PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 % 
 
 Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 BV 133 .N48 1862 
 New York Sabbath Committee. 
 First five years of the 
 Sabbath reform 1857-62 
 
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Ne.w ScMobinthCo. 
 
 FIRST FIVE YEARS 
 
 SABBATH EEFOEM, 
 
 1857-62. 
 
 Srocntii Doruntcnts 
 
 OF 
 
 THE MM YORK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 
 EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER, 
 
 20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET. 
 
 1862. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 First Five Years of the Sabbath Reform. 
 
 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 No. 1. The Sabbath as it Was and as it Is. 
 
 2. Railroads and the Sabbath. 
 
 3. News-Ckying and the Sabbath. 
 
 4. The Sabbath in Europe. 
 
 5. The Sunday Liquor-Traffic. 
 
 6. A Year for the Sabbath. — (First Annual Report.) 
 
 7. Memorial Memoranda. 
 
 8. Petition. — German Document. 
 
 9. First German Meeting at Cooper Institute. 
 
 10. The Broderic Sunday Pageant. 
 
 11. Sunday Theatres and Beer-Gardens. 
 
 12. Progress of Sabbath Reform. 
 
 13. The Press of New York on Sunday Theatre Law. 
 
 14. Sunday at Central Park. 
 
 15. The Civil Sabbath Restored. 
 
 16. Second German Meeting at Cooper Institute. 
 
 17. The Sabbath in War. 
 
 18. Constitutional Basis of Sunday Laws. 
 
 19. Plea for the Sabbath in War. 
 
 20. The Sabb.vth and the Pulpit. 
 
 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. 
 
 No. 1. The City Press and Sunday News-Crying. 
 * 2. The Sabbath and German Beer Gardens. 
 ^ 3. Sunday Vice and Crime. 
 
 4. Defeat of the Anti-Sunday Law Movement, 
 
First Five Years of the Sabbath Reform. 
 
 Letters from associations and individuals in London, Boston, San 
 Francisco and elsewhere, solicit more full information than has 
 been given to the public as to the methods and results of the Sab- 
 bath Reform. These requests, and the fact of numerous concerted 
 movements in Europe and America in the same direction, have 
 prompted the preparation of this sketch of the New York Committee's 
 five years' labors in behalf of the Sabbath. It does not assume to 
 be a guide for defenders of the Sabbath in other communities and 
 other lands ; but, as a brief record of successful dealing with a diffi- 
 cult question, it may furnish not altogether valueless way-marks of 
 Christian reform. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The fact and the form of the organization had mature consideration. 
 Thoughtful men Avere alarmed at the rapid drift toward popular 
 neglect or profanation of the sacred day. The city had assumed 
 the proportions of a great metropolis, attracting vast nxxmbers 
 of European immigrants, and outstripping in its expansion the 
 proportionate means of moral and religious culture. Demoralizing 
 influences had fearfully multiplied, with no adequate counteraction or 
 restraint. Public sentiment had been corrupted or perverted by a 
 vicious press and party intrigue. The machinery of government 
 had largely passed into the control of the classes contributing least 
 to its support, and most interested in staying the administration of 
 justice. Law had lost its wonted supremacy, and our self-govei'ning 
 institutions were fast losing their prestige and power. Material in- 
 terests overshadowed and supplanted the moral and spiritual. The 
 Sabbath became in many quarters, and among large classes of the 
 city, the gala-day of the godless; the harvest-day of avarice; the 
 high-day of vice and crime. It seemed a hopeless undertaking to 
 rescue it from even the grossest abuses of its civil rights. 
 
 But there were those who had sufficiently studied the history and 
 relations of the Sabbath to cherish and act on the conviction, that 
 its loss would involve not only irreparable injury to all moral 
 
and religious interests, but the inevitaljle sacrifice of our civil and 
 social institutions. Tliey had, indeed, to face the discouragements 
 just alluded to, and the further circumstance that the repeated 
 efforts to avert this and kindred evils, spasmodic and ill-judged as 
 many of theni were, had failed of their object, and only aggravated 
 the disea.se they were meant to cure. This fact, however, rightly 
 considered, was suited to inspire caution, energy and prayer. After 
 years of reflection and consultation, a meeting of leading Christian 
 citizens was convened, April 1, 1857, i')ursuant to the accompany- 
 ing call ;* the subject was discussed ; and a " Cojimittee to pro- 
 mote the better observance of the Sabbath " was ap})oiiited, con- 
 sisting of about twenty members, connected with eight diflerent 
 Christian denominations. 
 
 The form of the organization has many practical advantages. It is 
 simple, compact, and unostentatious. Without the prestige of 
 numbers, and so without its embarrassments, it has none of the 
 temptations of a "society" to imdertake extreme and impracticable 
 measures, regardless of that general })ublic sentiment on which, 
 linder Providence, the power and success of all stable reforms must 
 ultimately rest. So long as a "committee" conduct their enterprises 
 in a spirit and on principles suited to enlist the confidence of all 
 right-minded citizens, and with the manifest aim to promote the 
 public welfare, the very paucity of numbers becomes an element of 
 strength ; for every good man may see that while a cause he 
 approves is fitly championed, yet he, and all like him, must personally 
 enter the ranks as the exigencies of the conflict demand his service- 
 The Press, too, comes to lend a willing support to a just and im- 
 portant interest, when it has no " organ " to advocate questionable 
 
 New York, Marcu 28, 1857. 
 * Deau Sir:— Unless measures are taken to stop the progress of Sabbath deseeratiou 
 in our city, there is danger that this sacred day will soon be, in a great degree, lost to 
 us. It has been thought advisable to ask a few gentlemen to meet, witli the view of 
 considering what means shall be adopted to arrest this growing evil. 
 
 You are earnestly requested to attend a meeting for this purpose, at the Lecture 
 Room of Dr. Alexander's Church, in 19th Street, near 5th Avenue, on Wednesday 
 evening, April 1st. 
 
 Horace IIoldex, S. W. ScniEFFELix, A. R. Walsh, E. M. Kinosley, 
 
 A. R. Wet.more, A. G. Phelps, David Hoadley, .]. M. IIalsted, 
 
 C. R. Robert, F. G. Foster, F. S. Winston, .Tohn L. Mason, 
 
 C. N. Talbot, Francis Hall, Wm. II. Smith, Norman White, 
 
 Robert L. Stuart, J. M. Morrison, Jasper Corning, Oliver Wood, 
 
 Wm. a. I'ooTH, C. 0. IIalsteh, L. Kirbt, .Tames Slivdam, 
 
 Henry Yoiino, Wm. E. Dudgb, R. F. I^ttler, Rorkut Carter, 
 
 Geo. I). Phelps, William Walker, A. ]'. IIalsey, C. I'. Kirkland, 
 
 T. C. DoRKMi's, Wm. Winterton, W. C. (jIilman, Oliver H. Lee. 
 
 John II. Karle, J. B. Suefi-ield, 
 
or exclusive theories, and no aims beyond the well-being of the 
 great community for whose benefit both profess to labor. 
 
 The /(/y-feature of the Committee Avas adopted and has been per- 
 petuated for obvious reasons. The primary objects of the movement 
 having respect to the invasions of the civil Sabbath, civiUans seemed 
 best suited to promote them. The single fact that active business- 
 men turn aside from their pressing avocations and devote time and 
 influence and wealth to the suppression of offences so glaring as to 
 require the intervention of the magistracy, of itself tends to disen- 
 tangle the Sabbath Question from its chief embarrassment, and to 
 define its civil relations as distinguished from its religious obligations 
 so clearly as to baflfle the unscrupulous enemies and invaders of both 
 its civil and sacred sanctions. And we have yet to learn that any 
 of our honored and hard-working pastors undervalue or would dis- 
 courage the active cooperation of prudent laymen in this and kindred 
 Christian enterprises "too heavy" for their own over-burdened 
 hands. Rather Avould they adopt the prayer of Closes : " Would 
 God all the Lord's people were prophets ! " It is quite certain that 
 the manifold relations of this enterprise to civil authorities, legis- 
 lative, judicial and executive, as well as to the general public, have 
 been freed from complication and prejudice by the fact that its in- 
 terests were directed by Christian citizens chosen from secular 
 callings. 
 
