The Express.
London, England, 1867-07-31 00:00:00

etsLa in two officia: nome,randa, puldished
for the guidance of his aides-de-camp, and specially
cominended to the notice of the negligent Captain
'Nevis. These documents are characterised by
the Doke of I:Autism.% as resembling nothing
which had ever before ("nal' to his notice, mid us
conveying instructions in the propriety of which
he is unable to concur. Nor certainly have the
rights of woman ever been more strongly put by
any of her adviwates than by the Commuider-
M-Chief of India. The aides-de-camp are warned
that " When Lady Msv.rir.mi is in India any
" HINT (f 0) which she may give with regard
" to matters connected with the establishment,
" leaving of cards, reception of visitors, Ac.,
" is to be received as if it were an absolute order
" from the Commander-in-Chief." The double
underlining which is represented in print by small
capitals may perhaps suggest the sex of the com-
manding officer by whom this memorandum of
military duty was framed or revised. Again,
" Whenever Lady may require the

is impaired if it be had aside under the impression
that one vistory can decide a contest, the recur.
ranee of which in one form or smother we must
always stiticipste.

HOUSE OF LORDS, .11:s.v 30.

The birth-rate will Alibi:assail be dependent'
upon certain conditions of material prosperity,
which may be subject to considerable inctuation,
oftentimes through causes beyond human previ-
sion or control. The depression of any branch of
industry soon becomes apparent in the marriage
returns, and intervals of scarcity and high prices
check the natural tendency to fulfil the mission
for which our race was created. Cornwall, Mir-
ham, mad Northumberland are now suffering from
the stagnation of minis operations, just as Lan-
cashire felt the weight of the cotton famine. These
times of depression are happily, however, not
often of long duration in this country, and the
buoyancy of our commerce and trade soon repairs
the waste of unprofitable seasons. Arise in the
price of the staple article of food, operating, as it
does, not here and there only, but throughout the
length and breadth of the land, is a circumstance
always to be regarded with anxiety. Wheat is
dearer now than it has been in any corre-
sponding quarter since June, 1856: it has risen
rapidly within a short time from an average
price of about Cas. per quarter to its present quo-
tation of 645. in the quarterly return. And the
prospects of the harvest are not as favourable as
couldlbe wished; indeed, there is every probability of
our having to encouuteraconsiderable deficiency in
the yield of home-grown corn, which may have to
be provided for by largely increased importations
from abroad, no doubt at enhanced prices.

pensonal attendance of au nitle-dc-camp, the

" hitter is to be in uniform." Further in
are given in the duties of military politeness.
"On occasions of State 1)03 at Oovennuent
" House or elsewhere, it is expected that the
" whole of the personal staff will avail them-
" selves of the invitation afforded them.
" They should time their arrival an as
" to enter the rooms of the host in the suite
"of his Excellency." " Whenever the master or
" mistress of the house enters a room it is ens-
" tomsry for the expectant guests and the sons of
" the family to rise, even though they have sat
" down to dinner. This and other forms of social

" ceremony cannot be to.. carefully attended to
"in a military household." This manual of
etiquette was however insufficient, and a year
after a second edition was published, aimed
directly at Captain .Ifutvis by name. He is re-
minded that on the day before, being " Lady
" M IMSFIELD'S reception day," "many visitors
" called, and it seems to have been forgotten by
" the aidede•camp on duty that it was part of
" his duty to usher in ladies or gentlemen who
" called, and to remain in the drawing room
" while the visits lasted : performing his part in

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

the entertainment of the viaitors:and slowing

" them out again." After some further snubs it
is laid down that " his Excellency desires to
" signify his disapproval of the disappearance of
" an aide-de-camp from the drawing room after
" dinner, before the disappearance of other
" guests." But we cannot quote further from
this curious handbook of headquarters genti-
lity. Bad temper bred bad blood, and from
bad blood sprang angry charges which could not
be austained, and a course of conduct which the
head of the army has found it necessary so em-
phatically to rebuke. But while we deplore and
pass over these ebullitions on the part of an officer
of Sir W. MANSFIELD'S rank and merit, we are
bound to measure out at least equal leniency, and
to show some more tenderness than the Govern-
ment has done, to the unfortunate aide-de-camp
whose neglect of hie carpet, not to say servile,
duties led him into disgrace, and who was thence-
forth pursued with an almost feminine pertinacity
of persecution. To dismiss him from the army is
a hard sequel to a long course of misfortune ori-
ginating in the bad taste of leaving Lady MANS-
FIELD'S drawing-room too early, or not obeying
with exact military submission her ladyship's
" hints."

