winter months, they must necessarily be supported, in part, by Government, which would swell the expense of each individual to 407. sterling. In addition to this evil, many individuals, who despaired of being able to find employment in the thinly-peopled districts of Canada, would sell all they possessed, and emigrate to the United States; thus all the money expended on these emigrants, to settle them in our own colonies, would be lost to Government, without any hope of the least return of capital or interest. But let it be admitted, for a moment, that it would not cost half the sum to establish the poor in Canada or Nova-Scotia that would be required to locate them on our own waste lands at home; still it must appear evident that the money advanced, in the first case, to convey them thither, would be expended without any hope of its repayment; in the latter instance, however, the money advanced, even if it were double the amount of the former, would be returned, with 4 per cent. interest; the industrious poor would be retained at home; and, by reclaiming the bogs and waste lands of this country, and giving a certain portion of their labour gratuitously to Government, as will elsewhere be explained, would add more to the resources and revenue of the state than could be produced by heavy and indiscriminate taxation. REFERENCE B. Taken from Sadler, page 435. I REFER the reader to his admirable work, proving that the increase of population is a real blessing, instead of a curse. "There is yet a more strict method by which to put that principle to the test than the one previously adopted, and one which will obviate the only objection which, as I can imagine, can be advanced against the foregoing results. It may be supposed that the different habits which obtain in the several provinces of Ireland may have some considerable effect in producing the facts in question; such, for instance, as the supposition that marriages take place earlier in one part than in another; or other circumstances, which may affect an extensive district, without extending over the entire country. In order to meet this remark, and to adopt the only remaining method of determining the point, and thus to ascertain, beyond any reasonable doubt, the absolute certainty of the principle already demonstrated by other and different modes of calculation, I shall, lastly, class the several counties of Ireland in the order in which the density of the population in each places them, without any reference whatever to the four grand provincial divisions of the coun try; and for the sake of comparison with the counties of England, which will be subsequently given, where the same important principle is developed by a totally different method, I shall give the inhabitants of the English square mile, and likewise calculate the number of acres to each individual, and divide the table accordingly. It will be instantly seen that the law of population conforms (though perhaps in a less striking and marked degree, for reasons previously given) to the principle already laid down, and which will be shown to exist in all other countries where the necessary facts for proving it are recorded. Galway Donegal Mayo Kildare Clare King's Co. Eastmeath Leitrim Waterford Wexford Kilkenny Westmeath Tyrone Limerick 512 410 Connaught 1546 1,603,719 309,599 40,117 123 3173 "The preceding table requires no comments. Taken promiscuously from all the provinces of Ireland, and consequently leaving no room for the suspicion that local habits, in reference to the age of marriage, or any variation in modes of life, can at all affect the conclusions, the counties are classed according to the density of their population respectively; which, as it will be observed, mingles the provinces throughout, and, consequently, the governing principle of human fecundity is more satisfactorily developed. These, then, are the results. Where the inhabitants are from 100 to 200 on the square mile (English), there the mean number of children, under five, to every 20,000 of the entire population, is 3132; where there are from 200 to 300 on the same space, that number diminishes to 3065; where from 300 to 400, and upwards, 2950 is the proportion. Or, to present the facts calculated on a somewhat different basis, where there is only from one to two acres of land to every single individual, the children, under five, average only 2981; where there are from two to three acres, that average increases to 3079; where from three to four acres, to 3091; and where four and upwards, it rises to 3177." |