The statement of the aggregate population of the British islands, affords no idea of the force which is actually employed in agriculture and manufactures. The effective labourers (men) are estimated to amount to no more than 7,500,000, whereas, reckoning the powers exerted in productive industry by animals, mills, steam-engines, and mechanism of various kinds, the force is equal to the strength of between 65,000,000 and 70,000,000 working-men.

Dwellings.-The number of houses in England in 1841 were inhabited, 2,753,295; uninhabited, 162,756; building, 25,882. The number in Wales, inhabited, 188,196; uninhabited, 10,133; building, 1769. In Scotland, inhabited, 503,357; uninhabited, 24,307; building, 2760. In the islands of the British seas, 19,159 inhabited; 865 uninhabited; and 220 building. Grand totals for the whole of Great Britain, 3,464,007 inhabited, 198,061 uninhabited, 30,631 building-altogether, 3,692,679 houses. It appears from the census, however, that in Great Britain on the night of the 6th June 1841, that 22,303 persons slept in barns, tents, pits, and in the open air.

Vital Statistics.-England is now provided with a law for enforcing the registration of births, marriages, and deaths; but in other parts of the empire, Scotland in particular, the arrangements for these useful objects are very imperfect, and demand speedy amendment. At the celebration of marriage, parties are required to sign their names; and it appears that, on an average, 33 in the 100 of males, and 49 in the 100 of females, sign with a mark, being unable to write. The average age of men in England at marriage is about 27 years, and of women, 25 years and a few months. Of 100 marriages, 8 take place with both parties under age; and it is remarkable that the agricultural districts furnish the greatest proportion of early marriages. The average annual number of marriages for England and Wales to every 10,000 inhabitants is 78. The average of births to every 10,000 for England and Wales is 319; of deaths, 221. It may be worth noticing, that it is in the maritime counties we find the least mortality.

Pauperism-Crime. The population of the United Kingdom thus consists of various classes of persons, amongst whom, with respect to wealth, education, and general condition, even more than the usual differences are to be found-the greatest wealth and luxury contrasting with the most abject poverty and want, and the most industrious prudence with the utmost negligence and want of self-respect. Without entering minutely into the political and social causes of this distressing difference, it may be mentioned as a general result, that the difficulty of purchasing food leads to a corresponding depression of circumstances in the humbler orders of the community, and either causes an extensive dependence on poor-rates for support, or produces debased and dangerous habits of living. The poor of England are entitled by law to support in werkhouses, according to the provisions of an act of Parliament passed in 1834. In 1847, the number of paupers (including children) relieved in England, was 1,721,350, or about 1 in 9 of the population. Of these 265,037 received in-door relief; 1,456,313 received out-door relief. The amount received was £7,117,352: of which £5,298,787 was expended on the

In Ireland, similar poor-laws were introduced in 1838, and are likely to prove of great service to that part of the empire. The chief peculiarity of these laws,' says Macculloch, is that relief under them is administered solely in workhouses; and thus they differ from the Scotch poor-laws, under which workhouses have scarcely been made use of at all, except in a few large towns; and from the English poor-laws, which were intended by the legislature to be a mixed system of relief to the able-bodied in workhouses, and of relief to the impotent poor, partly in workhouses and partly at their own homes. They differ again from the English and Scotch poor-laws in this, that while in England all destitute persons have a legal right to relief, and in Scotland all destitute impotent persons have a similar right, in Ireland, on the contrary, no individual was intended to have a legal right to relief; but at the same time, whether able-bodied or impotent, he may equally receive relief in workhouses, provided he is destitute.' Under this law, the expenditure for the poor in Ireland for the year ending 1st January 1846 was £316,026, and the number of paupers 43,293; but in November 1846, in consequence of the potato failure, the number was 80,600.

In Scotland, as above stated, only the impotent or very aged poor can legally claim relief from the parish funds, which, by a recent act, are managed by parochial boards, subject to the direction and control of a Central Board, which is established in Edinburgh. In 1846-47, the number of paupers on the roll or registered was 85,971; casual poor, 60,399making the number of persons receiving relief in Scotland during the year, 146,370, or about 1 in 18 of the population. The amount received was £435,367 : of which £336,515 was expended on registered poor; £36,340 on casual poor; £12,879 on medical relief; £43,158 on management; and £5022 on litigation.

