The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-06 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Yesterday Major-General H. Eyre, commanding
the troops in the Chatham district, commenced his
half-yearly inspection of the Royal Artillery, under
the command of Colonel C. J. B. Riddell, C. 8.,
consisting of the first division of the depot brigade.
The officers and men were drawn up within the for-
tification at headquarters. In the course of his in-
spection, General Eyre witnessed the various bat-
teries go through the customary manoeuvres, and
afterwards inspected the barrack-buildings, schools,
institute, hospitals, and the other military establish •
ments. The number of men of the Royal Artillery
at headquarters is now very strong, in anticipation
of a large demand being made for reinforcements
for India and the colonies.

The half-yearly inspection of the pensioners, in-
mates of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, took place
yesterday morning. In the absence of the Governor,
Field Marshal Sir E. Blakeney, G.C.8., who is still
suffering from impaired health, Gen. Sir A. Wood-
ford, G.C.8., the lieutenant-governor, inspected the
pensioners. About 500 of the veterans assembled
for inspection, and they passed muster to the entire
satisfaction of the lieutenant-governor.

Quarterly Return of Marriages, Births, and
Deaths,

The quarterly return, just issued by authority of
the Registrar-General, comprises the births and
deaths registered by 2,000 registrars in all the dis-
tricts of England during the winter quarter ended
March 31, 1861 ; and the marriages in 12,653
churches or chapels, about 4,951 registered plze?s
of worship unconnected with the Established

Church, and 641 superintendent registrars' offices in
the quarter ending Dec. 31, 1863. With an increas-
ing population, the number of marriages was greater
than it had been before in any quarter. The mar-
riage rate—that is, the proportion of persons mar-
ried to population—was high, though in some pre-
vious instances it had been higher. The registration
of births was extraordinary, as not only were the
births more numerous than at any former period,
bat relatively to population they were also nume-
rous beyond example during the last 10 years. As
regards deaths, an unusually high rate of mortality
attests the severity with which the inclemency of
the weather pressed on the public health.
MARRIAGES.—In the December quarter of 1863
the marriages were 51,974. They were about 3,000
more than hey had been in the corresponding quar-
ter of 1861 or in that of 1862. The populous districts
of the cotton and woollen manufactures, as well as
those of coal and iron, showed increased activity in
nuptial celebrations, the result of increased or con-
tinned animation in their respective branches of in•
dustry. In Staffordshire the marriages rose from
2,009 and 1,955 in the December quarters of 1861-2
to 2,291 in that of 1863 ; in Lancashire from 6,078
end 5,362 to 6,503 ; in the West Riding of York-
shire from 3,809 and 3,800 to 4,279; in South Wales
from 1,695 and 1,771 to 1,827. In England and
Wales about 8,000 persons entered into wedlock
weekly. In London the number was about It2oo.
The marriages in 1863 were 173,388. The marriage
rate of the past year was I'6BB, against an average
of 1.661.

BlRTus.—The total number of births was 192,926
in the first quarter of the present year, of which
26,651 were in London. There was an increase on
the number registered in the same period of 1863 in
all the eleven divisions, except London and the
south-western counties. The number rose in the
north-western counties (Cheshire and Lancashire)
from 28,734 to 30,011. The annual birth• rate in the
quarter was 3.740 per cent., against an average of
3.005. It was singularly high, for of results obtained
in the oevious 10 years the highest was 3.702 in the
June quartt.'.r of 1854. The birth rate rarely attains
so high a point .18 3.70 in any quarter, and the ave-
rage for a year is 3 '47, As the births were 192,926,
and the deaths were 3,030, in the same time,
there was an excess in theformer amounting to
40,806, and representing the natural increase of
population in the quarter.
EMIGRATION.—The emigration from the United
Kingdom comprised about 10,923 English people,
2,175 Scotch, 24,779 Irish, and 3,160 foreigners,
altogether 41,037 persons. Of the Irish all, except
a section which did not count 3,000, went to the
United States. Of the English about 6,614 persons
Bought the United States, 3,451 the Australian colo-
nies. The Scotch divided themselves almost
equally between these two destinations.

DEATHS AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH.—The deaths
greatly exceed the average number. Seldom has a
winter been more fatal, fur 143,030 deaths, 1,572
a day, were registered in 91 days, including the
additional day of Leap-year, for which due correc-
tion is made. The mortality was at the rate of
2773 per cent.; whereas the average of the season
in the preceding ten years was 2.490 per cent.; thus
the rate was nearly 28 instead of 25 in 1,000.
14,698 persons died in excess of the average num-
' her. Upon dividing the population into two por-
tions, the one living in the district comprising the
chief towns is found to have experienced the highest
rate of mortality, or 2.974 per cent., while the
mortality was at the rate of 2.508 in the small towns
and in the country districts. The town rate Was
.996, the country rate .228, above their respective
t districts. ratrtiecls. Was greater
ianvetrhaegteL;athtuhsanthienthecountry
increase
of the
London
suffired to an extraordinary extent, and is account-
able fer a large share in the increase. The average
annual rate of the winter quarter in London is 2.577
per cent., but in the last winter quarter the rate
becomes 3 088, or .511 above the average. The
fuse.rals increased in the proportion of five or six.
The rate of mortality in the south-eastern division
was 18 per cent, higher than in the two preceding
March quarters. Inflammation or congestion of the
lungs mi. the z 74!: tubes catvied off the ::gad in great

of it.

