Tim grand result of the Irish census realises the darkest
fore- boding. The report about to be published will, it is said, show that the actual population of the island is little in excess of 6,500,000. The aggregate returns of the three preceding censuses were-8,175,124 in 1841, 7,767,401 in 1831, and 6,801,827 in 1821. It is now understood that the returns for 1831 and 1821 were exaggerated: still there can be little doubt that the population of Ireland is not greater now than it was thirty years ago ; and it is certain that it has diminished by a full million and a half during the last ten years.... The folly and apathy of long years of bad government and social mis- management have been awfully visited on that unhappy country. The past, however, except for •purposes of warning, is past for ever. The decimation of the inhabitants of Ireland had rendered their case more manageable. Death and dispersion have been busiest among the classes who were least susceptible of change. The land cannot now be said to be overpeopled ; and as the proportion of the very ,old and the very young among the remnant is unusually large, the increase among the " mere Irish " cannot for some years be very rapid. Now is the time for promoting with effect earnest and judicfous measures for elevating the social condition of the inhabitants of the sister island,
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