The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-06 00:00:00

PEEL'S GREAT MEASURE.

I (From the Cas-k .Exwniner of 11.-e:lnescley.)
:air Robert Peel, after meturiess his scheme, has
entered into an elaborate exposit ion of both principles
and details. The manner in which he was heard by
the greatest assembly in the world is the surest test of
the soundness as well es of the enlarged wisdom of
his views. On the sulsject matter before the House,
he scarcely deigned a pessing commentary. To him,
it was only one of the small abortions of a small
statesman, who could see no remedy for an evil of
great magnitude but a sum of money to be raised
by a small expedient. To the man of intel-
lect, the great crisis furnished a great lever to work
with. "It pleased God to afflict us with a great
calamity," said Sir Robert Peel, "and I do not despair
' that you may be able to convert that calamity
into the means of future improvement and prospe-
rity." The crash of all the propertied institutions in
Ireland, the ruin of the larded proprieters, and the
beggary of the labouring classes—though all these
came upon us overwhelmingly, yet they did not come
unexpectedly. They sent their signs and portents
before. We saw the shadow of the corniog events.
Embarrassments, extravagance, debt, m rtgages, ab •
senteeism, middlemanism, and landlordism in all its
worst phases of opposing creeds, rights, and interests
—these have been long leading to the necessary re-
sults; and now that they have arrived, the policy
should be a reconstructive one ; building up the new
system for national good and not for individual be-
nefit; for the legitimate distribution of the riches of the
lsnd amongst all the population, and following out the
law of God and humanity, in giving industry its re-
wards, and not defrauding labourers.
Sir Robert Peel contemplates all this. The wisdom
of the past has taught him, every way. The princi-
ples of exclusion and class interests, and favouritism,
belonged to a past age, and, we hope, an exploded
system. These principles of government produced
the bitter fruits which we see before us. Instead of
a population rich in a rich country—rich, we mean,
in the etnjoyment of those things that should spring
from encouraged labour, we behold only a population
of beggars put under the supervision of relieving
officers, workhouse masters, and English alms- payers.
Sir Robert Peel wants to do away with all this vile
machinery for degrading and starving, and to recon-
struct society upon a basis natural, reasonable, and
conducive to the moral, and physical, elevation
of human beings. The instruments by which he
would work out so desirable a consummation are such
as would strike any man of common observation, a°
simple and yet of such obvious importance, that the
wonder is how rulers and landlords had remained all
along blind to the evils which were driving the coon'
try to perdition. The policy of his elaborated ads
dress is condensed into these few suggestions—to
encourage draining—to open up roads through ins
accessible districts--to erect piers for the accommo-
dation of the fisheries—to promote, under sound re"
gulations, emigration at the expense of the State,
without interfering with voluntary emigration; but
above all, to facilitate the transfer of property from
insolvent to solvent proprietors. These, with the
gradual abandonment of out-door relief, whether
in exchange for labour or not, form the whole of
his remedial policy. Upon each of these he dwells
forcibly and minutely, displaying their good and
evil, as they affect the population and the state. TO
carry out his suggestions, he still maintains the pro'
priety and necessity of a Commission acting in Ire'
land, and deriving their facts on the spot. These
men should be of the highest character and greatest
experience in the management of estates in England,
in whom the Government and country could have
confidence. Under charge of this commission, he
would have placed all the various measures suggested
for the mitigation of the great calamity of the coup'
try. Acting in every aggrieved locality, they should
judge for themselves, and not form their opinions froth
the intervention of agents.
Ile disclaims any such intention as that attributed
to him, of merely substituting one proprietary for
another, as a solving of the Irish difficulty. But he
dwells emphatically on the point, that all other mea'
sures would be wholly ineffectual, unless some great
cure were applied to the " monstrous evils " which
arise out of the condition of landed property. These
evils are enormously enhanced by the powers nor/
claimed and exercised by the Court of Chancery; end
he strongly maintains that it would be an advantage
to every body except the receivers under that Court
and the lawyers " who are dividing the sums received
from these estates among themselves" to relieve
these estates from its controul, and permit them to be
" possessed by men of capital, who would embark is
their cultivation with new hopes and fresh vigour."
Simplifying the voluntary transfer of encumbered
estates is of course part and parcel of his great sys'
tern. It would be in vain, he demonstrated, that the
retention of many of these estates was no advantage
to the owners—of none to the encumbrancers—a
positive evil with respect to the solvent proprietorrs
in their neighbourhood, and prejudicial to the public
interests, if this effect did not follow. If the Court
of Chancery continued, by legal difficulties and chi'
coneries, to prohibit this simple transfer, he went 50
far as to advise that its jurisdiction should be ousted
altogether. " A simple title against all the world,',
was his earnest recommendation.
lie would have, besides new capitalists and solvent
owners, " small proprietors, to cultivate their own„
vegetables, and live on the produce of their farms.
This is the grand result to be derived from any great
change in our social institutions. No other effect
could be binding, permanent, and productive of 50'
ing benefit, but this. As long as Ireland continues to
be an agricultural country, the population can only be
improved, and labour made productive and rewarded,
by a race of small proprietors. If the mind of the
legislator shall have produced this grand reform, it,
will be not only a magnificent revolution for national
good, brought about by yielding wisdom and the
peacefulness of legislation, but Sir Robert Peel will
have written his name on the history of the country,
as one of her greatest benefactors, and most enlight'
ened and philanthropic statesmen.

-ARYLEBONE INSTITUTION.—MrS. Stephen Chink: hers last evening gave the third of a series or
agreeable concerts at this excellent institution. The
list of performers contained the names of the follow'
ing artists :--Miss Messent, Miss Anne Romer, Mis 6,
Anne Taylor, Miss Stevens, Miss Chandler, and
Mrs. Stephen Chambers, Mr. Handel Gear, Mr.
Lawler, Mr. Dusell, Mr. Eames, and Mr. Franit
Bodda. It would be unfair to particularize where all
was excellent. The applause was enthusiastic an
the encores frequent and well deserved. The concert,
which was conducted by Herr Muhlenfeldt and Mr. fie
Gear, was well attended.
WANSFORD STEEPLE CHASE.—This sporting event
took place on Tuesday last, the starting field and win'
ning post being in Cliffe Pal k. The first race was for § sweepstakes of 5 sous. each, with 25/. added: eight
horses were entered, but only four started, viz., Mr. LL
Bird's Fractious (Mr. Alex. Goodman rider) 1, Mr. Gordon's Repealer (owner) 2, Mr. Whincup's Sol. King
3, and Mr. Sartoris' Dick Turpin (Mr. Townley) 4. They
all got off well, and ran nearly together to the first ditch and rails, where Sol. King fell and threw his rider: the
jockey, however, held the reins, and quickly remounted. 00
their return, at a brook crossing the Apthorp and Cliff°
roads, three out of the four got into the water, the lucky
One being Sol. King, which cleared it in beautiful style.
Mr. Townley and his horse were in the brook together,
and it was at first thought that Dick Turpin's back wag
broken: fortunately this was not the case, as horse and
rider appeared at the winning post in about a quarter of
an hour after the others. Mr. Goodman won the race
by two or three lengths. There was a second race for s
sweepstakes of 2 sous. each, with a purse added, which
was won easily by Mr. Goodman's Pretty Poll (ridden
by the owner), beating two others. The event was after'
wards celebrated by a select dinner party at the Haycock
Inn.—Stamftrd Mercury.
THE MURDERER OF MRS. HENRICKSON.--There i 5
every reason to believe that this man's name is not John
Gleeson Wilson, but Owen Morris. A. person of the
name of John Sharps has deposed that he wrote a letter
to the prisoner's father, some time since, at the prisoner's
request, in which the latter spoke of himself as Owes
Morris. The letter to the father was addressed to
" John Morris, blacksmith, Dreol, to the care of the
Rev. Father Ryan, P.P., Rathkeal, Limerick." The
prisoner speaks Irish with great fluency, which is what
not an Englishman in a million can do.—Liverpool Times.
Tdishotsit'otsht- oeiffin
feeeriauthorities
swsheoe b
mm
they
yt
eumppoltot
ym. making
letter-carrier who recently died in prison at Lincoln had
14s. weekly; but so far from his offences proving s
warning,
his successor has been appointed with a salary
of 13s. weeklyl The man commences his duties soon
after six in the morning, and cannot finish them till nine
at night. He has nearly thirty miles daily to walk on
the city pavements, and we are told that he is so foot-
beaten by the time he gets his day's task completed he
can scarcely crawl. Of course, this officer is daily en-
trusted with valuable letters to a large amount. Pay
should be proportioned to the amount of labour and
responsibility; and it seems manifestly wrong for the
Post office authorities to avail themselves of the
great competition among the humble ranks of so-
ciety to get their work done for the lowest possible
amount, and to depend solely upon the terrors of the law
for preventing extreme necessity from growing into dis-
honesty. The principle is a false one even on the ground
of economy: for such screwing down of pay as leads to
dishonesty cannot truly be said to be productive of any
saving at all. The Post•office service has of late been
subjected not merely to reduction of salaries, but to
greatly increased labour; and that labour is in many
cases at such unseasonable hours as speedily wear away
animal powers, and make men old in constitution whilst
they are young in years. The service is now most op-
pressive; the drudgery is more than double what it for-
merly was; there is no Sabbath, nor intermission of a
single day from year's end to year's end; and the great
object of those who are intrusted with direction in it
seems to be how to make the reward for the labour still
les f.—Sturaford Mercury.
TILE UPS AND DOWNS OF LONDON.--Workmen
have, it is said, corumenc-d lowering the brow of Holborn-
hill. We sti,,uld be very glad to see some of these awk-
ward highbrows of the metropolis completely shaved off.
This arrangement will prevent the necessity for vehicles
going down the incline much faster than they were in-
clined to go.--,Puncli.

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE
ABOLITION OF BURIALS IN TO WNS.

A. very largl public meeting, called at, the instlnc?
this society, was herd on 'Wednesday evening &t tar
Whittington Club, the Strand, to petition rari4,•rni
for the hum :dit.te closing ol burial places in cities ant:
towns.

