The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-16 00:00:00

REPORT.

That some respite is required from the ordinary vo-
cations of life is an established principle sanctioned by
the usages of all nations, whether Christian or Pagan.
One day in seven has always been determined upon as
the proportion of time ; and in conformity with the
wishes of tha great major:ty of citizens in this country,
the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday,
has been set apart to that object. The principle has
received the sanction of the national Legislature so
far as to admit a suspension of all public business on
that day, except in cases of absolute necessity, or of great
public utility. This principle the Committee would not
wish to disturb. If kept within its legitimate sphere of
action, no injury can result from its observance. It
should, however, be kept in mind, that the proper object
is to protect all persons in the enjoyment of their reli-
gious as well as civil rights, and not to determine for
any, whether they shall establish one day above another
or esteem all days alike holy.
We are aware that a variety of sentiment exists among
the good citizens of this nation on the subject of the
Sabbath-day, and our Government is designed for the
protection of one as well as another. The Jews, who
in this country are as free as Christians, and entitled
to the same protection from the laws, derive their obliga-
tion to keep the Sabbath-day from the Fourth Command-
ment of their decalogue, and, in conformity with that in-
junction, pay religious homage to the seventh day of the
week, which we call Saturday. One denomination of
Christians among us, justly celebrated for their piety, and
certainly as good citizens as any other class, agree with
the Jews in the moral obligation of the Sabbath, and observe
the same day. There are also many Christians among us who
derive not their obligation to observe the Sabbath from the
decalogue but regard the Jewish Sabbath as abro-
gated. From the examples of the Apostles of Christ,
they have chosen the first day of the week, instead of
that day set apart in the dccalogue, for their religious
devotions. These have generally regarded the obser-
vance of the day as a devotional exercise, and would not
more readily enforce it upon others than they would en-
force secret prayer or devout meditations : urging the fact
that neither the Lord nor his disciples, though often cen-
sured by his accusers for a violation of the Sabbath, ever
enjoined its observance. They regard it as a subject on
which every person should be fully.'persuaded in his own
mind, and not coerce others to act upon his persuasion.
Many Christians, again, differ from those professing to de-
rive their obligation to observe the Sabbath from the fourth
commandment of the Jewish decalogue, and bring the
examples of the Apostles, who appear to have held their
public meetings for worship on the first day of the week,
as authority for so changing the dccalogue as to substi-
tute that day for the seventh. The Jewish Government
was a theocracy, which enforced religious observances
and though the Committee would hope that no portion of
the citizens of our country could willingly introduce a sys-
tem of coercion in our civil institutions, the example of
other nations should admonish us to watch carefully against
its earliest indiesCon.

With these different religious views, the Committee
are of ',opinion that Congress cannot interfere. It is
not the legitimate province of the Legislature to deter-
mine what religion is true or what is false. Our Go-
vernment is a civil and not a religious institution. Our
Constitution recognizes in every person the right to
choose his own religion, and to enjoy it freely, without
molestation. Whatever may be the religious sentiments
of citizens, and however variant, they ate alike entitled to
protection from the Government, so long as they do not
invade the right of others.
The transportation of the mail on the first day of the
week, it is believed, does not interfere with the rights of
conscience. The petitioners for its discontinuance appeal
to be actuated from a religious zeal, which may be com-
mendable, if confined to its proper sphere, but they assume
a position better suited to an ecelesiatitical than to a civil.
Thti,v appear, in many instances, to lay it down as an axiom,
that tbs; practice is a violation of the law of God. Should
Congress, ;.ii their legislative capacity, adopt the sentiment,
it would estab:ish the principle that the Legislature is a
proper tribunal to determine wbat are the laws of God. It
would involve a legislative decision in a religious con-
troversy, and on a point on which good citizens Pay
honestly differ in opinion without disturbing the peacs Pf
society or endangering its 'liberties. If this principle is
once antroduced,it will be impossible to define its bounds.
Among all the religious persecutions eith which almost
every page of modern history is stained, no victim ever
suffered but for the violation of what Government denomi-
nated the law of God. To prevent a similar train of evi!e
in this country, the Constitution has wisely withheld from
our Government the power of defining the Divine law. It
is a right reserved to each citizen, and widle he respects
the equal rights of others, be cannot be held amenable to
any human tribunal for his conclusions.
Extensive religious combinations to effect a political
object, are, in the opinion of the Committee, always dan-
gerous. The first effort of the kind calls for the estab-
lishment of a principle which, in the opinion of the Com-
mittee, would lay the foundation for dangerous innovations
upon the spirit of the Constitution, and upon the religious
rghts of the citizens. If admitted, it may be justly ap-
prehended that the future measures of Government will be
strongly marked, if not eventually controlled by the same
influence. All religious despotism commences by combi-
nation and influence, and when that influence begins to
operate upon the political institutions of a country, the
civil power soon bends under it, and the catastrophe of
other nations furnishes an awful warning of the conse-
quence.
Under the present regulations of the Post-office de-
partment, the . rights of • conscience are not invaded ;
every agent enters voluntarily, and it is presumed con-
scientiously, into the discharge of his duties, without
intermeddling with the conscience of another. Po"-
offices are so regulated as that but a small proportion of
tae first day of the week is required to be occupied
iu official business. In the transportation of
the
on that day, no one agent is employed many
homl ur,.
Religious persons enter into the business without vio-
lating their own consciences or imposing soy restraints
ai
upon others, Passengers in the mail-stages are fie(' to rest
during the first day of the vreek, or pureue their journeys et
their osvn pleasure. While the mail is transported on Sa-
turday, the Jew and the Sabbatariau may abstain from any
agency in carrying it from conicientieus scruples. While i
it is transported on the first-day of the week, another class
may abstain, from the same religious scruples. The obliga-
tion of Government is the same to both of these classes;
and the Committee can discover no principle on which the
claims of one should be more respected than those of the
other, unless it should be admitted that the consciences of
the minority are less sacred than those of the majority.
It ii the opinion of the Committee that the subject
should be regarded simply as a question of expediency, ir-
respective of its religious bearing ; in this light it has hi-
therto been considered. Congress have never legislated
upon the subject. It rests, as it has ever done, in the legal
discretion of the Postmaster-General, under the repeated
refusals of Congress to discontinue the gibbet]] mails, His

