New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-07-20
TIE EfLICIoUs CENSUS OF ENGLAND.

The last British Census of 1851 embraced an in
GuiTy into the state of public Religious Worship in
that country. The first report thereupon Of the Reg
istrar General has lately been published. 1t relates
only to England and Wales; the report on Ireland
the subject considerably heightened by the fact that
this is the first attempt that has been made to
obtain exact knowledge of the real state of religion n
the British Isles. Now, for the first time, is it
rendered possible to institute sat sfactory COM
parison between the general religious condition and
particular denominatODa census returns of the United
States and those of England and Wales. In order to
enable readers to do and also to appreciate the
political influence it is likely to exercise, we propose
to lay before them condensed summary of the main
results to be gathered from the report. 1t seems,
then, that the Established Church has attached to it
H,o77 churches, and that all other religious sects
have 1890 chapels, making in all 467 places OF
public worship, including Mormons and isolated con-
gregttions. OF the seven most numerous dissenting
bodies the number of chapels is stated as follows:
Romon Catholics..... $40 Unitarans. 229
Cong regatiOnalsts. ....3, pa Wesleyan Methodsts,
Bsptist-, lo dlvsonsl.2 is9 lall divisions ,Oo1
Society OF Frends..... 81 Cavinstc Methodsts. goo
In connection with the present position of tho
Church of England with its H. 077 Churches, toward
the other religious bodies in the land with their 2O
300 cbapes, it important to observe that since lo)l
that position has very materially altered for accor
ding to the approximate estimates of the census ia
bles in 1901, the Church of England seems then to
have had 1873 Churches to 3,7Ol belonging to all
the other sects At every decennia period since that
year the Wesleyan Methodist body alone has in the
number of its edifces far Outstrpped the Church
of England and the successive encrOachments of dis.
sent upon the once towering preponderance of the
tablished Church indicate for the future result of
the highest Importance to the interests Of political
well as religious freedom.
Another point to be considered is the comparative
amount OF accommodation afforded in the respective
places Of worship. The total number Of sttings
provided by the Church of England in 1851, amounts
to 5317,9I5, or sufficient for 1917 per cent of the
total population at that epoch (7927 900. In 1871
the Established Church supplied sufficient for as per
cent. of the then population. In this respect also
it appears that the Church of England has not kept
pace with the growth of population. All other re-
gious bodies supplied accommodation, in 1851, for
4,e94,64o persons; and if, therefore every church.
chapel and room devoted to religious purposes were
filed in England and Wales, they would contain 52.1
per cent. of the entire population.
The next question is to what extent is this accom-
modation actually used By the English people. This
was ascertained BY taking test Sunday, (Which fell
on the Both March, 1871 the minister or person
officiating at each service on that day filling up his
schedule with the number in attendance. The re-
porter calculates that at least 20 per cent Of the en-
tire population would be able to attend at some time
Of the day; this would give aggregate of l2,54926
ho mic he a ctadf In att
number actually did attend On that day BY anappro1i-
mate estimate based upon the figures contained in
the schedules it appears that POI O32 separate per-
ICONS attended divine service either once or oftener
upon the Census Sunday" leaving 255 294 persons
"who altogether neglected to do sO.'
These seven million and q quarter persons include
those who attended at the service of the most
"heterodox" religious bodies. As to the distribu.
ton ofthese 1891 c32 persons ii appears that 3773
474 attended the Established Church on that day
against 3iS7,55S persons attending other religious
organizations. At the most numerously attended