Upon the p' -.Vorm we observed Lord Dudley Coutts
Stuart, Lord Cochrane, W. A. Mackinnon, Esq., M.P.,
John Abel Smith, Esq., George Thompson, Eel.,
M.P., James Wyld, Esq., M.P., George Alfred Walker,
Esq., George Goodwin, Esq., Mr. Simpson, Mr. Bunter,
Mr. Ross, Dr. Aldis, Mr. Briscoe, and a number of other
gentlemen who are known to have always taken a warm
interest in the progress of this society.
On the motion of Mr. MACKINNON, seconded by Mr.
Goo"sweet,
Lord D. STUART was unanimously elected to the
chair. He said—l regret extremely that the lion. Gen-
tleman who was originally announced as chairman of this
meeting is unavoidably prevented attending here to-
night. Mr. Benjamin Bond Cabbell—(Cheers)—v.-ho is
exceedingly well known in the metropolis, and in the
country at large, for his charitable disposition, has par-
ticularly directed his attention to the subject which now
calls you together. I, therefore, regret deeply the
absence of one who is so well able to do the suhjeet jus-
tice, and above all do I lament the cause of hie absence,
which is no other than that he is at present stretched
upon a bed of sickness, and of course unable to fulfil
the engagement which he had made.—(Hear.) Lament-
!fig his absence, I have not thought it proper to hesitate
in agreeing to the wishes of those gentlemen who are
deeply interested in the cause, and who have requested
me to fill his place this evening.—(Cheers.) Before
saying another word I will call upon the secretary to
read the advertisement convening the meeting.
The SECRETARY, Mr. C. J. Thicke, then read the
advertisement, together with letters from several noble •
men and gentlemen apologising for their non-attend-
ante, but all concurring in the object of the meeting.
Sir Benjamin Hall, Bart., stated that cantinued
illness prevented his attendance, but he liopfd
ere long that the practice of burying in large and pope
lows towns would be discontinued. Mr. Horsman, M.P.,
said he was obliged to leave town, but that he would
be most happy to co-operate in any proceedings in Par.
liament to put an entire stop to practices so grievous to
civilization and religion. The Marquis of Northampton
and Lord Ebrington also concurred in the desirability of
prohibiting interments in towns, and gave their hearty
wishes for the success of the society's efforts. Letters
were also read from the Earl of Carlisle, the Lord Mayor,
Baron Rothschild, and a number of Members of Par-
liament.

The CHAIRMAN then rose and was received with loud
cheers. lie said, Ladies and gentlemen, you see by the
state of the platform that the object which we have in
view has many friends, and you will perceive also by the
list of letters, which the Secretary has just read, that
we have a great many supporters who are not present.
I don't wonder at that—l don't wonder that wo should
have supporters—my only wonder is that there should
he any one who does not feel that this subject is one of
the very greatest importance; that the evil is one which
calls aloud for a remedy; and if there be persons who are
not impressed with that belief, I am corn inced that they
are only those who have not had an opportunity of giving
to the subject their serious attention. I do believe that
no man who has had the means of acquainting himself
with the practices which prevail with regard to inter-
ments in this metropolis, and who has had access to the
real sources of information, can for a moment hesitate,
or does hesitate, in saying that interments in large cities
like this ought immediately to be put a stop to. Persons
there may be who do not agree with us, and who, per-
haps, do not feel the necessity of something being done;
but who are they? They are persons who have not
made themselves acquainted with the facts of the case—
persons to whom the mass of evidence which has been
collected by Committees of the Houses of Parliament,
by those who, to their great honour, have devoted
themselves to this subj, ct, is nothing but a sealed book.
Occupied with other subjects and engaged with other
facts, they are not aware of what is actually going on in
this metropolis—they pass through the streets daily and
they do not know—they do not even suspect—that in
many streets, and I will say, emi hatically , also in this
street, they are in the immediate vicinity of graveyards
a here bodies are piled up in heaps, which are at once
the cause of ill heath and disease to the population,
and where scenes are enacted that are degrading
to humanity.—(Cheers.) I do not hesitate to say
that this practice in crowded cities is in the highest de-
gree conducive to immorality.—(Herr, hear.) It has a
tendency to blunt all the finer feelings, and to make men
careless of paying that tribute of resp ct to the departed
which appears to be implanted in man's heart by nature
—(Cheere.) Who is there who does not feel the greats st
desire to render all tribute of respect to rela-
tions and friends who are departed? Which of us is
there but contemplates without horror and without a
shudder, which it is impossible to describe, the idea of the
remains of any dear and beloved relative not meeting
with a proper and decent interment, whose blood
will not run cold at the thought of the bodits of those
dear and beloved persons meeting only with a mock in-
torm( nt, being only placed a few inches under the
ground, and being afterwards removed by unhallowed
hands to make room for other bodies?—(Cheers.) Yet
scenes like this take place, and are taking place every
day, for it is in evidence that in some of these receptacles
fur the dead such things are continually practised. The
space in large cities which can be devoted to interments
is of course smaller It costs a large sum of money
to obtain an area, and those who undertake the
burial of the deal, I am sorry and ashamed to say, do
so in many iustar ces for no other purpose than to make
money.--(Hear, hear.) It is therefore an object to
them to bury as many bodies as possible in the smallest
possible space. They dig deep holes, for they are nut
worthy the name of graves, and pile one body above
another to the depth of a great many feet, until at
last they come to the level earth, and then
a thin coating of earth is thrown over them.
Another grave is then opened immediately by the
aide of it, again to be filled up, and as there is frequently
not room to bury all the dead that are brought, it is con-
stantly occurring that the pickaxe and the shovel of the
gravedigger breaks in upon the coffin and violates the
dead body which was laid there by sorrowing le latives.
—(Hear, hear.) Arid those sorrowing reletives who
have made it their business to inquire into these prac-
tices will tell you that they have seen bodies mangled by
the tools of these gravediggers, and pieces of dead bodies
and limbs thrown about with the spade as if they were so
much earth. T 1 ese things are indeed revolting to contem-
plate—they are degrading to the population e here they
take place, but still they happen in the greatest, the
richest, and the noblest city in the whole universe.—
(Cheers.) Wo are proud of our riches, of our talents,
of our civilization, and of our progress in commerce
and in all tho arts and sciences, and we should be
offended if any person presumed to say that this
country was not the most moral and most re-
ligious in the world, and yet, gracious Heaven! we
suffer such things to he in the midst of this great metro-
polis.—(Cheers.) But when I mention to you the
shocking state of things to which I have alluded, and
which is of a nature to harrow up your feelings, and as
I must think, to blunt the sensibilities, and make men
careless of the respect to the dead, and also irreligious.—
when I mention these things I have not told you all, for
a very great .deal remains behind. If burials amidst
crowded cities are injurious to the morals, they are also
fraught with deadly poison to the public health.—
(Cheers.) No subject has engaged the attention of the
public or of the Legislature of late years to a
greater extent than that of the public health.
Sanitary measures have engrossed much of
the attention of Parliament, and have occupied
the minds of men throughout the country, writings have
been poured fourth from the press on the subject, meet-
ings have been held again and again, and information to
a great extent has been supplied with the hope of im-
proving the health of the public, but it may be said that
all these endeavours will be in vain as far as regards the
health of towns as long as the system of burying in the
heart of towns is permitted.—(Cheers.) You say let :us
have good sewerage, let us have good ventilation, let us
have fresh air and a good supply of fresh water, and I
say so too. I know nothing more important,
but, alas! it is in vain to have improved
sewers, good supplies of water, and fresh air; it is in
vain to make the attempt which has been made, and will
bra renewed, to give poor people an unstinted supply of
light by the repeal of the window-tax—(Loud cheers)—
if with those advantages we did not also succeed in
rooting out and drawing away all interments from the
heart of the metropolis.—(Cheers.) For what would be
the use of breaking open the small cramped- up windows
of the poor to let in light and air, if that air brought in
with it poison?—(Cheers.) Men say give us air—aye,
but give us fresh air—don't give us polluted air, charged
with miasma and poison from reeking bodies in a
state of putrefaction, which are heaped up at
our very doors. Men of science who are acquainted
with this subject tell you that a certain space is neces-
sary for every dead body—that a man when he dies
and is put into the earth must have'a certain amount of
earth around him in order that his body may be decom-
posed, and it is calculated that in an acre 136 bodies
may be properly interred. Now, what is the state of
things in this city? Why there are grave yards—notoone
1
but many—in which instead of 136 there are ,00
aye 2,000 bodies—cramned into an acre.—(Cheers.)
They throw forth noxious gases which produce
every kind of disorder, but many persons are wholly
ignorant of this. I to'd a gentleman to-day that I was
going to attend a meeting on the subject of interments
in towns, which I thought ought to be abolished; and he
said " Weil, I never experienced any bad effects from
them." " I dare say not," said I, " but have you never
been unwell—have you never had any illness without
being able to account for iti" " Aye." " Then bow do
You know that it has not been occasioned by the vicinity
seregraveyards to your habitation?" Many men are seized
with sickness, with typhus, and with all kinds of dis-
orders 'which 'medical men can clearly trace to the prac-
tice°f_boji” being interred in graveyards where there is
are toZttiectent space for them, and where they
Besides this the
habitations of the living.—(Cheers.)
it is to open .t
frequently occurs that those whose duty
is the rniaan!araves often fall down suddenly dead, such
in evidence thatwhich comes out from them. It is also
foul air which ini order to bear the horrible stench and
scantly obliged toeyillhdave to encounter they are con-
es hich in its turn proudlife in the use of ardent spirits,
health. Only think of
of hl`
a fatal effect upon their
a ceremony as the burial of
the dead—only think of thaatlposset beautiful, most touch-
ing, and:most consoling of
in the presence of sorrowing relatives,
being performed
if ever, must be exalted Emirs, whose feelings,
raised to things
above, and to the most holy contemplation, and then
think of that service being completed by wretches in a
state of inebriety.—(Cheers.) These thinks would cer-
tainly be put an end to if burials in the heart of large
towns were no longer allowed. Strange, indeed, is it that
this practice should be continued in a city which is the
very centre of civilization. In other countries it is not

