The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-30 00:00:00

THE SUN,

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPIII.
Under the direction of Madame Celeste.
THIS EVENING,
Will be performed an entirely original Musical Comic Drama, called
THE WHITE SERJEANTS; or the Buttermilk Volunteers.
Malor Slowman, Mr. 0. Smith ; Jemmy Tweezer, Mr. Wright ;
Captain Ginger Green, Mr. P. Bedford ; Tommy Bask, Mr. Bun-
yard ; Madlie. de Tourville, Madame Celeste; Susan Pockets, Miss
K. Fitzwilliams ; Dolly Duggins, Miss Woolgar.
After which will be produced a new and original Farce, in the
Vulgar Tongue, to be called JACK IN THE GREEN ; or, Hints on
Etiquette.
To conlude with a 'grand historical Spectacle Vaudeville, entitled
PLAYING FIRST FIDDLE; or, Follow my Leader Principal
Characters by ➢Messrs. P. Bedford, Lambert, ➢Madame Celeste, Miss
Woolgar, and Miss K. Fitzvrilliam.

ROYAL LYCEUM. THEATRE

THIS EVENING

Will ba performed A PRACTICAL MAN.
To be followed by THE ISLAND OF JEWELS. Characters by
Messrs.:'. MAthews and F. Cooke; Madame Vestris, Miss Julia St.
George, Miss Dickinson, Miss Kenworthy, Mrs. Macuamara, 2eliss
Martindale. and Miss E. Honner.

To conclude with an entirely new and original antici-
pation of what may possibly occur one of these days, entitled
NOVELTY FAIR; or, hints for 1851. Characters by Messrs. C.
Mathews, F. Matthews. Binge, Bellingham, Cooks, and Charles ;
Miss St. George, Miss Kenworthy, Miss Glover, Miss Oliver, Miss
Eardley, and Miss Martindale.

All applications for Private foxes must be made to Mr. Allcroit
'5, New Bond-street.

The Box-office, adjoining the Theatre, in Wellington-street, is
open daily from Ten to Six o'clock, under the superintendence of
11r. T. F. Bennett

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, MAY 30.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
70—highest since noon yesterday.
50—lowest this morning and during the night.
64 this day, at noon.

BAROMETER, 30.14.
WIND E. to S.E.—cloudy, warm weather.

HUM WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tins DAT —Morning 24 min. after 4 I Evening 41 min. after 4
To-Moaßow Morning 59 min. atter 4 1 Evening 18 min. after 5

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LONDON, TIIURSDAY, MAY 30, 1850.

Reaction is so inevitably the consequence of carry-
ing any principle, ishether good, bad, or indifferent,
it matters not, to an extravagance—that we look for-
ward with no small amount of apprehension to the
bare possibility of a system being adopted such as
the one about to be advocated by Lord ASHLEY in
the Commons House of Parliament this evening. Ac-
cording to the notice already given by him to that
effect, it will be formally proposed by that benevolent
nobleman that the total cessation of Sunday labour
in the post-offices throughout the United Kingdem
shall be decreed by the Legislature. Anything at
all approaching even to an inclination to im-
pute evil motives to Lord ASHLEY, or to those
who sympathise in his proposition, is entirely beyond
the limits of our intention. While it is, unfortunately.
out of the reach of deniil that many persons can
claim not such high moral approbation, it is equally a
matter of conviction to us, that upon this view of the
question, in regard to this antipathy to business oecu•
pations on the Sunday, there are multitudes actuated
by opinions thoroughly and earnestly conscientious.
We believe them to be conscientimp, wa respect them
inasmuch as they are conscientious ; but, differing
as we do with them diametrically in reference to this
branch of national employment, we must equally de•
mend from them a belief that we too are arguing
from convictions as thoroughly and as earnestly
conscientious as those which render them our oppo-

rents.