We have been favoured with the following ex.
;net from a letter dated Cairo, April 19 :—" This
has been a remarkable year in Egypt, counting from
autumn last, when the murrain was at its height
It has not perfectly subsided to this day. The num-
ber of animals carried off is not precisely and pro..
bably never will be exactly known. The Govern-
'ment gave out 900,000, then 600,. JO, and. I fancy
they cannot have been less than 400,00'). What..
ever the exact number, the result has been gre«t
scarcity of beef, which, causing the mutton to come
more into demand, soon so diminished the supply of
it that none was to be had on several occasions for
three days together. It was discovered at the same
time, that is, towards the latter end of the winter,
that the stock of grain was very low. The price
quickly rose to 250 piastres the ardeb (170—£1),
at which price it is now, and this by the econo.
mist prices of the 26th March in Mark-lane is
just 64 piastres per ardeb dearer than there. Then
the vegetables are scanty, cotton having supplanted
everything. We had also a very cold winter, the
thermometer having marked for some mornings in
the latter part of January 10 degrees below freez-
ing point, and the canals had a good half inch
thick of ice on them. This killed nearly ail the
burseem, which greatly told on the horses. For a
month or two, off and on, we had an excess of
Khamseen, though for the last few days it has
been cold enough. All these causes combined have
developed typhus and smallpox to an extent that
the deaths in Cairo, which should not exceed at
this season 39 or 40, were five days ago reported
to be 120 a day, and the villages are likewise in-
fected.
" The Suez Canal Company have opened a
station at Shaloof, 14 kilometres north of Suez.
Thither are we taken in a small dhahabeih,
partly sailing and partly towed by camels, in two
hours on the Sweet Water Canal, which terminates
at about three-quarters of a mile from Suez with
a sluice-gate, of which the sail is 13 centimetres
above the quay of the hotel, reckoned to be 11 mtrs,
above the main level of the sea. They are obliged
to run off a considerable quantity of water from
the sluice, or it would accumulate in the canal and
overflow the banks. Indeed, in many places it
percolates through the banks and forms large pools
along the inner base. But these banks will con-
solidate in time. The fresh water canal is on a
mean of 2+ metres deep, and 26 metres wide at
the water line, with slopes of two horizontal to
one perpendicular for the banks inside and out,
and must be pronounced a complete success. The

effect on Suez is already visible. The population,
which some years ago was not more than
2,000, is stated to be now 14,000. The walls of
the town have disappeared, and long streets are
lid out and partly built long. Good ground rear
the hotel is worth one Napoleon the square
pike of metre, The French Messagerics Company
have run off a branch railway from the main line at
a point, say half a mile, before it enters the old level
of the town, and carried the branch along the back
of the town, then along an embankment on the east
side of the sandy spit, which embankment is made
for about 2,000 metres towards the side on which
the dock is being excavated, which, we were told,
was 4,500 metres from the beach behind Suez. Of
the dock had excavated a hole 50 inches in diame-
ter and seven metres deep, from which the sea was
kept out by the embankment joined by the stuff

out of the hole. The soil was for 20 feet clay and
sand, then gravel, and at 27 feet they were on it
concreted bed, but expected clay again under it.
The dock will be 110 metres long, 25 wide, and
have a direction W. 23 degs. S. when completed.
Quays are to be added at either side of the
expanse (towards the port), which will enable

ships to come up and load and unload along•
side. Around the site of the dock are spaces al.
lotted to the Messageries, Peninsular and Oriental,
and Mejidich Companies, for erecting warehouses,
and I fancy that a large number of buildings will
accumulate about the dock and along the sea em-
bankment. The Messageries have laid their plans
very well. Their workshops by the side of the
branch railway at the back of the town are on

rather a large scale, with at present only one steam
hammer, bat with many other machines, and room
for additional ones. This is where the railway
station should have been, and where our people and
the Foreign Office who for 25 years could not get a
ship even at Suez, the Messageries are no sooner
introduced into the Red Sea than they are allowed

to construct a dock after their own idea at a cost
to the Viceroy of £280,000, and have lately got an-
other £70,000 as a compensation for the Egyptian
labour they give upon the work. Until the

Egyptian Office gives up its idea of influencing the
Egyptian Viceroy through moral powers, commer-
cial interests, &c., we shall be nowhere in Egypt.
Let them read the spirit of the East, as given in
Bible. Take Solomon to wit—and they will know
that all Eastern government and policy is personal.
and in the patriarchal spirit, and that nothing is
to be got without asking far and taking it.

" The railway has fallen into the last stage of
disorganisation as to its management, and ruin as
to its state and material. It is impossible to de-

scribe the confusion and want of system that pre.
nails. One day at the station I found the platform
from one end to the other crowded with hajjis and
their baggage. I asked one bow long he had been
on the platform—he said three days. Another
answered that he had been there 10 days-10 days
athcetualroloyf.livoinogeo3nietnl platform of the station, under
y
about 300 hajjis got into
tthewgg
allow Alexandria arrival train to come in,
aid then shunted back into a middle line of rails,
and forgotten till Thursday, the people being all this
a
o theons for Suez. The train was drawn out
time in the train ; and another train was actually
five days in the same plight. People are sometimes
13 hours getting to Sucz or Alexandria from Cairo.
As to goods, they are stolen and pitched here and
there, and nobody can ever get any information
about them. . . . Accidents are beginning to crop

up, not to mention the number of unfortunate

llows rho are run over without anybody hearing

" The iron-clad evidence commission is here.
Ismael Pasha won't give evidence on oath, anti his
Minister, Sherif Pasha, pretends that he cannot on
his conscience swear either, which is rather a new
Massulman idea. I think, however, that the latter
will be brought round."

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summary manner those distressing, tiYa-
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in a
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and debilitated state unless some restorative, such as hie
pine, be cccaeionslly taken.