double the number of persons in Ireland it is, with its existing means of production, able either fully to employ or to maintain in a moderate state of comfort.

TABLE showing the Number of English Statute Acres, exclusive of Lakes, in each of the Provinces and Counties of Ireland; the Numbers of Persons, Families, and Inhabited Houses in each, according to the Population Returns of 1831; the Number of Acres corresponding to each Person, Family, and Inhabited House; and the Number of Persons corresponding to each Family and House.

Provinces and
Counties.

Number of
Acres.

Number, per Population Re-
turns of 1831.

Number of Acres corresponding to

Number of Persons corresponding to

Persons. Families. I. Houses. Each Person Each Fam. Each House Each Fam. Each House

Population of the principal Cities and Towns of Ireland in 1821 and 1831; show. ing the Ratio of their Increase, with the Number of Inhabited Houses in each in 1831, and the average Number of Persons to a House.

Registers of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. These are in a still more deplorable state in Ireland than in Scotland; and, as the legislature knew this, no provision was made, under the acts for taking the census in Ireland, for obtaining returns from the ministers of churches and chapels. We have not, therefore, any information of any sort to lay before the reader under this head. It is, however, to be hoped that measures may be speedily taken for supplying so important a desideratum, by providing for the registration of all births, marriages, and deaths.

Ages. The following account of the ages of the people of Ireland was obtained under the census of 1821 :

Summary of Ages of Persons in Ireland in 1821.

This comprises the population of Dublin as contained within its ancient boundary. Including its various suburbs, in contained, in 1831, 265,316 inhabitants.

SECT. IV.- Population of the Empire.

Ir may now be useful to bring into one point of view the following details with respect to the population of the empire:

Summary Account of the Population of Great Britain and Ireland, including the Army and Navy, at the Periods at which Censuses have been taken, with the Ratio of Increase in the intervening decennial Periods.

10,942,646 154 12,609,864 14 14,391,631 15 8,163,663 8,376,295 16,539,318 6,801,827 14 3,794,880 3,972,521 7,767,401 21,193,458 15 11,958,503 12,348,816 24,306,719

Population of Jersey, Guernsey, Man, &c.

not included in

the above.

Total population7 of the empire

in 1831

103,710

24,410,429

It appears from this statement that the population of Great Britain increased, during the first 30 years of the present century, at the rate of about 15 per cent. each 10 years, or of 1 per cent. a year, A ratio of this sort is not easily changed, and there is no reason to think that it has been sensibly affected since 1830. On this hypothesis, the population must have increased during the interval at the rate of about 248,000 a year (14 per cent. on 16,539,318), and must. consequently, have amounted, on the 31st of May, 1838, to about 18,275,000.

The population of Ireland increased, during the 10 years preceding 1831, at nearly the same rate as the population of Great Britain. We believe that there, also, no great change can have taken place during the intervening period; and that the population may be fairly supposed to have increased since 1830 at the rate of about 165,000 a year (1.45 per cent. on 7,767,401); and if so, it would amount on the 31st of May, 1838, to about 8,922,000.

Hence, if we be right in these suppositions, the entire population of Great Britain and Ireland would, on the 31st of May, 1838, be about 27,197,000. And including the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Man, &c., it may be taken at 27,300,000.

It results from these statements, that the British islands rank as the fourth state in Europe in point of population, being surpassed only by Russia, France, and Austria. Our population is nearly double that of the powerful and flourishing kingdom of Prussia.

PART III.

INDUSTRY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

HAVING described in the previous parts of this work the physical circumstances, civil divisions, &c., and given an account of the population of Great Britain and Ireland, we now proceed to lay before the reader some details with respect to the principal branches of industry carried on in them. We begin with agriculture, the first and most important of the useful arts.

CHAPTER I.— AGRICULTURE.

SECT. I. State of Property in England and Wales.

Estates, &c.

