The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-11 00:00:00

tnl

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1850.

At length in the sixth month of the session, the
Marriage Bill has received a third reading in the
House of Commons. All the old arguments, that
have already been repeated usque ad nauseam, were
again brought forward, and a further attempt was
made to throw out this just and salutary measure
in the last stage of its progress. But the effort
failed—signally and decisively failed. Although
the advocates of the Bill did not exhibit the same
zeal and energy displayed by their opponents, there
was happily a sufficient attendance to defeat the
bigots who desired to control the consciences of their
fellow-subjects, and to deprive them of the most sacred
and dearest privilege belonging to freemen. The Hon.
Member for Midhurst led the van on the present
occasion. He repeated the hackneyed and stereo-
typed objections, and again plunged the House into
the maze of polemical discussion. We hal hoped
that what has been termed " the religious part of the
question " 'had been abandoned by general consent,
that we should have heard no more respecting a
matter so perfectly plain, that it is difficult to con-
ceive how any person of ordinary common sense
could have entertained a rational doubt on the sub-
ject. Mr. WALPOLE has, however, discovered a new
reading of the translation—that the word OYZEIOc,
in the Greek translation, meant not merely kin-
dred or relations, but " members of the same
household or family." And on this novel version
—the translation of a translation—he mainly relied.
But if this argument be worth anything, if the
slightest weight is to be attached thereto, it must
surely be carried a great deal farther, and to an ex-
tent never yet contended for. It must apply to
every person who ever dwelt under the same roof as
companion, friend, housekeeper, governess, or in any
other capacity whatsoever, although not in any
degree connected by blood or affinity. The weakness
of the cause may be judged of from the fact, that a
man of education and abilily, who has risen to emi-
nence in his profession, should have descended to an
argument so puerile and ridiculous. The Hon. and
Gallant Colonel, the Member for Bradford, completely
dispelled the mystification attempted to be thrown
over this part of the subject by showing the true in-
tent and meaning of the passage, that " for the sake
of peace the polygamic laws prohibited a man from
having two sisters as his wives in his house at once."
But Mr. WALPOLE, conscious of the slender four.-
datioia on which he rested his case, endeavoured to
show, that the prohibitionists should receive the
, benefit of the doubt." This might be a very reason-
able suggestion if the Bill were for the purpose of en-
forcing such marriages, and compelling a reluctant
widower to marry the eldest surviving sister of his
former wife under a heavy penalty—just as a childless
widow might, under the Mosaic law, have required tte
brother of her former husband to receive her as a wife.
But such i 3 not the case. There is to be
no compulsion of any kind. No person who feels the
slightest scruple can be called upon to act contrary
to his own judgment. The only point in dispute is
whether persons who entertain no doubt or difficulty
whatsoever, who feel that the temporal and eternal
welfare of them,selves and families will be beet pro-

moted by such an union, are to be restricted and cir-
cumscribed in their liberty of choice, in the privilege
of selecting the future partners of their lives, to
gratify the ridiculous fancies of a b:getted and fanatical
clique. The question, as we have long since stated,
is essentially one of " civil and religious liberty," and
the very argument resorted to by Mr. IVALroLE
affords the strongest evidence of this fact, which
we have endeavoured to impress upon our
readers; for if everything were to be pro-
hibited on which some who profess to have
what are termed tender consciences were pleased to
entertain, or to say that they entertained, a doubt,
there would be an end of any degree of toleration.
The tyrant majority, or what is more to the purpose
in the present instance, the factious and turbulent
minority would carry all before them, and inflict
grievous punishments on all who ventured to wor-
ship their CREATOR in the manner which, in their
souls and consciences, they deemed most fitting.

But, although the Bill was read a third time, it was
not finally carried through the House. A clause was
proposed, providing that it should not extend to Scot-
land. This point had already been fully discussed in
Committee, and the proposed limitation was deliberately
negatived; but it was again brought forward, and
with a similar result. The " 0 bstructives," how-
ever, succeeded in retarding the measure for another
day. It must again be brought on next week, on the
question that the Bill do now pass ; and its friends
must once again attend in their places to ensure its
final success in the popular branch of the Legislature.
It will then be for the Peers of England to decide
the question ; we cannot doubt as to the result, or
suppose that their Lordships would reject a Bill on
which the hearts of so many thousands, aye millions,
of her MAJESTY'S subjects are anxiously set. One
thing at least is certain, the opposition in the Lords
will be of a straightforward and bond fide character•
If defeated on a fair trial of strength, the minority
will not resort to the " dodging and trickery," to the
vexatious delays and repeated divisions on the same
points, so justly to be complained of in the minority
of the Commons House of Parliament on this impor-
tant and deeply interesting question.

