and consecrates the depositaries of the dead. On a late occasion it
was not the belief that such a proceeding is a violation of our more
sacred instincts which hindered the removal to Pennsylvania of the
remains of William Penn; but simply the belief that they had already
a more suitable resting-place in his native land. {2}

There is still another sentiment, honourable in itself and not
inconsistent with those which I have specified, though still more
conditional upon the sufficiency of the reasons conducing to the
act: namely, the desire, by exhumation, to set at rest a reasonable
or important issue respecting the person of the deceased while he
was yet a living man. Accordingly it is held justifiable to exhume
a body recently buried, in order to discover the cause of death, or
to settle a question of disputed identity: nor is it usually held
unjustifiable to exhume a body long since deceased, in order to find
such evidences as time may not have wholly destroyed, of his
personal appearance, including the size and shape of his head, and
the special characteristics of his living face.

It is too late for the most reverential and scrupulous to object to
this as an invasion of the sanctity of the grave, or a violation of
the rights of the dead or of the feelings of his family. When a man
has been long in the grave, there are probably no family feelings to
be wounded by such an act: and, as for his rights, if he can be
said to have any, we may surely reckon among them the right of not
being supposed to possess such objectionable personal defects as may
have been imputed to him by the malice of critics or by the
incapacity of sculptor or painter, and which his remains may be
sufficiently unchanged to rebut: in a word we owe him something
more than refraining from disturbing his remains until they are