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c , //^^V:gC^<^

SABBATH OBSERVANCE

BPi^^ECH

OHN

Cha

RLTON,

BILL TO PROVIDE FOR BETTKR OBSERVANCE
OF THE LOUb'S DAY*

i'0 ■

MOUSE OF COMMONS,

26th FEBRUARY, 1885.

OTTAWA:
PRINTED BY MACLEAN, ROGER & CO., WELLINGTON STREET.

1885.

SABBATH OBSERVANCE

SPEECH OF
JOHN CHARLTON, M.P ,

ON BILL TO PPOVIDE FOR BETTER O^SERVANCfE
OF THE LORD'S DAY.

House of Commons,

26ih Ftbruary, 1885.

Mr. CHARLTON moved iho second reading of Bill (No.
19) to pro'/ide for the better observance of the Lord's Day,
commonly called Sunday, by prohibiting Sunday excursions
in certain cases. He said: In rising to-night to advocate
the passage of this Bill, I will acknowledge that the pro-
priety of my course would be open to doubt, were there no
other law to warrant it than mere human law. But, Sir,
there is such a thing as a higher law, a law recognised by this
nation, which is avowedly a Christian nation, and recognised
by all Christian nations; and it is under the warrant and
the provisions of that law that it is proper to urge the pass-
age of a Bill of the character of that now before the House.
If we had nothing but mere human law to actuate us, it
would not be proper to urge the Bill; but as human law is
overshadowed by this higher law, the homan law-giver has
no right to pass an enactment that supersedes the deca-
logue. The human legislator has no right to pass an
enactment that defies or sets at naught the spirit of jus-
tice and truth. The human law giver may not pass a
law that casts discredit upon morality. The higher
law is, in fact, the law of the world. We have it
expressly declared by the Almighty that "By Me
kings reign and princes decree justice." All human
laws should be tried by this higher law ; all the world is
under it to-day, whether that law is recognised by the
world or not ; and by the provisions of this higher law,
governors, princes, kings, and the people of this earth shall
ultimately be judged. Now, Sir, the requirement of the
observance of the Sabbath forms a part of that higher law.
It is one of the provisions of the Decalogue which is binding
upon man. And if we turn to ecclesiastical utterances, we
1

^htXi find that, so far as tho authorities of the Protestant
Church are concerned, their utterances upon this point are a
unit. There exists no diversity of opinion among them as
to whether the fourth commandment is binding upon the
human race and upon governments. If we turn to the
utterances of the prelates of the Catholic Church, we shall
also find their recognition of that law, clear and unmistak-
able. I find, Sir, thatattherequest of His Grace Archbishop
Gibbons, of Baltimore, His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII
delivered an earnest address to the Eoman Catholic Church
which opposes Sunday and festival profanation. From the
address, which was published in the Catholic Mirror, of
April 23, 1881, I take the following extract: —

'' The observance of the S&cred Day rhich waa willed expres'ly by
God from the first origio of man, ia imperatively demanded by the
abaolute and eesential dependence of the creature upon the Creator.
And thia law, mark it well, my beloved, which at one and the same time
«o admirably provides for the honor of God, the spiritual needs and
dignity of man, and the temporal well-being of human life. This law,
we say, toucbea not only individuals, but also people and nations, which
owe to Divine Providence the enjoyment of every benefit and advantage
which is derived from civil society. And it is preciselv to this fatal
tendency, which to-day prevails, to desire to lead mankind far away
from Qo*d, and to order the affairs of kingdoms and nations as if God did
not exist, that to-day ia to be attributed this contempt and neglect of
the Day of the Lord. They say, it ia true, that they intend in this way
to promote industry more actively, and to procure for the people an in-
crease of prosperity and riches. Foolish and lying words ! They mean,
on the contrary, to take awav from the people the comforts, the conaola-
tiona and the benefit! of religion ; they wiab to weaken in taem the
sentiment of faith and love for heavenly bleasings ; and they invoke upon
the nations the mopt tremendous scourges of God, the just avenger ct
His outraged honor."

This, Sir, is the language held by the head of the Eoman
Catholic Church. With regard to the utterances of the
church dignitaries, I find that a pastoral was issued by
His Grace Archbishop Taschereau, dated April 26, 188u,
which is clear and emphatic in regard to this matter. The
Archbishop, in referring to " a disorder which seeks the
public gaze, and which causes deplorable scandal," says :

" We mean, O dearly beloved brethren, those pleasure excursions made
<m Sundays and feasts of obligation, on steamers, on the •'ail way, and
sometimes ia a long train of vehicles. Experience proves that they
give rise to such disorders of intemperance and immorality that we feel
obliged to prohibit abaolutely, and under pain of mortal sin, pleasure
excuraionaon Sundava and feaata of cbligation. • • • wherefore,
having invoked the holy name of God, we rule and ordain as follows :—
lat. We forbid, under pain ofgrievoua ain, the faithful of this diocese,
to take part on Sunday or feasts, in pleasure excuraions, on raiiwaya, on
Bteamera, or in vehidea, even when the profit of those excuraiona is
intended for a good work. It is not our intention, however, to condemn
the pilgrimages made on those days, provided recollection, piety, and
good oraer be observed."

I will also reler, Sir, to a few othor Roman Catholic authori-
ties on this matter. Several bishops have issaed able and
timely addresses on '.he subject. The Bishop of Buffalo, in
calling renewed attention to this subject, after forbidding
pic-nics, excursions, fairs, etc, on Sundays and holy days,
said :

'•' ' Remembe^tbon keep holy tin Sabbath Day,' 13 God'a own com-
m/ind. • * We must not only rest from all unnecessary, servile work,
but we must h°ar mass and spend the day — or, at least, a good part of
it- in the service of God and relififiou? duties. * * Ours is not, as W9
have said, a J<^wish or a Puritanical Sabbath, nor do we measure its
rblii/ator^ observance by a sectarian standard or any Ame'-icaa or
uational idea ; yet we would be sorry to see the respect in which our
separated brethren hold the Lord's Day weakened or discreditei. God
grant th%t we may never see the Sunday profaned here i.i our own
country as we Lave seen it in other lands."

Bishop Keane, of Richmond, Va., at a meeting called by
his authority, after a powerful address against the selling ot
liquor on Sunday, submitted a series of resolutions for
adoption and a pledge for signature, setting forth the sacred
obligation of keeping holy the Lord's Day, recognising the
rolling and drinking of liquor on that day as violations of
the commandment of God and the precept of the Church, etc.
Cardinal McCloskey, in 1882, said:

"We wholly denounce and absolutely forbid excursions or pic-nicfl on
Sundays, or after dark, all moonlight excursions and all Sunday pic*nic3,
and we exhort our good people who love their church to abstain from
any participation in such scandalous, unhallowed and disgraceful prac-
tices, and to use all their influence to suppress them."

The following are extracts from New York papers, when
Strakosch attemp .Qd Sunday operas there : —

" Cardinal 'ilcClojkey ^as reported in the Herald to have said : ' Vou
may say that I am opposed to what is generally regarded as Sunday
evening concerts, and that,\'^hile not very Puritanical or domineering, I
oppose the sensational amunment, which advertise3 itself under the
name of sacred concerts, but wMcb ia nothing else than the ordinary
week day show," etc.

