riod to which I allude, one of the main circumstances of alarm arose from the public press; much mischief, undoubtedly was produced by this cause; and we were told by some, that in educating the lower classes, we were exposing them to much unnecessary temptation, and extending the baneful consequences to be dreaded from a polluted or perverted press; we have had ten years experience on this subject, but during that time we have not discovered any mischief flowing from this source; on the contrary, we have assurances of great good from almost every town and vi'lage in the kingdom, in which one of our schools has been established. No promirent instance of mischief has occurred; at least there is not one instauce on record, though I do not mean positively to aver, that there may not have been some individual observation. I am not sanguine enough ever to expect an institution to be so perfect as not to have some individual failure. Not fewer than a million children have quitted our school, and now form part of the general mass of society, carrying along with them those good principles which we trust will not only govern their own conduct, but also a beneficial example to others. If you leave them alone, a mischievous man teaches them his wicked principles; while so much activity is abroad to disseminate error, shall we adopt no means of counteraction? Our pecuniary resources were nearly exhausted, but we are told, in the conclusion of the Report, that there is a Providence to which we may appeal, and we will confidently go on and spend even the last penny in our purse, relying upon that Providence; and if that should happen, which I feel confident never can occur, if we should appeal in vaiu to the benevolence and good feeling of the British public, I would even then congratulate you, that we had expended our last mite in support of an Institution, with which are intimately connected the dearest interests, temporal and eternal, of so large a number of our fellow-subjects. Joshua Watson, Esq. the Treasurer, then gave a report of the pecuniary concerns of the Society, wherein it was stated, that a legacy of 5000l. stock 3 per cents. had been left by James Hayes, Esq. to promote the general designs of the Society; also a donation of 2007. by the executors of the late Mr. Walmsley, of Macclesfield. The Treasurer also noticed a liberal gift made by Sir James Langham, Bart. for the establishment of a fund to perpetuate the Central School; this formed no part of the Society's account, the intention of the benevolent donor being, that it should be applied solely to the use of the Central School and its appendages. Society for Promoting the Enlargement and Building of Churches and Chapels. THIRD ANNUAL REPORT Presented to the General Meeting of the Society for promoting the Enlargement and Building of Churches and Chapels, held on Monday the 21st May, by Adjournment from Thursday the 17th May, 1821. THE Third Return of the Annual General Meeting since the formation of the Society for promoting the Enlargement and Building of Churches and Chapels, again calls the Committee to the duty of presenting to the general body of Subscribers a Report of their Proceedings, and of the progress and present state of the Society. During the last year the assistance of this Society has been applied for in 74 additional Cases; to 43 of these, Grants have been made; and 13,281 Members of the Community have been supplied with Church Room; and of this increased ac commodation, a part sufficient for 10,296 persons, consists of free and unappropriated sittings. But as the highly beneficial results from the exertions of the Society must be more fully understood, and more duly appreciated, from a connected view of its whole transactions, the Committee think it advisable to repeat the parts of their two former Reports, which contain the proceedings from the commencement, and to unite in the same tabular form the Cases of the last year. Statement of Contributions to this Day. Donations, £59,417 10s. 10d. Annual Subscriptions, £614 198. The whole Amount received has been invested in the Public Funds, and the unexpended part of it is still bearing interest. The sum at the disposal of the Society has been affected, and is subject to alteration from the fluctuations in the price of Stocks. ment transmitted upon these occasions, like those noticed in the last Report, are appealed to by the Committee, with the most heartfelt satisfaction, as confirming in the strongest manner the importance of the Society, and the successful result of its exertions. These letters continue to describe the ready and chearful attendance upon Divine Worship in the additional places thus provided, and the peculiar gratitude which is thus awakened in many districts of the kingdom, towards those zealous friends of the Establishment, whose benevolence and patriotism have diffused over the country such substantial blessings. From the foregoing Statement, it appears, the Society by the expenditure of £40,082, has promoted the provision of additional accommodation for 49,838 members of the Church of England, who were before excluded, by want of Church room, from attending the public instruction of their Parochial Minister, and from all the benefits of the public worship of the Established Church. It is also most worthy of remark, that in many instances this additional accommodation has induced the Parishioners to provide for a third celebration of Divine Service every Sunday. Interesting, as these considerations must be to every mind duly impressed with the yalue and importance of the public worship of our Church, to individual improvement, and national safety, yet these facts will be contemplated with still deeper interest, and admitted to possess a character of much higher national importance, when the Committee state, that of the increased accommodation obtained by this Society, 36,632 are free and unappropriated sittings. The occupiers of these sittings are thus led to a participation in the instructions and comforts of our holy Religion, and to unite with all ranks of society in the public worship of their Maker; and may thus be expected to form those habits of rational piety and Christian conduct which the services of the Established Church are so eminently calculated to impress; and which constitute the only secure foundation of present and future individual happiness, and the only certain and permanent support of national security and national prosperity. 