The present condition of society throughout the United Kingdom exhibits the spectacle of great and valuable efforts at improvement among the more enlightened classes. Within the last twenty years, the utility of the press has been immensely increased, and works of instruction and entertainment have been circulated in departments of society where formerly nothing of the kind was heard of. The establishment of mechanics' institutions, lyceums, exhibitions of works of art, reading societies, and other means of intellectual improvement, forms another distinguishing feature of modern society. At the same time great masses of the people, for lack of education, and from other unfortunate circumstances, are evidently gravitating into a lower condition. From these reasons, and others connected with the development of our manufacturing and commercial system, convictions for crime have been latterly increasing. In 1847 there were in England 28,833 offenders, of whom 21,582 were convicted; in Ireland 31,209,* of whom 15,257 were convicted; in Scotland 4635, of whom 3569 were convicted. Of the offences, 7611 were committed against the person; 4747 against property committed with violence; 43,367 against property without violence; 589 malicious offences against property; 835 forgery and offences against the currency; and 7528 other offences not included in the above. In reference to these details, it must be remarked that the vigilance of our police brings to light almost every offence, however trivial; and it is to this certainty of detection, together with the general spread of education, the establishment of industrial schools, and the introduction of an improved treatment of offenders, that we look forward to some diminution of this painful catalogue of crime.

*The remarkable amount of crime in Ireland during the year 1847, is attributed, in the explanations which accompany the official returns, to the famine which prevailed for that entire period, and the social disorganisation consequent on a state of universal distress.' In 1846, the number of offenders was only 18,492; and in 1845, 16,696.

Constituting but a fragment of the Old or Eastern World, and being surrounded on more than three sides by water, Europe, strictly speaking, is not entitled to the appellation of an independent continent. But though the smallest of the quarters into which geographers have divided the globe, it is by far the most important-its inhabitants giving now, as they have long done, the tone and character to human progress. Its limits are usually comprehended within the 36th and 71st degrees of north latitude, and the 10th degree of west and 64th of east longitude; thus placing it almost wholly within the northern temperate zone. Including the islands, which contain about 317,000 square miles, the land superficies of Europe is estimated at 3,724,000 square miles; its population at nearly 240,000,000. At present (1849) it is divided into fifty-eight states; a few of which, however, are not altogether independent. The leading states, usually styled the Five Great Powers of Europe,' are Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Those of a secondary rank are Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Naples, Bavaria, Sardinia, Saxony, Hanover, the Swiss Confederation, and Turkey. Those of a third rank are the small constituent principalities of Germany and Italy. It is to the contiNo. 63.

nental or foreign states that we now confine our description, reserving the component parts of the United Kingdom-England, Scotland, and Ireland-for treatment in the three subsequent numbers.

FRANCE.

France, one of the largest and most important of the European states, is situated between lat. 42° 20′ and 51° 3' north, and long. 3° 51' east, and 9° 27' west. It is bounded on the north by the English Channel, Straits of Dover, Belgium, the Prussian province of Lower Rhine, and Rhenish Bavaria; on the east by Baden, from which it is separated by the Rhine, by Switzerland, and Italy; on the south by the Mediterranean and by Spain, from which it is separated by the Pyrenees; and on the west by the Atlantic. The greatest length of the country is 664 miles, and its breadth 620; its area, including Corsica and the islands which stud the sea-coast, is estimated at 203,736 square miles.

