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POPULATION OF DUBLIN
A parochial enumeration of the inhabitants of this
metropolis, similar to that which took place in 1758, by order of Parliament,
will be directed by the same authority the ensuing session, in order to
ascertain with precision the number of souls residing at present in this great
city.
In the year 1758, aforesaid, the return made to
Parliament amounted to 118,000 souls; at this day it is the general opinion that
there are nearly 200,000.
A prodigious increase in so short a period as thirty
years.
The above increase of the capital of Ireland would be
an alarming circumstance, did not the great provincial cities of Corke,
Limerick, Belfast, &c increase in the fame, or rather in a greater
proportion, which is by no means the case in England; where, though the number
of souls in the kingdom has not increased in this century any thing to speak
of-the inhabitants of London are nearly doubled in the time, while all the
provincial towns (Liverpool alone excepted) remain not more populous than they
were. The great trade and opulence of London may for a time support the nation
that has so enormous and disproportioned a head, but wealth has wings, and trade
has always been versatile; and when a change (which we hope is at a great
distance) happens, the ponderous entablatures must crush the puny members of the
political frame.
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