Chapter XVII (3)

On the 14th of January the new Constitution was decreed. In the proclamation accompanying it, the President says that, not having the vanity to substitute a personal theory for the experience of centuries, he sought in the past for examples that might best be followed; and he said to himself, “Since France makes progress during the last fifty years, in virtue alone of the administrative, military, judicial, religious, and financial organization of the Consulate and the Empire, why should not we also adopt the political institutions of that epoch?” After sketching the condition of the various interests of France, for the purpose of showing that it has been created by the administration of the Emperor, Louis Napoleon says that the principal bases of the Constitution of the year VIII. have been adopted as the foundation of that which he submits. The Constitution consists of seven sections. The government is intrusted to Louis Napoleon, actual President of the Republic, for ten years: he governs by means of the Ministers, the Council of State, the Senate, and the Legislative body. He is responsible to the French people, to whom he has the right always to appeal. He is Chief of the State, commands the land and sea forces, declares war, concludes treaties, and makes rules and decrees for the execution of the laws. He alone has the initiative of the laws, and the right to pardon. He has the right to declare the state of siege in one or several departments, referring to the Senate with the least possible delay. The Ministers depend solely on him, and each is responsible only so far as the acts of the Government regard him. All the officers of the Government, military and civil, high and low, swear obedience to the Constitution and fidelity to the President. Should the President die before the expiration of his office, the Senate convokes the nation to make a new election—the President having the right, by secret will, to designate the citizen whom he recommends. Until the election of a new President, the President of the Senate will govern.—The number of Senators is fixed at 80 for the first year, and can not exceed 150. The Senate is composed of Cardinals, Marshals, Admirals, and of the citizens whom the President may name. The Senators are not removable, and are for life. Their services are gratuitous, but the President may give them 30,000 francs annually, if he sees fit. The officers of the Senate are to be elected on nomination of the President of the Republic, and are to hold for one year. The Senate is to be convoked and prorogued by the President, and its sittings are to be secret. It is the guardian of the fundamental pact and of the public liberties: no law can be published without being submitted to it. It regulates the Constitution of the Colonies, and all that has not been provided for by the Constitution, and decides upon its interpretation—but its decisions are invalid without the sanction of the President. It maintains or annuls all acts complained of as unconstitutional by the Government or by petition. It can fix the bases of projects of laws of national interest—in reports to the President; and can also propose modifications of the Constitution; but all modifications of the fundamental bases of the Constitution must be submitted to the people.—In the Legislative body there is to be one representative for every 35,000 electors—elected by universal suffrage, without _scrutin de liste_. The deputies receive no salary, and hold office for six years. The Legislative body discusses and votes the projects of law and the imposts. Every amendment adopted by the committee charged with the examination of a project of law, shall be sent without discussion to the Council of State, and if not adopted by that body, it can not be submitted to Legislative deliberation. The sittings are to be public, but may be secret on the demand of five members. Public reports of the proceedings shall be confined to the journals and votes—and shall be prepared under direction of the President of the Legislative body. The officers are to be named by the President of the Republic. Ministers can not be members of the Legislature. No petition can be addressed to the Legislative body. The President of the Republic convokes, adjourns, prorogues, and dissolves the Legislative body: in case of dissolution he shall convoke a new one within six months.—The number of Councilors of State is from 40 to 50. They are to be named by the President and are removable by him. He presides over their meetings. They are to draw up projects of law and regulations of the public administration, and to resolve difficulties that may arise, under the direction of the President. Members are to be appointed from its number by the President to maintain, in the name of the Government, the discussion of the projects of law before the Senate and the Legislative corps. The salary of each Councilor is 25,000 francs. The Ministers have ranks, right of sitting, and a deliberative voice in the Council of State.—A High Court of Justice judges without appeal all persons sent before it accused of crimes, attempts or plots against the President of the Republic, and against the internal and external safety of the State. It can not be convened except by decree from the President. Its organization is to be regulated by the Senate.—Existing provisions of law not opposed to the present Constitution shall remain in force until legally abrogated. The Executive shall name the Mayor. The Constitution shall take effect from the day when the great powers named by it shall be constituted.—Such are the provisions of the new Constitution of France.

The Minister of the Interior has issued a circular calling upon the Government officers to promote the election of none but discreet and well-disposed men, not orators or politicians, to the Legislative body, and saying that if they will send to the Ministry the names of proper persons, the influence of the Government will be used to aid their election.—The disarming of the National Guard has been effected without the slightest difficulty.—On the 23d of January a decree was published instituting a Ministry of Police and one of State, and appointing M. Casabianca Minister of State, M. Maupas Minister of General Police, M. Abbatucci Minister of Justice, M. de Persigny Minister of the Interior, M. Bineau Minister of Finance; General de Saint-Arnaud, Minister of War; Ducos, of Marine; Furgot, of Foreign Affairs, and Fortone, of Public Instruction and Worship.—On the 26th of January a decree was issued organizing the Council of State, and appointing 34 Councillors, 40 Masters of Requests, and 31 Auditors. The Council contains the names of most of the leaders in the Assembly, who took sides with the President in the debates of that body. On the 27th, the list of Senators was announced. It contains the names of many who were formerly Peers of France and members of the Legislative Assembly.—On the 23d a decree was issued declaring that the members of the Orleans family, their husbands, wives, and descendants can not possess any real or personal property in France, and ordering the whole of their present possessions to be sold within one year: and on the same day another decree declared that all the property possessed by Louis Philippe, and by him given to his children, on the 7th of August, 1830, should be confiscated and given to the state; and that of this amount ten millions should be allowed to the mutual assistance societies, authorized by law of July 15, 1850; ten millions to be employed in improving the dwellings of workmen in the large manufacturing towns; ten millions to be devoted to the establishment of institutions for making loans on mortgage; five millions to establish a retiring pension fund for the poorest assistant clergy; and the remainder to be distributed among the Legion of Honor and other military functionaries.—The promulgation of these decrees excited great dissatisfaction, and led to the resignation of several members of the Councils. M. Dupin, President of the late Assembly, resigned his office as Procureur-general, in an indignant letter to the President; and Montalembert also resigned his office as member of the Consultative Commission.—The first great ball at the Tuileries on the 24th was very numerously and brilliantly attended.—A decree has been issued abrogating that of 1848 which abolished titles of nobility.—The President fills column after column daily in the _Moniteur_ with announcements of promotions in the army.—Measures of the utmost stringency have been adopted to prevent public discussion in any form. The manufacturers of printing presses, lithographic presses, copying machines, &c., have been forbidden to sell them without sending the buyers’ names to the Police department.—It is rumored that two attempts have been made to assassinate the President, but they are not sufficiently authentic to be deemed reliable.

