was now concentrated before Pekin; and the Chinese were informed, that unless the letters of the convention, drawn up at Tien-tsin, were agreed to, and the gates of Pekin thrown open, the capital would be bombarded next day. On the 13th, just before the time allowed had expired, a chief mandarin, Hangchu, announced that the demands of the allies were acceded to, and the gates of Pekin at their disposal. The outer and inner gates were immediately taken possession of, and a portion of the allied force was cantoned on the walls of Pekin. Two more Sikh soldiers were given up by the Tartars on the 14th of October; but that was all. The others died of the tortures to which they were subjected, excepting Captain Brabazon and the Abbé de Luc, who were beheaded by the order of one of the Chinese generals, in revenge for a wound he had received. The bodies were all restored except that of Captain Brabazon; and, on the 17th, they were buried with due solemnity in the Russian cemetery outside Pekin. On the 24th of October peace was concluded, when the English treaty was signed. The terms were-a renewal of those agreed to at Tien-tsin in 1858, with the addition of articles stipulating the payment of an indemnity for the expenses of the war, and to the families of the men who had been betrayed and murdered; opening the port of Tien-tsin to the trade and commerce of French and British subjects; removing the interdict to the emigration of the Chinese to the colonies of the allies; and ceding Cowloon to the British crown, as a dependency on Hong-Kong. The treaty signed and ratified, the allies left Pekin for Tien-tsin on the 1st of November, where the troops remained till the middle of 1861. There has been, however, no further dispute with the Chinese. Indeed, in a little while after, we were astonished to find that we were fighting against the Taepings, on behalf of our late enemies. In March, 1861, Mr. Bruce arrived at Pekin, to take up his residence as British plenipotentiary; and we have been on decent terms with China ever since. And thus passed away the memorable year 1860. Whatever we may think of the legislation of that year, we must all concur in the opinion that it was no ordinary year in the financial history of the country. It was, as Mr. Gladstone subsequently remarked, "a year in which the House gave its sanction to that great instrument, the treaty of commerce with France. It was a year in which we received a remission of our hereditary burdens through the diminution of the charge on the national debt, such as we probably shall never receive again. It was a year in which the controversy with respect to protection, so long the leading cause of agitation in the country, and of political disorganisation in this House, may be said to have been at length officially wound up; for it closed without leaving on the statute-book of the United Kingdom one single properly protective duty of more than nominal amount. It was also a year of the highest taxation, and of the greatest expenditure, that has ever been known in this country, unless in the midst of a European war. And, finally, it was a year marked by a succession of seasons-the spring, the summer, the autumn, and the winter-the most unfavourable of all with which it has pleased Providence to visit us during the course of about half a century. The questions, I may further observe, which were decided in the House during the last session, were questions of no ordinary moment, from whatever point of view we may regard them. The issue which they raised was no trifling issue. In the beautiful tragedy of Schiller, Mary, Queen of Scots, is made to say of herself, I have been much hated, but I have been also much beloved;' and I think I may say, with equal truth, that the financial legislation of last year, while I do not mean to contend that it was not unacceptable to many, met, as a whole, with signal support from a great mass and power of public opinion in the country. Be that as it may, I feel bound to admit, that although the financial proposals of the government were, in the last session, fully, minutely, and even keenly canvassed, they were also fairly, and in no factious spirit, discussed within these walls." This testimony is true. In our modern history, it is evident 1860 was no common year. CHAPTER XVI. POPULATION, EDUCATION, AND THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. THE England of Palmerston's old age was very different from that of his youth, as regards population. In 1861, the census had taken place, and many interesting facts gathered. The town or village of Birkenhead, at the census of 1801, numbered 101 persons. After the lapse of sixty years, so rapid has been the advance in this thriving, vigorous town, that we find the number of inhabitants to be no less than 51,649 at the last census of 1861. Manchester, with Salford, sixty years ago, numbered 24,867 inhabitants; by the last census (1861), the number rose to 441,171, having increased nearly seventeen times in population during the present century. Cheltenham, within the last sixty years (1801-1861), has increased nearly twelve times; Brighton, nine times; Merthyr-Tydvil and Bradford, seven times; Burnley and Preston, about six times; whilst Southampton and Ashton-under-Lyne have increased nearly sixfold their population. The following cities or towns have quintupled their population during the first sixty years of the nineteenth century-namely, Liverpool and Blackburn; whilst Huddersfield, Northampton, and Rochdale, have