Dr. McGlynn, a prominent Roman Catholic clergyman,
is reported to have said :

«Ia France, Sunday is more of a tii-esome holiday than a
This disregard for the Sabbath acts unKworably on religion.

rest.
Tae

Sabbath I have always regarded as a great, social conservator in this
country. The regard in which Sunday has h<)eD held by the Eoglish-
epeaking nations, has had much to do with th&h keen sense of decorum
and efficient ^".nisation. • • • The Sunday' rest should be a set-oflF
to the weekl} jik, and Sunday night quiet, to' ^he boisterousnesa and
enjoyment of the week nights."

I add to these expressions of opinion, b'ome utterances
from eminent Protestant divines, selecting four or five
extracts. The first is from the celebrated divine, Taylor
Lewis, LL.D , of New Yoi k, who says :

" What a helI-upoa>eartb would oar jreat cities become, and in time
our land become, with one day in seven given up to idleness, to the
theatre, to dissipative shows, to unchecked intrmp* ranoe, or to the
driving on of that flood of worldliness, which, in spite of all religiouB
restraint, is even now threatening destruction to all that is nobl )kt and
purest in our social life."

Rev. Dr. Kogel, a Court preacher in Germany, has de-
livered an address, in which is presented a sad view of the
immorality of the Berlin people :

" The necessity of work, and the tyranny of work rob men of their
Sunday rest. And the afternoon of ounday, which a part of the work-
ing men have for themselves, it spent in dianipating pleasure^ in drinking
AafoofiA an iM0a<re«, where all that is sacrea is mocked and adultery
glorified." >

Dr. Arthur Pierson, of Philadelphia, in an address upon
Sabbath observance, says :

" A community that consents to the wanton destruction of the Chris-
tian Sabbath is committing virtual suicide ; it is like a man who cuts otf
bis left arm with his right. And if you want to see the natural and
providential retribution that follows such a course, go and study the
history of the French Revolution, when a nation went down in lo the
gulf of anarchy."

And again :

"Voltaire was no fool ; he saw that an habitual observance of the-
Sabbath, with its stated seasons of religious meditation and public wor-
ship, must both preserve and extend Christianity in any community ;
and he acknowledged that he despaired of being able to expel from the
world superstition, by which he meant religion, so long as persons as-
semble regularly and in large numbers for the worship of God. Anu jrou
will find that wherever the Lord's Day is regarded as set apart by Divine
authority, and is observed as a day of rest from ordinary work, and of
occupation in spiritual things, the hold of both Ghr stian precepts and
moral principles is correspondingly firm ;nd strong. The Sabbath is
the very bulwaik of social order."

But why multiply quotations from pastors and divines. I
proceed to enquire whether Sabbath laws are inconsistent,
firstly, with the higher law ; secondly, whether they are
inconsistent with the laws and institutions of this Empire ;
thirdly, whether they are inconsistent with the laws and
institutions of the English speaking nations and common-
wealths; and, lastly, whether they are inconsistent with the
principles of human liberty. This higher law with regard to
the Sabbath of which I speak first, was not a law which
governed the Jews in their observances under the Mosaic dis-

?ensation only, but it was a law coeval with creation itaelf.
'wo great institutions mark the first laws given to man.
These two institutions are the rest of Sabbath anU marriage.
The Sabbath is instituted, the command is given in the same
chapter, the second chapter of Genesis, as that in which the
ordinance or sacrament of marriage is instituted. It is
known that the Sabbath was observed long before the giving

of the law upon Mount Sinai; Moses, liimBelf, refers to
breaches of this cummand before the law was written upon
the tables of stone. This command, that oat of the
seven days, one should be observed as a day of rest,
was observed from the earliest days of creation ; the
lan^aago of the commandment proves thin. The language
of the fourth commandment is to remember to keep
holy the Sabbath day. " Remember " a law already in
existence ; remember a law now and hitherto binding upon
you. " Kemeraber the Sabbath day to keep it holy ; and the
reason is given : For in six days God made the heaven and
the earth, and the sea and all that in them is, and rested
on the seventh; wherefore He blessed the Sabbath day and
hallowed it." The Decalogue which contains this command
is a moral enactment not limited in its application to any
race, a>ea, or time. It is a law which prohibits not only
Sabbath desecration but idolatry, blasphemy, disobedience
to parents, falsehood, theft, and murder. All these crimes,
as well as the crime of desecrating the Sabbath, are men-
tioned in this law. This seventh day, it is evident from the
language of the Bible, was ordained by the Or'jator of the
world. We are told in the New Testament that all things
were made by Christ. We are told that for Him and
by Him all things were created, and we are told that
He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and that man was not
made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man.
Proceeding on this authority, we find that the laws of the
nation of which we form part have recognised the binding
character of Sabbath observance from the earliest ages. We
find a statute passed in the year 8*76 by King Alfred, which
distinctly recognised the binding character of the fourth com-
mandment, which incorporated the entire Decalogue as part
of the English law. We find that law reaflSrmed and its pro-
visions extended by various monarchs. The list of statutes
in England requiring the observance of the Sabbath
is a very long list. The law was amended in 925; it
was again amended in 958 ; again in 1009; again in 101*7;
amended again in 1354 under Edward III ; again in 1388
under Richard II ; again 1428 under Henry VI; in 1464
nnder Edward 1 V ; in 1552 under Edward VI ; in 1 558 under
Elizabeth ; in 1617 the colony of Virginia adopted the
Sabbath law; in 1625 the lat7 was again amended under
Charles I ; in 1643 the first Sabbath law in the colony of New
Haven was adopted; in 1644 it was adopted in Scotland; in
1648 in Massachusetts; in 1648 in NewYork; in 1661 it was
again amended and perfected in its operation in the reign of
■Charles II. In 1837 liquor selling was prohibited for the

firHt time in MaBsachaselts, and in 1833 in Great Britain ; io
1864 liquor Bbops ^ere closed upon the Sabbath day in Scot*
land ; and in the same year a proposition to open museums in
London was delieated by a vote in the House of Commons of
237 to 48 ; in 1856 a similar proposition was defeated in the
Commons by 376 to 48; and in 1878 it was defeated in the
House of Lords by 76 to 39. The present English law
with regard to the observance of the Sabbath is in many
respects a stringent law. It is unnecessary to enter
into details in regard to its provisions, but the fact that such
a law exists upon the Statute Book of England is a proof that
the power r ^sts with the Government of England and with
the Govern mt of the colonies to make provisions with
regard to tho observance ot the Sabbath. If we go to the
country acioes the border wo find that Sunday laws exist
in every one of the thirty-eight States of the Union, except
California. One general ieatuie of these laws is the prohi-
bition of any work on tbe Sabbath, except works of necessity
and mercy. In the details of these provisions, various
features exist, various differences exist in the different States.
In some States only one local train and milk trains are
permitted to run. In Massachusetts no train can run except
by consent of the railroad commissioners. In all these States
provisions are made for the purpose of securing the observ-
ance of the Lord's Day.

My next enquiry will bo : Are Sabbath lawp, which we find
exist upon the Statute Book of Great Britain, and which have
been a part of the English code for a thousand yearn, which
exist in every one of the American States but one, which exist
in this country and exist in all the English colonies, are these
laws inconsistent with the principles of human liberty, are
they an infringement on human right, or is there a sufticient
reason for the enactment of these laws, consiuently with tho
principles of human liberty ? Law in the abstract expresses
what just men will not do, and what other men must not do.
Law restrains human liberty, it restrains the liberty of
human action, it says that human action shall be free in cer-
tain directions and certain channels only, and, when human
action transcends these bounds, then human law steps in
and prohibits and punishes the transgression of the bounds
laid down. The object of human law is to provide for tho
public good. That should be the object of it. The under-
lying principle should be the greatest good to the greatest
number. It is upon this principle that the dignitaries of
the fioman Catholio Church have acted in the pastorals I
have read. It is upon this principle that human law should
be enacted. Now, Sabbath laws are not inconsistent with

haman liberty, in this reepeot, that they are calculated to
promote public health. I find that, at the time the World's
Exposition was held in London, 641 medical men of London,
in a petition to Parliament against the opening of the
Crystal Palace on the Sabbath for profit, said :

'* Your petitioners, from their acquaintance with the laboring classes
and the laws which regulate the human ecouomy, are convinced that
the seventh day of rest, instituted by God and coeval with the exis-
tence of man, is essential to the bodily health and mental vigor uf mea
of every station of life."

