The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-17 00:00:00

eagerness. His energies are now comparatively
powerless, and those whom he attacks know better
than to attach too much importance to his on-
slaughts. The general feeling of the English public
is tolerably unanimous on such points. There are,
of course, degrees of difference, and considerable
exceptions both to the precepts and practice of tole-
ration, but as a general rule it is felt that the less
the law interferes with a man's private sayings and
doings the better, so long as he does no harm to the
body politic. Sabbatarianism is one of the few in-
stances in which war is still waged as matter of cone
science and opinion ; but notwithstanding the in-
fluence of some earnest and highly respectable
advocates of an enforced observance of the day of
rest, public opinion has always
ys resisted
fatetedanyoafttLemorpdt
to legislate on the matter.
ROBERT GROSVENOR'S Sunday Trading Bill is stil
fresh in our recollection, and it is a pity it has not
served as a warning to the well-meaning but mis-
taken advocates of Mr. SOMES'S measure. Not long
age, we had an example of Scottish feeling on the
subject, on the occasion of the Channel Fleet visit-
ing Leith. The honor of the good men
of the Own when they beheld numbers of
the population of that misguided port forsake their
Sabbath retirement to visit these ships of war was
so great that some of the more influential took upon
themselves to write a remonstrance to the Admiral,
which unwarrantable interference called down upon
them a retort as cool as it was courteous. We have
just had, however, a still more striking instance of
the lengths to which Sabbatarianiem will go—an
instance which few, we believe, will have read
of without deep regret, that even the bountiful
gifts of Heaven should prove an occasion for the
display of man's bigotry and injustice. The de-
tails of the case are too well known to need
repetition. The brief outline is that some small
farmers at Leigh have been made the subjects of
a determined prosecution for the crime of getting
in their hay on Sunday, an act to which they
were urged by the treacherous state of the weather,
and the consequent risk they ran of losing their
crop—to them a matter of serious importance.
The accused were found guilty, and fined, one of
the magistrates making the sage remark that he
saw no difference between haymaking, selling
corn, or ploughing land. The farmers refused to
pay the fine, whereupon a distress was levied on
their goods; a cow being taken from one, a chest
of drawers from another, together with other
articles of similar value. Meanwhile such an
outrageous case could not fail to attract notice in
the vicinity. A strong feeling of indignation
was generally expressed, and the sympathy of
the neighbours found expression in the very prac-
tical form of a defence fund, organised for the
purpose of enabling the losers to try the validity
of the Act. The treasurer of this fund
very properly applied part of the money
at his disposal in repurchasing the goods
seized, which he, of course, subsequently re-
turned free of charge to their original owners.
It remains to be seen whether the case will again
be made a matter of litigation, but, es it stands, i:
is too exceptional and important to be passed over.
The question is, whether a few individuals of pecu-
liar views and strong prejudices shall be allowed
to take advantage of an old and obsolete Act which
wou'd certainly never pass either House at the pre-
sent day, to outrage the general sense and spirit of
the community by punishing men for doing an act
of necessity, which was, moreover, clearly an
exceptional one, on the Sunday. Enforced
religion is never worth much, but it may
certainly be questioned on what authority these
persons so loudly condemn the farmers for
rescuing useful and valuable material from the
chance of waste and destruction. A correspon-
dent of one of our contemporaries, writing on
this subject, remarks that he has known many in-
stances of bay, when in a forward state, being
entirely destroyed by heavy rains on Sunday, and
we trust there are very few men of common sense
and common feeling among us who do not better
understand the spirit of the great MASTER'S teach-
ing than to b ame these poor men for doing what
appeared to them an act of simple necessity.
The Good and Eloquent JEREMY TAYLOR, ranks the
obligations of the sacred day in order-Ist, works
,
of necessity ; 2d, of charity; 3d, of religion; but
is their anxious enforcement of the observances of
the last, the prosecutors in this case appear to have
lost sight of the obligations of the two former.
The whole case is entirely contrary to the spirit of
English law, and the practice of English social life.
Whether it goes any further or no, we trust that
this is the last case of the kind of which we shall
hear, and that others equally prejudiced and
intolerant will at least refrain from such open
attacks and such determined oppression. Mean

while, how long is a law which permits such

extravagance to be suffered to encumber our

statute book ? If the next session be not more

fully occupied than the last, hon. members migh

profitably spare a portion of their leisure for the

expulsion, or at least the revision, of any act
which gives the semblance of legal authority to

an officious intolerance which ought to have been

Long ago extinct among us,

Lord RUSSELL'S despatch has been published.

IA 18 of some considerable length, and enters fully
into all the chief points of the question. He states
that the despatch received from Prince GORTSCEIA-
" Was not at all of a satisfactory nature. This
4
is very . -rue, and it is well that Earl RUSSELL thus
comments strongly
on the very unfitting style in
which the Russian
M
the Allied Powers Minister thought fit to address
of Western Europe. He next
very properly animadverts
the Prince respecting the ~
assistance" which the
upon the views taken by
moral and material
insurrection in ,Poland re-
ceives
from without, and also that he declares the
re-establishment of order must precede the measures
for pacification in Poland, Thereupon Earl RUSSELL
proceeds to consider the several points upon Which
the Russian Government chiefly descant. They lay
great stress upon respect for authority, but, forcibly
argues Lord RUSSELL, they cannot be ignorant that
"clemency and conciliation are often more effective