The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-03 00:00:00

BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES.

A report which has just been presented by Dr.
Letheby to the Commissioners of Sewers shows that
in the year recently ended there were 3,046 births,
2,726 deaths, and 1,540 marriages in the City cf
London. These occurred among a population of
114,472 persons. The births, therefore, have been
in proportion of 26,1 for every 1,000 of the inhabit-
ants, the deaths of 23-8, and the marriages of 13'4.
In all England the average birth-rate is 33.1 per
1,000 of the population, the death-rate 22.3, and
the marriage-rate 8.2. While, therefore, the pro-
portion of deaths and marriages in the city has been,
in each case, above the standard, that of the births
has been somewhat below it. On the other hand, the
number of marriages has been nearly 64 per cent.
greater than the common average. The highest of
the birth rates has been in the Eastern union of the
city, where it has reached 31.8 per 1,000 of the
people, and the lowest in the Central union, or city
proper, where it has amounted to only 21'4. The
distribution of the deaths has also been very a nequal.
In the Eastern and Western Unions the general
proportions have been at the rate of 25.8 per 1,000
of the population, whereas in the Central district
it has been but 20.6. The cause of this is referable
not so much to the difference in the character of the
population as to the density of it. The number of
persons upon an acre, in the former districts, ranges
from 200 to 266, and in the latter it is only 105.
This however is an excessive density, compared with
the town districts of England, where, upon an ave-
rage, there are scarcely 5 persons to an acre; and
contrasted with the mortality of those districts,
which amoents to 24.8 per 1,000, the death-rate of
tee whole city is remarkably small. The births,
deaths, and marriages in the city during the year
have been below the averages for the last 10 years.
In that interval the births have declined from an
annual proportion of 3,412 to 3,046, the deaths from
3,105 to 2,726, and the marriages from 1,733 to 1,540.
These numbers represent a falling off of 11 per cent.
of the births and marriages, and nearly 13 per cent.
of the deaths, which Dr. Letheby refers to a decline
in the resident population. Nearly 18 per cent. of
all the deaths in the city occurred among infants of
less than one year cid ; 38 per cent. among children
of less than five years; 49 per cent., or nearly half,
were under 25 years of age ; and only 16 per cent.
had reached the age of 65. 190 persons, however,
had passed the age of 75; 33 had reached that of
86, and five the age of 95. The infant mortality,
which is excessive, Dr. Letheby states can hardly
be estimated by the proportion of children's deaths
to the whole mortality, because the proportion of
children in the city population is comparatively
small, but it may be seen by observing the number
of children that die before they are a year old. Last
year there were 3,046 births in the city, and 475
deaths of infants that had not reached the first year
of their age. In the last 10 years the annual pro-
portion of births has been 3,412, and that of infant
deaths 556. This is at the rate of 16 per cent.,
as compared with 15 per cent. in the rest of Lon-
don and 14 in all England. The increase is said
to be chiefly due to the density of the population,
and to the bad condition of the homes of the
poor With respect to the causes of death ge-
nerally, phthisis had been fatal in 357 cases,
takes and scrofula in 173, and hydrocephalus in
43; bronchitis and pneumonia had caused 441
deaths, teething and the convulsions of infancy 139,
and violence, privation, and poison 167. Of the
zymotic class of maladies there have been 174
deaths from continued fever, 95 from scarlet fever,
127 from whoopin
gcough, 71 from croup and dip-
theria, 92 from measles, 48 from the diarrhoea of
children, and 15 from diarrhoea and dysentery
among adults, 14 from erysipelas, and four from
smallpox. Altogether, theretore, there have been
573 deaths from tubercular diseases, 441 from in-
flaramatery affections of the lungs, and 640 from