This law also prohibits cruelty to animals. It may re^
strict human liberty in that respect, but it is conE<iHtent
with it, because it is a humane and just law. This law pro-
motes public morals. You have only to look at Sabbath
lands and contrast the condition of those lands with that of
lands where the Sabbath is not observed, And you will find
proof enough of the assertion that it does promote public
morals.

It is again consistent with liberty, inasmuch as it is
an educational law. The church and the Sabbath school
are the mightiest educational agencies existing in the world
to-day, and they have always been the mightiest educational
agencies. The Christian church is the great educational
agency, and we owe to it all that marks the difference
between our condition and the condition of pagan lands. If
we stop to consider, we will find that the Sabbath gives
one-half as much time for study as the time devoted to
study in the schools, if we deduct from the latter the time
given for vacations. It is consistent again, with the
principles of human liberty, because it conserves and
protects the home. We find, as I stated awhile
ago, that marriage, the institution upon which the home and
the family rest, was instituted at the same time as tho
Sabbath was instituted — both are Edenio institutions. And
we will find, with reference to the influence of profanations of
the Sabbath upon bomep, that the condition of homes where
the Sabbath is not kept always presents an unfavorable
contrast to the condition of Christian homes. Dr. Lowe, of
Berlin, a phy&ician in very extensive practice, states that in
the course of his practice he had visited 9,000 Sabbathless
homes, and he lound in every case slovenliness, discord, slip-
shod family relations no family life in fact, but the wine
shop, and vice, and dissipation usurping the life which should
exist in the family. Sabbath rest is essential to the head of
the family, because it is of the utmost importance that he
should be enabled to spend one day in seven with his family ;
and, if good homes are the bulwark of the nation, as they

unquestionably are, then any institution which is calculated
to piomote, to create, to multiply good homes, is an institu-
tion which is not inconsistent with human liberty, but one
that should meet with the approval of every just and good
man.

Again, laws of this kind are not inconsistent with human
liberty because they prevent crime. The great Daniel Webs-
ter said, in relation to this matter : " It is the bulwark of
liberty becauee it is the bulwark of morality." Where no
such laws exist, the Sabbath is the most prolific of crimes of
any day in the week. In December, 1882, the police of
New York City commenced a stringent execution of
the Sabbath laws in that city. All drinking places
were closed, all infractions of the law were vigorously
suppressed, and the consequence was that the streets
of rTew York were as quiet as the streets of a coun-
try village, aod the Monday calendar of crime was very
much lighter than upon days when the Sabbath law had
not been enforced in that city. Professor Eosher, the
famous political economist of Leipzig, Germany, says : " It
is a characteristic of sc'^.^ where the Sabbath is not
observed that the Sabl is <he prolific day for suicides
among women and Monday , suicides among men." The
woman, sad anJ neglected nome, commits suicide on the
Sabbath ; and the husband oming home from a Sunday's
saturnalia, and spending .- blue Monday, is likely, if he
commits suicide at all, to commit it on that day. The
special Sabbath Committee of the English Parliament
in 1882, said : " It appears in evidence that in
each trade, in proportion to the desecration of the
Lord's Day, is the immorality of those engaged
in it." S. Cutter, of the New York Prison Associa-
tion, says : " Sabbath desecration is almost always con-
nected with crime and is the forerunner of it." He also
says that, out of every hundred men incarcerated in the
Massachusetts state prison, at least ninety f>f them are
Sabbath-breakers. Chaplain Barnes, of that prison, says :
" When a church-goer comes to prison, it invariably makes
a sensation among the prisoners." The celebrated judge,
Matthew Hale, says that those convicted of capital crimes,
when he was on the bench in the great majority of cases, con-
fessed that the commencement of their career of crime lay
in the neglect of the Sabbath; and Justice Strong, of the
United States Supreme Court, gives utterance to the same
' antiments. We will find that, wherever the cry is raised
tt.at the Sabbath must go, it is a hoodlum cry, that it is
loudest among the vile, that it comes from the class opposed

to all law, homao and Divine, that it is the cry of the nihilist, of
the socialist, and of that enemy of civilisation the dynanoiter.
The basest of all classes are the classes who are opposed to
the restraints of the Sabbath.

I urge, in the next place, that Sabbath enforcement is not
inconsistent with the principles of human liberty, because it
promotes the prosperity of the individual and the prosperity
of the State. We have, in fact, the Divine promise that " in
the keeping of my commandments there is great reward."
That promise is always fulfilled. In keeping these com-
mandments there is great reward — great reward to the in-
dividual, great reward to the nation. It ensures prosperity
in the one case and in the other ; and it will be found, Sir,
that the best moral condition and the greatest industrial
prosperity are always inseparable. It will be found, more-
over, that every non Sabbath-keeping country in the world
is comparatively poor. II we compare the condition of Eng-
land, the condition of the British Ooloniec, the condition of
the United States, where the British and American Sabbath
is kept, with the condition of such countries as China, India,
Japan, Turkey, Eussia, Germany, Italy and Spain, and the
Spanish American States, we will find suilicient proof of this
assertion.

I notice, next, that the enforcement of Sabbath observance
is not inconsistent with the principles of human liberty, be-
cause it promotes the best interests of the laborer and of the
masses; it promotes, in short, the greatest good to the
greatest number. The Sabbath is the day of rest ; it is the
law which gives the laboring man one day in seven as a day
of rest; it is the law which shields him from the merciless
exaction of capital, from the exactions of those for whom he
labors. We will find. Sir, that this one day in seven is a natur-
al arrangement. Seven was the sacred number ; the week of
the ancients was a week of seven days. Other periods of
rest have been tried. Under the French Government, in
the days of the Revolution, the Sabbath was abolished, and
a rest of one day in ten was established, and experience
proved that that was unnatural. One day in six has been
tried, one day in eight, and one day in nine. One day in
six has been found to result in the rest coming too often.
Wherever the day of rest has been more seldom than one
day in seven, experience proves that it does not come often
enough, and that one day in seven is the natural period of
rest. And, Sir, it is a law of nature that rest is required
for animals — rest even is required for machinery. Ir. fact,
physicians will tell you that a cessation of medical treat
ment for one day in seven in almost ail cases produces

beneficial result?. Now, Mr. Speaker, the laboring man is
deeply interested in this matter. If Sabbath re-
Btrictions are observed the laboring man will re<
ceive six days' pay for six days' labor; but if
the barrier of the Sabbath is broken down, the result proves
that the laboring man receives six days' pay for seven days'
labor ; that the day of rest is gone, but the aggregate of the
man's earnings is not increased. This, Sir, is always the
case. It is well known that the tendency now-a-days is to
over-production. The increased facility for production, by
means of the discovery and improvement of machinery,
renders it difficult to keep production within the bounds of
the demand ; and to increase the laboring days from six in
a week to seven, is still farther to aggravate the evil of
over-production that already exists. A fisherman of New
Eomney, in England, when on examination with regard
to this matter of labor on the Sabbath, said he had dis-
covered that Sunday fishing kept down the price of fish.
There was a great deal of philosophy in that remark. Sun-
day fishing would keep down the price of fish. Sunday
labor of this kind is detrimental to the interests of the
laborer, of whatever calling the laborer may be. The
celebrated Louis Blanc says :

" The English working man produces 88 much in 56 hours as the
French working man does in 72, because bis forces are better husbanded,
in consequence of resting one day in the seven."

