The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1845;

• MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
(THIS DAY.)
(Before the ASSISTANT JUDGE.)
At the sitting of the Court this morning a number of
indictments which had been preferred by several of the
parish authorities of the neighbourhood of St.
George's, Hanover-square, and others, in the west end
of the metropolis, against persons for keeping houses
of ill-fame were heard, to which the parties
implicated pleaded, in most instances, guilty,
were and allowed to depart the Court, after entering
into recognisances to abate the nuisances. There were
also several indictments for keeping; disorderly houses
in the liberty of the Rolls tried, in which Mr. Milan-
tine appeared on the part, of the inhabitants by whom
the indictments were preferred, and - which were in
tnost eases disposed of in a similar manner.
Thos. Williams was indicted for stealing a shawl, the
property of James Godson.
It appeared that the prosecutor kept a large draper's
shop and was in the habit of placing his articles outside his
shop-door for sale. On the 18th of this month, about
one o'clock in the afternoon, the prisoner was
observed loitering about the premises, and
finding the policeman off the beat, he made
a snatch at several of the articles hanging up,
but succeeding only in getting one shawl. He was
stopped by a gentleman who was passing at the time.
The prisoner immediately knocked his captor down and
brutally assaulted him, kicking him in the most dreadful
manner while he was on the ground.
-A verdict of Guilty being returned, the Learned As-
SISTA *T-JUDGE said he had considerable doubts whether
ho ought not to transport the prisoner. However, lie
should give hiM one chance more. The prisoner Was
then sentenced to six momths' imprisonment with
hard labour in the Hou e of Correction.

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.

BURIAL GROUND PRACTICES.

"If indiscriminate mutilation and disturbance of previous
deposits, and consequent desecration of the last resting-
places of those who have preceded us, are still to be per-
mitted; if the ashes of our deceased countrymen are entitled
to, or obtain too frequently under the present order of things,
no respect; if the ties of relationship and affection and the
best feelings of the heart are to be outraged by a trading:
sexton or a brutal gravedigger ; if a system has too long been,
and continues to this hour, in operation, which most une-
quivocally tends to brutalise, to nnchristianise, the officials
who execute the disgusting work, and the crowds of people
exposed constantly to such scenes; if our very beautiful
burial-service has been too frequently disgraced by the acts
perpetrated previous or subsequent to its performance, it is
more than time that such an evil were crushed, and for ever !
It degrades religion, brings its ministers into contempt, tends
to lower the standard of morality, and is a foul blot upon our
boasted civilisation."—G. A. Walker, Surgeon, in "Inter-
ment and Disinterment."—Nov. 3, 1842.

The condition of the Spa-fields Buring-ground has
recently attracted much attention ; and though the par-
ties who profit by a continuance of that most disgraceful
and dangerous receptacle of corruption are industriously
engaged in circulating statements to the effect that the
facts already before the public are much exaggerated,
the reality is in truth far worse than the representation
and that it IS so the following ADDITIONAL FACTS, for'
the correctness of which I hold myself in every respect
responsible, will abundantly attest.
The practice of burning the coffins and portions of
their contents has been carried on in Spa-fields burying-
ground for upwards of a quarter of a century ; a fire
has been continually burning day and night. It has not
been possible for a very long period of time to obtain a
grave for an adult, without mutilation and disturbance
of previous deposits.
Stephen Bishop, the WATCHMAN (?) of the ground,
has performed the double office of calling the hour of
the night and burning coffins, &c., in the BONE-HOUSE.*
This person has executed the above-named compound
functions during seventeen or eightem years. Some
years since he was accustomed to eat his food in the
bone-house, durirg the performance of his nightly tasks.
Of late he has become more fastidious, and wears a
" hand-leather," to avoid contamination from the con
tact of the coffin-wood. Some time ago he told one of
his associates that " 'pon his soul he couldn't eat his
grub in the bone house now." The relief-guard (the
gravediggers) entered upon their daily work in the
grave-yard as Bishop had concluded his ;iightwork in the
bone-house. The man has frequently " let his fire
down," and has been chidden by his employer for so
doing. lie has replied that " the wood was wet." Ilis
master has rejoined, " You ought to save all the deal-
wood you can for the purpose of keeping up _the fire."
The coffins of " still-born" children have been broken
up and used for the purpose of lighting the fire in the
bone-house; deal, of which they are composed, being
more combustible than the elm coffin of the adult. _

BURIAL-GROUND OF ST. SA-
VIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK.
A Vestry :meeting of the parishioners of St. Saviour's,
Southwark, was held on Easter Tuesday in the Vestry-
room, at which the following resolutions were moved by
Mr. H. B. Clark:— _ _ .

