The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-27 00:00:00

woula
portant of these r _
be dismissed without ben ,
it will be for Government to devib,
efficient, extensive, and immediate—for a cont...

things the more discouraging, inasmuch as it is thus
simply and fairly stated by a journalist resident on the
spot. The evil, which is felt to be so near at hand, is
the more appalling, inasmuch as it is not to Le
treated as if it might prove only a temporary visita-
tion, and one, therefore, to be endured under some
reasonable assurance of being speedily withdrawn.
If the cultivation of Trinidad, or any other of these
important colonies, be once allowed to run out, and
the soil to return to fallow, it is certain, from the ex-
hausting nature of the crops it has been made, during so
many years, and under such powerful and forcing pro-
cesses, to raise, that a protracted and ruinous interval
must elapse before it could be put again in heart,
again reclaimed from its original tendency to
the rank exuberance of useless vegetation, or again
sufficiently cleansed and turned to be fitted for the
usual course of its tropical husbandry. These con-
siderations, too, are wholly irrespective of the enor-
mous amount of waste, decay, or deterioration of
machinery, mills, boiling-houses, &c., &c., from which
the enormous capitals now invested in them can reap
any returns only through the sustained activity of
their operations. The remedy required, as we con-
ceive, is that which we have so often pressed upon
her MAJESTY'S Ministers, the solemn duty of extend-
ing to our West Indian colonies, without those illi-

beral, coarse, nay, fatal drawbacks, which have
hitherto formed the subject of complaints at once so
well founded and so unnecessary. Let the immigra-
tion of free labour from any quarters, so that it be
efficient, be encouraged, under some plain, unvexa-
tious, intelligible, system of control and appropriation.
Give to the Coolies of Bengal and others, who are
tnxious to carry their labour and their industry
hither, the amplest and most facile means for doing
,o. To the colonists leave the fullest benefit of that
,narket of coloured free labour, in which, as in all
)they markets, competition will determine the legiti-

nate wages of labour. The lands will be cultivated,
'he crops raised and collected, prepared and exported
)n terms far lower than those which the planters
Ire now compelled to provide for, whom we have
righteously denuded of all compulsory authority over
lrmdial labour, without providing any means,
hitherto, commensurate with the deficiency our own
act has thus occasioned, of voluntary or emancipated
.abour. By giving expansion and protection to some
such improved scheme of immigration, we doubt not
hat the just interests of the planters might be con-
sulted and improved, without compromising the title
,f the home consumer to cheaper prices ; and without
lifringing, by one line's breadth, on that sacred
circle of emancipation, which the British Legislature
las traced around the expatriated and heretofore
enslaved races of negro labourers throughout the
vide circuit of her transatlantic possessions.