 INVESTIG-ATION. 
 The first step taken by the Committee was a reconnoissance. The 
 mere general fact of neglected or abused Sabbaths seemed an in- 
 adequate basis for reformatory action. A census of Sunday traffic, 
 developed the fact that nearly ten thousand (9,692) places of business 
 including more than five thousand dram-shops (5,385,) were open to 
 the public. Places of public amusement were personally inspected 
 by members of the Committee — sometimes at the peril of life — at 
 which thousands of men, women and children were gathered on the 
 Lord's day for purposes of diversion, dissipation and sin. Let 
 it suffice, without repeating the revelations in " The Sabbath as it 
 was and as it is " (No. I.) and in other documents of the Committee, 
 that the more thorough and extended the inquiry, the deeper and 
 more painful became the conviction of the prevalent and formidable 
 character of the evils to be encountered. They had existed so long 
 almost without rebuke ; they were so intrenched in the avarice of 
 some classes and in the love of sensual pleasure in others ; they were 
 so strengthened by Old World training and prejudices, and were 
 pandered to so industriously by the German and Enghsh Sunday 
 
Press ; and ignorance or indifference as to their nature and extent 
 were so profound on the part of the Sabbath-keeping community, 
 that exposure and reformation seemed to border on tlie chimerical if 
 not the impossible. 
 
 It may be added, as illustrating the position of things five years 
 ago, that laws j^rotecting the Sabbath had been, for a quarter of a 
 century at least, practically obsolete ; that the police department 
 was in a chaotic state — in the change from the Municipal to the 
 Metropolitan regime ; that the judicial and municipal officers were 
 largely the candidates of the Sunday liquor interest ; and that the 
 commercial crisis of '57 came upon the city like a tempest the very 
 month of the completed organization for this movement. And it 
 will thus be seen that few enterprises could encounter more dis- 
 heartening circumstances, or more demand faith, prudence and zeal 
 on the part of their managers. 
 
 MODES OF ACTION. 
 
 The grand aim of the Reform being to correct and arouse public 
 sentiment as to the claims and perils of the Sabbath, the three 
 principal agencies for this purpose — the Pulpit, the Press and Per- 
 sonal influence — have been enlisted in such measure as seemed best 
 calculated to secure the desired result. 
 
 The incipient plans of the Committee were laid before a meeting 
 of more than one hundred of the Clergy of the city, and received 
 their unanimous sanction in a series of Resolutions that will live in 
 the literature of the Sabbath while Sabbaths last. Not far from one 
 hundred sermons on the subject were simultaneously preached, soon 
 after, on the invitation of the Committee. Recently, a series of ser- 
 mons by Pastors of six denominations, before thronged assemblies, 
 has tended to deepen the convictionof the authority and value of the 
 Sabbath and of the importance of measures for its sanctification. 
 And throughout the reform, the counsel and cooperation of the minis- 
 try have been cordially given and most highly prized. 
 
 But, valuable as has been the aid of the Pulpit, the cooperation of 
 the Press has been invaluable in effecting the revolution in general 
 ])ublic sentiment which laid the foundation for successful practical 
 reforms. There was a manifest propriety in the discussion of qiies- 
 tions of ])ul)]ic order and morality as related to the invasion of the 
 national day of rest and worship by journals whose columns are 
 pledged to truth and virtue. Without fee or reward, other than the 
 approbation of a good conscience and the plaudits of their readers, 
 the leading daily newspapers of the city have advocated and defend- 
 ed all the prominent measures inaugurated by the Committee with 
 
an ability and good temper that carried conviction to tlie public 
 mind, and Avith such unity as paralyzed interested and factious 
 opposition. Every attempt of the enemies of the Sabbath to com- 
 plicate the Sabbath question with party politics — and many have 
 been made — has been rebuked by the honest press of all parties. 
 Besides the intrinsic value of this cooperation, it more than neutral- 
 ised the persistent and shameless opposition of the Sunday Press 
 and its allies. More than once it silenced the atheism and licentious- 
 ness of the German Press. The Weekly Religious Press, it scarcely 
 need be said, has lent an almost unanimous and most cordial support 
 to this movement. In reviewing the whole course of the Sabbath 
 Reform, it is obvious that its manifold successes and its present 
 vantage-ground are intimately related to the fact tha|; nearly one 
 hundred millions of copies of New York newspapers have borne to 
 their readers articles friendly to the restoration and conservation of 
 our civil Sabbath. 
 
 The official communications of the Committee have been confined 
 to their series of "i>oc«?«-en<s." Facts and arguments have been 
 embodied relating to the particular measure in hand, addressed to 
 the reason and conscience of thoughtful citizens — studiously avoid- 
 ing api^eals to passion or prejudice, and leaving to their proper realm 
 those disputed questions of ethics and theology about which there 
 may be honest differences of opinion. A monopoly of vituperation 
 and personal abuse has been left to the enemies of the Sabbath, and 
 a tone of moderation and forbearance has been aimed at consistent 
 with the humane and sacred objects contemplated. The gratifying 
 fact that none of the twenty official papers of the Committee have 
 been subjected to unfriendly criticism attests the public appreciation 
 of this policy, and is grateful to those who have deliberately chosen 
 it irrespective of the precedents of modern reforms. 
 , The distribution of the Committee's documents has varied from 
 2,000 to 10,000 or 20,000 copies severally, as the issues have required. 
 They have been placed gratuitously in the hands of influential citi- 
 zens, public officers, editors, clergymen, etc. Three important 
 documents in the German language have been circulated by thou- 
 sands through the missionary employed by the Committee among 
 the Germans, and among German pastors and editors ; and several 
 hundred copies have been sent to leaduig men in Germany. " Rail- 
 roads and the Sabbath " (Ko. 2.) was directed to thousands of di- 
 rectors and employes of Railway companies. "The Broderic 
 Sunday pageant " (No. 10.) was sent to 4,000 firemen. " The Sab- 
 bath and the Pulpit " (No. 20.) was mailed to nearly 5,000 clergymen 
 "The Plea for the Sabbath in War " (No. 19.) was addressed to all 
 
6 
 
 the officers of Government, and to as many military officers as could 
 be reached with certainty ; and packages were sent for the supply of 
 all the regiments in the army of the Potomac. After the noble Sab- 
 bath Order of Gen. McClellan was issued, the Committee requested 
 the American Tract Society to publish it in connection with Wash- 
 ington's order respecting the Sabbath and Profane Swearing ; and 
 30,000 copies in English and 24,000 in German have been distribu- 
 ted in the army, at the joint expense of the two associations, besides 
 some 50,000 copies through the channels of the Tract Society 
 separately. 
 
 The object of all these movements has been the creation of an in- 
 telligent, healthful sentiment friendly to a due observance of the 
 Sabbath. This done, it Avas believed, and has been demonstrated, 
 that specific reforms would work themselves out with little direct 
 effort. Whoever may attempt the reverse order, and seek to carry 
 oiit reformatory schemes in the face of an indiflTerent or hostile pub- 
 lic sentiment, may expect disaster and defeat. 
 
 It remains to notice the third element of influence — 2)ersonal ex- 
 ertion. In its very nature secluded from public observation, little 
 can properly be said of its methods or results. There is reason to 
 believe that it has not been the least effective of the agencies em- 
 ployed. In needful investigations and explorations ; in personal 
 conferences Avith the conductors of the Press, public authorities, 
 and legislative committees ; in procuring signatures to memorials ; 
 in securing the passage of wholesome laws, or defending them when 
 assailed ; in providing adequate funds without public appeals of any 
 sort therefor, and in the careful direction of every branch of an ex- 
 panding enterprise, the several members of the Committee have 
 cheerfully devoted no inconsiderable amount of time and effort to an 
 object worthy of the sacrifice: with abundant proofs, that, under the 
 blessing of the Most High, they have not labored in vain nor spent 
 their strength for naught. 
 
 SPECIFIC MEASURES AND RESULTS. 
 
 When the Committee began their labors, they anticipated years 
 of preliminary effort before it would be expedient to attempt specific 
 reforms. The promptness of the recoil from the abuses and dangers 
 brought to liglit in the early papers of the Committee, induced a 
 speedier attempt than had been purposed to restrain some of the 
 more offensive forms of Sabbath profanation. Beginning with those 
 which admitted of no apology or defence at the bar of public opin- 
 
ion, the several issues made by the Committee may be classified as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Offences agalnsl the Public Peace and Order. 
 
 2. Invasions of Public Morals. 
 
 3. Protection of the Sabbath in War. 
 
 4. Promotion of the general Sabbath Reform. 
 
 A brief statement of the leading facts in the history of these several 
 movements will illustrate the policy of the Committee and the results 
 of their labors. 
 
