merates to be the penal laws which for a great part of the century were in force against Roman-catholics, the spirit of com mercial jealousy which induced the English parliament to im pose restraints upon the trade of Ireland, the encroachment of pasturage upon tillage, and the numerous emigrations to Ame rica and the West Indies. On the subject of emigration we have the following statement:

In the year 1784 there appeared an accurate statement of the numbers who emigrated to America in the years 1771, 1772, 1773. It was as follows:

4

1,300

Total 28,600. Annual average 9,533.

If we said that during fifty years of the last century the average annual emigrations to America and the West Indies (for consider. able numbers went there also) amounted to about 4,000, and con sequently that, in that space of time, about 200,000 had emigrated to the British plantations, I am disposed to think we should rather fall short of, than exceed the truth.' P. 59.

It is also supposed, on the testimony of abbé M'Geoghegan in his Histoire d'Irlande,' that 450,000 Irishmen perished in the service of France between the years 1691 and 1744. We do not deny that these circumstances may have had some effects upon the population of Ireland, but not to so extensive a degree as our author seems to imagine. As, however, some of these topics would lead into a wide field of inquiry respecting the policy or impolicy of many of the measures of government when the relative situation of the two countries was totally different from what it is at present, we shall abstain

from making any remarks upon the reasoning employed on the occasion. We shall only state that the great increase of population which confessedly took place in Ireland notwithstanding these apparent obstacles, (exceeding the progress made at the same time in Great Britain,) is sufficient to induce us to hesitate in pronouncing the measures then pursued to be a continued system of destructive and illiberal oppression. It is easy to condemn or lament what is past, when the urgency of the moment, and the causes which gave rise to events, are in a great measure lost sight of. We have more pleasure in contemplating and wishing to believe the declaration of Mr. Foster in the Irish house of commons in 1800, so frequently quoted by Mr.Newenham;-that since 1782, Ireland has risen in civilization, wealth, and manufactures, in a greater proportion, and with a more rapid progress, than any other country in Europe.

The collection of the hearth-tax in Ireland has afforded the means of estimating the progressive population; and had the returns been free from all suspicion of inaccuracy, the conclusions to be drawn from them might safely be depended upon : but Mr. Newenham clearly shews that, both from negligence and fraud, these returns have been extremely defective, and have not exceeded, but fallen far short of, the truth. He at the same time finds himself compelled to make use of these documents as the groundwork of his future calculations; into which, of course, many inaccuracies must be introduced: and instead of leaving the result, as he imagines, more free from any suspicion of exaggeration, it has a quite contrary tendency.

In the fifth section our author proceeds to shew the actual progress of population in Ireland during the last century, and to ascertain the period during which it doubles. In the year 1672, sir William Petty computed that Ireland contained about 1,100,000 inhabitants. By another survey, supposed to be more accurate, made in the year 1695, captain South cstimated the number of inhabitants at only 1,034,102. This decrease is supposed to be accounted for by the war of the Revo lution, and by the political circumstances which both preceded and followed it; which, in turn, occasioned the departure of a multitude both of protestant and Roman-catholic families. Many of the protestants perhaps did not return till after the year 1695, and the Roman-catholics who fled on the complete overthrow of king James probably never returned at all. The next account of the population of Ireland is a return of the number of inhabitants in each parish in the year 1731 made by the parochial clergy, in consequence of an order of the house of lords. Subsequently to 1731, six returns by the collectors of hearth-money have been made public. From, these documents the following view has been drawn up.

It is to be observed, that the returns made previous to 1788 are not to be depended upon, nor are we furnished with the data on which the two previous computations are made. That of 1695, we believe, was founded upon a poll-tax which was levied that year; and, from the evasions practised in such cases, probably falls far short of the real number. In consequence of the exertions of the commissioners of the revenue, and particularly of Mr. Bushe; and of the means employed by the inspector-general and others, to prevent every species of fraud; the returns of 1788 and 1791, but chiefly the latter, may be presumed to be very near the truth. Although therefore by a tabular arrangement Mr. Newenham would make it appear that, on an average calculation, the population of Ireland doubles inforty-six years, we do not see that we are warranted in drawing any satisfactory conclusion from the above documents except that there is every reason to believe that in the year 1791 the actual population exceeded four millions. We were at first of opinion that the allowance of six persons to each house was too great an average; but from the data contained in a subsequent section appropriated to this particular subject (and which contains much other curious information),we are inclined to believe it may be well founded. From the returns also made under the late population act in Great Britain, the average falls very little short of six.-It may not be unacceptable to introduce here the following table of population throughout the last century in England and Wales, extracted from the Observations" on the Results of the Population Act,' to shew the comparative progress of population in this country with what is above sup posed to have taken place in the sister kingdom.

