The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-28 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1853.

It has already been frequently remarked by
ourselves that one ad vantage, at any rate, and
that, perhaps, when least expected, has accrued
from the heterogeneous structure of the Coalition
Government. Allusion is here made to the trans-
fer of Lord PALMERSTON'S distinguished genius in
statesmanship from the Foreign to the Home De-
partment. Whatever regrets we may have felt
on witnessing the instalment of that eminent
administrator in another position than that in
which he acquired his splendid and world-wide
reputation, it must be confessed that the change
has illustrated, if possible, more remarkably than
any other incident in his career, the scope of his ca-
pacity as one among the principal of the Ministerial
advisers of his SOVEREIGN. While we may still
regret the circumstance of his being no longer at
the head of British diplomacy—more especially
at a juncture when his energetic and patriotic
policy might have secured at Constantinople the
opportunity of its full and complete development
—we must nevertheless exult in the fact of the
Noble Lord the Member for Tiverton being at this
period supreme in the conduct of the affairs of the
Home-office, as Secretary of State for that Depart-
ment. It were easy to demonstrate the benefits
derived from his nomination to the guidance of
that particular branch of her MAJESTY'S Govern-
ment, although it would be matter of some diffi-
culty, in so doing, to enumerate, on the instant,
the whole of his numerous endeavours to for-
ward the great work of social, and, more
peculiarly, of sanitary improvement. Enough for
us at the present moment to remind the public
that we have at length got rid of that odious sys-
tem of intramural interment which had hitherto
been the disgrace of our metropolis, polluting its
atmosphere, degrading the tone of its morality,
and tending frightfully to enhance the amount
of the periodical mortality among its inha-
bitants. All this, moreover, thanks to
the personal activity, the official energy, and
the individual resolution of Lord PALMERSTON.
But for that activity, that energy, and that reso-
lution, we might still have witnessed the viola-
tion with impunity of the Metropolitan Burial
Act in spite of the notorious evils resulting
from that most hideous scheme of sepul-
ture. But for the beneficent interposi-
tion of the present Home Secretary we must
unquestionably for a long While yet to come have
observed the continuance of the same dawdling
policy—based upon that laissezfaire system which
is the virtual suicide of Boards and Commission-
ers—a
policy which had apparently become per-
manently enshrined as a thing to cherish acid adore
in the recesses of Gwydyr House, under the yE •
s
of the Board of Health, and under the auspices
of the Sanitary
Commissioners.
id cfiaetruf4orwofiurled-
wood, and burning the still have been chopping up o
half-decomposed remains
of our dear brothers and sisters departed—the
pestilential soil of our city graveyards would
still have been stirred up industriously by the
spade and the mattock poisonous vapours
would consequently still have been reeking
up in more and more copious volumes even than
heretofore but for the bold and decisive course
adventured upon in this matter by Viscount
PALMERSTON. Conscious that nothing could be
effected under existing circumstances with a view
to the practical prevention of intramural inter-
ments by merely bungling Acts of Parliament,
the Noble Lord, the Home Secretary, as will long,
we doubt not, be remembered, resorted to the aid
of a series of Orders in Council for the closing up
of those abominable pits of corruption, which
had contrived until then to manufacture pestilence
within the boundaries of the capital, notwithstand-

ing all the endeavours towards their suppression
adventured upon at intervals in either House of
the Imperial Legislature. In consequence of those
same Orders in Council the clerical ghouls have
been scared from their horrible Sabbat or Satur-
na!ia—and more actual benefit, in the way of sani-
tary improvement, has thereby been secured with-
in half-a-dozen weeks than had been attempted
during the preceding ten years by a succession of
would-be Reformers. Sepulture has hence be-
come once more amongst us a solemn and vener-
able ceremonial, instead of being a ghastly and
detestable abomination. Instead of being a
heathenish mockery, it is again in a fair way of
becoming an exquisite and oonsolitary attestation
of our credence in the divine and elevating dog-
mas of Christianity.
Having succeeded thus to the general admira-
tion in putting an end to the hideous system of
intramural interment—Lord PALMERSTON, it
would appear, has resolved upon otherwise cele-
brating the fact of his nomination as Home Secre-
tary in the Coalition Government. Assurances
that such indeed is the resolve of the Noble
Viscount was volunteered by him as recently as
last Saturday evening, when, at the banquet given
by the Lord Mayor of London to her MAJESTY'S
Ministers, he intimated his intention to secure
yet further sanitary improvements to the capital,
on the one simple condition, or proviso, that he
were aided in his endeavours by the co-
operation of the Metropolitan representatives.
His aspiration amounted, according to his
own acknowledgment, humorously enough
expressed, to the purifying of the " silent high-
way," so that the current of the Thames, no
longer tarnished by the influx of the sewers,
might become again, as once of old, translucent.
A rather bold enterprise, but one, as we ourselves
have repeatedly intimated, readily capable of ac.-
complishment. Referring to the benefits really
and manifestly within reach of the inhabi-
tants of London, if some energetic hand were
only stretched forth to grasp them, Lord
PALMERSTON, we rejoice to observe, spoke of
other improvements of a sanitary description
besides the purification of the river Thames.
He reminded his auditors ,of the impres-

