The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-27 00:00:00

changes in the organization of public departments— I within a few minutes and at a trifling cost—and an equally
changes which interfere with their daily avocations and numerous population, the membersut whiCh are tape aneu
enjoyments, which derange their calculatione, and which ' by scores and hundreds of miles, and perhaps by shut
may even ruinously depreciate their property—made at railroads and boneless hietnays. Thu, we bee
the mere fiat of a single branch of the Legislature, that, while the newspapers belonging to ell the
without notice, and with scarce y a show of discussion. rest of the population were, last Sunday, It ing
It may, as Sir Charles Wood averred on Tuesday night, locked up in boxes, the Londoners Lot only
be strictly legal (though many doubt it), but it is ter- had theirs carried and received, but employed
tainly unusual, and contrary to all the analogies of our themselves in reading them. The sum of the matter is,
social and political system; and the public hill be slow that, in a multitude of matters Loudon is, so to speak,
to believe that anybody is really answerable for a little self-contained and self-supplying, while all other places
revolution of this sort except the Government which has are dependent on such arrangements as that of which
wilfully, and oven ostentatiously, allowed the nuisenee to they have-been this week deprived. Oddly enough—so
take its own course. It is no business of ours to elc;end eduty as to be worth mentioeing—just when those who
the Sebbatarian zealots from the censures which their were silent or timid before are tegiening to speak out,
folly deserves ; but Ministers may be assured that, our respected contemporary, the Mercury, who has
when the consequences of the recent change shall have hitherto borne well his share in the beak, seems rather
sum-what fur the r developed themselves. it will te t inclined to " ring in." He " would wish tne experiment
le the majority of ninety-three that will have to bear fairly tried," and always "thought it well worthy of eon-
the chief blantre. What those consequences are likely to sideration." In the case of such conversions or waveriegs,
be, we shall, it may be feared, soon have ample means of experience has led us to the suspicion, never yet wrong
judging. On Tuesday evening Lord Brougham men- in any instance where inquiry has been made, that the
domed tho instance of a death which had occurred within consent's practice bad become lax just when his proles-
the previous day or two, in consequence of the new re- signs had become strict. For instance, a reverend
gulations rendering it impossible to call in medical aid elector in this city, who used to write very strongly
by letter; and though it will doubtless be said that the against the stopping of Sunday trains, Lately came out
case was an " isolated" one, it unfortunately happens very furious on ►he other side—just at the time that he
that" isolated cases," of cite sort or another, constitute had shifted his residence several miles out of town, cud
no small part of every man's life. Liability to " isolated" taken to driving in and out every Sabbath-day. Similar
emergencies, whether of a personal, a prcaniary, or a is the case-of the Morning herald, which has of lets be-
domestic nature, is a fundamental conditioo of human come quite enthusiastic against every species of " Sab-
existence; and nothing is more certain than that, in bath labour "—and whose: printers and all connected
every considerable town in Great Britain, scores or hun- with it labour every Sunday as long and as hard as they
dreds of instatic:s will suite every Sunday in which im- do every Monday. It is nothing of this
mediate communication with a distant locality will be a kind we intend to allege against our friend's con-
matter of life-and-death urgency. Of course we do not sistency (though he. may feel a little frightened)
mean to say that the Leer regime, if allowed to be- —we mean to confine ourselves strictly to the question
come permanent, will be very ire qtiently productive in band; and, doing so, we point out his announcement
of extreme and fetal consequences, as in the case to his readers that, in consequence of that change in the
adduced by Lord Brougham. People will soon learn to Post-office of which be declares in favour, ho will
uederetand the thing, and, so far as may be, to accom- hereafter get them news by means of Sunday parcels!
