The Sun.
London, England, 1834-05-22 00:00:00

THE LORD'S DAY BILL.

Mr. HE SK ETH FLEETWOOD said that in
rising to move the second reading of this bill, it was
unnecessary for him to dwell at any length on the
principle, involved in it, as it had been so lately dis-
cussed on another OCCASIOII in that house. He hoped
the present bill would obviate the objections which
had been made, inasmuch as it did not interfere with
the personal conduct of the subject on the Sabbath
Day, nor prescribe any particular mode of conduct to
be observed. ( Hear.) The bill before the house had
three specific objects—first, to prevent Sunday trading;
ilex; to prevent the process of manufactures on that

day ; and the third, to shut up public houses during
certain hours. The present bill proposed to repeal a
lumber of statutes on the subject, and substitute one
Mort one in their stead. One of the consequences of
the passing of the measure would be to equalise the
profits in trade and do away with competitions, by
which the Sabbath was profaned. One clause in the
bill had been made a matter of objection. It had
been said that by it the labouring man, however great
his emergency, or however urgent might be the call
upon him by the sudden sickness of any portion of 'his
family, would be prevented from receiving his wages
except at a particular hour ; but surely any
1------ ne employer might easily obviate this objec-
- si.l by advancing the money as a loan to meet
the pressing necessity of the occasion. (Hear. )
Another of the objections which had been made to si-
milar bills was that the present one contained no clause
against drunkenness. The measure was one which
imperatively forced itself upon the attention of the
house, inasmuch as it was supported by no less than
1,273 petitions, containing 277,400 signatures and up-,
wards—a number of petitions and signatures unparal-
leled, except by those in favour of the abolition of
West India slavery. ( Hear, hear.) Another motive
for the attention of the house would be furnished by
the character of the bodies who petitioned in favour of
this measure. Under these circumstances, and see-
ing that there was nothing compulsory to the con-
sciences of any contained in the bill, he did not see
how the house could well refuse to entertain the se-
cond reading. In a land avowedly Christian, the ex-
pediency of protecting the Sabbath from desecration
could scarcely be denied, and if the principle were
admitted, the bill might be suffered to go through
the second reading, and the details afterwards con-
sidered in committee. If gentlemen thought well
to expedite the business, he had no objection to a select
committee, which, in many instances, would be better
and more convenient than a committee of the whole
house. He would not now move for a select com-
mittee, but if it met the general approbation, he would
be most happy to agree to it. The house should re-
member that the greater part of the people of Eng-
land were in reality strongly embued with religious
feeliggs, and that in legislating for the Sabbath they
were legislating in unison at once with the wishes
of the great majority of the people. ( Hear, hear. )
The proposed measure did not affect travelling on the
Sabbath, and as, from the great number of petitions on
the subject so numerously signed, which had been
forwarded to that house, they must ultimately proceed
to legislate in some way, he conceived that the present
bill, being less objectionable than others, had better be
adopted. The hon. member concluded by moving the
second reading, which being seconded,
Mr. O'CONNE L L rose and• said that he trusted
the house would not allow the bill to proceed to a
second reading. Indeed, before bringing it forward,
the hon. gentleman ought to have taken the trouble
to read his own bill, which it was evident he did not
understand. The hon. ..gentleman said that, by his
bill, no one was compelled to observe the Sabbath. He
admitted that every one might make it a day of idleness,
forgetting, in the admission, that idleness was the ,
mother of all crime. ( A laugh.) The house had
been told that the bill would not interfere with travel-
ling. It was evident the hon. gentleman had not read
the first or second section with regard to ordinary
calling. Now a coachman, in driving, would exercise his
ordinary calling ; and therefore, unless a man travelled on
foot, or with self-directing horses, this bill inter-
fered. The groom who harnessed, and the post-boy
who drove, were subjected to the penalty. By the 6th
section, payment in any way but one would be rendered
void ; and if the Monday were market-day, unless the
wages were paid at noon to the instant they could be
recovered again, and yet here was a contract on Sun-
day prohibited by the bill—a penalty for paying, and
a penalty for not paying, at one and the same instant.
( Hear, and laughter.) These were the consequences
of a fury for legislating. This bill proposed a whole-
sale repeal of all the existing statutes on the subject.
Had the hon. member read those statutes which he
was thus about to repeal in a bundle ? Seriously,
could such a measure be called legislation? ( Hear.) If,
as had been said, that house was a christian assembly,
it should be also remembered that common sense
should have some sway in it. ( Cheers.) The bill
proposed to interfere with tea and coffee shops. These
were the clubs of the humbler classes. ( Hear, hear.)
Could it, then, be said that the bill made no distinction
between rich and poor ?

