176 REPORT— 1869. 



our hearers feel that we are all on the earth together, and that we are not mere 

 aeronauts addressing them from a balloon. 



And here may 1 venture, as a Devonshire man, while bidding you heartily wel- 

 come to the county, to bespeak your indulgent consideration of the circumstances 

 of my compatriots ? We Devonians do not hurrj' on in the race of life quite so 

 rapidly as some of our fellow-countiymen. Perhaps I may venture to say without 

 oft'ence that, as compared with north-countrymen, we live slowly. Our birth-rate 

 is below the average of England, and so is our marriage-rate ; but then it must be 

 remembered that our death-rate is also low. If you compare us with Lancashire, 

 for instance, you will find that, for less than .32 births per 1000 in proportion to the 

 population here, there are more than .38 per 1000 there [the precise figures for 

 1867 are Devon 31'75, Lancashire 38-19] ; that, for less than 16 marriages per 1000 

 here, there are more than 19 per 1000 there [Devon 1.5-72, Lancashire 19-04]. But 

 then, for less than 20 deaths per 1000 here, there are nearly 27 per 1000 there 

 [Devon 19-72, Lancashire 26-83]. So, again, you will find that our children die 

 less rapidly than theirs, and our old people attain to greater ages. The proportion 

 which the deaths of children under .5 j'ears of age bear to the births in the year is, 

 in Devonshire 19^ per cent., and in Lancashire 323 ; while the proportion of deaths 

 of people over 65 years of age is, in Devonshire 18j per cent., and in Lancashire 

 8| per cent. Our mamages, too, take place at a more advanced age than do theirs. 

 Of our men only 6-0.5 per cent, marry under 21 years of age ; of theirs 8-45 per cent. 

 do so. For women the proportions are, in Devonshire 16-81 per cent., and in Lan- 

 cashire 21-10. In short, we are born, we many, and we die more slowly than they 

 do. But we are not behind them in all things. If the state of education is to be 

 judged of by the proportion of married people who can write their names, we may 

 hold up oui- heads even by the side of Lancashire. Of our bridegrooms (in 1867) 

 82-7 per cent, wrote their names like men ; of theirs only 76-8 per cent. Our 

 brides did still better in proportion : 78-6 of them wrote their names, while in Lan- 

 cashire only 56-0 did so. In the matter of wealth no doubt we are behind them ; 

 our assessment to the Schedules A, B, D of the income-tax comes to only £10 12s. 



Ser head of our population, whUe theirs comes to £13 14s. On the other hand I 

 oubt whether we have a very much larger number of paupers in proportion to our 

 population than they have (on the average of the three years 1866-68 they seem 

 to have had 65 able-bodied paupers to every 10,000 of the population, while we 

 had 69). And as regards criminals we fall far short of their ratio ; the proportion 

 of persons committed or bailed for trial in 1867 having been in Devonshire less than 

 4 to 10,000, and in Lancashire 12 to 10,000. 



There are many other points on which it would be interesting to compare the 

 two counties ; and the comparison would be rendered still more valuable by ex- 

 tending it to other counties, of which these miglit be taken as the tj-pes. But 

 time forbids my entering into the details which would be requisite. I have refeiTed 

 to the point principally for the purpose of reminding you that observations which 

 might have been applicable in one part of England may be very much out of place 

 in another ; that each county has lessons of its own to teach, as well as to receive ; 

 and that Devonshire, though she does not aspire to the position of Lancashire as 

 the standard bearer of British manufacturing and commercial enterprise, is not 

 without her own claims to respect and admiration in regard of many of the essen- 

 tials of hmnan happiness. 



I return from these local remarks to the wider field which more properly claims 

 our attention ; and I desire to invite you, who are so much more competent for 

 the task than I am, to endeavour to realize for yourselves as far as may be the 

 general character and tendencies of the age in which we live. To me it appears to 

 be emphatically, and in the highest sense of the term, a statistical age ; an age, that 

 is to say, in wliich we are inquiring extensively and methodically into the facts by 

 which we are surrounded, comparing ourselves with our neighbours, measm-ing our 

 progress, and estimating our prospects with unprecedented care. Nor do we stop 

 here ; but, giving a practical turn to om* inquiries, we study not only to ascertain, 

 but to husband and to develope our resources. Pressed, it may be, by the increas- 

 ing competition of foreign nations, — pressed, too, by the consideration that our 

 wealth and our desires for enjoyment are increasing far more rapidly than our popu- 



