The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-13 00:00:00

AY LEA :9 Ug.

MONTHLY RHPOR,T.

The members of the National Sunday League held
their monthly general meeting on Friday, March 7, at
Lancaster House, Adelphi—Mr. W. Duthie, presiding.
The following report of Vie committee was adopted :
Your committee in dealing with the import:let events
of the past month, are restricted by the limits of thetr
report to state results rather than to d..vell upon details.
With regard to the finances of which the quarterly
stetemeot is herewith laid before you, it is necessary
here to anuouece the su'ascripdons of R. Cox, 1/. ;
Danville, Req., 1/.; G. Paunoey, E,q ,
,11.; Sir W.
Domville, Bart., a seenad subscription of 2/. 25.; J. Bab,
F,q , M.P., 11.; H. Haghten, E,o , of Bold Lancashire,
251.; Sir J. Shelley, Bart., M.P., 31. 35., and of J.
Graham Doraville, Esq., 11. Is.
The proceedinge of the month may he briefly arranged
under the three following heads :—Publio nieetinge oone
vened by the League and ethers in favour of les objects;
meetings held in opposition, and defeated in their pur.
pose by the action of the League ; and the Parlia-
mentary debate and division upon Sir Joseph \Valais-
ley's motion for the opening of public institutions on
Sunday afternoons. Of meetings convened in the me,
tropolie there wore four; viz , at Bermondsey, the
Cowper-street Institution, Caldwell'e Assembly• rooms,
Dean-street, Soho, and at the Piulpettestreet Institt•
tion, Cominercialeroad East. In the province, among
many others may be mentioned those of Newcastle, Lei-
cester, and Newport.
The whole of these meetings were successfully carnal
out, with the exception of that announeed to take platy
at the Cowper-street institution, where temporsre "noon-
venielice was occasioned by the parties who had let the
school-room refusing to fulfil their contract. Of meelp•
ings called in opposition the most, important was that
held in the Hartland-read school-rooms, Kentivii-town,
at which the Earl of Shaftesbury should have presided.
Declining, however, to meet the opposition which evi-
dently awaited him, his lordship vacated the chair at et
early period of the evening, and the whole intention of
his supporters was completely reversed. Less impel..
tant, but no less signal, successes were obtained at
Caelsea, Bermondsey, Islington, Farringdon-hall, City,
Hackney, and in the borough ; while in the provinces,
at Dover, Huddersfield, and Durham, the meetings of
the opponents to the movement have been, although by
a spontaneous and
.unorganised action, vigorously met
and defeated.

Sir Joshua Walmsley's motion came formally before
the House of Commons on Thursday, February 21, sad
after an admirable debate, was rejected by a raok)rity of
376 against 4S ; while, accoriing to the official report,
there had been presented up to the period of the debate
4,286 petition!, containing 531,065 signatures against.,
and 106 petitions, with 18,545 signatures in favour of
the resolution.

In the earnestness and talent which distinguished the
Parliamentary debate, the committee perceive the
strongly awakening h t rest which the Sunday question
begins now to excite in the public mind ; and in the
severe defeat which the motion sustained, they are
bound to acknowledge the fruits of that powerful orga-
nisation employed against them, and now fully developed,
of the clerical bodies in this country. They are able,
from such data, to estimate the influence of
these communities upon the supposed representatives
of the country, and to feel how much energy will be
needed to collect and arrarge their own more numerous-.
but scattered forces. Having on this occaaion never.
anticipated victory they are not discouraged by a re-
pulse. They are not dismayed by the array of petitions
against them, of which they are well•intormed of the
source and the indiscriminate character of the signatures
for they have evidence before them that many of theta
were largely signed by children ; by influential persons
in behalf of and in the names of their whole household ;
and by others who affixed repeated signatures as indi-
viduals and as members of church and chapel cengre-
gations ; nor do they regard their own efforts in that
direction as so insignificant as they may appear, consi-
dering the very small area in which they have ope-
rated. While on that subject they may refer to the re-
port of the committee on public petitions, in which it ie
stated that the regulate n concerning duplicate or
unauthorised signatures do not appear to them in the
case of several petititels against the opening of the Bri-
tish Museum, &c., to have been complied with.
In a word, the con mitts), meet their fellow-members
after a defeat, greater in numbers, richer in resouroel,
and stronger in resolution. Kindred associations are
springing up over the country, and already assume Acfi-
nite proportions at Liverpool, Birmingham, Bradford,
and Glasgow ; and in the full consciousness of much
patient labour before them, and the necessity of un-
wearying exertion, the committee rely upon the co-opera-
tion of their fellow-members for help in perfecting that
extension and organisation of the National Sunday
League, which is 110 W their chief and final aim.
WILLIAM DUTHIZ,
Chairman of the Central Corai..ittee.

TEN LATE LOYAL ITALIAN OPERA,

COVBAT-GARDEN.