The celebrated John Staart Mill says :

*' The operatives are perfectly right in thinking that if there was no
Sunday rest, seven days' work would have to be given for six days' pay."

And Paley, long ago, put the same truth more strongly,
when he said :

"An addition of the seventh day's labor lo that of the other six
would have no other eOect than to reduce the price."

An attack. Sir, upon Sunday rest is an attack upon the
interest of the laborer, because Sunday's rest is the poor
man's blessing and the poor man's day. To day, Sir, in
English-speaking lands, tnere are 2,500,000 people, to say
nothing of those engaged in domestic service and in works
of necessity, who are deprived of their Sunday rest —
2,500,000 persons who are deprived, through the laxity of
the laws with regard to this matter, of that great blcbsing
which is their right.

Now, Sir, theie is a marked contrast between the mode
of the observance of the Sabbath in Anglo-Saxon coun-
tries and upon the continent of Europe ; and those who

wish to introduce hero the continental Sabbath in place
of the Sabbath that we now enjoy, wish to confer upon
this country a curse rather than a blessing. What is
the character of the continental Sabbath? At most an
hour in the morning is given to mass, and the rest of
the day is dedicated to the world, the flesh and the devil.
Horse -racing, parades, reviews, pic-nics, excursions, drink-
ing, dissipation — a holiday for the rich, and a day of toil
for the poor — these are the characteristics of the con-
tinental Sabbath. Another characteristic is, that the nations
living under that Sabbath are yearly sinking into immoral-
ity and into crime. A very satisfactory proof of this will
be shown by a compari>son of the morals of the countries
in which the British and the American Sabbath prevails,
and the morals of countries living under the continental
Sabbat . Take, as a criterion, the record of illegitimate
births. They amount to 4 per cent, in London, to 3 i per
cent, in Paris, to 34 per cent, in Brussels, to 5 1 per cent,
in Vienna, and to 72 per cent, of the whole number in
Eome, against 4 per cent, in England. In some cities of
the United States the continental Sabbath has been intro-
duced. It has been introduced in Chicago, in St. Louis, in
Cincinnati and in San Francisco ; and in every one of those
cities deaths by violence are more numerous in proportion
to the population than in the worst governed countries in
Europe, except Italy and Spain. The result of the intro-
duction of the continental Sabbath into those cities in
perfectly apparent. Look at Cincinnati, blood-stained and
murder-cursed, with the worst classes of the population in
possession of the city government, and lawlessness and crime
rampant and governing that city. Who are the champion*
of the continental Sabbath? Wherever you tind tho
liquor dealer you will find one there. If you find
a gambler, there is a champion of the continental Sabbatb,
and every prostitute is also a champion of it* Legislators
of the type of Tweed ami that villainous lot of New York
aldermen who controlleii tho city under his regime — these
are the advocates of tho continental Sabbath. And what,
Sir, are the characteristies of what they term a free Sunday ?
It is a Sunday free froin rest, it is a Sunday free from
religion, it is a Sunday free from mental culture, it is a Sun-
day free from moral improvement, it is a Sunday free for
the employer to compel the employee to labor for him.
These are the characteristics of the free Sunday, of the con-
tinental Sabbath. It is a sign of the march of im-
provement that there is a growing discontent with the
continentul Sabbath in Europe. The masses are beginning

to rea^iise that that mode of keeping the Sabbath is not one
condijicive to their welfare. They are beginning to chafe
and ir^row restive under it, and agitation for its improvement
18 rif^e in that country. Sabbath societies have already been
forrjiod in Milan, in liorae and in Naples. In Germany the
Cat/iolics and Lutherans are petitioning the Government for
a better observance of the Sabbath ; and the Emperor William
of Germany, the Grand Duke of Baden, and the King of
\^ urtemburg, expressed sympathy with the object of these
B/>cieties.

j Now, surely, I have given evidence enough to show
;i,hat the continental Sabbath has proved to be a curse
rather than a blessing on the continent. I might, Mr.
. Speal<:er, spend this whole night in giving evidence
/ from great men, which point to the desirability of enforc-
ing Sabbath observance. I will give a few of them. Black-
/ stone says: " A corruption of morals usually follow a pro-
fanation of the Sabbath." DeTo3queville: " Despotism may
govern without faith, but liberty cannot." Mirabeau: "God
is as necessary as liberty to the French people." La Place :
** I have lived long enough to "inow what at one time I did
not believe, that no society can be uphold in happiness and
honor without the senti raents of religion." The great Amer-
ican historian, George Bancroft, says: " Certainly our great
united commonwealth is the child of Christianity, and it
may, with truth, be asserted that modern civilisation springs
into life with our rf>ligion, and faith in its principles is the
life-boat on which humanity has, at divers times, escaped the
most threatening perils." Franklin, says : " What are laws
without morals, and whence shall we get morals except from
religion ? " Washington : " Reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in ex-
clusion of religious principle." Daniel Webster: "The
longer 1 live the more highly do I esteem the importance of
the proper observance of the Christian Sabbath, and the more
grateful do I feel towards those who impress its importance
on the community. Mr. H. Stewart, in an address at the
Sabbath Convention at Rochester, in 1842, said: "Every
day's observation and experience confirm the opinion that
the ordinances which require the observance of one day in
seven, and the Christian faith which hallows it, are our chief
security for all civil and religious liberty, for temporal bless-
ings and spiritual hopes." When Sir John Sinclair wrote an
essay against what he considered a Puritanical observance of
the Sabbath in Scotland, his friend, Adam Smith, though an
apologist for Hume, said: ''Your book. Sir John, is very
ably composed, but the Sabbath, as a political institution,

is of iDestimable value, independeotly of its claims to Divine
authority." Sabbath observance has been advocated by such
men asiiiadstone, D'Israsli, Shaftesbruy.Argyle, Bright, Lic-
coln, Garfield and thousands of others. The action of the Bri-
tish Government in late years has been such as to show unmis-
takably the desire of the ruling classe» in England to honor
and observe the Sabbath. Three ti' ..:, as 1 mentioned a
short time since, has the British Parliament refused to con-
sent to the opening of the British Museum on Sunday. The
proposal has been defeated in each instance by an over-
whelming majority. In the House of Commons it was
defeated with only forty-eight votes in the affirmative, and
in the House of Lords with but thirty-nine in the affirma-
tive. When the Electrical Exhibition was held in Paris in
IbSl, the English and American Governments united in
closing their exhibits on that day, and Mr. W. W. Atterbury,
secretary of the ^lew York Sabbath Association, in a letter
to Secretary Blain, called attention to the fact that the
English and the United States Governments, at the time of
the World's Kxposition in London, honored the day by
closing their exhibits, and he requested Mr Biaine to in-
struct the American Minister at Paris that the same step
might be taken with respect to the Electrical Exhibition.
This is Mr. Blaine's reply:

" Dkpabtmbnt of StATBo

••Washington, July 18, 1881.

'■ Sir — Your letter of the 14th instant, callinf^ the attention of this
GoTernmeDt to the propriety of respecting the Sabbath in the American
section • f the Intoi national Exhibition of Electricity, which is soon to be
held at Paris, has been reoeired.

