| Years. | Population. | Numerical Increase. | Decennial Increase per Cent. | Annual Increase per Cent. | Increase in 30 years, from 1821 to 1851 = 31 per Cent. | Annual Rate of Increase ·9 per Cent. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1821 | 20,892,670 | |||||
| 1831 | 24,028,584 | 3,135,914 | 15 | 1·4 | ||
| 1841 | 26,709,456 | 2,680,872 | 11 | 1·1 | ||
| 1851 | 27,309,346 | 599,890 | 2 | 0·2 |
Discarding, then, all conjectural results, and adhering solely to the returns of the censuses, we find that, according to the official numberings of the people throughout the kingdom, the increased rate of population is, in round numbers, 10 per cent. every ten years; that is to say, where 100 persons were living in the United Kingdom in 1821, there are 130 living in the present year of 1851. The average increase in England and Wales for the last 50 years may, however, be said to be 1·5 per cent. per annum, the population having doubled itself during that period.
How, then, does this rate of increase among the people, and consequently the labourers and artizans of the country, correspond with the rate of increase in the production of commodities, or, in plain English, the means of employment? This is the main inquiry.
The only means of determining the total amount of commodities produced, and consequently the quantity of work done in the country, is from official returns, submitted to the Parliament and the public as part of the “revenue” of the kingdom. These afford a broad and accurate basis for the necessary statistics; and to get rid of any speculating or calculating on the subject, I will confine my notice to such commodities; giving, however, further information bearing on the subject, but still derived from official sources, so that there may be no doubt on the matter. The facts in connection with this part of the subject are exhibited in the table given in the next page.
The majority of the articles there specified supply the elements of trade and manufacture in furnishing the materials of our clothing, in all its appliances of decency, comfort, and luxury. The table relates, moreover, to our commerce with other countries—to the ships which find profitable employment, and give such employment to our people, in the aggregate commerce of the nation. Under almost every head, it will be seen, the increase in the means of labour has been more extensive than has the increase in the number of labourers; in some instances the difference is wide indeed.
The annual rate of increase among the population has been ·9 per cent. From 1801 to 1841 the population of the kingdom at the outside cannot be said to have doubled itself. Yet the productions in cotton goods were not less than ten times greater in 1851 than in 1801. The increase in the use of wool from 1821 to 1851 was more than sixfold; that of the population, I may repeat, not twofold. In twenty years (1831 to 1851) the hides were more than doubled in amount as a means of production; in fifty years the population has not increased to the same amount. Can any one, then, contend that the labouring population has extended itself at a greater rate than the means of labour, or that the vast mass of surplus labour throughout the country is owing to the working classes having increased more rapidly than the means of employing them?
TABLE SHOWING THE INCREASE IN THE PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, FROM 1801-1850.
| + denotes increase. * „ decrease. | 1801. | 1811. | Increase and Decrease per Cent. from 1801 to 1811. | 1821. | Increase per Cent. from 1811 to 1821. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soap in lbs. | 55,500,000 | 80,000,000 | + 44 | 97,000,000 | + 21 |
| Cotton „ | 56,000,000 | 92,000,000 | + 64 | 137,000,000 | + 49 |
| Wool „ | 10,000,000 | ||||
| Silk „ | 1,000,000 | 1,500,000 | + 50 | 2,250,000 | + 50 |
| Flax „ | 55,000,000 | ||||
| Hemp „ | |||||
| Hides „ | |||||
| Official Value of Exports[52] in £ | 24,500,000 | 21,750,000 | * 11 | 40,250,000 | + 85 |
| Official Value of Imports „ | 25,500,000 | 29,750,000 | + 17 | ||
| Tonnage of Vessels belonging to British Empire | 2,560,203 | ||||
| Tonnage of Vessels entering Ports | 1,895,000 |
| 1831. | Increase and Decrease per Cent. from 1812 to 1831. | 1841. | Increase per Cent. from 1831 to 1841. | 1850. | Increase per Cent. from 1841 to 1850. | Total Increase per Cent. | Average Annual Increase per Cent. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 127,500,000 | + 31 | 170,500,000 | + 34 | 205,000,000 | 20 | 269 | 5·3 |
| 273,000,009 | + 99 | 437,000,000 | + 60 | 664,700,000 | 52 | 1087 | 21·7 |
| 30,000,000 | + 200 | 53,000,000 | + 77 | 72,675,000 | 37 | 627 | 20·9 |
| 4,250,000 | + 89 | 5,000,000 | + 18 | 7,159,000 | 43 | 616 | 12·3 |
| 104,000,000 | + 89 | 151,000,000 | + 45 | 204,000,000 | 35 | 271 | 9·0 |
| 56,500,000 | 73,000,000 | + 29 | 117,447,000 | 61 | 108 | 5·4 | |
| 26,000,000 | 51,000,000 | + 96 | 66,300,000 | 30 | 155 | 7·7 | |
| 60,000,000 | + 49 | 101,750,000 | + 70 | 197,309,000 | 94 | 705 | 14·1 |
| 48,250,000 | + 62 | 62,750,000 | + 30 | 100,460,000 | 60 | 294 | 7·3 |
| 2,581,964 | + 1 | 3,512,480 | + 36 | 4,232,962 | 21 | 65 | 2·2 |
| 3,241,927 | + 71 | 4,652,376 | + 44 | 7,110,476 | 53 | 274 | 9·1 |
Thus, it is evident, that the means of labour have increased at a more rapid pace than the labouring population. But the increase in “property” of the country, in that which is sometimes called the “staple” property, being the assured possessions of the class of proprietors or capitalists, as well as in the profits, prove that, if the labourers of the country have been hungering for want of employment, at least the wealth of the nation has kept pace with the increase of the people, while the profits of trade have exceeded it.