so. The fi et Chsistisn Eatueror prohibited interment
near the leihitations of the living. They were
prohibited in the last century in Fi ance, end in the
present century NOVe Yolk 11 id prohibited those, and
ehy sl (add this; country he the last to follow so good an
exar.ph ?—(Cheers.) cens!arely hear a grew.
deal Aura the sister countr:e. Irel aid, and of the
debased state in w hich the Irish people are. I
went last Autumn to visit that country, and to
Dublin, and there I saw,—not, as we see here,
grave-yards in the roiiidle of our crowded streets and
thoroughfares,—bat I wits taken by an lion. Friend of
mine, the Member for Dublitt, where I hope to see here
' this evening-1 mean Mr. Reynolds—(Chedar)--to see
a burial-are tuei in the vicinity of the Irish capital. He
was himself the person who cetsthlished the berlal•
ground of Glessnevin, which is of large extent; and in
fact, it is ornamented with so much taste, with flowers
and shrul.s, that it is a beautiful thing to see, where all
sectarian animosities are dismiss d—(Applause)—and
where re rsons of all grades rest side by side, and that
for the first tune, for until that burying-ground was es-
teblished, burials were the occasions of those feelings to
which I have alluded, and which are so much to be
deplored; but now, when people die in Ireland, they art
tali, n out of the own, and buried in the burial-ground
it Glitssauvire There are to be found the graves
of O'Cennell and of ,all those persons of distinction
who died in Ireland. I very much wish we had some-
thing of that kind appertaining to London, and I do not
see why we should not, nor why that improvement
should be any longer drlayed.—(Hear, hear.) We have
had already Committees enough on the subject, and I
think it is seven years ago since the first Committee sat.
We have had the Committee of which my Hon. Friend
the Member for Leamington was the Chairman; but we
hare had no practical measure. Now, I think the time
has come when it behoves the Government to bring in
some practical measure. Sir George Grey a few nights
ago, stated in answer to a question from Lord Duncan,
it was their intention to bring forward a measure of
the kind. I hope they will carry out that intention, but
sure I all that meetings of this kind are the most effec-
tual means of preventing the Ministers forgetting, ere
the session closes, what was their intention at its begin-
ning.—(Applause.) I don't know of any objection to
the removal of graveyards out of London, except three,
which occur to me. The first is, if we do away with
those burial grounds, it is said wo deprive the clergy
who perform the service of their fees. Now, of course,
however generous, however high-minded those clergymen
may be it is impossible to suppose that they can give,
without compensation, a great portion of that which
forms their living; and sorry I am to think the working
clergy are not in a position to make any considerable
sacrifice, because I think those in the Church who work
the hardest, are those who are exceedingly ill-paid.—
(Applause.) Some time ago it was supposed—the
clergy generally were adverse to the change. I do not
believe that to be the case now. I believe the clergy
feel well disposed towards this measure. That, I think
may be concluded from the evidence given before the
Committee by the Bishop of London. And as I have no
doubt that other meetings after this will be held, I hope
that it will not be long before we see some of the dig-
nitaries of the Church coming forward to answer for
themselves in this respect.—(Applause.) There is no
doubt that measures may 1 e devised to compensate to
those clergy for what they would lose by this change ;
and I have no doubt those pious and reverend men
will be found exceedingly willing to give
every facility that they can to this great
improvement. Therefore I don't think that objection is
one which ought to stop us. The next objection is, that
if you prevent by law burials taking place in towns it
will be necessary that the dead should be carried to
some distance, and that will increase the expense of
funerals to the poor. Now, I am not at all insensible
to that objection, because I know that much to their
honour, if there is any thing on which the poor of this
country in general have deep feelings and about which
they are anxious, it is to he able to give a decent burial
to those relatives of whom death deprives them.—(Ap
plause.) I think that is very much to their honour;
and I think these are feelings which ought by all means
to be fostered and cherished; and when I know that a
poor family will strain every nerve, and even for a
season subject themselves to every kind of privation, in
order to be able to render in a manner satisfactory to
their feelings the last tribute to their departed friends;
really, I think nothing can be more honourable,
nothing can deserve greater respect. But pro-
bably without much difficulty measures may be
arranged for the removal of bodies with all decency,
and with very little, if any, increased expense, to ceme-
teries without the town. Then there is a third objec-
tion, which is, if you increase the expense of funerals
in any degree, you increase th t expense to which the
parishes mu.t be put in burying paupers, and you there-
by do that which must gave a tendency to raise the
burial rates. Now, in these times when rates are so
extremely heavy, when they bear so hard upon the
rate-payers, I am quite aware that that objection would I
be a serious one if it was to extend to any great degree;
but I beg on that subject to remind the parochial
authorities of this, that if there is any thing which has
a tendency to increase the number of paupers, and I
therefore to swell the parochial rates, that thing is sick- I
ness among the poor—(Hear)—and whatever measures
you can adopt which can promote the health of '
the working classes will inevitably have a ten-
dency towards diminishing the amount of the I
poor rates.—(Loud applause.) For what is the I
course of life occurring every day? A poor man has to
work, and by labouring hard and performing that duty
which requires the whole strength of a vigorous frame,
he obtains barely enough to support his wile and family; I
he is overtaken by sickness—he does not know why—
very
likely it is sickness occasioned by the vicinity of one
of those horrible graveyards, and he very soon becomes '
incapable of supporting his family; and if his illness
lasts any time, the inevitable consequence is, that he and
his family must go to the workhouse, and in that manner '
I have no doubt the rates are increased very much more
than they would be by any little increase which would
take pltce to the cost by burying those who must be
burl, d by the parish, supposing cemeteries to be placed
beyond the limits of the town. I think, therefore,
that the objection is not a real, but only an illusory
one, and I am satisfied that a little coo- 1
sideration of the subject would suffice to I
convince those who are interested in it that such is the
case. Now, I have already detained the meeting at '
much greater length that I intended to do—(Applause) '
—and I will haste to give place to those other gentlemen
who will have the honour of addressing you. I am
quite sure they will place the subject before you much
better than I have done, and will show to you the neces-
sity and the great importance of this subject; and I have
no doubt they will lay before you reasons which shall
fully convince you that the time is come that something
ought to be done by the Legislature ; and
before you leave the meeting you will agree on some
plan that will convey your opinions and your ideas on
this subject to the Houses of Parliament. I shall now
call on my Hon. Friend Mr. Mackinnon to move the first
resolution.—( Applause.)
Mr. MACKINNON, M.P., said when he beheld the
meeting before him, and considered the object for which
it was assembled, and when he had paid attention to the
speech of the Noble Lord who had last addressed
them, he could not but be convinced that the holy cause
in which they were engaged was likely to be brought to
a satisfactory termination.—(Applause.) Previously to
his entering on the subiect, which he should do in a very
few words as he was fully aware that he saw around him
on the platform, gentlemen of high talents and great expe-
rience who would address them rauch better than he could;
he could not but congratulate them on the good fortune
which they had experienced that day, in having the
amiable nobleman who had just addressed them to take
the chair on that occasion.—(Applause.) His amiable
qualities, and the zealous manner in which he had per-
formed his political duties during the time he had sat
in Parliament, was very different from that of many
Members of the House of Commons who held a seat in
that House only for political purposes, or who wanted
some job. His Noble Friend in the chair had the most
philanthropic feelings; his kindness in favour of the
Polish people was well known, and the prominent part
he took in every work of charity was notorious; and
both by his friends in particular and the public at large,
Lord Dudley Stuart was held in the highest es-
timation.—(Great applause.) The difficulty which
he (Mr. Mackinnon) felt in addressing them on the
present occasion arose, not from the paucity of subjects
which he would bring before their notice, but from the
multiplicity of opinions which he would lay before them,
to show what was the present extraordinary abomination
of the practice of burying in towns. He had travelled
almost over Europe ; and he agreed with what his
Noble Friend had said with regard to the practice of in-
terment in Ireland; and strange it was to say that in that
country, which was certainly not equ ,1 to England in pint
of civilization, there was no interment in towns. He had
travelled in France, and there he had seen the greatest
decorum shown towards the dead. He believed that
Napoleon decreed during his Consulate that no cemetery
should exist within a mile, or two thousand feet
from the outside of a town ; and they invariably found
whenever they travelled in France, that the cemeteries
were always to the north of a town, and at a certain dis-
tance out of it.—(Hear, hear.) The atrocities which
were committed in the burial of the dead in this city
would harrow up their souls, and would only excite feel-
ings of disgust without answering any purpose. lie
would not dwell on such horrible details; but he would
just tell them
of
was a churchyard onenot° instance, and of ono alone. There
yards from the spot where Overlookingthewere. tha°tgurtavherard:fo lived an unfortunate
and
horribleone daughter.b
tailor who had nothing
When he was asked why he liveedso
replied, that in consequence of the impurity of tlatespLt,thee
lodging was so very cheap as to be within the compass
of his means. His medical advisers recommended him
strongly to leave that neighbourhood; but the scanti-
ihnitserwreidfe, justw was
a ill
unkdner nose,wi tihte"
ness of his means prevented him doing so. Within six
weeks from the
time of his
died,
go
anding therewas
Mackinnon) might say. A few
days afterwards he less
his daughter also. Now that
taken
typhus,
having no friend in the , daily
and seeing the
wretched individual was scarcely able to obtain work,
world
witnessing
to the disgust and annoyance grave where his wife and daughter wecree loafid, was sub-
jected
face by the
dur, up and cut to pieces before 1
shortly afterwards the remains of hi.,
his face
and daughter
digging
Ought such
be-
low his window.—(Great sensation.)
inhuman brutes who were
civilised things to be tolerated in a c graves
in Enon
country?—(Ap-
plause.) They knew what had taken
e placeand he would
Chapel, not 300 yards from that
not rfec'l •
was not one individual present who was perfectly
pass over all those details, being peprfeacctl;y satisfied there
. e (Ar.plause,) So far
convinced in his own mind, that such abominable prac-
tices ought to be done away with
.—(Applause,)
as their feelings went, there could be no doubt on the
subject; but there was a touch graver anl more impor-
tant
question than their feelings, and that was their
' health. He had had an opportunity as Chairman of the
Committee of the House of Commons of examining any

