Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1851-08-07

Inc cause oil this astonishing de-
crease is told in single word-des
titation. The means Of subsistence
have been wanting. Hence have
arisen four seperaie results-frst,
death; secondly, emigration; thirdly,
disease and debility for the surviving,
such that an increase of births could
not be expected; and fourthly, the
fact that the youthful, the marriage.
able. and the vigorous, from whom
an increase could be looked for,
have moved away, and the aged and
the extreme young have constituted
large proportion Of those who have
remained behind. This is general
summary Of the melancholy tale.
1t is a most melancholy and de
pressing picture. We are so used in
our own country to hear Of progress,
that this enormous. decay strikes US
with a deep shudder. The world
has never witnessed such appalling
statisticsl ireland is the first nation
that Famine and Pestilence has de-
populated. or this frightful decrease
of population more than one-half
must have perished for lack OF food
Thousands have been swept off by
starvation, while hundreds OF thous
ands died of the Pestilence which Fa-
mine engendered.
1t is interesting 10 read the refec-
tions of our Irish contemporaries in
their own land. The following are
extracts from their papers:
''In the reduction Connaught and
Munster have borne the largest share,
the decrease in the former province
being % per cent. and at the latter
23-while in Leinster and Ulster the
decrease is pretty equal, being about
Is per cent. in each. 1t may not be
uninteresting TO state briefly the fiuc-
tuations in the number Of the popula-
~tion for the last 40 years. In the
first decade il increased from 5,637,-
S5e to 6,S0l, ,627, rapid ratio of 35
per cent; in the second the increase
was IA per cent: in the third, 5 per
cent; and now at the close of the
fourth decade by a reduction OF 20I
per cent, we are less than we were
80 years ago; whereas instead Of de-
creasing, the population, according TO
IFS natural tendencies, had increased
only in the low ratio Of 5 per cent,
it would now be upwards Of 1000
000,more than it is. Dublin is the
only county which shows an increase
of about 10 per cent.
With this single exception, the de-
crease extends to all counties in Ire
land, and varies from 9 per cent. in
Antrim to 81 per cent. in Roscom-
mon. II will be observed that the
per centage is lowest in Antrim, |
Wexford, Down and Londonderry,
and highest in Galway, Mayo and
Roscommon. A comparison OF the
numbers indicating the decrease per
cent. in the different counties viewed
in connection with the state of socie-
ty in each, suggests many topics for
reflection which we have not leisure
at present to discuss, but from which
important references may be deduced.
The towns all exhibit an increase va
rying from 8 TO 43 per cent. on the
10 years. In Dublin we find the
population IS now 254,850, showing
an increase of9 per cent. In Cork
the increase is 7 per cent; in Belfast,
80 per cent; and Galway has nearly
doubled ifs inhabitants, being now 43
per cent. more than in lS4I."
In this decrease, the numbers who
have died, may be. compared togeth-
er in some degree, by the fact that du.
ring the last ten years the emigra-
tion from the United Kingdom has
10 above 100000, OF
which amount, as is well known, Ire
land has furnished more than its nat
ural proportion. And not only this,
but Ireland has sent large numbers
TO reside permanently in England
and Scotland. who are not included
IN ihe number of emigrants.
Ihe -avages Of disease have been
beyond all conception. Several hun.
dreds OF thousands have perished
prematurely by famine, by fever. I
by cholera. by diarrhea, by slow
hunger, by nakedness. BY want Of i
fuel, by insufficient habitation, by
want OF medical aid, by neglect Of |
by desertion OF friends, by /
the lowest possible rate of existencr,
and by the uttermost prostration of
spirits. A quarter OF a million Of !
poor creatures huddled at one time !
a work houses, and even more than !
mat number Of habitations swept
rom the earth, testify to the almost D