The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

POST.—What used to be called the Condition-of-
England question is, upon the whole, very satisfac-
factorily answered in two returns we have now be-
fore us, the one giving the general results of the
census of 1861, and the other, issued by the Regi-
strar-General, containing a record of the marriages,
births, and deaths during the last quarter, together
with other information indicating the state of the
public health and national prosperity in the year
1863. The first and most important fact which is
brought out in the enumeration of the people is,
that the population of the United Kingdom has
increaeed very considerably during the past decade.
Some advance was expected, but not, we believe, to
anything like the extent which has actually taken
Place The stream of emigration had flowed on
continuously ; we had been engaged in war, and
we had suffered from pestilence. Nevertheless, the
census showed an increase of 1,575,339, making the
aggregate population of the United Kingdom, in-
cluding the army, navy, and merchant seamen
abroad, 29,321,288, against 27,745,949 in the year
1851. The increase in the population of England
and Wales was 2,174,327, being at the rate of 12
per cent. in ten years. But what is not less re-
markable and important, as showing the character
of the progress we are making, is that this increase
has gone on steadily, as regards England and
Wales, from 9,156,171 in the year 1801, to 20,228,497
in the year 1861. It must be borne in mind that
these returns necessarily include British travellers
and settlers in other States, no less than 25,844 of
whom are domiciled in France, and 2,224,743 in
the United States. Also, that they do not com-
prise India, where the English residents, including
the army, are returned at 125,379; and that as
some compensation for our losses by emigration,
there were found to be 84,090 foreigners resid-
ing in this country when the census was taken.
Now, how is this population disposed of ? The
inhabited houses in England in 1861 amounted to
3,739,505; there were 1,575,923 houses uninha-
bited, and 27,305 were building. Oa an average
there were 537 persons to 100 houses, making the
proportion 5.37 to a house, or nearly 16 persons to
three houses. The ascertained houseless class
amounted to 11,444, of whom 7,130 were, on the
night of the 7th of April, 1861, in the open air, in
tents, or in caravans, and 4,314 in barns, sheds, and
other places of shelter. Of course it was impos-
sible to arrive at any exact enumeration of this
class. In winter the numbers would probably have
been larger, and in summer less than they were. It
is, however, agreeable to find that it is not an in-
creasing class, the return made on the 7th of June,
1841, being 20,348, and on the 31st of March, 1851,
15,765. Then there were 11,915 persons living in
barges, 6,665 in inland vessels, and 55,765 in sea-
going vessels in our ports. There were 63,840
soldiers in barracks ; and in public institutions
there were 37,778 officers and servants with their
families. In the hospitals there were 10,414
patients; and in asylums no less than 24,345 luna-
tics. Of the poor and infirm, 125,722 were found
in workhouses, and 23,598 in charitable institutions.
Lastly, there were confined in prisons 26.096 crimi-
nals. These figures, we need not say, suggest an
infinite variety of social considerations, but tor the
present we must leave them to speak for themselves,
and, having noted the increase of the population,
and the manner in which it is distributed over the
face of the country, proceed at once to examine in
the Registrar-General's return whether the actual
birth-rate and death-rate, and the general sanitary
condition of the people, indicate the same favourable
and progressive tendencies. The marriages daring
the first nine months of the past year have, we find,
been above the average. The returns of the last
quarter are not in, but 83,804 persons were mars
ried in the previous quarter. The summer mar-
riages in the metropolis, betty' en 1861 and 1863,
rose from 7,322 to 8,031 ; and in Lancashire and
Cheshire, where they tell from 7,086 in the sum-
mer quarter of 1861 to 6,376 in the correspond-
ing quarter of 1362, they rose again last year to
6,999. In Yorkshire, also, and indeed in all the
northern counties, as well as in Wales, where
loyalty, the Registrar-General intimates, has largely
contributed to increase the number of weddings, the
marriage-rate has exceeded the summer rate of
1861. This is to be accounted for by the steady
improvement in the condition of the people. Pro-
visions have been plentiful and cheap. Wheat and
potatoes have been kept down in prices by the
abundant crops, and the price of meat has not ad-
vanced. With regard to the birth-rate, in the last
quarter of 1863 It was above the average rate of
the autumn quarter. In general, it appears, the
births are most numerous in the winter quarter, but
the seasons of last year were exceptional, and the
birth-rate was highest in the spring. There were,
on the other hand, 475,582 deaths registered in the
year, and the mortality of the last quarter was
above the average. The death-toll was 23 in 1,000.
