The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-03 00:00:00

DAILY W.E.47HER TABLE.

THURSDAY, FEB. 3, 1853.
state of the wind and weather at each of the following
Places at nine o'clock yesterday morning. The stations
are arranged in order of latitude.
BASINGSTOKE—N., gentle breeze—foggy.
HASTINGS—CaIm—partially cloudy.
SOUTHAMPTON—N,, gentle breeze--foggy.
FOLKESTONE-S. light airs—overcast.
TUNBRIDGE--N.*„ calm--overcast. •
GREENWICH—CaIm—foggy.
STRoon--Calm—foggy.
SWINDON—E., gentle breeze--partially cloudy.
CAMBRIDGE—N. W., gentle breeze—foggy.
YARMOUTH—S.E., gentle breeze--overcast.

THE WEATHER.—Sua OFFICE, FEB. 3,
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
38—highest since noon yesterday.
33—lowest this morning and during tho night.
35—this day, at noon.

"DAROMETER, 20*6S—went down half an inch since
yesterday.
WIND, S.E.—Smart breeze, and dull, cold weather.

bt

LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1853,

A vigorous effort is at length being made by
the working classes themselves to withstand the
pernicious and repressive influence of those unfor-
tunate saints who have been so long vapouring
abo-ut what they are pleased to call Sunday dew-
ation. We are rejoiced at this from our heart,
'because we believe it to be the most effectual means
of " putting down" the intolerable, and, we are
bold to say, the irreligious, cause of the so-termed
Sabbatarians. Besides this, it evinces, on the
part of the labouring classes, a just recognition of
their own rights, and an accurate appreciation of
what is best calculated to secure their social, moral,
and intellectual improvement. As one of the
daily organs of the cause of labour, as one of the
metropolitan advocates of the interests of our toiling
Population, we ourselves have for a considerable
time past looked with jealous eyes upon the evil
endeavours making in certain quarters to deny in a
very great measure all personal freedom to the
'artisan, from year's to year's end, uninterruptedly.
Against this cruel attempt on the part of men
designating themselves patriots and Christians, we
have protested again and again, at every available
opportunity. Because we have done this, our
efforts have not nnfrequently been miscon-
strued. Because we have insisted upon the
necessity of allowing the handicraftsmen in
our crowded cities to breathe, if they will, a
little fresh air upon the only day out of every
seven when they enjoy rest from occupation
---we have been repeatedly charged with an inten-
tion to demoralise the masses, by evading one of the
first commandments of the DivrrnTY, one of the
wisest injunctions of Religion, and one of the
holiest principles of Christianity. In defiance
of every misrepresentation, we have continued to
enlarge upon the fallacy of supposing for one in-
at ant, that man can, as HENRY MAYHEW said last
evening, be made pious by Act of Parliament.
Compel any man to abstain from anything upon
certain occasions, and he loses, of course, all
merit whatsoever in the abstinence. Apart from
this consideration, we have not failed to recog-
nise with the vast majority of our fellow-creatures,
that it would be an atrocious perversion of the
divine and beautiful system of Christianity, to
suppose for a moment that there can be a sin in
'c alking through the green fields on a Sunday—
that OMNIPOTENCE can be offended by the poor
and the toil-worn availing themselves of that in-
terval to escape from the dust and the drone of
-their wretched hovels, to some spot where they can
enjoy for a while the purity, and the loveliness,
and the glory of some untainted landscape. We
have understood thus much at least of the great
mystery of human existence. Reason and com-
mon sense have told us that it is not such acts as
those we have mentioned that " the stretched-out
arm" of Gon will visit with His avenging thunders.
Until, however, the working classes had spoken
out upon the matter themselves, their cause was
still in some measure at a disadvantage with the
Sabbatarians. Happily, their silence as a body
has at length been interrupted. They have pro-
claimed their wishes in the matter in a way that
cannot for an instant be mistaken. They have
asserted their rights through an important aggre-
rate meeting of their representatives. It will be
observed with interest by every man of hu-
manity throughout the United Kingdom, that
this meeting was sufficiently comprehensive
in its character to command the respectful atten-
tion even of the bitterest among their antago-
nists. Convened for the occasion in St. Martin's
Hall, the delegates of the working classes of Lon-
don were there presided over yesterday evening
by Mr. HENRY MAYHEW—than whom no wor-
thier champion could have been selected out of the
millions constituting our population. How far
the meeting can be supposed to have represented
the united working classes of the metropolis may
be understood on its being observed that dele-
gates from the following trades were assembled
upon the platform—bakers, pastry-cooks and CON fectioners, basket-makers, bookbinders and pocket-
book makers, bootmakers, brassworkers, brush-
makers, combmakers and hairdressers, ,bricklayers
and slaters, butchers, cabinetmakers and upholster-