modate themselves to it. Necessity is the mother of In profession he says, "W e wish the experiment tried;"
intention. The proprietors of the Loudon weekly jour- in practice, he says (like nanny others of the few who
reds have already, as our readers are aware, made ar- approve of this experiment), "but we shall take pre-
rangemeets with at least one of the great railway cone- cious good care you shall not try it on us." It, would
panics, which will tend to avert the threatened confia- relieve much perplexity were our contemporary (to
cation of their property; and there can be no doubt whom we speak in rest ect and amity) to explain by
that it will be perfectly practicable, with a little time what process of moral reasoning he arrives at the eau-
and experience, to organize a machinery adequate to the elusions that it is right that the Government should pro-
supply of other social wants besides the craving for " hibit the carrying, sending, and receiving of letters of
test intelligence." Country traders, eh() have bills tall- affection and latility, necessity and mercy, mayhap life
inn due in London on the Monday will find means of and death, and that it is right alio that he should curse
transmitting cash on the Sunday; and urgent family parcels to be sent, tarried, and received, to facilitate the
mi,sives will, a e may be sure, neither be kept back till dispatch of his secular business.
the critical moment is passed, nor be carelessly flung into
the receptacles where everything lies " unsorted and
untouched." We may say, in grin rat, that (after a
while) there will be a universal Suuday "collection and
delivery" of alt letters—except those of the very poor—
which are worth being done up in string and brown
paper, and charged as "parcels." In a word, the most
notable and conspicuous results of the present delectable
device for promoting Sabbatical religion will be (should
the thing last long enough), to make a considerable hole
in the l'en,-office revenue—to levy a vast amount of
private taxation on all classes of the community except
the poorest—to inflict on them a cruel aed exasperasing
hardship —and to add enormously to the amount of
Sunday labour throughout the cotintry. We take it,
however, to be impossible, practically speaking, that
our experience of this absurd and fantastic innova-
tion will be sufficiently protracted to produce a
tithe of the social. and moral mischief with
which it is fraught. Mr. Locke has given
notice of a motion, for the 9th of next month,
which will bring the whole question once more under
the consideration of the House of Commons ; and what-
ever Ministers may or may not do towards extricating
themselves from the very discreditable position which
they have assumed, there are, we trust, independent
Members of thee, assembly who will take care that the
matter shall at least undergo one night's thorough and
searching discussion. The issue we (ran scarcely re-
gard as dubious. Lord Ashley himself must, we should
Imagine, be already somewhat sceptical as tti the moral
operation of a system which tends to identify the very
name of the sacred day with unwonted and odious social
restrictions ; and we cannot but believe that very many
among his recent supporters will have perceived, on
cooler reflection, that the decorous and religious ob-
servance of the weekly Christian holiday has nothing to
gain, but everything to loss, from that sort of fanatical
exaggeration which invariably ends in an anti-religious
reaction.

TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PAR.
LIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
The petition of the undersigned Proprietors and
Editors of London Newspapere, and Contributors
thereto, and other persons empioyed thereon,
Humbly showeth,
That, on an Address, supported by ninety-five mem-
bers of your Honourable House; and which, by the roles
of that House, could not be again considered before it
was presented, her Majesty, by the advice c f her Mi-
nister:, has prohibited the delivery of newspapers on
Sundays by post throughout the kingdom.
That your petitioners thereby here peen suddenly awl
without notice grievously injured iu their property and
t-C2UpatiOß.
That the liberty of the press has hitherto been con-
sidered the first bulwark of British freedom, end that
its uses have hitherto been considered of paramount
value end importance, and that, therefore, any unneces-
sary interference with its operations is the must unbear-
able of oppressions, and the. most galling of insults, that
can be offered to the people, or their habitual informants,
instructors, and defenders.
That her Majesty's Government, in suddenly acting
upon the resolve of an accidental majority, by stopping
the delivery cf the post on Sundays without Laking
means to consult the real sense of your Honourable
House, has abandoned its duty and despotically trifled
With the property and interests of your petitioners.
That the amount of Sunday labour which will be oc-
casioned by the efforts of the newspaper proprietors to
protect their property will be threefold that saved by the
new regulations.
That the etemp-tax on newspapers has been vindi-
cated us giving the privilege 'of transmission by pest,
and thew make this privilege available to ono class and
to deny it to another is an act of the grossest fiscel in-
to,tlee.