sion produced some years ago upon the mind
of the great sculptor CANOVA by the aspect of the
British metropolis—an impression of mingled
regret and admiration. " CANOVA admired,"
said the Home Secretary, " the continuous foot-
ways, the comfort of the separate houses, the
order and the general security of person and pro-
perty"—but—" having enumerated all these advan-
tages, he concluded his panegyric in that strain
of hyperbole which is peculiar to southern climes,
by saying that, if London had only a little more
light and pure water, it would be a paradise." For-
tunately, since then a series of legislative remissions
have rendered the former requisite more attainable
than it could possibly have been with the pre-
ceding generation. The reduction of the duty
on glass by Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Government, and
the abolition of the Window Tax by Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S Government—must together be allowed

to facilitate the endeavours of the Londoner to-
wards obtaining " a little more light," so as to
approximate nearer to the delights of a brick and
mortar paradise ! Then, as to the obtain-
ing of purer water, that may be said to
depend in a great measure upon the intro-
duction of a more rational system of drain-
age. Under the guidance of Lord PALMER-
STON'S Home Administration we may at length
venture to anticipate the realisation of those
dreams of Signor CANOVA-that unconscious pre-
cursor of the Sanitary Reformers. Especially
may we count upon this happy consequence of the
coalition, supposing that the Noble Viscount's
wishes be acceded to, and that his humane endea-
vours obtain assistance from the cordial co-opera-
tion of the Metropolitan Representatives.
It is deserving of particular notice that, while
manfully beseeching their co-operation, Lord
PALMERSTON availed himself of the opportunity
to particularise one of those independent Members
as a representative entitled in a remarkable man-

ner to his earnest and magnanimous commenda-
tion. " Amongst those Members," said the Noble
Viscount, " there is one whom I should wish to
distinguish, one not more conspicuous for his Par-
liamentary duty, than he is for his personal eleva-
tion of character, and, above all, for that chivalrous
devotion to the unfortunate and the exile, which i* so
well known as to cause all who hear me to feel at once
that I am speaking of Lord DUDLEY STUART."
A brillian t and enviable, but, let us add, a, judicious
and deserved eulogium. No marvel that, on
listening to that unexpected panegyric, the subject

of it, rising, with some emotion, declared that he

considered it " a circumstance of which any man
might be proud "—coming, as it did, " from
one who not only filled high office in

the Councils of his SOVEREIGN, but had also
filled the whole world with his fame." The

incident here commemorated we cannot but regard
as fraught with a singularly useful significance,
and as admirably apposite to the occasion—con-
stituting, as it does, an appreciable, though doubt-
__

ess, a wholly unintentional incentive to the hu-

mane and patriotic exertions of the rest of

he metropolitan (perhaps we should rather

say of the whole mass of independent) representa-
•

Ayes.

It will be well for them henceforth to re-

member that Cabinet Ministers are not necessarily
chary of declaring their sentiments of admiration.

For, while the conscientious reformer needs no

other inducement than a sense of justice and phi-

lanthropy—no one can remain indifferent to en-
comiums pronounced by the lips, and emanating
_ _

from the heart, and dictated by the judgment of

A PAL:VIERSTON.

The Archbishop of CANTERBURY'S Colonial
Church Regulation Bill has made its way, with
comparatively little comment, in the House of
Lords. It involves, however, we are inclined to
think, most important reflex consequences on the

Church at home, besides its probable influence on
that in the colonies. It is obviously promoted
by the same party as Mr. GLADSTONE represented
in his attempt last year, and the utmost has no

doubt been done by the Duke of NEWCASTLE to
remedy the just objections taken by Mr. Wm,-
roLE to that measure. It is observed that the
various Christian denominations in our colo-
nies, which, in virtue of their dissent, or
rather of their depending on voluntary support
only, enjoy the advantages of self-government,
make way more rapidly than the colonial branches
of the Church of England. Partly the pleasure
which Englishmen naturally feel in self-govern-
ment, partly the practical knowledge possessed by
the assemblies of the different sects, enable them

to act with more energy than a church governed
solely by its higher powers, and the unadaptable
regulations of the laws of the mother country.
Hence these attempts to gain for the Colonial
Church of England a freedom of action undeniably
most important to its success.

The present bill appears to have as little to be
objected to as is possible, considering the nature
of the case. As the Archbishop stated, the mem-
bers of the Church in the colonies all agreed that
some legislation on their behalf is necessary ; 2d,

that the lay members ought to have a considerable
share in the administration of the affairs of the
Church ; 3dly, that nothing ought to be done
tending to separate the Church in the colonies
from that of the mother country. Hence, he pro-
vides in the bill for lay and clerical representa-
tiou to enable the colonists to make such regula-
tionsoArticl z of the Church
of
cases doubt
;reservingubt
as do not interfere with the Canons and
Metropolitana n u l ti m at e ap-
pealof-to t
England. Very much depends upon the precise
wording of the clauses of a bill
like
this, and we
hope they will be narrowly scrutinised by inde-
pendent members in the House of Commons. The
value of the liberty desired is u • nquestaonable ; the
only difficulty is to make it work h •
armoni ously
with the legally fixed constitution, formularies, and
doctrines of the Church of England. Voluntary-
ism can work by itself, as free action is essential
to its popularity and support ; but it remains to
be seen whether the introduction of synodical ac-
tion into an Established Church will not issue in re-
sults like those which we behold in Scotland.
Assemblies of sensible men will not, as
the Duke of ARGYLL observed, like to