'We perceive in a recent number of the London
liedieal Gazette some sensible observations on the
:ernicious tendencies of certain societies (exceed-
ngly common in the most densely-peopled localities
Jf all great towns, but more especially in those which
►re situated within the manufacturing districts),
.ailed " Burial Clubs." The scheme of these clubs
assures to the parents of an infant child, subscribing
from the period of its birth a few pence per week to
-he society's funds, a certain large amount in the
'vent of the infant's death, to provide—in nomine ex-
pensarum—as it were, for its funeral. The rate of
the subscription and the amount of the reversionary
sum thus assured, vary, of course, with the circum-
;tancess of the case, the amount of the latter being
letermined, in most cases, by such considerations as
whether the subscription was commenced immediately
dter the birth, or at a later period, the rate of the
weekly premium contributed, &c. But, at any rate,
it would seem that where one or both of the parents
are in constant employment, they frequently sub-
scribe to two, three, four, even six different clubs of
-his nature. On the death of the child who has been
thus " entered " of such associations, the parents may,
in this way, become entitled to—and may actually re-
ceive—sums varying in the aggregate, from 101. to
501. even. Thus in these parents there is created and
vested an unnatural money interest in the death of
their own offspring. Are the most precious ties of
kindred always strong enough to bear and resist the
terrible force with which the iron-grasp of avarice, or
the gloomy energies of hopeless poverty, will occa-
sionally attempt to rend them asunder? Here is a
lreadful question for their consideration, who devote
themselves to the patient study of the causes of great
Nimes in combination with great poverty, in town
populations. There is no disguising the appalling
truth that must form the answer to the question we
lave asked. Infanticide, on a scale of fearful magni-
ude, is the result of this organized, though unin-
ended, temptation ! Some months ago, in comment-
ng on the important matters comprised in Mr,
CHADWICK'S very interesting Report on the Sanatory
Condition of large Towns, we pointed out the evi-
lence given as to the wilful destruction—the
)ositive murder—by processes more or less sum-
nary, of infant children who have been made the
,hjects of subscription in burial clubs, by parties re-
•iriing in the cellars of Manchester or Glasgow, and
he squalid alleys of many other towns. That Re-
,ort was prepared under the instructions of, and
eldressed to, the Right Hon. the Home Secretary ;
yet, up to this moment, no step (so far as we are
ware, at least) has been taken to put down, or
yen to subject to the most stringent regulations and
ontrol these burial clubs. Nor is this all. The
iighest medical authority has confirmed the reports
and sanctioned the opinions of Mr. WALKER'S inva-
uable testimony to the deleterious effects of our pre-
Sent system of sepulture on the health (perhaps,
dio, on the morals) of thickly populated
pities, &c. The crowded and disgraceful condition of
nany of our church-yards and burial-grounds, as well
,ome belonging to Dissenting proprietory chapels, as
o chapels and churches of the Establishment, after
mpregnating the atmosphere with noxious and
loathsome vapours, generating virulent fevers, and disse-
.ninating disease and death wherever the ventilation is
mperfect of the street and neighbourhood in which the
mtrescent gases are exhaled—compels the parties in-
erested in the fees upon interments to close their
;rounds, or to become accessories to the offence

The authorities thought it necessary to adopt some

fresh precautions for the preservation of order, which
were continued through the night, but nothing took
place in any way to account for this apparent useless
demonstration of force.

We are without fresh accounts from Morocco.
The Tiempo contains a letter from Gibraltar of the

10th, in which the English are openly charged with
having prevented the conclusion of peace between
France and Morocco. The letter concludes by charg-
ing England with the intention of seizing upon Tan-
giers, in order to have an entire command of the
Straits. The Gazette publishes a royal decree of the
14th, organizing a naval force for the repression of
smuggling. The vessels employed on that duty are
to be commanded by officers of the royal navy. The
force is to consist of 2 steamers, 6 brigs, 2 schooners,
23 feluccas of the first-class, 6 of the second, 2 log-
gers, and 29 escampavias.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday and
Saturday. The journals of Saturday contain the
telegraphic dispatches announcing the return of Mz-
HEMET ALI to Alexandria, and the victory of Marshal
BUGHAUD in Morocco. The following is the form in
which these dispatches are given in the two official
pipers :

" MARSEILLES, Ava. 22, FIVE, P.M.
THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF ALGERIA TO THE

MINISTER OF WAR.

" Bivouac of Kondiat Abderrahman, 14th.
" Having marched upon the Morocco army, which
became daily more strong and menacing to Algeria,
I came up with it at two leagues in front of its
camp. It assumed the offensive with 20,000 horse at
the moment the heath of our columns were crossing
the Isly. We were surrounded on all sides. The
most complete victory—(interrupted by the mist).' "
"ALEXANDRIA, 7xtr.
" After some days of irresolution, the VICEROY has
renounced his journey to Mecca. He has resumed
the conduct of affairs, and his return to Alexandria is
announced."

The Debats on giving these dispatches says :
" Although this dispatch is incomplete, there cannot
be the slightest doubt that the most complete victory has
crowned the efforts and bravery of Marshal Bugeaud
and his army. The height of Kondiat Abderrahman,
which was accessible to both parties, is a hill in the
front of the camp of Lalla Magrina, halfway to Ouchda,
and is the most advanced post on the Algerian frontier.
In its front runs a rivulet, called the Oued Isly, which
forms a boundary."

tgainst society of poisoning the living, by subject-
ing- them to the fatal influences given out by the
corrupting dead. As a middle term—a compromise
)f some sort, between their duty to their species, and
the claims of their own purses—they permit their ser-
vants to violate those decent observances which the
precepts of education and religion, not less than
:he instinctive prejudice of our common nature, con-