Tea Quarterly Return of the Registrar-Oeneral
usually affords some points which to the jour-
nalist are necessarily of interest. It can-
not be otherwise than satisfactory, for in-
stance, to learn on undoubted authority, that
during the quarter last completed a high birth-
rate has been coincident with a low mortality, and
thus a substantial gain to the population has
accrued. What is called the " natural increase,"
by which is meant the excess of births over
deaths, amounted in the three months ending
30th June to about 87,000 persons—equivalent
to a daily addition of 957 to the steadily aug-
menting number of the English race, whereof
ascertained emigration absorbed about 180 per diem.
Supposing that immigration does no more than
compensate for the loss of those leaving this country
of whom no record is kept, the residual 777 persons
must approximate closely to the absolute daily
increment of the resident population of England
during the quarter ; and it is evident that this
would indicate a growth very much in advance of
the ratio commonly adopted in computing the
number of the probable future inhabitants of this
division of the United Kingdom. Here, surely, is
a wide field for speculation opened to the political
economist, the statesman, and all who think deeply
on the laws of human existence. The census of
1861 showed that the population had, since 1821,
increased in a decreasing ratio, and we believe the
general assumption is that the same method of
progression will be apparent at the census of 1871.
But if the birth-rate continues to be maintained
while unitary science still further reduces the
mortality—both highly probable eventualities—
we must be prepared for meeting very seriously a
situation which will call for legislative and adminis-
trative capacity of the very highest order.
With good government England can well afford to
contemplate with equanimity any possible acces-
sion to her population, and it only remains for her
rulers and people to be wise in time.

The most remarkable feature of the Registrar-
General's return is the greatly improved health of
the districts comprising the chief towns, while the
rural parts of the country, although partaking of
the general salubrity, only show a slight decline in
their mortality. The urban death-rate during the
quarter was 2.38 per 1,000 below the average of
ten corresponding quarters, but in the rural dis-
tricts the decline was only .59 per 1,000. In
London, Bristol, Birmingham, and Salford the
mortality was lees by 5 per 1,000 than in the
second quarter of last year ; in Leeds and Shef-
field there is a decrease of 8, and in Liverpool of',
11 deaths to every thousand of their inhabitants.
And taking thirteen of the chief cities and towns
of the United Kingdom, the difference in the death-
rate of the two quarters represents a saving of
upwards of seven thousand lives in the short apace
of three months. In the borough of Leeds alone
the death-rate has declined from 34 to 25, while
the births have increased from the high rate of
45 to nearly 48 per 1,000. In Liverpool the
births and deaths wore nearly equal in the June
quarter of last year, now there is a difference on
the right side between them of 15 per 1,000.
Plainly, therefore, the death-rate is, within
certain limits, an element so controllable as that
its reduction to, and maintenance at, a low stan-
dard becomes a matter of comparative certainty
if the measures of public hygiene which have
already borne such good fruits be persevered in.
We owe, no doubt, much of our present freedom
from epidemic disease to the acceleration of sani-
tary work last year, when local authorities were
stirred into unwonted activity by the diffusion of
Asiatic cholera and the fear of its impending visit-
ation. The armour has been proved and its pro-
tective power clearly established, but its efficacy

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1867.

PARLIAMENTARY DIVIAION.