 1. Offences against the public Peace and Order. 
 
 Of this class the Sunday neivs-C7-ying nuisance was the most ob- 
 trusive and least defensible. It had, indeed, gained a foot-hold, by 
 a quarter of a century of unmanly toleration, strong enough to se- 
 cure for it the immunity of extra-judicial sanction: for the then 
 Recorder of the city went out of his Avay to protect the "poor 
 friendless boys " who were hawking " a public necessity," and to as- 
 sure the Grand Jury that he " didn't think much of Sunday Laws — 
 which were well enough as abstract morality, but altogether too 
 slow for the age ! " The Sunday papers defended the nuisance most 
 pertinaciously — some of them having Daily issues — with the evident 
 purpose of driving from the field of discussion and reform any body 
 of men bold enough to interfere with their prescriptive monopoly of 
 traffic and noise on the Lord's Day. So violent was this onslaught 
 that one of the Editors of the Sunday felt constrained to pro- 
 test against it as having " its origin in the unquiet minds of two or 
 three degraded and depraved individuals, who have most unworthily 
 worn the vestments of the priesthood, and who now seek popular 
 preferment by pandering to the passions and the lusts of the very 
 worst classes of society ; " and he proceeds to declare : " I am to- 
 tally misrepresented by the Press of Avhich I am Editor, and which 
 through some, to me, unexplained means, has been made the organ 
 of folly, falsehood, and ribaldry.^'' 
 
 The only public measure resorted to, after the scornful treatment 
 of a respectful remonstrance addressed to the several Proprietors of 
 the Sunday newspapers, was the preparation and presentation of a 
 " Memorial against the crying of newspapers on Sunday " " to the 
 Mayor and Police Commissioners," on the grounds that it was a 
 school of vice to the newsboys ; that their evil example was dis- 
 astrous to the children of the city ; that it was an unwarrantable 
 monopoly of traffic ; that it invaded the claims of courtesy and good- 
 neighborhood, and that thus it was a violation of the rights of good 
 
citizens. This memorial received the signa«tures of a hundred or 
 more of our most prominent citizens. The Commissioners immed- 
 iately issued an oi'der for the suppression of the evil. The Sunday 
 papers counselled resistance and threatened vengeance. But after 
 a few months of persevering hut forbearing effort, the nuisance Avas 
 wholly abated, and is now remembered only with a feeling of sur- 
 prise that a civilized and a Christian community should have so long 
 endured so gross an outrage. 
 
 The Broderic Sunday Pageant furnished another occasion for test- 
 ing the strength of the public f^entiment on this question. The pro- 
 gramme for this sham-funeral proposed to marshal the whole Fire 
 Department, some 4,000 strong, Avith banners, bands of music, and 
 all the paraphernalia of a popular pageant on the Sabbath. It "was 
 postponed from week to week on account of storms, but notwith- 
 standing the remonstrances of the Press, was always set down for 
 Sunday. This precedent seemed needless and impertinent. A Pro- 
 test against this abuse of the Sabbath, with 550 signatures, was 
 presented to the officers of the Department and sent to the Foremen 
 of 160 Fire Companies; and when it Avas determined to disregard 
 it, the Protest was inserted in all our Public Journals. The issue 
 was fairly joined. The result proved that Sunday Pageants are at 
 a discount in our city. The entire procession numbered 541 — not 
 half of whom were firemen ; and their long march through our 
 streets was but a lugubrious advertisement of the failure of their 
 boasted display. There has been no repetition of the wrong. 
 
 The attempt to pervert the Central Park into a Sunday holiday 
 arena compelled the Committee's attention. The entering wedge 
 was very small — only Pleasure-boats on the Lakes, licensed carriages 
 for Sunday drives. Refreshment-houses for Sunday visitors, and like 
 provisions for a European rather than an American use of those 
 magnificent public grounds. The danger of the formal authorization 
 'Of this insidious beginning of evil Avas more imminent than the pub- 
 lic were aware. The Committee addressed a respectful Letter to 
 the Commissioners, claiming that the entire Sabbath arrangements 
 •of the Park should be such as neither to offend nor corrupt the pub- 
 llie conscience : and urging the necessity of adopting such a princi- 
 ;ple, as a bar to innumerable perversions ; as alone consistent Avith 
 the spirit of our laws and institutions ; as simply just and equal to 
 .all citizens and tax-payers ; as preventing the popular demoi-alization 
 uniformly attending Sunday license, and as due to the rights and 
 feelings of the Christian community. This Letter was given to the 
 ncAvspaper Press, and Av^as generally accepted as a just and temper- 
 ate exposition of a perplexing question. It is believed that it ex- 
 
pressed the \dews substantially of a majority of the worthy Com 
 missioners of the Park, and that there will be no deviation from the 
 princij^les suggested in the regulations for the enjoyment of that 
 costly and invaluable place of public recreation. 
 
 3. Invasions of Public Morals. 
 
 Far more formidable issues presented themselves as the reform 
 advanced. Systems of evil overspread the city, vast enough in their 
 13roportions to discourage the hope of their overthrow. Some of 
 them remain unrebuked : others have been subjected to the restraints 
 of law and public opinion. The most prominent of the latter has 
 been the Sunday Liquor Traffic. Availing itself of the full pockets 
 and idle time of the laboring classes, Sunday was the harvest-day of 
 the Dram-shops — and of the Prisons. 
 
 After months of consultation and investigation, the Committee 
 sj^read the results of their inquiries before the public in a temperate pa- 
 per, (No. 5,) showing the extent and accessories of the Sunday Traffic 
 in liquor, and its illegality; urging its suppression on the ground that it 
 engenders Pauperism, crime, lawlessness and irreligion ; and suggest- 
 ing adequate Remedies. The subject Avas earnestly discussed by the 
 secular, religious and Sunday Press for several months. Public senti- 
 ment rapidly ripened into determined hostility against a selfish and 
 demoralizing business, and obviously demanded the intervention of 
 the Magistracy. At length the Committee embodied the views of good 
 citizens in a Memorial to the Board of Commissioners of the Metro- 
 liolitan Police, asking for Protection and Relief, which speedily had 
 some six hundred signatures of a character to indicate the readiness 
 of the entire body of our respectable poj^ulation to append their 
 names, if requested. A counter-memorial, German and English, re- 
 ceived some 1,200 signatures, and was presented by a deputation of 
 anti-Sunday " clergymen ; " but, five-sixths of the names could not 
 be found in the Directory, or were set down as Liquor-dealers, segar- 
 eellers and other parties in interest ! The Commissioners unani- 
 mously passed a series of pertinent resolutions, the fifth of Avhich 
 took the ground " That present abuses in disregarding the Sunday 
 laws, particularly in public exhibitions on Sundays, and trafficking in 
 liquors and other like things, should, so far as the law allows, be pre- 
 vented by the Avhole power of the police force and the magistracy." 
 This action was followed by a General Order of Superintendent 
 Pilsbury to the Captains of Precincts, " instructing the members of 
 their comiuands to see that all places where intoxicating liquors are 
 publicly kept or sold on Sunday shall be closed in future on that 
 dav." 
 
10 
 
 From that time (Aug. 1859) to the present, the contest has con- 
 tinned hetween the Police authorities under the successive adminis- 
 trations and the Sunday Liquor Dealers, with multiform attempts at 
 evasion or resistance, hut ■with increasing vigor and success. Find- 
 ing that the accumulation of complaints to the number of more than 
 30,000 in the office of the District Attorney failed to deter the vio- 
 lators of law, the Police were instructed to make arrests of offend- 
 ers. When magistrates interposed to discharge their friends from 
 arrest, they were properly restrained from unlaAvful interference. 
 And w^hen Sunday courts were held open for the express purpose 
 of facilitating the discharge of Sunday law-breakers, arrests were 
 deferred till the evening, so as to secure at least a night of reflection 
 in the station-house on the conduct of the day. Many of the Sunday 
 dealers are known to prosecute their business still through side- 
 enti'ances and back-doors ; but as a public system, the traffic in 
 liquors on the Sabbath is substantially overthrown. 
 
 The results as affecting public morals are worthy the attention of 
 political economists as well as of the friends of the Sabbath. Con- 
 trasted with the period preceding the effort for the Suppression of 
 Sunday Liquor selling, the following statistics tell the instructive story: 
 
 The arrests for intoxication, disorder and crime, on Sunday, dur- 
 ing eighteen months of the period — 1857-58 — preceding tlie agita- 
 tion of the Sunday Liquor Question, exceeded those of Tuesday 
 (taken as the average of the week-days) by twenty-five tek cent., 
 as officially reported. 
 
 But the statistics of the Police Department show that during the 
 following eighteen months the Tiiesdai/'^s arrests exceeded those of the 
 Sundar/s by fifty per cent., or a relative change of seventy-five 
 per cent. The comparison of the actual results with those which 
 would have followed had the Sunday Liquor Traffic contimied with- 
 out restraint, will show a saving of nearly 9,000 cases of vice and 
 crime on the Sundays of eighteen months, as the fruits of this be- 
 neficent reform. 
 
 Li the charge to the Grand Jury of the Court of General Sessions 
 for March, 1862, the Judge stated the gratifying fact — illustrative 
 of the remark that " the criminal statistics of New York compaied 
 favorably with those of any city in the world," — that there were 
 now but ffty criminal cases on the calender for trial, against tivo 
 hundred and seven tij-five at the corresponding term one year ago. 
 