That the circulation of newspapers on a Sunday is a
civilizieg act, meritorious to the highest degree in a free
nation, where every individual is supposed to take the
part of a In °man in public affairs, and where this Day
is the only one that affords to many• of the industrious
classes the opportunity, by perusal of the public prints,
to inform themselves of their duty as citizens.
That the business to be transacted by a great number
of individuals in the course of the ensuing week is re
cessarily regulated by the information as to markets and
otherwise communicated by the weekly papers on the
Sunday.
That the Post•cffice is 3 close monopoly of the most
essential means of communication, which monopoly can
only be justified by its rendering the most complete and
equal service at all times to all parties who require its
agency.
That to make this great public institution subservient
to the sectarian opinions of any body of individuals is
an usurpation of the rights of Government and a per-
version of its duties.
That your petitioners, who are as anxious as any
other persons, whatever may be their religious preten-
sions, to give the full enjoyment and repose of outs tiny
inehe week to the entire people, teel that this can only
be done by a moderate sacrifice of the convenience for
some hours of the few, to the many, and that it this truth
be not admitted, no one hes a right to claim uny ser-
vice of any king :•,,ori the seventh day; and that this
principle should be strictly applied to all ranks of men
by stringent legislation.
That your petitioners believe the new regulations of
the Post-office to be a violent inroad on the liberty of
conscience, a mere pretence as to the effect it professes
to produce, the precursor or a series of absurd and up•
pressive measures against the civil and religious liberty
of the people; an act unwarranted by the practice and
faith of civilised Europe-=-a deprivation inflicted by a
higher class upon an humbler one, and a measure so
totally unworthy of the Government and Legislature of
this country, that it could only have been carried by the
surprise of a single vote.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray of your
Honourable House to rescind the resolution which led to
the late Address, and to enable the Government to resort
to the former usage in this behalf,
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will every
pray, &e.

(From the Cork Examiner.)
The fanatics of Sabbatical labour must apparently he
setitfied with having annoy e 3 the puha° for an exceed-
ingly short space of time. Their success has excited a
universal outcry through England. Lord Brougham de-
nies that it is legal for the Government to carry out
the re e regulations, the Post-office being a means of
taxation, which they have no right to abrogate or lessen;
and the Marquis of Lausdowne promises to take the
point into serious consideration. The Chancellor cf the
Exchequer confesses to a malicious satisfaction at the in-
convenience to which the public have subjected them-
selves; indeed, it is doubtful whether the testy indi-
vidus.l is not more pleased at the consequences of the
vote in the Commons, than angry at its having been
adopted against his advice. Lord John .Russell agrees
in the opinion of the Chancellor, with regard to the
change being unadvisable. Meanwhile, the Times
speeds the opposition to the measure of the vast body of
the Etig!ish classes. The anxiety of Ministers to see
the House of Commons retrace its steps is not at all ac-
cepted as an excuse fur their complying with an address
voted in such a way. The Spectator says their " con-
duct p:elents a case of the most naked mala fides—
that it is grossly 4 unconstitutional,' and desp:eably
shabby;" and the whose press, without exception, merely
varies the terms of condemnation. From all these indi-
cutler's, we give the new regulations a very short time
longer to live. The best, because the shortest, argument
on the question is, that the stoppage of the postal de
livery really tends to increase the amount of labour on
the Sabbath. This has been over and over again de-
monstrated. Within the limited range of a single per-
son's acquaint ince, and on the first occasion when the
obnoxious regulations came into force, we have known
an extent of trouble taken with communications, almost
equal to that of all the persons engaged in the local
post-office. One fact is stronger than a column of logic.
We give the following illustration of the new Post-office
rule. A farmer in the county gaol for debt, bad his bail
papers sent up to Dublin. They were examined and
fouud all right. They were transmitted to Cork, and
reached here on Sunday morning. From the non-de-
livery of letters, he was kept a prisoner till to-day, thus
sutfericg a whole day's incarceration that might have
been prevented.
(From the Scotsman.)
The chief effect, as yet, of the remarkable postal
change which came into operation last Sunday, has been
a groat outburst of bitter abuse against all concerned in
it, coming from those who have been silent or very
cautious stud gentle in the preVious stages of the ques-
tion. Every morning the Times (which we take only
as conspicuous among a large number) comes Out
firmer and fiercer, and with fresh specimens of the op-
pressions and absurdities arising out of the new system.
