corum of the happy occasion. Those classes of
English society which made themselves notorious for their hostility
to human progress, and especially to the increase of manufactures in
England, had been opposed to the project of the Exhibition; and had
it not been for the ardour with which the prince, the husband of her
majesty, took up the enterprise, opposition from these classes would
have been far more vigorous and virulent. All the fears of the objectors
to the undertaking proved groundless, and all their vaticinations false;
improvement to the national industry, and social enjoyment of England,
and a happy intercourse with their brethren of many nations were
the results. It was, however, a long time after the Exhibition had
accomplished its good purposes, and the last fragment of its material
was swept away from the site it had occupied, before the murmurs and
objections of the anti-progress classes died away.

THE CENSUS.

This year was remarkable for the accurate knowledge obtained of the
amount of the population, the decennial census having been taken. The
importance of this subject can hardly be overrated. Population, as
we are taught by an inspired instructor, is a leading element in the
prosperity of a nation: "In the multitude of the people is the king's
honour; but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince."
Only in modern times have we arrived at any enumeration of the people
on competent authority; the estimates of earlier periods are of
comparatively little value. Amidst the scenes of carnage presented in
the first thousand years of our authentic history, the natural growth of
the population was constantly checked, and there were probably periods
when the numbers were greater than just after the desolations produced
by the Roman conquest, at which time the population of Great Britain was
estimated at only 1,700,000 persons. After the desolating wars of the
Roses ended with the accession of Henry VIL, in 1485, to the English
throne, the numbers of the whole of the people in Great Britain were
estimated as only 3,000,000. In the time of Elizabeth they reached
4.000,000, according to a calculation based upon the parish registers.
Mr. Reckman, an authority on this matter, gives the following
estimates:--

Years. Population. Rate of Increase.

1600............ 4,811,700 ............ 15-66

1630............. 5,600,317 ............ 16