t Imedical man whom be thought fit in this
mighty tnetropeli F. The evidence of Dr. Cu ors
, hers, Dr. Brodie, end of many other ineivelte.ds of
I high cheractar, showed that i hey, one and all, easae to
a clear end distinct concleei fir, that it is-as mo-t delete-
rious to the heal:'.. of the conateueity to have the bur i
of the dead in the midst of the livieg. There could be
no dou'it as to the fact. Many who were in the enjoy-
ment of good health might s they had constantly
, passed that place in the Strand where those bodies were
interred, and they had felt no injury from the miasma
arising from the catacombs beneath them. But that did
nut follow. The medical men said that it tiid not follow
that people felt the injury at the moment, nor that a man
in perfect health and the full etijoyntent of his spirits
would he seized with illness; but if a person was in a
particular state of body, he was the person to take disease
from ti e gases, and a serious Biro ss might ensue,
without the man's knowing whence it arose. Was it
not the case in this great city, that when they entered a
place of worship, where their feelings ought to be di-
reetsd to the contemplation of the goodness of the Al-
mighty, and their thoughts to the reformation of their
future manners, that they were offended by the noisome
smells which circulated round the sacred building? In
the Bill which lie had the honour of preparing for the
House of Commons, there was a particular proai,ion
that clergymen should have the same fees paid
to them whether the poor were buried in the
parish or out of the parish. Consequently,
the individual most sensitively alive to the welfare
of the clergy would agree with him that the clause in
the Bell which provided that the fees should be paid in
the same menner as before would answer every purposs.
With regard to the expense consequent upon taking the
dead without the town for interment, there were many
schemes presented to the Committee, by which it was
shown that the poor c,tuld be interred out of town at a
cheaper rate than they wero at present.—(Applause.)
Two plans had been suggested to him as chairman of the
Committee. It was (and it would be done with much
greater decorum and much greater respect to the feelings
of the poor) by a steam-boat constantly plying up and
down the riaer, into which the dead bodies of the poor
might be deposited, and carried either up or down the
river ; for example, to the Isle of Dogs, where some de-
cent place of interment could be provided, or at some
other place on the river. By so doing they would occa-
sion a great saving to the poor-rates, for it was
perfectly clear that if they allowed those
poor creatures to catch disease, and very often to meet
their deaths from the impurity of the atmosphere, when
they were confined to those localities where the dead
were interred, the parish would be saddled with a great
expense in maintaining those poor persona during their
illness, and that by adopting a contrary practice, a
great saving of money to the community
and of the population itself would be the result. He
could not, therefore, think otherwise than that the ob-
ject which they sought to accomplish would indeed be a
great benefit to the nation. A French medical man had
of late published a treatise, in which he stated that after
having visited Egypt, and investigated fully and dise
tinctly the cause of plague in Egypt, he came to the
conclusion, which he was ready to prove by the evidence
which came before him, that the plague in Egypt never
broke out till after they had ceased to embalm their
dead, and had begun to inter them near inhabited places.
—(Cheers.) That was a most singular fact. Now, not
less than five different reports had been made by
five different authorities on this subject, and those five
different authorities had uniformly pronounced in favour
of the advantage of removing the dead from the pre-
cincts of large towns. Those constituted authorities,
including the Ecclesiastical Commission, which was
chiefly composed of clergymen and gentlemen belonging
to the Church, had one and albunited in making:a report
that the practice of interment in large towns ought to be
done away with. The first was the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission; the next was the commission that was ap-
pointed by the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, and was entrusted to that very talented gentleman,
Mr. Chadwick, the Secretary of the Poor-law Commis-
sion. Mr. Chadwick, after patient investigation, in a work
which did him infinite credit, stated distinctly that it was
impossible to arrive at any other conclusion but that
interments in towns wes a practice that ought to be done
away with altogether.—(Cheers.) Three official reports
were reade by the Committee of thellouse of Commons, of
which he was chairman, and that Committee distinctly
reported, that after all the evidence which had clue
before them it was absolutely necessary that some legis•
lative enactment should take plat a Two other reports
from two other constituted bodies arrived precisely at
the same conclusion. Now, he left them to judge
what could possibly be the reason, when they
found the reports of Committees and Commissioners
made up by the most industrious and talented men, who
had access to every sort of information, why that enact-
went was not brought firward,—(Applause.) What
was the cause? Was it that the Government was sluggish
on the occasion ? ID sincerely believed not; he had re-
ceived an Assurance to the contrary.—(Applause.) It
was the duty of the meeting to push this matter to an
extremity. They ought not to allow a few private in-
dividals, for their own private interest, to tell them (the
meeting) what they should do or should not do. A change
they would have; they would have the interment of the
dead out of the precincts of large towns; they would have
" a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether."
He must make one observation of one individual en his
right, who had taken infinite pains, who had already
laid out a good deal of money, who had bestowed a great
deal of his talents and a great deal of his time, which
a-as as valuable as his money, and who was the first in-
dividual who had pointed the attentive of the public to
the subject. On his representations his (Mr. Mackin-
non's) attention had been attracted to the subject, and
he was induced to bring it before Parliament. He
meant Mr. George Alfred Walker.—(Loud cheers.)
Amongst Englishmen " fair play was a jewel," and
fair play ought to prevail in this case. Mr. Walker
was really the individual who deserved all the praise
and who first gave a spur to the subject.—(Applause.)
tie was only doing justice to his respected friend, and
he (Mr. Mackinnon) trusted he would see his great
exertions crowned with the success which they deserved.
In many of the cities of the continent they saw gorgeous
palaces, but they scarcely ever saw there any of those
habitations for the poor, the infirm, the sick, and the
diseaaed which were to be seen in the city of London.
The first thing which foreigners saw after passing
Greenwich was the Dreadnought hospital ship,
" supported by the voluntary contributions of all
nations;" and when an individual entered
Hyde-park he saw St. George's Hospital, open to all men
who had met with accidents, and " supported by
voluntary contributions." In ovary part of England
they saw buildings with similar inscriptions. Ile (Mr.
Mackinnon) never saw such inscriptions in foreign
countries; and it only showed how superior in good
feeling was this happy island, though in saying that he
meant no disparagement to other nations. Now Eng-
land, being the most prosperous country in the world,
looked up to by foreign nations, as well as envied by
them, for our wealth and civilization, was it not a shame
and disgrace that we, having all that wealth and
civilization, and happiness, with the bountiful
donations which were given yearly, monthly,
and weekly for the poor, should allow so crying
an abomination as that of the interment within the pre-
cincts of towns to exist in this country?—(Cheers.) If
they did not remedy that crying evil, he should not be
surprised if some plague should sweep through the land,
when nothing would remain but regret at not having put
a stop to the shocking desecration of the dead amidst the
living at an earlier period. Let them, therefore exert
themselves and sign a petition to Parliament. In this
country, whatever the influence might be that existed in
the Government or the Houses of Parliament, it was
nothing when compared with the influence of public
opinion.—(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman concluded
by moving the following resolution:—
" It having been repeatedly demonstrated that the
practice of burying the dead in the midst of the living
produces the most deplorable consequences to the health
of the community, by poisoning the air we breathe and
the water we drink, this meeting deeply regrets that a
question involving the disposal of some 600,000 bodies,
the annual mortality of the United Kingdom, should not
have taken precedence of all others in the sanitary mea-
sures passed in the last session of Parliament. That more
especially at the present time, when cholera is among us,
the constant disturbance of dead bodies, in every stage of
decomposition, and the exposure of human remains in
consequence of the incessant upturning of the soil for
the purpose of making graves in places long since filled
to repletion—ought to be instantly abolished. That this
meeting also protests most strongly, on the ground of
the utter worthlessness of the protection thereby afforded
to the public health, and for other cogent reasons, against
the practice of depositing bodies in vaults, or other re-
ceptacles, under churches or chapels, whether in leaden
or pitched " coffins; and therefore it records its unqua-
lified condemnation of clause 112 of the City sanitary
measure, which in the year 1848 legalized this most ob-
jeetionable and destructive custom."—(Cheers.)
Mr. WALKER said—My Lords, ladies, and gentlemen,
if the two sanitary measures passed during the last ses-
sion of Parliament had recognised the importance of the
question which we have met to discuss, we should not
have been here to protest against the continuance of
a practice which I believe to be disgraceful
to our age of civilization.—(Elear, hear.) Amongst
some 400 clauses in these two Acts, there are only six
which give the slightest attention to this question. It is
true that clause 112 of the City Sewers Act provides
that at least five feet of earth should be placed over
each coffin. Now I scarcely know on what ground that
legislation has been performed, for the predecessors of
these men, in the time of the great plague in London,
ordered, imperatively ordered, that at least six feet of
earth should be placed over each coffia.—(Cheers.)
Therefore, I say, I can scarcely understand why, in the
yom'efiasarnLomonledBro4;B, they shoull think five feet of
earth sufficient. But the term " earth " is a
notnlgnraeveed.3.
ar d ties] 1
composed)-ou I think
oi nf k
humanthat
the earth
remains
w t
with —that
itsinreflal t
(ac phaetet.l)e ofl
nt h e
recklessorigi na
defiance l mould coheres
of re-
peated
c oh e r e
warnings and predicted consequences, in the
very face of unmistakeable figures and
in our
facts,
ro
centuries,
n theapinguries, y bodyet o
fre
graveyards, many of whiePtho°,llatihtheoduac inhour vaults and
r
generations
of
thephunicte7 ht'igvheeersb oeefnthine
in the midAmotte
wu
see go on
present "last resting places,"
incom-
pletely decomposed debris of
Graves can only be dug by and through the
of the boring rod, the hatchet, the sa:v,
agency
at
peat.
sledge-hammer and the crow-bar.—(hear,) Christian
men's graves do not require implements and tools like
these, yet they are daily, hourly used (I say this ad-
visedly), and I repeat they are hourly used in these con-
secrated grounds—these sanctuaries—these resting-
places of our ancestors! (Cheers.) Putting out of the
question for the moment, the folly and wickedness
of interring the dead in the midst of the living, I would
wish to observe that there are facts on record
which will satisfactorily prove to every indivi-
dual present the absolute necessity of prohibiting
at QUO this praetiee,—(Uear, hear.) This huge, this