knowledge and judgment in all the concerns of that depart-
ment will not be questioned. His intense labours and ASS
duity have resulted in the highest improvement of every
branch of his department. It is practised only on the pea
leading mail routes, and such others as are necessary to
maiutain their connexions. To prevent this would, in the
opinion of the Committee, be productive of immense injury
both in its commercial, political, and in its moral bearings.
The various departments of Government require, fre-
quently
in peace, always in war,'the speediest intercourse
with the remotest parts of the country ; and one impor-
tant object of the mail establishment is to furnish the
greatest and most economical facilities for such intercourse.
The delay of the mails one whole day in seven would re-
quire the employment of special expresses at great ex-
pense, and sometimes with great uncertainty.
The commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural in-
terests of our country are so intimately connected, as to
requite a constant and the most expeditious correspond-
ence betwixt our seaport:, and betwixt them and the most
interior settlements. The delay of the mails during the
Sunday would give occasim to the employment of private
expresses to such an amount, that probably ten riders
would be employed where one mail stage is now running
on that day, taus directing the revenue of that department
into another channel, and sinking the establishment into a
state of pusillanimity incompatible with the dignity of the
Government of which it is a department.
Paisengces in the mail-stage:, if the mails are not per-
mitted to proceed on Sunday, will be expected to spend that
day at a tavern upon the road, generally under circum-
stances not friendly to devotion, and at an expense which
many are but poe-ly able to encounter. To obviate these
difEcultiet, many will employ extra carriages for their con-
veyance. and become the bearers of correspondence, as
more expeditious than the mail. The stage proprietors
will themselves often furnish the travellers with those means
of conveyance, so that the effect will ultimately only stop
the mail, while the vehicle which conveys it will continue,
and its passengers become the special messengers for con-
veying a considerable proportion of what would otherwise
constitute the contents of the mail.

Nor can the Committee discWer where the system could
consistently end. If the observance of a holiday becomes
incorporated in our institutions, shall we not forbid the
movement of an army, prohibit an assault in time of war,
and lay an injunction upon our naval officers to lie in the
wind while upon the ocean upon that day ? Consistency
would seem to require it. Nor is it certain that we should
stop here, if the principle is once established, that re.i-
gion cr religious observances shall be interwoven with our
Legislative Acts, we must pursue it to its ultimatum. We
shall, if consistent, provide for the erection of edifices for
the worship of the Creator, and for the support of Chris-
ean Ministers, if we believe such measures will promote
tF e interests of Christianity. It is the settled conviction
of the Committee, that the only method of avoiding these
consequences, with their attendant train of evils, is to ad-
here strictly to the spirit of the Constitution, which regards
the general government in no other light than that of a
civil institution, wholly destitute of religious authority.
What other nations call religious toleration we call
religious rights. They are not exercised in virtue of
Government indulgence, but as rights which G ,vern-
ment cannot deprive any portion of ci.izens, however
small. Despotic power may invade those rights, but
justice still confirms them. Let the national Legisla-
ture once perform an act which involves the decision of
a religious controversy, and it will have passed its legi-
timate bounds. The precedent will then be established and
the foundation laid for that usurpation of the Divine prero-
gative in this country, which has been the desolating scourge
to the fairest portions of the old world. Our Constitution re..
cogaises no other power than that of persuasion for enforc-
ing religious observances. Let the- professors of Chris-
tianity recommend their reltgion by deeds of benevolence
—by Chti,tian meekness—by lives of temperance and
holiness. La them combine their efforts to instruct the
ignorant—to relieve the widow and the orphan—to pro-
mulgate to the world the Gospel of their Saviour, re-
commending its precepts by their habitual example ; Go-
vernment will find its legitimate object in protecting
them. It cannot oppose them. and they will not need
its aid.. Their moral influence will then do infinitely
more to advance the true interests Of religion than any
measures which they call on Congress to eaact.
The petitioners do not complain of any infringement
upon their own rights. They enjoy all that Christians
ought to ask at the hand of any Government—protection
from all molestation is the exercise of their religious sen-
timents. f
Resolved—That the Committee be diScharged rein the
f
further consideration of the subject."