Star.
London, England, 1829-05-30 00:00:00

EDINBURGH REVIE%ir.-POPULATION.

The Edinburgh Review, which has just appeared for the
last quarter, among other very interesting papers, con-
tains " Proposals for an Improved Cent u. of the Popu-
lation." In noticing this article, and in directing atten-
tion to it, we have to premise that it is now about the
time that a census must be taken. In 1821, certain
foolish fears among the community as to the object or
the census operated to such an extent, that a great deal
of trickery was resorted to, to conceal the title state of
the population; and we could name certain districts
and parishes from which the very reverse .ot the fact
was reported. The censuses of 1811 and 1801 were in
the same predicament, and therefore they ate all of
them very imperfect. But now, that there is no reason
for the head of a family, the Clergyman, the School-
master, or other official person in a district or a parish,
to withhold the real state of their numbers—that them

are no wars to deprive fathers and mothers of their"
favourite sons,—nor taskmaste►s whose interest it is to
conceal the number and names of their journeymen and
apprentices, we have a good opportunity of obtaining
what is highly important and necessary—a full And fair
Census of the Population of Great Britain and Ireland•

In the present Review we have it clearly ,et forth, that
the method resorted to for forming an estimate of our
population, through the ut..cl;um of the registers of the
births and burials, is very fallacious. This must be evi-
dent ftom,the fact, that in England there are very many
D ssenters, none of whom baptise according to the f irms
of the Church, and neglect to register their children;
apila, many Clergymen are averse to register any but
those that ate publicly baptised; and lastly, in great
towns the ceremony of baptism is often dispensed with
altogether. The Jews, the Quakers, and Roman Ca-
tholics, In London andelsewhere, have their own burial
grounds; and many others, From poverty, live and die
unknown and forgLtten. There is, therefore, no reliance
to be placed on an estimate of our population founded
on such data.—The Reviewer says— .
There is good reason to think that no one of the
censuses taken in this country is nearly so accurate as
it might hive been. In E!rgland, the Overseas of the
poor—and in Scotland, the 'Parochial Schoolmasters,
have been selected to take the census ; and perhaps no
description of persons could be selected better r,ualified
to perform the principal part of thi. important duty.—.
At the same time, it is quite certain that amongst the
very large number of overseers and schoolmasters em-
ployed to make the returns, many were not sufficiently
impressed with the impottance of tt.e duty devolved
upon them by the Legislature; and many were quite
secompelent to its proper performance. To give it the
desirable degree of accuracy, itis essential that the pro,
ceedings of the overseers arid schoolmasters should be
sutjected to some sort of supervision and controul.—
This might perhaps be effected. were Government to
direct the.Lorits Lieutenant to place it under the super -
intendance ref a small Committee of the most active and
intelligent Magistrates in each county ; this Committee
being, at the same time, instructed to select some of
the inhabitants best acquainted with the state of their
respective parishes to assist in the work, and who might
afterward, be questioned by the Magistrates as to the
mode in which they had preceecird in making the re•
turns, in the event f tqin thinking any such esplana-
firms necessary, We. careen doubt that through the
agency of souse siiriple:tpacLinery r f this sort, mean,
might be found for ad.rliiig very much to the correct-
,,ess of the census. And: ask this i. a matter of great
pubtc intere,t, we de; fope that Government will not
lose sight of it; but that such measures will be adopted
in taking the cr mos of 1831; as may be sufficient
purity rt from the errors that infect and vitiate the cen-
suses taken in 1801,1811, and 1821."

So says the Reviewer; and lie ',Rows 'this simple
sugge•mn up by the most interesting details and de-
ductums tirade probabilities and mean duration of his-
,an life. Knowing that this alba- ire the Edinburgh
!(evicts will be very generally perused, it is unnecesSar)
for us to transfer any mote of it to our columns. On
present wish is to draw attention to it. We cannot,
nowever, crse this nil cc with..lit showing the public
what it is posoble to effect in the way of isbtaining a
census. In 1822 a Society in Scotland instituted an
iuduiiy into the past and present state of Education in
the Highlands, and its investigations were at once con"-
Fehensi%e its tange avid 'minute in detail. In 1826
this Society published their Report, under the title of
" Moral Statistics," and in the tables to this Rep in
were present,-d. Ist. The total number of persons above
eight years unable to read—eparating those above
'twenty from those under that aie; '2 J. The distance rf
sari iamily from the nearest school; sd. The propor-
tiro, of families possessing copies of the Scriptures; and
4th. T! e ielative prevalence of the English and Gaelic
Languages. All this was sat.sfactorily performed in up-
wards .4 one hunched parishes ; and the Report. of the
Society !mins a most valuable statistical document.
This was a much more aidirous and comprehensive
undertaking than a simple census can be. Other vain-
able information :was attained than the mere number of
souls; and having been effected over such a wide ex-
•tent as 100 or 170 parishes, there is no reason why it
Should not be effected throughout the whole kingdom.
At all events, in a new census, we see no reason why
it should not be enjoined, that besides the mere number
of peisons,-thete ought to be cl issi;ications of them—
as, for instance, the Proprietary and Clergy of each
parish or county in one class: in the second class, the
yeomen and farmers ; and in the third class, servants
and labouring people. In the second class, merchants,
manufacturers, and masters of every description, with
their faMilies, to be included ; and in the third, their
journeymen, apprentices, and labourer., with their
families. It would likewise be highly desirable to as-
certain to what sect each person or each family be-
longed ; and one word in taking their numbers in the
census would be sufficient to indicate this. By Ibis
means we should arrive to the important information
of the actual state of our church, by seeing the relative
numbers of Protestants, Presbyterians, Dissenters of
every denomination, Jews, Quakers, and Roman Ca.
tholics. Other useful information might at the same
time be got at, of which we may treat in a future notice
on this subject.
" Let not, therefore," says the Reviewer, " the ap-
proaching opportunity of obtaining a correct census—a
census worthy of the country and the age—be neglected.
If the census to be taken in 1831 be executed with due
care, both as respects the enumeration and classification
of the people, it will be one of the most important do-
coments ever prepared under Parliamentary authority,
and .will not only afford a vast deal of information of
immediate practical utility, but will be a point of com-
parison to all future times."

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