Size of

Tenures. -The tenures under which land is held in this country have grown out of the feudal system, and have differed materially at different periods of our history. At present landed property is of three sorts, freehold, copyhold, and leasehold. An estate belonging unconditionally to its owner, and held by him directly under the Crown, or rather, under the law and constitution of the country, is said to be freehold. But freehold property may be liable to regular and fixed annual payments, provided it be not liable to fine, heriot, or forfeiture. Copyhold estates are held of a subject as part of a royalty, honour, or manor, and are liable to fines on account of deaths, transfers, and other such circumstances, according to the customs of the royalty, honour, or manor of which they form a part. Leasehold property is of various descriptions, such as long leasehold, as for 1,000 years: life leasehold with a fine certain, or under certain limitations on renewal: life leasehold with an uncertain fine, payable to the proprietor or other superior; in this case, the latter reserves merely a conventional rent, the tenant having paid down a sum of money to obtain the lease and the right of alienation; this practice is common in the West of England. There is another kind of leasehold with an uncertain fine, payable to the proprietor, who receives the full rent of the land at the time of granting the lease, the lessor having a power of alienation; this is a common practice in Wales and some parts of England. The last species of leasehold property, is leasehold for an ordinary term with the power of alienation. A lease without the power of alienation, or transfer, is not called a tenure. But though it merely gives a right of occupancy for some specified period, it is practically one of the most important tenures; much of the prosperity of every country, of which any considerable portion belongs to extensive proprietors, depending on the conditions in such leases. (See post.)

Magnitude of Estates. - Number of Proprietors, &c.- Estates vary exceedingly in size and value in most parts of England. The

largest estate in the kingdom may be worth 100,000l. or upwards a year; and there are estates of most inferior degrees of magnitude, down to the annnual value of 40s. In some counties property is more, and in others it is less subdivided. In Cheshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and one or two other counties, there are comparatively few small proprietors; but the latter predominate in most parts of the West of England, in the North, and generally throughout the country. On the whole, we believe it may be safely affirmed, that by far the largest portion of the kingdom is parcelled into properties of less than 1,000l. a year. It is not difficult to account for the prevalent misconceptions on this point. Though few in number, the owners of large estates engross the attention of common observers, and hinder them from fixing their eye on the mass of obscure, petty landowners that constitute the great bulk of the class. Dr. Beeke, whose authority as to such matters is deservedly high, estimated the total number of proprietors in England and Wales at 200,000; and supposing the gross rental of the kingdom to be 30,000,000l. a year, the average annual income of each, in his capacity of landlord, will be only 150%.! and seeing that a few have much more, it follows that many must have good deal less. Hence it is that few lead a more laborious life, or are more under the necessity of abstaining from luxurious indulgences, than the owners and occupiers of small landed properties. (See ante, p. 186, &c.) Nothing, in fact, can be a greater mistake, than to suppose, as is generally done, that the landowners are an extremely opulent, and an extremely indolent body. These may be the characteristics of a few individuals amongst them; but it would be quite as wide of the mark to affirm that they are generally applicable to the entire class, as that they are generally applicable to the classes of manufacturers and traders.

Estates of the larger class are, in general, managed by stewards. Much, of course, must depend on the judgment with which they are selected. They should not only be thoroughly conversant with all the most approved principles and processes of arable and stock husbandry, but with accounts, and the laws as to leases, public burthens, the poor, &c. On the whole, we believe that the stewards of England, though inferior, perhaps, to the factors of Scotland, are a highly respectable, well-informed, and useful body of men.

SECT. II. Division of the Kingdom into Agricultural Departments, Size of Farms. Conditions in Leases. Buildings and Fences, &c.

Agricultural Departments. — Exclusive of Wales, England may, in an agricultural point of view, be divided into 6 departments or districts: meaning by an agricultural district, a tract distinguished by uniformity or similarity of management, whether it be applied to grazing, sheep-farming, or arable or mixed husbandry; or by the production of some particular article, as dairy produce, fruit-liquor, &c. The 6 agricultural departments, distinguished from each other in this point of view, are the northern, western, midland, eastern, southern, and south-western.