The HoN. MENIIIER for Preston here intimated that
clubs were included.

Mr. O'CONNELL—Yes, but there are no keepers
in clubs, as in taverns and coffee-shops, to be pro-
ceeded against. Clubs were universal property.
There was a bill of a similar nature before the other
house, and another still to come before that. Would
it not be better then to postpone the present one, and
I have the three in a batch ? ( A laugh.) Was it right
or necessary to pass such a bill ? Was it called for ?
The hon. member stated, and stated truly, that the
spirit of religion was on the increase in the land; to
be satisfied of this, it was only necessary to look around
them, and he would assure the house, that the further
increase of this spirit depended less on the statute than
the moral law, and that the attempts at the former
mode would only impede its progress. The bill
abounded in vexations, and be would therefore move
that it be read a second time this day six months.

Mr. ROEBUCK seconded the- amendment, and
bore testimony to the inefficiency of legislative enact-
ments for the purposes contemplated by the bill.
Mr. POULTER thought some legislation should
be resorted to on the subject, but objected to the bill
of the hon. member for Preston, as increasing the
penalties which before existed. Penalties would
not accomplish the end before sought to be obtained ;
and the clause with regard to wages would be found
very vexatious, binding down the payment to a single
instant of time. The mode by which he (Mr. P.)
would remedy the evils would be to act strictly on the
statute of Charles 11., and prevent the gross eva-
sions of it which at present took place. He was aware
that there were a great many petitions in favour of
the bill ; but did the petitioners know the existing
state of the law on the subject ? Did they know that
the statute of Charles 11. was almost universal in its
application ? Did they know that that statute com-
prehended almost all trades, forbidding the watermen
to be on the river on Sundays, forbidding the bakers
to bake after a certain hour on Sundays, and in other
respects being very severe in its enactments? Let
them first put that law in force before they come to
this house for fresh legislation. He believed that
there was a good deal of indifference about religion in
the country, but he also believed there was a good deal
of mistaken religion in the country. ( Hear, hear.)
He believed that on the whele the English might be
considered as a religious community, and he hoped
that they would be still further improved by education,
by inculcating a religion connected with morality ; by
discouraging hypocrisy and excessive zeal, and by
urging the necessity of good works ; not as an atone-
ment for natural sins, but as an indispensable condition
of the remission of that sin. No man was more anxious
than he for the proper observance of the Sabbath, and
when the present bill was disposed of, he should sub-
mit to the house to proceed with the bill which he had
introduced.
The house then divided—•
For the amendment 77
Against it
Majority
The bill was consequently lost.
RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES BILL.

On the motion for bringing up the report of the
Religious Assemblies Bill,
Mr. WYNN objected to the bill on account of its
interfering with the discipline of the Church of Eng-
land.

Mr. HARDY expressed his readiness to surrender
that part of the bill to which the main objection of the
hon. gentleman and other hon. gentlemen applied, by
striking out the words which gave the parties, in
whose favour the bill was brought in, the privilege
of having divine service with closed doors, and to leave
it to a general sense of decency that they should not
be interfered with. _ _ _

.......
Sir M. W. RIDLE Y expressed himself hostile to
the principle of the bill.
The report was then brought up. The amend-
ments were agreed to, and the bill was ordered to be
read a third time on the 11th June.
COUNTY RATES BILL.
Mr. E. J. STANLEY brought up the report of the
County Rates Bill.
On the motion of Mr. WILBRAHAM, a clause
was introduced, providing that no justice of the peace
should act or vote touching the assessment, manage-
ment, or expenditure of any county rate, unless he
should have a bona fide qualification in that district to
which the rate applied.
Mr. WILBRAHAM then moved another clause,
imposing a penalty of 1001. upon any justice of the
peace who should act in contravention of the clause
just introduced.—This clause went through a com-
mittee of the whole house.
The Report was brought up and agreed to, and the