POPULATION AND RESOURCES OF THE 



BRITISH EMPIRE. 

 An account of the population of the empire 

 has been taken at intervals of ten years troni 

 1801 ; and the following table will show the 

 gradual increase which has occurred during 

 these intervals : — 



1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 



England and 



Wales, . 8,872,980 10,163.876 11 978,875 13,894,569 



Scotland, . 1.599,068 1,805,688 2,093,456 2,365,807 



Ireland, .. — 4,500,000 6,802,093 7,734.365 



Army and 



Navy, .. 470,500 640,500 319.300 277,017 



Totals. 10.942.548 17.109,864 21,193,724 24,271.758 

 The increase of population has been greatest in 

 the manufacturing districts, where, in some in- 

 stances, it has been double of those which are 

 merely agi-icultural ; as. for example, the in- 

 crease" in the manufacturing couutiesof England, 

 from 1821 to 1831, was 22 per cent., while in 

 the agricultural counties it was only lOj. It 

 has been ascertained, that, in 1831, there were 

 of the classes belonging to the aristocracy in 

 Great Britain, from 3000 to 4000 families ; of 

 squires and gentlemen, ^vho are land proprie- 

 tors, stockholders, money-lenders, &c., from 50,- 

 000 to 60,000 families; of learned professions — 

 36,000 clergy of all denominations, about 30,000 

 lawyers, and 50,000 physicians, surgeons, apoth- 

 ecaries — making 116,0C)0 families, with half as 

 many more dependants; of farming tenants, 

 about 250,000 families, and of their laborers, 

 400,000 families ; of merchants, shop-keepers, 

 and general traders, 900,000 families ; of arti- 

 sans, 200,000 families ; of manufacturers in all 

 lines, 500,000 families ; of laborers, porters, and 

 servants, 600.000 families ; and of destitute pau- 

 pers, soldiers, ice. 800,000 families. 



The statement of the aggregate population of 

 the British islands, afibrds no idea of the force 

 Nvhich is actually employed in agriculture and 

 manufactures. The eifective laborers (men) are 

 estimated to amount to no more than 7,000,000, 

 whereas, reckoning the powers exerted in pro- 

 ductive industrj- by animals, mills, steam-en- 

 gines, and mechanism of various kinds, the 

 force is equal to the strength of more thansixti/ 

 millions of working men. 



An estimate was formed a few years ago of 

 the total annual income of all classes of people 

 of the United Kingdom, with the aggregate 

 value of the articles of use and luxuiy w hich 

 each produces, and from this we make the fol- 

 lowing extract : — 



Value of aariculmral and dairyproduce, £236.600.000 

 Mines and minerals 21,400.000 



" Inland and foreign trade, 57.773.0.59 



" Manufactures, 148,0.50,000 



the following proportions between the three 

 countries : — 



Productive pri- Unproductive PubUc pro- 



vate propenv. priv't prop'ty. perty. 



England, £2.054,600,000 £374,300,000 £42,000,000 



Scotland, 318,100,000 51,100,000 3,000,000 



Ireland, 622.100.000 116,400,000 11.900,000 



The proportion which these values bear to 

 the population in each countrj^ is not suggested 

 by the table ; but in England (taking product- 

 ive and unproductive property together) the 

 ratio is .£186 to each person ; in Scotland, 

 i;i60 ; and in Ireland, £96. 



The following is the late.st statement of tlie 

 extent and population of the empire : — 



Population. Sq. Miles. 



British Islands, 24,271,758 ? qq (,.~ 



British dependencies in Europe, 247,701 5 ^^'•'^° 

 North America, Canada, <fcc.,... 1,066,208 ?, onnnnn 



West Indies, 884,0.50 5 ^•^■^"•"^ 



AustraUan Colonies, 39,685 1,496,000 



Islands of Ceylon and Mauritius, 1,034,736 23,000 



British possessions in Africa, 154.046 91,000 



East Indian Empire 89,-577,206 826,650 



Total, 117,375,390 4,457,598 



Total of produce and property annu- > £503 823 059 



ally created in Great Britiun J ' ' 



An estimate was ahso formed of the value of 

 the whole property, public and private, which 

 has been created and accumulated by the peo- 

 l>le of this country-, and which they now actu- 

 ally possess. This value, w hen the sura is ex- 

 pressed by figures, is so immense that it eludes 

 the imagination to conceive it. 

 Value of productive private property, £2,99.5,000,000 

 " unproductive, or dead stock, 580,700.000 



" public propert>- of all kinds, 103,800,000 



Total public and private property, £3,679,500,000 



The wealth of the empire i.s distributed in 



(57S, 



Since the preceding details were collected, 

 the returns of the census of Great Britain for 

 1841 have been published. It appears from 

 these, that on the night of the 6th of June 1841, 

 the population was as follows : — 



Encland, 14,995,508 



Wa:ies, 911,321 



Persons traveling on railways and canals, 4,896 



15,911,725 



Scotland. 2,628,9.57 



Man, Jersey, and other islands in British Seas, 124,079 



Total of Great Britain, 18,664,761 



If to tliis we add 8,205,382 for Ireland, which, 

 ho%vever, ^ve have only on newspaper authori- 

 ty, the total population of the United Kingdom, 

 on the night of June 6, was 26,870,143. The 

 returns included only such part of the army, 

 navy, and merchant seamen, as were at the 

 time of the census within the kingdom on shore. 

 The increase of the population, as compared 

 with the returns of 1831, is at the rate of 14.5 

 per cent for England; 13 per cent for Wales ; 

 for Scotland, 11.1; for the Islands in the British 

 Seas, 19.6 : making the increase for the whole 

 of Great Britain 14 per cent, being less than 

 that of the ten years ending 1831, which was 

 15 per cent. 



The Permanence of the Action of Li.me. 

 I know a plot of ground in this neighborhood, 

 containing 166 acres, which Ibmierly grew little 

 except heath. A good dressing of lime was ap- 

 plied on the top sward, which has more than 

 doubled its value. This was done about 15 

 years ago. and totally eradicated the heath. The 

 lime to this day appears in full action, as its ef- 

 fects annually testify, from the richness and 

 sweetness of the herbage, the texture of which 

 has been thoroughly changed by the application 

 of the lime. The deep green hue and luxuriant 

 appearance of this land in spring and autamn 

 form a striking contrast with those adjoining., 

 which are still unimproved. The soil is a thin 

 moorish loam in a high climate, resting on the 

 greywacke formation. 



[.I. Watson, Eng. Ag. Soc. Jour. 