The Paris papers of Saturday vie with each other
in repudiating the correspondence reflecting on the
Prince de JOINVILLE and the officers of his squadron,
which appeared in the Times of Wednesday, and the
Journal des Debats gives the following letter from a
French naval officer, in reply the Times' correspon-
dents :

,pire to make us regard as sacred. Long before

the work of decomposition has advanced to that point
tt which the buried body is resolved into the dust of
its original elements—it is exhumed, chopped up,
mutilated, dishonoured, shovelled and thrown about

" Certain journals of London publish with a sort of
' satisfaction letters wri ten from the Bay of Tangiers by
prdended officers of the English navy, present at the
bombardment. From the grossness of the language, and
the complete ignorance of naval manoeuvres apparent .in
every line, it is impossible to recognise the correspon-
dence of a real naval officer. But since the English
press renders the navy of Great Britain responsible for
these gratuitous insults thrown on the navy of France,
we may be permitted to bring forward in opposition to
them letters from our own officers. They will show
whether it be true that the Prince de Joinville did not
worthily maintain the honour of the tricoloured flag,
and whether our crews did not fulfil all the expectations
that were formed of their bravery and skill. I quote
textually several fragments of letters written by corn-
rades of mine in the squadron of Morocco.
" On the 6th the weather was fine, and a favourable
breeze facilitated our manoeuvres. The Prince had pre-
viously had the channel for our ships buoyed out. From
daylight the signal to prepare for action had been flying
from the Admiral's ship. The steamers towed the line-
of-battle ships to their station, about 800 yards from
the shore, which was as near as they could be brought
an account of the depth of water—indeed, the Suffren
during the bombardment had not above five feet water
under her keel. The Moors allowed us to take up our
position unmolested; indeed, they did not seem to expect
we should approach so close, for their shots passed over
us. The Suffren had about fifty shots in her hull, but
without experiencing much damage. The order was
gi‘ en to spare the town, and to point only at the walls,
and every shot made the masonry fly about in all three-

qnd mixed up with all other masses of undistinguish-
able mortality—vile and revolting in the general
hideousness of its decay, indeed ; but once—and that
perhaps recently—organised in all physical beauty,
;nstinct with life and passions, informed by intellect,

n.l embodying immortal souls. The relics of mor-

tality are thus torn from their last resting place, and
thus desecrated by the grave-digger or the sexton,
who is so to economise the capacity of the Golgotha
which he is the steward, as to find the means of
making it swallow up more coffins, although their
aver-accumulation has already upheaved the sepulchral
a foot or more above the surrounding locality.
Let those who may imagine this description to be
exaggerated peruse the Commons' Report on the
means of preserving the health of towns, &c., the sub-
sidiary report of Mr. WALKER, or the able article
contributed on this shocking but most important
subject, about two years ago, by the Weshninster;
Review, and the much more recent narratives in our
own columns of proceedings at the ground in Por-
tugal-street. IN fis
- would refer more particularly to I,

