai -Messrs.
Snell, Beauchamp, iearon, Jasper Taylor, Reeves, Richard
Tolew, ate.

&store' the meeting dissolved, Mr. RrEvrs c.l it would be
most desirable to gr. edecisive answer from the Rector on one
point, namely, whether the City Lawny, if the measure was not
now opposed, might be considaed as claapted from any expertise
in future ?

The Rev. Mr. Bee Esron n replied, that he was pot authorised
to go so far as that, although he would soy that they were not im.
mediate'', called upon to contribute anything.
Mr. TAT Loa said that they had no right whatever to anticipate
"prose. though it was their duty toguard against it.
Thanks were then anted to Mr. 11 ilium. for the readiness with
which he complied with the terms of the requisition, and the sleet-
ing was dissolved.