The Express.
London, England, 1848-02-02 00:00:00

railroad or any similar interest, be would grant! the
mandamus at once ; but in the present case,• conc.
daring the length of time which must elapse before
the question could be finally decided if a record wen I
once framed, with a view to the peace of the church
and the safety of the state, he determined that the
court, in the exercise of its discretion, was not, milled
upon to make the rule absolute. Like Mr. Judie.
COLERIDGE, the Lorin CHIE? JUSTICE gave vent to
his feelings in eloquent and forcible language. Ile-
denounced an attack made by Mr. DEL
it
on
the memory of CRANMER, as unfit to be listened
to in so solemn an assembly, and referring to
the touching piety of Sir F. KELLY'S peroration, he
wondered with Cicero, how two augurs could look
one another in the face without laughing. " If," the
CHIEF JUSTICE observed, as the ATTORNEY GENERAL
had observed before, " the forms of confirmation are so
shocking a profanation, what is to be said to tho
religions rites which equally accompany election ?
Every one, counsel on all sides, and Mr. Justice
COLERIDGE, have given up the election absolutely
to the tender mercies of the crown. It is difficult to
understand why the tender conscience of HENRY VIII.
should have been more delicate with respect to confirma-
tion. On this point Lord DENMAN had the advantage of
his colleague ; bat we confess that in both cases we
should have willingly borne the omission of some of
the most impressive parts of the judgments. We
cannot understand that the Queen's Bench has any
authority to lay down matters of faith ; or that it
ought to be influenced by the predilections of its
members for particular ecclesiastical views. The
public have nothing to do with Mr. Justice COLE-
RIDGE'S character of member of the catholic church of
England, er with Lord DENMAN'S devotion to the
same church under its protestant manifestation. It is
not a point of law that CRANM CR was a good arch-
bishop—Mill lees is it law that the Pope might justly
have claimed an appellate jurisdiction over England.
Roman catholic' may sit on thebench—Unitarians may
sit on the bench. It is only by accident that one judge
las the opportunity of promulgating from the j udgr nent-
asathm unpopular v loam and anntium his popularbehef.
The judgments of both judges were no doubt sub-
stantially unaffected by their feelings ; but feeling,
and the eloquence that arises from it, always tend to
hide and overshadows the calm and impartial judg-
ment which alone is desirable on the bench.
There was no difference of opinion as to the power
of the court to grant the writ, es to the locus stands
of the applicants, or as to the operation of the Church
Discipline Act. All these points were ruled in favour
of the prosecutors of the mandamus. Lord DENMAN'S
weighty remarks on the importance of maintaining
the efficiency of that prerogative writ may be instruc-
tive to those who in the sudden mania for preroga-
tive which has recently been displayed, were disposed
to think that even the Queen's Bench was tending to
disloyalty in entertaining an application which
seemed directed against the authority of the crown.
We should now say that the question of the
HAMPDEN appointment was at an end; but we have
so often been disappointed in anticipating that con-
summation, that we shall wait till the Bishop elect is
fairly and finally consecrated, before we congratulate
him and the public on having done with each other
at last. When that happy period arrives, we hope
he will find little difficulty in outliving the memory
of the heretical works wnich no one has read ; and
that, if in religious disputes such a thing is possible,
he and his opponents may even go se far as to forgive
each other the various wrongs which they may be
accused of having committed against each other, the
"-nub, and the world in general.