Table of Population throughout the last Century.

The existing population in 1801, in this table, is taken something below the truth, for reasons unnecessary at present to explain; the real number of inhabitants at that time being probably at least 9,400,000. We should have inserted a similar table for Scotland, but it is not much to be relied upon. It only appears certain, that the population of that part of Great Britan in 1801 exceeded 1,600,cob.

Mr. Newenham is extremely anxious to prove his position, that the period of doubling the population in Ireland is at least forty-six years; and attempts to draw arguments from the amount of hearth-money collected, from the number of new houses returned at different times, and from an idea that a great addition ought to be made to the return of 1791. The return for Dublin he supposes to be particularly defective, and makes the following estimate of its actual population :

Besides it may, I think, be questioned whether the full amount of the population of the metropolis has as yet been ascertained. The number of houses in its district, returned to Mr. Bushe, in 1788, was 14,327, which, at 8 on an average to each house, gave only 114,616 souls a number greatly short of that which Dublin was then supposed to contain. The number returned in 1791 does not appear separate from the aggregate number of the houses in Ireland. The number returned last August from 32 of the 52 districts into which Dublin was divided for the bettter preservation of the peace, was 10,638, which gave 332 on an average to each district. If the same average number be found in each of the other 20 districts, then the whole number of houses in Dublin, according to these returns, will be 17,278, which at 8 on an average to a house, will give a population of 138,224, which is also a smaller number than Dublin was generally believed to contain 20 years ago, and yet I know of no sufficient reason for doubting the accuracy of these district returns. By Wilson's Directory, it appears that there are, in the city and suburbs of Dublin, 658 streets, squares, quays, alleys, courts, &c. By the numbers opposite the merchants' aud traders' names, we may perceive that of these streets, &c.

70 do. 1330 do.

4410

If we allow but 25 on an average to each of the remaining 613 streets, &c. the total number will be 19,735, giving a population of 157,790, which perhaps is nearer the truth than the population Just-mentioned.'

P. 114.

It is a little remarkable that our author should afterwards imagine that any assistance to his theory is to be derived from the introduction of one or two partial, and probably very incorrect, accounts of the births and burials of a district in Russia, or from a reference to the late increase of inhabitants in the United States; nor does he give any good reason for asserting that the circumstances of America have not been more favourable to a rapid increase of people than those of Ireland during the last five-and-twenty years. The census taken in the United States at different periods, shews, with some degree of certainty, that the population of America was upon the increase so as to double in about thirty years. We are not prepared to vouch for the perfect accuracy of this statement; but still less to admit as a fact the conclusion of Mr. Newenham, drawn from evidence by no means so satisfactory as he imagines, and supported in many respects by declamation more than by sound argument. From the impression, however, made on the mind of our author, he assumes that since the year 1791 there has been an average annual increase of about 91,448 souls in the Irish population, and that its actual present amount is about 5.395,436.

The author of the Observations on the Results of the Population Act in England' asserts, without any reasoning on the subject, that the number of inhabitants has not increased in Ireland since the year 1795. We see no ground for any such a presumption. The truth probably is, that there has been a gradual increase, but by no means so rapid as Mr. Newenham would induce us to believe. He appears, indeed, to be so well convinced of the difficulty of supporting his conclusions, that he resorts to long dissertations on the foreign and domestic trade of Ireland, and on the consumption of different articles, which he considers as evidence of the increase and actual magnitude of its population. We here find a number of curious and important facts, collected with much labour; but which are, in our opinion, very inadequate to the purpose for which they are employed, and are constantly giving rise to objections which he himself finds it necessary to combat as he proceeds.

(To be continued.)