The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 1, 1861.

from the fact that an. officer had 32 bullet-holes
through his clothes and none in his body. But
there is no greater probability of an encounter be-
tween Fremont and Price than there was last week,
if it be true that the latter has arrived, with his re-
treating army, at Osage. As soon as this letter has
been posted I shall endeavour to ascertain how far
the reports which have come in that the whole of
the Confederate line has been withdrawn to-
wards Manassas are correct.. It is doubtful, ac-
cording to these statements, whether Fairfax Cour-
thouse is occupied by any force at all. Should a
reconnaissance verify the fact, the Federalists will
advance and occuidy the ground. But what if all
this time General. Beauregard has been preparing
New combinations which he has concealed by a false
advance ? The occupation of Munson's Hill and of
the forward line may have been intended as a screen
to more important demonstrations in other quarters,
and we hear of considerable masses of the Confe-
derates being seen near Occognan Creek, and down
the right bank of the Potomac. You will remem-
ber all along it was a favourite theory of mine that
the Confederates would endeavour to close the river,
and to secure such a command of it that they could
pour a corps into Maryland whenever they pleased.
They have so far developed their batteries that ships
I of war run the gauntlet under fire, and the usual
flotilla of small craft which were wont to ply on the
busy waters, is arrested below the newly-opened
batteries. The stoppage of water supplies will in-
convenience -Washington and the great host around
it exceedingly, and the authorities must make some
attempt to destroy those works. Fuel, wood, eat-
ables of all kinds, and a very large traffic in neces-
saries were carried on by fleets of pretty little white
canvassed schooners, which are now afraid to come
up, and are accumulating in swarms in the lower
bends of the stream. The single line of railway
which runs into Washington scarcely suffices to
carry the soldiery and passengers, well managed as
it is, and is utterly inadequate to convey the provi-
sions which would required if the river navigation
were interrupted. Indeed, the more northern lines,
of which this railroad is a branch, have been obliged
to announce that they will not take freight, owing
to the enormous passenger and light traffic. The
movement on Occognan, and on the right towards
the river, may be meant to meet an expected
demonstration from the expedition which is to
sail to-day from Annapolis, and it may be a
part of a general retirement to the line of
the upper Rappahannock River, in rear of the
position at Manassas. There is an opinion that
the Confederates will not again fight at Bull's
Run ; but it is not easy for us here to see what they
can gain by retiring, unless they hope to have a
better chance of utilising their expected victory in
a long pursuit. There is much talk about " drawing
on" the army on each side to attack, but with such
great masses of men the process is neither easy nor
apt to be successful. The railroad from Acquia
Creek runs through Fredericksburg, on the Rappa-
hannock, to Richmond, and is joined some 30 miles
south of Fredericksburg by the Central Virginia
Railroad, whieh runs nearly parallel to the course
of the river, north-west and south-east from the
Oran and Alexandria Railroad, the same that passes
through Manassas. There is thus formed a rude sort
of parallelogram, enclosed by railroads on the east
or left, west or right, and south or rear, and by a
river on the north, the west being further guarded
by the Blue Ridge chain, and the right resting on
the river itself at the railroad. There would be a
greater danger to Maryland than ever if such a
movement were effected, but it would at the same
time give immense relief to M'Clellan, and enable
him to debouch his columns into the plains compa-
ratively open, which lie beyond Manassas. Unless
a blow is meditated or some severe pressure is felt
by the Confederates, it appears, nevertheless, a use-
less abandonment of a fine defensive position to re-
tire from Manassas, and I am inclined to believe
they will be found there in force as soon as the
Federalists begin to feel for them. These naval ex-
peditions must cause great uneasiness, for no one
can tell where they are going, and it is but natural
that the Confederates should strengthen their right
flank, to which they have invited attention and
attack, by endeavouring to close the river. The
Federalists naturally suppose greater mischief is
intended, and are despatching regulars and consider-
able reinforcements to Perryville, and other places,
in Maryland. The Southern States are preparing
for invasion—a sea-coast descent—to the best of
theirability. The States' Militia, the Home Guards,
are all in a condition of watchfulness. The people
of Geergia are very uneasy about the position of
Savannah, and, as Brunswick, on their coast, is
named as a probable point of debarkation for a
portion of the force, General Lawton is taking
steps to guard it, as well as other places. This
alarm gives a fine leverage to the authorities over
all people, and there are already ominous hints
about " lists of black sheep and renegades," who
for reeusancy can be placed in the terrible position
of being " suspected of being unsound in their alle-
giance to the Confederacy." That, at least, may
mean sequestration of property. Thus things run
their course. Confiscation at the North begets se-
questration at the South. The Government of Rich-
mond is resolved that, if the Yankees get a cotton
port, they shall get no cotton. The planters are re-
quested to send none of that clarissima causa belli
to the seaboard, and in some instances bales which
had been sent to market from the plantations have
been sent back at the owners' expense by the Pro-
vost-Marshals. There is reason to think that seques-
tration of all Northern property will be followed by
confiscation of Northern debts in the South. It
must not, however, be supposed for a moment that
the Confederate authorities intend to alienate the
property altogether. Receivers are appointed, ac-
counts kept, and everything needful done properly
and in form. This is a comfort to the owners, who,
nevertheless, may not'appreciate this result of the
policy of the Government of Washington. The con-
fiscation of Southern property led to evasion and
subterfuge at New York. The bankers disobeyed
the orders and fulfilled their trust. Some few ves-
sels were seized, indeed, but stocks were sold out
and the proceeds remitted to England. Exchange
rose, and finally the Government backed out of the
work which they could but imperfectly accomplish.
The history of the world cannot point out two
countries more divided now than North and South
—two Governments, two nations, two policies. Is
it possible that the broken vase can ever be re-
stored? Thousands of able men think it can. They
have faith in blood-cement. This secession is but a
disease in the body politic, skin-deep. A little
caustic, and up grows the sound flesh and all is
healed. Mr. Seward has invited Lord Lyons to go
round the camps to-day to inspect the doctors who
are to work at this great cure, and he has already
exhibited them to the foreign Ministers, for the
Secretary of State does not forget that he was
once a colonel of militia, and the assiduous atten-
dant on drills and parades in time gone by. It is
a strange reflection that the apparatus of martial
armour on which the Great Republic prided itself
should be used for the first time in all its strength
against no foreign enemy, but in a fierce intestine
struggle to support a house divided against itself.
Is it not divided ? See the Philadelphia elections,
—the Democrats triumphant, and the anti-Lin-
colnites put in office. If the winter closes without
a victory, and the taxes are collected next spring to
the sound of distant battle, all that we have as yet
seen will be a feeble warning of the wrath to come.