Is this shop-keeping country of ours, even King
Death comes under the bankrupt laws as "a trader.
He supplies the raw material for undertakers, ceme-
tery companies, burying societies, funeral clubs, and
the " heart-broken and mitigated departments" of the
advertising tailors. SHILLIBECE, who first started
omnibuses for the living, has turned his attention to
economical hearses for the defunct. He appeals to
the relish of a cheep pennyworth in the sorrowing
minds of bereaved relatives, as confidently as he spe-
culated on the same consideration in the sharp calcu-
lations of the man of business.
Cemeteries are said to be capital speculations. One
thing is certain : all must, sometime or other, invest
in them. Vanity, purse-pride, and affection, whether
in the departed or the survivors, find elbow-room in
Rensell-green or Highgate, which is denied them in
the close-packed churchyard of St. Giles's or St. An-
drew's. And though we do not quite rise to the French
prettiness of Pere la Chaise, or exactly use our tomb-
stones as eligible advertising mediums, our suburban
necropolises have a pleasant advantage, both to the
eye of the landscape gardener and the tradesman,
over the smoky, narrow, expensive, and squalid
grave-yards of the crowded city.
• In the midst of life we are in death" is a motto
which has no business over the gates of these places
of eligible investment and comfortable interment. It
should be transposed, to suit them, and run, "In the
midst of death we are in life." Thoughts of dividends
blend with memories of decay, as the shareholder
meditates among their tombs ; and pleasant anticipa-
tions of lusty premiums sweeten the sad thoughts of
the departed who slumber under the quaint assort-
ment of squab urns, Egyptian obelisks, Etruscan I
sarcophagi, Sew-road angels, and genii from Batter-
sea stone-works. In our limited familiarity with these
modern tomb-lands we have no knowledge of the
particular locale chosen by the West London aad
Westminster Cemetery Company. We are glad to
learn, however, from a report in our paper of yester-
day, that their affairs are "in a state of progressive
improvement." The income of last year has exceeded
that of the preceding. Last year was very unhealthy,
and no doubt all the cemetery companies are " looking
up." A somewhat meagre dividend of 3s. 4d. per
share is announced " clear of income-tax." And then
ensues a discussion on the report, of a very instructive
and remarkable character. A shareholder regrets
that more money has not been spent on advertise-
ments. He considers the company has not I
been " worked " sufficiently in the newspapers.
He instances remarkable examples of the
great effects which had grown from journal publicity.
There was PACKWOOD'S razor strop, and Dr. SOLO- I
YON'S balm of Gilead, and Mr. MECIII'S different in-
ventions, which had all realised pounds to the pro-
prietors for shillings spent in puffs. Why not invoke
the same machinery to carry up the West London
Cemetery shares as have been so usefully and spirit-
edly employed by Messrs. HOLLOWAY and Moen? It
should not be forgotten that these gentlemen have
availed themselves of something beyond the vulgar
advertisement. P•cewoon kept bis poet, in times, it
is true, when poets were kept remarkably cheap;
I and Moses has even now in his pay a similar fano-
denary, who, by the way, occasionally displays a
vein of tender melancholy which would render him
a very effective promoter of the cemetery in-
terest. His unrivalled quatrain on the mourning
department of Messrs. MOSES' vast establishment,
with a little alteration, might be set up with good
effect over an advertisement of " cheap and speedy
burial." These four lines can never be forgotten by
any one who has read them. They run, as we re-
member
:
Whenever orders are received
Prom parties painfully bereaved,
Five mulutee' time is all me ask,
To 'mute the mournful tank.
We would urge upon the shareholders of the West
London Cemetery (if they shrink from the expense of
a poet) the importance of giving to their advertise-
manta at least all that artificial eclat of type of which
the late Mr. ROBINS was such a consummate master.
This might secure to them that attention which they
aim to doubt whether they can obtain by sliver-
' in the common style in the columns of
thnimes, which, it was remarked, were so crowded
that no particular advertisement had any chance of
being noticed. There may be something in this. To
took for the West London Cemetery, among that
dense array of wants and offers, which leads off with
the steam-packets in the corner of the first page, and
brings up its rear with the sales by auction, far away
in the dim and distant recesses of the fourth page of
supplement, may be very like seeking for a needle in
a bundle of hay. Bat all papers do not labour under
this plethora of announcements. We humbly place
our own compact columns at the service of the com-
pany, and we have no doubt they will find equally
comfortable and welcome reception with any of our
daily contemporaries. Still, if they insist on be-
stowing their advertisements, as worldling. make
their testaments,
To moretha‘t'w=?lifoosUrnaluelb,'

we recommend them by all means to hire a
poet. One squeamish subscriber objected to Raver-
tiamg the carriage of the dead; he thought there was
something like desecration in the practice. But,