In that hope, we suspect, Mr. Osborne Morgan was dis-
appointed. Colonel Egerton Leigh cut jokes against the Bill, rather in the style of Dickens's jokes at the expense of Mr. Mould, though, of course, much poorer, and described Mr. Osborne Morgan as a "resurrectionist" of grievances ; Mr. Gladstone, while giving the Bill his hearty support, regretted the loss of Mr. Osborne Morgan's " guarantees " against abuses, though mainly, as it would seem, in the interest of the flowers in decorated church- yards ; Mr. Shaw-Lefevre showed that just such anticipations as are now indulged-in against this Bill were freely indulged-in before the Irish Burials' Act was passed, and yet have never been ful- filled; the Solicitor-General maintained that a much larger grievance would be set up by the Bill than any that would be taken away,—an argument we have elsewhere dealt with ; Mr. Cross said that the true remedy for the grievance was more ceme- teries; Mr. Richard made a vigorous speech for the Bill, as did Mr. Forster and Mr. Bright, whose eloquent description of the Quaker indifference to external ceremonies, and sagacious appeal to Conservatives in the interest of Conservatism to soften instead of embittering the feelings of the Dissenters on this subject, pro- duced a great effect on the House. But why did Mr. Bright treat prayer for the dead as a gross superstition ? To us, superstition seems rather to be attributable to those who suppose that "as the tree falls so must it lie,"—that there is any wide difference at all between the effect of prayer on those who are living on the earth, and its effect on those who are living behind the veil. The division showed a considerable languor in the Conservative feeling against the Bill ; it was rejected by a majority of only 14 (248 against 234), a few Conservatives like Mr. Russell Gurney, Mr. ,Cave (the Judge-Advocate-General), and Mr. Corry voting for the Bill.
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