as advantageously situated and as convenient as the other moiety, has been made free and open to all alike. Thus the labours of Mr. Herford have produced a great effect, and caused a largely increased attendance of the working class, not only in churches but also in many nonconformist chapels, in which Mr. Herford's views have been adopted. In no period in the history of this or any other country has the progress of the nation been so great or so manifest as in that whose history we have attempted to narrate. By the census of 1831 the population of England and Wales was 13,897,187. The enumeration of 1871 showed a population of 22,704,108. Consequently, during the interval there had been an increase of 8,806,921. This increase had been tolerably steady and uniform. In the first decade it was 2,016,961; in the second, 2,013,461; in the third, 2,138,615; and in the fourth, 2,637,884. Thus, although there can be no doubt that a time must come when the population of this country will cease to increase, there is no indication at present that we are approaching it. But the population has not only much augmented, it is maintained with greater ease, is far better fed, housed, clad, and educated, at the close of the period than it was at its commencement. We may farther remark, that the increase we have noted has taken place principally in the metropolis, in the great manufacturing towns of the north, in the mining districts, in the chief commercial ports, and lastly, in the places mostly resorted to for sea-bathing, recreation, and health. At the commencement of the period embraced by this History about one person in ten received elementary education, and that in very many instances of a most imperfect character; before its close, provision had been made for the inauguration of a national system intended and calculated to secure at least a sound elementary education for almost every child in the kingdom. At the commencement of this period the population was decimated by zymotic and other diseases arising from unwholesome food and the neglect of sanitary precautions; at the close of it these diseases had to a great extent disappeared, because the causes that produced and propagated them had been partially removed, and in the cases which still remain they have lost much of their virulence, and are less fatal in their consequences. At the commence 1874.] NATIONAL PROSPERITY. 441 ment of the period the paupers constituted a very large part of the population of the kingdom; at its close, the proportion, though still far too large, had greatly diminished. If it should be asked, how it has come to pass that the same country which at the end of the year 1830 was with great difficulty supporting a population of thirteen millions, should now be maintaining in comparative plenty a population of more than twenty-two millions? the answer is, that this great result has been produced by freer trade, wiser legislation, improved institutions, a better education of the people, a wider diffusion of information through the press and by means of public meetings, the post office, and the electric telegraph, by the better and swifter conveyance of goods and persons, by the extraordinary extension and perfection of our mechanical processes; by the improvements that have been introduced into our agricultural operations, through which the produce of the land has been enormously increased; by the facilities that have been afforded for the profitable employment both of large and small capitals. And if it should farther be asked, what is the great secret of this marvellous progress, and what the best guarantee for its continuance? the answer is: It is to be found in the liberty that is enjoyed by every man of bringing before his fellowcitizens whatever he may deem to be for the public advantage, with a prospect of obtaining a fair consideration of the merits of his proposals, and with a security that no important improvement will be rejected for want of due consideration. A still stronger guarantee of the continued development of national prosperity is to be found in the more moral and religious character of our legislation, as it has become the more distinct utterance of public opinion and national will. At the commencement of the period we have been treating, Ireland's cry for justice was treated with insolent derision; at the close of it the maxim, 'Be just, and fear not,' has become the cardinal principle of our legislation; and its unflinching application, as exemplified in the Irish land bill, the trades-union bill, and many other recent measures of legislation, is the recognised panacea of our social evils, the mainspring of our wondrous progress. That progress is well calculated to inspire us with feelings of hope and confidence. Much of it has been effected amidst circumstances of passion, prejudice, and party spirit, that seemed ill calculated to produce any beneficial result; and yet our course has been one of steady, rapid, and almost unvarying improvement; con firming and illustrating the saying of the greatest of England's poets: There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, INDEX. ABDOOLAH KHAN, ii. 90. tenant of Ireland, iii. 287. Abergele, Railway accident at, iii. Abolition of Capital Punishment Affghanistan, War in, ii. 88. Akbar Khan, ii. 91. settled, 416 (and see 424). Alexandra, Princess (see Wales, Aliens' Registration Bill, ii. 303. Anæsthetics, Discovery of, ii. 234. Anti-corn-law League, ii. 178; dis- Antigua, Abolition of slavery in, i. Apostolical succession, i. 279. putes, ii. 322, 361, iii. 416. Armstrong, Sir W., speech of, at Newcastle, iii. 417. Army, Length of service in, bill Arnold, Dr., i. 273, ii. 112. Thomas, i. 183, ii. Azoff, Sea of, British operations in, BAINES, Mr., iii. 257. Balaclava, iii. 11; railway at, 54. Banks, Extension of, i. 416. Bashaws,' The, i. 318. Bentinck, Lord George, ii. 226, 237; Berkeley, Mr. H., ii. 361; and the 'Birkenhead,' The, foundering of, Birmingham, Chartist riots at, ii. Birney, Dr., ii. 182. Bishops, mode of electing, ii. 257; 'Blanketeers,' The, i. 11. Braintree and the church-rates, ii. Brereton, Colonel, i. 193, 196, 205. Brewster, Sir D., i. 269. Bribery and Corruption, i. 261, 322, Briggs, Mr., murdered, iii. 251. Bristol, Riots at, i. 188, 205. Brotherton, Mr., ii. 242. Brunow, Baron, iii. 6. Buckingham, Duke of, Lord Privy Buckingham, Mr. Silk, i. 253. 153, 177, 225, 236, 256, 292, Buller, Sir J. Y., ii. 37. Burdett, Sir F., i. 126, 405; sup- |