372 Observations on the 
the municipalities of these towns such power as may be 
necessary to enable them to carry out effectively one of the 
principal objects for which such bodies are organized. 
XXI.— Observations on the Census of the United States, 
taken 1st June, 1850. From the Official Report of the 
Superintendent of Census. By JAMES BARNARD, Esq. 
[Read 18th October, 1852.] 
Tus, the seventh, enumeration of the inhabitants of the 
United States exhibits results which every citizen of that 
country must contemplate with gratification and pride. Since 
the census of 1840 there have been added to the territory 
of the Republic, by annexation, conquest, and purchase, 
824,969 square miles; and its title to a region covering 
341,463 square miles, (previously claimed and partially 
occupied by England), has been established by negotia- 
tion, and brought within its acknowledged boundaries. 
By such means the area of the United States has been 
extended, during the past ten years, from 2,055,163 to 
8,221,595 square miles, exclusive of the great lakes which 
lie upon its northern border, and the bays which indent its 
shores on the Atlantic and Pacific.* 
* The Australasiatic group of British Colonies contains, together, almost 
a similar area; viz.— 
The Continent of New Holland or Australia, comprising its principal 
division of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and 
North Australia, is 2400 miles from east to west, and 2000 miles the greatest 
breadth from north to south, having a superficies of about 3,000,000 square 
miles, reaching very nearly to the same area as the United States. 
Tasmania, about 200 miles south of New Holland, contains 24,000 
square miles. 
New Zealand, 1000 miles to the east of New Holland, has an area of 
100,000 square miles. 
