The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-03 00:00:00

TDIII NORTISERN TIMES.—LIVEMPOOL, THIBMDAY, APRIL 3, ISta

trusting that his claim for compensation would be taken
into consideration. The' committee replied that they
regretted the claim could not be entertained.

If our most gracious Majesty has been advised to open her
palace gtrdens on the Sabbath for public amusement, the
men who gave her such advice are loosening the founda-
tions of her throne, and will 'alienate from her, if these
principles be carried out, the affections of a great many of
her subjects, and God forbid that our gracious Queen
should listen to the advice of those, who would destroy the
Protestantism of England by destroying our glorious and
imperishable Sabbath. (Applause.) I know that by the
'utterance of these opinions I lay myself open to the
charge of bigotry. Be it so. I am willing to submit to'
it. I do solemnly protest against this council, whose]
business is of a. different description, being made to lead'
the van in enunciating a principle which is sought to be
enunciated, that it may subsequently be driven home.
(Hear, hear.) I protest against the introduction of a
Principle which would assimilate the Sahbathof England.
to the desecrated Sabbath of the Continent, where there!
is scarcely a throne worth a year's purchase. (Hear, ,
hear.)l say I protest against it, and believing that the
gentlemen are mistaken, are many of them mistaken, and
believing that they have not looked at the question, prob-
ably, in the light in which I have looked at it, I shall take

OPENING OF ST. GEORGE'S-11AM, ON SUNDAYS.
After some preliminary discussion, it was resolved, on
a division, that a memorial, which was signed by ten
magistrates. 200 bankera. merchants, and gentlemen, 115
professional gentlemen, 2,015 shopkeepers and tradesmen,
and 5,553, Operatives, praying that St. George's-hall may
be opened on Sundays for the performance of sacred
music, the proceeds to go to some charitable -institution,
should be read and considered.
After it had been read, -
Mr. Beckwith moved that it, be referred to the com-
mittee.

Mr. Alderman Lanstsdale seconded the motion.
Mr. Alderman S. Hulme said—Mr. Mayor, if this really
involved an ordinary subject, or were one which did not
involve a great principle, I should be execerlingly sorry to.

make any remarks upon that memorial. But, sir, believing
as .I do conseientiouslY, that, it is for the purpose of intro-

(ITtei;g a principle whiCh is at variance -With-the reltgious
feelings, and with the conscientions•convictions of tens of
thousands, apc, of millions in this country=thitt it is for

the- liberty of moving—being exceedingly sorry that before
I came into the ro im I was not prepared by having seen
the memorial, when I could have entered much more
largely into the subject ; and believing that the majority
of the working classes do not ask for this concession, and
that it would be a failure if carried out, andthe,recognition
of a principle to which Y. object—l take the liberty of
moving that the prayer of .the memorial be not acceded •

the purpose of getting in the thin enti or the wedffe for the
establishment of such principles—l feel myself bound,
however painful it maybe, and with whomever I may

differ, upon a point of such paramounrimportance, involv-
ing a. question of far greater solemnity than the mere
open'n.; of this hall. I sav, sir, I feel bound, although
utterly unprepared for it, to make a few remarks uponthis
question. Sir, we ought to have had some notice that a
memorial of such importance was about to be presented to
the council. (Hear, hear.) When I entered the room
this morning. I was told (that which I had heard
something of certainly on Friday morning) that this
memorial was about to be presented. • I must say
it 'was taking us rather by surprise, that this

to. :(Dear, hear.)
Mr. Charles Turner seconded the amendment

Mr. Clint supported Mr. Efolme's amendment, objecting
to the prayer of the memorial upon religious grounds,
and conceiving that the object of emptying the public

houses would not be all attained bylt-. He contended
that there was sufficient rational enjoyment for the work-
ing man in going to his place of worship on the Sabbath,
and then taking a quiet walk into the country with his
family, and enjoying their society, of which he had been
deprived during the greater part of the week. Sacred
music was provided for him in the churches already.
He (Mr. Clint) warned the council against sanctioning
a principle which might lead to such a gradu it despera-
tion and abolition of the Sabbath, as prevailed during
the period of the French revolution.
Mr. Bernard Hall, who also supported the amendment,
strongly opposed the prayer of the memorial on the same
general grounds.
Mr. W. Earle said that he was not going to give a ser-
mon ; three of them in the morning being quite sufficient,
_

voluminous doimment,.seemingli got up with care, and so
far as I can judge got up without any great:oublic demon-

titration, shjuld be broUght in this way to the council. I

think, sir, we should noE be doing our duty as men or as
christians if we shrunk from a candid and honest avowal

of our opinions

Sir, the existence of an anti-

Sabbath lenun is a notorious fact

indicative of

the feeling which is abroad, and unfortunately abroad, in
religious England at the present time. Objects, sir, and

purposes which tend too;ards. the centralisin of your

political instituti ,ns, and the destruction, for destruition
must be tho ultimate result, of our religions institutions.

