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S 4.
4 INIXY 80) 1850.

those new Post-office regulations of last autumn
which were so erroneously and perversely described
as an attempt on the part of the Government to " in-
troduce" Sunday labour into that department of the
public service ; the fact being, in the first place, that
it had been "introduced" long before, and in the
next, that both the intent and the result of the
changes recently made have been to effect a great
and permanent diminution in the official work
performed on the Sunday, at the expense of
an inconsiderable and temporary increase in
the number of functionaries employed on that
day in St. Martin's-le-Grand. Confessedly, the
regulations in question have worked most satisfac •
torily—completely negativing the apprehensions of
those who so hotly opposed them ; and it is but fair
to presume that, as the present agitation is, in point
of fact the offspring of a false alarm, we should never
have heard of it if its promoters were as clear- headed
as they doubtless are sincere. Still, we would not
lay undue stress on this circumstance, which is, after
all, foreign to the merits of the question. The pro-
posal of a " total cessation of Sunday labour in the
Post-offices of the United Kingdom," is logically,
though not historically, entirely distinct from the
agitation against the recent arrangements for dimi-
nishing that description of labour; and we much prefer
discussing the principle of this motion to criticising the
mistakes of its advocates. The most obvious objection
that presents itself to this project is, that without some
extensive change in our Post-office arrangements, it
will involve, practically speaking, not one " blank"
day in every week, but two —an extremely awk-
ward consequence which seems to have hitherto
at'racted very little attention. As the existing re-
gulations respecting the observance of the Sunday in
the metropolitan Post-office deprive every country
town of a Saturday evening's dispatch and a Mon-
day's morning delivery of London letters, the effect
of enforcing similar regulations on provincial offices
would, of course, be to deprive. the Londoner of his
1 Saturday evening's dispatch and his Monday morn-
ing's delivery of country.lettere. Tnere would thus
be two consecutive days in each week—or 104 days
out of the 365—during which the postal communica-
tions of every town would be completely stopped up.
As an example of the working of such a system—a
letter for London, posted in Manchester, Bristol, or
Hull, on the Friday afternoon, could not bring an
answer until the Monday evening following. Or, in
the case of towns having only one London mail in
' the twenty-four hours, a Londoner, having urgent
occasion after post time on Friday to communicate
with a country correspondent, would not be able to
get his letter off before the evening of the ensuing
Monday. To propose this would simply be to pro-
pose that the whole business of the United Kingdom
shall be thrown into confusion ; and though we have
heard a good deal said in this controversy about some
"principle" which is to supersede all regard for what
is contemptuously called " expediency," we will ven-
ture to say that nine-tenths of the signers of Sebba-
tarian petitions really mean nothing of the sort, and
would stand aghast at such an application of their
doctrine. Either they have never seriously consi-
dered the obvious consequences of their own proposal,
or they contemplate some ingenious re-arrangement
of the mails by which this intolerable inconvenience
would be obviated. Such a scheme has, in fact, been
hinted at in various quarters, and perhaps we shall
this evening hear it formally explained and advocated
by Lord Ashley. It is a favourite notion with some,
that the duty of abstaining from all secular pursuits
on the Sunday ought to be construed with that rigid
and narrow literality with which ordinary minds love
to interpret obligations which they feel to be disagree-
able. Accordingly they would have the suspension
of Post-office labour to take effect for the precise
twenty-four hours intervening between midnight and
midnight—no'more and no less. Mails are to be
made up (if we understand the plan rightly) the very
last thing on Saturday, and to be dispatched the
very first thing on Monday. In other words, Post-
office clerks, sorters, and other functionaries are
to work up to twelve o'clock on Saturday night,
and to be ready to begin again the moment the
clock strikes twelve on Sunday night. In this way,
it is imagined, all very serious mischief may be pre-
vented—as letters posted in London before midnight
on Saturday would reach their destination (say) in
Liverpool before the commencement of business hours
on Monday, and vice versa ; and thus the Sunday
might be made an absolute dies non throughout the
Post-offices of the United Kingdom, without any
further inconvenience than that loss of one day per