• REP!IESENTATIoN OF TTh PEOPLE BILL
After clause 6 Droved to insert the following clause :7-At
a contested electing' far any county or borouttillpre-
sented by lbws members no person shall rote more
than two candidates.—ibord Cairns) : —On question :'
Contents, 142 ; Not-Contents...l.
CONTENTS.
Pt SF, EAV L. ~or ;.r. Lor.i.o.
tlevelsual llnnts.alun Avulaial lilna to,u
t;ratt.al lichneld llelper La 440...
Thna.l..-ater LoYt•iat t. It •rn..rx 10 41.1esnarnnith
Rutland Enna Blantyre Lorat
Noincroet !damned Bolton Ltttelt.as
Wvllivalun. 31Into Bode Mt:M.4th
MANI. ins. 3lorlo cairns (teller; Ilethuoi
In iat..l Alart.on Canto).* Mont 6srle
i „Huron Nylon 0 haritsuont Moityu
‘•.1.1a aid.). Pooh l'ltstworth Nouthwick
s •li4latr, Bounny C;.aahan, ons..t.aa.
11.sansin,ter ltus.ell tinorhill
Yonsonln

. .
k.tl:l S. SeLark elneina ItaveusW, el ih
A 1,11.4 blunitc.Lury 4 lenient y folio
\I lennu:e Shrewsidary 4 lennont Y.altoun
Amherst Sommer* 4 lifton Myye and Sete
It ooke and sprileer I lonhrock Seaton
WArirb k Ataidrme Floneurry shtwborne
4 aismcnlow if ,idler 4 notworlh Somerhell
Carn.irvn Stradhrokc Deere Soutlunnie.mt
4 9iyterft.44l Venn's'', ',etymon Stanley 44
4 14reudon \ Vicki... the I: Isle aititl Aldrrley
vowyer &nand Dudley Stewart of Gar-
14yrtioouth rinnticr... De Man ey hey
:Win* De Vesti Willy finathellen
P., Grey Ernaley Dimmindle and stratlmairn
I mu 14411 Elnyetth Claucoaal Stratloyey
hom-ayter HardMge Elyaiy bandrklge
Dude L3inster Foley Taunton
Effingham lifford Foyford Templemore
Mao Melville (il2e Truro
Ellenborough S,lmnuth flrmanl Vernon
Fltzwillhun Stradford do Drantley Walylngham
Fortenue Rettcllffe Harris Wemya,
fiaindwrough Sydney II athertou Wenlock
I Templetnwly lleytealyury Wentworth
Haddington Low's. Houghton Wharoclltle
Itardwleke Arundel! of Keury Wrottealey.
Harrowby Wardour

NOT.CON TENTS,
Ll. cHANCRI.LoIt PARIS. BISHOP. Loal.S.
Chelmsford Bradford Gloucester and Ilarthourre
DOBBS. cadogan Bristol Ilay
Beaufort Cawdor LOMA Lobel and MI-
Buciaushatu t Greham Begot laud
Chandoe Granville RoeMii Ronson
Marihmvugh Hnmo Brburepeth Penrhvo
Richmond Leven 11041 Mel-t'hurstou
.._ Raalao
. .

111.1841. lA. villa Clifton itede.as le
Abercotai Manta...bury otlonany Fivcra
A &binary Manama CuiHllr of Cui•lLemilly
Meter Sandwich new teller) etilchester
!AILS. Tanker, We Congleton Mel mersdalc
Abingdon VI3CuUNTS. Crofton Sow*.
Bailor,* Ilawarden *Woman Tentenicu
Beauchamp !teller) Ifeverahasa IV) Word
Delmore Strathallan

THE COMPOUND HOUSEHOLDER AND TUE LORDS.
—The following are the forty-three peers who voted last
night for Baal Grey's motion to omit clause 7, which
abolishes the power of oompounding for rates within par-
liamentary boroughs :—Dukes—Graf ton and Manchester;
Marquises—Bristol and Salisbury ; Earls—Amherst, Car-
'torso n, Chesterfield, Harkey, Doncaster, Grey, Her-
rowhy, Lovelace, Mansfield. Morley, Morton, Romney,
Selkirk, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Sommers, and Zetland ;
Viscounts—De Vesei, Everslcy, Hardinge, Lifford, and
Sydney; Lords—Belper, Blantyre, Charlemont, Clon-
brock, Granard, Harris, Hatherton, Houghton, Methuen,
Overstone, Ponsonby, Somerhill, Stratheden, Strathnairn,
Taunton, Wentworth, and Wrottseley.