The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-05 00:00:00

( Rom the Daily News.)

Once in three months there issues from Somerset-
house a document, very official in form, very full of
figures, and written with a very complete contempt for
style, but which is nevertheless of great interest.' The
editor of this document is Mr. Farr, the contributors
the various registrars, and the title the " Quarterly Re-
turn of Births, Marriages, and Deaths." It gives, in
less than 50 pages, a return from every portion of Eng-
land and Wales : affording exact knowledge of all the
weddings that take place, telling the precise number of
new mortals who make their appearance, to fill up the
gaps created by the doings of Death, and chronicling
also the ravages of the Great Destroyer himself. The
figures in these returns, indeed, afford a veracious mus-
ter roll of the nation—indicating where vacancies have
been made by excessive mortality, where population
has become more dense by excess of births, and
where prosperity and hope are indicated by the
abundance of weddings. Yesterday, the document, tell-
ing all these particulars of the first quarter of the present
18.52 As 1851
year was issued, and it gives much curious informa.
tion. It seems that the last fifteen months have
might be
wit-
nessed more marriages than were ever before known
etharsousthanadt
is the favourite
to take place in a similar period in England
$ and that in the three
is called the Great Exhibition year, so
truly named the Great Wedding Year.
in this country the Christmas quarter
time for matrimonial alliances
millions of flounces, rib-
months after last harvestwb aabtoveninetyi-tfoaul:
sfi,efld.utterings, ho
pes, and fears went to
bons, smiles,
nis wereiles jroaktei
make up the complement of that vast host of weddings
no arithmetic can tell, but olene thins is at least proved
eeing to join their lot
eminently prosperous. biny
ltifheeffoarctbeotft:roomr azytspe,
whichp
is that the country and
the people me now e
establish that satisfactory
else; for no indication •
with growth of genera]
f .
y prosperous. Th
fact if they
is
Prospe.4 weddings
establish we ings
show nothing
more unerring than this—that
..tY dd•
.

Mediae of gtii Young
a dies whO arr .ing about
politics, and _ eossibly feel a
little more interest in such matters if they knew how
political struggles and conclusions,—by influencing the
weal of the mass of the people,—influence immediately
those "interesting events" for which every female heart
has at least some feeling. Free trade has ripened many
thousands of courtships into matrimony that, under-the
old system, would never have reached so happy a climax.
Protection, scanty employment, dear food, -and celibacy
ran together as certainly as free trade, plenty of- work,
cheap food, and weddings are now seen to be linked in
happy combination. On this subject the precise array
of figures becomes interesting :
"94,416 persons were married in the last quarter of the
year 1852, the three months after harvest, the Christmas
quarter, in which, according to the customs of England;
the greatest number of weddings are celebrated. This
number„ however, exceeds the numbers in the correspond-
ing quarter of any previews year ; and if the whole year is
taken, it shows a proportional exces,. There were 158,439
mai riages in the year 1852, 153,740 in 1851, and, only ten
years ago, 118.825 in the year 1812. The marriages in the
five years 183842 were '605,219, in the five y ears 1848-52
they were 745,030. The marriages in England from 1843
to 1852 were at such a rate that 1 in 60 people married
annually ; the proportion in 1852 was 1 in 57 ; while in
the last quarter of the year 1852 it was lin 48. The in-
crease is greatest in London, where 7,101 marriages took
place in the last quarter .of 1852."
SeVen thousand one hundred and one marriages in
three months in one city is indeed a startling fact, that
goes far towards solving the riddle often propounded in
London—" 'Where do all the people come from to oc-
cupy the thousands of new houses ? " The registrar's next
summary of numbers gives further information bearing
on the same point. It refers to the Consequences of
matrimony.

"161,598 births were registered in the quarter ending
March 31, 1853. The number is slightly less than the
number registered in the corresponding quarter of the year
1852, hut in excess of the number registered in the winters
of Any previous years. The greatest number of births is
registered generally in the spring, but in 1852 it happened
exceptionally that the births in the winter exceeded the
births in the Spring quarter. The annual prog )rtion' of
births since 1843 has been lin3o ; in the winter quarter
the average rate is 1 in 29 ; in the winter quarter of the
present year it has been 1 in 28."