This excess is to be ascribed to the prevalence of
fever and scarlatina, which spread over the country
with fatal effect. But in the cotton districts there
has been less sickness, and the death-rate has been
under the average. Salisbury, too, is a remarkable
exception, only 24 deaths having been registered
out of a population of 9,039; and there, as in Lan-
cashire, the comparative exemption from disease is
owing in a great measure to the sanitary improve-
ments which have come into operation. Fresh and
pure water has been provided, and a complete sys-
tem of drainage has been laid down. Now, although
there are some dark spots in the retrospect which
both these returns open up, yet, altogether, we
think we may look forward from them with well-
grounded confidence. There is much to be thankful
for in the past, and the future depends on ourselves,
on our own industry, and integrity. We have, we
will hope. tided over the calamity that has been the
only serious drawback on the national prosperity ;
and the same honest fortitude and Christian feeling
which carried us through the cotton famine will
more than suffice for the work that remains to be
done to relieve ourselves of the burden of pauperism
and crime which these statistics put in a light that
cannot fail to attract attention.
HERALD.—Mr. Layard was a little hard upon the
special pleaders last night. We never heard that it
was incompatible with the duties of a " special
pleader" to be either a member of the House of
Commons, a gentleman, or a man of honour; yet the
Under-Secretary of State, when asked for a cate-
gorical answer to a very plain question, went
greatly out of his way to exalt himself at the ex-
pense of the bar, and succeeded in eliciting a few
faint cheers from the Ministerialists by his appeal
to his personal character. We know what sort of
an effect this appeal generally has in the courts of
justice, and we are surprised that so old a hand as
Mr. Layard should have ventured upon it ; but we
should scarcely have alluded to it except as instan-
cing the curious artifices by which a Ministry en
extretnis endeavours to dissimulate its weakness.
Special pleading, why one would have imagined
that every one of her Majesty's Ministers had been
trained to it from the evasive manner in which they
have replied to every serious question that importu-
nate members of the Opposition have plied them
with this session. It is only by such closely de-
fined terms as " natural sense," "grammatical inter-
pretation," &e., that one is able to " fix" the Minis-
try to any of its assertions. As to getting informa-
tion out of them, the whole art of Government
would seem to consist in knowing "how not to give
it." Last night's discussion in the House of
Commons was only another illustration of their
powers of reticence. Mr. Fitzgerald, in a speech
characterised not less by its lucidity than by its
admirable temper, asked for correspondence on
four very important questions arising out of
the hostilities between the Northern and Southern
States of America. The cases he brought forward
were-1. That of the Margaret and Jessie, a
steamer owned by Confederate citizens, but chased
on shore on the island of Eleuthera, and
there shelled by a United States man of war.
2. That of the Springbok, captured by a United
States cruiser between England and Nassau, and
condemned on the ground that she was carrying
contraband of war, whose ultimate destination was
the Confederate States. 3. That of the Science,
captured while loading cotton in Mexican waters, on
the strength of her being alleged to have carried
contraband of war which at the time of capture was
lying in the customhouse of a neutral power. 4.
That of the Saxon, made a prize because she was
taking on board, from on island near Natal, portion
of a cargo, which at one time had been carried by
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to the mercantile community and to the nation at
large. They involve great principles of international
law, and even national honour.
presumed that the
Governmenteager
to testify its readiness to resent insult by the bom-
bardment of Ragosima would have been glad to
show its promptitude in vindicating the honour of
our flag, under circumstances even more trying to an
Englishman's
patience than the unpremeditated
outrage of a barbarous race. The Attorney-General
very speedily dispelled any such fancy. He would
not produce the correspondence, but he was ready
to justify, we
might almost say approve, the con-
duct of the United States Government and its in-
struments; in every particular. Nothing could
exceed the delicacy of the compliments he paid to
the Cabinet which published Mr. Seward's threat of
pursuing Confederate cruisers into our ports, his
admiration of Judge Betts, his hendsowe testimony
to the strict regard for justice displayed by the
Federal Government. Did not even Captain Bald-
win " express his regret" at the murder of the
unoffending Englishman ? What could be more
soothing to the dead man's relatives, or more Batts-