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

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com-
pany's ship Indus, Captain John Soy, arrived at South•
ampton yesterday, bringing the heavy portion of the.
East India, China, Australian, and Mediterranean mails,
in charge of Lieutenant Stephens, R.N., Admiralty
agent. . _

Her dates are—Alexandria, June 22 ; Malta, 26 ;
Gibraltar, July •1. The freight list comprises-- 3
packages specie, 6 casks currants, 73 boxes lemons, 5
boxes stonework, 66 bags squills, 2 bales woollens, 222
bales silks, 174 bales flax, 2 bags elephants' teeth, 17
oagps corahs. 94 bal.. wool, 1 bwr pearls, 12 boxes
shawls, 2 boxes tortoiseshell, and 73 packages general
merchandise.

The Indus has experienced fine weather throughout
the voyage, but from Gibraltar the winds have been
from the northward. She brings 51 passengers, among
whom are—Lieutenant-General Sir Joseph Thackwell,
from Calcutta, Captain Thackwell, and the Hon. C. A.
Murray, Consul-General in Egypt. Sir Joseph Thack-
well was received at Southampton with every mark of
attention from the authorities, instructions to that effect
having been received from London.
The intelligence brought by the Indus from India,
China, and Australia has been anticipated by the over-
land express.
The screw steam-ship Frankfort, five and a-half days
from Liverpool, arrived at Gibraltar on the 27th ult.,
and proceeded to Genoa and Leghorn. The steamer
Militia, from Constantinople, arrived at Gibraltar on
the 29th, and cleared for Liverpool.

THE 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 rat -,payers 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 Establishmeat.

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 distinguishedfrom 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 servicca
which they will no longer render, shall receive his sanc-
tion, and forbidding the use of any par; 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 Jicenced and be liable to be removed by
him, and that he she'', 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 p.:,rochial 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 a()
rejection of a measure conceived in so illiberal a spirit, or
a thorough amendment of its details."

FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS.—
An accident happened on Monday morning which has
terminated fatally, on boa-a 1 the mail steam-packet
Thames, belonging to the Royal Mail Steam-packet Com-
pany, and now fitting-out to take intercolonial duVes 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 h's head which he believed
to have been made fast, he laid hold of it for the
purpose of swingingb'inself 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.ble to
also
fractured. He was conveyed as speedily as eedily as poss.
c onsoidreracbclieents
accidents
which Infirmary (which, unfortunately,
which took place at the docks, is a
dis-
tance, where he expired yesterday morning (Tuesday),
His loss is deeply regretted by. most of his messmates,
who describe him as a man of information and nautical
experience,
He has, during a great portion of his life,
been engaged in the whale fishing, and, since his con-
nection with the sea, has been a traveller of more than
ordinary extent.
THE BLIND KING AND THE BLIND DRAMATIST.—His
Majesty the Ring 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 ofArts and Sciencer.
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.