overerewn coinglomeration of bricks and mortar, consti-
tuti,-.g the modern Babylon, has entombed Within its nil, t,
in is streets and thoroughares, in its plsees of common
resort, het stewed away in cellars and blind alleys,
eithie a hundred ;veers, five millions of dead bodies.—
(.','Lete e.) One wonticrs hew the practie3 of mingling
the liiiog with the dead originatel, but one marvels
much mere how a Protestant Christian country ehould
permit it to continue—(lle4r.) I have witnessed the
religious ceremonial of the dea l solemniz3d in the pre.
sone° of scenes and acts that were disgraceful to
our very humanity.—(Hear, hear.) I have seen
the el. ep grave receive " the important trust, and heard
the itnie.. ssive sentence, Duet to dust," uttered in
the [elitist of a throng of pedestrians, amidst the clutter
of coaches and various conveyances on the one side, with
the elergyman—the robed clergyman—reading the burial
service over the dead on the other.—(Cheers.) There are
gentlemen present who accompanied me, some weeks ago,
try a pl ice in this town which came under the notice of
Mr. Mackinnon's Committee. We were introduced by
a stranger to the place', which, by the way, was
guarded by a policeman, who, it appeared, had keen
called in to protect men in the exercise of what I shall
venture to term, my lord, illegal acts.—((►ear, hear.)
Now, my, eve being perfectly well practised in the mys-
teries of these m fitters, instantly caught sight of a grave
over which a mound of earth had been raised, and I
co tld see from its appear.ince that it had been violated to
ascertain if the full price of money ILA been paid for it.
—(]fear, hear.) I saw at once that the centre
of the mound had been pierced by the
boring rod. The iron instrument had gone through
the centre of the bodies.—([fear, hear.) Within 14 or
15 feet of this grave I counted 27 similar holes made
through a mass or human remains, all these holes passed
through the centre of many similar remains to the one I
first observed.—(Hear, hear.) This graveyard I shall
unhesitatingly state belonged to an undertaker. His
object in making these holes, which pierced the bodies
deposited there, speaking from my knowledge
of these matters, was in the first instance to dis-
sipate the effluvia produced from the putrefaction
of the bodies, and next to promote rapid pu-
trefaction, so as to make every inch of ground a
source of perpetual gain.—(Shame.)
This graveyard,
I must tell you, contains barely three-quarters of an
acre—certainly not more—and in that ground, and un-
derneath the chapel, I am told there have been deposited
not less than 25,000 bodies.—(Shame.) To make the
subject a little clearer to you, I may inform you that an
acre of ground contains 43,560 square feet, and that 136
adult bodies might find sanitary burial annually in an
acre of ground.—(Hear, hear.) Now, what are
the facts? Why, instead of 136 bodies—adult
bodies—being deposited annually in au acre of ground,
there are places in this town where they bury from 2,000
to 3,000 bodies per acre per annum.—(Shame.) Now
earth and air have limited appetites. A graveyard can
digest so much and no more. There is no example that
I am aware of of such places expanding themselves.
It is generally admitted, and I think you will
agree with me that bulk must occupy space
and I ask, how is it then that, instead of 136 bodies be-
ing buried in an acre of ground annually, they dispose of
from 2,000 to 3,000 per acre per annum ?—(Hear, hear.)
That is a problem which I would desire you to solve for
yourselves.—(Hear.) We know perfectly well how Spa-
fields was managed. I am aware that the coffin surround-
ing the dead offers little impediment to the grave-
digger, for tne fire of Spa-fields' bonehouse was constantly
fed by dead men's coffins, which were at first ignited
by the coffins of still-born infants.—(Shame.) A fire
was kept burning continually, night and day, and the
ashes of the coffins were thrown over the denuded dead
bodies to consume them, and in this place, which should
have held little more than 136 bodies,annually, they
had contrived to dispose of 1,500 per acre per annum.—
(Shame.) I am now coming to the particular part of the
question, which, in fact, it concerns me most
to speak of, namely, the influence of this
practice on life and health. I think we may
leave the moral portion of the question to those who
may better understand it.—(Hear, hear.) Now as the
blood must be and is influenced by the purity of the
air we breathe, it is therefore of the utmost importance
that the atmosphere we take into our lungs, and cense•
quently into our blood, should be in a pure and uncon-
t iminated condition. Now an adult breathes about
28,000 times in 24 hours, and the heart, beating about
75 times a minute, propels through the lungs about two
ounces of blood each time, and thus the enormous quan-
tity of about 13,000 pounds of blood passes through the
lungs in 24 hours.—(Hear, hear.) This, I think, is an
important consideration for you to dwell upon. It con-
cerns you quite as much as it concerns me. I have
stated simply the circumstances of the case, and you can
determine whether I am right or wrong in my conclu-
sion of the effect it has upon the health of the vast
population inhabiting the metropolis.—(Hear.) The
Hon. Gentleman who last addressed you, and who
spoke too highly of my bumble merits—(No, no)—and
deserts, has allluded to facts in reference to the origin of
the plague. The other day I saw a gentleman just re-
turned from Constantinople, who told mu that the
plague invariably broke out in Turkey, in the neighbour-
hood of burial-grounds. Madden, in his travels Pa-
lestine, says that plague miasma originates in the putre-
faction of animal, matter; and decidedly the best
authority who has ever written on this subject, M.Pariset, .
whose name is well known, and possesses an European
reputation, says that with pure air and water,
with healthy food in moderate proportions, none
of these singular mutations, productive of death, in
man and animals, could exist.— (Cries:of " Hear, hear.")
He says, as the result of his long experience and ob-
servation in the Levant, that there is only one country
in the world in which plague is permanent, and that
country is Egypt. He states, further, as the result 01
his observation, that he believes its origin is entirely due
to the emanations from human and animal corpses, but
especially from human bodies.—(Hear.) Now, without
going so far for facts, we are in a neighbourhood
which abounds with remarkable confirmatory proofs.
We have in the Strand the graveyard of St. Clement
Danes; on the left of St. Clement's-lane:we have, a little
higher up, in that narrow thoroughfare, what it called
the pauper ground, while a little higher up is that hor
rible place, Enon Chapel. Many of you have heard
of that abominable place,
and its clearance out. It may
net be out of place or irrelevant for me to publicly re-
turn thanks to the proprietors of the Norwood Cemetery
for having been good enough to give me a grave for
remains found in that chapel when other cemetery
companies had declined to do so,
the
excepting at a price
which I would not pay,—.(Cheers.).) I called upon Mr.
Baggaly, who, in the kindest manner, said he would
undertake to give me the ground on his own responsi-
bility, if, perhaps, I would not object to pay for the
digging thereof. This monster grave, measuring 12
square feet by 20 feet deep, received the bones and
remains of the army of dead buried in Ellen Chapel.—
(Hear, hear.) But to return to the question, we need
not, I say, go to Egypt for facts, we have abundant evi
deuce, even at our own doors, to test the truth of state-
ments which I most earnestly desire to impress upon you.
—(Hear.) It is only some five or six months ago, and a
gentleman in this room can verify the fact, that a
poor fellow was employed to remove the remains
of about sixty bodies from under an auction-room in
Leicester
square. This poor man while engaged in his
occupation was seized immediately after he had entered
upon it with inflammation of the lungs, and eventually
died a miserable death from the worst form of corruption;
adding another victim to this system.—(Hear, hear.)
I believe that the man's wife has since died, I believe
also that the bricklayer, who assisted at the work, has
since died, and I think I shotild not be wrong in stating
that the bricklayer's labourer has died also.—(Hear.) Now
I think you will agree with me that it would be much
better to lay the axe to the root of the cause of
disease than to establish hospitals and other places to
treat it.--(Hear, hear.) It appears to me to be the
wildest and most insane policy to create and to per-
petuate disease by perpetually adding to its cause. I
c.n hardly believe that my countrymen are in possession
of their proverbial acumen, for which in other matters
they are so remarkable, when they are dealing with this
question, or they would put a stop to the practice
at once.—(Hear.) It seems to me so strange that when
a man knows that at least twelve-thirteenths of eLvtielreyr
dead body must dissipate—must go soulelhereebreathes
into the water he drinks, or mix with the
—that he does not at once insist upon its abolition,—
(blear.) As I have before stated, if the
in proportionearth cannot dis
solve or absorb these dead men's materials
as the bodies are laid in our overcharged church-
yards, just in the same proportion are in-
creased all the risks we run of contracting various
forms of disease.—(Hear, hear.) Before sitting down
I may remark that we have facts to prove that consump-
tion is clearly traceable to this cause. We have facts to
prove that typhus fever is cl.,arly traceable to this
cause; and I will prove this to you by just mentioning
an incident which occurred at Minchinarepton, in Glou-
cestershire, to Mr. Smith, which is, perhaps, one of the
most striking examples of this nature on record.
About three years ago some alterations were
made in the church of that
place, and it was
deemed necessary or thought expedient to alter the sur-
face of the graveyard, and upwards of 1,000 loads of this
earth were removed. This earth was thrown partly on
the rector's garden, partly on the patron's garden, and
partly on the fields. In fact it was used as manure.—
(Hear.) Now the results in this case were clearly trace-
able to the original causes; and I think you will agree
with me that I am right, in drawing the following con-
clusions. Mr. Smith, previous to the disturbance of this
graveyard, had, during the 14 years in which he had
been in practice, scarcely mien a case of fever in
the same village. The results were so immediate,
so evident, so distressing, that Mr. Smith, having had
his attention drawn to some writing on the subject,
published the facts through Dr. Southwood Smith.
re some inquiries I made, he replied that my re-
marks very much confirmed his previous impressions;
that he had had upwards of 200 cases of measles
and scarlet fever in children, with anomalous eruptions,
which lie was unable to characterise. Now, I
hold that these are material facts, because the
corollary is, that the same poison that was
capable of producing disease in 200 children, produced
typhus fiver in the adult; for the rector's wife was
attacked by malignant fever and died, the rector's
daughter was also attacked and died; the gardener alio
died, while there were 14 other deaths from typhus
fever.—(Hear.) So that you have, at once clearly
traceable to one cause-200, affections in children, and
17 deaths from typhus, all I say clearly traceable to
the disturbance of the churchyard earth.—(Cries
of " Hear, hear.") It is hardly necessary that
I should adduce any further examples, but I will men-
tion one other case, to which I beg to direct the special
attention of your Lordship, and the Honourable Members
of the House Commons who aro present. Some few
years ago William Green was employed in digging a
grave in St. Margaret's churchyard, Westminster: This
Lean while digging the grave was seen to stagger and
fall ; he was dragged out, taken home and seized with
a malignant disease and died. In a few days Mr.
Babkerville, the surgeon, caught the disease and

