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colonization not very much advanced in the cultivation of arts and manufactures.

The imports are also given, but they are in value (not in quality), during the same period, and are chiefly conveyed in ships from London, Liverpool, and Bristol, and the invoice value during the year 1817 was 72,516l. 78. 24d.; in 1818, 94,7997. 14s. 54d.; but in the following year, 1819, it fell to 80,8631. 6s. 11 d., and in 1820, it was only 66,725l. 9s. 42d. In 1821, however, the invoice value is quoted at 105,060l. 15s. 104d.; in 1822 at 85,350l. 148. 8d.; in 1823 at 121,442l. 18s. 114d.; and in 1824 at 80,917. 128. 8d.

A census of the population of the colony is also given for the years 1818, 1820, and 1822. No census of the colony appears to have been taken at the time of its transfer to the Crown, neither was any taken in 1817. The order transmitted from the colonial office required up to the latest time a complete census of the population, exclusive of the military; distinguishing the European, Nova-Scotians, disbanded African soldiers, Kroomen, other African emigrants, and liberated Africans; distinguishing also the sexes, the number of persons married, who have learned to read and write, and the number actually enjoying the means of Christian education. This last order has not yet been complied with, so far as the completion of the census, but was expected to be finished soon.

The grand total of population, according to the census last taken in 1822, is 15,081, of which little more than one-third belongs to Freetown. It is chiefly composed of the following classes:-West Indians and Americans, 48 men, 19 women, 18 boys and girls. Of

natives, 1,327 men, 977 women, and above 1,200 boys and girls. Liberated Africans, 3,312 men, 1,956 women, and between 2,000 and 3,000 boys and girls. Discharged soldiers, 1,103; and Kroomen (who appear to be a migratory race, constantly moving to and from the colony), 947.

Between the census of 1817 and 1818 there appears to have been an increase of population of 2,252 individuals, including 1,190 captured negroes; and between the latter, and that taken in 1822, there is an increase of 2,956 persons, including 943 liberated Africans, and 1,030 discharged soldiers from West Indian and African corps.

The returns of schools show within the last three or four years a very considerable increase of numbers. In 1817, the number of men, women, and children, in course of education, did not much exceed 400. On the 31st of December, 1823, there were children, 2,172; adults, 287; making a total of 2,460.

In the account of the number of churches and chapels, with an estimate of the persons attending, we have 24 chapels described, in nearly half of which service is performed by coloured pastors. The number of persons usually attending is 5,818, of whom between 500 and 600 are Wesleyan Methodists, above 200 of Lady Huntingdon's sect, and about half that number Baptists. A detailed account of births in the colony was ordered, but no general record appears to have been kept; and in answer to the order for an account of fit persons liable to serve on juries in the colony of Sierra Leone, it is said that this cannot be correctly ascertained, but that the number

must be very considerable, for that 42 petit, and from 8 to 10 grand jurors are usually summoned every sessions from the coloured inhabitants.

The colonial authorities at Sierra Leone say that they are unable to furnish an account (as ordered) of the number of persons subsisting by the produce of their own labour, distinguishing their several kinds of employment; for that liberated Africans, settled under superintendents in the several villages, are the only persons under the immediate view of the colonial government accounts. The usual rate of wages paid to labourers is 9d. or 10d. per day, and from halfa-crown to 7s. per day to artificers, according to their skill. It is added, however, that these rates of payment are on the decline. In ships and fishing-boats, exclusive of a small number belonging to natives, the property of the inhabitants of the colony is small, and does not exceed a small tonnage. There are about 35 vessels from 10 to 88 tons burden, besides 14 boats employed by fishermen.

