The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-02 00:00:00

follows :—Resolved, that a great outrage baa been cons
milted against public decency. and the feelings of the
friends of those connected with the Necropolis by the
manner in which the dead have been dealt with
by the Register and Sexton, and that this meet_
in consider that the Committee of Man age-
meat have been guilty of culpable negligence in not
having sooner detected and prevented such desecration."
(Hear, hear.) The resolution, he observed, spoke for
itself—it merely told them that an outrage upon public
decency, and outrage upon the feelings of those who had
friends buried in the Necropolis had been committed.
(Hear, hear.) What he apprehended was the simple fact
of the resolutiOn—the fact which had' brought them
together that day, and the fact which had caused an out-
burst of indignation with which Liverpool had re-echoed
during the last ten days, and which had been heard above
the noise of an election contest. (Hear.) He believed too,
it was one that could not be suffered to die away—(hear,
hear)—until at all events the object of the resolution' had
been completed, and un• il the parties who had been guilty
of the outrages had been brought to condign punishment.
(.applause.) The resolution indicated to them the parties
whom the committee believed were guilty of these transac-
tions'—that a minister of the Gospel, one whose calling
entitled him to respect and confidence, was the mover and
conductor, and they had reason to believe, the instigator of
these outrageous and sacrilrg'ous proceedings. The committee
cattle before thetri now far assistaece and for confidence.
They asked the people of Liverpool and the friends of those
buried in the Necropolis to strengthen their bands
in calling upon the Corporation, as the conser-
vators of the public health and public decency
to prosecute to conviction the persons who had committed
these outrageous acts. (Rear, hear.) He did not mean
to say that all of those who appointed this rev. gentleman
chaplain, thought at the time that he was a man unworthy
of the trust. He believed, on the contrary, that he was
appointed to the office because they were deceived by the
style and manner of the man. They allowed him to
receive the money and account for it, and if they were to
judge by the results, he was a most -admirable steward ;
for the proprietors paid themselves 16 per cent, although
the admirable order of the Queen in Council had been
issued. (Laughter.) From the year 1846 up to the present
their average income was £2,100 a year. In 1853, their
income was £2,167 16s 6d.
A Voice : " Is that a nett gross ?"
Mr. Patterson : It was gross, but in 1854 it was
reduced to £1,712 15s 6d, a falling off of £450, though
only nine months of the year were included, in conse-
quence of an order in council forbidding the interment
of more than one body in a common grave. If the whole
year had been included, the income would have
fallen £6OO, and their dividend would have fallen from
18 to 9or 10 per cent,, and sofficient it would be. (Hear,
.hear..) _But he would go further and say that the burial of
-the dead ought not to be made a source of profit.
.(Applause.) The time had passed when the public would
quietly suffer the desecration of the dead, bat so long as it
could' be turned to profit, there would be men base enough
o Outrarre publio decency in the way they had seen it done.
(Hen., hear) They were told that the trustees were most
respectable and upright men. He believed it ibut in all
these cases there was a committee within a committee,
and there could not be a doubt but that in
this case they had ' been guilty of culpable
negligenCe. (Hear, hear.) Let them have no more, then,
Of the proprietary system, In any shape or form whatever.
iear, hear.) Let the interment of the dead be managed
ls it ought to be managed, by a public body, and let that
body be chosen from the inhabitants at large. (Hear,'hea.r.)
Mr. R. A. Munn seconded the motion.
Mr. C. R. Hall said that the meeting would be prema.
tare in adopting the resolution, inasmuch as itinterfered
with the decision N;ehieh was as yet ,to be given in the
ease. He was no friend of the parties concerned in
the conduct of the Necropolis. He was not there to
defend any outrages which might have been committed
upon public decency. He was not there to screen from
ieeeice any parties who might have violated the laws of
the laud; but he: did not think it necessary that they
should proceed in the consideration of the matter; which
had been so fairly brought before them, with deliberation
and caution. He observed that the resolution which was
submitted to them, net only prejudged the case—(" no,
no ")—which was under the: consideration of the legal
authorities, but that it pronounced a censure upon the
parties who had the management of the Necropolis
(Cries of " deservedly so," and " very proper.")
A Voice : " I am afraid, Mr. Hall, you are actuated by
private friendship." (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Hall proceeded : He was not there to say that the
board of directors of the Necropolis were not censurable in
what they might have done, but he was there to say that if
they passed the resolutinn, they, pronounced a censure
which they were not in a situation to pronounce. (No, no.)
They were pronouncing a censure before they bad all the facts
before them—(no, no)—and he merely asked them to postpone
their judgment until they had the decision of the • Board of
Health. (No, no, and uproar.) •
A Voice': " There has been no reply to the report." (Hear.)
