membrance of those Attic nights and those refections of the gods, which we have spent with those admired, and respected, and beloved companions, who have gone before us, and over whose ashes the most precious tears of Ireland have been shed. [Here Lord Avonmore could not refrain from bursting into tears.] Yes, my lord, I see you do not forget them. I see their sacred forms passing in sad review before your memory. I see your pained and softened fancy, recalling those happy meetings, where the innocent enjoyment of social mirth became expanded into the nobler warmth of social virtue, and the horizon of the board became enlarged into the horizon of man-where the swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous purpose-where my slenderer and younger taper imbibed its borrowed light from the more matured and redundant fountain of yours. Yes, my lord, we can remember those nights without any other regret than that they can never more return

"We spent them not in joys or lust or wine,

But search of deep philosophy,

Wit, eloquence and poesy,

Arts which I loved, for these, my friend, were thine."-Cowley. The moment the court rose, his lordship sent for Mr. Curran and threw himself into his arms.

We

Let us conclude this long, but, we hope, not altogether uninteresting article, with an observation or two on the religious character of lawyers. Seldom has the world allotted an over-much of piety to any of this profession. If the world be right, it is a fact to be accounted for; perhaps there exists something in the atmosphere of courts unpropitious for the indulgence of religious feeling; it may be, but then we know that nothing is commoner than the same accusation against other professions. Medical men, for instance, have been charged with inclinations favorable to irreligion and infidelity. Anatomy has arrayed itself against revelation. shall not pause to explain. We point the modern lawyer, and we point the world, to the pious Hale-the pure Romily! We would have infixed upon the minds of all mankind, indelibly stamped there, the dying words of Selden: "I have my study full of books and papers on most subjects in the world, yet I can recollect no passage wherein I can rest my soul, save out of the holy scriptures," and the most remarkable passage that lay upon his heart was from 2 Titus 11-14. The consolatory language of the great Erskine is worthy of all acceptation: "My belief in the Christian religion arises from the fullest and most continued reflections of my riper years and understanding. It forms at this moment the great consolation of a life, which, as a shadow, passes away;

and without it, I should consider my long course of health and prosperity as the dust which the wind scatters, and rather as a snare than a blessing." Let the jurist be guided by these elevated truths-let him receive instructions from the Book which can never fail-let his path be illumined by "this ray of sacred light—

This lamp from off the everlasting throne."

let him be pure in heart-be incorruptible in integrity— high in honor-giving "his days and nights, with a sincere and constant vigor, to the labors of the great masters of his own profession, and though he may now be but a humble worshipper at the entrance of the porch, he will entitle himself to the highest place in the ministrations at the altar, within the inner sanctuary of justice.'

THE

THE AIMS AND OBJECTS OF STATISTICAL INVESTIGATIONS.

STATISTICAL CONGRESS AT BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 19, 1853, PREPARED FROM OTTO HUBNER'S JAHRBUCH, FOR 1855, AND AN ADDRESS OF MR .LEONE LEVI, BY LOUIS SCHADE, OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

The readiness evinced of late by all governments to cooperate in the promotion of science and of subjects of general utility is one of the most prominent features of the age in which we live. The affinity of interests which binds all nations of the earth is better understood and appreciated; the study of natural laws, in their relation to society, is more expanded and intelligent; the institutions of all countries are closely scrutinized, and rather than be wedded to antiquated systems, each is eager to profit by the experience of the other. Statistics are the safest guides for the appreciation of institutions. They are the records, not of theories, but of results. They reveal all that is defective; they are the instruments by which the truth or fallacy of principles is unanswerably tested; and by them comparisons may be instituted. But there can be no comparison without a common point and a common channel. This is wanting in statistics. They are collected in all countries, but without unity of purpose they reveal no phenomena, and illustrate no universal law; without uniformity in the forms and language of statistical documents they afford no basis for comparison. To supply this desideratum was the object of the Statistical Congress. It aimed at realizing a new era in this cosmopolitan science; it has for its object to facilitate the means by which nations may be beneficial to one another; to clear the path by which the laws of population, of production, of mind, and of morals may be better ascertained, and to diminish the barriers which

yet intercept the social, commercial, and scientific intercourse of nations.

As we have given already a sketch of the proceedings of this memorable congress at its first session, we confine ourselves to a resumé of the resolutions adopted:

I. Statistical organizations.-The congress, according to a programme issued by the Central Statistical Commission of Belgium, first considered the question of statistical organizations, with a view to the adoption of some uniform basis in all countries, both in the modes of collecting statistics, and in the official publication of statistical documents. It is greatly to be desired that henceforth the statistics of countries may be compared. To realize this, some general basis must be adopted; we must settle on the nomenclature of things; we must, so to say, adopt a universal language for the purpose, and simplify the tables which are to be the basis of comparison. The best instrumentality for the accomplishment of such an object is the creation, in each State, of a central statistical commission, or an analogous institution formed of the heads of the administration with the addition of some individuals eminent in statistical science, the central commission communicating with branch commissions in the provinces for all that is local or provincial. The central statistical commissions of all countries might be in constant communication among themselves, exchange their publications, and also transmit to each other the schedules used for the collection of information, so that they may be classified and organized. In order also to furnish the easiest means for the transmission of such documents, it was recommended to establish in each country a centre, or a person especially dedicated to send and receive all communications and publications of a statistical character. The statistical accounts were recommended to be made as accessible as possible, especially in the most useful parts, by publishing, at reduced prices, the summary tables with explanatory texts.

