340 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



19— and in London but 18 years. To what causes this superior value of life> 

 at Amsterdam and Brussels over other large cities, is owing, we cannot take 

 upon ourselves to determine; but the difference with regard to children 

 is still more striking, for the probable life, in general, which at Paris is be- 

 tween 8 and 9, at London under 3, at Vienna under 2, and at Berlin a little 

 after 2, falls at Brussels at 23 years, and at Amsterdam, for males at 24 and 

 females at 34. Comparing more closely Brussels and Paris, the proportion 

 of children who die within the first three months, contrasted with the re- 

 maining nine months of their first year, is in the former as 1665 to 1384— and 

 in the latter as 1764 to 693. Nothing would be more useful and interesting 

 than .to trace the reasons of this difference; and if it should be found at- 

 tributable to the more motherly cares of the Dutch and Belgic women, who 

 always nurse their children themselves, it will be a most honorable national 

 fact, and will confirm the remark of RJ. Benoiston de Chateauneuf, that for 

 preserving the life of children, care is everything-, and climate little or no- 

 thing-; Switzerland and Holland, the antipodes of each other in that respect, 

 being the two countries in Europe where fewest of them die. 



We have one word more upon fecundity, considered, as it fairly may be, 

 as an evidence of a healthy and comfortable state of existence. In the 

 southern provinces there are 5.21 children to every marriage, in the northern 

 only 1 87 ; both degrees of which are higher than in France, where the pro- 

 portion of births, legitimate and illegitimate, to the marriages is as 4.76 to 

 100; and here we have another proof how little the rate of fecundity has to 

 do with the density of the population. The greater frequency of marriages 

 in the Netherlands may at fiist suggest a higher degree of morality; they 

 are as 1 to 130 persons, and in France only 1 to 138. We are inclined to 

 think, however, that an allowance must be made for the temptation which 

 the facility of divorce in the Protestant part of the Netherlands holds out, 

 whilst the Catholic Church admits it so rarely, that, in the populous pro- 

 vince of East. Flanders, there has not been one divorce for ten years. The 

 difference in marriages between the Catholic and Protestant_ provinces is 

 very considerable: they being in the former, one out of 148, and in the lat- 

 ter, one out of 123. The Hollanders are thus shown to be a more domestic 

 peoplr than the Belgians— a fact very consistent with the greater tranquility 

 and phlegm of their temperaments. 



Revenue oftheNt thcrfnuih:— Thus the grossannual produce of the agricul- 

 tural industry of the Netherlands stands at 1, -202,284,000 francs, or £50,095,166 

 sterling. To ascertain the net return to the cultivators, we must deduct 

 from this s lml (he charges of production — consisting of the price of seed and 

 manure— of labour— of repairs to buildings and of farming utensils— the 

 annual loss by the decay of strength and mortality of cattle — and the cost of 

 the food of men and beasts, the whole of which have been estimated by M. 

 de Cloet, and other authorities, at two-thirds the value of the gross produce. 

 We have not space to enter into the details of these estimates, but nc believe 

 them to be substantially correct, and if they be so, the net yearly produce 

 of the agriculture of the Netherlands is 400,761,333 francs," or £16,698,390 

 sterling. 



dfanr fax lures of the Netherlands.— the sum of the manufacturing indus- 

 try of the Netherlands amounts to 675 million francs, or £28,123,000 sterling 

 per annum, of which we may ^tate one-third to be composed of the profits 

 of the labourer and the capitalist, according to M. de CloeCs calculation. 

 The artisans in the country are about 13,000, and those in towns about 

 77,000, in all 90,000; whose "wages at 1£ franc a-day (which, perhaps, rather 

 exceeds the average) for 300 days, amount to 40,500,000 francs per annum. 

 Deducting this sum from 226,000,000, the third of the total value, their re- 

 mains a profit to the manufacturer of 184,500,000 francs, or about 28 per 

 cent, on the gross produce, including the interest upon his capital and stock. 



Periodical Literature of the Netherlands. — The circulation of newspapers, 

 though regarded by many as tending to divert people's attention from more 

 important studies, is nevertheless too sure a means of diffusing information, 

 to he passed over unnoticed. It may be ascertained precisely by the stamps, 

 which for the Netherlands were, in"l826, 145,739 florins, and for France a 

 sum equal 165,920 florins. The stamps are the same in both countries, and 

 therefore since France in that year reckoned, according to M. Dupin, 