Although I may be accused of bigotry, yet

sir, feelinr!

my responsibility to a higher power than that of man, and
feeling that this involves a qnestion of the greatest im-

though once at a table, d'hote he had been mistaken for
the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Laughter.) They had
been treated to an impromptu speech from Mr. Alderman
Holme I Notwithstanding which, he (Mr. Earle) was
going to support the motion that the memorial he sent to
the committee -and favourably received by them. The
speakers who preceded him, expressed great respect for
the gentlemen who signed the memorial, but at the same
time they forgot the commandment " not to bear false
witness against, their neighbours," and ascribed to the
memorialists motives, which he (Mr. Earle) for one would
scorn to acknowledge. He had as much right to have his
opinion in respect to the Sabbath as Mr. Holme, Mr.
Hall, or any other gentleman, though he did not pretend
to extraordinary sense, or to any other than common sense.
(Laughter.) Much had been said about the lower orders
in France. He had travelled muchlhere ; he had observed
the people, and he had always seen with pleasure hnw the
husbands took their wives and families and walked with
them in the public gardens on Sundays. How was it with
the lower orders here at home ? They sat drinking in
the public house, or if they could not afford it they lounged
about the door, and did not seem to take any notice of
their families whatever. Mr. Holme had, therefore, given
a false colouring to what actually existed in France, and
it should teach all how happy it was that they were not
to be judged by their fellow-creatures, but by one to
whom all hearts were open and no secrets hid. (Hear,
hear,) He could not help thinking too that it would be
well if those in the better and upper class of life, who
talked so much about morality, looked more
to themselves and sought to improve their
own. He could see the merchant repudiating his
bargain when the market was falling, and when it was
pretended that the sample did not equal the bulk. He had
seen the contractor endeavour to get out of his undertak-
ing by substituting American deals for Baltic timber,
according to specification. (Laughter.) He could see the
grocer mixing deleterious matter with his sugar, and the
flour dealer doing the same to his flour, and yet, while
practising this immorality, they denounced innocent
recreation which was sought to be provided for the
people, as immoral—(hear, hear)—and bore false witness
against their neighbours. They were told that the object
of the memorial was opposed to the law of the land, but
was it to be supposed that the Queen would do anything
against that law.? (Hear, hear.) Mr. Holme talked
about the performance of the band at Kew Gardens, but
did he not know that Windsor Castle was the private
!residence of the Queen, and that there a band played every
"Sunday to which her Majesty listened with pleasure?
(Hear, hear.) But then he professed great regard for her
Majesty, and declared that he would die for his Queen.
. _ _

portance to the country at large, I take a more extended
view of the subject—whether I am right or wrong—than
the mere reception of a memorial for the purpose of giving

Die foi• his Queen? Oh, yes, dead as a herring for his
'Queen! (Laughter.) Yes, the Queen, in this particular
Sabbath observance, set them a noble example, and he
trusted that the council would endeavour to imitate it.
(Hear, hear.)
M'Guffie asked if ever such a memorial, so influen-
tially and and respectably signed, had been presented to
the council ?

The Town-clerk said ho did not recollect any memorial
so numerously signed having ever been presented to them.
Mr. McGuffisl again asked Mr. Ald. Holme, whether ho
had observed more drunkenness in France than Liver-
pool, and in putting this question, expressed his intention
of supporting the original motion.
Mr. Aid. Holme replied that he had no hesitation in
saying that he had seen more sobriety on the continent
than in Liverpool.