*The Channel islands, though geographically connected with France, have been an appendage to the English crown since the eleventh century. The group consists of Jersey, 12 miles by 5 or 6; Guernsey, 9 miles by 6; Alderney, Sark, and several other islets and rocks of small extent. The larger of these islands are fertile, and well diversified by orchards, clumps, and hedgerows;

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Superficially, France may be described as a flat country, the greater portion consisting of valley-like tracts or open plateaux, with low hilly ranges or swelling eminences between. Its scenery, therefore, exhibits little of the romantic and picturesque, and with the exception of the Limousin, and some of the larger river courses, is, on the whole, rather flat and uninteresting. The principal hills which diversify the surface are 1. The Vosges, on the north-east, presenting rounded outlines, with gentle slopes, and affording much open pasture; the highest point 4693 feet. 2. The Jura Mountains, lying south of the Vosges, and forming part of the boundary between France and Switzerland, the extreme height of which is about 6000 feet. 3. The Cevennes, and other portions of the long range which forms, as it were, the western brim of the valley of the Saone and Rhone: the highest points do not exceed 5000 feet. This range may be said to form the great water-shed of France, from which all the large rivers flow in a north-west direction to the Atlantic. 4. The clustering hills of Auvergne, or central France, remarkable for their crateriform tops and recent volcanic origin, the highest of which is Puy de Sancy, 6200 feet. The largest and best-defined river-basins or valleys are those of the Saone and Rhone on the east, which may be regarded as one; those of the Adour, Garonne, Lot, and Dordogne on the south and south-west; those of the Loire and Seine in the centre; and those of the Somme, Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine on the north. The soil of most of these valleys is a fine deep alluvium, with a greater or less admixture of sand: some, like the Limousin in Auvergne, are of unsurpassed fertility; and all, under proper cultivation, are capable of yielding the ordinary crops in more than average abundance. There are large tracts of heath in Bretagne, Anjou, and Maine; and the Atlantic sea-board presents in many places, as in Landes, wide expanses covered with sand-dunes and intervening marshy lagoons, on which nothing useful can flourish except the sea-pine, planted there to protect the surface from further drift.

The great rivers exclusively French have all a westerly flow towards the Atlantic; those flowing northward-the Scheldt, Sambre, Meuse, Moselle, and muchcoveted Rhine have only the upper and least valuable portions of their courses in France; and the Rhone, the sole large river running southward, has also a great portion of its course in another country. Of those flowing westward, the following are the most important:-1. The Seine, navigable to Rouen for vessels of 200 tons, and for barges more than 300 miles inland. 2. The Loire, the largest river belonging exclusively to France, which, although it receives numerous tributaries, and possesses a considerable volume of water, is of remarkably little use in commerce, and can only carry small barges and steam-vessels; a defect resulting from numerous sandbanks. 3. The Garonne, which is navigable for barges about 280 miles of its course, and receives a vast number of tributaries. The Rhone during its course in France is a noble, but rapid river, and though much obstructed by shoals and shifting sandbanks, is navigable for flat-bottomed steamers to Chalons-sur-Saone, a distance of 275 miles from Marseilles. Geologically,' says one authority, the whole of France may be considered as one extensive basin, the circumference and centre of which consist of primitive formations, the intermediate space being filled with those of a secondary and tertiary kind.' Taking this statement as a mere proximate outline, we find primary rocks in the Ardennes on the north; in the Vosges, Jura, and Alpine ridges on the east; in the Pyrenees on the south; in Bretagne, Maine, and Normandy on the west; and, centrally, in the hilly ranges of Auvergne. Lying upon these in many places, without the intervention of the transition and older secondary strata, occur the coal-measures, the oolite limethey enjoy exemption from almost every species of taxation, have a considerable commerce, and are favourite resorts for persons with limited incomes. Arca of the whole, 112 square miles; population in 1841, 76,094.

stones and shales, and the chalk; and not unfrequently even the coal-measures are absent, and the oolitic and chalk repose immediately on the upper primaries. The tertiaries generally occupy the great river drainage of the centre, showing that at no very distant epoch a large portion of France was a shallow sea or estuary of deposit. The chief minerals are coal from upwards of forty indifferent fields, not exceeding 2,800,000 tons annually; iron largely from ten or twelve districts; rock-salt from Lorraine; gypsum, or plaster of Paris, in unlimited quantities; asphalte from Seyssel and the Jura; abundance of limestone, slate, and granite; excellent marble and building stones; mill or burr-stone; lithographic slate; graphite, jet, and alum; and a large supply of first porcelain, and other clays. With the exception of iron, the other metals are of no great commercial importance; the total value of lead, silver, antimony, copper, manganese, arsenic, &c. annually produced rarely exceeding £60,000.