very nearly added a fivefold addition. The following cities or towns have quadrupled their population:- Dudley, Bolton, Stoke-upon-Trent, Birmingham, Sheffield, Swansea, Bury, Leicester, and Derby. The following have added nearly a fourfold addition in the last sixty years (1801-1861)—namely, Leeds, Gateshead, Plymouth, Stockport, and Walsall. The following cities or towns have trebled their population :-Wigan, Macclesfield, Ipswich, Oldham, Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, South Shields, Dover, Carlisle, Halifax, Sunderland, London, and Maidstone. The following have added nearly a threefold addition-namely, Portsmouth, Chatham, Worcester, Reading, Cambridge, Coventry, Nottingham, and Tynemouth. The following cities or towns have doubled their population in sixty years (1801-1861)—namely, Bristol, Oxford, York, Warrington, Wakefield, Chester, Norwich, Yarmouth, and Wolverhampton; whilst Exeter and Bath have nearly added a twofold as an addition to their population in the present century. The number of persons residing in the British Islands on the 8th of April, 1861, was 29,058,888. The men in the army, navy, and merchant service, out of the country, either abroad or afloat, amounted to about 275,900. We may therefore set down the total population of the United Kingdom, including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, this census year, at 29,334,788; their distribution being as follows: As the population in 1801, when the first census was taken, was estimated at 16,095,000, we find, at the end of sixty years, more than 13 millions had been added to the resident inhabitants of the country. But in this rate of progression there had been a falling off. During the years 1801 to 1831, the rate of increase was more than twice as fast as that shown by the returns of 1831 to 1861. The principal cause of this falling off is to be attributed to emigration. Since 1831, nearly 5,000,000 of emigrants had left the country; of these, no doubt, some returned, and many were foreigners: but the number is exclusive of emigrants who embarked in ships not coming under the notice of the government inspectors. The fecundity of marriages in this country is a subject which cannot be fully investigated upon the present imperfect data; but we have no reason to believe it is diminishing. The ratio of births to population exhibits no falling off. In France, it is well known, that while the rate of marriage has increased, the marriages are less prolific. The females preponderate: yet it is a fact, that in Great Britain, of children born alive, 105 boys are born to 100 girls; and the proportion in France is the same. The males continue to preponderate until their seventeenth year, when the number of the two sexes are nearly equal. At all subsequent ages the females are in excess of the males; the change in the proportions being mainly due to a difference in degree of dangers to which they are exposed; to a lower rate of. mortality amongst females, from diseases, as well as from violent causes, and to emigration. The disparity of the sexes has always been regarded as one of the least satisfactory conditions of our population; but in a country where more than 3,000,000 of adult women are withdrawn, more or less, from domestic duties to follow employments in the different manufactures and trades, the evil is not without some mitigation. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that, in Australia and other British colonies, the proportion of the sexes is unfortunately reversed to such an extent as to render a well-organised system of female emigration extremely desirable. In Scotland, the excess of females is still greater. The Scotch are an emigrating people; their love of adventure and independence distributes them over the face of the earth; and as the Scotchman goes forth alone, the resident population contains an undue proportion of females. As a matter of course, there are fewer marriages in Scotland; and the proportion of women bearing legitimate children, is much smaller in Scotland than in England. This circumstance partly explains why the Scottish people have not increased at an equal rate with the English. In the towns of Scotland, however, the proportion of marriages is much higher than in the naval parts, and the population is increasing accordingly. The commercial legislation of later years is fully justified by the returns of the census. It brings to our view two classes of localities-those in which the population has increased, and those in which it has diminished. Of the 631 superintendent registrars' districts, no less than 248 had decreased. These were almost exclusively agricultural. But the districts comprising the great seats of manufacturing, mining, and commercial industry, maintained their rate of increase; and some of them made astonishing advances. For example, the group of districts having Manchester for a centre, has an augmented population to the extent of 274,000; Birmingham, with its immediate locality, increased 187,000; and the extension of mining operations on the Tyne, led to an increase in Newcastle and the adjoining district, of 158,000. Lancashire had increased 20 per cent.; Durham 30 per cent. Other instances of a great development of numbers are-Staffordshire, 23 per cent.; Surrey, 22; Kent, 19; Middlesex, 17; West Riding of Yorkshire, 14; Glamorganshire, 37. The enormous growth of the metropolis, which may now be said to extend far beyond the limits adopted in the Local Management