The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-28 00:00:00

THE FORTE COMING CENSUS.

The following official memorandum on some of
the objects and uses of the census of 1861 has been
issued, and will be read with interest. It may be
stated that there will be no investigation as to the
" religious profession" of any one. That inquiry,
when proposed last year, having been met with
general disapproval, was abandoned by the Govern-
ment.

The census concerns every individual in the
British Isles. Early in April a schedule will be left
with the occupier of every house and apartment ;
and shortly after sunrise, on Monday, Bth April,
30,441 enumerators in England and Wales will
begin their calls at every house and collect the
schedules which they have previously left, filling up
those of persons who have been unable to write. A
similar army will perform a precisely similar opera-
tion in Scotland, Ireland, and Australia. It is
sometimes asked, why is the seventh census to be
taken ? What is the use of the information to be
collected? The injunction " know thyself" is as
binding on nations as oh individuals, and self.
knowledge is in both cases as useful as it is difficult
to acquire. The householder takes some note of
the members of his family; the merchant takes
stock ; and governments count the numbers of their
people. The population of a country is not only of
great interest in science, but it is a piece of infor-
mation with which every educated person is
familiar, and is indeed the primary heading in
every elementary book of geography. That the
population may be correctly known, the census
must be taken. The usefulness of information of
this kind is shown by the demand for the London
and other directories, court guides, law lists, and
peerages. The census supplies materials for a na-
tional directory, in which the names of every
Englishman will be found inscribed. But the in-
formation in these national books will be more
comprehensive than that in the directories ; for
after the names of the inmates in each inhabited
house, their sex, age, corjugal condition, occupa-
tion, and birthplace, will be written. Thus, by an
analysis of the returns, the population can be
classified. We can learn the number of males and
females living at different ages, distinguishing
those married and unmarried, and those who fabri-
cate in every variety of industry the infinite
number of valuable products in these islands. A
knowledge of these facts about the English people
would in itself be useful and gratifying to a liberal
curiosity ; precisely as is an acquaintaince with the
plants and minerals and animals of the world, and
the stars of the heavens, whose " multitudes " have
been catalogued by scientific men. It is moreover
well established that the relations of men to each
other, and all their acts, are governed by laws of
universal interest, which can be deduced from the
observations of which the census supplies the most
essential part. Some of these laws are too recon-
dite for casual discussion, but the doctrine of
population may be referred to as of obvious
importance. The area of these islands is
limited, and it is a matter of no small inter-
est to know bow many mouths there are to be fed,
at what rates they are increasing, and how they
are likely to increase by subsisting marriages—
how many are dependent on the several kinds of
industry, deriving materials from the produce of
the soil, or from the wider fields of foreign com-
merce. The census supplies answers to all these
questions, and shows how population is increased
or diminis4d by marriages at different ages, by
the different species of industry, and by emigra-
tion to our vast colonial possessions. The numbers'
of fighting men, as well as intelligence and wealth,
determine the position England holds in the pre-
sence of the other great powers of Europe ; and are
the measure of the influence which it can exert
iu the cause of freedom all over the world. The
census displays to her enemies the force invaders
have to dread, and to friendly States the numbers
of their friends in England. _

The first census was taken under Mr. Pitt's
administration in 1801. It was the year of the
Union with Ireland ; a year of famine, and a year
•f Ean guin ary war with France, having the northern
confederacy for its allies. The population of Great
Britain was estimated at 7,392,000 in 1751. Ma
nufactures and the large towns increased, but
emigration was commencing, and some country
villages were deserted. Goldsmith sang :

111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay ;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made :
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,:
When once destioyed, can never be supplied.

And Dr. Price contended that there was an abso-
lute decay of the population. This gave rise to a
protracted controversy, which, in the critical state
of the country, it was important to settle. The
population of Great Britain was then enumerted
in 1801, and amounted to 10,917,000, and with
that of Ireland united with her, made above
16,000,000. This was a triumphant reply to
the doubts of those who despaired of their
country. Notwithstanding the war the popu-
lation increased, as the census showed, at the
rate of two to three millions every ten years
until 1841. a: Then immense emigration took
place ; there was depopulating famine in Ireland,
which had an imperfect poor law, and cholera was
epidemic; yet the population of Great Britain was
augmented by 2,308,000, and although the popula-
tion of Ireland fell off, the people of the United
Kingdom amounted to 27,724,000 in 1851. Since
that date there have been great emigrations, and an
epidemic of cholera ; but the marriages have in-
creased, the births have exceeded the deaths, and
the mortality of the towns has been diminished by
sanitary measures. An increase of the population
may be expected; but its extent and the particular
classes which have increased or declined—in towns
or in the country—can only be determined by the
census to be taken on the Bth of April. The " num-
ber of souls," in the expressive language of the
old writers, will then be known, and will remind
the nation of the extent of the institutions for the
advancement of education, religion, and justice, re-
quired to keep pace with its numbers. The infor-
mation which the census supplies admits of innu-
merable practical applications. It is absolutely
necessary for determining the state of the public
health ; and by pointing out the immense varia-
tions in the rate of mortality, and the intensity of
diseases under different circumstances, will lead to
the removal of the real causes of national suffering
and decay. In the same way, by comparing the
crimes committed by different classes of the popu-
lation with their numbers, the prevalence of crime
may be discovered and diminished; which, when
criminals are no longer transported, is a matter of
immense importance. The frequency with which
reference is made in both Houses of the Legisla-
ture, at public boards, and municipal bodies, to the
varying population of the towns, counties, and
several divisions of the country, demonstrates the
propriety of obtaining all the information accu-
rately which the census supplies for public pur-
poses. The census was taken by the legislators of
antiquity, and by the practical Romans ; it is now
carried out in every civilized country. But the Eng-
lish census has in it some peculiarities. It has no
connection whatever with rates and taxes. There
is nothing approaching to a poll-tax in England,and
no one has anything to dread from the census. in-
quiries. There is no conscription in England,and even
the ballot for the militia is forgotten; the services
by sea and by land being filled by volunteers. The
inquiry elicits no real secrets, as the information
asked of each man is known approximately to all
his friends ; and even in the delicate matter of years
numbered by gentlemen, or even by ladies of a
certain age, it is found, that although many may
look, they are never thought younger than they are
by other people ; so that to tell the truth is the
right and the prudent course to pursue. The re-
turns of age, and indeed the whole of the facts, it
is officially announced, ere to be treated as confi-
dential, and neither to be used to a person's disad-
vantage her to gratify "idle curiosity." Should-