The climate of a country whose extreme limits lie between the 42d and 51st parallels of north latitudewhose western region is subject to the influences of the vast Atlantic, while its central and eastern, exempt from these influences, are subject to those of a higher elevation-must necessarily exhibit considerable diversity. Geographers have accordingly divided the whole into four regions-namely, 1. The most southerly, in which the vine, olive, mulberry, and orange flourish, bounded north and west by a line drawn from Bagnères-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees to Die in Drôme; 2. That through which the cultivation of the vine and maize extends, stretching as far north as a line passing from the mouth of the Garonne to the northern extremity of Alsace; 3. That region which terminates with the culture of the vine, near a line drawn from the mouth of the Loire to Mezieres in Ardennes; and 4. The remaining portion of the country, having a climate somewhat allied to that of England, and yielding rich verdant pastures and forest growth. Along the entire western coast the climate is distinguished by a greater degree of humidity than in any other district; the south and east have about a third fewer rainy days than the north and west; winter is often pretty severely felt in the north-east; and though snow seldom lies in the central and southern regions, yet these are liable to destructive hail and thunder-storms, as well as to sudden inundations.

The native vegetation of the country, though numbering several thousand species, contains few, with the exception of the apple, pear, plum, and fig, that are of much economical importance. The existing Flora, however, is one of great variety and value, embracing exotics from almost every region of the globe, which have become readily naturalised in its fine soil and under its genial climate. Of grains and vegetables largely cultivated, we may enumerate wheat, rye, oats, maize, millet, buckwheat, kidney-beans, pease, carrot, beet, melons, potatoes, flax, hemp, and tobacco; and madder, saffron, and hops on a smaller scale. Of fruit-trees, the vine, olive, orange, pistachio, fig, apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, and cherry, with which we may also class the mulberry and caper. Of foresttrees, the oak, beech, maple, ash, chestnut, walnut, birch, poplar, larch, pine, fir, box, cornel, acacia, and cork-tree. As a certain consequence of climate and soil, these plants are not found indifferently all over the surface, but are restricted to peculiar localities, where they meet with conditions necessary to their growth and perfection, or where, through accidental causes, they have become objects of especial culture. The forest growth of France is said to cover fully oneeighth of the entire surface, or about 17,000,000 British acres an amount which is rendered necessary by the use of wood as the chief domestic fuel.

Of the mammalia found wild in France, the principal are the black and brown bears of the Pyrenees, the wolf, the fox, the lynx of the Alps, the chamois and wild goat of the eastern and southern hills, the wild boar, badger, otter, marmot, ermine, and hamster.

The birds belonging to, or at least frequenting France, are exceedingly numerous-the becafico or fig-pecker, the ortolan, quail, bustard, flamingo, hoopoe, turtledove, nightingale, &c. being the chief of those least known to English readers. Of reptiles, the viper, asp, snake, and lizard; the edible frog, and other varieties of the frog and toad; the fresh-water tortoise of the southern rivers, and the green turtle taken occasionally on the southern sea-coasts. The fishes and mollusca, with the exception of the mullet, sardine, carp, horsefoot oyster, and edible snail, are much the same as those belonging to England. The insects of any economical importance are the bee, silk-worm, gall-nut fly, and the blistering fly. Respecting the breeds of the domesticated animals, if we except the merino sheep and poultry, it may be safely asserted that they are all inferior to those of Great Britain.

The inhabitants are generally arranged by ethnologists under five distinct heads or races:-1. The French proper, constituting nine-tenths of the population, and consisting subordinately of the Græco-Latins or French, north of the Loire, and the Romance, south of that boundary; with whom may be classed the Italians of Corsica; 2. The Germanic races of Alsace and Lorraine, and the Flemings of the north; 3. The Celtic or Cymric race (Bretons) of Bretagne; 4. The Basques of the Low Pyrenees; and 5. The Jews, who are found in all the principal towns. There are thus six distinct languages spoken within the kingdom-French and Italian (both of Latin origin), German, Celtic, Basque, and Hebraic; independent of several widely-differing provincial dialects of the French and German.

