The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-10 00:00:00

TILE SUN,

SELL has perhaps adopted the best course that under
all the circumstances it was in his power to adopt.
He took a false step when, in the first instance, he,
in answer to the address of the House of Commons,
recommended the abolition of the Sunday delivery
without inquiry, and he has been hampered by the con-
sequence of his error ever since. It is clear that since
the decision of last night the Government has the
whole affair in their bands, and we would urge
those who are in favour of a Christian and
common-sense observance of the Sunday, as con-
tradistinguished from a Judaical and, puritanical
one, to act with vigour.
The Sabbatarians are endeavouring by every
means in their power to put "the screw on,"
and they must be fought with their own weapons.
The division list should be scrutinized with accu-
racy, and those who have abstained from voting out
of fear of the saints, or who have voted with them out
of fear, should be reminded by their constituents indi-
vidually that the majority of electors may perhaps be
found on the other side. We urge upon our
brethren of the Press, and upon all who are in-
terested in this matter, the absolute necessity of
not relaxing a moment in their pressure on this subject
until the restoration of the Sunday post is practically
reduced to action—which it may be within one week,
and will be, if the matter be properly urged on the
attention of the members of the Government, with
whom, and with whom alone, the decision of this
matter rests. We could not but be struck with the
" modest assurance" (if the man had not been a Lord,
we should have designated it by some other name)
of my Lord ASHLEY, who in the course of the debate,
coolly asked whether it could be said that a full, fair,
and sufficient trial had been given to the measure,
seeing that it had been only in operatiod for twenty
days. There are some poisons so rapid in their
operation as to produce death in twenty se-
conds, and this measure, which condemns all
mankind] to social death every Sunday, has had
more than a sufficient trial. As was well said by Mr.
AGLIONBY, it has been tried too long, and it has given
extreme dissatisfaction to the country. The bearded
Member for Birmingham, Mr. Mueaz, whose whole
career has been one long hunt after notoriety, sup-
ported the Sabbatarians, because he (Mr. MuNez)
had been in the habit of receiving from
thirty to forty letters every Sunday, the
reading of which he found to ba a matter of per-
sonal inconvenience ; but surely Mr. MUNTZ might
have obviated this by simply abstaining from opening
his letters on a Sunday. Why should the poor man
be deprived of the comfort of hearing from
his son or daughter, and answering their
letter on a Sunday, because Mr. MIINTZ does
not possess sufficient self-command to withstand the
temptation to do that which he believes to be wrong ?
The Hon. Gentleman also thought it decent to assert
that all the letters of complaint which had ap-
peared in the newspapers had been written by the
editors themselves. This assertion is, perhaps, the
most unfounded that even Mr. Minsez ever made,
and that is saying a great deal. The Honourable
Member has at various periods of his existence been
himself connected with journalism, and may, per-
haps, have been in the habit of making anonymous
CJOlnaunications to himself; but we can assure him, from
a very lengthened experience, that such practices are
eschewed by all conductors of newspapers of character
and respectability. It is not, however, the merchant or
the manufacturer, or the banker who is so
interested in the restoration of the Post office
Sunday delivery as the poor man. It is emphatically
and par excellence the poor man's question
This point was admirably put by Lord Jouzi RUSSELL,
" I own it appears to me," 'said the Noble Lor3,
" that if the commercial men of Manchester, or Gies•
gow, or other large towns are generally of one mind
as to this subject, there is nothing which should pre-
vent them from refraining from carrying on commer-
cial business ; but it is a different question with those
persons who have families and domestic affairs con-
cerning voyages abroad, or friends in imminent dan-
ger. Here is a difficulty which I cannot get over. The
Post-office is armed with all the power of the State to
prevent other persons frem taking letters, and is there-
fore charged and takes upon itself to be charged exclu-
sively with this duty of conveying a letter on Saturday
evening from London, informing a daughter that her
father is dangerously i 1), and that if she does not re-
ceive the letter immediately, she may never see him
again or receive his blessing; and the letter having
arrived in the provincial town early on Sunday
morning is there detained 24 hours in the post-office
the daughter knowing of her father's illness, and suffer-
ing all the agonies of protracted anxiety during these
24 hours." The question is one of domestic and social,
rather than of mercantile importance. If Mr. MIINTZ
desires to benefit by information he may have re-
ceived on a Sunday to make his thousands by a lucky
spec, he has the railway and the electric telegraph at
his command; not so the poor man, who, although able
to afford his penny for his letter, cannot afford
fifteen shillings for a message, and yet the poor
man is to be condemned for twenty-four hours to the
agonies of suspense as to the life or death of a dear loved
child, because, forsooth, the personal convenience of
Mr. Muerrz is served by the stoppage of the Post-
office delivery on Sunday. The most logical and
most convincing speech of the debate was that of
Mr. ROEBUCK ; the Hon. and Learned Member
for Sheffield exposed in the most complete manner
the fallacies of those who pretend that this question
of Post-office Sunday, delivery is a religious quee
tion

