The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-07 00:00:00

IRELAND.

REPEAL ASSOCIATION.

DUBLIN, MARCH 3 —The weekly meeting of the As-
sociation was held this day in the Conciliation Hal,
B. A. Molloy, Rig., barriiter-at-law, in the 'hair.
Mr. O'CoNNELL commenced the business of the day
by handing in a large number of remittances, and an-
nounced the receipt of a letter from the Right Rev. I)r.•
Brown, Bishop of Elphin, inchoing 65/., and another
from Dr. NPllale, Archbishop of Tuam, transmitting the
sum of 127!., his personal subscription and those of the
clergy of his diocese, to the repeal rent. A lote of thanks
was then passed to the Reverend Prelates amidst the
loudest applause.
Mr. J. KELLY, M.P., in reference to a letter from
Limerick enclosing r 4. nr, said that be would abstain from
alluding to the charges made by Mr. Roebuck against
the Irish Members, for absenting themselves from Parlia-
ment, as he considered they had already puffed that un-
happy creature tnto too much consequence by their allu-
sions to him.—(Cheers.) . .

Mr. O'CONNELL said -he wished to draw the attention
of the Association to a matter of much importance.
A most useful measure had been introduced into the
House of Commons by Mr. Watson, for the purpose of
repealing the penal statutes which operated against the
Roman Catholics. It was true these laws had become
obsolete, but still they were part of the penal law of the
land, and might be put in force at any moment that
an informer wished to avail himself of them. The most
important part of Mr. Watson's Bill was that
which went to abolish the restrictions imposed on
the Jesuits, and other bodies of the regular clergy.
by the Emancipation Act. For his par, he would
declare, that this measure, if sufferect to pass into
law, would be received in Ireland as a measure of con-
cession and conciliation, and would be considered as a
convincing proof of the favourable disposition of the Go
vernment towards this country.—(Chiers.) The pass-
ing of the Bill in question would place the regular clergy
en a footing with the secular, and that was exactly what
they required. The Ministry had an opportunity of
proving that their professions of friendship towards this
country were founded in reality. His object in rising
was to have the resolution passed on the last day of
meeting for adopting a petitwn to the Legislature to re-
move the restricttons on the regular clergy, rescinded,
and that in its stead a petition in favour of Mr. Watson's
Bill be adopted. The lion. Gentleman then movel a re-
solution to that effect, which was seconded by Mr. Smith
O'Brien, and pass,d.
After some further business, _ _ _

Mr. O'CONNELL said that Im the next day of meeting
he w,:uld give notice of a motion of a vote of thanks to
Duncombe for his able exposition of the nefarious
system of espionage and 1 tter,opening. which had taken
place in the English Post-office ; and that the Asso-
ciation do record its indignant condemnation of such
conduct on the part of the' present Governmialt.—
(Cheers.) The lion. and Learned Member again ad-
verted at some length to the report ott the land eorn•
mission, and the condition of the peop e of Ireland in
past and present times.—(llear, hear.) It was awful
to think, he continued, that a country so blessed by
hauven should be so cursed by the mismanagement of
man. It was said Peel intended to do good far Ireland,
but he (Mr. O'Connell) did not believe it. Peel won-
dered how it was that he cou'd not convince Ireland that
he meant well towards her • but the reason simply was
because he (lid not mean well, and the Irish were too sa-
gacious to be caught by his humbug.—(Hear, hear.)
The Hon. Gentleman next proceeded to controvert the
assertion of Mr. William., of Coventry, that the Irish
Members were place-hunters, and said that nothing
could possibly be more untrue than that assertion ; but
he supposed it was his 'inherent hatred of Ireland and
everything Irish, that prompted him to slander them.
For his part, he never solicited a situation in his life.
It was true the Mastership of the Rolls had been offered
to him ; but he refused the appointment. There was
no sympathy for Ireland to be found in the Imperial
Parliament—Whigs, Tories, and Radicals were equally
and
.perseveringly• opposed to the advancement of
her interests or the upholding of her rights. It hud
been said that they ought to appeal to the Queen,
and he had no doubt but her Majesty would, if the Con
stitution allowed her, remedy the grievances of Ireland—
but she had no such power. The real monarch of Eng-
land was the Prime - Minister, and the Crown a, mere
bauble in his hands. The English people had shown at
all times an undying hatred towards his countrymen,
and, therefore, he considered it fruitless to appeal to
them for redress. They should trust to themselves, and
victory would, he felt confident, ultimately crown their
efforts. The Hon. Gentleman resumed his seat amidst
loud cheers.

Mr. E. W. COSTELLO, barrister, then moved the fol.
lowing resolution—" That this Association is desirous to
impress upon the people of Ireland the paramount im-
portance of an earnest and persevering exertion to effect
a general and immediate registration of repealers. with a
view to secure at the next election the return of Members
who will aid our national struggle for the legislative in-
dependence of Ireland."
Mr. O'CONNELL seconded the resolution, and briefly
dwelt on ills necessity and impor, :ince of an immediate
registration.
After some further business had been disposed of,
Mr. O'CONNELL announced the rent for the week to
be 5861.

THE SPA-FIELDS BURIAL
GROUND.

