The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-11
CURRENT TOPICS.

u.
missioncrs, however, aro valuable for another l
reason: : they show decline Of the natural iht
crease Of tho population. Tho average num-
Der Of cmigrants from 1877 10 1861 waR 27O, lO5 |
per annum. During tho following eight years |
il averaged 69,9S9 year. During tho last !
four years il has again increased so MS to aver
age l0I, ,siG- Increase Of population by births |
must principally depend tho proportion
which those between the ages Of twenty anu
thirty -hYo bcnr 10 tho rcsl Of the community |
Tho proportions Of such persons in tho Popula-
tion Of Tho whole kingdom is aboul twenty-five
per cent, while their proportion in tho cmi-
grafton Of the present day is more than fifty
two per cent. The London Daily Ners says:
"When tho fullest deductions hayo been made
for emigration the Irish population returns
still show large deficiencies, which can only be
| accounted for by admitting q decline in the
| power Of tho population 10 reproduce itself.
The natural increase Of the population Of Ire
land in tho period between 1881 and 1871 was
one. tenth per cont. por annum. In tho period
| 184l-1B5l, which included several terrible
years Of famine, fever and flight, il Of course
fell enormously; but even between 1861 and
1861, when there was nothing to produce q
specially injurious effect upon the health Of tho
people, tho natural incroase Of tho population
| was only 70 per cent. per annum. In tho ten
years before 1861 Tho population fell from
G,5l5,793 to 6,T6i,6i3 a natural increase
| Of 100000 souls WAS to bo act against
an emigration of 1,210.000, and the de-
crcase Of tho population was 657,25l.
In the six years since 1861 as
many as GIT 1897 cmigrants have left Ireland,
and supposing tho natural rate Of increase Of
the period l86l-'Gl to havo been maintained,
tho population at the census in 7InS- commits
ly-asT UeileSe that il is not being mint anod.
Or tho $3.50 persons who omigratod last year,
SO, ,423 we're single men, and 81. &c per cent of
the whole Irish emigration went to the United
States, being much larger proportion than in
previous years. That tho .emigrsnts do not
leave in circumstances of destitution, is shown
by the better order of passenger aocommoda-
tion which they select. In 1868, tho proper
tion Of those who emigrated in steam vessels
was 46.S5, in 1884 il was 63.66, in 1866 it was
1850, and In 1866 It was Sl.l8, per cent; Tho
shorter and better accommodation being about
| one-third dearer than in sailing ships. The
inferencos Of tho Emigration Commissioners as
to the effect of emigration upon the natural in
crease Of population, are corroborated by the
| returns Of tho Registrar-0 General of ireland.
Last year the marriages of Protestants were
only for every LA Protestants, and for every
2l2 Catholics the rate in this country being
one marriage 10 every l22 persons. The birth
rate in ireland MAS two-and-n-half per cont,
while in England II was threo- and half per
| cont. in tho same year"
WRITER In TnH Saturday Recietc the Same
one, we presume, who not long since wrote
Natural History of Blockhesds, discourses
lcarnedly and pleasantly on donkey Power"
We have room only for the following extract:
l,"Poltics and literature are as much indebted
10 donkey power as philanthropy and religion.
Politics perhaps may be taken as one of tho
happiest instances of the success Of the COM
binalion Of tho donkey engine and the steam
engine. Great changes in tho political arena
are never 80 prosperously achieved as when
they are the efeot of satisfactory compromise
between the two. So far from forbidling tho
bans between them, we ought to thank heaven
upon our knees that both exist, and are ap-
| narrntiy destined 10 aSisi tosothor 10 all time
II the world were only governed as PLATo and
as NJ ColTE wished, by philosophers, changes
never would bo stable and every revolution of
thought would lend TO a reaction. AS il is.
great changes arc accomplished by regular
law, tho results of which arc far more salts
factory. Some twenty OF thirty years before
the final plunge is taken, steam power begins
10 shoot ahead with startling velocity. The
philosophers who sit on the engine whistle, the
enthusiasts who feod the furnace scream, and
If steam had everything its own way, the ma
| chine would be over the decliyity at
| railroadpace. But once over, tho less
nctive portion OF the community would
| be Dissatisfied at tho abrupt transition into
which they had been so abruptly hurried.
Fhoy would for ever BIO endeayoring TO retrace
their steps, and 10 resent the force which
dragged them over. Instead Of this undesra-
BILE condition of things, the twenty or thirty
years are at present usefully employed in mod
uiating the sleam power Of the philosophers 10
suit the donkey power OF the rest Gradually
and slowly donkey power brings up the train
toward The edge Of the formidable preopico
There is no excitement and no alarm, ill lust
at the last moment there is n little pull, and
| the community which was at the top finds IL
self at the bottom. Nobody is at all frightened,
| and the dOnkeys, after a moment Of surprise,
begin feeding peacefully again on the grass that
grows underneath. The re.son that 90 little
| harm has been done is due entirely-thoueh
skepiics my refuse to see tito the fact that
the descent has been approached at sober
pace. People have had time TO weigh the real
advantages Of tho fall, and to provide against
all possible dangers: And when il comes, they
| accept it without resentment, without any un-
due reluctance, and without burning sensb
! II aEiiRathy 70 those who have led them to il.
vantage to the social body, and the credit OF Il
ought to be given to those to whose steadiness
and oven tardiness Of pace the advantage is
partly due.
Our READERS will remember the cable dis
patches, We published some time ago, in refer
ence TO the Birmingham Anti-Popery riots.
The English press 10 unanimous in their I'm.
qualified condemnation Of the rioters and
their abetlors. Tho London Times of Jun D
10th says: ere would be idle 10 waste remon.
strances on persons who imagine that Protest
ant triIth can ba In ad H., .