4 0 itich Practicei
.........—...—... •
guarantee the colonies against the indulgence of a dis- i the horrors proved on the evi , ce 0 NivittieSies; but
-church -yardand tile Vtiiiiii "- . - a
position so detrimental to their interests?' But there , too competent arid too erediblei
are other reasons, of high political expediency, which ! in the
..
~. -groun of St.
will very obviously preclude our Government from Clement Danes, and the , thsgit, sihii rbdoptacles in
And yet oh
the face of that evidence; t th ' ' i'
any notion of throwing up that footing We have. so Drury-lane and Portugal-street:
d OSe reports, co.
long possessed on become 1 the dreadful experience sholled at interVals
main. 1,1,re cannot afford, were she former t 0.., . 1 .
the Antilles and on the American
j pre-
main. a ' cise y in these localities, according to Mr. Nirsucita,
a chain of barren sPocica to-morrow, to relinqi..... ' • .
-avtons or grave-diggers examined, of spotted
chain of island posts from whence 174., in some sort and tne ~__
2.rid other malignant fevers, cone u.....
command the Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of ti
...nt. on the opetip
United States, and no inconsiderable portion of the 1 ing of gray&s in iii•ni4fl4 saturated and still absolutely
seaboard of South America, 110 abandon Trinidad '
reeking with the corrnption q 4elth, wo ?-o pr `r
- ' 'so to sacrifice one of the most fertile and iI mp Zraves are still opened every week in the most
1-owcled part pf Alp Strand,—for example, in Saint
-,nsts. If this alternative, then, is to
• ---dwelt upon for a //Went, Clement's Church-yard. We remember it was given
some rerne4y-,-, , in PYR@IRT either by the able surgeon, whose name we
'
4;tiou of 1 /11WP mentioned, nr bef* t,fig, pommos' Committee,
that there was 09 remarkable
family vault, even,
‘l'.. walls (however), Of that clhUrn h
within v..- ,
_„ '---n opened within the
which had ney.. u"— -
;rthout consequences
memory of any inhabitant,
more or less fatal to those who came within till; :Pa'
lignant operation of the gases thereby disengaged.
Now, we cannot help thinking that the practices we
:Teak of, as incident to these attempts to keep up the
" burying business " in grounds, long since become,
and still acting as, pestiferous nuisances to their
neighbourhoods, must have a baneful effect upon the
moral perceptions, and the natural feelings a those
poorer and more hard-faring classes of the labouring
community with whom the workmen employed in
such outrages to the dead are most likely to come
into contact. The finer sympathies which may well
subsist, and are so generally found, in the bosoms of
the humblest of our fellows, are soonest worn out by
collision with more callous natures. A medical eras.
titioner, examined before the Committee we have

named, remarks
" I used often to observe great apathy in a certain
class about the death of their children. They did not
seem to look on the death of the young as the great evil
which it is commonly regarded ; they said, God took
care of young children who died ; that their death did
not matter much ; that life was full of hardships and
misery, and that the child was provided for when it
died.' This feeling I found to be rather common."—
(3,313, p. 203.)
How short an interval, in the mind of a parent
thus reasoning, must be interposed between a passive
obedience to the decrees of PROVIDENCE, and an impious
sacrifice of its manifestation in the gift of life ! The
wholesome prejudices that honour, or revere, or
respect the memory, and even the ashes of the dead,
once extinguished by the coarse example of the prac-
tices we have hinted at—even the bosom, it seems, of
the father or the mother is inaccessible to the claims
of helpless infancy upon the most universal
affections implanted in all nature. Sordid ava-
rice expedites, by wilful murder, the term of that
infant life, which but for its intervention would have
been, perhaps, extended into many years, to accom-
plish, who shall say, what destinies ? Surely these
are crying evils, demanding (as we have ventured on
former occasions to urge in the strongest language)
the instant and most emphatic interference of the law
and its authorities. The one of these evils
is, we apprehend, cognisable at common law,
(as an offence against the public health),
by indictment or otherwise. The other—these
burial clubs—as being in the nature, perhaps,
of benefit societies—it may be more difficult
to deal with. A more specific remedy—by statute,
possibly—may be acquired; but that infant murder
follows on these burial fund associations, is a con-
nexion of cause and effect not more palpable to our
judgment than that a brutalising demoralisation is
consequent on the notorious desecrations of the sanc-
tuary of the grave, rendered indispensable by the still
permitted and disgusting practice of continued inter-
ments in our over-gorged church-yards and burial-
grounds.

Accounts from Madrid of the 17th inst. state that
the most perfect tranquillity prevailed in that capital
The Duke of OSSUNA was dangerously ill. The QUEEN
arrived at Valencia at four o'clock on the morning of
the 15th. The Madrid papers contain no news from
Morocco.

The Three per Cents. closed at 27 1-16, at sixty
days ; the Floating Debt at .594 ; and the Coupons,
at 244, at sixty days.
Madrid journals and correspondence of the 18th
have been received.

The Court will return to Madrid on the 20th. The
reason which has determined General NAR VARZ to hasten
the return of her MAJESTY is not known, and it is con-
sidered by many that he must have some very pressing
cause for so doing, and in hurrying on the Royal
party in spite of the fatigue occasioned by the great
heat.