The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-13 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1851.

Tha Commons met at Twelve o'clock yesterday.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON moved the second reading of the
County Rates and Expcaiditure Bill. He had made
some alterations in its provisions, in order to meet cer-
tain objections which bad been made to the measure
of last sessior.
_ _

Sir J. PARIN6TON considered that the alterations made
the Bill even more objectionable than the mea-
sure of last year, and moved that it be read a second
time that day six months.
Sir G. GREY would Tote for the second reading, as he
approved of the principle of the measure; but ho would
suggest that it should be referred to a Select Committee,
not to take evidence, but to consider of its provisions.
Mr. W. Mitts opposed the Bill.
Mr. 1115:4E supported it because it proposed to give
the ratepayers some control over the expenditure of the
rates.

Mr. WODNHOUSE considered tho measure uncalled for.

Mr. W. PATTEN thought
the Government •
should
have taken char;' of tho measure. 1-10 was desirous to
give the Iltepayers a control over the county expendi-
ture.
Mr. J. ELLIs, Mr. 11. DAUMMOND, and sir
v RANEY
supported the second reading of the Bill; and on Mr.
MILKER GIBSON consenting to refer the Bill to a Select
Committee, Sir J. PAXINGTON withdrew his atiaendnaent,
and the Bill was read a second time.
Mr. BAINEs move the second reading of the Servants
and Apprentices Bill. Ha pro;osrd that in the case of
pauper apprentices there should be periodical visitations
on the part of parish authorities to them until they
should have attaintd the age of eighteen years; and that
in oases such as that of the SLoaNrs, the parochial autho-
rities should be authorised to prosecute, and to defray
the expenses of the prosecution ofit of the rates.
Mr. HUNLr.r, col, I and Si: J.DyCKSVORTIr
severally expmesed their approval of the Bin, which was
read a second time, and the louse adjourned.

Will Ministers be cautioned in time ? Will they
profit by the ptintal but satutary chastisement they
have mods cd, or will they persist in setting the
voice of public opinion at defiance, and pursue
blindly the downward course on which they have
entered, which must ultimately lead to destructic,n—
a destruCtion se complete as to be beyond the -pos-
sibility of redemption ? They have rectat'ved
two impressive waruiugs, and they should not

suffer the valuable lessons to be thrown away.
They should reflect that these castigations
were administered isy their own friends—
by men who would cordially co-operate in repelling
the attacks of the common enemy. They were for
acts of omission and not of commission, and it is
worthy of notice that measures on both subjects had
been promised by the Government. Mr. LOCKE
KING and Lord DUNCAN, however, in common with
the great body of Reformers throughout the entire
kingdom, desired to quicken their movements, and to
lender them a little more active than they have hitherto
been. There was nothing in either defeat to break up
an united Cabinet, conscious of sufficient strength to
carry on the government with credit to itself
and advantage to the nation. It was not, however,
the division en the motion of the Hon. Gentleman the
Member for East Surrey that led to the Ministerial
crisis. It might have had some effect, but it was of a
very trivial character, and would never have been
thought.of were it not for the embarrassments occa-
sioned by the Demme BUDGET. The reception
which that extraordinary monument of financial im-
becility encountered in all quarters from men of all
classes, creeds, and parties, astonished and confounded
the Premier. He saw that success was impossible.
The feelings of his followers had been tested, and
although willing to go far, they could not consent to
irretrievably damage their characters by supporting
the crotchets of Sir CHARLES WooD. He did not wish
to yield in the first instance. Nothing but a bold
stroke could save him, and he seized on
the defeat of the preceding day as affording a fitting
opportunity. He thought that the threat of resigna-
tion, and the possibility of a Protectionist Ministry
and an early dissolution, would reduce his refractory
troops to a state of quiescence, and banish the spirit
of discontent and insubordination that so extensively
prevailed amongst the occupants of the Ministerial
benches. He vainly supposed that it would produce
a prompt and ready obedience to his behests, however
unreasonable. At all events it would put off the
evil day, and afford an opportunity for revising and
remodelling the financial scheme.
In the last point it unquestionably had the desired
effect. A respite for four weeks was obtained, which,
if turned to a proper use, may have a beneficial effect.
But in the former he reckoned without his host. His
timid and vacillating policy has alienated and dis-
gusted former friends and allies, and men who would
at one time have strained every nerve to sustain the
" Liberal Ministry," will now scarcely take the
trouble of walking down to the House to avert a dis-
graceful and ignominious defeat from their quondam
leaders. The division on Tuesday evening proves
the truth of this assertion, notwithstanding every
exertion they could only whip in 119 Members. This
indifference is almost worse than open hostility. It
proves that they no longer can count on the loyalty
of their supporters, and their days are numbered, un-
less they can do something to revive the shattered
allegiance and regain the hold on the affecaons
of the Liberal party, which they have all but for-
feited.