The financial letters from Paris again indicate
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assumed Treasury
that are
cannot be long delayed, although of course every effort
a new believed
will be made to avoid coming upon the market until some
restoration of tone shall have taken place. The increased
heaviness of the funds is partly attributed to the belief
that, owing to the late sales of the Bank of France, the
amount of stock to be delivered during the liquidation
which has now commenced will prove extremely large.
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judicious course. of these
may bo fortified against the approach of disease, and both
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THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Quarterly Return of the Registrar General.)

This return comprises the births and deaths regis-
tered by 2,199 registrars in all the districts of Eng-
land during the summer quarter that ended Sept. 30,
1861 ; and the marriages in 12,509 churches or
chapels, about 4,488 registered places of worship
unconnected with the Established Church, and 635
superintendent registrars' offices, in the quarter
that ended June 30, 1861.

Marriages were comparatively few in the first
quarter of this year ; they became more numerous
in the second quarter, which, indeed, happens in-
variably in England; but still they did not quite
attain the average for the June quarter ; the children
born in the September quarter decidedly exceeded
the number which the average birth-rate for the
same period would have produced ; while the rate
of mortality in the same three months, though it
differed little from, was not so high as the average
rate for that season, which is the healthiest of the
year. This statement exhibits the most prominent
features of the return.