Road-Trusts. The turnpike trust committee, for inquiring into the state of the trusts within ten miles of London, have made a report, founded on a large mass of evidence, and calculated, we hope, to bring about considerable relief, both as to economy and comfort, in behalf of the population of this metropolis and its environs. InIndifferent roads toll-gates multiplied beyond endurance enormous taxes, provokingly and universally misapplied to the maintenance rather of a shoal of clerks and other officers, than to the repair of the public avenues to London-have been grievances which the inhabit ants as well as travellers loudly

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complained of, and which have given rise to the appointment of successive committees, each of which has testified to the serious nature of the evil, and to the urgency of some effectual cure. From the number of separate acts of parlia ment under which the several trusts were created, there has been no regular principle of management, nor any central and supreme authority by which the interests of the public might be at once protected. The dilapidation of the funds raised for road-making, and the consequent heavy debts under which the trusts (almost without exception) have been labouring, are proofs of a radical vice in the whole system, and obstacles to improvement nearly, if not quite invincible, if measures be not taken to establish in some quarter a more definite responsibility than has ever yet existed. This committee state that the income raised is "much larger" than would be necessary under good management to keep the roads in the best state of repair; that the "accounts were in a very confused state;" that the needless frequency of ill-conducted repairs is, as indeed every one feels, an extreme inconvenience to travellers; that distinct trusts are granted by act of parliament for spots in close contiguity to each other; that sometimes a parish is in the habit of receiving an annual sum from a trust beyond its own limits, for taking upon it the duty of road-repairing which ought to have devolved upon the trust itself, to the extinction of all active responsibility; and that several trusts are in possession of estates, independent of their tolls, which still continue to levy tolls, as if the necessity for them had not been thereby superseded; that the

establishments of offices for carrying on the trust business are more numerous and expensive than they ought to be; the trusts consequently in debt, and money borrowed even at annuity interest, to provide a mode of discharging it. The committee, therefore, recommend that all the trusts near London should be consolidated under a single set of commissioners, for the sake of effecting the three grand objects of durability in the work, economy in the expenses, and relief to the public, by the removal of vexatious obstructions, from the frequency and inconvenient position of the toll-gates.

Poor's Rates.-There has been published by order of the House of Commons, an abstract of returns prepared by the direction of the select committee of last session, appointed to inquire into the practice which prevails in some parts of the country of paying the wages of labour out of the poor's rates, and to consider whether any and what measures can be carried into execution for the purpose of altering that practice, and to report their observations thereon to the House. The present document consists of returns only of the rate of wages throughout the several counties of England, and of answers to a circular list of questions bearing upon the proposed subject of investigation. The committee have not annexed to the abstract a single observation or opinion of their own.

With regard to the wages of labour, it seems worth notice how the growth of manufactures in a country tends to improve the comforts of the agricultural classes in their neighbourhood. The manufacturing districts of Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and

generally the northern counties, present a far higher average of wages than those of the south of England, besides the benefit, which does not appear on the returns, of a supply of fuel at a much easier price.

In comparing the several districts where the custom prevails of assisting the farmer to pay his labourers out of the poor's rates, with those where such a practice has not yet been suffered, we cannot find that there is any obvious relation between the existence of that abuse, and either a high or low rate of wages. Thus, in the division of Bassetlaw, county of Nottingham, the wages being from 10s. to 12s. per week, are paid in part out of the poor's rates; while, in Southwell division of the same county, the rate not exceeding 10s., the poor's rate is never so applied. Hundreds of instances, bespeaking similar irregularity, might be enumerated, and lead to the belief that more depends on the caprice of the magistrates than on the necessity of the case. Where the system has once commenced, we are aware that more than ordinary skill and firmness are requisite towards its abolition: and in the instance of a labourer with a numerous family, the difficulty of introducing any change seems almost insurmountable. Something less than one-third of the kingdom is visited by this perversion of the poor's rates.

England Fifty Years ago-In seventy years the people of Great Britain have advanced full eight millions in number. In twentyfive years, the number of inhabited houses in England and Wales alone have advanced one-half. Fifty years ago, the very existence of canals was a matter of incredu

three millions of tons, employing about two hundred thousand souls.

