Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-09
MTisfeIln,1eons.
From the the London Times.
An English View Of Scotland.

Scotland is, il spite Of Union $50
years old, in many respects foreign country
to us Englishmen. We have conquered
Ireland, and introduced English laws, usa-
ges, and even habits Of life. In Dublin
there is Court of Chancery and Court of
Queens Bench, after the fashion of Eng
land, and the much maligned Established
Church Of that country has been founded
in, perhaps, too strict an analogy with our
own. But our countrymen north Of the
Tweed have preserved their independence
as thoroughly as in the times Of Wallace
and Bruce The most fervid PARTISAN Of
Scottish rights ought to be satisfied when
i he sees district of this island, containing
less than three millions Of inhabitants, in
possession Of laws and customs widely diff
fering from those which obtain in England
and Ireland. One of the chief Of these DIFF
ferences will no doubt give much pleasure
to Scotchmen It regards the observance
Of the Sabbath. Now, the general opinion
Of the world is that Englishmen are more
than duly strict in honoring the first day of
the week. Neither French or Italian Cath
olics nor German or Dutch Protestants can
understand the Sunday as it is observed in
London The closing Of every shop and
every theatre, the semi-cessation Of rail
way trains and omnibuses, the prim church
and chapel goers passing by with their
Prayer or Hymn Books held devcutly in
their kids Ioved hands, all strife the for
eigner as indications of a preternatural
gloom in the national character. This strict
observance Of the Sunday as Jewish Sab
bath is a standing accusation against us who
live in the southern part Of the island. And
yet we know that we are not in such slavery
as some CT Our fellows. IF Sunday dawns
fine and sunny summer day we know that
there are many recreations for the poor
cockney who has toiled all the week in a
narrow shop, full Of musty woolens or sick
ly smelling groceries, and who has only one
day in seven to sweeten himself and get q
formed that the Londoners employed all
kinds Of conveyances to take them to Rich
mond or some other suburban retreat on
their weekly HOLIDAY; and now the means
Of locomotion and liberty are vastly iucreas-
ed. The short trains take thousands for
little trips to the green, fields; in every di-
rection taverns and tea-gardens are open,
places which are, indeed, sometimes per-
verified to riotous excess, but which we sin
cerely believe, are for the most part the
means of affording temperate and reasona-
bic refreshment to those who are in need Of
it. Then Hampton Court and other pub
lie places are open the London parks afford
pleasant walk to tens of thousands and it
may be said that, with the exception of a.
mnsements for which money is paid at the
doors, the Englishman on Sunday is not de-
prived of those recreations to which man
kind naturally turn in their moments of
leisure. It seems finally determined by
public opinion in England to condemn any
scheme for increasing the labour of any set
Of men on Sunday, and it is on these grounds
that several proposals, otherwise reasonable
for opening places of recreation have been
opposed by persons by no means narrow
minded or intolerant The observance Of
the Sabbath has in England been defended
on grounds consistent with nature and COM
mon sense, and, although we may be look
ed upon by the Continental as superstitious
and by the Northern Presbyterian as unpi-
Gus, we still think that the decorous but
not ascetic observance Of Sunday by the in
structed classes in England is as fair COM
promise between extreme opinions as can be
expected or desired. Every shopkeeper aud
shopman, every artisan or journeyman, has
one day in the week for meditation, rest Or