Austria And Hungary.

The Austrian Emperor issued on New Year’s day three decrees, formally annulling the Constitution of March 4, 1849, and promulgating certain fundamental principles of the future organic institutions of the Austrian Empire. The first decree declares that, after thorough examination, the Constitution has been found neither to agree with the situation of the empire, nor to be capable of full execution. It is therefore annulled, but the equality of all subjects before the law, and the abolition of peasant service and bondage are expressly confirmed. The second decree annuls the specific political rights conferred upon the various provinces. The third decree abolishes open courts, and trials by jury, requires all town elections to be confirmed by the Government, forbids publication of governmental proceedings, and destroys every vestige of the Parliamentary system. These measures make the despotism of Austria much more absolute and severe than it was before 1848.—Proposals are in active preparation for a new Austrian loan. In consequence of this, Baron Krauss, the Minister of Finance, resigned, and is succeeded by M. von Baumgartner.—The members of the London Missionary and Bible Society, who have for many years resided at Pesth and other Hungarian towns, have been ordered out of the Austrian states.—In Prussia strenuous efforts are made by the reactionary party to secure the abolition of the Chambers and the restoration of absolutism.—It is said that the Austrian Government has received from Earl Granville, in reply to its demand for the suppression of revolutionary intrigues carried on in England against the Continental Governments, assurances that every thing should be done to meet its wishes so far as they were not incompatible with the laws and customs of England.—The Austrian Minister of the Interior has directed a committee to make a draft of new laws for Hungary on the basis of the decrees of the 1st of January.

EDITOR’S TABLE.

The seventh enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, taken on the 1st of June, 1850, exhibits results which every citizen of the country may contemplate with gratification and pride. The Report of the Superintendent of the Census-office to the Secretary of the Interior, laid before Congress, in December, 1851, gives a full abstract of the returns, from which we select the most interesting portions; adding other statements showing the progress of this country in population and resources.

Since the census of 1840, there have been added to the territory of the Republic, by annexation, conquest, and purchase, 824,969 square miles; and our title to a region covering 341,463 square miles, which before properly belonged to us, but was claimed and partially occupied by a foreign power, has been established by negotiation, and has been brought within our acknowledged boundaries. By these means the area of the United States has been extended during the past ten years, from 2,055,163 to 3,221,595 square miles, without including the great lakes which lie upon our northern border, or the bays which indent our Atlantic and Pacific shores; all which territory has come within the scope of the Seventh Census.

In endeavoring to ascertain the progress of our population since 1840, it will be proper to deduct from the aggregate number of inhabitants shown by the present census, the population of Texas in 1840, and the number embraced within the limits of California and the new territories, at the time of their acquisition. From the best information which has been obtained at the Census-office, it is believed that Texas contained, in 1840, 75,000 inhabitants; and that when California, New Mexico, and Oregon came into our possession, in 1846, they had a total population of 97,000. It thus appears that we have received by accessions of territory, since 1840, an addition of 172,000 to the number of our people. The increase which has taken place in those extended regions since they came under the authority of our Government, should obviously be reckoned as a part of the development and progress of our population, nor is it necessary to complicate the comparison by taking into account the probable natural increase of this acquired population, because we have not the means of determining its rate of advancement, nor the law which governed its progress, while yet beyond the influence of our political system.

The total number of inhabitants in the United States, according to the returns of the census, was on the 1st of June, 1850, 23,258,760. The absolute increase from the 1st of June, 1840, has been 6,189,307, and the actual increase per cent. is slightly over 36 per cent. But it has been shown that the probable amount of population acquired by additions of territory should be deducted in making a comparison between the results of the present and the last census. These reductions diminish the total population of the country, as a basis of comparison, and also the increase. The relative increase, after this allowance, is found to be 35.17 per cent.

The aggregate number of whites in 1850 was 19,631,799, exhibiting a gain upon the number of the same class in 1840, of 5,436,004, and a relative increase of 38.20 per cent. But, excluding the 153,000 free population supposed to have been acquired by the addition of territory since 1840, the gain is 5,283,004, and the increase per cent. is 37.14.

The number of slaves, by the present census, is 3,198,324, which shows an increase of 711,111, equal to 28.58 per cent. If we deduct 19,000 for the probable slave population of Texas in 1840, the result of the comparison will be slightly different. The absolute increase will be 692,111, and the rate per cent. 27.83.

The number of free colored persons in 1850 was 428,637; in 1840, 386,345. The increase of this class has been 42,292 or 10.95 per cent.

From 1830 to 1840, the increase of the whole population was at the rate of 32.67 per cent. At the same rate of advancement, the absolute gain for the ten years last past, would have been 5,578,333, or 426,515 less than it has been, without including the increase consequent upon additions of territory.

The aggregate increase of population, from all sources, shows a relative advance greater than that of any other decennial term, except that from the second to the third census, during which time the country received an accession of inhabitants by the purchase of Louisiana, considerably greater than one per cent. of the whole number.

The decennial increase of the most favored portions of Europe is less than one and a half per cent. per annum, while with the United States it is at the rate of three and a half per cent. According to our past progress, viewed in connection with that of European nations, the population of the United States in forty years will exceed that of England, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland combined.