American Statistics.-The whole number of people in the United States, by the late census, is 9,629,000. Of this number it is stated that 2,065,000 are engaged in agriculture, 349,000 in manufactures, and 72,000 in commerce. Only the efficient or labouring persons in each class appear to have been enumerated. Add the women, the children, and the invalids, and there will be found to be about 8,000,000 in the agricultural class, 200,000 in the commercial, and 1,300,000 in the manufacturing. In England, the agricultural class does not exceed one-third of the whole population. This one-third is not only sufficient to produce bread, stuffs, and provisions enough for themselves and the other two-thirds, but also to produce enough wool for all the extensive woollen factories in the kingdom, with the exception of a small quantity of fine quality. The wool produced amounts annually to 28,000,000 of dollars in value. Four-fifths of our nation are em

lity. Fifteen millions of public wealth have now been profitably absorbed by these mighty ducts, and at least half as much more is at this hour destined for their formation. Fifty years ago, there was hardly a steam-engine in the kingdom. There cannot now be less than twelve thousand-a creation of power equal to at least a quarter of a million of horses; an energy which, in a single day, would have raised up the great pyramid of Egypt. Fifty years ago, our annual export of manufactured cotton did not amount to a quarter of a million in value: it has now swollen to nearly thirty millions. In the same period, our exported woollens, in defiance of Saxon, Prussian, Spanish, and American competition, have advanced more than two millions. Fifty years ago, our imports of raw silk were only three hundred thousand pounds in weight: they are now nearly three millions. Fifty years ago, our export of iron was hardly twelve thousand tons: it is now about ten times as much. Fifty years ago, our exports of linens were about four millions of yards: they are now nearly fortyployed to produce the same effects millions. Fifty years ago, the that follow from the labours of whole value of our exported pro- one-third of the British nation. duce, both native and foreign, was just fifteen millions of money: the value of British produce exported, alone, is now more than fifty millions. A hundred and twenty years ago, says old Tucker, there were only two or three vessels in Scotland above two hundred tons; our whole tonnage is now more than a quarter of a million, employing twenty thousand souls. A hundred and fifty years ago, says Chalmers, the whole navy of Britain did not amount to a hundred thousand tons: it is now at least

American Mines.-The mines in Spanish America had been brought to their fullest height of production by the end of the last century, and continued to give to the world annual supplies of unprecedented magnitude till the year 1810. It was then the disturbances broke out, originating in the struggle for independence, and partly from the conflicts of rival parties, which desolated the country, and interrupted the mining operations, especially in Mexico, Peru, and Buenos Ayres. The

degree to which the produce of the mines fell off, has been thus given in a recent publication, "Tooke on High and Low Prices."

Annual produce of American Mines in

Mexico
Peru

Chile

dollars.

1800 to 1810.
.....30,000,000
5,480,000
866,000

Buenos Ayres.. 3,640.000
Brazil
4,340,000
New Grenada.. 2,735,000

47,061,000 24,501,000

106,000, Versailles 40,000, and Amiens 40,000. In the royal library at Paris there are several uncollated-MSS. of the Scriptures.

Prison Discipline-The state of crime in Sweden is less than in most other countries. The whole After 1810. number of persons committed to 12.000.000 prison for offences does not exceed 2,740,000 886,000 1,500—viz., about 800 convicted 1,820,000 of various crimes, and 700 impri4,340.000 soned for vagrancy and other of2,735,000 fences of police. A royal commis sion has been appointed to superintend all the prisons and houses of correction, so as to place their discipline and administration on a common footing. A house of correction is building at Stockholm, in which the prisoners will be allowed part of the gains made by their work, and may lay it up to form a sum against the time of their liberation. Similar measures are also in progress at Christiana, in Norway.

Thus the quantity of the precious metals derived yearly from these sources was reduced one-half in consequence of the war.

Public Libraries in France. In Paris the royal library has above 700,000 printed volumes, and 70,000 MSS. The library of Monsieur 150,000 printed volumes, and 5,000 MSS. The library of St. Genevieve 110,000 printed volumes, and 2,000 MSS. The Mazarine library 92,000 printed volumes, and 3,000 MSS. The library of the city of Paris 20,000 volumes. All these are daily open to the public. In the departments there are 25 public libraries, with above 1,700,000 volumes, of which Aix has 72,670, Marseilles 31,500, Toulouse 30,000, Bordeaux 105,000, Tours 30,000, Lyons

Wolves in Russia. — The following is the official account of the devastations committed by the wolves in the government of Livonia only, in the year 1823: they devoured horses, 1,841; foals, 1,243; horned cattle, 1,807; calves, 733; sheep, 15,182; lambs, 726; goats, 2,545; kids, 183; swine, 4,190; sucking pigs, 312; dogs, 703; geese, 673.

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