The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-15 00:00:00

BUNHILL-FIELDS CEMETERY

On Thursday this time-honoured place of sepulture,
about which so many interesting associations—historical,
religious, and political—linger, was formally opened to the
public, with much ceremony, under the auspices of the
Corporation of the City of London, for purposes of peaceful
recreation, it having for the last seventeen years ceased
to be used as a burying-ground, and was at one time
threatened with appropriation to secular uses. A few years
ago the lease under which the Corporation of London hod
held the Finsbury Prebendal Estate for more than 3CO
years ran out, and the estate, of which the burial-ground
formed part, passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners. It had been set apart as a place of inter-
ment by the Corporation 200 years ago, and was enclosed
at the cost of the city in 1603, in the Mayoralty of Sir
John Lawrence, Knight, as an inscription over one of the
entrances still records. In it lie the remains of men
whose memory and writings are among the most precious
of the national heirlooms. The ground is usually
associated in the public mind with the Noncon-
formists, and it was called accordingly by Southey
" the Campo As'anto of the Dissenters.'; This it was
to a great extent, but not exclusively so, for probably every
denomination of Christians has there found a resting-place
for its dead. There lie the remains of, among others, Jolla
Bunyan, " the iminortal dreamer," and Daniel Defoe; Lieu-
tenant-General Fleetwood, Cromwell's son-in-law ; Lady
Erskine and Dame Maria P ugh, pious and devoted women of
their time; Mrs. Susannah Wesley, the mother of the
Wesleys ; George Fox, the Quaker ; Dr. Isaac Watts; Dun-
ton, the bookseller ; Ritson, the antiquary ; Stothard and
Blake, the painters ; Thos. Hardy and John Home Tooke;
the reformers; David Nasmith, the founder of City missions;
the Rev. Joseph Hughes, founder of the Bible Society ; Dr.
Thomas Goodwin ; the Rev. Daniel Neal, historian of the
Puritans ; Dr. Abraham Rees, editor of the Encyclopcodia ;
and many more persons cf note. Of late a rumour
obtained that there was some likelihood of the ground
being turned, in part, at least, to some common uses ; but
a spirited protest having been made by many leading Non-
conformists, at the head of whom were Mr, J. R. Mills, and
Mr. Samuel Morley, M.P., against such a designaiian, the
intention was abandoned, if over it existed, and at the
instance of the Corporation an Act of Parliament was
recently passed securing for ever the ground from any
preversion from its original and sacred uses. Since
then the civic authorities havo expended a considerable
sum in laying it out in an ornamental manner, in plant-
ing it with trees and flowers, and in restoring many of
the monuments which have a historic interest. Yesterday
the Lord Mayor, accompanied by Alderman and Sheriff
Causton, Mr. Sheriff Valentin, and the Under-Sheriffs,
went in state from the Mansion-house to attend the cere-
mony.

Arrived upon the ground, where many hundreds of
well-dressed people, admitted by ticket, had assembled,
Mr. CHARLES REED, M.P., Chairman of the Bunhill-
fields Preservaticn Committee, said :—Five centuries
have passed since this manor was granted by the
Prebend of Halliwell and Finsbury to the citizens
of Loudon in return for services rendered to the
Church. In the midst of the fen, beyond the city wall, a
tumulus or mound marked traditionally the site of Saxon
burial. This spot has been so used from time immemorial,
and in 1549 more than 1,000 carticads of human remains
were removed from the charnel-house of St. Paul's Cathe-
dral and deposited here. From that period there were
burials around the Bone-hill, which soon acquired the name of
Bunhill-in-the-fields. In the days of tho first Stuart, and
during the period of the Commonwealth, burial in this ground
was much sought of ter by families who could claim no right of
interment in the City churches; and the Corporation of Lon-
don in 1605 enclosed the hithei to unprotected spot for the
use of the Nonconformists. It is true that this place
boasts no gilded shrines or splendid mausoleum, and yet
through England, in America, and the colonies an interest
is felt in this humble spot of earth scarcely second to that
with which the Abbey of Westminster itself is regarded.
Not the "rude forefathers" are buried here, but the
founders of families ; not solely the citizen, but the pious
and learned pastors and teachers of every religious com-
munity; not divines alone, but men distinguished in lite-
rature, science, and art. I desire to add that in all the repa-
rations and alterations carried on within this enclosure not a
fragment of stone has been taken away, nor has any por-
tion of the soil been removed. Tombs have been raised
from beneath the ground, stones have been set straight,
illegible inscriptions have been deciphered and re-cut,
hundreds of decayed tombs have been restored, paths have
been laid and avenues planted; and in all, the sacred rights
of sepulture have been scrupulously respected.
The Loub MAYOR said Mr. Reed had carried back their
recollections to a period of time very different from
that in which they had the happiness to live, but it
was most desirable that people should now and then look
back upon those distant times and try to place themselves
in the position in which the eminent men whose names had
been referred to then occupied. It might be that people
visiting the place and looking around on the monuments
of the honoured dead would have their nintts carried back
to the times in which they lived; and that they knight
possibly catch a portion of the spirit that had animated
them, and would go away with the determination to du
what was right and true, regardless of all considerations
of self-interest or expediency, whether political, moral, or
religious.
The Earl of SnArrEsnunv added a few words. The
cemetery was not to be a place of amusement, nor of joy or
revelry. It would be no loss impossible for persons of
sober or steady hearts to walk through it without having
their thoughts lifted from the earth in which they lived to
the better world to which they all were tending. Let them
seek to emulate the virtues of men like Daniel Defoe, Isaac
Watts, Thomas Goodwin, and many others whose remains
were interred there. Among them was ono name which
was perhaps more honoured than all the rest—he meant
the glorious old Bunyan. Let them consider the dignity
which in God's providence that man had conferred upon
labour.