In 1845, Mr. William Darby, the Geographer, who has paid much attention to the subject of population, and the progress of the country; having found that the increase of population in the United States for a series of years, had exceeded three per cent. per annum, adopted that ratio as a basis for calculation for future increase. He estimated the population of 1850 at 23,138,004, which it will be observed is considerably exceeded by the actual result. The following are Mr. Darby’s calculations of the probable population of the Union for each five years up to 1885:

1850 23,138,004 1870 40,617,708 1855 26,823,385 1875 47,087,052 1860 31,095,535 1880 54,686,795 1865 35,035,231 1885 63,291,353

If the ratio of increase be taken at three per cent. per annum, the population duplicates, in about twenty-four years. Therefore, if no serious disturbing influence should interfere with the natural order of things, the aggregate population of the United States at the close of this century must be over one hundred millions.

The relative progress of the white and colored population in past years, is shown by the following tabular statement, giving the increase per cent. of each class of inhabitants in the United States for sixty years.

Classes. 1790 to 1800 to 1810 to 1820 to 1830 to 1840 to 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 Whites 35.7 36.2 34.19 33.95 34.7 38.28 Free 88.2 72.2 25.25 36.85 20.9 10.9 col. Slaves 27.9 33.4 29.1 30.61 23.8 28.58 Total 32.2 37.6 28.58 31.44 23.4 26.22 col. Total 35.01 36.45 33.12 33.48 32.6 36.25 pop.

The census had been taken previously to 1830 on the 1st of August; the enumeration began that year on the 1st of June, two months earlier, so that the interval between the fourth and fifth censuses was two months less than ten years, which time allowed for would bring the total increase up to the rate of 34.36 per cent.

The table given below shows the increase for the sixty years, 1790 to 1850, without reference to intervening periods:

Number. 1790. 1850. Absolute Incr. per Increase. cent. Whites 3,172,364 19,631,799 16,459,335 527.97 Free col. 59,466 428,637 369,171 617.44 Slaves 697,897 3,198,324 2,500,427 350.13 Total free 757,363 3,626,961 2,869,598 377.00 col. and slaves Total pop. 3,929,827 23,258,760 19,328,883 491.52

Sixty years since, the proportion between the whites and blacks, bond and free, was 4.2 to one. In 1850, it was 5.26 to 1, and the ratio in favor of the former race is increasing. Had the blacks increased as fast as the whites during these sixty years, their number, on the first of June, would have been 4,657,239; so that, in comparison with the whites, they have lost, in this period, 1,035,340.

This disparity is much more than accounted for by European emigration to the United States. Dr. Chickering, in an essay upon emigration, published at Boston in 1848—distinguished for great elaborateness of research—estimates the gain of the white population, from this source, at 3,922,152. No reliable record was kept of the number of immigrants into the United States until 1820, when, by the law of March, 1819, the collectors were required to make quarterly returns of foreign passengers arriving in their districts. For the first ten years, the returns under the law afford materials for only an approximation to a true state of the facts involved in this inquiry.

Dr. Chickering assumes, as a result of his investigations, that of the 6,431,088 inhabitants of the United States in 1820, 1,430,906 were foreigners, arriving subsequent to 1790, or the descendants of such. According to Dr. Seybert, an earlier writer upon statistics, the number of foreign passengers, from 1790 to 1810, was, as nearly as could be ascertained, 120,000; and from the estimates of Dr. Seybert, and other evidence, Hon. George Tucker, author of a valuable work on the census of 1840, supposes the number, from 1810 to 1820, to have been 114,000. These estimates make, for the thirty years preceding 1820, 234,000.

If we reckon the increase of these emigrants at the average rate of the whole body of white population during these three decades, they and their descendants in 1820, would amount to about 360,000. From 1820 to 1830 there arrived, according to the returns of the Custom-houses, 135,986 foreign passengers, and from 1830 to 1840, 579,370, making for the twenty years 715,356. During this period a large number of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, came into the United States through Canada. These were estimated at 67,903 from 1820 to 1830, and from 1830 to 1840, at 199,130. From 1840 to 1850 the arrivals of foreign passengers amounted to 1,542,850, equal to an annual average of 154,285.

From the above returns and estimates the following statement has been made up, to show the accessions to our population from immigration, from 1790 to 1850—a period of sixty years:

Number of foreigners arriving from 1790 to 1810: 120,000 Natural increase, reckoned in periods of ten years: 47,560 Number of foreigners arriving from 1810 to 1820: 114,000 Increase of the above to 1820: 19,000 Increase from 1810 to 1820 of those arriving previous to 1810: 58,450 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in 1820: 359,010 Number of immigrants from 1820 to 1830: 203,979 Increase of the above: 35,728 Increase from 1820 to 1830 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the country in 1820: 134,130 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1830: 732,847 Number of immigrants arriving from 1830 to 1840: 778,500 Increase of the: 135,150 Increase from 1830 to 1840 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1830: 254,445 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1840: 1,900,942 Number of immigrants arriving from 1840 to 1850(8): 1,542,850 Increase of the above at twelve per cent: 185,142 Increase from 1840 to 1850 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1840: 722,000 Total number of immigrants in the United States since 1790, and their descendants in 1850: 4,350,934

The following, we think, may be considered an approximate estimate of the population of the United States, in 1850, classed according to their descent from the European colonists, previous to the American Revolution, also from immigration since 1790, from the people who inhabited the territories acquired by the United States (Louisiana, Texas, &c.), and from Africans:

Descendants of the European colonists, previous to 1776: 14,280,885 Ditto of people of Louisiana, Texas, and other acquired territories: 1,000,000 Immigrants since 1790, and their descendants: 4,350,934 Descendants of Africans: 3,626,961 Total population: 23,258,760

It will be seen from the above, that the total number of immigrants arriving in the United States from 1790 to 1850, a period of 60 years, is estimated to have been 2,759,329—or an average of 45,988 annually for the whole period. It will be observed also that the estimated increase of these emigrants has been 1,590,405, making the total number added to the population of the United States since 1790, by foreign immigrants and their descendants, 4,350,934. Of these immigrants and their descendants, those from Ireland bear the largest proportion, probably more than one half of the whole, or say two and a half millions. Next to these the Germans are the most numerous. From the time that the first German settlers came to this country, in 1682, under the auspices of William Penn, there has been a steady influx of immigrants from Germany, principally to the Middle States; and of late years to the West.

