Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-08-30
SOMETHING ABOUT 11ARR1AeEs

An increase OF National Prosperity
sIncreases the Number ofweddings.
Since the year 1888, the British Regisrar
General has kept tolerably correct ac-
count of the marriages in England and
Wales, showing not only what number is
annually celebrated, but the proportion i,
bears to the whole population. One oftbe
London weekly jonrnals amuses itself by
aualyzing the results of the Registrars sta
tistical calculations. and epitomizes the
marriage question thus:
In the year 1860, out of every 10000
persons, l,TO4 were married, or there were
s52 marriages. In England and Wales the
whole number of marriages was 17O,305 /:
but the proportionate number of persons
married in 10000 gives US marriage
for the whole, and we need not trouble
ourselves to enquire into the population at
different periods. This marriage-rate in
/ 1901, ,To4 marriages in every 100000 of
the peOple-was in excess of the average,
| / l,69l, and therefore some surprise may at
first be felt that complaints should now
arise, and not before have arisen, that la
dies cannot find husbands. Further in
quiry clears up the mystery, and We notice
that the complaints como from the upper
classes at the West End, while the greatest
increase of marriages occurred in "the
manufacturing districts of fLincolnshire and
Yorkshire" AT once a light breaks in ON
us. In 1860 our export trade, very large
IN 1859, increased still more. There was
mach prosperity in those districts; all clusses
were full of hope. The possession of com
parative wealth, combined with good pro.-
| pects led to the increase in the number of
marriages
We End the light clearer and stronger as
wenotice the years in which the marriage
rate was above and below the average. Tie
returns commence in 1898, when the Mel
bourne Wings were in Office "fshiug for a
budget;" the revenue was deficient; a
change in the ministry was soon after
wards forced on; and in Is42 Sir r. Peel
began his great commercial reforms. Be-
tween 1888 and 1874 inclusive, tue num-
ber of persons marricd-in 1888, 1,542; in
1889, 1883; in 1910, / $50 in every 100, 900
persons-was considerably below the av.
erage, and only in lS45 when it rose TO
l,72O, and in ls46. l,T22, was it above the
average. The increase of prosperity, oc-
casioned by setting industry partly free,
increased the number of marriages.
| A bad harvest in ls4G was the termina-
ton of that spurt of prosperity and Pm
1s47 the number. of persons married in
100, 900 of the people felIto 1886. 1t con-
tinued below the average till 1850, when
the repeal OF the corn and navigation laws,
and the gold discoveries in California, be-
gan TO tell on the prosperity aud on the
hopes of the community, and the number
of persons married in 100000 increased in
that year to 1920. tcontinued above TIE
average, ,69l-till 1856; then l,7l6; and
reached the highest point in ls53,-l,Tss.
AT that period the Australian gold dicov-
cries, and an increase of upwards of 25 per
cent in our exports, had given great pros
Perity, and excited more lively hopes than
had been known for many years.
The harvest of 1853 was deficient; the
price of corn-roserapidly to nearly 80 shiI-
iings quarter In 1854 the war with
Russia took place and in the four years
l-ls55-Is5s-th marriage rate was be-
low the average, falling 1858 to 1893, the
lowest of the series in the last decennial
period