The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-12 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, THURS DAY.

in solemn convocation represented.
ought distinctly to know what are the mea-
sures of safe and progressive Reform which the
Ministers have in store for us. Honied words
of general good intention will not suffice. We
have to be on our guard against the smooth-
tongued diplomacy, that keeps the " promise to
" the ear, but breaks it to the sense." We ought
definitely to understand what our leaders mean
to offer us. If they are not prepared to carry
the principles of well considered gradual im-
provement—peace, retrenchment, and reform—
they must give place to other men. Others will
bid against them for the national confidence.
Let us hope that our existing rulers will see the
greatness of the occasion, and will show them-
selves masters of the situation, We need many
re-adjustments in our system of taxation. The
feeling is growing out of doors in favour of direct
taxation. To reduce this, and apportion it
justly, making all contribute according to ability
to bear the national burden—this is what we are
drifting to. Law Reform is a wide field, in
which even the genius and industry of a
BROUGHAM and a LYNDHURST might exhaust
themselves. The impost on paper restricts the
purer order of literature, lessons the author's re-
muneration, narrows the circulation by enhanc-
ing the cost of newspapers, and thus very effec-
tually retards the education of the people. And
on this field also—the education of the people—
difficulties.; aie to be overcome, and prejudices
are to be subdued, which will encircle with a
triple crown the brows of him or those who shall
have skill to carry the great needed reform of an
improvement in the quantity and quality of
national instruction. The bill for producing a
small improvement in the condition of married
women has, of course, been withdrawn for this
session, and all legislation must sleep for a time.
But these, and many other reforms, must be re-
produced, and we hope in better form, in order
that the proceedings of the legislature may, in
some moderate degree, correspond to the needs
and the wishes of the people of this great
Empire.

We

IT was our painful duty yesterday to report
he proceedings of a Government enquiry which
las taken place, respecting certain alleged mal-

practices at the Low Hill Necropplis. All who
have perused that report must be satisfied that
conduct more reprehensible, apparently dis-
honest, and illegal, it is impossible to conceive.
There is no spot on the entire surface of creation
held more sacred than that which contaifis the
mortal remains of a dear and departed relative or
friend. To it the widowed mother, add the
orphan child, the affectionate husband, the
afflicted father and mother, or the. endeared
brother or sister, repair to give vent to' hearts
overwhelmed with grief. They mourn over the
grave, and every recollection of the deceased's
past 4ife is called up, which, as it were, binds
him or her much more in the memory of
weeping relatives or friends. In consequence of
this feeling, the grave, among all civilised
nations, is respected 'with religious awe, and he
who would dare to disturb its " land mark," is
recognised as a fiend in human form. Even
amidst the djn of arms, the shouts and revelry
of camps, Or the rejoicings on a conquered battle
field, the sacred character of graveyard is respected.
W here the slightest damage has been done, the
victorious army repairs it with particular care
and exactitude, feelingethat, should the case be
reversed, they would not merit the appellation of
men, of soldiers, or of Christians. Yea, even
heathen nations are conspicuous for the venera-
tion in which they hold the last resting-place of
all belonging to them. The pages of the inspired
writings record the care and attention with which
the dead were carried to that bourne from whence
no traveller returns." Monumental stones were
raised to mark the sacred spot, around which
there often met the family friends to pay their
periodical marks of affectionate remembrance.
In all time, and in all countries, respect for the
dead,has been an universal feeling. Added to this,
the laws of the land recognise the principle, and
hedge the sacred character of the tomb with safe-
, guards of an unusually strong and stringent
nature. The feeling of the individual is em-
bodied in the universal voice of the legislature,

by rendering it an act of felony to forcibly dis-
turb the ashes of the dead, or change the boun-
daries of its alloted space in the solemn domain
of departed humanity.
This custom, handed down to us from the
very earliest ages of the world, and forming,
as it were, one of our national instincts,
planted in our breasts by the Deity itself,
has, we blush to say, been violently disregarded,
by the officials of the Low Hill Cemetery.
Fraud, _nothing less than fraud, aided and
abetted by deception of the darkest kind, has
marked the deeds of some of the officials.
Not only have they rudely assailed the
rights of private grave-holders, but, despite the
provisions of the law, they have carried on- the

practice of burying in a common grave ;; and, to

crown their nefarious doings, and at the same
time hoodwink the public, made a double charge,
the dupes to their disgraceful practices being
under the impression that they were paying for
a separate grave. The most important piece of
evidence given at the enquiry held before Dr.
HOLLAND, on Tuesday, was that of RICIIARD
SMITH, a labourer, employed at the Necropolis.
He states that " the general practice has been to
" bury them in a grave one at a time, and then
take them out, and bury several of them in one
" grave." With the view of carrying out the
dishonest scheme, he tells us that the regular
practice lately has been, " to keep two or three
" tidy' graves open, and, after we bury the
" people in them, we take them up next day and
" bury three or four of them together.'' Saiivu
then narrates the case of a certain private grave,
where a widow and her child went to mourn over
the loss of their departed relative, but the body was
removed, and they were weeping over the ashes,
not of him they once loved so well, and whose