That the complaints are just and the specimens fair
there is no doubt ; and even in our own much smaller
sphere we have elready evidenced that, as we have al-
ways maintained, the change will not cider inflict great
' inconvenience and cruelty, but, without that inconve-
nience and cruelty being thereby removed in the more
clamant class of cases, will greatly increase the amount
.01 Sunday labour. The very first Sunday's experi-
ence has caused requests to be made to us from
various districts to enter on arrangements by which,
through means of parcels, &c., the papers may be oh-
taineblo as hitherto when the readers pay their Sunday
visits to the places where (no anomalous neighbourship)
the church nod post-office stand together; and there is
no doubt that arrangements of that kind, not only as
regards despatching, but, in the case of papers published
early in the week,asregardiereceiving nlso,will,be,adopted,
and to some extent are already adopted, by the chief
portion of the newspaper press. The proprietors of the
London Saturday papers are already far advanced with
preparations for a Sunday delivery in a large number of
pieces by means of private messengers, and a pressure,
the success of which seems considered certain,
has been commenced on the English. railway
I companies, to induce them to establish a
I Sunday parcels delivery. Our advertising co-
lumns also bear evidence already that the
coffeehouse-keepers and others of the same class even in
Scotland arc ceiling new machinery into operation in
order to obtain their supply of papers. These are spe-
cimens of the remedies resorted to in one department
alone—whence inferences may be drawn as to what will
be the amount of labour called into existence to provide
remedies in all the other departments, as well as of the
amount of cruelty inflicted and of indignant feeling en-
gendered in these numerous and various cases (the cases
of individuals as distinguished from trades or communi-
fief., and the poor as distinguished from the rich) in
which the wrong is irremediable. The Times of felon-
day incidentally makes the following allusion to the mode
in which last Sunday was spent in Londoe, the city to
which the advocates of the prohibition of intercourse are
so fond of referring in example:—
"The railways could not supply trains fast enough
for the multitude pressing into the metropolitan stations,
and by the time a regular train had got off there re-
mained enough for a supplementary special. The river,
which had not ceased to flow, presented a similar spec-
tacle; and as no air was to be got in the streets, it was a
comfort to think of the several score thousands who in-
haled it, not quite pure perhaps, but Still in motion on
the Thames. We never remember to have seen so com-
plete is turn-out of the population on the pavement as
there was in the evening, just as the air out of doors was
beginning to be cooler than within. We must add that
we saw a good many reading their newspapers, which
they did with the look of men exercising a privilege,
and resolved to keep it if possible."
This indicates two of the peculiarities connected with
the case of London, to which we have occasionally ad-
verted. The one is that, besides an amount of Sunday
business happily unknown either in Scotland or the pro-
vincial towns of England, London, with her shut Post-
office, is on Sunday the most jaunting and pleasure-
seeking town in the kingdom. Of course, we do not
'alduce these things as cause and effect, but only as
coincident, and as having a bearing both on the motive
under which the Londoners keep their Post-office shut,
and on the assumption of the Agnewites that shutting
it throughout the kingdom would produce better Sab-
bath obsert ance. The second peculiarity in the case of
London indicated above, is that, in so far as she has her
population concentred, and is rather the giver than
the receiver of intelligence, she is much less de-
pendent on the Post-office than any other district is. For
1 i istance, London is nearly as populous es all Scotland,
but it is very easy to see the difference as to the necessity
of net-office cemmunication between a population
crushed together on twelve square miles, and one spread
over more than 30,000 square miles—between a popula-
tion, the members of which, any Sunday, at almost any
hour, can reach sue another, in person or otherwise,

THE CLERGY AND THE SABBA,TARIAN
FRENZY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
is well known that great numbers of the