 The Sunday Theatres and Beer Gardens, by skillfully evading the 
 then existing laws, profited for a time by the closing of the Sunday 
 dram-shops. Intrenching themselves in quarters of the city chiefly 
 
11 
 
 inhabited by German immigrants ; advertising in German papers 
 under the title of " Sacred Concerts," and having their performances 
 in a foreign language, they had become a demoralizing agency of 
 fearful proportions, almost without the knowledge of the American 
 pojiulation. At least a score of these places were open to the pub- 
 lic, and were crowded by men, women, and children every Sunday, 
 with every conceivable appliance of sensual diversion, from comedy, 
 tragedy, songs, dancing, acrobatic sports on the stage, to gambling, 
 drinknig, billiard-playing, bowling, shooting, and fighting in the au- 
 ditorium and lobbies. Many of them were known houses of assig- 
 nation and prostitution. The repeated attempts to bring this sys- 
 tem under the decent restraints of the theatre law were nugatory. 
 It defied the officers of justice, and outraged the rights of society. 
 Depending confessedly on its Sunday profits for support, its man- 
 agers combined to defeat all attempts to bring the system within 
 . the restraints of law and jjublic sentiment. 
 
 The nature and extent of this evil were exposed in a pamphlet of 
 24 pages (Document jSTo. 11), discussing the claims of foreigners to 
 iannunity for their vices, and vindicating the constitutional right of 
 our legislature to restrain the abuses of our civil Sabbath, whether 
 by native or foreign-born citizens. The discussion became general 
 and animated between the organs of American sentiment and the 
 German press, with their natural allies, the Sunday papers in Eng- 
 lish. The latter assumed the position that the Sunday Beer Garden 
 system Avas supported by the entire German population, and thus 
 sought to impose upon political parties the idea that restraint of their 
 " national customs" would involve the united hostility of that na- 
 tionality. The large and respectable class of orderly and Chris- 
 tian Germans resented this imputation. An immense gathering in 
 Cooper Institute avowed their attachment to the laws and institu- 
 tions of their adopted country ; protesting " against the perversion ox 
 Sunday" by a portion of their countrymen, as " bringing dishonor 
 on the German name ;" and approving the Sunday laws " as one 
 of the strongest guarantees of our free institutions, as a wholesome 
 check upon licentiousness and dissipation, and as a preventive of 
 the pauperism and crime which must necessarily undermine and ul- 
 timately destroy the liberty of any people." 
 
 Our Sunday laws enacted fifty years ago did not contemplate 
 such formidable offences as were found to exist among a large emi- 
 grant population ; and it became necessary to seek the enactment of 
 a statute more adequate to their suppression. The Sunday-Theatre 
 Act of 1860 encountered the mpst virulent opposition. The theatre» 
 brewing, and lager beer interests formed associations to resist the 
 
12 
 
 passage or enforcement of the law, raising funds and levying a tariff 
 on the Sunday sales of lager for this purpose. Numerous delega- 
 tions visited Albany, and paid agents were kept there to prevent 
 the success of the measure. The proceeds of theatrical " benefits" 
 Avere devoted to the same object. A German petition for the re- 
 peal of all Sunday laws, and remonstrance against the theatre law 
 — claiming to have from 10,000 to 100,000 signatures — had 4,805 
 names appended to it; but of the first 317 names claiming to be 
 "citizens of the city of New York," only 11 were found in the 
 City Directory, and 5 of these were saloon-keepers and grocers ! 
 The respectable Germans rallied and sent a counter-petition, numer- 
 ously signed. The act became a law in April, 18G0. The theatre 
 proprietors generally defied the law, and continued to violate it — 
 some of them openly, and one or two under the sham of a " Shaker 
 Congregation.'''' The police authorities made frequent arrests — 
 mostly on the day succeeding the ofience. The counsel of the 
 " House of Refuge," charged with the enforcement of the civil 
 penalty, proceeded by suits and injunction orders to enforce the 
 provisions of the act, and was soon face to face Avith parties who 
 had long trifled with all the laws regulating theatrical amusements. 
 In every suit he was successful. In every court where the question 
 was raised, the constitutionality of the act, though contested by the 
 ablest legal talent, Avas afiirmed. Meanwhile, the criminal suits ma- 
 tured, and the leading offender was convicted before a jury. The 
 appeal to the General Term of the Supreme Court resulted in the 
 memorable decision of Judges Clarke, Sutherland, and Allen, sus- 
 taining the constitutionality of laws protecting the civil Sabbath. 
 (See Doc. No. XVIII.) The result of this protracted contest has 
 been the subjection to law of the most persistent and notorious of- 
 fenders ; the settlement of the principle that foreigners coming 
 among us are to respect and obey the laws they find here, until they 
 are regularly changed ; and the vindication of our constitution from 
 the sophisms of sceptical and lawless classes. 
 
 A vigorous onset was made on the legislature of 1861, to effect 
 the repeal of the Sunday theatre act. Large sums of money were 
 raised and expended for this purpose. Several meethigs were held 
 on Sunday, in Sunday theatres, to denounce the Sabbath and all 
 laws for its protection, Avhich Avere addressed by ex-" clergymen," 
 actors, and other defenders of " liberty," amidst the fumes of lager 
 and tobacco, and the profane babblings of an infidel throng. Peti- 
 tions for the abrogation of all Sunday laAvs, boasting 25,000 signa- 
 tures, but containing fewer names in'fact than the aggregate num- 
 ber of lager and liquor sellers in New York-^three-fourths of them 
 
13 
 
 all being bogus — were sent to Albany. It was not deemed needful 
 to agitate the public or invite signatures to remonstrances. All 
 that was done was to appear before the committee having the mat- 
 ter in charge, furnish information to the legislature as to the work- 
 ing of the law, and mvite a meeting of Germans in Cooper Insti- 
 tute. An enthusiastic gathering of some 3,000 of them gave the 
 legislature and the public to vinderstand that Sunday beer gardens 
 were doomed by Germans themselves. Nevertheless, the commit- 
 tee on cities and villages, with a majority of its members from New 
 York and Brooklyn, reported a bill authorizing the sale of malt li- 
 quors on Sunday and on all other days of the week. The minority of 
 the committee, through the Hon. Mr. Ball of Kensselaer, presented 
 an elaborate report against this and all Sunday license. The result 
 was the defeat of the anti-Sunday scheme by a vote of 74 to 23 — 
 no less than IS of the minority representing New York City and its 
 vicinity. No subsequent effort has been made to disturb our Sun- 
 day laws. 
 
 8. Protection of the Sabbath in War. 
 
 The stirring events of our unhappy civil war involved new and 
 imminent perils to the Sabbath and related interests. What with 
 necessary inroads on the quiet and order of a time of peace, and the 
 license regarded as almost inseparable from a state of war, the most 
 serious apprehensions Avere entertained that the barriers of law and 
 public sentiment so happily restored, in a good degree, might give 
 way before the pressure of this novel influence. For a time, the 
 Sabbath seemed to be the chosen day for the movement and display 
 of troops. Regiment after regiment, enlisted in this city, and from 
 other States, marched the length of the city, and embarked for the 
 seat of war on Sunday, calling our idle population, young and old, 
 by tens of thousands to witness the pageant. The Committee saw 
 the drift of things with pain, but deemed it prudent to forego re- 
 monstrance until the public mind should resume something of calm- 
 ness ; when a brief appeal — " Sabbath in War " — was made to the 
 public and to our municipal authorities, which had a ready response 
 from the press and the people. Various incipient abuses were 
 effectually checked by the police. The arrangements for forwarding 
 troops were modified so as to leave the Sabbath mostly undisturbed 
 — Adjutant-General Hillhouse omitting the Sabbath wholly from the 
 programme Avhich started a regiment for the seat of war each day 
 for a period of some three weeks. The metropolis soon regained its 
 wonted order and quiet, and has passed thus fxr through a period 
 of war with steadily diminishing lawlessness and crime. 
 
