The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-23 00:00:00

the second clause being read, it was proposed by Mr.
GLADSTONE that the Chairman should report pro-
gress, in order to go into Committee on the Railways
Bill. The motion was agreed to.
On the order of the day being read for the House
going into Committee on the Railways Bill, Mr.
-MORRISON made some objections to the details of the

Bill, and the House went into Committee.
On the first clause being proposed, Mr. GLADSTONE
gave an outline of the alterations which had been
made in the Bill. Among other details, he stated
that the option of revision and purchase was appli-
cable to existing railway companies, and that all of
them would be included in the proposed regulations
for third-class passengers. We are glad to see the
Government at last show some regard to the work-
ing classes. By the clause relative to third-
class passengers, the rate is fixed at one penny
a mile, and the carriages are to be covered.
There is to be no huddling together like
sheep in a pen, as on some railroads at present,
a practice disgraceful to the directors. These rail-
roads, the wonder of the world, have been con-
structed by the nerve and sinew of the working
classes, and it is only fair that they should profit by
them.

The House divided on the fifth clause, respecting
the running of third-class carriages on Sundays, when
Ministers were left in a minority of 32.
Several Members announced that they would make
no further opposition to the Bill.
Clauses up to 24 were agreed to, and the House
resumed.

The Joint.-Stock Companies Bill was read a third
time and passed. The Metropolitan Buildings Bill
was also read a third time and passed.
A brief conversation then took place relative to
Captain WARNER'S experiment against the John
o'Gaunt at Brighton, but, unfortunately, little in-
formation was communicated respecting the manner
in which the operation was conducted. Notwith-
standing the report read by Lord INGESTRE the pub-
lic will suspend their judgment. So much secrecy
has been observed that persons tolerably well in-
formed are as incredulous of Captain WARNER'S ex-
ploits as those of Monsieur ALEXIS.
Mr. SHELL brought forward his motion relative to
the possessions of the French in Algiers in an altered
shape. The original motion was for a Committee of
Inquiry, but in introducing the subject last
evening he simply moved for papers. Af-
ter giving historical details of the occupation
of Algiers by the French, and the heavy duties im-
posed on foreign manufactures, he concluded by
moving for papers, in order to show how far the pos-
session of that country by the French was consistent
with the political and commercial interests of this
country.

Sir ROBERT PEEL opposel the motion, which after
some discussion was withdrawn.

Mr. HUME moved for an Address to her Majesty,
praying for a revision of the regulations of the Royal
Academy, which was opposed by Sir R. PEEL, and
negatived without a division.

The House then went into a Committee of Supply,
and several votes were agreed to, among them a grant
of 8,0001. for completing the Nelson Monument in
Trafalgar-square.
The House having resumed, the other orders of
the day were disposed of, and the House adjourned at
a Quarter to Two o'clock.

In the course of a debate on the Railways Bill last
night in the House of Commons, Mr. THORNELY,
on the sixth clause being proposed, observed that
he had no wish to interfere with railways which
refused to run aity trains on the Sabbath, but he
thought that in cases in which companies ran first
and second-class trains on Sundays, they ought also
to be compelled to run third-class trains. To this
just and rational proposition Mr. GLADSTONE
emphatically replied, that " he, for one, would be
no party to compelling companies to run par-
ticular trains on the Lord's day. He was a ware
of the difficulty of enforcing the observance of the
Lord's day by legislation, but he would never hold
out a bonus to a violation of the Lord's day. He
was aware that railroad Companies were compelled to
carry the mails on the Lord's day, but that was a
case of necessity. The respectable working man who
wished to change his place of abode, would rather
give up a working day and the wages of a working
man than travel on the Lord's day. The ob-
servance of the Lord's day was a great support to
religion in this country, and it was the chief
support to religion in Scotland." This passage
is remarkable, not only as being impregnated with
the true spirit of the Conventicle, but as conveying
a Cabinet Minister's notion of what constitutes re-
spectability among the working classes. The opera-
tive who would wish to be considered " respectable,"
must, according to Mr. GLADSTONE, entertain a pious
horror of travelling by railway on the " Lord's Day."
No matter how pressing the necessity may be for
his " changing his place of abode," he must abandon
all thoughts of Sabbatical locomotion, otherwise he
forfeits his claim to respectability. No working
man can be truly " respectable," in the Gladstonian
sense of the term, who is not preparel to sa-
crifice a day's wages in order that he may be
enabled to stay at home on the Sabbath, and travel
on some other day ! Truly it is sad twaddle, and
still worse, if possible, is the Right Hon. Gentle-
man's remark, that the " chief support to religion in
Scotland" is to be found in the general disinclination
r of the people to travel by railway on the Sabbath !
Heaven help the Scotch if their piety rests on no bet-
ter foundation than this ! But though Mr. GLAD-
',TONE enters a pious protest against the poor man tra-
velling on Sundays, we do not find that he so much
as whispers a remonstrance against the rich man
travelling on the same day. It is only against the
running. of " particular trains on the Lord's Day"—
that is to say, the cheap trains, which are intended
for the accommodation of the working-classes—that
he inveighs in a strain of very superfluous and some-
what officious piety. The rich may travel as much
as they please on the Sabbath, but for the poor to
avail themselves of the same privilege is an abomina-
tion in the eyes of the Saints. There is something
very sickening in this one-sided Pharisaical cant. It
is not dictated by devotion but by hypocrisy, and
exhibits a disposition on the part of Mr. GLADSTONE
to confound the mere ceremonial observances of reli-
gion with the sterling thing itself. We had hoped
that the spirit of Andrew-Agnewism was long since
extinct in the House of Commons, but we now find it
revived in the august person of a Cabinet Minister.
As we have more than once observed, in all matters
relating to the observance of the Lord's-day, it
is far better that they should be left exclusively to the
good sense and religious feelings of the community.
Parliament has never interfered on the subject, and
never will interfere, except to do mischief. In the
present instance, bad Mr. GLADSTONE'S opposition to
Mr. THORNELY'S amendment been successful, it would
have had no other effect than to put money into the
purses of the railway proprietors, by compelling all
poor people who might be forced from necessity
to travel on Sundays, to travel by second-class
instead of third-class trains ! And this op-
position to the just and sensible amendment
was offered by the Right Hon. Gentleman on the
plea of religion ! Fortunately, Mr. THORNELY car-
ried his point, and Mr. GLADSTONE, greatly no doubt
to the discomfiture of his pious sensibilities, was de-
feated by a majority of 34. In the course of the
evening, by way of diversifying the entertainment of
Hon. Members, Sir ROBERT PEEL read a brief and
pithy lecture to Mr. HUME on the subject of "impu-
dence," which showed how highly he appreciated the
value of this statesmanlike qualification !

Our readers will of course have remarked the re-

cent proceedings before Committees of the Houses of
Lords and: Commons, on the subject of certain qui
tam actions which are still pending: against various
Noble Peers and Honourable Members connected

----
with what is called the " Sporting World." -The acts
of these individuals which have rendered them sub-
ject to the oppressive machinery of" qui tam" informa-
tions, under an almost obsolete statute (9 Ann, c. 14),
are, very numerous transactions on the turf, in which
they have won various stakes, wagers, purses, &c., &c.
Under this Act (which was an extension, as it were,
of 16 Car. 11., c. 7, the first statute that raised any
question as to the illegality of sporting wagers or
gambling at races), the winner of any stake above
101. at one time, " at cards, dice, tables, tennis, bowls,
or other game or games whatsoever," is liable in the
penalty, under one section, of four times the amount