died; his 'housekeeper Om had attended him also
perishel.—(Tlaar, hear.) This vEs a Line days' wender,
which son passed over and was f'orgc)uen ; en we
shall go on, unless we have a ciccidcd, putt ve, and :Li-
equvocal expreisian of public opinion. Tl.ere is no
question clearer to my mind than this. it has often been
said, and I will repeat it, that there is a power Letitia'
the throne which is some times stronger than the
throne itself. I should like to know exceedingly
how our Legislators should so far have forgotten
their duty in passiug a Bill for the sanitary ire.
provement of this and every large loan, as to give
only six miserable paragraphs to this which I hold to be
the most important questiun of all.—(clear.) Before
concluding, I are desirous of mentioning a fact or two in
reference to a neighbourhood with which I am better t c-
quainted than most others.—(Hear.) Saint Clement's-
lane, of which I have before spoken, contains, on the side
next to the graveyard, 47 houses, and a dead body is
taken out of each house every year. That will make 47
deaths in 47 houses a year.—(llear.) One day I was
accampanied by a gentleman to cue of there dwel-
lings—a place I remembered quite well. It was
this house that first excited my attention and
led to my subsequent inquiries on this sutject, which
have been continued from 1835 until now.—k I Lear, he :r.)
I remember seeing in the back room of this iniserable
house a poor creature there lying, as it were, cheek
by jowl with the dead, while the filth from the dead
bodies in the ei green ground"—a very proper name in-
deed for the place—was running through the wall within
a few inches of his nose. 1 asked myself then, and
I a4r you now—is it honest, is it just, is it equitable
in you to come here to attend this poor creature,
perhaps visiting the place at the risk of your own life?
Looking fire or ten;rninutes at the horrid spectacle, and
returning home to send a box of pills or a bottle of me-
dicine, which might mitigate the sufferings of the pa
tient, but could not remove the cause—(clear, hear)—
I thought not. 1 have since had repeated instances of
that kind, and the more I see of them the more am I
satisfied that until the system is entirely abolished—for
we have arrived at that point when we intend to accept
no compromise—(Cheers)—this frightful misery and suf-
fering can never be removed.—(Hear, and cheers.)
I say, in conclusion, that until this system
is totally and entirely abolished, we shall neither enjoy
health for ourselves nor secure repose for the dead.—
(Cheers.) I have very great pleasure in seconding the
resolution. The Doctor resumed his seat amidst re-
peated cheers.

Mr. ROGERS supported the resolution, and mentioned
that in St. Anne's churchyard he discovered, some
years since, that 114 bodies were interred in each grave,
amounting in the whole to 95,000, and, indeed, at that
time, the church was heated on Sundays by the burning
of old coffins. There were 210 churchyards in London,
33 of which were twice as bad as St. Anne's, 17 much
worse even than that, and St. John's, Clerkenwell, in a
much more lamentable condition than all put together.
After thanking the meeting for the manner they received
him, ho sat down amid cheers.
The resolution was then put and carried.
Mr. J. A. SNITLI, M.P., in proposing the second reso-
lution, said—My Lord, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I
imagine that many of those I address share
with me the feelings which the dreadful and
horrible details we have listened to have pro-
duced. I came here knowing only in a most
general and incomplete manner the extent of the evil of
which we are here met to complain, but I confess that
the details we have heard have filled me with a sense
nut only of horror but of shame, not only as one of the
community who have patiently endured such atro-
cities, but shame as a Member of the House of Com-
mons that I have not befora raised my voice, or
exerted my efforts for the removal of so
vast an evil.—(Loud cheers.) But I shall leave
this room with a strong and determined resolution that
as far as in me lies I will endeavour to put an end to t his
evil and filthy abomination—disgraceful to us as men—
disgraceful to us as Christians—and doubly disgraceful
to us as Englishmen, who pride ourselves in showing the
way in the advance and progress of civilization.—
(Cheers.) Your time has been so long occupied that I
cannot venture long to intrude upon you, but it is the less
necessary because the resolution I hold in my hand
points not to the past but to the future, and it alludes to
that course of conduct which is thought the best con-
ducive to the early and complete removal of this
abomination. The resolution which I hold in my hand
expresses the opinion that the removal of this evil must
be looked for from the House of Commons and the Legis-
lature of the country, and that the legislation to take
place on the subject, to be effectual, must originate
with and be supported by the Government.—(Hear,
hear.) In both opinions I entirely concur, and
I hope you who are around me, and more
especially those Members of the House of
Commons who are present, will unite with
me in doing that which, if firmly, temperately, and
consistently carried out, will ultimately convince the
Government of the necessity for putting an end to this
abomination.—(Hear, hear.) I conceive, with my Hon.
Friend the Member for Leamington, that the members
of the present Government are heartily disposed to take
a wise course in this matter, and I think it but just to
them, as it would be just to any Government with
whom I might not be so much disposed to
support, that nothing but the pressure of
public business has prevented them from taking up the
question and paying proper attention to a subject of most
vital importance to the best interest of the country.—
(Hear, hear.) But the present Government has
given us a pledge upon this particular subject,
and I think when they have an opportunity they
will not be slow in grappling with this question,
which is of great and vital consequence to the people
who inhabit large towns. As far as Government had
already gone in this matter of sanitary reform it is a
great step in advance, and they had succeeded in carry-
ing their measure in the feed of a most determined and
vexatious opposition.—(Hear, hear.) But lam pre-
pared to say, here or elsewhere, that if they were sincere
in the principle they then commenced, they cannot re-
fuse what we now demand.—(Hear.) And wbat is more,
they cannot delay it, because I must say that I have
heard with some pleasure the rea.arks which fell from
my Honourable Friend with regard to the objections
which had been made against concessions of this kind—
righteous and calm objections, which appear to me to
deserve no such name.—(Hear, hear.) What! are we
all to perish because the poor lates are to be somewhat
increased? Are we all to perish because the mi-
nister's burial fees would be diminished?—(Hear, hear.)
I am a Church of England man, I am a devoted friend
to the Church, but what are all these things, what are
fees upon burials, what are poor-rates, what aro all
these things ? Nothing more than means to an end—
nothing more than means taken to secure the moral
and physical welfare of the community.—(Hear, hear.)
Surely such horrid details as these we have heard to
night would justify the abandonment of anything.
I can't conceive that any man can possibly, in face of
such facts as these we have heard to-night, stand up and
arraign any moral argument in their favour.—(Bear,
hear.) Can any one be found hardy enough to defend
these filthy nuisances?—(Hear, hear.) I hope not, in-
deed, I believe not. No man can openly support them in
the face of day.—(Hear, hear.) I will not take up
more of your time, but I must be allowed to repeat that
have learnt a most painful, but I trust useful lesson
this evening. I hope you will share the benefit without
sharing the pain; but I hope above all you will with me
determine, as I said before, both here and elsewhere, to
spare no effort in the furtherance of this
most just and holy cause. (Hear, hear.)
I hope that you will join with me in giving utterance, as
Ido most unfeignedly to the feelings of gratitude andf
respect with which I view those men who, in the face on
dragging this subject under public;
predict, is not only
victory in their cause, I venture to
_have great plea-
' certain but immediate.—(Cheers.) I
opposition, obloquy, and
dderanpguebrii.
hnavoeticeP,crasenvderwedhosie
Majesty's
interringetTyThat after
otvheer Government.
dead,elon
nt
.g can
aTnhodan
That
patient
ant beitehnetremoved
year
ear 1
investiga-
tion, sroulrleo,wminygLroesrodinatniodnl:alies and gentlemen, in moving the
" That this meeting believes that the many injurious
consequences unavoidably resulting from the present
bas:ry:fet
Parliament,heg system
rsl legislative ve enactment, originated with, or supported
a Committee of the House of Commons reported to
they could not arrive at any other conclusion than
that the nuisance of interments in large towns, and the
injury arising to the health of the community from the
practice, were fully proved. That the evils of inter-
ment in towns and populous places had grown to such
a height, that no time ought to be lost by the Legis-
lature in applying a remedy. That this custom had
desecrated the repose of the dead, and injured the health
and feelings of the living, could not be denied. That
it had also exhibited the singular instance of the most
wealthy, moral, and civilized community in the world,
tolerating a practice and an abuse which had been cor-
rected for years by nearly all other civilized nations in
every part of the globe.' That these views of the
Parliamentary Committee of 1842 were affirmed by a
majority of the House itself in the year 1845. That
universal mischiefs require remedies, and, therefore, a
General Act, for the establishment of Cemeteries in
suitable localities, should be passed, as a measure of
wise Legislative economy, and of simple justice to the
nation."

Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON, M.P., rose to address the
meeting, and was received with vociferous cheering. He
said—My Lord, ladies, and gentlemen, I will occupy
your attention but a moment. I congratulate my friend,
Mr. Walker, in having at his command to-night a
superfluity of help—a, perhaps, somewhat novel
position for him to be placed in, one at least that must
encourage him, more especially after the very earnest
assurance he has received to-night from gentlemen of in-
fluence here and elsewhere, that their co-operation shall
be from this time forth given for the attainment of the
object he has in view. I had come prepared to make a
speech, but as we have had -more than enough to-night,
both in the way of argument and illustration, and appli-
cation and exhortation, I shall carry my speech home
with me—(Laughter)—and whenever Mr. Walker shall
stand more in need of coadjutors than he does
to-night, he has but to command me, and
tho speech I intended to make to-night, I
will give under cirumetances when it will be more
acceptable than at a quarter to eleven o'clock at
night.—(Cheers, and laughter.) One thing must be ob-
vious to all who are here, that we have in our midst a
stupendous nuisance. Any other nuisance of a similar
kind would not be tolerated for twenty-four hours.—
(Cheers.) Bills of indictment would i lodged n every
parish in the metropolis. Why then is
—a nuisance, perhaps, unparalleled in the
bygot
rid country—suffered to exist, and how is
it e
rid of? It exists because there is a general ignorance of
thish. nuisance
the extent of the evil. and of the dreadful c.,nsequence,
the prejudices and customs that have grown up among
feeelitnhgats.Lvraldeard.oheviaor.l)enclet twootuhlde
nteontdienrteesrtfe
us; and yet the removal of this nuisance would not be
resulting from ft.—akar.) It is tolerated because of
a course
orre
with the decorous stud siplemu performance of those
finest