" I have to inform you, in reply, that your Mmely suggestion meets with
my cordial Mpproval, and I have accordingly inHiructed Mr. Morton, the
Americiin Commit sioner-Qenerai, and Mr. Walker, the Honorary Ex-
ecutive Commissioner, to adopt measures to secure the proper observance
of tte Sabbath in thn American section ot the Electrical Exhibition.

" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

•'JAMES Q. BLAINE."

When application was made to Senator Hawley, then
president of the Centennial Exposition, to open the exhibi-
tion on the Lord's Day, his noble answer was: " Before
God, gentlemen, I would not dare to open the Centennial
gateH on the Sabbath."

So much for the utterances of great men upon this
question. With rehpect to the observance of the Sabbath
and the rules tor its observance, and the tendency to
set ihose rules at defiance, a now element has been in-
troduced within late years. That new element is the
suppo^ed necessity for railway work. There are 900,000
railway employees in Great Britain, the United States

I . ,'.-,1

and the BiitlBb colonies, and in conscquonco of the action
of the railway authorities with leepect to work upon
the Sabbath, at least one-half of those 900,000 are constantly
employed on the Sabbath day. Their employment is a
matter of great hardship. They are subjected to loss (f
their weekly rest. The const quence is a deadening of moral
influences, and, to a great extent, loss of self-respect.
, This is a condition of things which does not meet with the
approval of the railway employees. Nine out of ten feel it
is a great hardship, and express their opinion against being
compelled to work on the Sabbath. I have here a petition
adopted by 450 locomotive engineers of the New Yo-^k
Central Railway, to Mr. Vanderbilt, for the cessation
of Sunday labor. It is a document which covers the whole
ground, and I will ask permission from the House to read
it. In this document these railway engineers set forth to
this railway magnate their reasons for asking for a cessa-
tion of Sabbath work. They point out the evils of the sjv-
tem under which they are required to perform Sabbath
labor. After pointing out how the running of trains ou
Sunday had become a great hardship, they continue :

"We have borne this grievance p»tiently, hoping every succeeding
year that it would decrease. We are willing to submit to any reasonable
privation, mental or physical, to assist the officers of your company to
achieve a financial triumph ; but after a long and weary service, we
do not see any sings of relief and we are forced to come to you with our
trouble, and most respectfully ask you to relieve us from Sunday labor,
as far as it is in your power to do so. Our objections to Sunday labor
are : First — this never-ending labor ruins our health and prematurely
makes us feel worn out like old men, and we are sensible of our inability
to perform our duty as well when we work to an excess. Second — that
the customs of <^' civilised countries, as well as all laws, human and
Divine, recogn Sunday as a day of rest and recuperation ; and
notwithstanding intervals of rest might be arranged for us on other days
than Sunday, we feel that by so doing we would be forced to exclude
ourselves from all church, family, and social privileges that other
citizens enjoy. Third— nearly all of the undersigned have children that
they desire to have educated in everything that will tend to make them
good men and women, and we cannot help but see that our example in
ignoring the Sabbath day has a very demoralizing effect upon them.
Fourth— because we believe the best interests or the company we
serve as well as ourselves, will be promote! thereby, and because we
believe locomotive eng neers should occupy as high, social, and religious
positions as men in any other callings. We know the question will be
considered : How can this Sunday work be avoided, wiih the immense
and constantly increasing traffic? We have watched this matter for
the past twenty years. We have seen it grow from its infancy until it
has arrived at its now gigantic proportions, from one train on the Sab-
bath until we now have about tnirty each way ; and we do not hesitate
in saying that we can do as much work in six days, with the seventh for
rest, as is now done. It is a fact observable by all connected with the
immediate running of freight trains that on Monday freight is compara-
tively light ; Tuesday it Etrengtbens a little, and keeps increasing until
Saturday ; and Sundays are the heaviest of the week.

" The objection may be offered, that if your lines stop the receiving
points from other roads will be blocked up. In reply, we vrouli mosi
respectfully suggest, that when the main lines do cot run, tributaries
would only be too glad to follow the good example. The question
might also arise, if traffic is suspended t%enty-four hours, will not the
company lose one-seventh of iti profit?? In answer, we will pledge
cur experience, health and strength, that at the end of the year our
employers will not lose one cent, bat, on the contrary, will b) tiie gain-
ers iinancially. Our reasons are these: At present, the duties of your
locomotive ejgineers are incessant, day after day, night succeeding
night, Sunday and all, rain or shine, with all the fearful inclemencies
of a rigorous winter to contend with. The great strain of both mental
and physical faculties constantly employed has a tendency, in time, to
impair the requisites jo necessary to make a good engineer. Trouble!
in mind, jided and worn out in body, the engineer cannot give his
dut'es the attention they should have in order to best advance his em-
ployer's interests, We venture to say, not on this broad continent, in
any branch of business or traffic, can be found any class in tbe same
position as railway men. They are severed from associations thit all
hold mo3tdear, debarred from the opportunity of worship, that tribut'j
man owes to bis God, witnessing all those pleasures accorded to others,
which are the only oasis in the deserts of this life, and with no p-os-
pect of relief. We ask you to aid us. Give us the Sibbath for rest
after our week of laborious duties, and we pledge you that, with a sys-
tem invigorated by a season of repose, by a brain eased and cleared by
hours of relaxation, we can go to work with more energy, more mental
and (.hysical force, and can and will accomplish more work and do it
better,*if possible, in six days, that we can now do in seven. We can
give you ten days in six if you require it, if we can only look forward
to a certain period of rest. In conclusion, we hope and trust that, in
conjunctioa with other gentlemen of the trunk lines leading to the sea-
board, you will be able to accomplish something that will ameliorate
our condition."

This memorial from the locomotive enginers to W. H. Van-
derbilt covers the entire ground. it was a reasonable
petition, an unanswerable petition, but a petition which
was not granted by that magnate, though perhaps the time
will come when he will answer for that failure to do his
duty to his men in a court where the great railway prince
will stand on the same level with the poor engine
driver. There are some hopeful features, with regard
to railway work on the Sabbath, and that is the evidence
that almost all the railway managers are ill at ease
with regard to this infraction of Sabbath laws. The
•editor of the Chicago Railway Age, Mr. E. H. Talbot, in
1883, opened a correspondence with various railway
managers throughout the United States, with reference to
the question of Sunday railway labor, asking their opinions
as to whether the evil should not be lest^eoed, and as to
whether Sunday traffic could not be abandoned. Many
of these replies are of very great interest— of sufficient
interest to warrant me, I think, in troubling the House
with a few of them. 1 have one here from Mr. L. J.
Sargeant, traffic manager of the Grand Trunk road. He
says :

" Grand Trunk Railway of Canada,

" TbAFFIC MaNA02R'8 Officr,

'< MoMTRBAL, 26th May, 1883.
" To the Editor* of the Railway Age :

** I beg to acknowledge the receipt of jour letter dated 2l8t instant,
addressed to Mr. Hickson, and to inform yoa in reply, that it is not the
practice of this company to run pasaenger trains on Sunday, excepting
for the purpose of completing; continuous journeys. Such trains, atartei
on Saturday night, are permitted to go through to destination.

" As regards freight trains, we find it impracticable to suspend that
servire wholly on Sundays, and should only be able to do so by common
agreement between all railway companies.

" On the whole, it is conceivable that the public may find the total
jQspension of traiiis on Sunday not to their benefit, as, for instttnce, in
the case of a through train, which, if stopped on its journey, might cause
serious incoavenieace. At the same time it would be proper, itioth in the
interest of railway employees and for the general benefit, that Sunday
labor should be kept within the smallest pr<icticable limits.

