The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-06 00:00:00

T.HE BURIAL-GROUNDS BILL.

The Committee of the Anti-state-church Association
have adopted and published the following resolutions in
condemation of this measure :

" That this Committee, having hadunder consideration
the ecclesiastical provisions of the bill for empowering
local Boards of Health to provide burial grounds, regards
them as being in a high degree unjust, offensive, and de-
trimental to the public interests.
That, notwithstanding that the proposed burial grounds
will be provided at the cost of the ratepayers generally, a
portion of each is required to be " consecrated," and will
thereby be devoted exclusively to burials according to the
rites of the Church Establishment.
That there is nothing in the bill to prevent the whole
being so monopolised, and even where any portion is un-
consecrated it cannot be used until the other part has been
consecrated, and is to be invidiously distinguished from it.
In like manner a chapel is to be erected for burials accord-
ing to the rites of the Establishment exclusively, while
the erection of any other is optional on the part of the
local boards.

" That the bill gives to the bishop of the diocese in which
a burial ground may be situated extraordinary and dan-
gerous powers ; requiring that all bye-laws concerning
consecration, the burial of members of the Establishment,
and compensation to the clergy for loss of fees for services
which they will no longer render, shall receive his sanc-
tion, and forbidding the use of any part of the ground
until consecration has taken place ' • and also enacting that
the plan of the chapel shall have his approval, that the
chaplain shall be licenced and be liable to be removed by
him, and that he shall also regulate the salary.
"That it further enacts that for the removal of bodies
buried in consecrated ground the same authority shall be
required as in the case of a parochial churchyard, i.e.
a " Faculty" from an Ecclesiastical Court.
"That this committee protests against the design evi-
denced by this bill of making the proposed cemeteries
appendages to the Church Establishment, and sources of
emolument and influence to its clergy and bishops, as well
as against perpetuating the exclusiveness and sectarianism
which characterise the present system of sepulture in paro-
chial grave-yards.
" That it therefore earnestly calls upon the friends of re-
ligious equality to take such steps as will ensure either the
rejection of a measure conceived in so illiberal a spirit, or
a thorough amendment of its details."

FATAL ACCIDENT AT, THE SOITTHAMPTON DOCKS.—
An accident happened on Monday morning which has
terminated fatally, on board the mail steam-packet
Thames, belonging to the Royal Mail Steam-packet Com-
pany, and now fitting-out to take intercolonial duties in
the West Indies, to a man named Peter Frazer,
aged 58,
a seaman. The poor fellow was engaged at the foretop,
•
and perceiving a rope above his head which he believed
to have been , made fast, he laid hold of it for the
purpose of swinging himself to another place in the
rigging. Being loose, it immediately gave way,
and he was precipitated to the deck of the vessel,
a distance of about 40 feet. Upon being picked up his
ribs were discovered to be broken, and his skull, which
came in contact with a stone lying on the deck, was also
fractured. He was conveyed as speedily as possible to
the Infirmary (which,
unfortunately, for accidents
which took place at thde docks, is a considerable dis-
tance, where he expire
loss is deeply yesterday morning (Tuesday)
regretted by most of his messmateB;
His
who describe him as a man of information and nautical
He has, during a great portion of his life,
experience,
been engaged in
the whale fishing, and, since his con-
nection with the sea, has been a traveller of more than
ordinary extent.
Din BLIND KING AND THE BLIND DRAMATIST.—His
Majesty the King of Hanover has been pleased to pre-
sent to .Mr. Moncrieff, the dramatist--now a brother of
the Charterhouse, and, like his august patron, totally
blind—the Royal Hanoverian Medal of Arts and Sciences.
Mr. Moncrieff, shortly before his Majesty succeeded to
the throne, dedicated his selection of plays in three
volumes to the then Crown Prince of Hanover.
PROTESTANTISM IN THE HOLY LAND.---A Protestant
community, composed of 217 families, has been estab-
lished at Ram-Allah, near Jerusalem, and another at
Beyruth, in Syria. The formation of these two commu-
nities is due to the zealous and intelligent labours of the
Lutheran bishop at Jerusalem.