" Resolved,—That it is the opinion:of this Vestry that
the present state of the grave-yard of this parish is such
that the burial of the dead ought to be discontinued
therein.

" That the churchwardens be empowered to call for
such information as will enable them to investigate the
subject, and to make arrangements, if necessary, with
one of the metropolitan cemeteries, or for any eligible
plot of ground, subject to the approval of a subsequent
Vestry, for the interment of the dead of this parish."
In the course of some observations addressed to the
meeting in support of these resolutions, he stated that,
allowing the shortest time for the decomposition of the
dead which he thought possible, twenty years, according
to the size of the ground and the number of interments,
they must lay five bodies deep all over it ; numbers of
which were decomposing close to its surface, and spread-
ing an effluvia round, the evil effects of which could not
be calculated. He considered that it was high time
something should be done to put an end to what to him,
and he doubted not to them, appeared a most dangerous
and most repulsive system of burying the dead.
The resolutions, were seconded, and carried unani-
mously by the Vestry, who have appointed a committee,
consisting of the churchwardens and three inhabitants,
to investigate the subject, with a view to its alteration
in accordance with the terms of the resolutions.
The grave-yard in question is a narrow strip of ground,
about 160 feet by 50, including a footpath, bounded on
one side by the thickly-populated Clink, and by London-
bridge and the Borough-market on the other sides. It
has been used as a burying-place for many hundreds of
years, and has become a complete Golgotha. This
resolution of the Vestry will, therefore, be hailed by the
inhabitants at large, as the first step towards the removal
of what has long been a nuisance and an eyesore. It is
to be hoped that other parishes will imitate their
example, and that soon these predisposing causes to
disease and death will be banished from amongst us,
and a more decent and healthy system of interment
substituted in its place.

A late " manager" of the ground has entered the bone
houso at various hours in the morning, and has observed
—" Ah, Steevy" (Stephen Bishop, the so-called watch-
man of the ground) " has been asleep. He's let his fire
out. Why don't you take care of the deal for lighting
the fire ?"