For this they will have one, and but one, chance
more—and that will be on the publication of the
new financial scheme. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill
has dissatisfied men of all creeds and parties. The
Roman Catholics are indignant at it, and will strongly
resent any interference, however trifling ; any legis-
lation what,,oever will be equally displeasing to them ;
while the Protestants, who were excited at the Papal
aggression on the prerogative of their SOVEREIGN and
the independence of their country, justly regard
the measure before the House, neutral'z 3d
and emasculated al it has been by tree omission of its
most valuable clauLe-A, as worse then use:esF. The
Cabinet can therefore hope to gain no ground on that
measure. They may be well contented if they escape
further indignities with respect thereto. The new
Budget, then, is their only hope—it is the tabula in
haufra,;rio, at which they must clutch. Let them
deal with that boldly and comprehensively, and they
may yet be saved. Let them place the income-tax on
a more equitable and politic foundation. Let
them no longer attempt to charge the pre-
carious earnings of industry as highly as the
rents, dividends, and annual produce of accumulated
and realized property. The earnings of intellectual
libour may be regarded as so much taken from
capital, for the mind becomes gradually worn out in
the exertion, and its productive powers are gradually
diminished ; but such is not the case with rents or
dividends ; they are, as old DUSIBIIDYNES remarked,
" growing while ye're sleeping," and may be trans-
mitted unimpaired, if not improved, to the
children, at a time when the barrister or physician
has at length attained, in the silent grave, that rest
which was denied to him during this busy scene, and
his distressed family, deprived of the guardian and
provider,' are mourning the cruel injury done by the
paternal Government in seizing the fund that would
otherwise have been applied in insuring the life of the
departed, and thus making soma scanty provision for
the hapless survivors.
What modifications, then, will be made in
Schedules D and E of this impost ? Once more
we inform Lord JOHN RussHu. that the
feeling of the country is not opposed to a property-
tax, and that it may be considerably increased if cor-
reNponding reductions are made in the imposts that
are so loudly and generally complained of through-
out the length and breadth of the land. It is not its
amount, but its injustice and inequality that has dis-
gusted the people. Let him take the matter into his
own hands, for should he leave anything, however
trifling, to the " discretion" (discretion, GOD save
the mark!) of Sir CHARLES WOOD, he may from past
experience feel convinced that it will be thoroughly
botched, and that the Right Hon. Baronet " will
come to a conclusion totally opposed to common sense
and common justice."

