The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-03 00:00:00

BURIAL IN TOWNS.
(From the Leicester Chronicle.)
" And who would lay
His body in the city burial-place,
To be thrown up again by some rude sexton,
And yield its narrow house another tenant,
Ere the moist flesh had mingled with the dust,
Ere the tenacious hair had left the scalp,
Exposed to insult lewd, and wantonness ?
No, I will lay me in the village ground ;
There are the dead 1 espected."—H. K. WHITE.

We should neglect the performance of a duty, were
we not to continue unceasingly to point out the evils of
urban interment, as one of the many causes of public ill-
health. So much happiness or misery depends upon
attention to such matters as those upon which we are
about to treat, that it would be criminal not to enforce it
upon the community continually and determinedly. Not
only must a conviction of the great mischief accruing
from the practice of burying the dead in the midst of the
living, be created, but that conviction must be repeatedly
appealed to, and the feelings of people thoroughly
aroused in detestation thereof. Rich and poor should
be alike made to see that their homes are not safe from
the invasion of pestilential fever—that the bodies of their
friends do not lie safe, sacred, and undisturbed in their
graves—so long as the shocking custom of town burial
continues in existence. .

There is no valid reason, either, why it should be
practised. Early precedent, for one thing, is not to be
cited in its favour. We find from Mr. Walker's volume
on this subject (the " Gatherings from Graveyards"*),
that in the early ages of the Christian Church burial
out of the city was an obligation upon all. The bodies
of the deceased friends of the Christ►ans were placed in
catacombs or cemeteries situated at a distance from hu-
man habitations. The plan of interment within churches
was commenced, it seems, by Constantine, whose example
was followed in the case of other Emperors, and of the
benefactors of the church. Afterwards, it became still
more general; yet, the Christian Emperors always cen-
sured the custom: Theodosius (A.D. 381) especi .11y for-
bade it in his code. Early councils also interfered to pre-
vent the practice. It was condemned, too, in an ordi-
nance of the Archbishop of Toulouse, couched in terms
the most forcible and convincing.
In 1765 the Parliament of Paris made a decided stand
against the system, which had caused almost universal
complaints about its noxious effects. Indeed, the French
people have all along shown a greater regard for the
public health and more respect for the dead than we
have, as a nation, despite the charges of irreligion and
immorality which are often urged against them. In the
city of New York, too, a Board of Health reported upon
this subject, in 1806, and a prohibition of interment
within the city was afterwards formally determined
upon. The report stated that the practice " ought to be
prohibited. A vast mass of decaying animal matter,
produced by the superstition of interring dead bodies
near the churches, and which has been accumulating for
a long lapse of time, is now deposited in many of the
most populous parts of the city. It is impossible (pro-
ceeds the report) that such a quantity of these animal
remains, even if placed at the greatest depth of inter-
ment commonly practised, should continue to be inoffen-
sive and safe."
In the course of his work Mr. Walker has accumulated
a mass of evidence to prove the dangerous nature of
town burial, against which it would be utterly hopeless
to appeal. It would be as foolish to deny the mischievous
effects of the custom as to doubt the life-destroying pro-
perty of prussic acid.
Is the human heart so callous to right feeling that men
must wait until their own parents or relations are
dragged from their graves, before they will think, act,
and speak out on this question ? If only this will
satisfy them, let them consult the grave-diggers. They
could tell them tales that would " make their blood run
cold ;" they could make fearful revelations about the
mangled corpses of the friends of many a man who con-
soles himself that his once-loved parent or child reposes
undisturbedly in the grave. But we need not go to the
grave-diggers for facts on this subject. We have heard
of a parent seeing the mutilated remains of his own child
knocked about in the earth, and we have been told by
eye-witnesses of persons having been buried near their
parents, when the dead bodies of those parents fell out
of their coffins, dismembered, into the newly-opened
grave : and these things, too, in Leicester churchyards.
How often do the vaulted aisles of our churches ring
with denunciations of the infidel, the sinner, the sectary,
and the Papist; yet, from day to day, and from week to
week, the ministers of God's Word are themselves vio-
lating its most solemn behests, are themselves counte-
nancing, aye, and profiting by, a practice which shocks all
decent feeling, and which wounds the holiest ties of hu-
manity! Will the inhabitants of this large town remain
for ever indifferent upon this question? Are considera-
tions of public health, morality, and religion so feeble
among us, that no movement will ever be made to abo-
lish the practice? Is there no latent apprehension,
either, among us, that whenever another dreadful visi-
tation, like that of the cholera, sweeps over the face of
the country, our utter disregard of sanitary precautions
will bring upon us a terrible retribution?