The more the merrier. Whilst we have plenty of pro-
fitable employment for the people, and a good supply of
food,-and a great outpouring of emigrants, this abundant
crop of new human arrivals need make no heart sad.
The total addition to the population during the winter
quarter was 43,357—the births being 161,598 to 118,241
deaths. The mortality was unusually severe ; in conse-
quence, apparently, of the very cold and wet weather we
have suffered. But for this the addition to our total
numbers would (it is estimated) have been about 12,000
greater. " Emigration." filgs the repont, c‘ still rolls
on, and in the winter 57-,72?--persongleTE- the ports of
the United Kingdom at which there are Government
emigration agents." The great bulk of these seekers of
new homes sailed from Liverpool, and very many of
them were, of course, natives of Ireland. May they be
prosperous in the New World as we now are in the
Old!

( Front the Morning Advertiser.)
The manner in which Lord Palmerston has received
the deputation which has just waited on his Lordship,
respecting the City Terminus and the improvements
connected with it, is such as to afford additional encour-
agement to those who are engaged in this most impor-
tant undertaking, and whose project we hope to see re-
alised with all possible expedition.
The Home Secretary has stated that, from personal
feeling, as well as from a sense of official duty, he shall
be happy to do all in his power to promote the great
work, the claims of which have been urged on his atten-
tion, and which he 'has pronounced to he worthy of the
support of Government. When, therefore, the whole
undertaking, in its several branches, shall await the de-
cision of the different departments to which it will he
referred—the railway at the Board of the Trade, the pro-
posed street improvements at the Office of Works—it
may be .confidently expected that in each of these de-
partments there will be that degree of favourable atten-
tion which will result in accordance with the wishes of
the promoters.
The great project under consideration is not one of
merely local interest, or one the prosperity of which is
to be desired simply for the sake of advancing the inter-
ests of a particular company. The plan embraces an
object of national interest, which, when it is realised,
will tend most materially to the comfort of the inhabi-
tants of London, and to the prosperity of our commer-
cial and industrial interests, to a greater extent than is,
perhaps, at present apprehended.
As was observed by Mr. Raikes Currie, in his ad-
dress to the Home Secretary, by the plan proposel
10,000 persons will be daily conveyed by this great iron
highway, composed of four double lines, to stations in
Farringdon-street.' Passengers, instead of losing a deal
of time in travelling from the London termini, on the
north side of the town, to the centre of London, will bo
cheaply and expeditiously conveyed by rail, in a well-
lighted and wellventilated subway, to within a walking
distance of their places of destination. Every one who
is free from prejudice, and from the influence of some
opposing interests, so .that he can form an honest and
independent judgment on this great question, must per-
ceive that the Cential Terminus will supply a great
want in the railway system, and must earnestly depre-
cate any opposition cr indifference which may tend to
deprive the community of the advantages which are now
placed within their reach.
If it had been necessary, as we hope it will now be un-
necessary, after the manner in which Lord Palmerston
has pronounced on the subject, it would have been very
easy for the company to have obtained the popular sup-
port to their measure in the form of memorials, or peti-
tions signed by the multitudes on whom this popular
schemo, when realised, will confer the greatest advan-
tages.
We refer particularly to the advantage which will be
conferred on thousands of persons who are now obliged
to live shut up in the central parts of the metropolis,
owing to the time which would be consumed in going to
and fro from the distant railway termini, and the incon-
venient expense of even a short journey along any of the
lines. These impedi-r ents to the enjoyment of fresh air
from day to day will be removed by the carrying out of
Mr. Pearson's plan, which will give the inhabitants the
benefit of cheap, frequent, and punctual trains, which
the daily travelling of such masses of the migratory po-
pulation entitle them to expect.
It has always been held out as an inducement to the
support of the plan under consideration, that " it will
extend to thousands of small shopkeepers, clerks, me-
chanics, artisans, porters, and others employed in the
city, the opportunity of occupying comfortable dwellings
in healthful situations, for less money than they now
pay, in pestilent situations, for wretched rooms, unfit for
human habitation." We are glad to observe that,. this
feature of the design is constantly kept in view, and that
it was brought under the notice of Lord Palmerston by
Mr. Currie, in the recent interview with his lordship.
For this reason it' is that the proposed work, apart
from the interest it has as a great commercial specula-
tion, assumes the high character of a great instrument,
one of the greatest in the work of sanitary reform, and
is regarded also as a valuable contribution to the good
cause of the moral elevation of society. Therefore is it
that "philanthropists and sanitary reformers, clergymen
and melical men, and laymen who take a deep interest
in these subjects," have so promptly come forward to
second this scheme, and desire its success, as one most
important means of aiding their efforts to advance the
best interests of their fellow-men.
The subject becomes very important in relation to the
sanitary state of London, as it will admit of an arrange-
ment which is growing every day increasingly urgent in
connection with the interment of the dead, and which
has not escaped the attention of those by whom the