rites which accompany the burial of the dead. On the
contrary, were the most sanguine hopes of dr. Walker
realised, so far from there fe.2in3. rely coneornitant evil
with the measure that ha recommends, privacy, security,
the decent and hecom'eg performance of the funereal
rites, and the adjuncts that are suitable to the sepulture
of the human body would all be attained by the passing
of such a measure as that which he desires. I am sure
every one who has attenaed this meeting to-night
must have received valuable light on a subject of incal.
culable importance to the health of the commuuity. I
should scarcely be surprised to hear of every individual
attending this meeting to-night resolving never to enter
a pariah church in the midst, of a graveyard until an end
has been put to the abomination which new exists.—
(Cheers.) If the facts that have been stated to-night
be correct, why then I can imagine no atmosphere more
deleterious than that which we are likely to breathe
within the walls of the sacred edifices where we go from
Sabbath to Sabbath to worship our common Maker. In
the midst of accumulated corpses, penetrated day and
night by a subtle and pernicious efflavia, impregnated
and pervaded throughot by ad that is noxious and fete!.
I cannot conceive any place in the world more likely to
prove injurious, if not fatal, to the human frame than
those edifices, which, while they are decent in their
external appearance and suitable in all their appoint.
menis, shetild also be at least paces that are not de-
structive of health.—(Cheere.) It may be said fey some
here, " I have gone backwards and forwards to and from
church for years, and am not sensible of any injury de-
rived from this habit." That may be so; it may be that
the high blessing ofd strong constitntion—(tlear)—the
consciousness of any derangement never occurring for an
instant—it may be that a comparatively slight indisposi-
tion may not be ascribable to the tainted atmosphere
breathed in the church—it may be possible that an in-
dividual has no idea of that danger; but remember there
are thousands and tens of thousands walking the streets
of this great metropolis every day_ that carry with them
a predisposition to receive infection, and though we may
have gone again and again for years to that church
without being sensibly affected by the impurity of the
atmosphere, scores of others may have been carried
away in the bloom of youth, smitten down by this in-
visible foe, to which frequent reference has been made to
night. I shall attempt to state no facts in further illus-
tration of the subject now before us; but we have certain
difficulties to overcome, and they must be overcome. We
have had a good meet ttenight, and a large amount of
intelligence among us; but what are we among the teem-
ing thousands sod millions of this great metropolis? lie
who would serve this cause must become a missionary in
it—(Hear, hear)—he must infuse throughout the circle
in which he moves the facts and information he gathered
up to-night. We have a great deal of ignorance to dis-
pel ere we can create that public opinion which has been
justly styled to night the most potent instrument in ef-
fecting any great social change. We have an overworked
House of Commons to deal with, and when there are so
many measures, all important in their way, consigned
session by session to

" Tim tomb of all the Capulets"—(A laugh).
we cannot expect, though the Hon. Gentleman who has
addressed you is so sanguine on the subject, that the
measure which is now recommended will meet with
a cordial acceptance and concurrence unless it be backed
by a visible and unequivocal manifestation of public
sentiment out of doors.—(Cheers.) And then there are
interests to be conciliated; and I do not wonder that the
Noble Lord stood somewhat in fear of an army of grave--
diggers, pickaxe in hand—(Cheers)—and undertakers in
the distance, and mutes too, and a number of other
worthy personages who are all mixed up with this great
subject—(Laughter)—and, above all, with his respect
for dignitaries and " the powers that be," that he should
stand in awe of the recipients of fees for burials in our
various parish churchyards; but I do agree with the last
speaker that these interests are not for an instant
to be considered in the presence of those unmitigated
evils arising out of the present system. If there are
interests that ought to be considered, let them be con-
siJered ; but let the object we have in view be attained,
and I shall be the last person in the world to deny the
claims which can be reasonably set up, or compensation
to whom compensation is due. Then we must put our
shoulders to the wheel, if we would effect the reform
that is so much required, and when it is effected there
are no feeliehes which animate the breast of a human
and religious be.ing which will not be gratified by the
accomplishment of the end we have in view.—(Loud
cheering.) Such revelations as have been made to-
night are sufficient to carry the thoughts of all
who are here back to ti,ose sad events in their history
when they have been called upon to consign to their last
resting place the bodies of !hose whom they have loved;
and, lest a repetition of those sacrilegious violations of
the tomb shall occur—lest again there shall be witnessed
the horrifying spectacle of Enow Chapel and Spa-fields
burying-ground—and even where most decency is ob-
served, in a repetition of the scenes of the best con-
ducted burial grounds there was much to grieve the
mind—l say, if we would not witness a repetition of this,
let us endeavour to accomplish this most wholesome and
desirable object. We have ground enough round the me-
tropolis—roads enough round the metropolis leading into
all the suburbs of this great city; we have the means of
conveyance ample, and, as for the matter of expense,
every shilling of thel extra expense, if there were any,
occasioned by the burying our dead out of the immediate
precincts of the city, would be more than realised to the
common fund at last by the preservation of health, by
the diminution of the pour, as by the saving from pre-
mature widowhood those who are deprived of their
husbands, as we have been told; and in a variety of
ways we shall be actually relieved from our burial bur-
dens, instead of augmenting them with almost contemp-
tible trifles which may be added to the expense of burial
under those altered circumstances. I know there
is one impediment to the creation of a strong public
opinion on this subject, and which I think is this, that
our considerations have reference to the human bcdy.
Now, lam disposed to respect the human body. I know
how tender are the feelings that are called forth in re-
ference to the dead bodies of those who while living
have become the objects of love. I would see that body
treated with decency and respect, both on account of the
associations connected with it in the minds of others, bu
because it has been the tenement of a soul of deathless
and illimitable powers.—(Cheers.) Bat if; instead of
those corpses being those of men, women, and
children, they were the dead bodies of any
other animals the system would not be tolerated
for a day.—(Cheers.) And yet remember that once de-
posited a few feet below the surface of the earth, the
exhalations arising from the decomposition of that body
are not less, but more pernicious than would arise from
the decomposition of any animal that you might deposit
in your midst. Let us, therefore, look at the matter in
connexion with this age of improvement, and through
the light of those facts which medical science and che-
mistry have put in our hands, and with whatever is de-
corous and solemn, and we shall come to the conclusi m
that the measure is demanded, and should at once receive
the respectful attention of the Legislature. This is all
that I have to say tonight on the subject. I shall
cordially co-operate to the best of my humble ability in
the exertions now being made, and I have only to say
that I cordially second this resolution, and fully agree
with the opinion which it records that to the Legislature
we ought to look for a remedy—a remedy not simply
applicable to the evil as it exists in this metropolis, but
throughout the United Kingdom, on this important
subject.—(Loud cheers.)
The resolution was then put and carried:with accla-
mation.
Mr. WYLD, M.P., in moving the third resolution, said
ho had no idea of carrying his speech home in his pocket,
because he wanted to get rid of the abominable system
of accumulating dead bodies by millions in the metro-
polis. What must the foreigner think when be passed
through some of our noble streets, to see them obstructed
by great mounds of human putrefaction, and yet when
the subject was broached in the House of Com-
mons the Honourable Member for Lymington and
himself were the only parties to raise their voices against
it.—(Hear, hear.) They were told then that sufficient
petitions had not been presented against the system to
justify the House in interfering with it, but he hoped,
when the question was next agitated in the Legislature,
no such objection would be raised up against them.—
(Hear, hear.) He did not agree with those who thought
they were likely to meet with opposition from the clergy,
for at a recent meeting of the vestries of St. Clement's
Danes, the Russell-court burial-ground was ordered to
be abolished.

A VOICE—It has not been abolished yet.
Mr. WYLD said it was to be closed forthwith, and in
order to get rid of the difficulty of removing the nuisance
the Rev. Mr. Denham, the incumbent of St. Mary-le-
Strand, had consented to forego his burial fees.—(Hear,
hear.) But independently of that circumstance, let him
remilid the meeting, that in all Cemetery Bills provi-
sion was made to reserve the payment of fees of
clergy; and he thought, therefore, in discussing this
question, they were not likely to meet with much op-
position from the clergy.—(llear, hear.) But in carry-
ing out this great measure of sanitary reform, if they
wished to make it acceptable to the poor man, they must,
at the same time, endeavour to got rid of the horse tax,
which yielded to the revenue about 20,0001., for if the
poor man had to pay that tax, it was not likely that they
could remove their dead to a distance.—(Hear, hear.)
He trusted, therefore, that this measure, which he
heartily supported, would be accompanied by some such
suggestion of that sort.—(Hear, hear.) He concluded by
moving the following resolution:—
" That, in accordance with the foregoing resolutions,
the following petition be signed by the chairman on be-
half of the meeting; and that he be respectfully requested
to take charge of its presentation to the House of Com-
' mons, and that the metropolitan Members be also re-
quested to support the prayer thereof.
" To the Honourable the Commons of the nid
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in
tePar-
liament assembled,
" Sheweth—That your petitioners have,. during many
_arising not only
years, had just cause for complaint,
from the number, but the overcharged state of the me-
tropolitan and other burial places.
That your petitioners have a firm conviction that the
numerous and incalculable evils inseparable from a state
of things at once destructive to health, degrading to re-
ligion, and insulting to humanity, will never be remedied
unless your Honourable House interposes its authority.
.6. That your petitioners desire to express their un-
feigned satisfaction that this national grievance was the
subject of inquiry by a Committee of your Honourable
House in the year IS-12, who reported, that, "after a long
and patient investigation, your Committ
acacne ofnot arriv
arrive
at any other con elusion than that the nuisance
inter-
ments in large towns, and the injury arising to the health
of the commr.uity from the
d practice,
are Cully proved."
That, from
evidence adduced before the Committee,
and many subsequent exposures of the terrible conse-
quences resulting and necessarily arising from the pre-
sent sy stein of interment, your petitioners venture to ex-
press their earnest desire, that the burial of the dead in
the midst of the living may be instantly and for ever
prohibited, by the closing of all burial-places in cities
VA tons, and by the adoption of such immures its may