The density of population is a branch of the subject which naturally attracts the attention of the inquirer. Taking the thirty-one States together, their area is 1,485,870 square miles, and the average number of their inhabitants is 15.48 to the square mile. The total area of the United States is 3,280,000 square miles, and the average density of population is 7.22 to the square mile.

From the location, climate, and productions, and the habits and pursuits of their inhabitants, the States of the Union may be properly arranged into the following groups:

Divisions. Area in Population. Inhab. to sq. miles. sq. m. New Engl’d States (6) 63,226 2,727,597 43.07 Middle States, including 151,760 8,653,713 57.02 Maryland, Delaware and Ohio (6) Coast Planting States, 286,077 3,537,089 12.36 including South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (6) Central Slave States: 308,210 5,168,000 16.75 Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas(6) Northwestern States: 250,000 2,735,000 10.92 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa (5) Texas 237,321 212,000 .89 California 188,982 165,000 .87

Table of the area, and the number of inhabitants to the square mile, in each State and Territory in the Union.

Free States. Area in Population Inhab. to sq. miles in 1850. sq. m. Maine 30,000 583,188 19.44 New Hampshire 9,280 317,964 34.26 Vermont 10,212 314,120 30.07 Massachusetts 7,800 994,499 126.11 Rhode Island 1,306 147,544 108.05 Connecticut 4,674 370,791 79.83 New York 46,000 3,097,394 67.66 New Jersey 6,320 489,333 60.04 Pennsylvania 46,000 2,311,786 50.25 Ohio 39,964 1,980,408 49.55 Indiana 33,809 988,416 29.23 Illinois 55,405 851,470 15.37 Iowa 50,914 192,214 3.77 Wisconsin 53,924 305,191 5.45 Michigan 56,243 397,654 7.07 California 188,982 165,000 .87 Minnesota Terr. 83,000 6,077 .07 Oregon ditto 341,463 13,293 .04 Mew Mexico ditto 219,774 61,547 .28 Utah ditto 187,923 11,380 .06 Total 1,474,993 13,419,190

Slaveholding States. Delaware 2,120 91,535 43.64 Maryland 9,356 583,035 62.31 Dis. of Columbia 60 51,687 861.45 Virginia 61,352 1,421,661 23.17 North Carolina 45,000 868,903 19.30 South Carolina 24,500 668,507 27.28 Georgia 58,000 905,999 15.68 Florida 59,268 87,401 1.47 Alabama 50,723 771,671 15.21 Mississippi 47,126 606,555 12.86 Louisiana 46,431 511,974 11.02 Texas 237,321 212,592 .89 Arkansas 52,198 209,639 4.01 Tennessee 45,600 1,002,625 21.98 Kentucky 37,680 982,405 26.07 Missouri 67,380 682,043 10.12 Total 844,115 9,638,223

It will be observed that a large proportion of the area of the Free States and Territories is comprised in the unsettled country west of the Mississippi. The following Territories, inhabited by Indians, also lie west of the Mississippi.

Nebraska Territory: 136,700 square miles. Indian Territory: 187,171 square miles. Northwest Territory: 587,564 square miles.

The following is a comparative table of the population of each State and Territory in 1850, and 1840:

Free States. Pop. 1850. Pop. 1840. Maine 583,188 501,793 New Hampshire 317,964 284,574 Vermont 313,611 291,948 Massachusetts 994,499 737,699 Rhode Island 147,544 108,830 Connecticut 370,791 309,978 New York 3,097,394 2,428,921 New Jersey 489,555 373,306 Pennsylvania 2,311,786 1,724,033 Ohio 1,980,408 1,519,467 Indiana 988,416 685,866 Illinois 851,470 476,183 Iowa 192,214 43,112 Wisconsin 305,191 30,945 Michigan 397,654 212,367 California 165,000 Minnesota Territory 6,077 Oregon Territory 13,293 New Mexico Territory 61,505 Utah Territory 11,380 Total 13,419,190 9,978,922

Increase of population, 3,440,268, or exclusive of California and Territories, 3,183,013—equal to 31.8 per cent.

Slaveholding States. Pop. 1850. Pop. 1840 Delaware 91,536 78,085 Maryland 583,035 470,019 District of Columbia(9) 51,687 43,712 Virginia 1,421,661 1,239,797 North Carolina 868,903 753,419 South Carolina 668,507 594,398 Georgia 905,990 691,392 Florida 87,401 54,477 Alabama 771,671 590,756 Mississippi 606,555 375,651 Louisiana 511,974 352,411 Texas 212,592 (est. 75,000) Arkansas 209,639 97,574 Tennessee 1,002,625 829,210 Kentucky 982,405 779,828 Missouri 682,043 383,702 Total 9,658,224 7,409,431

Total increase of population 2,248,793, equal to 30.3 per cent.

Comparative population of the United States, from 1790 to 1850.

Census of Total. Whites. Free Slaves. col. 1790 3,929,827 3,172,464 59,446 687,897 1800 5,345,925 4,304,489 108,395 893,041 1810 7,239,814 5,862,004 186,446 1,191,364 1820 9,654,596 7,872,711 238,197 1,543,688 1830 12,866,020 10,537,378 319,599 2,009,043 1840 17,063,355 14,189,705 386,295 2,487,355 1850 23,258,760 19,631,799 428,637 3,198,324

Table showing the number of the different classes of population in each State and Territory.

