The Sun.
London, England, 1819-07-09 00:00:00

THE SABBATH.

MR. EDITOR,—At a time when vice and ini-
quity have arrived at a pitch in this country which
was never before heard of, or even contemplated;
when the criminal calendar of our country is an-
nually on the increase ; when the sacred bonds of
society are almost dissolved by the perpetual yin-
latiou of its laws ; and when so many untoward
circumstances contribute to render the commis-
sion of crimes in many instances almost excusable,
I feel confident it will require no appeal to your
liberality or benevolence to obtain the insertion,
in your justly esteemed Paper, of a suggestion for
the diminution of one of the greatest of those
evils svhich affect the lives, morals, and disposi-
tions of the present age.
My• allusion is to Drunkenness, and that I
think of all the evils which assail the frailty of
human nature, experience has fully proved to be
the most powerful in its allurements, and the
most fatal in its consequences ; and the preven-
tion of its pernicious effects ought therefore to
be the constant care and study of every well-
wisher to society.
With this iiricciple in view, it has long been a
matter of great and serious surprise to me, that,
while the law enforces the strictest observance of
the Sabbath by almost every trade and calling,
public-house( and liquor-shops should be allowed,
with unrestrained licence, to profane the hallow-
ed rites of that sacred day, by affording harbours
for the profligate and dissolute, and holding out
temptations to the unwary and inexperienced.
I am aware, Sir, that the exception in favour
of Victuallers, for opening their houses on the
Sabbath, was granted a great many years ago,
and subsequently, renewed by Stat. 29. Car. 11.
c. 7. and that it was founded upon the principle of
affording accommodation to travellers, and others
of a like description, who might not be enabled
to provide for themselves; it being at that time,
without doubt, of great advantage to the public ;
but circumstances have undergone various and
sensible revolutions since that period, by which
'this measure has been converted froM one of pub-
lic utility and benefit, to nue of setions injury
and misfortune; and although the same reason for
this exception may still exist ie some parts of the
country, I think it requires but one moment's
reflection to be convinced, that so far as regards
the Metropolis and its immediate vicinity, it has
ceased altogether. Victualling-houses in the
reign of Charles the Second were very different
houses to those so designated at the present day,
and the words of the proviso in the Act before
referred to, by which victuallers are exempted from
the penalties imposed by that Act, being as fol-
lows—'' Provided always, that nothing in this
Act contained shall extend to the prohibiting of
dressing of meat in families, or dressing or selling
of (neat in Inns, Cook' s• Shops, or Victualling- houses,
for such as otherwise cannot he provided for,"—s Ili-
ciernly demonstrate, that houses for the sole pur-
pose of vending liquors never entered into the
imaginations of the framers of the Act ; and as,,
therefore, taverns and cook-shops are quite com-
petent to answer the purposes therein mentioned,
as well as the convenience of the present gene-
ration, I propose that all the public-houses and
liquor-shops in, and within three or four miles
of, the Metropolis, be compelled to observe the
Sabbath, or at least until the evening, with the
same strictness as those who are prohibited from
exercising their trades on that day.
Is it not disgraceful, Sir, in a Christian Coun-
try, and more especially in a Country professing
to be the Queen of Christian Countries, to witness,
on the morning of the Sabbath, the doors of pub-
lic-houses and. liquor-shops, and the houses them-
selves„ crowded with drunkards and prostitutes ?
Is it not appalling to witness the labouring poor,
on that day, squandering away in liquor their hard-
earned weekly wages, while their families are al-
most fainting for want of sustenance at home ?
Is it not lamentable to witness, on that day,
journeymen and apprentices of every description
reeling about the streets in a state of drunken-
ness and insensibility ? And is it not in the highest
degree inipitoos as well in those who pollute, as
in those who suffer, the sacred ordinances of the
Sabbath to be polluted by violence and impunity.
It was formerly the pride of an English labourer.,
to pay his devotions to his Almighty Father with
some religious congregation on the Sabbath-day,
and it was considered by him as one of his
greatest blessings that a day was weekly set
apart, in which he could offer up to the Giver of
of all Gifts his praises anti thanksgiving for the
,numerous favours conferred upon him and his
family during the week ; but alas ! how lament-
ably different is the present state of things :
scarce can we pass through a single street on the
Sabbath-day in which a public-house or liquor-
shop is situate (excepting some parts of the City)
without being disgusted with the sight of numbers
of the labouring class hanging about the doors of
these houses, or lolling over posts at a short ciao,'
Lance from them, exhibiting every mark of un-
cleanliness and inebriety, and making no distinc-
tion between that and the other days of the week,
except by a greater indulgence its indolence and
debauchery. _ _

The circumstances which I have related are
facts which fall under the observation of all per-
sons who are accustomed to notice daily occur-
rences, and they alone must be sufficient-to con-
vince every reflecting man of the dreadful conse-
quences of this system, but here we must not de-
sist : the evil is not confined to those who are in

the constant habit of spending the Sabbath in
rioting and drUnkenness ; but, like a deadly poison,
spreading through the veins of an unfortunate
victim, stops not 'until its baneful gall has tainted
every wholesome part within its reach ; to in-
stance this, let us take into our view two or three
unguarded, though honest anti industrious appren-
tices ; let us observe them setting off on a Sunday
morning for some country village, at a short dis-
tance, [turn Town, intuit, and intent only, upon

lawful recreation; let us watch their progress
through the streets, surrounded on all sides by
these syrenean gulfs which gape upon them as
they pass ; and let us then see tvbether, notwith-
standing their previously fixed resolu:ion, they be
not
.prevented by intoxication from pursuing
their journey, before they have arrived within
half way of their place of destinAtion. All these
are of course general observations ; for in my de-
scription I,do not mean to include every labour-
ing man or every apprentice; but it is sufficient,
that such an evil be shewn, to justify the applica-
tion of a remedy.

Perhaps, however, an objection may be raised.
to my proposition, On the ground of its tending
to cause a diminution ot the Public Revenue, and
that is certainly a consideration which requires
our most serious attention ; but, even admitting
that this would be the result, what a mere blot in
the Ocean is the loss to the Public Revenue ot a
tew thousand pounds, compared with the sacrifice
of as many thousands of the lives and constitu-
tions of our fellow-countrymen, and how much
more easy is it to replenish the coffers ot the State
than to restore lite to death, and soundness to a
broken constitution. I will contend, besides,
that a decrease of the Public Revenue is neither a
necessary nor a probable consequence of the carry-
ing into effect of this measure ; for it has long
been an established principle that the strength of
a State consists not in the wealth, but in the in-
dustry of its inhabitants, and if drunkenness is ea
impediment to the full exercise of industry, a de-
crease of the one must create an increase of the
other, and by the same rule an increase also of
the Public Revenue. I am, Sir,
Your humble Servant,
SPAUTANUS