Since the remarkable day when, two thousand
years ago, the Decemvirs interdicted the burial of the
dead within the city walls of Rome, proclaiming
their prohibition thus sententiously—.Horninem rnor-
tuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito—the folly as well
as danger of this disgusting system of sepulture has
been fully recognized. Nevertheless, little, if any-
thing has been attempted hitherto for the prevention
of its continuance. More than twenty centuries
have elapsed, and the decaying remains of mortality
are yet treasured up axons the abodes of the living, as if
for the express purpose of generating disease and mul-
tiplying the number of annual dissolutions. The recol-
lection of the endeavours adventured upon so long ago by
the Pagan administrators of antiquity, should be enough
of itself to shame our modern legislators into an in-
terference with the perpetuation of an evil custom so
opposed to the benign and sacred dogmas of Christi-
anity. Unhappily the people have looked forward
too frequently to perceive the realization of their
hopes in this particular, to continue now-a-days very
sanguine as to the future consequence of arguments in
their behalf. It was only a very few months back that,
as far as this great metropolis was concerned, the ma-
jority of observers imagined that the intramural grave-
yards were closed for ever. Even when first the
exultation of this credulous section of the community
became audible, it may be remembered by some that
we raised our voice in warning, and in the face of the
vaunted measure of amelioration predicted that it
would prove altogether ineffectual as a means of pre-
vention or even of mitigation. Gladly should we
have recognized the fallacy of our assertions by their
utter and signal non-fulfilment. Unfortunately
such satisfaction has been denied to us entirely.
The Bill has been reputed to have come into ope-
ration. The Sanitary Commissioners are still sitting
pertinaciously in Gwydyr House. The Parliament
is still apparently disposed to diminish, if possible, the
causes of epidemic diseases by insisting upon a more
stringent regard for public cleanliness. Yet the pes-
tilential churchyards of London are still kept open
for the reception of its departed inhabitants, they are
still reeking with abominable exhalations, they are
still the organized manufacturers of death as well as
the receptacles of its relics.
How long is this detestable evasion of the law, this
violation of decency n and outrage upon all Christian
sentiment!, to continue ?
Can it be' tolerated much
Our answer to these very
longer with impunity ?
natural inquiries may be conjectured. Recently we
were gratified to observe that the lion. Gentleman
the Member for Penryn, and the Gallant Represen-
tative of Westminster, directed the attention of the
Commons to the miserably inoperative character of
the Bill not long since passed through both Houses of the
Imperial Parliament. Unless something be done by tbe

authorities for the diminution of the existing grievances,
and that moreover forthwith, the community may
have further reason to deplore the indolence of both
the Legislature and the Administration. With the
approach of the warmer season of the year, will arrive
a multitude of visitors to the English capital, persons
attracted hither for an interval by the allurements
of the great Industrial Exhibition. With their gradual
advent will descend upon those who are officially en-
trusted with the conservation of public health a larger
and larger amount of responsibility. The means of
drainage should be increased. The supply of water
should be greater than it has ever been hitherto. The
general purification of the metropolis should, in fact,
become more than ever the object of especial solici-
tude. For otherwise the mortality must inevitably
be disproportionately multiplied. We should strive
if it be not practicable to prevent the calculating
powers of the Registrar- General from being unne-
cessarily overtaxed. Among the various methods of
guarding the lives of the vast numbers assembled
together within the twin cities of London and West-
minster, and their surrounding suburbs, some
moderate attention, we opine, should be paid
to the requirements of enforcing the present
Act for the organization of a system of extramural
interments. If, for nothing else, activity should be
shown in this particular through very shame of the
opinions formed by foreigners of oar national charac-
ter. Added, however, to our natural anxiety to secure
the esteem of these our observing and intelligent
visitors, there is the thought that, by properly
regulating our metropolitan burials, a terrible scourge
may be avoided. Let one or two wholesome re-
flections in reference to this subject be borne
just now in timely consideration. What says
the distinguished originator of the whole movement ?
He observes : _ _

" London, whose ' enormous body is composed of
nearly 10,000 streets, squares, places, terraces, lanes,
alleys. &c., with a population of nearly 2,000,000 of
souls,' has upwards of 250 places for the burial of its
dead, whose numbers amount to about 50,000 annually.
It will occur to your readers that the disposal of the
bodies of 50,000 beings who once possessed the same
living attributes as themselves, involves, as I have hinted
in my first letter, some highly-important questions—
medical, moral, and political. I believe I am able to
show that, to make out a case against the existing sys-
tem, neither speculative theories nor flimsy sophiatries are
required, but that a strict attention to facts founded upon
actual observation, backed by experiment, will lead to
the conclusion at which the writer has long since ar-
rived, viz , that either gross ignorance or moral cowardice,
or a combination of both, has heretofore prevented the
general denunciation and complete extermination of the
practices which it is my task to expose.
" This reflection leads me ,to a principal division of
my subject. How, for instance, can a burial-place
well known to have been years ago pre-occupied by
tenants, receive fresh additions? Have the number
of burial-places opened from time to time been
, commensurate with the rapidly-increasing population,
and consequent increased mortality in our largo towns,
within the last fifty years? In what localities have such
pieces been principally opened? Has any sanitary sur-
veillance been exercised over them ? Has the
proximity of the majority of these burial-places
to the abodes of the living been productive
of good or of evil consequences ? Have the
moral and physical results to the population of such
localities been negative or positive? Are not means etn-
ployed to make room for new tenants? Must not the
continual turning up of the soil (for in many such places
it is dark, cohesive, and smells palpably of its human
composition), saturated as it is with putrid animal matter,
contribute to diffuse around the invisible germs of dis-
ease? Will any one venture to assert that health is un-
injured in such an atmosphere? These are questions
that deserve serious attention. Some there are who,
knowing better, but anxious to lose no opportunity of
prolonging a sj stem now tottering to its foundations,
have resorted to misrepresentations and a suppression of
facts. What say they to the considerations involved in
the points now mooted?"