'• Yourg truly,

"L. J. SBARGEANT,

" Traj^e Manager:'

Here is another commanication from the manager of the
Northern Pacific, dated St. Paul, 16th May, 1881:

« The next question is : Has your company taken any action towards
diminution of Sunday labor?

"I answer : Not officially, but it i? understood, as the wish of the
management, that the heads of departments shall reduce the amount of
Sunday lab ^r in their respective departments &* far as practicable. My
opinion is most decidedly that the Sabbath rest is an absolute necessity
for the maintenance of mental and physical vig tr, and that the rule of
Sabbath rest cannot long be violated with impunity. Men who conscio
entiously favor Sabbath observance are likely to be more faithful in the
performance of duty than those who are not troubled with conscientious
scruples.

"Yours truly. ,

"H. HAUPT,

^'Oeneral Manager.
" Editor Railway Age:'

The next commanication is from Mr. Ledyard, president
of the Michigan Central and the Canada Southern roads :

<' MiOHioAN Central Railroad Company,

"Detroit, Mich., May 14, 1883.
" To the Editors a <« Railway Age:

" I have your letter of May 11, relative to the action recently taken
oy the presfdent of the Louisville, New Albany and Chic go Railway
Gom lany, in ordering the suspension of all trains upon the Saboath day,
and note your request that I shall reply to certain questions, as stated
in your letter.

" 1. If all railroad companies competing for the F>ame class of traffio
from and to common points were in accord, it wou'd bu practicabl-, to
a very large extent, to abandon the running i^f rctilway trains on the
Sabbath day. The cbief difficulty is, ihat in th -se dnys ot sharp compe-
tition time has become such an importa it element that if one railroad
company would voluatarily cease its traffic for one day during the week,
while others continued, it wouM lose largely thereby. Yet, for ex-
ample, were eacb of the trunk lines to absulut<-ly refuse to exchange
traffic of any kind with their conuections, from 6 p. m. Saturday until
Monday morning, it would be a simple matter for these trunk lines, as

itil
aa

well as for their^western connections, to so arrense the movement of
traffic as to practically do away with the running ofSunda^ trains.

" 2. There is no question as to the desirability of prohibiting Sunday
work on railways. The law of nature, to say nothing of the biffher law,
requires that man should hare rest one day in seven. Is there any
reason why a railway engineer or conrluctor is not entitled to bis rest
as much as a merchant or manufacturer ?

" 3. This company has endeavored to so m. range the runs of its train-
men and engineers as to bring them h me on iSunday, but little can be
done in that directioc without concerted action on the part of all
companies interested in the same traffic

" 4. I do not believe at the end of the year the loss in traffic would
be appreciable, were all Sunday work stopped, and in the better morale
of the men the railway companioa would be abundantly paid for doing
away with work on this da^.

" Looking at the question from either a moral or economical stand-
point, no candid person can uphold the running of trains on Sunday.
What is there in the essence of a railroad company different from any
other business, which will require an exception to be made of it and its
employees to work when others are allowed and expect rest ?

''The effect of this constant and never-ending work is not only
injurious to the men themselves, bu' most deplorable to their families.
If it is true, as Lord Bacon says, that a man who has a family has giren
a hostage to fortune, it is equally true that he should be allowed to live,
at least, part of his time with those for whom he has to care, and
certainly should have, at least, one day in seven, which, under oar
system of railway labor, he cannot have, to devote to his own and
private matters.

" I am glad you have taken the matter up, for I believe if it is pre<
sented to our managers in the best Ught, whether from a moral or
economical standpoint, a few moments reflection will show to each of
them that we are all committing a fearful mistake in allowing the con-
tinuance and rapid growth of this Sunday work.

" Yours truly,

"H. B. LEDYARD,

" President:'

Following is a short communication from Mr. Rutter, presi-
dent of the New York Central. He says :

" It would be a great jelief to managers and employees if all traffic on
our railroads could cease during Sunday. I believe that every man is
entitled to one day's rest in a week. It was for this that the Sabbath
day was created, and it is very much to my regret that I feel compelled
to sav that the stopping of Sunday traffic is impracticable. • • •

"It is hardly necessary for me to raise all the questions that occur to
me in connection with this, and I can only say, tbat if any plan can be
devised for the stoppage of Sunday work on railroads, I will gladly co-
operate in it,''

Next follows a letter from Mr. Bennett H. Young, presi-
dent of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Eailway
Company, who had the courage to totally suspend the
Sunday traffic on his road, with the exception of one local
mail train. It is a letter addressed to the editor of the
Railway Age, as follows : —

" Some weeks since I felt impelled, by various reasons, to order the

diBcontinuance|uponthe|LouisviIle,New Albany|and Ohicsgo Railway, aa

far as possible, of all labor on the Sabbath day.' This order was not the

result of an impulse, nor was it issued without the expeetatioa of sharp

criticism and even unkind misconatruction ; it was made because I con-
sidered it right, riewcd either from a reliipons, political or practical
standpoint. It has provoked more discassion than I anticipated, but the
expression of a neceeeity for a day of rest on the part of other railway
managers has been to me exceedingly gratifying.

"While admitting that this is an age of intense practicality, and that
in the hurry and drive of the present of our country, many are disposed
to forget all other consideratii ns than those of gain, this discussion
has demonstrated that upon one ground or other there is deep-aeated
in the minds of the business men of this country a desire to observe a
dav of rest. For one, I do not hesitate to sav that I consider the
Sabbaih a Divine institution, and that a disregard oi the day is a violation
of God's command, and that the mere fact of operating a railway for
public necessity is no excuse for the dishonor done to the precept of our
Maker.

" As religious bias 1. ust more or less affect particular views on this
aabject, many would be disposed to put aside those considerations and
demand some more practical argument on the question. In the dicussion
of so broad a subject points can only be stated.

" 1. Then. I suggest that without a day of rest man can neither enjoy
health nor freedom. The Sabbath is essential to religion, and religion
is essential to freedom, good government and prosperity. History con-
tains no example of a free, progressive and successful people who did
not recognise God. No thoughtful man can controvert the statement
that religion is dependent upon the observance of a day of rest. Blot
out the Sabbath in this country, and with it the influences of religion
for a period of fifty years, and the face of our social, moral and political
condition would be entirely changed. The testimony of all railroad
men in this discuss on has shown that a day of relaxation or rest is
essential to the proper andfaithful discharge of the dutiea which devolve
upon railway employees ; and if this were not so, human.experience fully
establishes this principle.

'• 2. Whatever may be the religious views of men, it has been univer-
sally conceded that religion makes a man better qualified for the dis-
charge of everv duty, and that in every sphere in which he acts the
impulse of a Christian life is for good.

*' If railways teach their employees to violate the Sabbath, and also
with it to violate the laws of the State, and thus dull the obligation they
feel both to God and to the State, they must necessarily have less
respect for the laws of the railway itself, and less sense of obligation to
their employers. No man who has any intimate connection with rail-
ways can fail to observe the lack of interest on the part of the employees
in the corporate welfare, and this is m a large degree attributable to the
indifference of the corporate managers themselves to the rights, privileges
and consciences of their employees. With the eradication of religion
goes all idea of future punishment, and this renders men less controllable
and less amenable to reason. Religion is a safe-gaard for property as
well as liberty. One church is worth a dozen policemen : and the social
and moral power of religion in the discharge of the duties devolving
upon men is simply immeasurable.