Free States. Whites. Free col. Slaves. Maine 581,863 1,325 New Hampshire 317,385 475 Vermont 313,411 709 Massachusetts 985,704 8,795 Rhode Island 144,000 3,544 Connecticut 363,305 7,486 New York 3,049,457 47,937 New Jersey 466,240 23,093 222 Pennsylvania 2,258,463 53,323 Ohio 1,956,108 24,300 Indiana 977,628 10,788 Illinois 846,104 5,366 Iowa 191,879 335 Wisconsin 304,965 626 Michigan 395,097 2,537 California 163,200 1,800 Minnesota 6,038 39 Territory Oregon 13,089 206 Territory New Mexico 61,530 17 Territory Utah Territory 11,330 24 26 Total 13,406,394 192,745 248

Slaveholding Whites. Free col. Slaves. States Delaware 71,289 19,957 2,289 Maryland 418,590 74,077 90,368 District of 38,027 9,973 3,687 Columbia Virginia 895,304 53,829 472,528 North Carolina 533,295 27,196 283,412 South Carolina 274,623 8,900 384,984 Georgia 521,438 2,880 381,681 Florida 47,167 925 39,309 Alabama 426,507 2,272 342,892 Mississippi 205,758 899 309,898 Louisiana 255,416 17,537 239,021 Texas 154,100 331 58,161 Arkansas 162,068 589 46,982 Tennessee 756,893 6,271 239,461 Kentucky 761,688 9,736 210,981 Missouri 592,077 2,544 87,422 Total 6,224,240 235,916 3,198,076

The following table shows the population west of the Mississippi River.

Western Louisiana 207,787 Texas 212,592 Arkansas 209,639 Missouri 682,043 Iowa 192,214 Minnesota Territory 6,077 New Mexico Territory 61,505 Utah Territory 11,293 Oregon Territory 13,293 California 165,000 Total 1,761,530

The population of the Valley of the Mississippi, comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, is 9,090,688, of whom the free population is 7,614,031, and 1,476,657 are slaves.

THE RATIO OF REPRESENTATION, as determined by the recent census, and a late Act of Congress, will be about 93,716, and the relative representation of the States in Congress for the next ten years, will be as follows:

New York 33 Pennsylvania 25 Ohio 21 Virginia 13 Massachusetts 11 Indiana 11 Tennessee 10 Kentucky 10 Illinois 9 North Carolina 8 Georgia 8 Alabama 7 Missouri 7 Maine 6 Maryland 6 New Jersey 5 South Carolina 5 Mississippi 5 Connecticut 4 Michigan 4 Louisiana 4 Vermont 3 New Hampshire 3 Wisconsin 3 Rhode Island 2 Iowa 2 Arkansas 2 Texas 2 California 2 Florida 1 Delaware 1 Total 233

AGRICULTURE.—The following is a summary of the returns of the Census for a portion of the statistics obtained respecting agriculture:

Number of acres of land improved: 112,042,000
Value of farming implements and machinery: $151,820,273
Value of live stock: $552,705,238
Bushels of wheat raised, 1849: 104,799,230
In 1839: 84,823,272
Increased production: 19,975,958
Bushels of Indian corn raised, 1849: 591,586,053
In 1839: 377,531,875
Increased production: 214,054,178
Pounds of Tobacco raised, 1849: 199,522,494
In 1839: 219,163,319
Decreased production: 19,640,825
Bales of cotton of 400 lb. each—1849: 2,472,214
In 1839: 1,976,199
Increased production: 495,016
Pounds of sheep’s wool raised, 1849: 52,422,797
In 1839: 35,802,114
Increased production: 16,620,683
Tons of hay raised, 1849: 13,605,384
In 1839: 10,248,108
Increased production: 3,357,276
Pounds of butter made, 1849: 312,202,286
Pounds of cheese made, 1849: 103,184,585
Pounds of maple sugar, 1849: 32,759,263
Cane sugar—hhds. of 1000 lbs: 318,644
Value of household manufactures, 1849: $27,525,545
In 1839: 29,023,380
Decrease: 1,497,735

Manufactures.

The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, not to include any establishments producing less than the annual value of $500, amounted, in round numbers, to: $530,000,000 Value of raw materials used: 550,000,000 Amount paid for labor: 240,000,000 Value of manufactured articles: $1,020,300,000 Number of persons employed: 1,050,000

The following are the number of establishments in operation, and capital employed in cotton, woolens, and iron:

No. of Capital Estab. invested. Cotton 1094 $74,501,031 Woolens 1559 28,118,650 Pig Iron 377 17,356,425 Castings 1391 17,416,360 Wrought iron 422 14,495,220

The value of articles manufactured in 1849 was as follows, compared with 1839.

1849. 1839. Cottons $61,869,184 $46,350,453 Woolens 43,207,555 20,696,999 Pig Iron 12,748,777 Castings 25,108,155 286,903 Wrought Iron 16,747,074 197,233

The period which has elapsed since the receipt of the returns at Washington, has been too short to enable the Census-office to make more than a general report of the facts relating to a few of the most important manufactures. The complete statistical returns, when published, will present a very full view of the varied interests and extent of the industrial pursuits of the people.