Those were the opinions long since expressed by
GEORGE ALFRED WALKER in his masterly pamphlet
o❑ "Interment and Disinterment." The arguments
put fiat ward at the time of its publication have only
found a terrible increase of corroborative evidence
since then ; insomuch that the matter now admits of
no denial whatsoever. The old corn-laws may still
find, to this moment, advocates for their revival. The
penal enactments which even now disgrace the statute •
books of England may discover in certain fanatics,
men capable of demanding their rigorous reinforce-
ment. Almost any abomination, however apparently
obvious, may be defended and eulogised even in these
days of boasted enlightenment. One evil, neverthe-
less, sets every imaginary extenuation at defiance—
the evil, unhappily still existing, of intramural inter-
ment. Surely the time has at length arrived for its
removal from amongst us, as a vestige of the most
barbarous and benighted ignorance.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday

The Moniteur publishes a decree conferring the
dignity of a Marshal of France on General EXCEL-
MANS. _ _ _

M. BERRYER has given notice of a motion for the
repayment of the tax of 45 centimes imposed by the
Provisional Government; and to procure the funds
for such repayment he proposes to re-establish the tax
upon salt for four years, and to add to the import
duty on foreign salt ; that is to say, he proposes to
rob every man, woman, and child in France who eats
salt, and to put the proceeds into the pockets of the
landowners. This is a foretaste of the sort of legis-
lation which the industrious classes may expect in
the event of a Legitimatist restoration.
A letter has been received from the Prince DE JOIN.
YILLE repudiating all attempts at fusion. He declares
himself not willing to be absorbed among the partisans
of the Comte DE CHAMBORD.
The Messager de l' Assernblie contains the fol-
lowing :—" We are assured that the question of a
Ministerial modification is about to receive a
solution, by the formation of a Parliamentary
cabinet. M. Waisse, it is said, is to abandon
the department of the Interior, and to replace M.
Latour- Memeray as prefect of Algeria ; General
Randon is to preserve the portfolio of the War de•
partment. The new members in the Cabinet are to
be the following :—lnterior, M. Baroche ; Justice.
M. Rouher ; Public Works, M. Chasse-loup-Laubat ;
Marine, Admiral Dupetit-Thouars, Commerce ; M.
Magne, Foreign Affairs ; M. Drouyn de l'Huys ;
and Public Instruction, M. Fortoul."
The Bourse was extremely dull, with very little busi-
ness doing. The Five per Cents. opened at 941. 10c.;
and closed at 94f. 15c.; the Three per Cents. closed at
57f. 85e.; Orleans Railroad Shares, 887 f. 50c.; Rouen,
6251. 50c.; Havre, 276 f. 25c.; Great Northern, 4761. 25c.;
Vierzon, 4251.; 13:131e, 1531. 75c.; Paris and Strasburg,
366 f. 25c.; Tours and Nautes, 255 c.

BUSINESS DOlkiE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, MARCH 12. _

Boulogne and Amiens, 95,4 Central of France (Orleanp
and Vierzon), 17—Dutch Rhenish, 31,1—East Indian, 15%—
Great Indian Peninsula, 2%—Luxembourg, I—Ditto, 21,4—
Maria Antonia, GlA—Ditto, New, 21,4—Namur and Liege, 8—
Northern of France, 15—Orleans and Bordeaux, 3,a.