" I see that in one of your late issues it is rumored this order of mine
will be rescinded. I have onl^ to say that, so far as tried, the results are
more than satisfactory ; no injury or loss has been sustained ; the em-
ployees have in many ways expressed their grati tude and thanks for
this privilege which has been extended to them in the way of cessation
of work on Sunday ; and that so long as I remain in the management of
the road no char ge will be made.

*' Truly yours,

"BENNBT H. YOUNG,

"PretidenV*

Two months after, the Bailway Age contained an editorial
giving the results of this action of the manager of this road

—an editorial entitled, " Two Months of Sunday Observ-
ance : "

" The two months which have paased aiace President Young iisuedaa
order forbidding tlie runninf;^ of Sunday traini, except those carrying
mail, on the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway, hare been
the most prosperous of any in the history of the road. President Young
recently telegraphed : ' Our June busfnesa has been larger than ever
before, and the aggregate earnings the largest on record.' While the
ezperitsnce of one railway for two moatha is by no means conclusive of
the question at issue, yet it certainly tends to refute the position taken
by so many managers, that a single niilway or a portion of the railways
of the country cannot afford to cease Sunday work, and that Sunday
observance is not practicable unless all railwiiya unite in it. The Louis-
ville, New Albany and Chicago road has discontinued Sunday traffic
and has increased its business, and there is no indication that its earn-
ings for May or June are one dollar lees than they would have been if
its employees bad been worked seven days ia each week The results
of the reform inaugurated by the management of this important line
will be watched with great interest. While the religious element in the

Sroblem should not be ignored or undervalued, the decisive point will
oubtless be the economical results of the experiment. Meanwhile'it is
very gratifying tu know that the host of employees of one railway in
this country have been permitted, during brigijt May and delicious June,
to enjoy the sweets of Sunday quietness and rest without doing financial
injury to any one."

The last quotation I shall give with reference to Sunday
work is an article from President Samuel Sloan, of the Dela-
ware, Lackawana and Western road. This is a road which
occupies a very enviable position in regard to Sunday labor.
It is a road in which the late William E. Dodge was largely
interested, and which has, since it first commenced running
trains, scrupulously abstained from Sunday work. It is a
road now reaching from New York to Buffalo, with western
connections, and is one of the most prosperous in the United
States. Mr. Sloan siys :

' ' It seems to me that all railroad managers must sympathise with efforts
to diminish 'Sunday labor,' now, T regret to see, on the increaee. In
my judgment the necessity, so much urged, does not exist, nor do the

fniblic demand from railroad management more work than ordinary
abor. Railroad men have a right to rest one day in seven and to ob-
serve the Sabbath as much as any other fellow-citizens. It must be, and
'* conceded by all interested, that health and good discipline are pro-
rioted by this rest. Without repeating the excellent suggestions made
by prominent railroad officials in the foregoing communications, I think
that it would be an easy matter fur the Trunk Line Oomminsion to take
up the subject, and refer it to a committee to report some regulations or
agree upon certain trains that may be deemed necessary to meet any
reasonaole demands of competing interests or the public wants in regard
to perishable prope rty. ^

"SAMUBL SLOAN,

" Fre>.',dent."

So much for the positions and opinions of railway managers.
The quotations I have made fron^ z great mass of communica-
tions from railway officials show most oonolusively that these

men, u a nile, feel that the position occupied b^ the rail-
way oorporations in the United States is not a desirable one.
They evidently feel that in depriving their employees of
Sunday rest, and in transacting the great mass of business
transacted on the Sabbath, they are guilty of wrong-doing,
and many of them feel the desire, and have taken stops in
the direction of carrying out the desire they feel, to lessen
the evil. No doubt it would be desirable to introduce a Bill
upon this subject, ol wider scope than the one presented to-
night to this House, but this is probably impracticable. All
the railways in Canada have absolute control over their
local business, and tho forbidding of excursion trains on the
Sabbath will not imperil tho interest of any trunk line in tho
Dominion, but if we went further we might seriously in-
terfere with railway corporations whose operations are, to a
great extent, through business, and being thus intimately
unifed with the traffic in the United States, tho co opera-
tion of the United States railways would bo required. But
we can deal with tho question so far as the Bill now pre-
sented to the Houso deals with it, and it is to
prevent this form of Sunday desecration, those ex-
cursions by railway or steamer, that this Bill is introduced.
Many arguments are adduced in favor of Sunday excur-
sions. They are said to bo conducive to health and rest,
and that it would be a hardship to deprive the people at
large of the privilege of going upon Sunday oxoursioiis. I
propose, for a few moments, to examine into that assertion
and see whether it rests upon adequate grounds. Best and
health, I think, we will find when we examine into this ques-
tion, are not promoted by Sunday excursions, but that as a
rule they have a directly opposite oflFoot. So far from promot-
ing health and rest, they are often drunken saturnalias,
resulting, more often than not, in riot and even in robbery
and murder. Let me give a specimen of Sunday excursions.
It is rather an aggravated specimen, but it will answer as a
specimen of the whole class :

" Fbkb Liquob, SABBA.TH-BBBAKINO AND MuBDBB.— Oa the S&bbatb,
August Slat 1884, in the afternoon, a barge towed by a iieam tug made
fast to a pier at the foot of Weat Bleyenth street, in New York. She had
returnea prematurely from an excuraion on which ahe had set out in
the morning. Scarcely were her lines made fast when a crowd of
drunken men poured hurriedly ashore and rapidly dispersed. Many of
the men were without hats or coats, and the races of many were bruiaed
and bleeding. The dreaaes of the women were disordered, and their
hair fell tangled about fheir shoulders. On board, the evidences of a
fierce fight were everywhere apparent. The deck was strewn with
broken glass, with sandwiches and bMled hams, and was slippery with
ice cream and beer. In the cabin the dead body of a middle-aged man
lay on the floor, his three sons aobbing beside him."

•1

Then it goee on to doBCribo the excursion of the employees
of the Empire steam laundry, New York. Thev weregoinff
down to Linden Grove, on Staten Island, for rest and
health ; thoy went well primed with whiskey and beer, and
were not long out when the men became infuriated by
liqaor and engaged in a free fight, in which the wooen alno
took part. A poor and inoffensive German, who had charge
of the lunch counter, being unable to fill twenty orders at
once, was attacked by these people with beer bottles and
clubs, mangled dreadfully and beaten to death. This was a
fair specimen of Sunday excursions, such as sail every
Sabbath day from New York to Coney Island and Staten
Island.

The Eev. Mr. Crafts, who has taken great interest
in the Sabbath question, has addressed enquiries to a
groat number of employers in various parts of the Union.
He has addicssed enquiries to about 150 large employers of
labor, the object of these enquiries being to ascertain whether
the employees who spend the Sabbath in this way, or the
church-going employees are the most valuable laborers, and
the answers are almost uniformly to the effect that the
church-going people are the most valuable. One employer,
who employs 200 men, says, " Church going men are
25 per cent, more effective as laborers than those who spend
their Sundays in Sunday excursions." A German pastor,
who has charge of a large church in Ne^l York, .mys :
" Those who spend Sundays in pic-nics require all day
Monday to get over the effects of their recreation." The
general testimony on the subject is that Sabbath observers
and church-goers, whether laborers, mechanics, merchants or
professional men, are in far better condition to enter on work
when they spend the Sunday in church-going, than those
who spend the Sunday, even in comparatively innocent
pleasure. Pic-nics, no doubt, are tiresome, while, on the
contrary, short practical sermons are restful. Colonel
Fairbanks, of the standard scales business, says :

"Those who attend church and Sunday school ou Sunday are the most
valuable in our business. I can tell the diifer^ence between them and
others in the work in the shop."