THE PRESS.—The statistics of the newspaper press form an interesting feature in the returns of the Seventh Census. It appears that the whole number of newspapers and periodicals in the United States, on the first day of June, 1850, amounted to 2800. Of these, 2494 were fully returned, 234 had all the facts excepting circulation given, and 72 are estimated for California, the Territories, and for those that may have been omitted by the assistant marshals. From calculations made on the statistics returned, and estimated circulations where they have been omitted, it appears that the aggregate circulation of these 2800 papers and periodicals is about 5,000,000, and that the entire number of copies printed annually in the United States, amounts to 422,600,000. The following table will show the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and other issues, with the aggregate circulation of each class:

Published. No. Circulation. Copies annually. Daily 350 750,000 235,000,000 Tri-weekly 150 75,000 11,700,000 Semi-weekly 125 80,000 8,320,000 Weekly 2,000 2,875,000 149,500,000 Semi-monthly 50 300,000 7,200,000 Monthly 100 900,000 10,800,000 Quarterly 25 29,000 80,000 Total 2,800 5,000,000 422,600,000

Of these papers 424 are issued in the New England States, 876 in the Middle States, 716 in the Southern States, and 784 in the Western States. The average circulation of papers in the United States, is 1785. There is one publication for every 7161 free inhabitants in the United States and Territories.

MORTALITY.—The statistics of mortality for the census year, represent the number of deaths occurring within the year as 320,194, the ratio being as one to 72.6 of the living population, or as ten to each 726 of the population. The rate of mortality in this statement, taken as a whole, seems so much less than that of any portion of Europe, that it must, at present, be received with some degree of allowance.

INDIANS.—The Indian tribes within the boundaries of the United States are not, as is well known, included in the census, but an enumeration of these tribes was authorized by an act of Congress, passed in March, 1847; and the census of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains has been taken by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These returns have been published, with estimates for the Indian tribes in Oregon, California, Utah, &c., and the result shows the total Indian population to be 388,229, to which may be added from 25,000 to 35,000 Indians within the area of the unexplored territories of the United States. The Indian population of Oregon is estimated at 22,733; of California 32,231; of New Mexico 92,130; of Utah 11,500; of Texas 24,100. In round numbers, the total number of Indians within our boundaries may be stated at 420,000.

CENSUS OF 1840.—For the purpose of comparison, we here present a summary of the Sixth Census of the United States, June 1, 1840.

Free States. Whites. Free col. Slaves. Maine 284,036 537 1 New Hampshire 500,438 1,355 Vermont 291,218 730 Massachusetts 729,030 8,668 Rhode Island 105,587 3,238 5 Connecticut 301,856 8,105 17 Total of N. England 2,212,165 22,633 23 New York 2,378,894 50,027 4 New Jersey 351,588 21,044 674 Pennsylvania 1,676,115 47,864 64 Ohio 1,502,122 17,342 3 Indiana 678,698 7,165 3 Illinois 472,254 3,598 331 Michigan 211,560 707 Wisconsin 30,749 185 11 Iowa 42,924 172 16 Total Free States 9,557,065 170,727 1129

Slaveholding States. Whites. Free col. Slaves. Delaware 58,161 16,919 2,605 Maryland 318,204 62,078 89,737 District of Columbia 30,657 8,361 4,694 Virginia 740,968 49,842 448,987 North Carolina 484,870 22,732 255,817 South Carolina 259,084 8,276 327,038 Georgia 407,695 2,753 280,944 Florida 27,943 837 25,717 Alabama 335,185 2,039 253,532 Mississippi 179,074 1,369 195,211 Louisiana 158,457 25,592 168,451 Arkansas 77,174 465 19,935 Tennessee 640,627 5,524 183,059 Kentucky 590,253 7,317 182,258 Missouri 323,888 1,574 58,240 Total Slave States 4,632,640 215,568 2,486,226 Total United States 14,189,705 386,295 2,487,355

Total population of the United States in 1840, 17,063,355.

ATLANTIC STATES.—The progress of population in the Atlantic States, since 1790, is shown by the following table. The Middle States are New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

New Middle. Southern. England. 1790 1,009,823 958,632 1,852,504 1800 1,233,315 1,401,070 2,285,909 1810 1,471,891 2,014,695 2,674,913 1820 1,659,808 2,699,845 3,061,074 1830 1,954,717 3,587,664 3,645,752 1840 2,234,822 4,526,260 3,925,299 1850 2,728,106 5,898,735 4,678,728

It may be interesting to notice in this sketch of the progress of the United States, the population of the country comprising the original thirteen States, while under the Colonial Government, as far as the same is known. The first permanent colony planted by the English in America was Virginia, the settlement of which commenced in 1607. This was followed by the colonization of Massachusetts, in two original settlements; first that commenced at Plymouth in 1620; the other at Salem and Boston in 1628 and 1630. Maryland was settled by English and Irish Catholics in 1634; and New York by the Dutch in 1613.

With the exception of Vermont, the foundation of all the New England States was laid within twenty years from the arrival of the first settlers at Plymouth. Hutchinson says that during ten years next prior to 1640, the number of Puritans who came over to New England amounted to 21,000. If this estimate is correct, the whole number of inhabitants in New England in 1640, taking the natural increase into consideration, must have been over 32,000. As the Puritans came into power in England, under Cromwell, their emigration was checked, and almost ceased, until the restoration, in 1660. Mr. Seaman, in his “Progress of Nations,” has estimated the population of New England to have increased to 120,000 in 1701, and gives the following statement of the population of the original United States, while British colonies, estimated for 1701, 1749, and 1775:

1701. 1749. 1775. New England 120,000 385,000 705,000 New York 30,000 100,000 200,000 New Jersey 15,000 60,000 120,000 Pennsylvania 20,000 200,000 325,008 Delaware 5,000 25,000 40,000 Maryland 20,000 100,000 210,000 Virginia 70,000 250,000 540,000 North Carolina 20,000 80,000 260,000 South Carolina 7,000 50,000 160,000 Georgia -- 10,000 40,000 Total 307,000 1,260,000 2,600,000

From 1750 to 1790 (Mr. Seaman states), the white population of the Southern Colonies or States increased faster than the same class in the Northern States, and about as fast from 1790 to 1800. But since that period the increase of whites has been greater in proportion in the Northern than in the Southern States.