Act, and by the registrar-general, will explain the high rates of increase in Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. The inhabitants of London are now returned as amounting to 2,803,034; the addition, during the last decennium, having been 440,798, or 19 per cent. But we may fairly credit the metropolis with a portion of the increase in West Ham, Croydon, Kingston, Richmond, Brentford, Edmonton, and other districts, which are largely inhabited by persons engaged in business in London, with those who minister to their wants. London is one of the eleven divisions into which England and Wales have been divided for the purposes of statistical comparison. These divisions are on the same scale as the four provinces of Ireland, and their main features correspond with the earlier divisions of the country. Arranged in the order of their rates of increase since 1851, they stand thus ... Increase per Cent. ... ... Northern division (Durham, Northumberland, &c.) Yorkshire division Welsh division ... North Midland (Leicester, Lincoln, Notts.) ... South Midland (Middlesex, extra metrop., Herts.) 19 19 ... 18 South-western (Wilts., Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset) 2 These figures point to the localities where the tide of population has ebbed, and to the direction in which it has flowed. A table exhibited, in parallel columns, the ascertained increase, and the natural increase, or excess of births over deaths in each of these eleven districts. A comparison of the numbers affords some idea of the extent of migration to the principal centres of trade, manufactures, and mining industry, chiefly from the inland districts. The absolute increase in London we have seen to be 440,708. The excess of registered births over deaths was only 253,989; and although this is an under-statement, on account of the unregistered births, a large proportion of the difference, 186,809, consists of immigrants. Nor can we be surprised at this further instalment of strangers when we recollect that more than half the inhabitants of London were born elsewhere. In the following divisions the actual increase exceeded the natural increase as follows:-North-western, 138,262; northern counties, 29,461; south-eastern, 21,468. In the West Midland district, the difference between births and deaths is the same, within a few hundreds. All the remaining divisions presented indications of having been exposed to a drain of population, which, in some cases, has swept away nearly the whole of the natural increase; and, in several of the counties, large numbers besides. Thus, in the eastern division, consisting of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the natural increase was 129,726; while the ascertained increase was only 28,220; to which number the district of West Ham contributed nearly 25,000. In the south-western division, consisting of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, the natural increase was 200,673; and as the actual increase was only 32,290, it is clear that persons representing the difference of 168,383, have left these counties to seek employment, or the means of improving their condition in other parts, at home or abroad. The localities thus discovered by the census to have been partly denuded of their population, are entitled to the credit of having bred the stalwart men whose labour has proved so useful elsewhere. The decrease so general throughout the agricultural districts, has been greatest in the counties of Cambridge, Rutland, Norfolk, Wilts, and Suffolk. Anglesey and Montgomery, in Wales, also sustained a loss. Their decrease may have resulted from the use of machinery, and from the substitution of the breeding of stock for tillage; still it is clear the main cause has been the fact, that in the manufacturing districts labour was better paid, and the operative could lead a better life; and this fact had been remembered by the Liberal administration, of which Lord Palmerston, at this time, was the head. In times past it was otherwise. We tamely tolerated injustice; and what Disraeli calls the territorial system of government was the result. When Old Sarum was young-when Gatton's solitary mound had a stake in the country-when Manchester barely had a "local habitation and a name❞— when to travel from Wales to the metropolis took more time than it does now to travel from the metropolis to Vienna-then the old system answered. It did not ruin the manufacturers, for there were none to ruin. It did not starve the millions, for there were no millions to starve. The serf repined not at his degradation, for the iron had entered into his soul; and, in his hopes and aspirations, hẻ had almost ceased to be a man. But times altered; men increased and multiplied; great cities became the centres of civilisation and industry; science had gone forth to make life happier for the masses; and the change had extended even to the highest offices of the state. The truth is, under the old rural system-under the sway of the rosy-cheeked squires, as Carlyle called them-the country was rapidly going to the bad. The legislator was as ignorant as those for whom he legislated. Our readers may remember the terrible protest of the Rev. Charles Kingsley, in his Yeast, against the old state of things; of which, happily, now little trace remains. The houses and degradation of the peasantry were sketched with a masterly hand. What could have been sadder or truer than the picture of the widow watching where her husband was slain; and exclaiming― |