Our impression this evening contains elsewhere the
report of a meeting held yesterday in this metropolis,
with an eye to the acknowledgment of the great
public exertions made in the way of sanitary im-
provement by Mr. GEORGE ALFRED WALKER. To
few members of the community are the people of
England more largely indebted than to this gentle-
man, whether in regard to intellectual ap-
plication, to physical labour, or to pecu-
niary sacrifices in the advancement of a
great social reform materially affecting the health
and morals of the community. Hence it was with
peculiar satisfaction that we observed the initial move-
ment of yesterday towards the recognition of the
efforts of this really national benefactor. The Noble
Lord, the representative of the borough of Maryle-
bone, has only afforded another testimony of his
public spirit by taking the lead in this laudable
endeavour to commend the beneficient undertakings
of Mr. WALKER. As chairman of the meeting to which
we are now directing public attention, he yesterday
specified in terms of the most earnest, as they were
also the most deserved, eulogium the nature of the
enterprise upon which Mr. WALKER embarked
fnirteen or fifteen years ago—an enterprise the suc-
cessful prosecution of which necessitated the most
complete self.forgetfulness and the most laborious
perseverance. That both those requisites have been
most fully and cordially yielded by him throughout
the agitation of the subject of Extramural
Interments, we fancy is sufficiently proven by the
mere circumstance that now, in defiance of all ob-
stacles, the evils of the existing system of burial have
been formally acknowledged by her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment. But for the assiduous persistence of Mr.
WALKER, and for his magnanimous sacrifice of his
own personal comfort and convenience, we should not
so readily have attained even this shadow of
the desired innovation. For to his painful
disclosures in reference to the manner of intramural
sepulture are alone attributable the steps already
taken by the Cabinet in the way of improvement.
True, without doubt, those steps are as yet only fal-
tering, and in many respects erroneous, yet, at the
same time, they are also reasons for our congratula-
tion, seeing that they are auguries of an ultimate
enactment securing to the community all the benefits
desired by Mr. WALKER and his co-operators. As
yet we have only a feeble hint of those
benefits, but in the end that hint assures us that,
with perseverance, we shall compass their entire
realisation. As was very emphatically observed yes-
terday at the meeting, the evils of the measure now
awaiting the last approving stamp of the Legislature,
are not in any manner traceable to the scheme of
Mr. GEORGE ALFRED WALKER, that gentleman
being strongly opposed to the whole project
of this lamentable Bill, and seriously dread-
ing the inevitably evil effects of its ope-
ration. Had the plan been submitted (as it
should undoubtedly have been submitted) to
his scrutiny prior to Its introduction to the Houses
of Parliament, the pernicious clauses, already again
and again enumerated by ourselves, would infallibly
have been expunged, and others substituted of a
nature calculated to reconcile all conflicting interests.
The circumstance that Mr. WALKER has throughout
the whole movement acted independently of any one
else, was surely no valid reason for the Cabinet re-
fusing to avail themselves of his unquestionable
abilities, and of his undoubted experience.
Knowing mare than any other individual in the United
Kingdom upon the subject of intramural interments,
it would have been only rational to have permitted
him to participate in the labours of improvement,
especially seeing that he himself individually ori-
ginated the whole scheme of sanitary innovation.
Other persons have subsequently pushed forward ;
more prominently in behalf of the health of the mul-
titude, winning more particular regard from
the population by their more ostentatious
exertions, obtaining official appointments at Gwydyr
House, and being invested with the honours of
Knighthood in the columns of the official Gazette.
But, meanwhile, the gentleman in whose favour these
tardy efforts are now making towards the purchase
of a suitable testimonial has been labouring ear-
nestly, without any encouragement whatever from
the State, and accumulating for the masses, almost in
secret, a large amount of practical benefactions.
With a view to the public recognition of these great
services to the multitude, the preliminary meeting con-
vened yesterday will be beneficial as a testimony that the
nation is not invariably ungrateful to its benefactors,
beyond which the occurrence will not prove without
advantage as a glaring condemnation of the forgetful-
ness evinced by the Government. Gratified, how-
ever, as we are at the circumstance, and satisfied as
we must assuredly be with the share taken in this
commendable mcheanidrambalen,manovd by m
movement by
y GLzoorßdGE Tomps
DUDLEY STUART,
Secretary, we cannot but regret that the meeting was
not one of a more general and accessible character.
The ill effects, nevertheless, resulting from the selec-
tionma of an inconvenient hour and locality Ybe
readily obviated, and we trust that the people ate
large will be soon enabled to evidence their regard
for Mr. WALKER, and their admiration for his la-
bours, by a more numerous attendance, and a not less
unanimous enthusiasm.

We would again urge upon those who are desirous
of promoting a Christian observance of the Sunday,
as contradistinguished from a Judaical observance
of the Sabbath, not to relax one jot or
tittle in their exertions. The Pharisees are reckless ;
it was only yesterday that the clique of " illustrious
obscure," who on Tuesday Pad stated to Lord JOHN
RUSSELL that they were the representatives of the
weekly metropolitan press (they king connected
exclusively with journals which do not publish on
Sunday, and having therefore a direct interest in
diminishing the circulation of the Sunday journals)
waited upon the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, the Post-
master-General, and made the same representations
to him, urging him to render permanent the aboli-
tion of the Post-office Sunday delivery. The Mar-
quis of CLANRICAEDF, in his answer, stated that the
inquiry now pending would continue for some weeks,and
that until that inquiry was concluded the Post• office de-
livery on Sunday would not be restored. This an-
swer is anything but satisfactory. There is no ne-
cessity for any such delay, and it would
seen as though the Ministry were afraid
of the Sabbatarians. Their conduct, too, on

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