The population of England, from whose daily
history the above results are evolved, may be stated
to have been last April 20,062,612. This number
is subject to some modification, which may be neces-
sary after further revision of the facts. The rate of
increase in the last decennium was 12 per cent.
MARRIAGES.
The number of persons married in the spring
quarter was 83,932. The marriage rate was
168 to 10,000 of the population, which is less
by 2 than the average, and less by 8 than the
annual number married in the same quarter of
last year, when, as is shown by the Returns of the
Poor Law Board, the labouring class were in a more
thriving condition. By surveying the 11 great
divisions of England, as these are constituted in the
tables, and with reference to their several contribu-
tions to the marriage-list, this result will be dis-
covered—that there was a decrease of marriages
last spring as compared with the same period of
1860 in all of these divisions except two. The
south-eastern counties, especially Surrey, main-
tained a fair proportion ; and in the northern coun-
ties there was a very manifest increase. Durham,
Sunderland, Gateshead, Tynemouth, and Carlisle
were in a prosperous condition, if, as may be pre-
sumed, a willingness in the unmarried to form the
marriage relation, and a confidence in their ability
to undertake its responsibilities, be the test of pros-
perity in England.

beneath, the permanent reduction of diarrhoea will
be, it may be hoped, among the good results that
will be gained ; but that improvement " at home,"
which is so much needed by the poor, increased
comfort in their dwellings and order in their habits,
better food and purer drink, will probably be still
more effectual in abating that disease by which so
much infant life is yearly destroyed.
Among public sanitary undertakings by which
periodical outbreaks of diarrhoea and other diseases
are to be met there is none of more hopeful charac-
ter than the introduction into towns of water pure
and ample. An eminent statesman, to whom muni-
cipal institutions are greatly indebted, has declared
that the erection of public drinking-fountains should
engage the attention of municipalities and other re-
presentative bodies,which have the power of levying
the local rates. It must be still more an object of
concern to establish its circulation within the houses
of all classes of the community. And, if the purity
of Loch Katrine cannot be attained, it is still pos-
sible by improved mechanical means to reduce the
contrast, far too palpable as it exists at present,
between much of the water supplied to towns and
that of the model Highland reservoir.
An increase of deaths in Strood (Kent) was due
to dysentery and scarlatina; and the Registrar re-
marks that "in a district having a largo marsh
surface there will always be an autumnal dysentery,
especially when the season is warm and dry, as the
last quarter was in a remarkable degree.
Diarrhoea is reported as having been prevalent
and fatal in Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Shef-
field, York, Yarmouth, Norwich, and many parts of
both town and country. Of 292 deaths in the
Deansgate sub-district of Manchester, 73 were
caused by infantile diarrhoea. Some observations
on the subject by Mr. Leigh will be found in their
place in the Registrar's notes. Of 254 deaths in
the subdistrict of Regent's-road, Salford, 61 were
from diarrhoea. In West Wymer, Norwich, the
same complaint was fatal in 50 cases in a total num-
ber of 177 recorded ; at Deritend, in Warwickshire,
in 59 cases out of 187.

Low typhoid fever is very prevalent at Steyning,
in Sussex, where in consequence of bad drainage it
is believed to cling with greater tenacity. The total
deaths in Brighton were 427 against 342 in the
same quarter of 1860. Fever prevails in the more
more crowded parts of the town of Buckingham,
where drainage and ventilation are stated to bevery
imperfect. At Worcester, where there has been a
great deal of typhoid fever, almost every case has
been accompanied by " pustular eruptiou or ulcera-
tion of the throat, which sometimes became almost•
diphtheritic." Typhus carried off a man, his three
adult sons, and his granddaughter, who occupied
two houses at Snitterfield (Stratford-on-Avon). It
was very prevalent, though not very fatal, at Yeadon
in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Of 29 deaths at Somersham (St. Ives) 9 were
caused by diphtheria; and of 31 at Ixworth, in
Suffolk, there were also 9 (in Great Livermore
parish) from the same disease. It was fatal in 7
cases in Holt, Norfolk. Five deaths, all in one
family, occurred from it at Burnham, in the same
county ; and in the neighbouring sub-district of
Snettisham " a malignant form of sore throat is
very prevalent, of which more than 30 cases (6 fatal)
occurred in the parish of Hunstanton. Diphtheria
raised the mortality at Loddon and Diss. It was
fatal in 6 cases at Ellesmere. It prevailed greatly
at Leake in Leicestershire, and caused 5 deaths out
of 26 at Holt in North Wales. _

