The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-07-20

be the height Of folly. There must In fact be
an intermediate candidate, and be must occupy
the safe middle ground of the administration
That is all.
The Sunday Movement-Its Origin, Its OBJ
tects and Results.
The public indignation has at length arisen In
its might against the fanatioal Sunday movement
which originated in this city about five months
ago, with the same party which organized the
Kansas expedition. and got up subscriptions to
send out emigrants to that Territory, equipping
them with Sharps rifles and other deadly wea-
pons. The subscription list was not started to
aid the Kansas humbug, but the Kansas excite
ment was set on foot to produce the subscription
list, and The flames of intestine war were kindled
and famed to swell the list and bring in the
money, which was the Alpha and Omega of tina,
movement One.tenth of the fund never reach
ed its destination. More than nine.tenths were
absorbed in expenses for printing and in other
mysterious ways. These gentlemen, having made
a good thing out of the Kansas imbroglio, and
expedient for raising the wind. They resolved
that they would make Sunday excitement pay
and they went to work with their subscription
books and memorials, and circumstances, and
resolutions and tracts, and they collected vast
Gums of money from fanatics aud fools, and from
smoothfaccd political hypocrites who had an
eye to Office and hoped to reach the spols
through q whirlwind of pious dust blown
into the faces of the people. And they
got hold Of innocent parsons who know
little of human nature and some knavish pc
litical ones who are well versed in all the ways
of the world. Among the recruits they enlist
ed in the service were some long-faced lawyers,
and pious merchants, who accumulated big
piles by frequent failures, aud some Of minor
degree, who grew rich by sandiog sugar, water
ing brandy, and such other honest means. These
individuals became jealous in the cause of pety,
and having made fortunes in this world, they de-
te1mined to lay up treasure in Heaven by rob
bling the poor Woodworking man Of one day in
seven, by keeping him prisonerin his own mise
rable dwelling, amidst the dust and suffocating
stencil of this filthy city, instead of allowing him
to 60 forth to breathe the pure free air of
heaven, and to see the green fields ar
rayed 10 all their glory by the hand of
the Creator, or even to enjoy such
recreation as q German garden" could afford.
And the poor mans children are doomed to the
same imprisonment and fetid air; and how can
they grow up healthy population When Ma
poleoa was asked by Madame de Stael, Who
was the greatest woman in the world, J" he re-
piled, "She who gave most children to the
State" But how can women, under such cir
cumstances, give many children to the State?
Indeed it is wonderful that they give any; aud
it would be bettor for a large portion Of our
population that they were never born, than to-
be the offspring of such sickly mothers, and
doomed to be deteriorated still more by the foul
air Of crowded dwellings in llthy and unsewered
streets, denied even short respite from their
misery on the only day in the week on which
they have chance.
By the census of 1855 the foreign born popu-
lation in this city was 275, 3s2 while the whole
inhabitants. were 629,S4O. The native voters
we're 46,113; the naturalized, 42,704-or very
nearly equal The present foreign born popula.
ton cannot be short of 100000 The greater
portion consists of Germans and Irish, who are
by the constitution to spend their
Sunday as they please, but whose sacred rights
it is attempted to trample down by oppressive
and despotic edicts such as do not now exist In
any other country in the world. Tammany
Hall gets up an excitement about an imaginary
grievance to some citizen Of foreign birth re-
turning to his native land-a case that may
happen to some inhabitant of New York, but
has not yet occurred; while here is case of
real oppression to three or four hundred thou
sand foreign born citizens. and noisy Tammany
is as silent as the grave.
These restrictions upon human liberty never
prevailed in any part Of Christendom ex-
cept England and Scotland, and there
they have given way before the enlightened
spirit Of the age. But this is the very time our
American fanatics and hypocrites seek to re-
vive them here, as if this great republic were
behind the despotisms and monarchies of Eu.
rope in practical personal freedom. The statutes
engrafted on the common law Of England are
repealed, while here in the United States we are
trying to resuscitate and brush up obsolete
statutes, which, though not actually repealed,
have fallen into disuse Blackstone, in his
Commentaries on the Common Law, says
that proclamation of Sunday is vulgarly but
improperly called Sabbath breaking, for there
is no Sabbath now. He considers Sunday en-.
tirely as civil institution to be regulated by
municipal law, and thus declares that there is
no divine authority for it. He adds, that the
common law does not prohibit, but rather allows,
any innocent recreation or amusement on
Sunday after service is over, the object Of
the institution being to prohibit work, prohibit
ton for the benefit of the people. This is the
manner in which Sunday is kept by all the Pro
testant churches on the continent Of Europe.
Even in Geneva, where the stern character Of