Church-goers can be recognised in a crowd, for they are
clean, healthy and prosperous. Mr. Clem Studenbarker, the
manager of a very extensive wagon factory in Ohio, says :

" My ob^''''Tation is that clerks and mechanics who spend their
Sabbath it. arch and Sabbath school work are the best fitted for the
work in the ofiBce, or in the shop, on Monday morning."

The celebrated Hugh Miller, the great geologist in Scot-
land, gives the following very interesting deacription of the

appearance of a train of Sanday ezcorsioniBts returning to
Edinbargh after a day in the country : — >

<< There did not seem to be much enjoTment about the wearied and
somewhat draggled groups; they wore, on the contrair, rather an un-
happy physiognomy, as if they had missed spending the day quite to
their minds, and were now returning ead and disappointed to the round
of toil from what ouglit to have proved a sweet relaxation and relief. A
congr;:gation just dismissed from hearing a vigorous evening discourse
would have borne to a certainty a more cheerful air."

But it may bo asked what roasons may be given for sup-
pressing Sunday excursions ? I would answer that they are
open to several objections. They are open to this objection :
They rob one class of employees of their Sunday rest in
order that they may minister to the pleasure of others. I
refer to the men employed upon railway tra*' s and
steamers. These men are prevented taking Sanuay rest
in order that the passengers by train or steamboat
may enjoy Sunday pic-nics. The next reason is, such
excursions are fruitful of disorder, vice and crime ; the
next is, because such excursions invade the Sabbath
quiet and morality of places to which thoy go, and
the next reason is, because they secularise the Sabbath,
and, by breaking down its sacredness, they prepare for the
abolition of the rest to all classes that the Sabbath is
designed to give. It may be said : It is unnecessary to deal
with this question by law ; it is a moral matter ; let public
sentiment settle it. In relation to that, I may answer that
the Sabbath cannot be preserved without law. It has been
found necessary to put laws upon the Statute Book with
regard to Sabbath observance in England since 876 ; in the
fourth century, Constantine passed a law in regard to Sabbath
observance ; and it will be found that, where there are no
Sabbath laws, there is practically no Sabbath. The Christian
sentiment of Canada, I believe the universal Christian senti-
ment of Canada, is in favor of this measure. I believe I am
warranted in this assertion by the pastoral letter of Arch-
bishop Taschereau, by the utterances of His Holiness the
Pope, of Cardinal McClot^key, of Archbishop Gibbon, of the
Bishop of Buffalo, all these high church dignitaries expressly
prohibiting Sunday excursions and declaring them to be
sinful. I am warranted by the concurrent testimony
of the Protestant divines in this country, and by the demand
of the great mass of the Christian people of this country. I
am warranted in saying that the Christian sentiment of
Canada, of all sects and classes of believers, asks for this
Bill from this House. We fortunately, as a people, enjoy a
very high character with respect to Sabbath observance.
It is said that the city of Toronto enjoys the proud position

of being the city of all the cities upon the face of the globe
where the Sabbath is observed most strictly ; and this char-
acteristic applies to such cities as Hamilton, London, in a
great degree to such cities as Ottawa and Montreal, to
the cities of the Maritime Provinces, and even to Quebec.

An hon. MEMBEK. Even ?

Mr. CHARLTON. Yes ; the mode of spending the Sab-
bath in Quebec is perhaps not quite as strict as in Montreal
or in Ottawa, but, as compared with other cities in other
countries, there is not a city in the Dominion of Canada that
does not occupy a favorable position in regard to Sabbath
observance. Now, we have a right to ask, with all the con-
currence of testimony from the various prelates and divines
in this country and the evident pressure of public sentiment
in this respect, that this Government shall do all it can
possibly do to preserve this noble record which this country
has, and I have the honor to present this Bill to the House
of Commons for its second reading to-night. The Bill pro-
vides simply that Sunday excursions by steamboats plying for
hire, or by railway, or in part by railway and in part by steam-
boat, starting and returning the same day, shall oe prohibited;
and it provides a penalty of $500 for an infraction of this
law, to be collected upon complaint of any individual in the
county, city or town fror.^ which the excursion starts, one-
half of the penalty to go to the informer or prosecutor and the
other half to the municipality of the county, city or town
in which the action is brought. The Bill does not apply to
ferries or to steamboats employed thereon, but simply and
exclusively to excursions by steamboat or railway, or in part
by steamboat and in part by railway, Mr. Speaker, I move
the second reading of the Bill.

Mr. CHAPLBAXJ in speaking to the question, compli-
mented the mover of the Bill upon his researches and his
earnestness. He admitted that the Sabbath was of divine
origin, and said that no one could deny the good in a human-
itarian sense of one days rest in seven. The manner of
spending Sunday was a matter of education. Men who gave
an hour to mass and the rest of the day to recreation might
be just as good fathers of families as those who spent the day
reading the bible in their houses. The Bill he held infringed
upon Provincial rights and proposed legislation that came
within the limits of Provincial rather than of Dominion
jurisdiction.

Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD. The speech of the hon.
gentleman who introduced this Bill has oeen addressed to
the whole subject of Sabbath observance, but the Bill is

confined to only one branch of that question. The first
clause provides :

" Sunday excursions by steamboats plying for hire, or by railway, or
in part by any such steamboat and in part by railway, and having for
their only or principal object the carriage of Sunday passengers for
amusement or pleasure only, and to go and return on the same day, by
the same steamboat or railway, or any other owned t,' the same per-
son or persons or company, shall be unlawful and shall not be deemed
a lawful conveying of travellers, within the meaning of any statute of
Canada, or of aay Province of Canada, permitting the conveyance of
travellers on the Lord's Day."

The second clause goes on to say that the owners shall be
liable to be sued in a civil court by civil action for a large
sum of money, and this sum is recoverable in any court of
competent jurisdiction, in the place in which the steamboat
or train employed on the excursion started, or through
which it passed, or at which it stopped, and the money
recovered shall be divided, one moiety to go to the plaintiff,
and the other moiety to the municipality of the city, town,
village or place from which the unlawful excursion started.
The Bill is limited to excursions, and it is provided that
such conveyances shall be considered to be unlawful, and
that the owners of them shall be subject to a civil action.
It seems to me that the constitutional point taken by the
Secretary of State is a good one; that this is a matter
affecting civil rights. If Parliament should take the
responsibility of declaring that such excursions, or any act
of non-observance or breach of observance of the Sabbath,
was a crime, it might thereby be brought within the crimi-
nal law, and therefore within the competence of this Parlia-
ment., it seems to me that the mere fiact of its not being
declared to be a crime, but merely to be an unlawful act,
and the action to be brought a civil action for damages,
gives away the case, so fai* as the competence of the Do-
minion Parliament is concerned. The hon. gentleman, in
fact, declared in his speech that he did not propose to inter-
fere with vessels sailing on a long voyage, or railways
carrying through traffic. That might interfere with our
relations with the United States, or with the great currents
of trade. Well, it might be, Mr. Speaker, that under the
authority of several decisions, that the effect of this through
traffic, this wholesale traffic, being the traffic which the
hon. gentleman does not wish to interfere with — that traffic
might come within the Dominion law ; but these excur-
sions, such as in Toronto harbor, or those my hon. friend
has spoken of from Montreal or Quebec, certainly ought to
be within the governance and control of the Provincial
Legislature, and the provincial administration of affairs —
within the cognizance and control of the municipalities. It
appears to me that the Bill is ultra vires.

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