Mr. SAMUEL MORLEY, M.P., in the name of the public,
briefly expressed the obligations they owed to the Lord
Mayor and the Corporation of London for the manner in
which they had surmounted the obstacles which at one
time stood in the way of the preservation of the ground
from secular uses.

The LORD MAYOR then formally declared the ground to
be opened, and with that the ceremony terminated.
In the evening the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress en-
tertained the principal persons who had taken part in the
proceedings at dinner at the Mansion House.

An American paper says that Boston boasts of a
oitizen who on his 100th birthday ordered a pair of shoes,
saying he wanted them stoutly built. The shoemaker
remarked that ho might not live to wear them out, but he
sharply retorted that he began this 100 years a good deal
stronger than he did the last ono.
ENGLISH PRIDE AND LORD PALMERSTON.—AS
an example of the pride of Englishmen, the Domino tells
the following story :—" While Marshal Sebastiani was
French Minister in this counts y, ho sat next Lord Palmer-
ston at a City dinner, and, after listening to all that was
said in praise of England in the various speeches deli-
vered during the evening, he remarked to his neighbour,
'Oh, my lord, if I was not a Frenchman I should wish
to be an Englishman' `And I,' coldly replied old Pam,
(le 'deux Pam), if I was not an Englishman, should wish
to be one.' "

A NURSE AND CHILD LOST.—The unusually
quiet town of Maidenhead, Berks, has been thrown into a
state of excitement owing to the fact that a nurse had
stolen a child and mysteriously disappeared with it. The
child belonged to Colonel Hickie. Late on Saturday night,
when the discovery was made, many rumours were afloat
of the supposed insanity of the nurse, of the ditches in
the neighbourhood being -searched, rivers dragged, and
nothing was found. Tho distress of the parents was great,
the police were soon startled into activity, and Superin-
tendent M'Graw suggested the propriety of searching the
box of the missing woman. It was then found that she
had taken all her things with her; but no clue could be
found at either of the railway stations, and the event was
soon the general talk of the town. The nurse is said to
be an Irishwoman, and it is supposed that she walked to
Slough. When the police arrived there she had left some
four or five hours, and, it is believed she was last seen in
Hammersmith.

AUSTRALASIAN GOLD.—The imports of Australa-
sian gold into the United Kingdom in the eight months
ending August 31 this year amounted to £5,151,549, as
compared with £4,361,245 in the corresponding period of
1863, and £3,277,613 in the corresponding period of 1867.
The amount of the gold brought down by escort in the
province of Otago, New Zealand, in the first six month
of this year was 71,21.10 z., as compared with 71,6180 z. in
the first six months of 1863. It is stated that there is a
prospect of a valuable goldfield being found in the Mare-
whenua district about 40 miles from Oamaru, in the province
of Otago. Mr. Warden Robinson has been directed to
visit the workings, and report upon them to the Provincial
Government. About 100 men were at work in the locality
at the last dates, some good specimens of auriferous quartz
bad been found, and, as the district adjoins that of Mount
Ida, it is expected that a similar formation will be found to,
exist over a wide extent of country. There are now 87
companies formed in connection with the gold mining of
the Thames fields, in the province of Auckland, NOW Zeiti
land. These 87 companies had raised between them capital:
to the amount of 4270,201. A large demand for sidLted;
mining labour is stated to prey op, V10;114/40 fields.'
which are extruzdiumily Lam;

HER MAJESTY.

BALMOPAL CASTLE, Oct. 13.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Beatrice,
and attended by the Marchioness of Ely, went out
this morning.
Her Majesty, acc)rnpanied by Princess Augustus
of Saxe- Coburg, drove out in the afternoon.