In the thirty-two departments in
which there are from 86 to 132
people on the square mile....... 4210 4199 3760
In the forty-seven departments in
which there are from 132 to 417
people on the square mile........ 4250 4224 3766
This fact is alone enough to decide the question. Yet it is only one
of a crowd of similar facts. If the line between Mr Sadler's second and
third division 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 be 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 division 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 the 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 France.
If we look at the counties one by one, Mr Sadler's principle utterly
fails. Hertfordshire with 251 on the square mile; Worcester 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 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: