[Illustration: 0294]
In the thirty-two departments in whieh there are from 86 to 13.2
people on the square mile 4210 4199 3760 In the forty-seven departments
in whieh there are from 132 to 41.7 people on the square mile....
This fact is alone enough to decide the question. Yet it is only one of
a crowd of similar facts. If the {289}line between Mr. Sadler’s second
and third divisions be drawn six departments lower down, the third and
fourth divisions will, in all the tables, be above the second. If the
line between the third and fourth divisions he drawn two departments
lower down, the fourth division will be above the third in all the
tables. If the line between the fourth and fifth divisions be drawn two
departments lower down, the fifth will, in all the tables, be above the
fourth, above the third, and even above the second. How then has Mr.
Sadler obtained his results? By packing solely. By placing in one
compartment a district no larger than the Isle of Wight; in another,
a district somewhat less than Yorkshire; in a third, a territory much
larger than the island of Great Britain.
By the same artifice it is that he has obtained from the census of
England those delusive averages which he brings forward with the
utmost ostentation in proof of his principle. We will examine the facts
relating to England, as we have examined those relating to F rance.
If we look at the counties one by one, Mr. Sadler’s principle utterly
fails. Hertfordshire with 251 on the square mile; Worcestershire
with 258; and Kent with 282, exhibit a far greater fecundity than the
East-Riding of York, which has 151 on the square mile; Monmouthshire,
which has 145; or Northumberland, which has 108. The fecundity of
Staffordshire, which has more than 300 on the square mile, is as high as
the average fecundity of the counties which have from 150 to 200 on
the square mile. But, instead of confining ourselves to particular
instances, we will try masses.
Take the eight counties of England which stand together in {290}Mr.
Sadler’s list, from Cumberland to Dorset inclusive. In these the
population is from 107 to 150 on the square mile. Compare with these the
eight counties from Berks to Durham inclusive, in which the population
is from 175 to 200 on the square mile. Is the fecundity in the latter
counties smaller than in the former? On the contrary, the result stands
thus: