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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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SUNDAY IN LONDON . 21 , 1851 . Sir , —Out * -witty neighbours across the Channel are diverting themselves with a lively little farce , representing the adventures of a Frenchman in London during the Great Exhibition . The disagreeables of tough beef , heavy pudding , sombre skies , and stiff manners , throw them into convulsions of laughterwhen suddenly the stage is darkened ( the scene being a few blank walls ) , sad music makes tbe heart sink with its plaintive wailing , while a few melancholy individuals in deep mourning steal about ^ on tiptoe , slowly repeating in solemn whisper " C ' est fSonday ! " Now , Sir , it is painful to think of the hebdomadal martyrdom we are about to inflict on our guests in London . We differ from all the world in our ideas about Sunday ; but as we can give no reason for our strictness , we must not be surprised at being charged with dull bigotry . Ask the generality of Englishmen why they keep the Sunday at all , and they will tell you , " because of the second commandment . " Beat them out of that by reminding them that there are two versions of the commandment—one a special injunction to the Jews to keep holy a day on which they escaped from Egypt ( having first robbed their mantors ) ; but , as
we are not jewn , this cannot by any possibility concern us ; and the other gravely informs you that the Creator made the world in six days , and was tlrod on the seventh ; an old woman ' s fable , which might go down 4000 years ago , but which now is on tho name shelf with Jack the Giant Killer . Nobody who has not " the digestion of a theological ostrich " can gulp down this whole jumble of infantine history , though , as in the ense of old Herodotus , truth may be interwoven with fable . But , says the Englishman , " The Sabbath was always kept by the Jews till the ChriBtian dispensation , when , in all its severity , it Was transferred to the day of our Lord ' s reRurrection ;
thig is proved by tho » ix texta . " Now , I challenge tho orthodox to make any clear injunction or proof out of these nix texts . They cannot . Tho reason-In * attempted to > be founded on them is a mans of auimmption . In rto worldly matter , before no court of law , would such nonsense be listened to for a moment . There is not n word direct or indirect about Sunday , observed as a day of abstinence from Work or amusement ; indeed , except in one doubtful Oano it is not alluded to at nil . " What , Buys the horror-struck respectable , " would you do away with tho Sunday , would you deprive tho poor and over-Worked of their holiday ? " By no means . But I would put it on ita true looting . It should be a real ,
cheerful , genuine holiday , in which all sorts of innoc + nt amusement and recreation sltotild not only be tolerated but enc 6 ttfaged > and I would publicly and for ever dismiss the imaginary background of hellfire attending such an employment of the day , to the tomb of all other justly-exploded superstitions , Englishmen , awake ! Look in to this matter with your own clear Understandings , and the priestly fetters ¦ will drop off . The Creator , who is said to have given his clear command to the Jews , cannot be so unjust towards us as to punish us for not attending to the vague inferences of si * Scattered texts written at different periods . A witty lawyer summed up the case thus : — - " Because the Jews were forbidden to work on Saturday , the Christians are forbidden to play on Sunday . "
But the prejudices on this subject are inveterate ra proportion to their unreasonableness . This monster falsehood forcing many of us into -weekly hypocrisy and deceit is not to be put down very easily . We muBt up and be stirring . Men of England , I call upon you to unite energetically in slaying this gaunt spectre of Puritanism . Agitate ! Agitate ! Agitate for the removal of restrictions on Sunday amusements . Let us demand an entrance into the Museums , Picture Galleries , Zoological Gardens , &c , &c , Whether public or private , on that day ; nobody need be sacrificed , for the Public Institutions are rich and can
afford a relay of attendants , so that each in turn might enjoy his holiday , and the private Exhibitions would increase their funds enormously , and so be enabled to increase their staff also . If it is not wicked to gaze at pictures at Hampton Court , how can it be so in London ? Our inconsistent and inconvenient Postal arrangements also make a Sabbath of Saturday night in the country , and of Sunday night in London . In the name of common sense let ua put an end to these absurdities , and not drive our foreign visitors into the alternative of hanging of drowning themselves every seventh day . A Fly on the Wheel .
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ANSWER TO QUERIST . Burton Rectory , Lmeblii , May 15 , 1851 . Sir , —In answer to Querist I beg to state that according to the opinion of the best commentators the word house , in the passage of St . John ' s Epistle , of which he makes question , refers to the place of assembly for public worship ; which in primitive times was held in private dwellings from the danger of persecution and other obvious reasons . From the same reasons the Christian Church , or Assembly , is spoken of under the figurative denomination of " The Elect Lady . " And the caution of the apostle only amounts to this , that a setter forth of doctrines contrary to those beld by the church was not to meet with encouragement by that body . There is nothing inconsistent with charity in this injunction . Any public , or private sect , or party , would follow the course which it prescribes . The fervid energy of the passage ia traceable to ita Oriental source . A modern and an European would give the same caution in simpler and less exalted language . I am , Sir , your faithful servant , Edmund It . Larken .
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I N T E 11 P It E T ATION . Bath , May 11 , 1851 . Sik , —Your correspondent who quotes the Becond epistle of John , after the fashion of him of old who taught from Christ ' s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem , that " Top ( k ) not should come down , " ¦ would of course receive as an inmate into hia house an Antinomian preacher who condemns good actions as injurious and mischievous , and proclaims a wicked Almighty ; or a friar who requires him to bow down to Home saint ' s toe ; or an American who would force
him to sacrifice the freedom and the blood of his brother on the Moloch altar of national union ; or any other preacher or teacher of whut he thinks most wrong and foolish ;—would cherish him during his stay as though he were one of the friends and apowtles of association , and when he departed would wish him success , and ble « H his enterprise of converting men to his views . Seriously , Mr . Leader , if your correspondents made it a rule to read before they judge , and to think before they write , it would oblige other readers thun your humble ucrvnnt , Faiii Pi . ay .
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SIR E . SUQDEN AND TIIK CHANCERY KKFORM ASSOCIATION . 14 , John-ntr < ' <; t , Aclelpiki , Mny 20 . 1831 . Slit , —It is not long nincc Sir Kdwurd Sugdcn addressed a letter to the editor of the Tunes , which was published in thut paper on the 4 th of January , tho double object of which was to damage the Chancery l&oform Association , and to relievo the Court of Chancery from the odium of incarcerating , often for long period ** of time , uuiucrouM imthoiih , without a good or even plausible reason . l'ho Court did ho once , « ay » Sir Edward Sugden , and great hurdship was dono . " When a man wan arrewtod , " nays he , u lie waa lodged in gaol , and there he frequently
remained till death released him / ' " This , " he adds " was a great *« ptoaoh to the country ; " and so acutely did he , individually , feel that reproach , that he goes on to say— " I took up the subject in 1830 , and after having oleared the prisons of nearly every prisoner for contempt , I framed the act to which I have referred . " Let us now h ^ ar what the object of that act was . " The object of the act was to render it impossible iot any man , from poverty or ignorance , to be detained in pristm for contempt , and to enable every man , by paying his debts as fa ¥ as he could , to obtain his liberty . Fox this purpose the act provides
that every person shall , Within thirty days , be brought to the bar of the Court of Chancery for hia contempt , or , in default thereof , the gaoler is to discharge him out of custody , without payment of the costs of contempt whic h are to be paid by the person issuing the process . " And how , according to the same high authority , does this beneficial act work ? Let us hear . " This was an effectual remedy against the abuse of leaving a poor man to die in a county gaol , " and then Sir Edward proceeds to enumerate the numerous beneficent provisions of the act ; the inferences drawn being first , that Chancery prisoners , instead of being
" victims , " as often alleged , are looked after and cared for , and having facilities afforded for obtaining their liberty , such as no other class of prisoners has ; and next , that any man who is for any length of time a " contempt" prisoner , must prefer the inside of a gaol to the outside . That was the whole tone and tenor of his long letter , and great was the satisfaction felt in and about Southampton-buildings , - when it appeared in the Times . In aii answer to that letter Which I published as one Of the Chancery Reform Tracts , I showed the utter hollowness of all the statements made by the framer of the act , and managed
to provoke the Court to do something . Since then about eight of the Chancery prisoners who had been vainly struggling , some of them for eleven years , to obtain their liberty , have been discharged—strange fact ! but now the Court is lapsing into its old practice and habit , and leaving poor men to die in a gaol . Let me call your attention to one ease , involving' six poor agricultural labourers from the parish of Batnwellin Cambridgeshire , who have , with the rest of the parishioners , been despoiled of property to the value of £ 2500 , which is now griped by the Court of Chancery ; and who , in addition , have been locked up in the Queen ' s Prison nearly three months for contempt , as they are told , but of which they know nothing beyond the facts , that they gave £ 10
to a lawyer , who promised , upon the receipt of that sum , to do what was necessary ; and that since they have been , in prison they have , over and over again , by the hands of persons who commiserate their con < - dition , written to the Lord Chancellor , expressing their regret for any thing wrong they may have done , for any thing right they may , through ignorance , have omitted to do , prayed him to discharge them out of custody , and have signed , long since , by desire of the court , their submission to its decrees , that is , despoiling them and the rest of the poor of thoir parish property they have inherited for three hundred years or more . There they still are , without a penny amongst them , with about twenty of their children , and their wives In the union poorhouse .
A day or two since I wrote to Captain Hudson , the governor of the Queen ' s Prison , bringing under his notice the clause referring to their case in Sir Edward Sugden ' s much-vaunted act , they not having been taken to the bar of the court to answer for their contempt ; but being broug ht straight up from Cambridge « hire to the Queen ' a Prison , " the act provides , " says its framtr , " that every person shall , within thirty days , be brought to the bar of the Court of Chancery for his contempt , or in default thereof the gaoler in at once to discharge of
him out of custody , without payment of the costs contempt . " Under that clause of the act which its frumer alleges renders it impossible for a man taken in contempt to be detained in prison , without first being taken Into open court to ' * answer , " I demanded these poor men ' s discharge , and put it upon Captain Hudson , as " the gaoler or keeper , " in whose custody they are , to discharge them out of custody , citing the words of the aot . This morning I received from him the following communication : ~—•' Queen ' s Prison , May 25 . 1851 .
" Captain Hudson , Governor of Queen ' s Prmon , pre-80 ntB his complimentH to Mr Carpenter , and begs to acquaint him that ho in mistaken in supposing cUuhc five of 1 William IV- c . 36 , &c . given Captain Hudson tho power of didcharKing the priaoiurHhe has described . Is it not clear , therefore , that this act , in tho matter referred to , is a mere sham ; or that if it was intended for any such purpose m its friunor alleges , it i « a inintiruble failure ? What are thoao poor men to do ? Their wivc' 8 and families are in the union workhouse . They are living on the country ullowanee , and lowing the bcHt time of tho year for their labour . They have surrendered all they had a claim tr > , through a title and the enjoyment of . " 100 years . The Court bun tnken tho heritage of tlm poor , and put tho poor in gitol . J ' ruy lift up your voioo aguuiHt that iniquity , and many will bloss you . Truly yourn , W . Oaw »* nxji * .
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It was also resolved , that Thornton Hunt be reqtwBted to write the first address or circular . John Arnott reported that he had engaged the John-street Coffee-room for Tuesday evening discussions . The Fraternal Democrats held the first of a series of monthly tea-meetings on Tuesday . The meeting was successful . , , . t . Redemption Society . —As the time for the meeting of Congress approaches , we begin to feel desirous of intelligence from the branches . The Welsh community has appointed Dr . Lees as their delegate . We trust London , Glasgow , Plymouth , and Brighton will send delegates . Many of the towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire , where we have branches , will send delegates . We ¦ wish it to be understood that all cooperative stores are invited to send delegates to this Congress . Money received per May 24 , 1851 : —Leeds , JE 1 16 s . 84 d . ; Sunderland , Mr . Pott , 2 s . ; London , per Mr . Jones , Bethnal green , Is . ; Communal Building , 7 « . 6 d . Mr . Wm . Campbell , of Leeds , delivered a lecture on the objections against the Redemption Society , in the Christian Brethren ' s Room , Huddersfield , on Sunday last ; the audience was large . D . G .
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v [ In this department , as all opinions , however extreme , are allowed an expression , thb editoh mecbssabily holds himself responsible for none . ]
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There is no learned man but will confess he hath . much , profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for fti 3 adversary to write . —Milton .
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330 ® t t % *** $ * . [ SAWTRftA * ,
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Leader (1850-1860), May 31, 1851, page 520, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1885/page/20/
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