week to which habit has long since familiarized Lon-
doners. It strikes us, however, that this device is
more ingenious than satisfactory, even in a mere theo-
logical point of view. Passing over the practical
objections to such an arrangement which will at once
occur to practical men, on the grounds of increased
cost and complexity, we content ourselves with re-
, marking that we should still be as &r as eyer—itr.el
of the Sunday. A more complete sacriKce
of the spirit to the letter, and of the
reality to the form, could not well be ima-
gined. To work your clerks and sorters up to
twelve o'clock on Saturday night, and then to make
them begin again at a minute past twelve on Monday
morning, has very much the appearance of a very
cunning scheme for shortening the Sacred Day at
both ends. The men would go tired to bad on the
Sunday morning, and lie late—and again they would
want a good nap towards evening to put them in trim
for their night's duties. In fact, the scheme in ques-
tion would be merely a device for taking two nights
out of the one period of twenty-four hours—a mode
of honouring the Day of Rest which savours much
more of pious fraud than of a rational Christian
piety. The truth is, as we have had occasion to re-
mark more than once already in this controversy, the
whole question of suspending the machinery of civil
and secular life on the Sunday is, and must be,
one not of dogma and abstract principle, but of
degree, circumstance, and compromise. It is
treated as such, practically and theoretically, by
the ultra Sabbatarians themselves. Even they
draw the line at " necessity" and " mercy"—words
which every man must interpret far himself according
to the best of his own judgment and conscience, and
which no two men will at all times construe exactly
alike. " Principle" there neither is nor can be in '
such a matter, if by " principle" you mean a rigid,
unbending rule. The only principle really appli-
cable to the case is a sincere and habitual desire
to realise all the religious, social, and moral bene-
fits of the weekly Christian festival by a judi-
cious and discriminating retrenchment of all labour
that can be dispensed with. This is the principle on
which society is, in this country, more and more dis-
p )sed to act ; and we earnestly trust that the whole-
some reform which is taking place in this respect
among all classes will not he checked by the reaction
which, as all experience shows, ensues on exagge-
rated and fantastic attempts to overstrain the lines of
religious and moral obligation.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
MALTA, MAY 22.—The last week has been singu
larly barren of intelligence. On Saturday last her
Majesty's ships Vengeance and Howe were towed out
of harbour by the Terrible steam-frigate and sailed
on their route for England, the crews of the ships in
port cheering them as they left, and bidding them a
hearty " God speed," which was cordially responded
to by their homeward-bound friends. The men of
the 44th and 69th Regiments, who availed themselves
of the amalgamation of the reserve with the Ist bat-
talion, or were dismissed the service, went home in
the ships of the line.
The Terrible afterwards returned to port, and
towed into an offing the Tunisian brig-of-war Naser,
which arrived on the 12th instant with the unfortu-
nate Hungarian and Polish refugees, who were
wrecked off the Galabia bank on their passage to
Belgium.
Her Majesty's ship Superb, Captain Purcell,
reached port in safety on the 12th instant.
The Antelope steamer arrived on the 17th instant
from Palermo and Leghorn.
The Bosphorus screw-steamer left port on Mon-
day for London. She had on board lgajor Sir E.
Thomas, 69th, who has lately sent in his papers to
sell out.
The homeward India mail is expected to-morrow.
A few days ago, whilst carousing on shore,
Wil-
liam Knight, a marine belonging to her Majesty's
ship Powerful, was arrested on a charge of having
deserted seven years ago from the 44th Regiment.
Yesterday he was brought to a court-martial, Lieu-
tenant• Colonel Paxton, 69th, president, and found
• guilty on most conclusive evidence. The sentence
• has not been promulgated up to this moment,
post hour.
PORTSMOUTIT, WEDNESDAY. - The Odin steam-
frigate,
12, Captain the Hon. F. T. Pelham, arrived
at Spithead this morning from the Mediterranean,
and saluted the Commander-in-Chief, She sailed
from Athens May 1 ; Malta, Bth ; Algiers, 12th ;
Gibraltar, 17th ; Tangiers, 17th P.M. ; and Lisbon,
25th. Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker's squadron
arrived at Malta on the 11th instant. The Dragon
steam-frigate, Captain Hall, arrived at Lisbon at the
same time as the Odin, bound also for England ; but
Commodore Martin detained her, to return to Gib-
raltar for provisions for his squadron of evolution,
The Odin brought 123 invalids and supernumeraries
from both squadrons, Lieutenant St. John, of the