The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-31 00:00:00

z,1;t11"0

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1850.

Against the decision arrived at last evening, in the
House of Commons, a decision favourable, by a
majority of twenty. five, to the proposal of Lord
ASHLEY for the entire cessation of Post-office labour
on Sunday, we protest with the utmost indignation.
Among the ninety-three representatives who yester-
day voted on the side of the Noble Lord the Member
for Bath, we observed with astonishment the names
of ne less than thirty. six so-called Liberals,
a circumstance which, we doubt not, will
be equally a matter of surprise to their
constituents. Generally speaking, in the majority of
instances, and especially at the outset of any move-
ment of this kind, any movement for what is absurdly
termed:the enforcement of Sabbatical observances, we
are disposed, as we intimated in our last impression,
to view the conduct of the advocates of Sunday stag-
nation, as conduct actuated by motives scrupulously
conscientious. When, however, the practices and the
precepts of these very loud-speaking Christians glare
upon us at total variance with each other,
we set the whole scheme down bluntly as
so much humbug and hypocrisy. For example, we
hear one man hold forth on the sinfulness of Sun-
day labour in the Post-office department, and yet, on
Sundays, if be sprain his anele, call a hackney
coach to carry him home to a hot dinner prepared for
him by his servants during church service! We
see a highly orthodox morning newspaper howling
over the ungodliness of Sunday trains and Sunday
deliveries, and yet, if we pass by its offices late on
the Sunday evening, and glance up at the
attics dedicated to the toils of its compositors, we may
see at a glance by the gaslights and the flitting
shadows on the windows, that active preparation are
making for its edition of the Monday morning. Hearing
these things, and seeing these things, we maintain
that we are justified in asserting our disgust at such
repulsive humbug and transparent hypocrisy. The
pretence is such that the gorge rises with abhorrence.
Nor could this fail to be the case with a people like
the English, a people peculiarly averse to shams and
makebelievea. Of all things an assumption of morality,
is the most provocative of contempt, and of a con-
tempt mingled with loathing. • Against these salient
points of character the sarcasm of the dramatists and
novelists of our literature has, been at all times di-
rected. It is this disgust for pretended excellence
which fills the imagination when we read the honeyed
phrases of Holy Writ dropping from the lips of the
reverend adulterer in the comedy of Mr. BICKER-
STAFF. It is this feeling of detestation which
is inspired by the account given by a living
satirist of the canting suavity of Mr. BROCKLEHURST.
Of all phases of disposition that which tends to an
affectation of sobriety is the most repulsive and con-
temptible. We believe there are some sincere and
conscientious advocates of the abolition of all Sunday
labour in the Post-office and other departments. We
do not merely believe, but we actually see, that there
is a vast amount of humbug, of sham, pretence, and
hypocrisy in the movement. Otherwise we should
recognise at least some show of consistency in the
conduct of its agitators--we should see something
less of mere sermonizing, and something more of
good example.
Among the ninety-three Members of the House
of Commons who, last evening, voted in favour of
Lord ASHLEY'S proposition, we have already ob
served that we distinguish with regret a large pro-
portion of so-called Liberal representatives. We
wonder very much what these gentlemen would be
at, and whether they are disposed to take in hand the
spiritual deficiences as well as the political wants of
their generations. There is Mr. Fzancus O'Cossox,
for instance, a wonderfully pious and conscientious
convert to the cause, walking out into the
same lobby with Mr. PEMBERTON PLUMPTRE! What
think the liberal electors of Nottingham of that?
Then there is Mr. CHARLES PEARSON told off in the
cause of Sunday sobriety by Sir THOMAS ACLAND !
What says Lambeth upon that particular? Again, we
would commend the conduct of Mr. BROTHERTON on
this occasion to his constituents at Salford; that of
Mr. MUNTZ to his at Birmingham ; that of Mr.
WILLIAMS to his at Macclesfield; that of Mr. PERFECT
to his at Lewes ; that of Mr. HORSMAN to his at
Cockermouth. Perhaps it would be as well, too, for
the possessors of the franchise at Melton to bear
last night's division in mind in reference to the vote
of Mr. CHILDERS, for those cf Orkney to note the
course of Mr. ANDERSON, those of Edinburgh that of
COWAN, those of Elgin that of Mr. SKENE DUFF, and
those of Glasgow that of Mr. JOHN MACGREGOR. It
is melancholy to reflect upon the moral hal-
lucination which could alone have induced
so many Knights representatives of counties
to misrepresent, in this miserable fashion, the
common sense of their important constituencies—
Mr. MOSTYN, speaking for Flintshire ; Mr. JAMES
DUFF for Banffshire ; Mr. EVANS for Derbyshire;
; and Lord ROBERT Gaos-
Mr. Fawns for Fifeshire
VENOR for Middlesex. All of them, be it still re-
membered, so-called Liberals--Mr. FOLEY voting thus
liberally for East 'Worcestershire, Mr. HEADLAM for
Newcastle, Sir GEORGE STRICKLAND for Pres-
ton, and Mr. HASTIE for Paisley. Beyond the
Members already particularised, we would espe•
ci ally beseech the attention to their representatives,
upon this occasion, of the constituencies of Bed

ford, and Leitrim, and Stroud, and Kilkenny, and

Wigton, and Waterford, of Carmarthen, and Berk

shire, and Kent, and East Cornwall. A careful

scrutiny of their proceedings in Parliament after

such a token of eccentricity as the one witnessed las

evening is surely advisable, or the consequences may

exceed calculation.

Fortunately, the whole of the triumph of the
Sunday-stagnation people, achieved for them last

. _
evening by their congenial spokesman, Lord Astmay

in the Commons House of Parliament, consists 01

nothing more than the resolution, that "an humble

address be presented to her MAJESTY, praying that

her
t
willrMAJEosTrputa at
be graciously
op pleased," and so
forth,
henceforth all
Sunday labours whatsoever in the Post-office depart-
ment. After the twelve years' experience which the
nation has had of the enlightenment evinced by our
Gracious SOVEREIGN upon all questions of state craft
and social reformation, little doubt can be entertained
as to the happy result of such a proceeding. What
we tremble at, however, is this, that the
little success obtained yesterday by those
highly-starched sobriety-mongers may! encou-
rage others besides y Lord o fritter
away the inestimable time of Parliament by pro-
posing schemes equally practicable and preposterous:
demanding, for example, that the Legislature should
resolve that all vessels out at sea, no matter what the
state of the weather, should lay to on Sundays, with
similar suggestions as derogatory to the dignity of
true religion and as incompatible iviih the real
genius of Christianity.

iThe atrocious assassination of the late Mr. Itonnam
LispsEy MANLEVEREE affords a painful illustration
of the demoralisation consequent upon the present
state of the law of landlord and tenant in Ireland,
and exhibits the evil results of that unjust and im-
politic system in the strongest point of view. The
unfortunate gentleman was murdered—cruelly, bar-
barously murdered—on the QUEEN'S highway, and
in the middle of open day. This sanguinary outrage
occurred in a county generally considered one of the
most peaceful and prosperous in Ireland, aid in the
vicinity of two populous villages. No less than
Sixteen cottages, with their inhabitants, wete close at
hand, .where the cries of the victim might eissily have
been heard.
No assistance was, however,ftrendered,