In estimating the future progress of that part of the Continent of America within the boundaries of the United States, with reference to the march of population over the immense regions west of the Mississippi, it should be borne in mind that there is a large tract, of about one thousand miles in breadth, between the western boundaries of Missouri and Arkansas, and the Rocky Mountains, which is mostly uninhabitable for agricultural purposes, the soil being sterile, without timber, and badly watered. But the population flowing into California and Oregon, attracted by the rich mineral and agricultural resources of those extensive regions, leaves no doubt that our States on the Pacific will form a most important part of the Republic, and afford new fields for enterprise for many future years.

In taking the Seventh Census of the United States, there have been engaged 45 marshals, and 3231 assistants. The aggregate amount appropriated by Congress for the expenses was $1,267,500. On the 30th of September last there were employed in the Census-office ninety-one clerks, who in November were increased to one hundred and forty-eight.

THE IMMENSITY OF THE UNIVERSE!—How often has the grandeur of the conception been marred by the scientific puerilities that have been brought to its aid. Lecturers have astonished us with rows of decimals, as though these could vivify the imaginative faculty, or impart an idea in any respect more elevated than could have been entertained through an unscientific yet devout contemplation of the works and ways of God. They have talked to us of millions, and millions of millions, as though the computation of immense numbers denoted the highest exercise of the human intellect, or the loftiest sublimities of human thought. Sometimes they would vary the effect by telling us how many billions of years it would take for a railroad locomotive to travel across the solar system, or for a cannon ball to fly to the widest range of a comet’s orbit, or for the flash of the electric telegraph to reach the supposed remotest confines of the Milky Way. And so we have known some preachers attempt to measure eternity by clocks and pendulums, or sand-glasses as large as the earth’s orbit, and dropping one grain of sand every million of years, as though any thing of that kind could come up to the dread impression of that one Saxon word—_forever_, or the solemn grandeur of the Latin _secula seculorum_, or to the effect produced by any of those simple reduplications through which language has ever sought to set forth the immeasurable conception, by making its immeasurability the very essence of the thought, and of the term by which it is denoted.

Such contrivances as we have mentioned only weary instead of aiding the conceptive faculty. If any such help is required for the mind, one of the shortest formulas of arithmetic or algebra, we contend, would be the most effective. The more we can express by the highest symbol, the less is the true grandeur of the thought impaired by any of that imitating and ever-foiled effort of the imagination which attends those longer methods that are addressed solely to it. Let us attempt such a formula by taking at once, for our unit of division, the most minute space ever brought into visibility by the highest power of the microscope. Let our dividend on the other hand, be the utmost distance within which the telescope has ever detected the existence of a material entity. Denote the quotient by the letter _x_, and let _r_ stand for the radius of the earth’s orbit. Then _rx__x_ is the formula sought; and if any one think for a moment on the immense magnitude of the latter part of the expression (_x__x_), and at what a rate the involution expands itself even when _x_ represents a moderate number,(10) he may judge how immeasurably it leaves behind it all other computations. The whole of the universe made visible by Lord Rosse’s telescope actually shrinks to the dimensions of an animalcule in the comparison. And yet, even at that distance, so utterly surpassing all conceivability, we may suppose the existence of worlds still embraced within the dominions of God, and still, in the same ratio, remote from the frontiers of his immeasurable empire.

But let us return from so fruitless an inquiry. There is another idea suggested by the contemplation of the heavens of no less interest, although presenting a very different, if not an opposite aspect. It is the comparative NOTHINGNESS of the tangible material universe, as contrasted with the space, or spaces, occupied even within its visible boundaries. The distance of our sun from the nearest fixed star (conjectured by astronomers to be the star 61 Cygni) is estimated at being at least 60,000,000,000,000 of miles, or 600,000 diameters of the earth’s orbit, or about sixty million diameters of the sun himself. Taking this for the average distance between the stars, although it is doubtless much greater, and supposing them to be equal in magnitude to each other, and to the sun, we have these most striking results. The sun and the star in Cygnus (and so of the others) would present the same relation as that of two balls of ten inches diameter placed ten thousand miles apart, or one a thousand miles above the North Pole, and the other a like distance below the South Pole of our earth. Preserving the same ratio, we might represent them again, by two half-inch bullets placed, the one at Chicago, and the other on the top of the City Hall in the City of New York; and so on, until finally we would come down to two points, less than a thousandth part of an inch in diameter, requiring the microscope to render them visible, and situated at the distance of a mile asunder. Suppose then an inch of the finest thread of thistle-down cut into a thousand sections, and a globular space as large as the sphere of our earth, occupied with such invisible specks, at distances from each other never less than a mile at least, and we have a fair representation of the visible universe—on a reduced scale, it is true, yet still preserving all the relative magnitudes, and all the adjusted proportions of the parts to each other, and to the whole. On any scale we may assume, all that partakes, in the lowest degree, of sensible materiality, bears but an infinitessimal proportion to what _appears_ to be but vacant space. In this view of the matter it becomes more than a probability that there is no relatively denser solidity than this any where existing. Even in the hardest and apparently most impenetrable matter, the ultimate particles may be as sparse in their relative positions, as are, to each other, the higher compound and component bodies which we know are dispersed at such immense distances as mere points in space.

But not to dwell on this idea, there is another of a kindred nature to which we would call attention, although it must often have come home to every serious mind. Who can soberly contemplate the mighty heavens without being struck with what may be called the ISOLATION of the universe, or rather, of the innumerable parts of which it is composed. To the most thoughtful spirit a sense of loneliness must be a main, if not a predominant element in such a survey. The first impression from these glittering points in space may, indeed, be that of a _social_ congregated host. And yet how perfect the _seclusion_; so that while there is granted a bare knowledge of each other’s existence, the possibility of any more intimate communion, without a change in present laws, is placed altogether beyond the reach of hope. What immeasurable fields of space intervene even between those that seem the nearest to each other on the celestial canvas!

