Your Committe would now remark that by the letter of Richard Tone, who examined the grounds in question at the request of your Committee, and hereto annexed, it is shown that the ground is well adapted for the objects designed. It presents upon examination a dry gravelly soil-the surface is uneven, and upon the banks of the Hudson is a very high elevation of land, rising some fifty or sixty feet above high water mark, and from its suminit commanding a most extensive and beautiful view of the Hudson and of the surrounding country. This hill is covered with a rich growth of trees and shrubbery and could easily be much improved and ornamented by art. Indeed your Committee would remark that in their opinion no spot on this Island is better adapted in all respects for the site of a public Cemetery, and none could be rendered more attractive by being tastefully laid out and ornamented with tombs and shaded walks.

The distance from the City Hall, on the line of the Tenth Avenue is less than nine miles. But your Committee have before remarked that this is not an objection to the site. It is proposed that there should be at some convenient distance from the City Hall a spacious Receiving Vault in which the remains of the deceased could be temporarily deposited, at this place all funeral processions should terminate-and your Committee would also remark that the day is not distant when the funeral service will be only solemnised at the Church, and the funeral procession will and in the opinion of your Committee ought to terminate at the Church,

In conclusion, your Committee would urge upon the Common Council the importance of the subject under consideration. Already Boston has her Mount Auburn, which has become a place of resort to travellers from all sections of the United States and of Europe. Shall New York, destined to be as populous as any of the cities of Europe, permit year after year such unholy violations of the tomb? Shall it be always said that here no one shall find a place of repose.

Let it be remembered that it should be easier to rifle the mansions of the living than the narrow house of the dead. That man looses the respect of the living who does not venerate the dead. This veneration for the dead may be often excessive-we would not defend it-still it is universal, it pervades the bosom of the poor and ignorant, as well as of the rich and enlightened. It has been universal in all ages of the world—and is it not uninstructive to observe the effect of this all pervading reverence of the dead in the past ages of the world. The tombs of Hadrion and Metella have outlasted the palaces of the Cæsars-the tombs of the Egyptian King's survive while the towering pyramids are but shapeless ruins-and this interest in the dead renders sacred and consecrates the spot where they repose. Thus it was in olden times-we learn from the most ancient and authentic history that Abraham when Sarah died purchased for 400 pieces of silver a retired spot or field in which to bury herand the history tells us that this ancient patriarch included in the purchase "all the trees that were within its limits and within its borders." Thus he seems to have had. no slight regard to the beauty and attractions of the place. When Jacob died he charged his children to bury him with his fathers and not commit him to a grave in the distance and solitude of a foreign land. Joseph also exacted a similar promise that he should be permitted to sleep with his fathers. Such is now the all pervading and controlling feeling of those who constitute the present generations of men in all countries and in all conditions of life—and it becomes the public and constituted authorities of our city, to manifest some suitable regard for those whose interests and feelings they are even under obligation to secure and protect.

In view then of the facts and deductions imperfectly and briefly set forth in this report, your Committee would recommend for the adoption of the Common Council the following resolutions:

Resolved, (if the Board of Aldermen concur,) That no interments be made in the present Potters Field after the first day of August next.

Resolved, That fifty acres of the land known as the Long Island Farms be set apart and enclosed and appropriated to and for a Potters Field or Public Burial Place, under the direction of the Committee on Charity and Alms House, and Commissioners of the Alms House.

Resolved, That the lands now owned by James Conner and situated between the 8th and 12th avenues and 151st and 155th streets (and particularly described in the letter of the said James Conner hereto annexed) be purchased at a price not exceeding fourteen hundred dollars per acre..

Resolved, That application be made to the Legislature at its next session for permission to close the 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th avenues between 151st and 155th streets, and also to close 152d, 153d, and 154th streets, and to take by appraise ment the land lying between the land of James Conner and 151st street, and 8th and 10th Avenues for a Public Ceme. tery.

Resolved, That the land thus to be purchased of the said James Conner and others be set apart and perpetually ap propriated for a Rural Cemetery or Burial Place.

JOHN CLEAVELAND, Lands & Places.

PAPERS REFERRED TO IN THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.

Honorable Sir:

NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY 17, 1835,

Should the Corporation of this city purchase Randalls Island, and among other uses appropriate it for a Cemetery,

it appears to me the expense to the city would be reduced, the customs and habits of society would be best consulted and the whole Island made attractive as a place of resort at least during the summer months, by adopting something like the following plan,

1. Surveying and setting apart in various parts of the Island lots of land best adapted for cemeteries containing from a quarter to five acres each, to be sold at about first cost to such Religious Societies as may be willing to purchase for their exclusive use.

2. That application be made to the Legislature authorizing any society to purchase and hold such lands as cemeteries, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

3. That a number of lots be set apart and held by the Corporation of the city for general public burial places.

4. No dwelling or other building be erected on any lot appropriated for a cemetery except to accommodate the family of a Keeper and such building to be of dimensions and constructed agreeable to such plan as may be approved of by a majority of Directors.

5. Thirty to fifty acres in intermediate places and of land adapted for the purpose, be used by the New-York Horticultural Society for horticultural purposes and as an experimen→ tal and botanical garden.

6. A Board of Directors to consist of the Mayor, Presidents of the Boards of Aldermen and Assistants, Recorder, the Aldermen and Assistant of the Ward embracing the Island, the First Judge of the County Court, the President, Vice President and Treasurer, of the New-York Horticultural Society, and every Society, purchasers and owners of lots for cemeteries, to be represented by electing one representative for every lot of one acre and less, and for every two acres over the first, one representative-the majority of whom shall make such regulations for the receiving and

interring the dead, the enclosing of cemeteries, the erection of buildings thereon, and such other matters and things as may from time to time be necessary for the preservation of good order and decency, provided such rules and regulations be not contrary to the laws of the State and ordinances of the Corporation.

These are the outlines of a plan for the establishment of so desirable an object as a Rural Cemetery, which I hope will be adopted. Many other and improved suggestions will no doubt be made in the further developement of the plan.

Although there may be objections to the proposed location there are advantages for its being on an Island. If there were more diversity of elevation it would be preferable. But when we consider the almost insuperable difficulty of obtaining from 100 to 200 acres of land connected with the county and the liability of interruption by opening avenues and streets, perhaps this city cannot find a location accessible by water and land by aid of a bridge better adapted for the purpose.

Respectfully yours,

JACOB LORRILLARD.

HONORABLE C. W. LAWRENCE,

Mayor of the City of New York.