 Meanwhile, the movements of our troops at the seat of war be- 
 
14 
 
 came notoriously and needlessly defiant of the claims of the Sabbath. 
 Nearly all the engagements of the three-months' volunteers were on 
 Sunday — and their last huniiliatnig defeat before Manassas was in a 
 Sunday battle. The Christian sentiment of tlie country was out- 
 raged, and expressed itself in calm, sorrowful protest. The Com- 
 mittee, though contemplating chiefly local reforms in its organization, 
 felt constrained to embody Avhat they thought to be just and tem- 
 perate views on the relations of the Sabbath to the Avar — see " Plea 
 for the Sabbath in TFor," Doc. No. 19 — which they gave to the press, 
 and sent in Pamphlet form to the officers of government, civil and 
 military, — thousands of copies having been placed in the hands of 
 line and company officers and soldiers. The copy addressed to the 
 newly-appointed Major-General commanding on the Potomac was 
 accompanied by a private note, August 30, from one who " claimed 
 more than a mere patriot's interest in his public career ; " and ex- 
 pressing the conviction that " no single act would be more potent 
 in conciliating and binding to himself the moral and religious ele- 
 ment of the North, or more stimulate and reassure the Christian 
 patriotism of the country, than one that should link his name with 
 a restored Sabbath for the army and the nation." On the 6th of 
 September, that memorable general order for the protection of the 
 rights of soldiers and citizens to their Sabbath, which may be con- 
 sidered as the most signal moral incident of the war, issued from 
 the cool brain and warm heart of General McClellan : and in a week's 
 time it flew from camp to camp, and from heart to heart, throughout 
 the loyal states ; inspiring hope and foith and zeal for a cause thus 
 redeemed from association with impiety ; and inaxigurating the new 
 regime of discipline, sobriety, patience and energy, under which, 
 with the blessing of the Most High, our armies are gaining victory 
 and renown. 
 
 4. Promotion of the General Sabbath Reform. 
 
 The reaction in favor of the Sabbath from the repeated disasters 
 to our arms in needless Sunday battles, and in connection with the 
 noble utterances of the new General-in-Chief, providentially gave 
 national proportions to a movement which had been chiefly local. 
 The time had apparently arrived for inviting the cooperation of 
 the friends of the Sabbath throughout the country in the eflfort 
 to restore its foundations and restrain its invaders. Especially did 
 the juncture seem favorable for the discussion of the great ]irin- 
 ciples of divine and human legislation on Avhich the Sabbath is 
 based, whether in its sacred or civil relations. With this view 
 the Committee issued their Circular Letter to the clergy — " The 
 
15 
 
 Sabbath and the Pulpit,''' Doc. No. XX. — of which some 5,000 copies 
 were mailed to pastors, besides its neAvspaper circulation. Numer- 
 ous responses have been received to this Letter, and a more general 
 discussion has been given to the Sabbath Question by the Pulpit 
 than perhaps ever before. 
 
 In accordance with this general design, the Committee arranged 
 for a series of Sermons on the Sabbath, on successive Sunday even- 
 ings, which has been eminently successful and useful. The Rev. 
 Drs. Rice, Hague, Ganse, Adams, Foster and Vinton — Pastors of 
 Old- and New-School Presljyterian, Baptist, Reformed Dutch, 
 Methodist and Episcopal churches — have delivered able and in- 
 structive Discourses to immense congregations, on the Origin, His- 
 tory, Authority, Duties, Abuses and Civil Relations of the Christian 
 Sabbath. Newspaper reports of these sermons have gone forth to 
 thousands of clergymen and tens of thousands of Christian readers, 
 encouraging the faith, and stimulating the zeal of all; and the 
 Messks. Carter now have the series in press. 
 
 The Committee have aimed to keep the active friends of the Sab- 
 bath in various parts of this country and in Euroj^e apprised of the 
 progress of the Reform with which they were charged. Their 
 Documents have been widely dispersed. Those in German have 
 been sent in large numbers to leading Christians on the Continent. 
 It is 'with unfeigned gratification that they observe a steady and 
 healthful advance in Sabbath sentiment throughout our country and 
 in the Old World. Among other indications, we may note the ener- 
 getic and successful movements in California for the enactment and 
 enforcement of Sunday Laws ; similar eftbrts in Nevada ; the organi- 
 zation of Sabbath Defence Committees in various cities, and the 
 wide discussion of the subject in the Pulpit and by the Press. In 
 Great Britain, unwonted attention is given to the suppression of 
 Sabbath profanations ; and on the Continent, the proceedings at the 
 Geneva meeting of the "Evangelical Alliance" have led to the 
 organization of efficient Sabbath Associations in Switzerland and 
 elsewhere, with the promise of fruitful results. It may be that the 
 providential prominence given to the Sabbath in our national humi- 
 liations and triumphs, may serve to hold it up to the world with 
 new impressiveness as inseparably associated with order, law, 
 liberty and religion : so that a restored Union and a recovered 
 Sabbath may together vindicate the principles and illustrate the con- 
 ditions of self-governing institutions to the nations of the earth. 
 
 The future of tliis reform is committed to the ordering of the 
 same Divine Hand whose gracious leading we have had occasion to 
 seek and recognize in the past. So long as selfishness and sin exist, 
 
16 
 
 and in the measure of theii" power, will there be occasion for vigi- 
 lant eifort to guard an institution whose sacred claims cross their 
 pathway every recurring seventh day. Only Avhen the light of the 
 Sabbath of Paradise, Sinai and Calvary shall be hailed Avith rever- 
 ence and gratitude by an obedient, Sabbath-keeping, Christian nation, 
 will our work, and that of our successors, be done. 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., 
 NATHAN BISHOP, 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, 
 JNO. ELLIOTT, 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Eecording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (President of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
 JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 WM. A. SMITH, 
 OTIS D. SWAN, 
 WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 F. S. WINSTON, 
 0. E. WOOD, 
 
 Office of the Sabbath Committee, 21 Biblb Hofse, New Toek. 
 
,REC. NOV 1880 
 
 THE S^BB. ^ ^ 
 
 r 
 
 ^VS IT W^S ^ND ^S IT IS. 
 
 Oar ancestors loved tlie Christian Sabbath. In the days of the 
 first Dutch colony of " New Amsterdam," as early as 1647-8, 
 Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General, issued Proclamations and 
 Decrees against the invasion of " the Lord's Day of rest," " to the 
 great annoj^ance of the neighborhood, and to the dishonoring of 
 God's holy laws and commandments, which enjoin upon ns to 
 honor and sanctify Ilim on this holy day of rest." One of the 
 earliest Acts of the " General Assembly of the [English] colony 
 of New York," in 1695, was one entitled, " An Act against the 
 Prophanation of the Lord's Day, called Sunday." 
 
 In 1813 the Legislature of this State passed Laws protecting the 
 Sabbath, based on the colonial act of 1695 ; and they remain in 
 the Revised Statutes. The Metropolitan Police Act prohibits the 
 sale of any intoxicating liquors on Sunday, under a penalty of 
 $50. These are State laws. 
 
 During forty years, from 1797 to 1834, concurrent municipal 
 ordinances were enacted, of a stringent character. They were 
 revi:;ed and rcenacted in 1803, '5, '7, '12, '17, '21, '23 and '27. 
 But in 1834 they suddenly disa-ppeared from our municipal Statute 
 BooJi, and have ceased to exist ! If they were deemed wise and 
 necessary in addition to State legislation, during a long period 
 when our population did not exceed 50,000 or 100,000, was 
 their repeal called for when the city contained half a million 
 souls ? Does the present state of public morals indicate the wis- 
 dom of lessening the restraints of wholesome legislation ? One 
 of the most eminent jurists, now on the Bench of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, has said, "Where there is no Cliris- 
 tian Sabbath, there is no Christian morality ; and without this, 
 free government cannot long be sustained." 
 
 The facts as to the " existing desecration" of the Lord's Day, are 
 sufficiently obvious to all. That they are not more commonly 
 noticed and commented on arises from familiarity with sounds and 
 scenes which would once have offended the eye and pained the 
 ear. The violation of divine laws is so frequent and constant that 
 it almost ceases to move us. It is true that the more respectable 
 
 Sab. C;oiu. ]>oc. IVo. 1. 
 
2 THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 
 
 business classes suspend their ordinary avocations on the Sabbath, 
 and our banks, insurance offices, commission and jobbing houses, and 
 nearly all respectable firms close their places of business. It is also 
 true that the sailing of vessels on the Lord's Day is less frequent than 
 in former years. Perhaps a fifth or sixth part of the population re- 
 pair to some place of public worship, and thousands of Christian &mi- 
 lies in their retirement seek to improve and enjoy the Sabbath hours. 
 
 Meanwhile, steamboats are arriving and departing ; Sunday ex- 
 cursions by 'steamboat and railway carry a depraving influence 
 into and through snbui-ban villages ; groceries and other shops by 
 thousands pursue their wonted traffic ; dance-houses contribute to 
 the guilt}^ pleasure of the godless ; public gardens, with target- 
 shooting, gambling, drinking, and bands of music attract crowds 
 to their haunts ; and in these and numberless other ways the day 
 of holy rest is turned into a saturnalia. 
 
 Of the many specific facts which have come to the knowledge 
 of the Committee, showing the disregard of sacred time, they cite 
 a few — not to reproach jjarticular offenders, but as illustrations of 
 a lamentable declension in this branch of public morals. 
 