We may say, then, that whatever may be reserved for a distant future, this perfect seclusion seems now to be the predominant feature, or law, of the Divine dispensations. No doubt our Creator could easily have formed us with sensitive powers, or a sensitive organization, capable of being affected from immensely remote, as well as from comparatively near distances. There is nothing inconceivable in such an adaptation of the nervous system to a finer class of etherial undulations as might have enabled us to see and hear what is going on in the most distant worlds. But it hath not so pleased Him to constitute us; and we think, with all reverence be it said, that we see wisdom in the denial of such powers unless accompanied by an organization which would, on the other hand, utterly unfit us for the narrow world in which we have our present probationary residence. If the excitements of our limited earth bear with such exhausting power upon our sensitive system, what if a universe should burst upon us with its tremendous realities of weal or woe!

It is in kindness, then, that each world is severed, for the present, from the general intercourse, and that so perfectly that no amount of science can ever be expected to overcome the separation. “HE hath set a bound which we can not pass,” except in imagination. Even analogical reasoning utterly fails, or only lights us to the conclusion that the diversities of structure, of scenery, and of condition, must be as great, and as numberless as the spaces, and distances, and positions they respectively occupy. The moral sense, however, is not wholly silent. It has a voice “to which we do well to take heed” when the last rays of reason and analogy have gone out in darkness. It can not be, it affirms—it can not be, that the worlds on worlds which the eye and the telescope reveal to us are but endless repetitions of the fallen earth on which we dwell. What a pall would such a thought spread over the universe! How sad would it render the contemplation of the heavens! How full of melancholy the conception that throughout the measureless fields of space there may be the same wretchedness and depravity that have formed the mournful history of our earth, and which we fail to see in its true intensity, because we have become hardened through long and intimate familiarity with its scenes. And yet, for all that natural science merely, and natural theology can prove, it may be so, and even far worse. For all that they can affirm, either as to possibility or probability, a history of woe surpassing any thing that earth has ever exhibited, or inhabitant of earth has ever imagined, may have every where predominated. The highest reasoning of natural theology can only set out for us some cold system of optimism, which may make it perfectly consistent with its heartless intellectuality to regard the sufferings of a universe, and that suffering a million-fold more intense than any thing ever yet experienced, as only a means to some fancied good time coming, and ever coming, for other dispensations and other races, and other types of being in a future incalculably remote. To a right thinking mind nothing can be more gloomy than that view of the universe which is given by science alone, taking the earth as its base line of measurement, and its present condition (assumed to have come from no moral catastrophe, but to be a necessary result of universal physical laws) as the only ground of legitimate induction. But we have a surer guide than this. Besides the moral sense, we have the representations the Bible gives of God and Christ. These form the ground of the belief that our earth is not a fair sample of the universe, that fallen worlds are rare and extraordinary, as requiring extraordinary mediatorial remedies—that blessedness is the rule and not the exception, and that the Divine love and justice have each respect to individual existences, instead of being both absorbed in that _impersonal_ attribute which has regard only to being in general, or to worlds and races viewed only in reference to some interminable progress, condemned by its own law of development to eternal imperfection, because never admitting the idea of finish of workmanship, or of finality of purpose, either in relation to the universe or any of its parts.

EDITOR’S EASY CHAIR

New-Yorkers have a story to tell of the winter just now dying, that will seem, perhaps, to the children of another generation like a pretty bit of Munchausenism. Whoever has seen our Metropolitan City only under the balmy atmosphere of a soft May-day, or under the smoky sultriness of a tropic August—who has known our encompassing rivers only as green arms of sparkling water, laughing under the shadows of the banks, and of shipping—would never have known the Petersburg of a place into which our passing winter has transformed the whole.

Only fancy our green East River, that all the summer comes rocking up from the placid Sound, with a hoarse murmur through the rocks of Hell-Gate, and loitering, like a tranquil poem, under the shade of the willows of Astoria, all bridged with white and glistening ice! And the stanch little coasting-craft, that in summer-time spread their wings in companies, like flocks of swans, within the bays that make the vestibule to the waters of the city, have been caught in their courses, and moored to their places, by a broad anchor of sheeted silver.

The oyster-men, at the beacon of the Saddle-rock, have cut openings in the ice; and the eel-spearers have plied their pronged trade, with no boat save the frozen water.

In town, too, a carnival of sleighs and bells has wakened Broadway into such hilarity as was like to the festivals we read of upon the Neva. And if American character verged ever toward such coquetry of flowers and bon-bons as belongs to the Carnival at Rome, it would have made a pretty occasion for the show, when cheeks looked so tempting, and the streets and house-tops sparkled with smiles.

As for the country, meantime, our visitors tell us that it has been sleeping for a month and more under a glorious cloak of snow; and that the old days of winter-cheer and fun have stolen back to mock at the anthracite fires, and to woo the world again to the frolic of moonlight rides and to the flashing play of a generous hickory-flame.

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Beside the weather, which has made the ballast of very much of the salon chat, city people have been measuring opinions of late in their hap-hazard and careless way, about a new and most unfortunate trial of divorce. It is sadly to be regretted that the criminations and recriminations between man and wife should play such part as they do, not only in the gossip, but in the papers of the day. Such reports as mark the progress of the Forrest trial (though we say it out of our Easy Chair) make very poor pabulum for the education of city children. And we throw out, in way of hint, both to legislators and editors, the question how this matter is to be mended.

As for the merits of the case, which have been so widely discussed, we—talking as we do in most kindly fashion of chit-chat—shall venture no opinion. At the same time, we can not forbear intimating our strong regret, that a lady, who by the finding of an impartial jury, was declared intact in character, and who possessed thereby a start-point for winning high estimation in those quiet domestic circles which her talents were fitted to adorn—should peril all this, by a sudden appeal to the sympathies of those who judge of character by scenic effects: and who, by the very necessity of her new position, will measure her worth by the glare of the foot-lights of a theatre!

Mrs. FORREST has preferred admiration to sympathy; her self-denial is not equal to her love of approbation.

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