New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-28
SUNDAY IN FRANCE.
AN EARNEST MOVEMENT TOWARD BETTER
OBSERVANCE OF THE DAY
Paris, August Is.

| AN EakNfNI MO' IO'hhb
OBSERVANCE OF THE DAY.
Paris. August -.
NJ Leon Say, chairman OF the Sunday k'"'
League has just addressed petition to the fresi-
idents of the Councils-General throughout the ne
partmcnts asking them to endcavor l"
| induce their constituents 10 prevent inc
| holding Of fairs and markets on the irst day Oh
the week In former times. when the date hNcu
for fair fell on the Sabbath, the opening OF inc
mart was postponed until the following day and
| NJ Say suggests that this laborSaVlng custom
| should he reverted 10 whenever practicable. lie
points ont that, by pcrsistng in the system OF
holding Sunday fairs, farm lab0rers are often de
prived of their Sunday rest, seng that they are
| oblised to attend fairs and markets with tEelr
masters cattle and sheep. Nor is this all, since IN
| order to meet the requirements Of those who AT
tend fairs. either for business or for pleasure, a
! large number of sors of various descriptions nave
| to he kept open.
All this, NJ Leon Say pertinently observes, is
much 10 be regretted. Still, while recognizing the
evils which exist he does not by any means despair
OF witnessing an extreme change Of public opinion
| in France with respect to the Observance Of the
| Sabbath He holds that, in his country, the Ma
tional tendency is growing more and more In FAVOR
Of rest on Sunday such rest, according TO his show
ing, having always been conceded by the State TO
its employees since the days of the Consulate, pro
ciscly ninety years ago. The railway companies
and other important administrations are following
the example OF the State far as they can-which'
perhaps, is not very far. Sunday race meetings be
ing extremely popular in France and Sunday
trainsde- plaisir" being equally sure Of an i'm
mense amount of public patronage Factory hands
throughout the territory Of the French Republic
are demanding surcease Of Sunday work. and
the employers OF labor doing their utmost to
enable the men to enjoy a full days repose.
Finally, the Sunday shop-closing movement Is
everywhere gaining ground, ard VI. Leon Say
logically contends that the agricultural and
mechanical toler has quite rs much right TO rest
on Sunday rs the artisan operative who Is en-
gagged in Paris and in provincial towns.
The Gallican Church has always been in favor
Of complete abstinence from manual labor on inc
Sabbath. The Council Of Orleans and that OF
Narbonne early and late in the sixth century COM
manded every man, free or enslaved, native or
stranger to refrain from working the first day
Of the week. and violation Of this command was
punished by heavy fines. or by stripes.
To the debauched Francis I. France owes Sc
ries of ordinances vigorously closing markets ana
fairs on Sundays and even forbiddinG public dane
ing on that day Although the French police strove
throughout the seventeenth ana eighteenth CEN
turtles to compel tradespeope to close their shops
and to prevent the populace from partaking OF
their favorite amusemcnts the Sabbath, the old
edicts and ordinances Of the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance fell gradually into desuetude, ana
ot the Revolution the musty enactmcnts were
swept away altogether Napoleon, both az Con-
sui and Emperor, was far too sagacious 10 enter
tain any project Of law which would hinder the
millions over whom he ruled from going to the play
or dancing at public balls, or listening to open
air music or patronizing al-fresco mines. bufoons
tumblers, acrobats and refrcShmcnt stall keepers
on the Sabbath day. He knew that the more the
millions amused themselves. tie less they would
think or talk about politics; and politics was pre-
cisely the topic from which Napoleon was most
DESTROYS Of diverting the minds of his subjects.
On the return however OF the Bourhons in 8l4,
| the aristocracy, who in many respects more
Royalist than the restored King himself, com
bined with the clergy to rc-cstablish the old Sab
batarian regulations. BY a law of November 1s,
1914 the exercise Of all trades and industries
prohibited on Sundays, and all festivals recog-
nized by the State Shopkeepers were forbidden TO
! take down their shutters: porers and stall
keepers were not allowed either TO carry goods in
the streets or TO set up their booths in public
places; and severe restrictions were laid wag-
oners and carriers who transported merchandise on
the Sabbath Labor was tabooed both in facto-
ries and in the fields and in 500 two day aborers
were prosecuted and convicted at Chateau Thicrry
for having been found at work in their master s
| vineyard on o Sunday. The laws Of 1914, which
have been practically dead letter ever since the
Revolution Of July, 1890, are yet unrepcaled: and
were a sudden wave Of clericalism TO pass over
France it is not by any means unlikely that steps
would be taken to nhbt the carrying on Of any
kind of trade commerce handicraft on Sunday
throughout the length and breadth of France, and
to compel the railway companies to run a minimum
Of trains and agricultural laborers TO abstain from
hocing out weed or turning D sod in their fields.
VI Roulcz, who some months ago startled not
only Paris, but almost the entire civilized world,
by his tale of the wonderful and wholly imaginary
decd OF proves which he fancicd he had accom-
plished- that Of fighting four ducls on one morn
ing and defeating all his adversaries without
receiving a scratch himself-has justified the fears
which were entertained about his state Of health
II was thought at the time that his mind had
given way, and last week his eccentric conduct
in breaking into an Office through a window con-
fined in the Clarendon Asylum, where at first
his mania only assumed the harmless form OF
imagining that lie was making 100000 francs
day out OF his telephone Inventions and promis-
ing tho doctors immense rewards in consequence.
few days ago, however, the conduct Of VI.
Roulez became very violent, and he attacked
one Of the warders, whom he almost strangled
before tire man could be released from his grasp.
His case is now considered serious.
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