The daily gazette., 1881-08-04
THE BRITISH CENSUS.
Reflections upon the Recently-C Com.
piled Population OF the United
KinGdOm.

Reflections upon the Recently Com.
piled Population OF the United
Kingdom.
The London Saturday Rsuisw says
According to the abstract of the
Census laid before Parliament the
population Of the United Kingdom on
the 4th of April last amounted to 85,-
246 ,562. being an increase of 1885, 1874
since 1871, or 1898 per cent. In other
words the population of the United
Kingdom increased during the past ten
years at rate Of slightly over / per
cent. per annum. OF the above total,
England and Wales contain %, 96S, 1856
persons while Ireland contains only
9, 1853, $50, and Scotland but 3,784, $40.
The remainder is composed of the
population of the Channel Islands, OF
the Isle of Man, and the army, navy
and merchant service.
Speaking roughly, the population Of
the United Kingdom is now nearly
equal to those OF France and of Aus
tria- Hungary, and is materially ex-
ceeded among the Great Powers only
by the population of Germany, the
United States and Russia. The Uni
ted Kingdom, consequently, is much
greater power in regard to population
now than it was when it conducted
the great war against Napoleon.
Then it was able tostake a leading part
in European politics mainly because
of its wealth. The armies it was able
to place in the field out of it's own
population were small, and it fought
its battles mainly by means of coali-
tions. Now, if our people chose, they
could place as great armies in the field
as either France or Austria.
Their numbers exceed by nearly "a
per cent. those of the Northern States
during the time of the great American
Civil War. They are likewise vastly
more numerous than the French were
at any time during the reign of the
great Napoleon. Population, of course,
is only one of the elements of q nations
greatness, and is by no means the prin.
cipal one. If it were, indeed, India
and China would be out of all propor-
tion the mightiest nations upon earth,
whereas the former is a mere depend
ency of Great Britain, the latter is un.
able to resist small expeditionary
forces of European nations. Again, II
population constituted the power of q
nation, Russia would be able to over
run the whole continent or, to take
the matter in the converse light, we see
how mere numerical superiority may
be counterbalanced by other qualities,
by the extraordinary rise of Prussia
during the past twenty years. Having
first driven Austria out of the GermaniC
Confederation, she then compelled the
smaller German States to place them,
calves under her leadership and sht
ended by dismembering France, ant
imposing upon her what was ther
thought crushing indemnity. Still
other things being equal, numbers, oi
course, make one country greater than
another, andthe extraordinary increase
in the population of the United King
dom has unquestionably added to its
Importance in the scale of nations, and
makes It able to carry out any policy
that it may choose to devote it's ener.
gies to while it renders the voice oi
Great Britain of immense potency
when it is really understood upon the
Continent that England is in earnest
The fact, too, that England SO enor.
mously outnumbers both Scotland and
Ireland taken together adds to its
Importance, for, as we have said,
England may, with very slight exag.
geration, be now said to be the United
Kingdom,