CHAPTER II. 



England's failure in Ireland, (b) economic. 



DuRiNCx the colonization period it was one of 

 England's principal objects to win Ireland over 

 to Protestantism. A glance at statistics shows 

 how unsuccessful this attempt was. The popu- 

 lation of Ireland to-day amounts to 4,458,775. Of 

 these 1,150,114 belong to the various non-Roman- 

 ist religions, such as the Episcopalian Protestant 

 Church, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, &c. 

 3,308,661 are Roman Catholics, that is a propor- 

 tion of 74*21 per cent. Since the middle of the 

 last century the proportion between Roman 

 Catholics and all others has altered somewhat in 

 favour of the latter. The Roman Catholics 

 numbered 



i86i ... ... 77'6g per cent. 



1881 ... ... 76-54 



igor ... ... 74-21 



of the population. This slow reduction has not 

 arisen from any increase of the other religions ; 

 it has rather resulted from the still larger reduc- 

 tion of Roman Catholics, not, however, by con- 

 versions but by emigration. The hope that a 

 considerable proportion of the Irish population 



