WILLIAMS' CASE.—3 BLAND. 259

and Fall Rom., c. 2, c. 6, and c. 17; 1 Niebuhr's Hist, Rome, 340,
347. It is said that a census of the inhabitants of England was
taken in the time of Henry the 8th, the returns of which have
been lost. Seybert Stat. Ann. 17. In the year 1753, a bill was
presented to the House of Commons proposing to have a census
taken of the people of England, but was rejected. Smollet's Hist.
Eng. ch. 8. Since that time, however, there have been three cen-
sus taken, one in 1801, another in 1811, and a third in 1821. Mil-
ler's His. Gr. Brit. 470, 569; Seybert Stat. Ann. 25, 28; 8 Amer.
Quart, Review, 388. Before the adoption of the present Coustitu
tion of the United States, Congress repeatedly recommended to
the several States to take measures to ascertain the number of
their inhabitants; Journ. Cony. 20 December, 1775; 1 April, 1782;
17 February, 1783; 24 September, 1785: with which recommenda
tion * Maryland and some other oi the States complied. By
an Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, the assessors
and commissioners of the tax of the several counties were directed
to make returns of the number of inhabitants in their respective
counties to the clerk of the House of Delegates; 1785, ch. 83. ,s. 25;
which returns, if ever made, are now lost. But it is behe\ed, that
in no country has there ever been taken a regular and periodical
enumeration of all the people, like those taken under the Consti-
tution of the United States. Seybert Stat. Ann. 17. The census
thus required to be taken every tenth year, might be so ordered
as to collect a great variety of the most authentic and useful in-
formation, shewing, among other things, the average rate of mor-
tality in each State, and indeed in each county of every State in
the Union, as well as such other matters as are more immediately
connected with its political objects. But hitherto little more has
been done than to have returns made of the numbers of free per-
sons and of slaves within certain specified ages. 2 Price Obser.
54, 210; 1 Malthus Popu. 457, note, 476; Seybert Stat. Ann. 17, 19.
From such information, however, as we possess, it may be con-
fidently assumed, that the average rate of mortality is, in general,
not greater here than in any part of Europe; and that taking into
consideration all political and natural causes, as compared with
England, in this respect, the most favored portion of Europe, 2
Southern Rer. 153; 1 Malthus Popu. 477; the circumstances of these
United States are. in general, fully as favorable to the duration of
human life as any other country of the world. For, after making
the largest allowance for the accessions to our numbers by emigra-
tion; Seybert Stat. Ann. 28, 30: and for the greater number of
marriages here than elsewhere, it will be found, that in no country
has the population increased so rapidly as in the United States.
Marriages, although earlier and more numerous, are, on an aver-
age, not much more fruitful here than in other countries. 2 Sparks'
Franklin's Works, 313; 2 Price Obser. 42; 2 Malthus Popu. b. 2, c.