clergy are, on principle, opposed to the recent change in
the Sunday postal arraegeeeents. The rational and
Scriptural views ef Archbishop Whately and the late
1)r. Arnold, with reference to the Lord's day, are no-
cepted try hundreds even of those who would feel some
difficulty in subscribing to the opinions of afore great
and learned men on some other subjects. Why, then,
do not those who believe this recent change in the
Post-office to be repugnant alike to common sense and
to Christianity, step forward boldly and aid the efforts
now making to procure a repeal of this most offensive
regulation? For my own part, I have done and shall
do all that is in my power to point out to the people the
cruelty, injustice, and, above all, the utterly un-Christian
nature of this proceeding, convinced that in E 0 doing I
am but acting in perfect consistency with my duty as a
clergyman and as a Christian, in resisting the sttsmpt
to impose upon the English people a Judaical observance
of the Sunday, and so to deprive them of " that liberty
wherewith Christ bas made us free." Nothing, as it
seems to me, can be more self-evident to any unprejudiced
student of the New Testament, than that the attempt to
stop all postal communication on Sunday is an act of
tyranny and oppression, for which no warrant whatever
can bo round in that Holy Book. Is it cone, ivable, that
He, who- so severely rebuked the hypocrisy if those
who would have prevented Hun from healing the sick on
the Jewish Sabbath, would sanction a measure which
will prevent the son from hastening to the bedside of the
dying parent, and keep thou:ands racked with the agony
of hope, deferred through the long hours of a day which
onqht to be fre so far as may be, for contemplation on
' sacred things, and for holy Christian enjoyment?
I perceive that the same party, whose efforts have
procured from a weak and reluctentMiuistry the I:espo-
use:ion of this outrage on religion and common sense,
are now actively employed in circulating petitions
against the admission of Jews into Parliament. 1. can
imagine nothing more absurd than this. Why, Sir, if
they are so fond of Jewish ordinances, shOuld they so
strongly object to Jewish Legislators?
I enclose my address, that you may know that my.
signature is not a feigned one, and with my sincere
wi,,hes that your exertions in the cause tf religious
.herty may be soon crowned with success,
Lam, sir, your very obedient servant,

A PRESBYI:Eit OF THE OH URCII OF ENGLAND

[ A.DVERTISEMENT.] ----BOTANIC WATER AND
BEARS' GREASE.—When the hair is becoming thin, and fall-
ing otr, the only effectual remedy, besides shaving the head,
is the use of the two above-named articles, applied alter-
nately, the botanic water to cleanse the roots from scurf, and
as a stimulant, and the bears' grease as a nourisher. If any
further evidence was required of the virtues of bears' grease
for renovating and preserving the hair, Mr. Catlin's account
of the quantity used, and the length of hair obtained by
some of the North American Indians, would be a sufficientt
answer.—Ross & Sows. 119 and 120, 13 ishopsgate-.s
London, who first introduced the use of bears' grease
adthe la t r
thisee
country, and who fat and kill the animals, recommees
and
public to purchase none other but with theirnieai
names
address printed on the pot, or the chances are ti
obtain-
ing a spurious article. •
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—wheeIer's General London
and Provincial Newspaper-office, Manchester.—B. Wheeler
public, that in consequence
begs to inform his friends and the
of the alteration in the Post-o_fh ptregulations. he has made
arrangements to receive Bell'. L•ceein London, and other Lon-
don Saturday and Sunday nev.a-elipt.o.a
possible on the Saturday, so pbeersdealtivtehreedeiannilllastncihmeusr-
ter the same day, and also
,ta.o forward them to the neigh-
boUring towns on the Saturday. Exchange Arcade, Man-
chester,
[A nvEnTisE:LE:ii..]—Ben ,Life in London.—ln
postal arrangements, a portion ot the
consequence of the new. p
will take place before 5 o'clock on
publication of this )
gsi‘inniarte fur. the morning mails and early
Saturday mornings
railways. To insure the insertion of vertiEements in
Bell'slife, they should be sent to 170, Strand, early on
Friday anerneon. Ihe average sale of Be Ts Life exceeds
28,000.
DIE BRIG IiToN Pavaiox.—Th. eSurveyor to the
Woods
and ,Forests gave the Commissioners of Brighton
possession of the Pavilion estate on Wednesday last.-
13righton Guardian.