The repeateo. complaints and representatiens of the
Committee of the inhabitants of Clerkenwell have at
length attracted the attention of the Home Secretary to
the existing nuisanle and malpractices that have so long
prevailed in the neighbourhood or Exmouth-street, Spa-
fields. A communication was male by Sir J. Graham to
the Police Commissioners on Saturday, and Captain
[lay, the Assistant-Commissioner, on that day inspected
the Spa-fieldi burial-potou:.d, accompanied by Mr. Watt,
the chairman, Mr. Clarke, the secretary, and several
other respect able householders. The stench arising
from decomposed human bodies was declared by Cap-
tain Hay to be insufferable, and the Committee were
directed to forward such information as they could c:.l-
- (reduced into writing) for the guidance of Sir J.
Graham. A meeting of the Commitve took place on Sun-
day, and the subjoined examinations were then o:en,
and forwarded to the Home-office. A meeting of the
parish officers has likewise been held at the workhouse
in Coppice-row,,and Mr. Wekeling, the vestry clerk, has,
it is stated, opened a correspondence with the Secretary
of State on the subject. It appears that the manner in
which this extraordinary and revolting work of demoli-
tion was first discovered is this :—Reuben Room, a
gravedigger at the burial ground, had a child interred
some time since, and upon his discharge he insisted on
removing the body, asserting that he well knew after he
left that the coffin would be burnt, the body and limbs
severed, and deposited elsewhere. Police.consteble
Henry Webb, G 106, and Martin, 144, were called in to
prevent Room opening the grave, upon which he took
the two officers to an outhouse, where they saw the lids
of several coffins being consumed over a fierce fire, and
pieces of "human flesh" ( o use the officers' own words)
6' were attached to the coffins the size of their bands."
The fellovOng is a copy of the written depositions that
have been transmitted to Sir James Graham:—

Reuben Room examined—l was in the employ of
Mr. F Green, as gravedigger, in 1837, and continued
in his employ for about six years. Our mode of work-
ing the ground was not commencing at one end and
working to the other, but digging wherever it was or-
dered, totally regardless whether the ground was full or
not ; for instance, to dig a grave six feet deep at a par-
ticular spot, I have often disturbed and mutilated seven
or eight bodies ; that is, I have severed heads, arms, legs,
or whatever came in my way, with a crowbar, pickaxe,
chopper, and saw. Of the bodies some were quite fresh
and some decomposed. I have had as much as a hun-
dred weight and a half of human flesh on what we
term the " beef-board " at the foot of the grave
at one time. I have often put a rope round the neck
of the corpse to drag it out of the coffin, fasten-
ing one end of the rope to a tombstone so as to keep the
corpse upright to get at the coffin from underneath, to
make room for the flesh of other bodies. The coffins
were taken away and burnt with pieces of decomposed
flesh adhering thereto. I have taken up half a ton of
wood out of one grave, because I had to take out two
tiers of coffins, some of which were quite fresh, and we
used to cut them up for struts, used for shoring up
the graves. We had as many as fifty or sixty sides
of coffins always in use to keep the ground from falling
in when digging. We have buried a, ninny as forty-
five bodies in one day, besides still-horns. I and
Tom Smith kept an account one year; we buried 2,017
bodies besides still-borns, which are generally enclosed
in deal coffins. We have taken them up when they
hare been in the ground only two days, and used them
to light fires with. I have been up to my knees in
human flesh, by jumping on the bodies, so as to cram
them into the least possible space at the bottom of the
graves in which fresh bodies were afterwards placed.
We covered over the flesh at the bottom by a small
layer of mould. I have ruptured myself in dragging a
heavy corpse out of the coffin. It was a very heavy one.
It slipped from my hold, lifting it by the shoulders. The
corpse was quite fresh. These occurrences took place
every day.
" Robert Watt examined—l live at No. 14, Exmouth-
street, Spa-fields. I have been an inhabitant for ten
years, during which time I have been disgusted with the
mode of conducting the ground, and the complaints ma:le
from the people in the back neighbourhood. About five
years ago I left the neighbourhood to reside at Hollo-
way, believing it injurious to myself and family to re-
main at Spa-fields. I was compelled to return about
eighteen months back, and nearly ever since have had
illness in my house. A few months back fire broke out
at the bone-house, which aroused my suspicions from the
unpleasant odours which were emitted nightly, and I felt
convinced that the illness in my house arose therefrom.
I have seen the spot opened and re-opened during the
last ten years, and bodies continually placed therein. 1
have remarked this to the officiating minister, when lie
replied that it was not injurious to the inhabitants, and
no business of his. I have frequently heard and seen the
grave-diggers employed in destroying the coffins.
" George Walters exainined--1 lire at N0.'17, Guild-
ford-place. Oa the 14th of I). cember, 1843, I was called
to a fire at the bone-house, Spa-fields ground. I saw in
the grate a rib-bone and part of two socket-bones,
partly burnt, and a quantity of coffin-wood, in different
states of decay, with mould attached to it. Was called
again to a fire on the 2d of January last; was refused
entry by Mr. Bird; saw coffin-wood upright burning on
the fire, planks four feet long were blazing up the chim-
ney. The wood was sound stuff. I saw as much coffin-
wood tied up as Lair men could carry. The chimneys
were lined through with a cot of pitch—there were
large lumps of it towards the top. I forced it down with
a crowbar as big as my two lists. The smell was hor-
rible. There were about 100 people assembled, begging
of me, fur God's sake, to put an end to the nuisance.
"John Lynn—l live at No. 4, I;:xtr.outh-street ;
am
land). .rd of the whole of the northern row, wt.teli con-
tainA eleven huses, all of which abut on the east side of
the Spa-fieldso burial-ground. I have been handler of