This evening Mr. P. W. Martin and Mr. Ser-
geant S. A. Kinglake, the members for this city,
met their constituents in the Corn Exchange, for
the purpose of delivering their accustomed annual
addresses prior to the opening of Parliament. The
large room was crowded with the freemen and elec-
tors, and on the platform were seated the leading
magistrates and members of the common council.
The chair was taken by Mr. S. Steele, one of the
borough magistrates, and chairman of the Liberal
Registration Association, who, in highly eulogistic
terms, introduced the two hon. members to the
meeting.
Mr. MARTIN, who, on rising, was received with
loud and continued applause, said seven years had
elapsed since they first sent him to the House of
Commons, but he was happy to say he had had a
very kind and indulgent master during his appren-
ticeship. (A laugh.) On all broad general ques-
tions he had voted according to the pledges he had
given, and in accordance with the opinions of the
great majority of his constituents. The last session
had been called by some an idle session, but there
ought to be some allowances for circumstances which
had occurred. At the present time the House of Com-
mons contained nearly as many Conservatives as
Liberals, so that had any great Parliamentary fight
occurred it must have resulted in a dissolution,
which was to be deprecated, considering the grief
into which her Majesty was plunged. The
House of Commons, however, had not been with-
out its contests, the principal of which was on the
question of church rates. Instead of that question
having retrograded, a larger number of members
voted for the ayes than ever voted before. (Cheers.)
The course the Conservatives had then adopted
would, he believed, prove to be extremely detrimen-
tal to the interests of the Church of England.
(hear.) With regard to the subject of national
expenditure, from all they heard they were to have
a large reduction. (Loud cheers.) The Tory party
had always maintained that the Liberals were ruin-
ing the revenues of the country, but at the present
time ihe revenue was never in a more encouraging
condition. He believed that her Majesty's Govern-
ment had decided on a wise and judicious economy.
One kind of economy had been already tried, in the
reduction of the navy by 20,000 men, the result of
which was that men had to be obtained at a pre-
mium of LlO a head, thereby losing men and money,
and were badly served at last. A member sitting for
a town so closely allied as Rochester was to one of
the national dockyards, could hardly be expected
to advocate any reduction in the navy—(a laugh)—
but he did hope to be able to congratulate them
next year on the reduction of the income tax.
(Cheers.) There was one bill which had been
brought in by an excellent member of the House
of Commons—he alluded to the Conveyance of
Voters to the Poll Bill—which he believed to be a
piece of organised hypocrisy. (A laugh.) If they
gave a man a vote, they were bound to give him
every facility for exercising it. (Applause.) He
should therefore continue to vote against that bill,
which he believed would have the effect of dis-
franchising thousands of electors. (Hear.) During
the past year a very large number of their fellow-
countrymen had been plunged in the deepest dis-
tress. He was not going to damage the suffering
classes by his praise, but they had borne their suf-
ferings nobly. (Cheers.) Turning to other topics
the hon. member expressed his intention of support-
ing the foreign policy of her Majesty's Government,
believing that it was most conducive to the interests
of this country. That policy was to observe the
strictest neutrality in the unhappy quarrel which
was now raging across the Atlantic. (Hear, hear.)
In no wars of modern times had the loss of life been
so great as during the dreadful strife raging in
America. He wished for peace between the two
belligerents; but he sincerely trusted it would be
attained without foreign intervention, and that Eng-
land would not meddle between either parties.
Their policy must be not to interfere between one
party or the other. They might say he was luke-
warm on the subject of the abolition of slavery, but
he denied it. The restoration of the Union meant
the perpetuation of slavery, but if the South main-
tained their independence he believed it would be
impossible to maintain slavery. Be the result of
the contest what it may, one good thing would re-
sult from it, namely, the death-knell of slavery all
over the world. (Cheers.) With regard to the sub-
ject of granting tickets of leave to convicts, he de-
cidedly disapproved of making a convict's punish-
ment a farce. (Hear, hear.) After alluding to
some local topics, Mr. Martin resumed his seat
amidst great applause.
_ _

Mr. Sergeant KINOLAKE next addressed the elec-
tors, and on presenting himself to the audience was
received with great cheering. The hon. and learned
gentleman gave an outline of the various measures
which had been passed during the past session, pass-
ing in review the Church-rate Abolition Bill, to
which he had given his warmest assent, and other
measures. The learned gentleman expressed his
intention to support her Majesty's present Govern-
ment, as being the only body of men who repre-
sented the feelings of this great country on the
questions of the day.
A vote of thanks was presented to both gentlemen
at the close of their addresses.

BEETHOVEN'S DEAFNESS.—Beethoven was not—
as might be supposed from his uncouth demeanour
in company—averse to joining in the pleasures of the do-
mestic circle, being by nature of a social disposition, but
was forced to withdraw almost entirely from public
through the infirmity of deafness. This malady was
the source of profound anguish to Beethoven; and yet,
had he not been thereby afflicted, his tendencies,
which were certainly jovial, would probably have betrayeduld
him into such an habitual career of amusement, as :vitoon.
materially have interfered with his genius for ctioomn, i
Ps°ecured
Where would have been that continued abstraction,
constitutes
to him by his isolation from society, and
systemw of
many
of his
a prime source of the magnitude and
inirectly it became the
the blindness of Milton,
though
ot' asked, are
epic poems in
works ? Similarly, we hear lamentations uttered respecting
efficient cause in producing
existence.
light in the "Paradise Lost?"
it mayonbee:asked, are we indebted for
author'sguyon werful appreciation of the
ou
theld ,
n e e withe s
sit es
Kernft his loss of the capacity of
ti‘itiaenigtersatnlyd
to
blessing of light, siorn
--h- a. is more melancholy to contemplate
To what,
. Again, not Ib.
vision. 6 the
thoing
enervated that intellect whichlv
$ poverty; and yet wealth
him,
induced by almost permanent penury kept continually ac-
tive.Beethoven'B deafness may,
therefore, be considered
have inevitably inleoviztatrLy ene
rather favourable than otherwise to the development of his
genius ; and not the least of the marvels connected with
this wonderful man was the faculty which he acquired of
estimating, in his compositions, the effect of particular
combinations of sound, which he did not and never could
s Nayazine.
have hord,••—frV, Janice I