Criminals in England and Wales in 1873.................... 146,146
SECTARIAN AND INFIDEL POPULATION OF THE SAME.
Church of England............................................... 6,933,935
Dissenters............................................................ 7,235,158
Catholics.............................................................. 1,500,000
Jews.................................................................... 57,000
Infidels................................................................ 7,000,000
RELIGIOUS PERSUASIONS OF CRIMINALS OF THE SAME.
Church of England.............................................. 96,097
Catholics.............................................................. 35,581
Dissenters............................................................ 10,648
Jews................................................................... 256
Infidels................................................................ 296
Catholics.............................................................. 2,500
Church of England............................................... 1,400
Dissenters............................................................ 150
Infidels................................................................ 5
These statistics are taken from the report of the British Parliament, which, for learning and intelligence, as a deliberative body, has not its superior, if it has its equal, in the world, and it is surely a sufficiently Christian body to be accepted as authority in this matter, since a large number of its members are clergymen. These statistics hardly sustain the allegation that "Infidelity is coupled with impurity."
We are willing to stand upon our record. But, lest it be claimed that this is a British peculiarity, allow me to defer to the patriotic sentiment of my readers by one other little set of tables which, while not complete, is equally as suggestive.
"In sixty-six different prisons, jails, reformatories, refuges, penitentiaries, and lock-ups there were, for the years given in reports, 41,335 men and boys, women and girls, of the following religious sects:
Catholics.................................................................. 16,431
Church of England.................................................... 9,975