The importance of such arrangements is patent. Great difficulty is at present experienced in obtaining information. from foreign governments, through the want of knowing what is actually published in other States, and through whose medium it may be ascertained. Equally important is the suggestion of publishing the summaries of statistical documents at moderate prices, as their bulk is a complete barrier, not only to the purchase of them, but also to their being easily handled and studied, the practical information they contain being often buried in the amount of particulars, chiefly of local interest.

II. Population. The law of population is the most important subject of statistics. To ascertain the various causes which affect the state of population-to appreciate the true relation of all the social elements-and to show how each individual contributes his quota to the solution of the great human phenomena, are the labors of consummate philosophy and of deep mathemetical science, able to grasp at great truths, fix their principles and deduce their consequences. The wider the sphere of observation the more solid will be the laws which it discovers. The recurrence of facts under different climates and in different states of society, and the modifications which certain laws assume as elements are changed or modified, are sources of careful study to the statist who takes man as the centre of his observations. Yet this important study is now restricted to small divisions of the human family, owing to the want of uniformity and unity in the collecting of the census in different countries. In England, the United States, Sardinia, Norway, and the Netherlands, the census is collected decennially; in France every five years; in the German states triennially; in Belgium at variable periods. Besides, great variety exists in the items of information collected, and on the principles on which the censuses are based. The congress had the subject under careful consideration, and after considerable discussion it came to the following recommendations:

1. That the census of population should exhibit the number of individuals actually in the country at the date of enumeration; and, also, such particulars as may be required of those individuals who have legal domicile in the country, although absent from it.

2. The census to be taken not less frequently than every ten years, and in the month of December.

3. A special return for each family or household.

4. Specials agents, or enumerators, to be employed.

5. The returns to state name and surname, age, place of birth, spoken language, religion, condition, whether single, married, or widowed, profession or occupation, residence, whether temporary or permanent, child receiving education, houses by stories, and number of rooms occupied by each family, gardens in connexion with the house, existing sickness, number of blind, deaf and dumb, absentees, and number of persons residing in public or private establishments.

In addition to the above there ought to be an annual registry of population, exhibiting the births by sex, by age of both parents, legitimate and illegitimate, number of twins, stillborn, deaths, marriages and divorces, by months. The deaths by sex, by age, and by months, distinguishing among dead children, till three years of age, the legitimate from the illegitimate. The deaths by months, with the causes of death, and the profession of the deceased; marriages, with the age of the parties, their condition, profession, and number of children, distinguishing the legitimate and those

acknowledged as such. Considering the extreme importance of a uniform nomenclature of diseases equally applicable to all countries, the attention of learned men is to be called to the question for further consideration at some future congress. III. Territory. National Survey.-The question of population is immediately connected with that of territory, and with the national survey. In Great Britain the survey has hardly been commenced, though in Ireland it is complete. The congress adopted the following general recommendations: That it is desirable that each country shall be surveyed and mapped in a uniform manner. The statistical portion of the national survey should include the survey of the boundaries of the communes and their sectional divisions, the triangulations, the detail survey of roads, fields, &c., and the map of the whole country to be laid down on the ordinary scale of 7500 (about 26 inches to one mile.) The following modifications to be adopted under certain circumstances: For forests and mountains the scale of 5000, (nearly 13 inches to the mile ;) for villages and crowded districts 1250, (say 50 inches to the mile ;) for maps of large towns intended for sewerage and sanitary purposes, the scale of; general index maps to be on the scale either of 10000 or 20000, (that is about 6 inches and three inches respectively, to the mile,) for the purpose of bringing together under the eye a considerable surface of the country, when minute detail is not required. The reference or terrier exhibiting the names of the owners, the nature, cultivation, and area of each parcel. The valuation consists in recording the terms of leases and sales, as well as the prices current of produce for a period of fifteen years, in order to determine the value and rent of farms, and the average value of each kind of property. To fix by districts the types and value of each class of cultivation; to apply this classification to each parcel, and register the value in the reference book. The permanency of the survey, that is, the keeping it up to the actual state of things, being admitted as a principle, it is necessary to take means to do this so effectually as to avoid the very costly, if not very useful method of revision at distant periods. The means suggested for such a purpose are by noting in supplementary plans or maps the change of form or limits of each individual field; the change in the nature of the cultivation; the change of owners and the changes in the value of property, in exceptional case provided by law. The following rules for making the survey were recommended: That the triangulation be made according to a general map of the country, if there be one, and if not, that it be commenced by the great triangu