comprehensive_ arrangements of this well-concocted plaa
have been- made.

Among those who composed the late deputation to
the Home Secretary we observe there were representa-
tives from some of the leading commercial houses in the
City, and whose motives for the support of the under-
taking are founded on facts of a most interesting and
gratifying character. We refer to the statements of Mr.
Lowry, Mr. Leaf, and other gentlemen, relative to the
necessity which they feel for the adoption of some means
of giving relief to the crowded thoroughfares in the
central parts of London.
hthigeheerxtcelansdseodf commerce int
eexrt?
lee ofafbtrhi
cos Carietycaoarp‘ilnonhbidriecturcrehned:raiah'neesobadenepssy:::
The former gentleman observed that by the Free-
trade measures the manufactures of foreign countries
in cottons, linens, and woollens are admitted into this
country, the immediate consequence of which has been
largely to increase the general mercantile business of
the City, where the productions of all foreign nations
are brought into immediate competition with the pro-
ductions of this country. The present state of the
streets is found to be utterly inadequate to the require-
mfarenatss tioief
Mr. Leaf states that the crowded state of the streets is the market not only of England hifsuessesnete,loifn tchoeinwpeoLldg.
kvtivf oicei
ireneti
shop-
keepers niede
is
ors f
fiset aei
admirablyc.
,uesraitetnt
better
doiio.wwutonohspsi
opportunities
sitteßathurtpoenuhtti ehLeet tidoietcohns
onitwedtjooysoeefetenomwtgfi aeebearenduor
eett
transactingsp ieltnomehue
many others, state their conviction that theg
r opwr
iens
ge presentcpro-
jecton
thattllcumulative,at
they
hhaseuneen
yd their
ha v e
and it
been
inwith Thus,fays
on
u c
rfcroeolf.
tahllisqugraretaetrsp,r
affords us great satisfaction to see
now presented to the Government
as to secure the promisein so able
of that a manner
wanted to crown the undertaking with
which
ndertakin VIAS
g success.
F

•
_'RIGHTFUL DEATH.----On Tuesday night a man named
Steel (a person possessed of property) went to the Swan
Inn, Bolsover, where he had a quantity of drink, and
on this occasion, as he had done several times before,
refused to go home. He was, therefore, left asleep in a
chair. There was a fire in the room, which had a guard
before it two or three feet high. On the landlordjcoming
down stairs about four o'clock in the morning, he was
horror-struck to see the poor fellow leaning over the bar
and burning. All his clothes which the fire could reach
were destroyed, and a hole, which exposed the intestines,
had also been burnt in his side next to the grate. The
family were not disturbed in the slightest manner during
the night, and the unfortunate man was quite dead when
discovered.

