The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP VIE' PUBLIC jOURNA

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In the Comisous Bernal brought up the
report of the *Select Committee on the borough
of Hertfoid, We' Understand the report re-
commends that all the electors under the class
of 101. voters. shotild- be disfranchised, and that
the right of voting ;for the borough should be
extended to•the inhabitants of the-adjacent dis-
trict, including Ware and- Hoddeson. It is
calculated ..that this-
.will •disfranchise between
200 and 300 of 'the' old. electors, and enfran-
chise about 600 new electors. Mr. Finch
brought forward the following resolution against
political unions That certain voluntary as-
sociations, denominated political unions, are
subversive of the authority of the Crown, are
unconstitutional -and_ illegal, and that his Ma-
jesty's Ministers will be fully justified in enforc-
ing the law of the land for their suppression ;
and that all such political unions, be their de-
nomination what it may, are in their principles,
their designs, and their operations, sub
versive -of 'the. authority. of the Crown,
unconstitutional, -and . illegal." There was
nothing remarkable in the Hon. Member's
speech except the new Administration" which he
suggested, as a means, we suppose, of propi-
tiating the s when those
formidable personages shall have brought about
all the revolutitiiiary hOrriars which -Mr. Finch
predicted . as the inevitableconsequence of the
continuance .of -ariy, but " Conservative" coali-
tions of a :political character. By the Hon.
Member's ingenious specimen of Conserva
tive" cabinet-making, Mr. Attwood (the " Brum-
magem. Hampden") was to be First Lord of the
Treasury.;„Mr..O'Connell.(the restrictions in the
Catholic Relief Bill being repealed or declaresi
inoperative) was to be Lord High Chancellor ;
Mr. Parkes (who will not thank Mr. Finch for
putting him in such company), and Mr. Edmonds,
of Birmingham, were to be Attorney and Soli-
citor-General; a Mr. Larkins was to be Secretary
for the Tome Department ; and Mr. Thos. Steele
(the " Feificator ) Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Mr. Finch did not complete the list, and in
stopping where he did, we cannot help feeling
that he has done very great injustice to two in-
dividuals at least—himself and Mr. Muntz—
that shrewd gentleman who bethought him that
the live pose he had purchased and taken home
to his wife might possibly have left its giblets
behind it, and so went back to the shop to in-
quire fbr them. Mr. Muntz should have been,
made Grand Falconer of England, and in his
peculiar qualifications for the discharge of the
fUnctions of that office, there would have been
some sort of security against any giddy, careless
hawk spoiling a day's sport by coming out with-
out its beak, or its claws, or with only one i g
As to Mr. Finch himself, his modesty, of course,
restrained him from making his own appoint-
ment, but we have no doubt that the gratitude
of the members of the Cabinet which he has
thus partially formed, will lead them to insist
upon including among their colleagues in the
"Finch Administration" the ingenious inventor
and originator of such a Government. Mr.
Finch, nevertheless, would willingly have with-
drawn his resolution last night, but Mr. C. Buller,
who seems to have been curious to ascertain how
many Members could be found to vote for such
a resolution, supported by such a speech, forced
a division, when the resolution was rejected by
a majority of 70 to 10. If the "Finch Admi-
nistration" be not more strongly supported in
the House of Commons, we are afraid they will
hardly last long enough to be more amusing than
any other one-act farce.—Times.
Extremes meet. Here is a Cornishman in
close alliance with a grim-looking Scotchman,
attempting to recover the lost battle of his confe-
derate on behalf of the Sunday Bill. Mr. Peter
(query Saint?) follows up Sir Andrew Agnew,
and, in truth, outstrips him, in all the worst
characteristics of that ill-omened Baronet's inea-
sure, for making religion ridiculous, and what
is of great, though inferior consequence, ren-
dering the " Lord's Day" odious. Happily, the
Scotch pedant failed, and so we hope and trust
will the English fanatic. There never was any-
thing more monstrous than the pretence in both
these lampoons on legislation, to call them acts
fol. making the Lord's Day a day of rest. Why,
it is a gross fraud,—a pious one no doubt, but
an enormous fraud. They are Bills of coercion,
they are Bills of pains and penalties, more espe-
cially on the poor, instead of enabling any man to
abstain from doing that which he was compelled to
do before. Sir A. Agnew and Mr. Petercompel
the whole world, high and low, rich and poor,
to refrain from doing or enjoying that with re-
gard to which they all were erst in a state of
full free agency. It ought to be recollected that
the English Sunday is at present quite suffi-
ciently marked out. and distinguished frail the
rest of the week by a general, we might say
universal, abstinence from the exercise of every-
day callings. The shops are shut, except those
for the sale of medicines or necessary refresh-
ments, and the latter even are not opened during the
usual hours of divine service, no carts or waggons
parade the streets, no business or bustle of any
kind is perceptible, the churches are crowded,
the population all appear in their most decent
clothing,—if vice cannot, as in fact it cannot,
be wholly suppressed or eradicated, it is at least
under the necessity of strict concealment. The
Sunday, the Lord's Day, is celebrated with
honours all its own. It is, in truth, a day of
religious exercise, a day of rest, and, in many
important respects, of innocent and healthful
enjoymert. What would these meddlers more ?
They would make that which is falsely called the
"Lord's Day" for the Christian Sabbath is one of
• human, notdivine institution—a public nuisance,
from its multiplicity of restraints anti inflictions
they would associate with it every spethesof morose
and discontented--feeling, which must of necessity
react upon the gideral rel iginus spirit ofthe country,
and give rise to that hateful trrXtUre of malignity
and hypocrisy a- large portion of the
ao-called Pnritans: of ftilmey periodmade
themselves corispicttous ajd society wretched.
We do- not complain. that in:the present Bill all
trade, and work - s:ppertaining to trade, shall be
prohibited: But s whf bring in a Bill for that
purpose ? 'Khe thing sS:, already forbidden, yet
-1111 cares of emergency, such as a carriage laseak-
- ing down, a horse throwing a shoe, a chimney
taking fire, or the like, is the exercise of the
callings necessary to cure Such accidents to be
visited with the penalties of this egregious law ?
So, if any person shall keep open any shop,
during any part of the Lord's Day, he shall be
punished to the amount of ,20s. for every hour
• beyond the first for which he (Mends. Is, Olen, a
chymist or apothecary to be thus visited ; or a
pastrycook,intowhose premisespassengers can now
step and. snatch, refreshment during a long walk ?
No coach or cabriolet can ply in the streets• on
the Sabbath under this Bill ! Houses of enter-
tainment, again, are to be closed against the de-
mands of hunger for all human beings ishatso-
ever, without distinction, during the •,,.ulO 24