The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-12 00:00:00

Opening of Museums on Sundays,

Last night the adjourned conference, called toge-
ther for the purpose of discussing the question " is
it desirable that public museums should be epened
on the Sunday," was held at Spa-fields Chapel,
Exmouth-street ; Captain FISHBOURNE in the chair.
Mr. BAXTER LANGLEY opened the discussion by
observing that the Jewish Sabbath was instituted
for the purpose of marking the Jews as a peculiar
people, and was not binding on Christian Gentiles.
It was clear that the institution was not universal,
and there are many nations which knew nothing of
.a Sabbatarian day of rest. He defied any man to
show from the New Testament that the observance
of the Sabbath was re-enacted, whilst all the moral
principles and rules of the Mosaic dispensation were
enforced by Christ, and received from him a deeper
significance and more extended application. The
Christian was called on to worship in truth and
spirit, whilst the observance of forms and ceremo-
nies was inculcated by the Jewish law. Not only
was there nothing in the New Testament to show
that Christ reimposed the Jewish Sabbath, but
there were indications which went to prove that
those who followed the new dispcpation were to
be relieved from that ceremonial imposition. And
the practice of Christians was in conformity with
this view till the prevalence of puritanical
principles in England. Athanasius was opposed
to the rigid observance of, the Sunday; so was
Luther, and so were the Protestants of Geneva.
Was Luther, were the Protestants of Geneva
worse Christians than those Protestants of England
who insisted that public museums should be closed
on the Sunday ? lie maintained that in the best
aspect of Christianity it would be wise and prudent
to allow public museums to be opened on the Sunday,
as it would tend to make people more moral and
better instructed. In strict argument the Sabba-
tarians were precluded from the use of Scripture as
an' authority on this question, for the Sabbath-day
commanded to be kept holy by Scripture was the
Saturday, and they could not from Scripture say
that the Sunday was to be kept holy. They must
therefore come out of the Scripture and rely on
some other ground for the observance of the pre-
sent Lord's day.

Mr. Grisself, Dr. Perfitt,andMr. Kenny followed
on the same side.

Mr. W. Shipton, Mr. Winton, Mr. F. Cox, and
the Rev. H. Stephens, supported the negative of the
question, and maintained that it was contrary to the
spirit of the Christian dispensation that any work
should be done on the Sunday. .From the time of
Christ downwards the practice of the true Christian
church had been to observe the Sabbath and to in-
culcate its observance upon others. It was no argu-
ment against the Sabbatarian view of the question
that the sanctity of the Sabbath had not been ob-
served by others. It was no argument that because
the Crystal Palace, Zoological and Botanical Gar-
dens, and public houses were open on the Sunday,
public museums should be opened also, because they
would shut up all these places as well the museums.
They were the :real friends of freedom, for they
wished to preserve the Sunday as a day of rest for
the working man. The economical aspect of the
question was not much insisted on by the advocates
on either side on this occasion.

The discussion was then adjourned till Wednes-
day next.

AN IMPUDENT THIEF.—About the middle of May
a young sickly-looking man, calling himself Charles
Walter Thorne, arrived in Ayr, and on alighting at the
station inquired of Mr. Blair, station-master, if he could re-
commend him to a quiet lodging in the neighbourhood.
He was directed to a house in the suburbs, where heoh-
tained furnished apartments. He was in very delicate health,
_a
and was attended by a medical gentleman of thechtotivnim.e
remained here for about a fortnight, during
considerably. He said he expected a lady w
°t
business for
he
and
took daily carriage drives, and his health seemedhwnh
heto imhapdroenve..
trusted with the transaction of someh
he went frequently tOP
the
me
staintfLonontdoomn,etoet carne. At last he
Londona:edver himself,he ac-
graphed circular
said he would require
off on a Monday morning, promising that he
cordingly set .
wnkhsenina l ith lithographed
would return in a few
.candelratl'yofbsog.urothlltsiohne:s, sent a telegram, announcing
his safe arrival in the metropolis ; but nothing further was
town (accompanying
stranger), stating that his
ono
01 ie 1
dl e.
cashdn
fithf
tieyn companyßLondon.ankof
Walter H.
real name was Dalgleish, late a clerk in the ser-
viceoof
On the
t n3,0050t0n1. draft,
Dfaolr..
• h was a carte de visite of the
of the Borneo Banking Company at Hong Kong, and
which
vvehaasi heard
received
vi ma
d until
thevarious Wednesday,
ha
each,e
glt vhl
lealiitshhh
intophea Idoa
dtbhlt eaori Mercantile and Exchange
Englandßa nk notesat May,or
London,2ol
in the name of Ralph Ensign, to be remitted to his credit
with the Glasgow branch of that bank. He also paid
1,5801. in seventy-nine like notes to the London Bank of
Scotland, getting in exchange two orders of 7901. each on
their branch in Glasgow, in favour of Ralph Ensign. He
then, as Ralph Ensign, received payment of the 1,0001. and
the 1,5801. in Scotch notes in Glasgow, after which he pro-
ceeded to Ayr. While in Ayr he shewed a considerable
amount in gold, as well as a number of unset diamonds
and jewellery. He spoke of having a sister in Canada,
who was married to a Roman catholic. The last glimpse got
of Dalgleish was at the Crystal Palace, near London on the
11th of June, since which all trace of him has been lost—but
he is believed to have passed as Henry Gray, of Canada, and
he may have gone to Canada or some other part of America.
It is supposed that after getting the 2,5801. in Glasgow he
must have opened an account with or procured credit on
America from some bank or banks under the names of Walter
H. Dalgleish, Ralph Ensign, Charles Walter Thorne, Henry
Gray, or some other alias, and perhaps transferred the
money from one bank to another to evade being traced. It
seems Dalgleish had been sent home by one of the partne
of the Borneo Banking Company in Hong Kong on accountthe
of the delicate state of his health, and he had stolen the
for
draft before leaving, and the theft not being
some time afterwards, he has had ample time " o o
parts tmknown."—Korth British Mail. discovered
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