The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-13 00:00:00

THE GENERAL FAST.

(From the News.)

•
The saints, led on by Perceval and Inglis,
have, it appears, triumphed over the good sense
of the Ministers. They have had a day ap-
pointed for their carnival. Now it strikes us as
not a little absurd, when we remember to what
purposes " national fasts" have hitherto been de-
voted, that the demand for a repetition of these
scenes should have come from men to whom we
are ready to allow the credit of acting from the
purest of all motives—a genuine sense of reli-
gious feeling. The absurdity can only be
matched by the votes of the Bishops on a late
occasion, for the continuance of bribery, corrup-
tion, and all the present attendant vices of a ge-
neral election.

There are certain wrong-headed people in
this world, who, with visionary notions of mil-
lenianism and other such things, are not of this
earth, and yet are on it. These people will, we
doubt not, keep fast accordingly ; and when we
look at their pampered stomachs, with good fat
capon lined, and behold the gaudy equipages in
which they march along the narrow road to
Heaven, we do not deny that a little fasting may
he of service to them. But in the name of
humbug, why not do the thing, if they so de-
sired, and make welcome, without letting loose
from their occupations a whole population, to
run riot, and quit their labour ? Why give those
the opportunity of sinning whom they revile for
their "habits of indulgence," as the saints term

a working man's Sunday evening dance—if there
be such a thing in " merry" England now—or
his visit to Richmond on the Sabbath, if he be
in a condition to pay a few shillings for the
luxury of a mouthful of pure air, and the sight
of the green fields.
Let the Bishop of London, for example, de-
vote the fast day, if he pleases, to inward medi-
tation on the coming attack on the Church Prin-
cipalities, the shadow of which is already cast
before—let the godly Percival revolve upon that
certain downfall of the Pension List which will
leave him more fast days than one in the year,
and let the other cormorants who have thriven
on the public purse as their daily banquet, see
the legible writing of the hand on the wall which
foretells their downfall. These are things which
we hope they will " inwardly digest" on the
great day of fast, and if they do, it will not have
been appointed in vain.
But the people, whose fast days are many,
and whose festivals " few and far between," to
them, we say, devote the day as you are ordered
by the proclamation. Keep it as one of " public
fasting and humiliation,”—in the event—and
the time will have been afforded in the interval
—of the second rejection of the Reform Bill
by the House of Lords. Let it be kept as a
day of solemn fast, and let there be formed
throughout the nation a Covenant like that of
the Scottish Reformers two centuries since, never
to cease labouring until " the unclean thing"
be put away from the face of the land.
We give this advice in sober seriousness,
because we deem it fully within the meaning of
the proclamation. Have not " the manifold
provocations" of which that document makes
mention, been the sins of the boroughmongers
crying out to Heaven for vengeance ? We con-
fess that we find ourselves in some degree falling
into the language of those who " speak under
an influence ;" but it has been of old remarked
that fanaticism is contagious, and hypocrisy not
without effect in the way of' example.
Should, however, the Lords see wisdom in
their days, and repent in time, our recommen-
dation would be, let Wednesday, the 21st of
March, be a day of solemn thanksgiving for the
victory of the people—a victory in its way, as
great as that which Miriam commemorated with
songs of triumph.