 It is understood that one or more of our principal lines of ocean 
 steamers have been accustomed to make their trial trips at such 
 times as to include the Christian Sabbath, 
 
 Some of our large foundries and machine shops, employing 
 many workmen, are known to continue their business on the Sab- 
 bath in active se-isons ; and the repairs and changes of machinery 
 in ocean and river steamers are frequently, if not commonl}-, made 
 on Sunday. The very week of the preparation of this Report, a 
 mechanic applying for admission to one of our churches, repre- 
 sented that he had been turned out of employment in one of these 
 establishments, because of his refusal to work on the Sabbath. 
 
 Many of our sugar refineries make their re})airs on the Lord's 
 Day ; and other manufacturing establishments, like cabinet makers' 
 shops, tobacco factories, &:c., especially those under the control of 
 foreign masters or capitalists, do not cease work on that day. 
 
 Some printing establishments do not scruple to occupy a part 
 of the Sabbath hours, needlessly it is believed, in carrying forward 
 their business. The fact that all do not is a proof that it cannot be 
 indispensably necessary for any. 
 
 Of the issues of the Sunday press, and the methods of distribu- 
 tion, we speak elsewhere. We would only allude here to the 
 
THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 3 
 
 questionable consistency of supporting tins form of desecration, by 
 the advertising patronage of Christian men and Christian firais. 
 
 Sunday funerals, accompanied by military pageants, and bands 
 of music, are not infrequent, and are the cause of just offence to 
 Sabbath-loving citizens, and would seem to be a gratuitous disturb- 
 ance of domestic quiet and of public worship. 
 
 Fire and Target companies sometimes select the Sabbath, for their 
 parades. Eeceutly a Fire Engine company, attended by a band of 
 music, marched through various streets on Sunday, at the time of 
 assembling for Divine service, and paraded in line on Broadway, in 
 front of a Daguerrean gallery, employing the light of heaven on 
 the day of God, to perpetuate the memorial of their profane act. 
 A public garden has recently been opened at Ehinelander's Point, 
 near "Hell Gate," Avhicli draws thousands in the summer season 
 to its haunts, who spend the Sunday in drinking, target firing, and 
 sports of various kinds, after the manner of continental cities. In 
 one instance, a neighbor estimated the gathering at tAventy thou- 
 sand, chiefly Germans. 
 
 But these profanations are not confined to the less informed or 
 emigrant population. "The Academy of Music" has resounded, 
 Sunday night after Sunday night, witli " overtures " and " caprice 
 fantasias " and the applause of thoughtless throngs, who shelter 
 themselves under the pretext of attendance on "Sacred Oratorios." 
 Theatres have also opened their doors for " sacred " performances 
 on Sunday night. Eighteen such "sacred concerts " were given 
 on a single Sabbath in June last. 
 
 But without extending these illustrations, the Committee present 
 some statistical facts, the result of a careful investigation by gentle- 
 men engaged in the City Tract Mission, made at the request of 
 your Committee in June last, Avhich should command profound 
 attention. They reveal a measure of profanation of the Christian 
 Sabbath at which, we are astounded. They are as follows : 
 Number of Shops, ^'c, open on a single Sabbath. 
 Restaurants, . . . . . . . . .437 
 
 Pawnbrokers' Shops, 26 
 
 Policy and Exchange Offices, 34 
 
 Daguerrean Galleries, 54 
 
 Confectionary and Segar Stores, 1,234 ' 
 
 Sabbath Concerts, 18 
 
 Dance-houses and places of amusement 85 
 
 Dry Goods and kindred stores, ..... 2,419 
 
 Groceries, 1,977 
 
 Licjuor Shops and Drinking Saloons, .... 3,408 
 
 Total, 9,692 
 
4 THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 
 
 Making a total of 9,692 places of business and amusement engaged 
 in their ordinary and mostly destructive traffic on the Lord's day, 
 or about one place to every 66 of the entire population. If the 
 average be estimated at 20 of the frequenters and customers of those 
 concerns, it will make nearly 200,000 of our population who may 
 be classed as Sabbath -breakers, and patrons of Sabbath-breakers. 
 Comment would only weaken the force of this appalling state- 
 ment, and we leave it, with all its awful significance, for the study 
 of the friends of sound morals and jiure religion. 
 
 The remaining topic of inquiry assigned to the Committee, as to 
 the " causes of declension " in Sabbath observance, opens a wide 
 and important field of investigation. Only the more prominent 
 influences leading to this result can be noticed. Among these, the 
 most radical and comprehensive will be found to be 
 
 Selfishness and Worldliness. — Men in all branches of business pur- 
 sue their avocations with almost insane intensity. With the suc- 
 cess and expansion of business plans, time grows in value. The 
 hours of the day are not enough ; those of sleep are trenched upon. 
 The claims of family and home must succumb to the demands of 
 business. The Lord's day intervenes, with its holy calm and its 
 sacred rest, presenting its restraints from undue engrossment in 
 worldly plans, and its repose from consuming cares. For a time 
 its beneficent voice is heeded; but one emergency after another 
 arises, when holy time is invaded — secretly at first ; then comes 
 the Sabbath journey, Sabbath visiting. Sabbath letter writing ; the 
 posting of accounts, the plans for money-making, directorship in 
 Sabbath-breaking corporations; and thus the open and habitual 
 desecration of a day once reverenced and regarded. 
 
 God instituted the Sabbath as the great and perpetual barrier 
 against human selfishness, lie gave six days for labor ; but by 
 example and command, set apart the seventh for his own worship, 
 and as a beneficent provision for the refreshment of mind and 
 body from the toils of the week. Time immemorial the struggle 
 has been going on between the selfishness of man, coveting for its 
 purposes those holy hours, and the restraining providence and grace 
 of God guarding from invasion the period prescribed for man's good 
 and the divine glor3^ If there be with us a seeming and tempor- 
 ary triumph, it is the short-sighted triumph of selfishness, already 
 rebuked by the lessons of Providence as to the uncertain tenure 
 
THE SABBATH IN NEW YOEK. Ö 
 
 of ill-gotten gain, more mortifying than defeat. It may be hoped 
 that even worldly wisdom will learn the great truth at last, that 
 it is as uiiprofdahle as it is wrong, to rob God of the time that belongs 
 to Him, as much as the days of labor belong to us. 
 
 Another fruitful cause of the declension in Sabbath observance 
 may be found in the preoccupation and neglect of Christian men. 
 They have not onl}- shared in the general engrossment in business 
 affairs, but their attention has been absorbed by other reformatory 
 enterprises, which have blended with the politics of the country, so 
 that the interests of the Sabbath have been inadequately guarded, 
 and its desecration has come to be so common, as to excite little 
 remark, or awaken little apprehension. The moral atmosphere 
 has become so tainted, that jorofanations which would have shocked 
 the sensibilities of the community thirty years ago, pass unheeded. 
 Or the evils seem so prevalent and overwhelming, as to induce 
 despair of a remedy. Matters of remote concern or of doubtful 
 claims have eclipsed the Decalogue and its everlasting rule of 
 right, until we find our very homes enveloped in the twilight of 
 incipient barbarism ; the whole train of vices, as ever, following 
 close on the heels of Sabbath profanation. A just, manly and 
 Christian regard for the Day of days, on the part of its friends, 
 would have stayed much of the evil we now deprecate. 
 
 The Sunday press has alto contributed powerfully to the dese- 
 cration of holy time. It began its desolating work at about the 
 period of the repeal of our municipal Sabbath ordinances, and 
 journal after journal has furnished its quota of influence to sweep 
 away our Christian Sabbath. These journals are believed to be 
 doing the work of infidelity, and fostering vice and irreligion. 
 Not content with the rights of other parties, and apparently 
 regardless of the feelings of the Christian community, they mono- 
 polise the public streets, and disturb the quiet home, the family 
 devotions, and even the worship of the sanctuary, by the shrill 
 cries of the venders of their sheets. Instead of that sacred still- 
 ness, which is the voice of God to a weary, sinfid world, our homes 
 are thus filled with the sounds of a guilty commerce, and with the 
 Sabbath instructions our children receive are mins;led lessons fi'om 
 the lips of ragged newsboys. From hundreds of voices, penetrat- 
 ing all our abodes, on ever}- Sabbath day, our children and youth 
 are exhorted, " Eemember not the Sabbath to keep it holy." Can 
 there be any occasion for surprise, then, that the rising generation 
 
6 THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 
 
 are fast losing their reverence for all authoritT, human and 
 divine ? 
 
 In this connection we cannot forbear comment on the singular 
 anomaly presented in the fact that by the legislation and practical 
 administration of government of the metropolis of a Christian land, 
 hundreds of ragged urchins perambulate all onr streets; making 
 day hideous with their cries ; preaching a crusade against the 
 Fourth commandment in the unAvilling cars of a whole city, and 
 encouraging the violation of every other by their Avares : lohile an 
 attempt to j^reach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to tliose ivJto might choose 
 to gather in any public square^ hy any C/trisiian pastor, without the 
 v)ritten p)ermission of the Mayor or some one of our aldermen, icould 
 he a misdemeanor p^unishahle hy fine or imp>risonmeni ! 
 
