The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-21 00:00:00

THE IRISH CENSUS.

A further inspection of the Irish census suggests, in
addition to the observations previously made, some con-
siderations which cannot well fail to secure the notice of
those who take an interest in population returns, and
which at the same time are not unimportant to the
general reader.
Leaving out of the calculation the myriads who have
recently emigrated from Ireland, and referring only to
the excessive mortality which is now the subject of arith-
metical demonstration, it is important to observe that
this great excess of deaths over births has taken place
in a country in which the generality of the population
were in that state of simple poverty which is favourable
to the increase of numbers.

Dr. Price (writing in 1783) observes that " there is
reason to believe that poor countries . . . . in-
crease !aster than rich countries. The reason is ob-
vious. The greatest enemies of population are the arti-
ficial wants, the accumulation of property, and the
luxury and vices which are the constant attendant
of opulence, and which prevent a regular and early
union of the sexes. The inhabitants of poor countries
are more simple, more healthy, and more virtuous;
and, wanting little besides food, families are no
burden, and the prolific powers of nature have
free scope to display themselves." He then says,
perhepe Ireland is one in>tance of this. If we may de-
pend on an acc,unt in the Philosophical Transactions'
the number of people in Ireland in 1695 did not much
exceed 1,000,000. At present (1783) they are, I sup-
pose, about 2,000,000,"
Although at the period when Dr. Price wrote there
was a great want of adequate data respecting the extent
of the Irish population, there were yet sufficient mate-
rials to j tiredly the conclusion which he wished toestablisb,
viz., that poor countries, provided that the ground sup-
plied plenty of food, and the poverty of the inhabi-
tants consisted only in their wanting conveniences and
elegancies, in other countries deemed necessaries, in-
crease faster than rich ones. Subsequent investigation
has shown that, at a point even below that con-
templated by this writer, the rate of increase
is very great—an observation which has been
fully justified by the increase in the Irish popu-
lation during the earlier decades of this century. It
therefore follows that the sudden falling off in the popu-
lation of Ireland is a fact of greater value in computation
than the same fact would have been if it had taken
place in England, or in any country where there is a
greater proportionate amount of the luxury resulting
from opulence.
Tho application of this doctrine to the figures
given in the Irish census is worthy of notice. Bear-
ing in mind the very short time during which those
causes have operated which have diminished the
population, it would be wrong to look for any very
great diminution in the relative numbers contained
in families. It will, however, be found that the recent
calamity has already told on the size of families
which, from containing 5.5636 individuals in 1841,
aro reduced in 1851 to 5.3983. To perceive the
amount of this difference it would be necessary only
for a person to visit 100 families, when he would find
them to contain 16 persons less than the same number
of families at the corresponding period 10 years back;
and this deficiency would become very striking if the
number visited were 1,000, in which case it would
amount to 165, the fractions being left out in both
instances.

Of course it is not supposed that this difference in the
number of an Irish family is to be accounted for wholly
by a diminution in the number of births; it will be ne-
c,ssary, however, in assigning the causes of this re-
markable contraction of the faimily circle, to have
retereuce to the particular cause which has been in-
dicated. When more ample details shall be fur-
nished of the late census, and those details reduced
for scientific and other purposes, it will be desirable
to inquire why, in 1841, the population could be as-
certained by multiplying the families by 5 5634, and
in 1851 by reducing the multiplier to 5.3983. It
will be observed, Isy looking at the numbers under the
head of " famil:es" at each of these periods, that
in 1841 we have 1,472,787, and in 1851 1,207,002,
so that in passing from the number of families to that
of persons we have now to deal with factors, both of
which are reduced. To obtain the proper answer to
such an irquiry we should have to bear in mind the re-
markable law noticed by Dr. Price, and which should be
noticed in connexion with the facts presented by the
present census.
A person not acquainted with the melancholy history
of Ireland during the last ten years, and who should di-
rect his attention to the popal ;don of the towns at the
beginning and the end of that interval, would naturally
conclude that the decade had been one of great prospe-
rity, as the towns now • present a remarkable increase of
numbers. Beginning with Drogheda, where the small-
est addition has been made, the rate of increase has been
3 per cent., and, passing to Limerick and Waterford,
where the increase to 14 per cent., then to Belfast,
where it is 32, we come to Galway, where it is 43. In
the last case, the increase in the population is from
17.275 to 24,697, au addition of 7,422, for which no
parallel can be found in the natural increase of towns.
These increased numbers, with the exception of Belfast,
and perhaps of Dublin, represent not prosperity, but
misery and destitution. The several columns confirm
the statements which were made daring the seasons of
famine and pestilence, of the numbers that rushed
into the tomes as the only means left them to escape
from death by starvation in the country. Belfast is evi-
dently a happy exception to this statement, for it will be
seen that, while the rate of increase in the town has been
32 per cent., the decrease in the counties of Antrim
and Down has not been more than 7. 6 per cent. in
Antrim and 10.5 per cent. in Down. This is a striking
contrast to the case of the town of Galway, where, while
the population has increased in the remarkable manner
already noticed, the county of Galway has lost its popu-
lation to the extent of more than 30 per cent., and Clare
to the extent of 29.8.

The case of Dublin, both in the city and the county,
is somewhat peculiar. While the former has increased
at the rate of 9 per cent., it might be concluded that
this increase has not been at the expense of
the surrounding country, since the increase in
the county has been at the rate of 10 per cent.
There would, however, be a fallacy in the conclusion that
this increase of numerical strength was indicative of pro-
sperity, either in the city or the neighbouring county.
This rate of increase is obviously unnatural, and indi-
cative of disturbance in some other parts of the country.
This excess of increase in the metropolis of Ireland can
be readily accounted for, by considering that what a
county town is to its neighbourhood, Dublin is to the
whole island. While the peasant could not make his way
further than the nearest town, the broken down family,
and, in some instances, that would be a "county family,"
could decamp to the metropolis, and fiud a residence
there or in its environs. Among the numbers
in excess of natural increase added to Dublin, county
and city, will be found many who have abandoned the
old family mansion for a lodging of very moderate pre-
tensions on the Quays, and their wide demesnes for a
small house and garden at Dundrum. If the complete
returns of the Irishit m
acyenbseuspsohesoiubllde
tpor oavpep
rvoexrtym
aatmeptloe
theand an
nmumbaegr:bolfe'reduced gentry living in such positions
in and around the metropolis of Ireland, but no statis-
tics could present the amount of suffering to which
perhaps, still are re-
dmotteneyd.of them have b, and,

Connected with the decline of the Irish population
there is one fact which would not have presented itself
had a similar decline taken place in slumbers in England.
We refer to the diminution in the number of houses,
which were—

In 1841..
1851—

1,384,360
... ... ~. 1,115,007

269,353
This number, which would have been much greater
if the natural increase had been allowed for, gives
the numerical results of causes which do not to any
extent prevail in Great Britain—of evictions, fol-
lowed, or in some cases preceded, by conflagration;
of the simple process of pulling the mud cabin down
after the tenant had left; and very generally of the
result of abandooing the rude hut to the operation of the
elements, by which it would be restored to the ground
from which is unbaked and undried materials had been
dug. The destruction of above 250,00 u " houses," such
as are included in this census, is not a fact of any com-
mercial interest, but it tells a tale of much significance,
suggestive of some practical wisdom, which it may be
hoped the new race of Irish landlords will not fail to learn.
—Times.