The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-08 00:00:00

THE DESECRATION OF THE DEAD AT
ST. MARTIN'S CEMETERY, CAMDEN
TO WN.

Yesterday, in consequence of the publicity'
which had been given by the press to the re-
, volting desecration of the dead in St. Martin's
Cemetery at Camden-town, during the earlier por-
tion of the preceding week, the scene of this
shameful violation of public decency was visited by
thousands, anxious to testify by ocular demonstra-
tion the truth or falsehood of the staten cents which
have been put forth upon the subject.
As early as eight o'clock in the morning, in ad-
dition to a large number of the S Division of police,
under the orders of Mr. Superintende=nt Loxon and
Inspector Fidge, a numerous detachment of the
reserve of the A Division also arrived, and was sta-
tioned in the vicinity and over vari pus parts of the
ground. A communication, it is understood, had
been made by the Commissioners of Police to the
authorities of St. Martin's-in-thri-Fields, that in the
present excited state of the public mind the only
security for the preservation of the peace and for
their property was in allowing free access to the
public, not only over that portion of the ground
where the excavations had been made, and the
bodies and remains continue exposed, but over the
entire cemetery. The resin t proves that the course
adopted was the correct One.. and it is the opinion
of the police authorities th emselves that had any
attempt been made to prevcn t the public from wit-
nessing what they had come .to see, and giving vent
to their feelings thereon, the rui4lings of the ceme-
tery would have been forced, at id a riot the con-
sequence.

It is computed that at least fron.i 30,000 to 40,000
persons visited the burial-ground thinoughout the
day, and whilst they might be he lard in every
direction and at every moment giving vent to their
feelings, disgust awl indignation at ,the perpetra-
tion of such a wanton and shameful d esecration of
the dead, and to the effect that it was much worse
than they expected to find it, no single case of dis-
order or confusion occurred.

During Saturday night it appears that some of
the more offensive specimens of decay ed mortality
had been removed from public gaze, land in other
parts the boards of the hoarding, w f l'o'i had been
dashed into the ground by the infer; s ded populace
on Thursday evening, were covered over the re-
mains ; but. they were soon removed, znd the evi-
denCes of the atrocious violation of 1 =Mk decency
which had been indulged in for the la ake of filthy
lucre were exposed to view. It mua t not be sup-
posed either that the thousands win ) visited the
scene of desecration were merely the, working and
humble classes of society. When Divine service
was over at St. Stephen's, and adj; went places of
worship, elegantly dressed ladies a md gentlemen,
with their families, with their bibl Ges and prayer-
books in their hands, might be seen wending their
way in hundreds to the spot, and lea ving with ex-
pressions of sympathy and horror do' pitted in their
faces at the sickening sight they la ad witnessed,
and the same feeling appeared tope] r vade the minds
of every one, no matter to what clan a they belonged.
To add to the excitement, the walls of the cemetery
were covered with placards annoy racing a public
meeting of the inhabitants in the fol 1 owing terms
" APPALLING DESECRATION 0 f THE GRAPE-
YARD IN CAMDEN-STREET, CAT II DEN-TOWN.—A
public meeting of the inhabitant .4 s of St. Pancras
will he held in the Vestry-hall, King's-road, on
Tuesday, November 9, to receive the opinions of
those interested in the matter, rc nd to take such
measures as may by them be de E :med expedient.
The Rev. J. Fitzgerald, incumbent of St. Stephen's,
Camden-town, will take the chafe at seven o'clock
p.m. precisely.—By order of tin) committee, G.
Kingcombe, Hon. Sec."
The committee of inhabitants have prepared a
memorial, to be submitted to the meeting for adop-
tion, to the Bishop of London, praying him to
revoke the faculty, which, like i he act of Parlia-
ment empowering them to build ~ they believe to
have been obtained by, false re.; presentations. A
subscription has also been open ed to carry the
matter, should such a course be is ecessary, into the
Ecclesiastical Court. In the metuatime, the autho-
rities of St. Pancras are determin ed to protect the
public health, as well as decent by pursuing
their summonses to the fullest o xtent under the
Public Health and Removal o Nuisances Act,.
against the churchwardens, &c. , of St. Martin's,
and to carry the case, by injunct ;ion, into the Court
*of Chancery.