Mr. Tvrer : It is all in the wine. (Great lamr,hter.)
Mr. nelson thought the only question which they had
a r4,,ht to discuss in legislating for the town, was how
they could best proceed in reducing the vice of drunken-
ness, and the crime which flawed from it, among them.
Every body knew that in this country, drunkenness was
the cause of the great crimes they were suffering under ;
and as drunkenness so produced crime, and crime irreli-
gion, he could not see how the species of harmless
recreation, which the memorialists proposed as one of the
means to check it, could be deemed irreligious or
immoral. (Hear, hear.) If they would witness the effect

of the suppiession of innocent recreation, let them take
Glasgow. T.iere,was a time when the Scotchman, after
attending at kirk on the Sabbath with his family, went
down the Clyde for health and pleasure, but when the
people were deprived of that recreation by the bill of Sir
Andrew Agnew, what was the effect ? An increase in
drunkenness. until Glasgow had become the most immoral
city in the United Kingdom. (Hear, hear.) In France,
where the opposite system prevailed, the elect was seen
in the exemplary sobriety of the people, and in the fact
that among them, there was but one third of the crime
that disgraced this country. He: held that they had
too much of cant and hypocrisy in the discussion of this
question, and he called on the council not to be swayed
by it, but to grant the rational prayer of the memorial.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Alderman Parker supported the amendment, and
said that if he were allowed time he could bring a memorial
with 2,000 signatures, opposing the prayer of the one then
under consideration. He attributed the prevailing drunken-
ness in the town to the large number of licenses granted
by the magistrates. but, at the same time, maintained that
there was as much, if not more, drunkenness in proportion
among the higher than the lower classes of society. If they
wanted to see a specimen of sober and orderly working men,
he would take the council on any Tuesday night to St.
John's Church, and there show them hundreds of working
men, worshipping and being instructed.
Mr. Sheil supported the motion, and urged that when so'
_many eminent divines of all sects differed as to what con-
stituted the observance of the Sabbath, the council might
fairly decline to follow Mr. Alderman Holme into the dis-
cussion of the subject, on theological grounds. He would
treat the subject on moral grounds, and he did not see how
any man, aware of the condition of people of Liverpool,
could oppose the means by which it was now sought to wean
them from vice. They should remember that men could
not be made religious all at once, but that they should be
led on step by step ; and ridiculed the argument about
getting the thin end of the wedge, and ultimately destroying
"old England and her glorious constitudon," by remind-
ing them how frequently the same prophecy had been made,
but not fulfilled.

Mr.they
eas to
tßobertsonßobertson
waget against
the holiness
r.
shbtoothelsupportedui
Gladstone
edlpas
sdtr oasty offoeont
prayer
hel the amendment,
ooefwst
uhptepimemorial,
Sabbath.t
supported
commandment
oa nnd t
hebased
groundof
thehi s
atLha
ogamrtud
the prayer of the
memorial. After some prefatory observations he said : My
experience, sir, has -taught me that whenever any great
measure for the social, moral, or political, good and benefit
of all classes of society is proposed, hi proportion to the
magnitude of the advantage to he obtained, there is always
a degree of opposition bent upon the purpose of defeating
that particular measure, let it be what it may.' (Hear, bear.)
It does not matter whether we refer to Catholic Emancipa-
tioa, to the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, the
Repeal of the Corn Laws, affecting the very bread wo eat,
it is all the same throughout—and I find out of doors, in
St. George'e-hall, in this Council-room, men again at their
old tricks, opposing a measure which has a Christian object
in view I contend, urging all sorts of mischief,- reviewing
their old tales and predictions, every one of which, events
and experience, have falsified to such an extent that if our
appetite would feed upon the repast, there would be no
means in human calculation to eetimate the stature
of these with whom we have to contend. Now,
sir, religion, piety, good works, positively must
be centred in those who are opposing the prayer
of this memorial, They must be supposed,
according to their own statements, to comprise within them,
every thing which is honest and true, and of good repute,
and all else must be considered as totally unworthy and unfit
to entertain an opinion upon any matter so essentially inter-
esting, so admirably calculated to improve the condition of
the poorer classes of society, as I contend the measure
would be if it were fairly, honorably, and justly carried out.
(Rear, hear.) Is there any man here .will doubt for a
moment the demoralising state in which the- poorer classes
of society exist at this moment ? Is it because we all retire
on Saturday to comfortable homes, and do net witness the
horrors of Saturday and, Sunday, and up to a large part of
Monday morning—is it because these scenes are concealed
from us that we are going to layeavesroyrtthoing fsalwvhoitcohoduerstcroonys-
sactiethnceecsatuhsaetonfocrmimisec,hiefeox9iksts4?; Look at our gaols. Look