We heartily commend this work to the approval of the
public, as an able, unflinching, and powerful exposure of the
numerous and varied evils of town interment. To it, as well
as the energetic and public• spirited exertions of its author,
the country is indebted for the rise of the movement upon
this subject, and to the notice which the Poor- law Commis-
sioners (through Mr. Chadwick) have since bestowed upon
it, although, we are sorry to say, with an ungracious and un-
worthy disposition to overlook Mr. Walker's labours. For
some time before the Supplemint to the Sanitary Report (on
" Interment in Towns") was printed, Mr. Walker had been
making great personal exertions, by calling public meetings
by publishing works, by addressing letters to the editors of
the metropolitan press, and by being the cause, in a great
measure, of the appointmant of a Committee of the House
of Commons, to awaken the country to a sense of the mis-
chiefs attending the practice we are here alluding to. To
him, therefore, belongs the merit of having enlightened and
aroused the public mind on this subject, and not to the Go-
vernment, or its agent, who would in this, as in some other
cases, deprive real worth of its due—if they could.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
CITY, MONDAY EVENING.

TIMES.—As the division of the Bank of England
into two departments first came into operation to-
day under the new Act, a description of the present
arrangements of that establishment may be gene-
rally interesting. The issue department is limited to
the payment of gold for notes, notes for other notes,
and notes for gold coin and bullion, and silver bullion.
For the purpose of carrying on the business of this
department the western end of the hall has been
fitted up. This arrangement is, properly speaking,
the only one that can be called a new one. The
banking department, from which the issue depart-
ment is severed, is subdivided into two sections, one
under the chief cashier, the other under the chief ac-
countant. The cashier section embraces the drawing-
office for private accounts, the drawing-office for
public accounts, the Bank Post Bill-office and the
Dividend Pay-office, while the Accountant's section
comprises all the stock offices, both for dividend and
transfer. The Accountant's office for 51. notes and
upwards may be properly classed as belonging to
the issue department.
The Bank of England deserves commendation for
the attention to public convenience which they have
shown in one instance. We allude to their reten-

tion of a quantity of silver coin in their vaults for
the benefit of the public,—including not only their
customers, but any one who may ask for a quantity
of change in silver. This coin is said to amount to
nearly 150,0001., and is reserved by the Bank with-
out any legal compulsion under the new Act, and of
course, entirely without profit.
SUN.—The Funds closed firmer than they were about
mid-day, though they did not reach the opening point of
the morning. Consols were 98-a sellers for Money, and
buyers for Account. Exchequer Bills were 755. to 735.
premium. The Three per Cents. were 921 to t. Ex-
chequer Bills were worth 755. to 735. premium.
The Spanish
.Securities left off much the same as they
opened. Spanish Three per Cents. were 33,-1 1, and the
Five per Cents. 221 41. Old Portuguese Stock was at
80i. Chilian Deterred Bonds were at 50. Dutch Two-
and-a-Half per Cents. were 618 to -a.
The additional transactions have been these :—Bristol
and Gloucester were 25 ; Eastern Union, ; Great
Western, 66 ; Ditto, Fifths, 128 ; Croydon, 5 to 44 ;
Lynn and Ely, 21 ; Manchester and Leeds, 53 ; Ditto,
Half, 214. Newcastle and Darlington, 25 ; South-
Eastern, 5 ; Ditto, New, 81 ; York and North Midland,
Scarborough Branch, 22 ; Ditto, Selby Scrip, 36 ; Paris
and Orleans, 17 ; Ditto and Rouen, 174 ; and Rouen
and Havre, 8 premium. Blackwall, 98 ' • Brighton, 18 to
2 ; and Thames and Medway, 9* to a discount. Aus-
tralasia Bank Shares were 98 premium.
The following letters have been addressed to the agent
for New Granada, to which his Excellency has not
deigned to reply:—

" 18, Austin Friars, Aug. 14.
" Sir,—The Committee of Spanish American bond-
holders beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the sth inst.
" By a letter received from you by this Committee,
dated Paris, July 22, 1843, it appeared that you had
then under your charge the sum of 291,621 dollars,
which had been from time to time remitted to England
for the purpose of being applied to the payment of the
interest on the portion of the Colombian Foreign Debt
appertaining to New Granada, the same being derived
from the portion of the Custom-house revenue appro-
priated by Congress to this purpose.
"As this fund has of necessity received some augmen-
tation during the intervening period, the Committee are
desirous of now being informed what the sum at this
moment is in your custody. That this information
should be withheld from the bondholders, the Com-
mittee :are persuaded you will, on consideration, see
there can be no ground whatever. The money in question
has been set apart by a decree of the Congress of
New Granada specially for the payment of the bond-
holders, it has been remitted to England for that pur-
pose; and that information should be withheld from the
bond-holders of the amount thereof now in hand in
London, is a circumstance for which the Committee
could not have been prepared. The Committee earnestly
request the favour of a distinct communication in answer
to their inquiry for the information of the bondholders.
—I have the honour, &c.

" M. M. Mosquera, Esq."
" 13, Austin Friars, Aug. 22.
" Sir,—l am directed by the Committee of Spanish
American bondholders to request the favour of an
answer to their letter of the 14th inst. I have the

hon‘mr, &c.
" M, Mosquera."
The Committee of Spanish American bondholders,
from whom these letters emanated, ought not again to
put themselves in correspondence with M. Alosquerv.,