 The extension of our conunerce, and the midtipilication of our lines 
 of communication zvilh the interior of the country have had a ])0\ver- 
 ful tendency to overthrow Sabbath restraints, and to make it a 
 day of traffic. Many of the railroads and steamboat companies 
 carry passengers and freight to and from the city on the Sabbath, 
 as on other days — though with less frequent trips or trains, in some 
 instances. Of course thousands of employees must be robbed of 
 their right to a day of rest, and are demoralized at the same time ; 
 while the classes jnost needing the rest and restraints of the Sab- 
 bath are tempted to leave the city and seelc haunts of dissipation 
 in the environs. The volume of business, too, rolling on through 
 every day, draws with it the thoughts of the trader and shipper. 
 Carmen, hackmen, keepers of hotels, and various other classes, 
 are engrossed in their several avocations ; and to them the enno- 
 bling, refining influence of Sabbath hours is all lost. Material in- 
 terests obtrude on the period assigned by God himself for attention 
 to the intellectual and spiritual. The tramp of the iron horse 
 crushes out the Decalogue, and the noise of the steam whistle 
 drowns the voice of God. 
 
 The increase of European travel engenders familiarity with the 
 views and practices of the continent, and induces a corresponding 
 laxity of Sabbath observance among multitudes of travelers for 
 business or pleasure. A few months' residence at Paris — with 
 its open Louvre, its Sunday military reviews, its St. Cloud or 
 Versailles fountains, its Bois de Boulogne drives, and its general 
 atmosphere of Sabbath holiday desecration, is frequently enough 
 to weaken if not obliterate the "prejudices" of an American edu- 
 
THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 7 
 
 cation ; and it is feared that too many return from that seductive 
 capital, or other continental cities, with serious and often fatal 
 injury to their morals and piety. 
 
 But the most potent cause of Sabbath desecration may be found 
 in the immense emigration from Europe. It appears by the census 
 of 1855, that of the entire population of 629,810, no less than 
 232,678 were born in foreign lands, and that of the voters there 
 were 42,704 naturalized aliens to 46,113 native born. A fraction 
 of the whole number came to us from Sabbath-keeping Scotland ; 
 but the great mass have emigrated from lands where the Sabbath 
 is a gay holiday, or where it is so overlaid by fast and feast days 
 of human appointment, as to be practically superseded in the 
 respect and observance of the people. Congregating here in swarms 
 at particular localities ; retaining their ideas of Sunday as a day 
 of mirth and dissipation ; finding our streets in the possession of 
 newsboys who carry on a traffic in a manner more godless than 
 their eyes and ears were accustomed to even in the Avorst capitals 
 of the old world ; un instructed in the true uses and divine sanc- 
 tions of the Lord's Day ; encouraged to license by the general 
 spirit of lawlessness, contrasted with the stricter governments of 
 force to which they have been familiarised — is it strange that our 
 emigrant population should invade an American and a divine in- 
 stitution they do not understand and have no sympathy with ; or 
 that their imported views and example should weaken the senti- 
 ment and impair the jDOwer of our Christian Sabbath? In- 
 termingled with our church-going population, may be found 
 dwellings, where the piano rings forth the last waltz, or the 
 voice recites snatches from the popular opera ; and a hundred 
 neighboring families are completing their foreign education under 
 gratuitous masters. In the midst of a gToup of decent abodes, the 
 home it may be of virtuous, pious mechanics, a German dance-house 
 is set up ; and the Sunday band and the merry dancers continue 
 their sport the live-long day, and fl\r into the night. A citizen 
 grows weary of the noise and dust of the city, and seeks a resi- 
 dence on the banks of one of our noble rivers : the adjoining place 
 is converted into a "Tea-Garden," and every summer's Sabbath 
 is made the resort of thousands who know no other distinction of 
 days than that which admits a looser rein to passion and pleasure. 
 
 In these and other ways the element of our population, which 
 contributes so much to its material prosperity, becomes a bane to 
 
8 THE SABBATH IN NEW YORK. 
 
 its higher interests. The incursion of Goths and Vandals could 
 hardly be more fatal to morals and religion. The whole atmos- 
 phere is tainted by its breath. Many parts of the city reek with its 
 pollution. Respect for law is waning away. Life and property are 
 becoming insecure. Misrule, peculation and fraud infest our gov- 
 ernment. Crime and pauperism lurk in our streets. Anarchy 
 waits for our doom. Nor need it wait long. Left to ourselves — 
 the restraints which divine mercy has thrown around us in his 
 Holy Law cast off — what can we expect but the invariable visita- 
 tion of the Divine Ruler on rebellious cities and nations ? 
 
 The Committee have thus traced " the liistor}^ of Sabbath ob- 
 servance in New York, with its present condition, and the causes 
 of declension." It is a sad record. We fear that fuller investiga- 
 tion would afford but little increase of light for the picture. True, 
 there are hundreds of Christian churches, whose ministers and 
 worshipers may be supposed to represent the strength of the 
 Sabbath-loving, Sabbath-keeping host. It is also true, perhaps, 
 that if this host were brought face to face with the multitudes who 
 contemn the law of God, w'e might hope for victory, through the 
 arm of Jehovah. But they are not thus brought. We have, in- 
 deed, our Mission Sabbath and Industrial Schools, and our city 
 Tract Mission, and kindred evangelizing ngencies, of more or less 
 potency. But the fact remains painfully apparent, that the salt 
 that might save is too commonly in vessels of self-preservation. 
 The leaven that ought to "leaven the whole lump" is put in bags 
 far from the mass that needs its leavening power. The host that 
 might conquer is in barracks, while the enemy stalks abroad with 
 brazen and unterrified front. Shall not the requisite measures be 
 taken to arouse the intelligent Christian community to the evils 
 and the perils of the existing state of things ? We would express 
 the earnest hope that no time may be lost in devising and applying 
 an adequate remedy, so that our reproach may be wiped away, and 
 that, in the language of good old Peter Stuyvesant, we may "pre- 
 vent the curse of God, instead of his blessing, fldling upon us and 
 our good inhabitants." 
 
'-1^ 
 
 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 >i * • » ' < 
 
 1. Statistics of Sunday TraflSc on Railroads & Canals ; 
 
 2. The Moral Influence of Railroads ; 
 
 3. Economical Motives for Sabbath Observance ; 
 
 4. Religious and Civil Relations of the Sabbath. 
 
 ». • • * ■< 
 
 SECOND DOCUMENT 
 
 NEW YORK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 1858. 
 
 NEW YOUK: 
 PRINTED BY EDWARD 0. JENKINS, 
 
 No. 26 FEANKFOET 6TEEET. 
 
 'TIfTf l tl 
 
RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 The Committee would make grateful mention of the courtesy of 
 the officers of the various Railroad and Canal Companies, to whom 
 they have applied for information respecting their Sabbath arrange- 
 ments. An examination of the facts thus gathered from authentic 
 sources will show, that, while some forms of desecration on our 
 thoroughfai'es remain to be deprecated, an important advance has 
 been made by many of the companies in diminishing their Sunday 
 trains, and that several of them have found it to their advantage 
 wholly to suspend their Sunday traffic. It will be seen that higher 
 motives than those of interest have influenced this result, as would be 
 expected from the character and standing of the parties concerned ; 
 and further changes in favor of cessation from secular toil may be 
 reasonably expected, as the relations of the Sabbath and the respon- 
 sibilities of influential corporations are more fully considered. It is, 
 then, in the spirit of kindness and hope that the Committee would 
 attempt a brief analysis of the information procured, and make such 
 suggestions as seem pertinent to the diflScult and important subject 
 referred to them. 
 
 The scope of present inquiry embraces only the lines of communi- 
 cation diverging from the City of New York, or immediately con- 
 nected with its business, — the great arteries of commerce, through 
 which travel and traffic and moral influences perpetually flow : 
 omitting in this document the discussion of the City Raih'oad ques- 
 tion. The leading facts of the several corporations are as follows : 
 
 The New York and New Haven Railroad Company, forming a part 
 of the great mail route from Boston to New Orleans, " send out a 
 single train (with the mail) at six o'clock p.m., on Sunday, with a 
 passenger car attached, and take only those persons who must go, 
 on account of sickness or death, or any urgent matter that compels 
 them to travel in that train." " The whole number of passengers 
 who rode in that train in January last Avas seventy-four, though 
 there were five Sundays in the month ;" "and the month previous 
 ■ but sixty-five — averaging say fifteen passengers per Sunday." The 
 average number of passengers each Sunday in 1856, was thirteen^ 
 and in 1857 it was seventeen — making the general average for two 
 years fifteen. The train leaving Boston on Sunday night at 8 o'clock 
 does not reach the New Haven road until early Monday morning. 
 The number of passengers by that train is about the same as from 
 New York. 
 