N-

secure the public !roar the ;njurc-is and debasinetracas-
ticos at pr.( sea t exist:nga And tour petition eYetj
pray.'
That, for the purpose of carrying out • ibieCf .t
the petition, and of obtaining full and I: • ii,a'••-/
port, a fund ba immediately raised by sub-.• 0
donations, which a ill be received by thei IN;fc/`-'
cretary, Mr. Charles James Thicke, 17, • a74sy
street; by any member of the committee -lulters-X06..
fillowiug backers : —Messrs. Courts and ;
Messrs. Dlasterman, Peters, Mi?dred, and Co., 35,
cholas-lane; Messrs. Spooner, Attwood, and Co., Grace-
church•street ; and the Commercial Bank, Lothb'ury."
Mr. GEO. Ross, surgeon, seconded the resolution- He
stated that the shameful condition of the St. Vride's
burial-ground, at the back of Farringdon-street, w hick
had already been stigmatised by the general reprobat
of the public press, evidenced she absolute necessity 01'
comprehensive measure of legislation for the purpose of
abolishing thess evils. The City Sewers' Act was totally
incompetent to check the atroci,les perpetrated under
till plea of burying the dead. By a clause in that Act
it was rtgaired that at least five fect of soil should be
between the surface of the ground mad the top of the
coffin, and the gravedigger attached to that burial-
ground, in order to meet the requiromen is of the Act,
had baen actually obliged to dig through succfssive strata
of dead bodies, arid to toss up their Wens. ye remains,
for the purpose of fresh interments, dui leer lying the
evil the Act was intended to rernedy.—(l.lear,h,'ar, )
He
(Mr. Ross) states that the inhabitants of the adjacent
Houses were shocked by the gross indecencies they were
compelled to witness, and petitioned the churchwciruena
to close the ground. After alluding to the intelligen,ao
and humane feelings of one of the churchwardens, wha
desired to carry out the views of the petitioners, he said
that the coil( cove wisdom of the vestry decided that
the ground should be still further turned uu, to ascer-
tain what accommodation for burial might remain.
and that they literally ordered the opening of the ground
in those several places, turning out upwards of a; score
of decaying bodies from one place, and in another ex-
posing what is termed the " bone-hole," the desecrated
spot where the rotten carcases that are removed from ale
graves to make room for fresh interments are deposited
in one festering, putrefying heap.—(Hear, hear.) The
authorities who went to visit the scene were so disgusted
with the result of their own operations, that he believed
they had resolved to close the ground; if they did
not, he was resolved that they should hear more about
the matter. Thirty years ago the inhabitants petitioned
for the closure of the ground, and since that time there
had been nearly 3,000 bodies deposited there. It ap-
peared, however, that the local powers were very in-
adequate to carry out the object, even if the authorities
so desired, for any parishioner could demand, as a right.
to bury a relative iu the parish burial-ground.—(Hear,
hear.) It was, therefore, imperatively necessary that a
general Act should be' passed to place these matters on
a different footing. He (Mr. Ross), in advocating the
institution of a central .superintending authority, by no
means wished to curts ii the powers of local boards; on
the contrary, he thougl kt that their powers ought to be
increased; but that, for the security and well-being of
the public, they should .`ie compelled to do their duty,
which, considering the a •ectional interests often para•
mount in these boards, coul 'd not always be depended on.
Another'circumstance also , showed the urgent necessity
that existed for the appointee tent of inspectors to certify
to the cause of death, and the proper disposition of the
dead, viz., the evidence given b -y Dr. Russell, Rector of
Bishopsgate, and cited in Mr. Walker's most able and use-
ful lectures, to the effect, that out of 1,244 persons who
died within three years in that pub •b, ony 795 was ascer-
tained to have been buried either in the'parish ground or in
public cemeteries, a fact involving so h. Irrible a suspicion,
that it became the high moral charactOr of the British
people to vindicate their humanity, and L'o demand from
the Legislature the establishment of s system that
should place the sepulture of the dead under com-
petent and responsible control.
The resolution was put and carried with act ilamati".
Mr. GLADDEN directed the attention el the .nmeting to
the circumstance of the corporation of London receiving
the burial fees at Bunhill• fields burying groun, fa which
he thought would be a difficulty in the way of tl lair co-
operating with the society.
Mr. BRISCOE proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Vt,li.lker
who, he said, was the earliest and greatest champio.n of
the holy cause which they had assembled that evening
to support. lie trusted that as Mr. Walker had cc 11-
ferred on the people a national benefit he would also rem
ceive a nation's gratitude.—(Cheers.)
Dr. ALDIS briefly seconded the resolution, which was
put and carried unanimously.
Mr. W. SIMPSON moved a vote of thanks to the chair-
man, and said he was rejoiced to find him so attentive
at all times and in all places to the welfare of the working
classes and the poor, whose interests and feelinghad
been hitherto sadly neglected, which was also put and
carried unanimously
The Noble CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, wisbed
it to be distinctly understood that in mentioning that
the clergy were likely to oppose this measure, he did taut
mean to convey the impression that they ought to be,
disheartened by that circumstance.—(Hear, hear.) A
great general upon going into action always looked to
the worst side of his prospects. and in the same spirit he
had adverted to the opposition of the clergy as the
greatest obstacle they would have to contend against.
The obstacle, although the greatest they perhaps would
have to contend with, was not very great, and if it were
raised he had but little fears of being able to overcome
it. —(Cheers.)
The meeting then broke up, at about ,half.past eleven
o'clock.

DREADFUL OCCURRENCE AT
SAINT JOHN'S WOOD. •
During the last two or three days the neighbour-
hood of St. John's ood has been thrown into a must
painful degree of excitement, in consequence of a
report obtaining circulation, that four young wo-
men had been destroyed by inhaling the fumes of
charcoal, at the residence of Miss Caroline Mann,
the keeper of a boarding-school, No. 2, London-
road, and within a short distance of the Eyre Arms
Tavern.
It appears, upon inquiry, that the reports in
question are not without foundation, and that three
young women, in the service of the above-mentioned
lady, have fallen victims to the inhalation of char-
coal, whi'st. the .fourth remains in a very hopeless
condition.
The names of the deceased parties are Elizabeth
Tidd, aged twenty-vne, Fanny Carter, aged seven-
teen, Elizabeth Griffiths, aged sixteen. It appears
that these young women, and another, had removed
with Miss Mann's establishment, to the house No. 2
London-road, a few days Ago; and that one of them
being taken ill, went home to her friends, and re-
turned to Miss Mann's ec,tablishment on Tuesday.
She appeared to be very ill, sand went to lay down in
a lodge attached to the house, in front, on the bed
usually occupied by the page. She seemed worse to-
wards evening, and Miss Mann told one of the servants
that she thought some of then, had better remain
with their sick companion during the night. Miss
Mann at the same time expressed iher fears that the
place might be damp ; and there beik 11; no chimney or
fire-place in the apartment, she recoconended that a
patent stove, which consumed the prevored charcoal,
and which was usually employed in Ny arming the
hall of the mansion, should be removed t‘.. the place
in question, in order to air it. This was Llone, and
it is supposed that the whole of the four par,'Lls above
mentioned agreed to sleep in the place togL,Cher on
Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning, neither of the ser‘vants
making their appearance, as usual, some alarm was
created, and on Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper, opt fl-
ing the door of the apartment, the most appalliug
spectacle presented itself. Three of the young womei
lay in one bed, whilst the fourth lay in a small bed
which had been made up in another corner of
the apartment. The survivor lay between Tidd
and Carter ; and whilst they, as well as the
poor girl Griffiths, appeared quite lifeless,
she was still alive, but appeared in the last
agonies of death. Neither of the deceased females
had their nightcaps on, their hair was dishevelled,
their arms extended, and they had the appearance as
if they had struggled violently. On making this dis-
covery, Mrs. Wilson alarmed the inmates ; and Mr.
Crellin, surgeon, of the Wellington-road, was in-
stantly sent for. lie at once pronounced, w:ith re•
gard to Tidd, Carter, and Griffiths, life to be extinct,
and nearly so with regard to the fourth sufferer. He
however, instantly resorted to bleeding and other
remedies, and had her removed to another apartment,
where symptoms of returning animation, after some
hours, began to manifest themselves.

WORCESTER A SEA-PORT.-011 Monday last the
Two Brothers, bound for this city, from Dunkirk, ar-
rived at Gloucester, where the Custom-house nut ho-
rities would not allow her to proceed till she vrtts
discharged. The consignees accordingly determined oet
discharen.; her, and having paid the duty, she will be
reloaded ; the object in this instance being to show
the possibility of sea-borne vethcse ssels comingfree up to Worethe
ter. es-
We believe that, in days of trade,
Commissioners of Customs might be induced to relax
this rule in favour
lo,efrrsioatimvipoorreteasnttera;
trading an
terests of the city on the fact that all coasting mercantiledaui
we have to congratulate the
allowed to pass unimpeded by the sstttiarnitgeattirlaaesffivetchilonaitost
embraced by the Se.
fre',ghting a vessel
principal ports
the river. Already port of Gloucester up
.s‘, arrangementsth are being made for
at
,for Britain;this
andcit y ,
therefro m
is ono, ci ,cf,
the • • with
Ggurea
reason whythe T 1 ; ;''
..,ro.tw.c. salt may not henceforth be
shipped at Worcester for the coast of Ireland and else-
where.—Worcestershire Chronicle.
DEATII OF THE HON. ANNE RUSIIOUT.—This
estimable lady died at her house, Wansted G rove, Essex,
on Wednesday, the 4th April, after a long and painful
illness, which she bore with the greatest fortitude and
resignation. She was the daughter of the late Lord
Northwick and sister to the present peer. iler loss wii
be long deplored by her relatioss and friends, and by'
her death many distinguished families will be placed in
leo lining.
LORD PANMURS.—Much anxiety has boon ft'
during the past week regarding the state of the health
of this nobleman. Ilis Lordship has had an attack of
very serious illness ; and, though the fever has consi-
derably abated, there is little prospect of his restoration
to his usual state of health for a considerable time.
Edinburgh II itness.
EXTRAORDINARY INCREASE.—Mr. George Smitli
of At) Kettleby, near Melton, has now 36 lambs from
11 ewes, out of a flock of only 50 ; 3 ewes having
yenned 4 lambs each, and 8 ewes 3 each; and they are
all alive and doing well. The whole 50 ewes are rearing
109 lambs.