• Mr. Hall prooeeded. He symplehised with the parties who
had friends interred in the Necropolis, and whose bodies might
have been improperly dealt with, but, at the same time, they
should net pass a judgment upon those who had the manaae•
mentof the cemetery until they had all the facts of the case
upon which to found that judgment. (Hisses).
Another " The facts are too many at present." (Hear.)
Another : " Is Mr. Hall a shareholder ?"
Mr. Hall : I am not, and never have been.
Another ; "Are you a grave owner I"
Mr Hall : 1 am a vault owner, and I have friends
buried there.-
Mr. Williams. observed, that the wonder was that the
meeting was so cool and dispassionate as it was. (Hear,

hear.)
Mr. Hall said, they had not sufficient evidence to justify
them in pronour!eing a judgment, and that they should
hear both sides. They had already heard bolt)
sides, so far as both sides would speak. (Hear,
hear.) Last week they met, and they were in a scats of
great excitement, but even then they had the fairness
common to Englishmen and lest they might pronounce a
false judgment, they first appointed a committee to
investigate the whole matter. The committee had done
so. They had read their report, and the meeting found,
that so far from a satisfactory explanation being given of
the matter, there wasino explanation of a satisfactory kind
at all. (Hear, hear.) But in point of fact the entire case
was admitted. In the very communication of Mr. Lace,
which 'was embodied in the report, did not the trustees
say they were willing to give up the ground which they
were incompetent to manage, and did they not thereby
admit the fact? (Hear, hear.) The man Smith was
inculpated by his own statement ; two of his colleagues
admitted that his statements were true, and even Simpson,
the sexton, only qualified them by stating that they were
in the 'main true. (Hear, hear.) How, then, could it be
said that they were pronouncing an unfair judgment when
the parties themselves admitted them. (Applause.)
So far as the evidence went, Mr. Kirkus
was guilty—guilty on uncontroverted evidence—
! unimpaired evidence. (Hear, hear.) He maintained that
it was undeniable that Mr Kirkus had been guilty upon
the statement of those parties, which he had not attempted
to controvert, of the grossest deception and inhumanity.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
A Voice : " He is no ." jCries of " Turn him out.")
Mr. Williams : Was it not deception to bury bodies in
graves, and give the friends to understand that those
graves were to be their last and final resting place ? and
when, upon that understanding, relatives and friends
came and bedewed them with their tears, under the im
pression that the precious remains of their loved dead
were resting there—was it not deception to give out that
understanding, and at the same time remove the bodies
from those graves ?
[At this stage of the proceedings the emotion of the
audience was most intense, and several females sobbed and
wept aloud
Mr. Williams : Was not that deception ?
A Voice : "No ;he sold the graves." (Uproar, and
cries of " Turn him out.")
The person who was causing the interruption, and who
was said to be the son of Simpson, the sexton, was here
finally turned out.
Mr. Williams proceeded: It was on the face of the
evidence, and it had not been yet controverted that he had
been guilty of deception and inhumanity. It was on evi-
dence that graves had been sold for private graves in
which as many as thirty individuals had been buried as a
common grave, and that though many of the bodies were
removed, yet that some were still in it when it was sold
for a private grave. (Hear, hear.) Next to the reverence
wh ch they paid to the living it was their pride and joy to
pay reverence to the dead, and yet what had Mr. Kirkus
done with the dust of the dead committed to his charge?
If it was the common dust of the street he could not have
treated it with greater indignity. (Hear hear.) If they were
ashes from the dust hole they could not have been treated
with greater indignity than were the precious
dust and remains of their friends buried in those
graves. (Emotion.) Could Mr. Hall make black white,
or falsehood truth ? If he could not, they could
not change the nature-of things ; and if it were black they
should call it black, and if it were false they should call
it false. (Applause.) Mr. Kirkus never made any
answer to any of these charges, but would he not have
done se if he had been an innocent man? Was it not
open to Mr. Kirkus to explain the damning circumstance
if it were untrue ? Was not the Press open to him as to
all other parties? If he was innocent, why had he been
discharged from his situation ? (Hear, hear.) The
committee had been appointed for above a week ; they
had asked for explanation, and Mr. Kirkus, under all
these disgraceful charges, had never yet uttered a word.
What else, then, could they say in regard to this man, but
that the allegations against him were strictly true ?
(Hear, hear.) How, then, could they be pronouncing a
premature judgment upon him ? (Hear, hear.) His
subordinates alleged that they received their instructions
from him, and his superiors said they never gave him any
instructions at all—(hear, hear)—and though the trustees
were far from having had any participation in' these pro-
cgereodssinngesg,
lye.ectt
?wou(Hlde aanr
hmeaanr
.s)a y
Ntvhoeuyl
dw er
anye nmo
at
ngpu
ri letsye
not f,
if any of his friends died to morrow, entrust their remains
to the charge of these trustees. (No, no.) They had
trusted to Mr. Kirkrs,:and he had abused the trust reposed