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.—A shocking fatality occurred
at Salford on Tuesday. A boy was riding upon a cart
containing a number of heavy barrels of ale, and one of
these slipping, fell to the ground, taking with it the un-
fortunate lad, and a second falling immediately after
caught his head, before he could rise, and crushed him
to death on the spot. The driver of the cart, Who WM
in a state of intoxication behind the vehicle, has been
committed for trial on a charge of znan
be, been, at his horse's head guiding it, he accident would
not haTe happened'.happened'.S L. ugh ter as had

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
tiger the management of Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, May 5,
WIII be performed ELOPEMENTS IN HIGH LIFE. By Messrs.
B. Sullivan, Chippendale, Howe, Buckstone, Vincent, Rogers. and
Coulpton ; Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Mrs. L. S. Buckingham, and Misses
Reynolds and L. Howard.
After which MR. BUCKSTONE'S ASCENT ,OF MOUNT PAR•
XASSITS.
To conclude with BOX AND COX.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OSFORD-STREET.
Under the Management of Mr. Charles Kean.
THIS EVENING, MAY 5,
Will be performed THE CORSICAN BROTHERS. Principal
character by Mr. C. Kean.
To conclude with the new Drama, ndapted from the French of
Mona. Scribe, by Mr. ralgraye Simpson called MARCO SPADA.
Principal characters by Messrs. W. Lacy,'J. Vining, Ryder, Graham
and Everett; Misses Heath and C. Leclercq.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the Management of Madame Vestals.
THIS EVENING, MAT 5,
Will be performed A.S.S. Characters by Messrs. F. Mathews,
Suter, and Rostere ; Mrs. Macnamara and Miss Wyndham.
After which, A FAST TRAIN—HIGH PRESSURE
Characters by Messrs. C. Mathews, Baker, and Suter. EXPRESS.
To be followed by TRYING IT ON. Principal character by Mr.
C. Mathews
After which, USED UP. Principal character by Mr. C. Mathews.

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHI.
Plegieter, Mr. B. Webster.—Directress, Madame Celeste.
THIS EVENING, MAY 5,

Will be performed MASKS AND FACES ; or, Bare and Behind
the Curtain—by Messrs. 13 Webster, L. Murray, Honey. P. Bedford,
and Cullenford ; Mesdames Celeste and Woolgar.
After which, A DESPERATE GAME.
To be followed by TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS. Cha-
racters by Messrs. Keeley and Wigan Mrs. Keeley, Mrs. Wigan, and
Miss Keeley.
To conclude with THE DANCING SCOTCHMAN.

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager Mr. Farren.
Great Mt of THE MILLER OF DERWENT WATER.
THIS EVENING, MAT 5,

Will be performed THE MILLER OF DERWENT WATER.
Marsden by .31essrs. H. Farren, F. Robson, Shaldera, and 6,
Cooke ; Mesdames Anderton and E. Turner.

After which, UNCLE CROTCHET. Supported by Mr. Far.
re &c.

To be followed by MACBETH. By Mr. F. Robson, and Mn. A.
Phillips.
To conclude with THE WATERMAN.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. W. Cooke.

Continued and brilliant success of the New Spectacle. Third Night
,of an entirely new Drama.
THIS EVENING, MAT 5,
And daring the week,
Increasingly pop the performances will commence with the
ular spectacle of AMAKOSA.; or, Scenes of Kafir
Warfare ; with all its new and beautiful sc,enic, interesting dramatic
and astonishing Equestrian effects. The Burning Wood, the Leap
through Fire, and the terrific spring of Amakosa's Steed over the
Falls of the Umtata, nightly received with enthusiastic approbation.
To be followed by a novel and incomparable display of Equestrian
Achlevementi in the Scenes of the ARENA, supported by the most
accomplished Artistes of the day. Mr. Cooke will appear with his
wonderful steed Raven ; also Mr. Alfred Cooke and his accomplished
Family.
To conclude with a new Cemic Drama. entitled IN FOR A DIG;
or, Life at the Diggings.
Box-Aloe open daily from Eleven to Four. Stags Manager, Mr.
W. West.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tai DAT —Morning 17 min. after 12 I Evening 38 min.aft. 12
Talloaaow—Morning 57 min. after 12 I Evening 18 min.aft. 1

THE WEATHER.—Su' OFFICE, MAT 4.
THIERMOMICTER, IN THIII SHAWL
57—highest since noon yesterday.
46—lowest this morning and during the night.
60— this day at noon.

BAROMETER, 30.29.
WIND, E.N.E.—Fine, sunshiny weather.