The Government have produced their Burials Bill, but it turns
out to have little or nothing to do with the grievances of the Dissenters. It is rather like a game of cross-questions and con- trary answers; the Dissenters asked for equality in the churchyards, and they have got a consolidation of the various Acts affecting burial. The only concession, if it be a concession, made by the Duke of Richmond in his dismal speech of Tuesday to the Dis- eenters, is that he proposes to give the newly-made Burial authority the duty of providing new burial-grounds, both con- secrated and unconsecrated, where there is not enough for the pur- pose already, and that it allows those who object to the use of the Burial Service at the grave the right to claim a silent burial. This is indeed asking a fish and getting a stone. A Government which, when asked to change the law, answers by a spontaneous effort to consolidate, without changing it in the manner desired, is more likely to be suspected of making fun of the malcontents than of making concessions to them.
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