30th May, 1821. PATENT COFFINS. The Office of the Judge promoted by William Scott, we feel pleasure in now laying before our readers the following correct Report:— "The general determination which I have already arrived at, has decided the legal question, so far as my opinion can decide it, that if Iron Coffins were more durable than those of Wood, they ought to pay in proportion to their longer occupation of the ground. The question of fact, that it was more durable, remained in a controverted state, to be ascertained by further evidence to be produced, and I need not add, that to reach any thing like exactness upon such a. subject of comparison was an expectation not to be indulged. The fact itself is likely to be affected and varied by the influence of various cases, acting upon both substances, so as to make any general result, even of experiments themselves, in some degree questionable. But the truth is, that such experiments have not been, and cannot be made, in any time convenient for the present decision of the question.-The whole of the illustration which it has received, is derived from the opinions of persons scientifically conversant with such subjects, and from such exhibition of fact, as may occasionally and incidentally present them selves to notice. "Of the former of these species of evidence, the Court is furnished with the declared opinions of eminent Professors of the science of Chemistry; and I should have been happy to have been enabled to apply confidently the safe and convenient judicial aphorism of Peritis in arte sua credendum,' but where such opinions disagree, a matter of no unprecedented occur. rence, that rule can have no application, and it is a work of no small difficulty to produce another. The Court cannot presume to pronounce directly a decisive judgment on a subject which the conflicting opinions of those who understand it most familiarly, have left in a state of doubt. Still less can it presume to decide another comparative question of perhaps equal difficulty, and certainly increased delicacy, that of the skill and experienced judgment of the different professors. It can proceed merely crassa Minerva, in looking to the opposing numbers of opinions; for the arguments by which they are supported, however just, come too little within the reach of its own comprehension to authorise any dogmatical conclusion. The baof the greater durability of iron, and lance of numbers is certainly on the side therefore, prima facie at least, the ba lance of authority. For supposing merely an equality of individual skill and judgment, it must be the number that should decide the weight of aggregate authority. Having at the former hearing expressed a pretty strong inclination of my own judgment, a very uninformed one, undoubtedly, on the greater durability of iron, I may perhaps be thought to be unduly influenced by my own prepossessions, when I say that the opinions of Mr. Brande, who fixes the proportions of durability of iron and wood as three to one, and Mr. Aiken and the two other persons who concur, tind a readier way to the conviction of my own mind than those of their oppo. nents. However that may be, the opinion of the court upon this matter, rests finally with them, so far as this species of evidence can lead it. "Another test, by no means improper to be noticed, has been suggested to me by a person of much various and accurate information, founded on the basis, to which I have already adverted, of the results of casual discovery of these substances in situations not unconnected with the present subject. Both substances, wood and iron, have been found in contact with, or in deposit with the soil, where they have been lodged either accidentally, or in pursuance of the ancient usages of the inhabitants of the country, and discovered afterwards at very distant periods of time, sometimes separately, and sometimes in conjunction, Three different states of the soil may be supposed, in which these connexions with it may have taken place; one where the ground was perfectly dry, and remained so during the whole period of the connexion. Both substances, in such a state, may be supposed entitled to a long and sound longevity; rust does not corrode the one, where moisture and air are excluded, nor rottenness the other, if insects are prevented from committing depredations. The cases of Egyptian mummies, composed, as it is said, of the sycamore of the country, but ascertained to be of 2000 years standing, are amongst the most signal instances of the immortale lignum, a character which Pliny appropriates to the larch. Though it is not perhaps remembered that in the interesting account which is given of the disinterment of the body of King Charles I., at Windsor, it is observed that the wooden coffin was found to be very much decayed, though it had been secured from external injury by a leaden coffin, carefully soldered;" and internally from those gaseous vapours which had been mentioned in the affidavits that were filed in this case, as proceeding from dead bodies, by cear-cloths, spiceries, and other precautions. Another of these states was where the substances in question were found in contact with the soil, entirely or partially covered with water, salt or fresh ; and this was exemplified in the instance of old anchors, bolts, and chains, which were constantly being fished up from the bottom of the ocean, where they had lain for unknown ages. It was also a circumstance of notoriety, that there had lately been discovered a belt and a gold chain, which had been fished up from the bottom of a lake, after having been thrown in there in the flight of the Queen of Scotland, about 250 years ago. Manufactured wood had been said to resist moisture in an eminent degree; and a striking manifestation of this was allowed to be furnished by the Cowey stakes, yet remaining in the river Thames, and which are supposed to have supported the bridge over which Cæsar passed his army; and the piers of Trajan's bridge over the Danube were undoubtedly striking proofs of the durability of wood under certain circumstances. As to the third state of soil, where these substances, from having been subjected to certain alterations by the effect of damp and dryness, both decay, but at very different periods, that applied more