He at once directly and roundly asserted that
f this was a religious question, that House had
no right to interfere in the matter. That House
had no right to thrust down the throat of any man
a religious opinion. (Cheers.) He denied that
the Sabbath came of the Christian religion.—(Hear, hear,'
from Colonel Thompson.) He spoke it seriously and gravely
as one conscientiously and deeply concerned for the interests
of the country, that as far as religion was concerned, this
question was not within the competency of the House of
Commons. Well, then, if it was not the Jewish Sabbath
which they were endeavouring to enforce, it was the
Christian Sunday.—(Hear, bear.) What was the Christian
Sunday? A thing that differed widely from the Jewish
Sabbath.—( Hear, hear. )"
This unanswerable argument evidently produced a
great effect, and gave a tone to the whole of the
debate ; the religious pretence was not osten-
tatiously put forward as it has been on
other occasions, and when alluded to, it was al-
luded to so gingerly that it was evident
even the saints themselves were a ashamed of it.
The following argument •of the Hop. and Learned
Member for Sheffield was also feltio be unanswer-
able, and was, therefore, unanswered :
" The Noble Lord the Member for Bath talked of Post-
office labour on the Sunday. But where was the difference
between the work of a man who dropped a letter at a door
and that of the servant who rose early in the morning, who
laid the elegant breakfast table, and then prepared the coach
to drive his lord or master to church. (Cheers.) A healthy
man required but a crust of bread and a gliss of water. But
to tlaha
y t
Lord ASIILEY,
how many of those who signed petitions confined themselves
rtiattris a very healthy man, did
not inform; the House: how his
servants pass the
Sunday, or whether- oretbitt r
with a crust. Not day h e'contents
duced, throughout the'dgle a
i nguTent was pro-
ate support of the
Sabbatarian :Was all ,teki en asser-
tion and " huliee-t4an-tho u ,4' assumption •
yet still we urget% our frienck:not to tust
too implicitly to the:. goodness of . their carue
,
Like their prototypesObELPhariseePPialio brought san.
accusation of Sabbath;breaking agiinst the Divine
Founder of our Christian religion, due modern Sab-
batarians are indefatigalle in _their exertions
to cram their OWTh absurd do4rines down
the throats of others, and. are perfectly reckless of
the means which they employ for that purpose; it was
but yesterday that some persons connected with one or
two obscure weekly newspapers, whic*care not pub-
lished on Sunday, waited on Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
under the pretence ,that they were, a deputation
of gentlemen connected the weekly
newspapers, to solidit 'h is Lordship not to
restore the Post-office Sunday delivery, when they
must at the same time have known .that at a public
meeting of gentlemen connected with- the weekly
newspapers, held the t3glit' before, 4etition for the
restoration of the Post-office Sunday delivery had
been agreed to by a large-Enajwity.
.Agaio we urge
upon all those who are in favour of a really Christian
and common-sense observance of the Sabbath not to
relax in their exertions until. the Posteoffice Sunday
delivery shall be restored.

If the doctrine or
.4, 4nality" be reAlz abandoned,
as asserted by her 4,ksiwe' Ministecif any al-
teration in the Reforiti' Act is ever to be anctioned,
we are =able to conceive any rational grounds for