It has frequently occurred that the poor creatures who
have brought children to be buried (" still-born") have
left, as a pledge for the eighteenpence fee they lacked, a
shawl, an apron, or even duplicates, whilst the following
Machiavelian trick has been often practised :—The corpse
b..ing taken into the parlour of the " manager," he has
reriNved it from the coffin, and has endeavoured, by the
exercise of a little tact, to elicit from the attendant or
nurse, as the case might be, whether the child had
breathed; if so, he refused to bury the child unless the
fee of four shillings was paid—threatening the party, if
theywdemurred, that he " would compel them to bury it in
ei regular way, by an undo t 'ker."
It has been a common practice to remove the grave-
stones from the "common', into the "best" ground. A
double object was thus accomplished—the ground had
a more respectable appearance, in consequence of the
array of tombstones; freer space was left for the
digging-up, levelling, and raking over the " worst "
ground, whilst an additional charge was demanded from
the relatives of every new-comer.
The stone designating the family-grave of has
been removed about thirty yards from the place it once
occupied, and the coffins of three other persons occupy
the original grave.
The stone marking the grave of has been re-
moved.
The-family grave of --- was shifted from its posi-
tion in the "worst" to the "best" ground; the differ-
ence in the charge for interment in the latter being four
shillings extra. The stone has been replaced, for Spe-
cific reasons.
The stone marking the family grave of -- has been
removed about twenty-two yards from its original site.
The stone marking the family grave of -- has been
removed twenty yards from its original position.
The family grave of -- has been charged to the
surface with the bodies of others not connected in any
degree with the original purchaser, and this grave thrice
filld and thrice "cleaned out" within the last ten years.
The bodies interred in the family grave of —, of
street, have been mutilated ; upwards of two feet in
length of the coffins and bodies have been chopped off.
A highly respectable family, residing in —, pur-
chased a double family grave in Spa-fields burying-
ground. This grave was marked by a head and a foot
stone. The grave was opened some time since, for the
reception of a deceased member of the family. A tier
of eight or ten coffins was found projecting in every
direction, and filling up half this double grave. The
coffins and bodies of adults and children were remorse-
lessly cut through, and upwards of five hundred weight
of coffin-wood taken out of the grave and burnt. The
original occupant ofihis family grave, —, was " doubb d
up" and thrust into the mud, &c., at the bottom of the
grave, out of which upwards of forty pailsful of a most
sickening compound were baled. His coffin was taken
to the bone-home, the fire being alight at the time. The
" manager" has frequently been on the watch through the
wicket of the largo gates of the ground, and, as soon
as the mourners have made their appearance with the de-
ceased, he has shouted to the gravediggers, " Make
haste—they're coming ;" earth has been quickly thrown
over the floor of the grave, the body deposited, and
within half an hour—even before the funeral service was
concluded—the coffin has been covered by the water.
Water containing, in solution or suspension, portions of
human remains, has been almost constantly " bucketed"
out of the graves, more especially those situated in the
" best" ground. The earth covering the coffins and
their contents in the immediate vicinity has been pierced
in every direction by the boring-rod, for the double
purpose of getting rid for the instant of the fluid ma-
terial removed from the graves, and for promoting the
more rapid decomposition of the bodies.
The body of a male relative of an ex-gravedigger of
twenty years' practice in Spa-fields burying-ground has
been mutilated, and his coffin burnt.
The " head man" in this ground, Tom Smith, an
hereditary gravedigger, has committed the mcst fearful
and unheard-of atrocities on the bodies of the dead.
The long hair of the women has been cut off and sold to
the hair-dressers ; " rails" (teeth) have been taken from
every corpse affording them of sufficient quality to stimu
late his cupidity ; whilst the materials in which the
bodies of the dead have been clothed by the hand of af-
fection have been, in hundreds of instances, torn off by
this midnight prowler.
On December 23, 18.13, I attended at the Clerkenwell

Police-court, for the purpose of substantiating the above
and other allegations, and should have endeavoured to
do so had not the sitting magistrate, Mr. Greerwood,
peremptorily declined interfering in the matter of a me-
morial that found its way into the Clerkenwell Police-
office, although, I believe, it did not come under his offi-
cial cognizance.
I had the first intimation of the complaint then made
from the 7'imes of December 21, 1843. It is probable
that the audacity of the manager, Mr. C. Bird, and his
attempt to intimidate, under a threat of legal proceed •
ings, induced me to give several hours of time, at much
inconvenience to myself, on that occasion, although,
from a sense of duty, I accepted a challenge I had nei-
ther desired nor provoked. The memorial, in my pos-
session, is signed by about a hundred and fifty of the
neighbouring inhabitants, and- contains, among others,
the following allegations:—
" The inhabitants of the aforesaid places" (Garden-
walk, Exmouth-street, Northampton-road, Northampton-
row, Vineyard-walk, Fletcher's-row, Chapel-row, and
parts adjacent) "have been annoyed from the unpleasant
and exceedingly unwholesome smell arising from the
burning in the bone-house of coffiuis in the Spa-field,
burying-f.Jound ; and from the nauseous fumes which,
at such times, impregnate the air, your petitioners firmly
believe that human bodies are consumed therein ; and
your petitioner James Wilson, humbly maketh com-
plaint, that he standvth in constant dread of being burnt
out, in consequence of the aforesaid bone-house being
joined to the back of his house, from the chimney of
which bone-house flames occasionally arise to a great
height ; and on last Thursday (December 21, 1843) the
bone-house was actually on fire, which 'caused the adja-
cent inhabitants to remove their goods in great terror."
In March, 1843, or thereabouts, I caused to be pre-
sented the following petition to the House of Commons.
Upwards of 500 signatures were attached thereto.
"To the Hon. the Commons of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament as-
sembled.
"The humble petition of the undersigned resident in-
habitants of Exmouth-street, Northampton row,
Chapel-row, and adjoining neighbourhoods,
" Showeth—That your petitioners are forced to com-
plain of, and are constantly annoyed by, the disgusting
practices employed in the Spa-fields burial-ground.
" That many of your petitioners have repeatedly wit
nessed the most shameful mutilations of the dead.
" That it is a common and almost daily practice to
break up and consume the wood of the coffins (not yet
decayed) in large quantities in an out-house in this place.
That many hundred tons weight of coffin-wood have been
thus disposed of.
"" That your petitioners are frequently sensible of a
most disgusting smell, which they have no doubt arises
from the surface of this grave-yard, and from the burn-
ing of the wo ,d of the coffins •, and dolt your petitioners
have every reason to believe that the health of themselves
and families has been affected from the above causes.
"That, in the judgment of your petitioners, this bury-
ing-ground does not contain more than eighty-seven
thousand one hundred and twenty square feet of -sur-
face. That your petitioners believe that, on a yearly
average, two thougand bodies have been pretended to be
buried in this ground. That this place has been em-
ployed as a burying-ground more than half a century.
That it appears that not more than 1,500 bodies can
be decently and properly interred in an acre of
ground ; and that consequently upwards of fifty thou-