The registrar of Dale-street sub-district,
Liverpool, complains both of its moral and sanitary
condition; and draws attention to the following
comparison, which is sufficiently striking :—ln his
own sub-district, containing a population of 28,698
persons, there were 266 births and 236 deaths in
the quarter. In the sub-district of West Derby,
with a population of 53,000, there were 497 births
and only 208 deaths. The registrar of the more
favoured locality partly explains the cause of so
groat a difference ; he writes—" There have not been
so few deaths (in West Derby) in any quarter since
that ending June 30, 1856, though the population
is now from 12,000 to 14,009 more than at that pe-
riod, which proves that the inhabitants are in an
unusually healthy state, owing in a great degree to
the great care taken by the authorities of Liverpool
in cleansing the streets, sewers, and courts." It
may be inquired whether the same watchful and
beneficent care is not extended by the Liverpool
authorities to the Dale-street district, where it is
stated that ashpits are an abounding nuisance. The
authorities in charge of this locality will not plead
the want of successful example as an excuse.
The report from Salisbury is as cheerful as that
of West Derby ; it runs as follows:—" The deaths
are much below the average, which can only be
accounted for by reference to the sanitary measures
that have been adopted within the last few years.
The city is thoroughly drained, running streams in
every street called canals are covered over, and a
supply of better water is obtained. The beneficial
effects of these measures are now beginning to be
felt."

AN IRISH WAKE AND ITS CONSE-

Q UENCES.

Yesterday morning an indescribable scene of up-
roar occurred on the banks of the Serpentine, in
Hyde-park, amongst a considerable number of Irish
people, who had congregated for the purpose of
searching for the body of a young married Irish-
woman, who had committed self-destruction by
throwing herself into the water, through a quarrel
with her husband the previous night, said to be the
effects of an Irish wake, in which they had taken
part during Tuesday night and following morning.
It appears, from the statement of friends of the de-
ceased, whose name is Ellen Crawley, aged 23, living
at 2, Prince of Wales-yard, Exeter-street, Chelsea,
that she, with her husband, buried his mother on
Tuesday. The usual wake was celebrated through
the night, during which time the deceased drank
with some young men, and chatted too freely to
please her husband, who became very jealous, and
after their return home, between nine and ten
on Wednesday evening, a quarrel ensued, and the
husband pushed her out of the house. The de-
ceased then, in a fit of violent passion, declared
her intention to drown herself in the Serpentine,
and ran away, pursued by her husband and
others. The young woman must have reached the
park just before the gates were closed for the night,
and instantly precipitated herself into the water,
without scarcely time for reflection, as very stortly
afterwards her pursuers arrived, and finding the
gates shut climbed over the railings, and she was
nowhere to be seen. Early yesterday morning
the husband instituted a search along the banks
of the Serpentine, followed by a number of his
countrymen and women. On arriving at the south-
eastern end they discovered a dark object in the
water, and believing it to be the body of the hap-
less woman, two boatmen of the Royal Humane
Society proceeded in a boat to the spot, where they
picked up the body, and conveyed it with all speed
to the receiving-house, followed by the crowd, which,
from the howling and other noises of lamentation,
soon became much increased. Mr. Superintendent
Williams immediately sent for the society's medical
officer, but it was totally useless, as she had evidently
been in the water since the preceding night. Upon
her person was found £l2 in gold, very carefully
sewn up in a blue flannel petticoat. The body
awaits the coroner's inquisition.