336 Moral Statistics of France. 



calculation ; and unquestionably will be found to develope general laws, 

 no less remarkable and worthy of investigation than those which obtain 

 in the physical universe. 



It is incredible liow much the world has lost, from the neglect of those 

 inquiries which it is the object of the Statistical Society to promote. How 

 much pernicious legislation might have been checked, — how many ruinous 

 and sanguinary wars avoided, — how much crime prevented, and happiness 

 diffused, had it been the constant care of each community to collect and 

 give publicity to those facts, which demonstrate the real causes of a na- 

 tion's prosperity, and exhibit the practical results of its institutions ! The 

 extent, productions, and resources, of a country, — the population, mortal- 

 ity, and rate of increase, the occupation of the different classes, and the 

 distribution of wealth among them, — tlie state of the currency and taxa- 

 tion, the progress of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, — the condi- 

 tion of the poor, — the state of education, religious instruction, and of 

 crime, — are all matters that come within the province of statistical in- 

 quiry ; and could a people be well disciplined in a knowledge of their 

 actual condition in these various respects, it could not fail, under the 

 blessing of Providence, to introduce more harmony into their social con- 

 duct, to establish the true civil policy of the country, and in every way to 

 advance its prosperity.* 



We might give many and striking instances of the disgraceful neglect of 

 statistical research in England, and of the errors and inconsistencies, both 

 of legislation and practical statesmanship, which have resulted from this 

 neglect. We can here, however, only refer to the remarks of other wri- 

 ters on the same subject, which will be found too amply justified by 



facts. t 



Statistics have been conveniently divided into four general classes, — 

 economical, political, medical, and moral. The three former of these divi- 

 sions embrace the facts relating to the productions and wealth of a country, 

 its political and civil institutions, the laws of population, mortality, &c. ; 

 and to these elements statistical inquiries (scanty as they are at best) have 

 been hitherto restricted. The subject of moral Statistics is emphatically 



• " When we look beyond the range of physical tangibilities, into the region of 

 mental and moral relations, in short the science of man, upon which depend the 

 wisdom of our legislation, and the soundness of our institutions and customs, what 

 a scene of uncertainty do we see ! Fixed principles in social affairs have not yet 



been attained If any measure affecting the public is propounded, there arises a 



perfect hurricane of opposition and denunciation, as if it were the most monstrous 

 of errors, and the most atrocious of crimes. No plan or project, religious, civil, 

 economic, or merely ornamental, can be proposed without tearing to pieces the 

 conventions of courtesy — nay, the feelings of common charity, and exposing a 

 lamentable scene of inconsistency and passion." — Simpson on Pop. Educ. p. 40. 



t Edinb. Rev. xlix. 4],S, Ixi. 158. For. Quart. Rev. xvi. 211, &c. 