* The following sign-board is placed on the right-hand
side of the entrance, in the grave-yard, near the bone-house.
It is supported by a pole wedged in between two ledgers
(upright gravestones) :—" Take notice. The watchmen in
this ground are provided with Ere-arms. Take off your
.
patten6.'

sand human bodies must have been displaced, mutilated, munity, complained of the slight which would be thrown
and mixed with the moist soil of this grave-yard, long on the midwifery branch of the profession by the .
pro-
before the process of natural decay can have taken place. posed Bill, though none would deny that the midwifery
That it is a common practice in this ground to displace branch was one demanding as much care and attention
the stones marking the . graves of deceased persons as any other.
whose relatives have purchased the ground in perpetuity. Mr. LANE seconded the resolution, and it was declared
That thus a fraud is perpetrated on the living, and gross carried.
indecencies inflicted on the dead, whose bodies are fre- Messrs. Griffiths, Waite, and Osborne propoiied'artd
quently mutilated and displaced to make room for fresh- seconded some other resolutions, which having been
corners. passe],
" That your petitioners desire to express their un- Mr. Griffiths was called to the chair, and a vote of
feigned satisfaction and gratitude that the practices re- thanks having been passed to Mr. Wyse, the meeting
suiting from the interment of the dead in towns have separated.
been the subject of a long, searching, impartial, and
patient inquiry of a Committee of your Honourable
House ; and that your petitioners venture to express a
hope that the labours of your Committee will cause the
immediate introduction of such alterations in the pre-
sent system of interment as your Honourable House, in
its wisdom. may deem necessary.
" And your petitioners will ever pray, 8:c."
Having passed in review the scenes of the terrible
drama that has been constantly and systematically
enacted in Spa-fields burying-ground, I reserve to my-
self the choice of time for a further unmasking of hy-
pocrisy of a most disgusting description. I will prove
that " grave-yard management," even in its minutest de-
tail, is so perfect in its scheming, so determined in its
execution, so terrible and dreadful in its results, that the
well-constituted ',mind must indignantly recoil from its
imaginings, much more from its realities.
GEORGE ALFRED WALKER.
St. James's-place, St.. James's-street, March 22, 1845.