Our solicitude in protesting against any such
scheme as the one about to be brought forward in
the House of Commons this evening has a twofold
origin. We are anxious, in the first place, not to wit -
ness any such calamitous interference with the unin-
terrupted flow of communication throughout the
United Kingdom, simply out of regard for a mistakes,
crochet of ecclesiastical discipline. We are anxious,
in the second place, not to witness the development
of a very noble sentiment of moral propriety to
such an extreme pitch of extravagance as to lead the
way, as it were by necessity, to a reaction most de-
trimental to the interests of true religion.
Upon the first objection we may observe, that the
transmission of correspondence through the channels
of the Post-office department has by this time grown
into a circumstance the continuance of which is essen-
tial to the healthy existence of society. It is as much
a necessity to us, in the present state of civilization, as
the air we breathe, as the water we drink, as the
bread we feed upon. Without it the maintenance of
the public mind in a wholesome condition is altoge-
ther impracticable. The stoppage of these diurnal
and almost hourly intercommunications is incompatible
with the peace, the happiness, or the well-being of the
community. The mere proposal of a proceeding se
blind and arbitrary to a civilized population like
that of England in the nineteenth century, as pre
posterous as to dream of preserving life in the human
frame, and yet at the same time of interrupting tilt
circulation of the blood at periodical intervals. What
the molicules of the blood are to the frame of a living
creature, the letters transmitted perpetually through-
out the Post-office department are to the whole
fabric of the State. Every delivery is a throb in the
veinous and arterial system of the country. The re •
gularity of this continual transmission of correspond •
ence constitutes the pulsation of our commerce, and
not only of our commerce, but of all our social in-
tercourse and domestic affection. To interfere with
this pulsation would be to jeopardize. a multitude of
noble and beneficent principles—the principle
of justice, the principle of friendship, the
principle of humanity. To resolve that hence-
forth, during twenty-four hours every week, the flow of
general intercommunication should cease, would, to
our thinking, be productive of consequences so
disastrous and irremediable as to transform the new
regulation at once into an act of the grossest impiety
and irreligion. The evil results of the system would
necessarily prove unavoidable. Traders would be
ruined and families be plunged into unnecessary
bereavement through the impossibility of communi-
cating between one quarter of the kingdom and
another—and all this out of an erroneous notion that
morality is dependent upon the occasional quietude of
post-offices, and that religion is incompatible with
the unbroken toil of steam-engines.
Upon our second objection we may remark that
the scheme about to be submitted to the Legislature
by Lord ASHLEY appears to us little better than a
perilous experiment, one the mere suggestion of
which is calculated to prove most inimical to the
spread of theological truth, and to the maintenance of
sobriety among
the multitude. History has pro-
claimed, and never more signally than in her narrative
of that memorable epoch, the anniversary of the com-
mencement of which we commemorated yesterday
by ringing joy-bells in our churches and cathedrals,
and by carrying about branches of the oak-tree,
history and experience have alike proclaimed that
the cumpulsory display of sobriety is ever productive
of an after-triumph of licentiousness. Of this the
downfall of the reign of the Puritans was a sufficient
illustration ; the previous assumption of su-
perior virtue and godliness, so soon as the
necessity of it was removed, imparting an
unutterable zest to the immorality of the volup-
tituawriilelshoef,tehiewys.
Restoration. So it has been, so it is, so
The more arbitrary the enforce-
ment--the more glaring and conspicuous the re-
action. Hence it is we regard with alarm, as friends
of public morality, the mere supposition
of the pos-
sibility of an enactment such as the one which Lord
ASHLEY will this evening formally demand from the
Parliament. The peremptory and decisive refusal of
by
public
that demand we conceive to be requiredte necessity
as
the real interests of religion as by
the

The rumour respecting the early resignation of the
Lord Chancellor is, it appears, well founded. From
the statement made by the Premier on Tuesday
evening, it appears that as soon as Lord COTTENHAIii
has given judgment on various cases which have been
under his consideration, he will feel himself called
upon to resign the Great Seal, and also that any
person appointed to the office must take it " subject
to any regulation which Parliament may adopt on
the report of the Committee." This is, to a certain
extent, satisfactory, but we confess we should have
desired a more decided answer on the subject of the
suggested separati6n of the judicial and political func-
tions of the office. The First Lord of the Treasury
declares that "it is a subject which has engaged the
attention of her MAJESTY'S Government. That he
has no doubt himself that the object is one very desirable I