THE BURIALS BILL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sta,—I should be glad of an opportunity for saying that the phrase " of weekly occurrence," in reference to the particular " scandal " to which Mr. Williams refers, is Mr. MacColl's, and not mine. Possibly, by an alteration of, and a small addition to, an expression in my first letter, without inaterially altering the sense of what I wrote, I might have avoided misapprehension.
Instead of " at one time," I might have written, " I will men- tion three instances which have recently been brought under my notice," and then explained that I knew that the first was both exceptional and illegal, although not the occasion of much more hardship than the more frequent and legal refusal to bury unbap- tised children. I do not suppose that Mr. MacColl will withdraw the charges of " vamping up baseless accusations " and uttering
" a malicious fable," and possibly some parish priests may wish that they had " the power," which, he says, they have not, " to order me to be hanged on the nearest tree." The worst thing, however, that I wish for them is that the present law may be so altered, that none of them may run the risk of being compelled to bury, or to refuse to allow others to give Christian burial to, such
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