PROCEEDINGS at WASHINGTON.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.--The consent of Congress to the annexation
of Texas is an event so long expected, that the question
of its justice has gradually merged in the vision of its
certainty. There was a time when the most enlightened
and-thoughtful men of the Union could venture to en-
tertain a strong moral objection against it ; and their
arguments are on record. It was ver, however, that
the mass of the Union, its newest and most active ele-
ments, were in favour of
_the measure. Th#it,ges were
always reverting to Texas. Texas unappropriated, like
independent Megara within sight of Athens, wag the
eyesore of the Union ; not but that there are other eye-
sores to the ambitious gaze of that people.
Whatever they see they love, whatever they
love they covet, and whatever they covet they ex-
pect and endeavour to obtain. But Texas was the
first thing in their way, and formed the bold foregrOund
of their hopes. Texas adjacent, revolted, independent,
still menaced and molested by the weak acid Ampolitic
rulers whose yoke it had broken, already peopled and
governed by the citizens of the Union, or adventurerS'of
the same language and principles, was an acquisition
absolutely necessary, not so much to the happiness as
to the very comfort, the ease, the sleep, the digestion,
of certainly more than half the republic. The only part
of the business, therefore, on which there could be say
surprise, would be the particular time and manner which
republican wisdom and taste would select for the acquisi-
tion. To an European understanding there is something
quite grotesque in the time and manner actually adopted.
The Congress comes to this momentous decision in the
very point of time between the two presidentships.,pr.
Tyler completes his career with a determination w
he cannot have the smallest share in carrying out, and
Mr. Polk will be engaged throughout his whole term in
the arduous execution of a.prv-ct imposed upon-him at
the first moment of his official existence. We in the. Old

world have long since chastised one anotheeht-desires to
at least the language of modesty and mutual deference.
The President is not overawed by the presen&of one
sovereign power in the length and breadth of, his Conti-
nent. Hence he feels no indecency in expressing,ln
glorifying every aggressiiT impulse of the heart. The
citizen, he says, must rejoice when a frontier lino is re-
moved, when he can communicate freely, commercially,
and politically with his neighbours, without thesestrtc-
tions of trade, or the interference of foreign claithe,.and
foreign pulitics and mor'ils. When such rejoicings are
arguments, then we may reasopably fear for the invidi-
ous frontier lines of the St. Lawrence, not to spepk of
that other on the westward of the Rocky Motintain!.
But other difficulties will arise before that day. Neither
democracy nor federation can solve the great problem of
society. Government is not so easy a task. , The crea-
ture of a mob election, addressing his creators, may talk
in the same breath of clustering all nations in a °Mad-
tutional unity, and interdicting moral and religious. Its-
terference between the inhabitants of adjacent valleys)
but human nature has assigned less to system, and more
to spiritual influences. She will soon detect the hollow-
ness of union without unity, and of a political combine.
tion that aims to embrace the world, while it is afraid to