Though the Roman Catholic faith may be regarded as the national religion (five-sixths of the people being attached to it), yet no form of worship is expressly established or associated with the state. Reckoning the Catholic population at 28,210,000, and the Protestants at 6,010,000, the remainder may be regarded as consisting of Jews, Rationalists, Anabaptists, and other minor sects. Both the Catholic and Protestant clergy are paid out of the public revenue-the sum annually allotted for religious purposes amounting to nearly £1,172,000 sterling. With regard to education, the country may be said to be at present under the operation of an efficient and liberal system. By the law of 1833, it is ordained that every commune by itself, or by uniting with others, shall have one elementary school, independent of infant schools; that every commune with a population of 6000 shall have, in addition, a superior school; and that every department, either by itself, or by uniting with others, shall have a normal school. Above these are 350 communal or royal colleges supported by the state; and higher still are the 26 head or chief academies. These, collectively, form what is called the University of France,' which is under the superintendence of the Minister of Public Instruction, assisted by a council and a number of inspectors the whole machinery requiring an annual outlay of about £520,000 sterling.

Atlantic. The mining departments have been already alluded to; but though fostered in every manner, the coal raised does not exceed a tenth, and iron is somewhat less than a fifth, of that annually produced in Britain. In manufactures France ranks next to Great Britain, the estimated annual value of the goods produced amounting to £92,000,000 of which silk, £12,000,000; woollen, £10,600,000; cotton, £9,000,000; linen, £10,400,000; hardwares, £8,700,000; leather, £3,000,000; glass, £1,200,000; paper, £1,000,000; and porcelain, £300,000. The minor manufactures of the country would be tedious to mention; most of them exhibit a greater degree of skill and ingenuity than is to be met with in any other country. Ship-building is carried on to some extent at Rochefort, Brest, Cherbourg, &c.; and in engine-building, and other heavy machinery, the French are now beginning to attain considerable eminence. The commerce of France has more than doubled since the peace in 1815, her imports now amounting to about thirty-eight, and her exports to thirty-nine millions sterling. Her mercantile navy is estimated at 15,600 vessels, carrying an aggregate burden of 700,000 tons. The internal communication of the country is carried on by well-kept roads; these being classed into royal, departmental, and communal, according as they are upheld by the government, or by the departments and communes to which they belong; by river navigation, of which there is upwards of 5616 miles; by 2250 miles of canal; and by railways, of which about 2000 miles are constructed.

The government of France, until the Revolution of 1848, was a hereditary, constitutional, or limited monarchy, with the succession restricted to males. The legislative power was vested collectively in the king and the two great national assemblies--the Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies. The executive was vested in a ministry, appointed by the king, as head of the state, and consisted of-1. Minister of the Interior; 2. Justice and Public Worship; 3. Public Instruction; 4. Public Works; 5. Trade and Agriculture; 6. Finances; 7. Foreign Affairs; 8. War; 9. Marine and Colonies. At present (1849) the government of France is Republican; the legislative power being vested in a Chamber of Deputies elected by universal suffrage; and the executive conducted by a President and Ministry, much in the same manner as under the monarchy.Revenue said to be £47,000,000; present expenditure, £72,000,000; debt, £211,000,000; army, 355,000. Capital, Paris, with a population of 1,053,897.

For administrative purposes, France is partitioned into 86 departments, which are subdivided into 363 arrondissements, 2834 cantons, and 37,187 communes. At the head of each department is a prefect, named by the government; he is assisted by a council, which sits for a week annually to distribute the imposition of taxes, and decide on the wants of the department. In each arrondissement there is a sous-prefect, likewise named by the executive, and subordinate to the prefect: the sous-prefect is also assisted by a council. In each canton there is a judge de paix, with judicial functions in matters of inferior importance. In each commune there is a maire, assisted by adjoints.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.

between long. 4° east and 10° west. It is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay, and by France, from which it is separated by the Pyrenees; on the east by the Mediterranean; on the south by the Mediterranean, the Straits of Gibraltar,* and the Atlantic; and on the

* The promontory, fortress, town, and bay of Gibraltar, situ