immediately to the present inquiry. "It is a fact falling within frequent oħ servation, that of the various weapons that are found buried in the tumuli or barrows, or other places of ancient sepulture in this island, the metallic heads of celts and spears, and the blades of swords, and daggers, are in a condition from which they can easily be recovered to their ancient use, or to any other metallic use whatever; whilst the wood that formed their shafts, or handles, or connecting parts, not a particle remains, but are all associated with the soil in which they were buried. Nn merous instances, authenticated in the most satisfactory manner, occur in the volumes of the Archæologia. I owe a collection. of them to the active kindness of the same ingenious person. "An affidavit brought in by the Pa tentee, and signed by three persons, records an instance of an infant's coffin of iron plates, deposited in the churchyard of St. Giles, Cripplegate, and found covered with rust, being of very short duration. I cannot infer much from a single instance of that kind, produced perhaps by the singu larity of some circumstances, either in the soil or preparation of the metal, not stated in the affidavit; for if it were a fact not so singularly produced, the instances would be ordinary and frequent. Besides that, the covering of rust would, as has been ob served, operate in some degree to protect the metal from a further hasty decom position. Perhaps the common practice, which has been adverted to in argument, of having the ends of park palings and posts shod with iron, for the purpose of preserving them in the ground, may be deemed more than a sufficient counter poise to such a solitary fact, at least as far as the common apprehension of men has any authority upon the subject. "It is upon these four species of evidence, if I may so call them-my own impressions founded upon all personal observation being extremely limited and superficial-upon what appears to be the common apprehension of men generally upon this matter-upon the preponderating opinion of men of science, and upon the results of discoveries in some degree, though perhaps remote, connected with this subject, that I am called upon to act; being the best, indeed the only evidence that I can collect by any industry of my own, or the more active industry of others. I must add, that if succeeding experience shall show that these premises have led to an erroneous conclusion, it will be for the justice of the parties themselves to correct it; and if they should decline to do so, it will be for the remedial justice of this Court to reduce the matter to its proper standard. “The remaining question is, that of the proper quantum of the increased taxation. Upon that question I am satisfied by the great variety of circumstances under which both parishes and their cemeteries exist, there can be no general measure of quantum that can be deemed universally applicable even in this town and its environs. The size of their churchyards relative to their population-the possibilities of enlargement if necessery-the facility of obtaining additional cemeteries-the means of purchase within the possession of the parish—many circumstances, some of which occur, and others escape present recollection, render what may be said respecting this particular Church rate, applicable to others only with such amplifications and abatements as the difference of circumstances may require. I observe that there are demands that rather startle at first sight, and require some consideration to reconcile them to notions of propriety. St. Dunstan's in the East, rates metallic coffins at 251. extra fee. I am however to remember that it is a parish extremely populous, in the heart of a most busy part of the metropolis, closely occupied by buildings, with the church-yard extremely circumscribed, and that it is a great dis tance from the country environs of this city. Less appears to justify the demand of 217. in Islington parish, situated as it is out of this town; where ground, though highly valuable, may be more obtainable for the necessary uses of the Parishioners. But I cannot take upon myself to say, that there may not be reasons that protect all these charges from the imputation of extravagance. Upon this particular charge at St. Andrew's, Holborn, an ingenious calculation was proposed by Dr. Arnold, respecting the number of graves, of certain dimensions, and of certain depths, the churchyard was capable of receiving. If I took it accurately, it assumed as a basis, what I think is not to be admitted, that they were to descend to a depth below the soil of fifteen feet: as far as I could follow the calculation, I did not discover other fallacies. Fallacy there must be, for it seems quite incredible that parishes if they could act conveniently upon such a calculation, would incur the inconvenient expense, as they very frequently do, of purchasing new cemeteries. "An objection was taken to the application of the fee as stated in the table. I think that this is a matter into which the present party has no right to look; if the whole demand be a proper demand for the longer occupancy of the ground, he has no right to quarrel with the uses to which the parish immediately applies it, taking upon themselves the burthen of providing additional grounds for interment when required, In the objection to the incumbent's proportion, it seems to be entirely forgotten that by the general law, it is the incumbent who has the freehold of the soil, although originally provided by the parish. By acquiescence, confirmed by usage, parishes in this town have acquired concurrent rights, into the validity of which, it is quite unnecessary and improper for me to inquire; as no adverse claim is, or can be raised in the course of the present discussion, in which the incumbent and parishioners stand upon one agreed footing of interest. "The sum charged is not for an iron coffin, but generally for metallic coffins, and I think without impropriety; because having a right to know the extent of the patentee's powers, they find that under this patent, he has just the same right to offer coffins of tin, or any other metals or mixtures of metals which human ingenuity can devise, as coffins of iron. Those which are called the precious metals, may very well from their intrinsic value be deemed in their own nature, extreme and excluded · 2 |