DEFENSIVE ASSOCIATION OF
SURGEONS.
A meeting of a few members of this body was held a
the Literary and Scientific Institution, Leicester-square,
last evening, for the purpose, as the advertisemeet stated,
of " taking steps to defend the body from the wrong in-
flicted by the recent charter, and the further aggression
to be inflicted by the proposed Government Bill." The
meeting was called for seven o'clock, but it was long
after that hour before the proceedings commenced.
Thomas Wyse, Esq., M.P. having taken the chair,
The Secretary read several letters from eminent me-
dical gentlemen, expressing their approval of the objects
of the meeting, which were stated to be in substance the
correction of certain evils, via.:—
" The irresponsible management of the surgical
colleges.
"The varieties of grade recently introduced amongst
the members of the College of Surgeons of England.
" The Association is impressed with the conviction
that at a moment when wealth is so superabundant, and
the candidates for the learned professions so numerous,
a wise Government should take advantage of such cir-
cumstances to raise the whole body of medical practi-
tioners to so high a point of science as would preclude
the existence of inferiorly educated grades. Its mem-
bers have observed, however, with deep regret, that her
Majesty's Home Secretary has provided in his recent
charter to the College of Surgeons, for the creation of a
low class of practitioners unknown before to that Col-
lege. This forcible and uncalled-for creation of a de-
graded class of medical men, is not only confirmed by
that measure, but that the large body of British surgeons
are distinctly stripped of their titles as surgeons,' and
that equality of position with them is, for the future,
offered to any youth who may spend two years of medi-
cal studies in any of the British universities.
" The Defensive Association of Surgeons are con-
vinced that the new charter, and proposed Government
Bill, thus menacing the interests of British surgeons, will
re-act on the prosperity of the colleges to which they
belong, and thus doubly urged to action, respectfully and
earnestly invite their surgical brethren to unite with
them in one great effort to repair the wrongs already
inflicted, to ward off those that are now but too clearly
menaced, and introduce among all classes of surgeons
that good fellowship and contentment so necessary to the
happy and successful cultivation of their science."
The CHAIRMAN said, in consenting to take the chair
at this meeting, he was actuated solely by a desire to
forward the general interests, and to promote the condi-
tion of the honourable profession to which those whom
he now addressed belonged ; but not being a member of
that profession himself, he could not of course be ex-
pected to possess an intimate knowledge of the detail of
the differences which at present divided that body, but
no one could lament them more than ho did. That they
were matter of regret there could be no doubt, because
he felt convinced that, by the union and co-operation of
the profession, the benefits they individually derived
from experience could be applied with greater effect to
the well being of humanity.—(Hear.) But at the same
time it could not be supposed that a learned profession,
like that of medicine, should be suffered by its professors
to permit an opportunity to pass withcut bringing its
grievances before the public, and stating what they con-
ceived to be the most fitting remedy for their removal.
—(Hear.) However, while he wished to be understood
as holding himself disengaged from the differences and
divisions of the body, yet he could not refuse lending his
humble aid towards the furtherance of this, as well as
every other branch of education in this country.—
(Hear.) The Legislature, in dealing with a question so
important as this, at least a Legislature constituted as
that of England was, should afford the highest possible
range to its full and free action, consistent with the
public tranquillity and safety ; and in order to
do this, there were two courses pointed out:—the one,
that any man should be allowed to adopt that branch- of
the profession which he should deem the best suited to
his capacity, and most likely to serve his private in-
terests; while the other was to point out certain limits
beyond which it would not be safe to permit him to
pass.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member then drew a
comparison between the legal and medical profession,
and showed how much more important it was to the in-
terests of humanity to have a greater degree of care be-
stowed upon the education of the members of the latter than
of the former. The lawyer, he conceived, was a man whose
abilities and capabilities would soon be discovered and
appreciated by the public, without the use of those tests
applied in other countries, and even the worst results
that would attend an incompetent lawyer's efforts would
be a loss of property, results which he did not mean to
underrate; but then how much more serious would be the
results attending an inefficient, or incompetent, or badly
educated medical man?—(hear, hear.) It was upon
these grounds that the Parliament should feel justified
in interfering with this profession to the extent of taking
care that a guarantee should be given to the public that
life and health were not to be trilled with by the incOm-
petence of persons, arising from their not having
gone through the necessary ordeal. (Hear,
hear.) Indeed he did not think that in point
of scientific knowledge, intellectual attainment, or moral
culture, the test could not be carried too high.—(Hear,
hear.) As a practitioner, the surgeon and the medical
man should bring to bear extensive reading and practical
knowledge, in which, in a it oral point of view, lie could not
be too particular, as he invariably became acquainted
with the most private affairs of a family, and, therefore,
he should be a man of high morals, honour, and prin-
ciple.—(Hear, hear.) He next alluded to the society of
apothecaries, amongst whom, he said, were to be found
men of as high attainments as in any other profession,
and who would be an honour and an ornament to any ;
and, therefore, the proposed Bill ought not to contain
any proposition tending to place them in a humiliating
position.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. B. COSTELLO proposed the first resolution,
which was to this effect :—" That the present state of
society is highly favourable to the requirement from all
future candidates for the medical profession, of high
proofs of scientific attainments." In so doing, he drew
attention to the state of the profession in France a few
years ago, When a class of medical men, of inferior grade,
called " Officers dc Sank, or officers of health," existed ;
but the Nlitlister of public Instruction having ascertained;
through the report of a commission issued for the pur-
pose, from the procession generally, that the abolition of
this grade would not be attended with any danger or
disadvantage to the public, he did abolish them, and the
results were most beneficial to the public, because me-
dical men were then obliged to be better educated ;
and therefore he wou'd ask why not pursue the same
coarse in this country ?—(Hear, hear.) He regretted
that what was called the Warburton Committee had not
been attended with results such as this ; but unfor-
tun itchy the opportunity it afforded of doing good had
been converted into a plan for the advancement of a few
at the expense of the degradation of the body.
Mr. MORIUS seconded the re solution, which the meet-
ing, consisting of about twenty persons, declared to be
adopted unanimously.
Mr. lIFALY, in proposing the next resolution, which
was in substance that the maintenance of the medical
profession in the highest possible position, is of as high
concern to the general public as to the medical corn-