The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-25 00:00:00

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'NUIT

LONDON, TUESDAY,, JANUARY 25, 1853.

Something must really be at last attempted in
the way of effectually putting an end to the
odious system of intramural interment, or people
will begin—and not without reason—to despair of
any good ever coming of the long-sustained sani-
tary agitation. Candidly, we will admit, that we
are almost sick at heart whenever we find our-
selves called upon, to revert to that enormous
evil, knowing, as we do so well, that it is an in-
disputable source of a by no means inconsiderable
portion of the weekly mortality of the metropolis.
Every time we feel called upon to directpublic atten-
tion once more to the monster grievance of our city
graveyards —we are reminded, if possible more and
more forcibly than ever, of the poisonous influence of
those dens of corruption on the atmosphere inhaled
at every respiration by the unfortunate inhabitants
of London and Westminster. We remember this,
and together with the remembrance we bear in re-
collection the fact that no benefit has yet been se-
cured by those who have conscientiously and la-
boriously advocated the egtablishnient in lieu of
the old system of a comprehensive plan of extra-
mural cemeteries. Hitherto, all that has been done
in regard to this horrible mode of burying the
dead within the precincts of the metropolis, has
been " in point of fact " merely the exposure of
the disastrous consequences of the abomination.
Not their dissipation ! Not even, to any appreci-
able extent, their diminution ! A bill having reference
to the subject has, we know, of course been introduced
into the House of Commons, and that Bill has
been formally passed into an Act of Parliament.
But to all intents and purposes the record of that
proceeding might (for any advantage that it has
produced) be as lief erased from the pages of Han-
sard—and the enactment itself burnt as waste
paper or worm-eaten parchment. Notwithstand-
ing the vaunted interference of the Legislature—.
the dead are still in this great capital buried away,
corpse upon corpse, in the very midst of a swarm-
ing, and densely packed, and ever-increasing popu-
lation. We want Mr. WALKER to bestir himself
again in earnest, as he did uninterruptedly for
fourteen or fifteen long and laborious years—at
first single handed, and throughout at large per-
sonal and pecuniary sacrifice. It is little short of
extravagance, we admit at once, talking thus
calmly of the renewal of those great labours which
have been so ill-responded to, and which, we blush
to say it, have been treated with such enormous
ingratitude, both by the community and by the
Government. Mr. WALKER has done in this
matter what no other man would have attempted.
He laid bare with his own hand one of the most
loathsome abominations that could by possibility
have startled the mind and appalled the heart of
the philanthropist. He has ventured into sinks
of disease and brutality that any other man would
have shuddered even to think of penetrating.
He ferretted out those rats of sextons and ghouls
of graveyard-owners who had before then battened,
so to speak, upon the inanimate remains of their
fellow-creatures, unobserved and therefore of course
unmolested. And all the details of this vicious
and detestable system he has recorded in his vari-.
ous works-01.,ving them to the world in defiance ,
of every conceivable obloquy, and in spite of every
imaginable opposition. Those labours, moreover,
he has dared to accomplish merely out of the mo-
tives of humanity—of all the meekest, and the
noblest, the bravest, and the gentlest source of ambi-
tion. And all hitherto practically to no good
Purpose, because of the incomprehensible apathy
of the multitude, and of the culpable indifference
of the Administration !

It is a lamentable consideration, and a consi-
deration no less accurate than lamentable. The ex-
ertions of Mr. WALicElt in reference to this question
of intramural interment, may be said with perfect
truth to have originated the whole of that great
movement which is now Popularly known as the
Sanitary Movement. So far, undoubtedly, his
labours have been eminently, and wonderfully,
and to him most honourably guecessfui. Be has
roused the community from its previouslyalmost
unbroken torpor in regard to everything seriously
affecting the health of the aggregate population.