 This experience on one of the most frequented of our great 
 
4 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 thorouglifares is of great value, as furnishing an impartial test of 
 the proportion of public travel rendered necessary by the various 
 emergencies of " sickness or death, or any urgent matter that com- 
 pels" the use of sacred hours. The usual daily average of passen- 
 gers conveyed on this road exceeds three thoxisand (3,292,) or 
 1,030,591 per annum. The average on Sunday \sjiflcen, or less than 
 the one half of one 'per cent, of the ordinary daily communication. Do 
 not these facts demonstrate that onhj the merest fraction of Sunday 
 travel is necessary, and therefore right ? 
 
 Taking these data, in their bearing on the plea of humanity for 
 Sunday Railroad accommodation, and in connection with the fact 
 that about as many men are robbed of their day of rest in the care 
 of the train as are conveyed by it a few hours earlier on errands of 
 necessity or mercy, and the preponderance of humane motives would 
 seem to be on the side of Sabbath-keeping : more especially when 
 we take into account the peace and comfort of probably thrice as 
 many sick and dying along the line as are benefited by the visits 
 of Sunday travelers — to say nothing of the rights and morals of the 
 million, and the offending or hardening of consciences all along the 
 roadway. Are not these facts entitled to the careful consideration 
 of other Boards of Directors, in their humane, as well as their eco- 
 nomical aspects ? 
 
 The Harlem Railroad Company, with a large freighting and pas- 
 senger business, run no passenger trains on the Sabbath on tlieir 
 main line, and but a single freight train : and this, if we rightly 
 interpret the returns, for the transportation of milk alone. The 
 change in this respect is understood to afford great satisfaction 
 along the line, and it may be hoped will be permanent. On the city 
 road, however, the Company employ sixty-five men, and convey an 
 average of 11,566 passengers a month, on Sundays. 
 
 The Hudson River Railroad Company, after an experiment of the 
 opposite policy, which their best friends deprecated and deemed dis- 
 astrous, have discontinued both their passenger and freight trains ; 
 " employ no men, receive no money, and transact no business on Sun- 
 day." The only qualification to tliis gratifying statement is in the 
 arrangement by which a freiglit train arrives about six o'clock on 
 Sunday morning. With this exception, it is represented that their 
 fifteen hundred employes have their weekly season of repose : not 
 a wheel moves, not a whistle screeches, to break in upon the Sab- 
 bath stillness. Their 4,000 daily patrons have occasion to rejoice in 
 the increasing prosperity and safety of the road ; and its bond and 
 
RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 5 
 
 stock holders will be more than content with the simiiltaneoiis in- 
 crease of receipts and diminution of expenditures under a Sabbath 
 keeping regime. 
 
 The Long Island Railroad Company run no Sunday trains, with 
 the exception of one for the transportation of milk, which reaches and 
 stops at Bedford about 9 o'clock a.m. 
 
 The Erik Railroad Company " run three trains over the whole length 
 of the road at this season of the year (March), and four local or 
 way trains, each way, over portions of tlie road, six days in the 
 week, with an average number of passengers (through and way) of 
 about 3,000. Only one passenger train leaves New York on Sunday, 
 and that, carrying the mail, leaves at 5 P. M. No train leaves Dun- 
 kirk on Sunday ; but the train that leaves on other days at 4.25 V. 
 M. leaves Hornelsville for New York at 10.25 Sunday night. The 
 train leaving Dunkirk Saturday afternoon, runs through to New 
 York, arriving Sunday forenoon. No way passenger trains run on 
 any part of the road on Sunday. The number of passengers leav- 
 ing New York on the Sunday train is very small, and the whole 
 number carried is not more than one twentieth of the number carried 
 on other days. 
 
 " The average number of freight trains moving daily on all parts 
 of the road varies according' to the business and the season of the 
 year, from thirty to fifty. No freight is received or sent from New 
 York on Sunday, From Piermont two trains leave for the West ; 
 and from Dunkirk a cattle train leaves for New York on Sunday. 
 No way freight trains are run on any part of the road on Sunday. 
 A milk train leaves Otisville Sunday evening and arrives at midnight. 
 No freight is delivered on Sunday, and consequently no money is 
 collected on that day for freight transportation. 
 
 " The whole number of persons in the emplo}'' of the company in 
 all capacities averages about 4,000 ; of these about 1,500 are em- 
 ployed as conductors, engineers, &c., in running the trains. The 
 number of men employed on Sunday is just as much less than on 
 other days, as the number of trains run is less. No freight being 
 received or delivered at any of the stations on Sunday, consequently 
 the laborers, clerks, &c., are not employed on that day. 
 
 " Our Board of Dii'ectors have recently adopled a resolution that all 
 Sunday labor on the docks in New York and at Piermont be discontimied, 
 except such as may be necessary for the pcrservation of property." 
 
 The intelligent and obliging officer of the road who kindly com- 
 municated the foregoing facts, further writes : 
 
 "Allow me to add that the necessity of running freight trains on 
 Sunday on our road, grows out of the competition with other lines 
 leading to the West. Merchants will ship their goods by the 
 quickest line, and the delay of twenty-four hours on one road would 
 turn from it a large portion of its business. None of the roads 
 leading from New York, so far as I know, receive freight for 
 
6 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 transportation on Sunday ; but I am confident if it were known that 
 goods received on Saturday would not be forwarded by the Bri« 
 road till Monday, we should get very few on tiiat day, and shippers 
 forwarding- their goods by another route on Saturday, would be 
 likely to do the same on all other days. The remedy for this lies 
 with the merchants and Railroad companies. 
 
 May it not be hoped that the "merchants and the Railroad com- 
 panies" will seek a "remedy" in a direction consistent with their 
 true intex'ests, and with the rights of the hard-working operatives in 
 their service ? 
 
 TiTE New York Central Railroad Company start no passenger trains 
 on Sunday, but trains which leave either end of the road on Saturday 
 evening go through. " Freight trains are run as little as possible 
 on Sunday ; but when there is a press on the road they are often 
 run from the actual necessity of getting them out of the way." 
 Such is the statement of the respected officer of the road in reply to 
 o\ir inquirie-s, who adds : 
 
 "I have uniformly opposed Sunday trains on our line. The men 
 require the repose of Sunday, and are fairly entitled to a day of rest. 
 They work the better far it during the toeek. In addition to this, the 
 great body of the passengers wiio would go on Sunday, if the trains 
 were running, go on Saturday or Monday if the road is closed on 
 Sunday. The Company is the gainer by this. I have always urged 
 these reasons, independent of the higher law which miglit be ap- 
 pealed to when discussing this subject. * * * The proper observ- 
 ance of the Sabbath is of great importance to this country. The 
 perpetuity of our institutions depends upon the moral character of 
 the people ; and that cannot be tally developed and maintained 
 without the aid of the Sabbath." 
 
 If views thus sound and practical come to pervade the Board of 
 Direction of this immense Company, as we trust they may, it is be- 
 lieved that it would not be long before " the actual necessity" of 
 moving a wheel on the sacred day would be very infrequent ; or 
 before it would be found "possible" to "do all thy work" in "six 
 days." 
 
 The New Jersey Railroad and Tr4.nsportation Company (extending 
 from Jersey City to New Brunswick,) "run an evening train only 
 on Sunday, leaving New York at six p.m., and New Brunswick 
 about eight o'clock p.m. This train is however so crowded with 
 way passengers, especially in summer, that the Company have been 
 obliged to run a way relief train, about the same hour, between 
 Jersey City and Newark. The average number of passengers on 
 Sunday is about 100 through, and 400 to and from Newark, &c. No 
 freight trains are run on Sunday ; eight freight trains run each way 
 
RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 7 
 
 on secular days. The daily receipts, other than Sundays, are about 
 $3,000 ; on Sunday about $300. The average number of employes 
 is about 121 ; on Sunday evening-, 32. 
 
 " The N. J. R. R. & T. Co. never run their regular way trains on 
 Sunday ; and about twelve years ago, they prevailed on the Post- 
 master-General to dispense with tlip Sunday morning mail line, 
 which then left New York and Philadelphia at nine o'clock a.m. on 
 Sundays, and carried about as many passengers as the present 
 evening mail line. 
 
 " Our Company," continues the respected Vice-President, "felt it 
 their duty to conform to the wishes of the community through which 
 their road passes, and used strong efforts to secure the withdrawal 
 of the morning mail line : and they are 2->crf€dhj satisfied with its 
 results, regarding its omission as conducioe to the true interests of the 
 Company, in the increased efficiency of their operatives and equipments, 
 and the diminished liability to accidents, by not overworking the men, 
 machinery and road, htt giving to all one day of rest.'" 
 
 The Camden and Asiboy Railroad Company run two passenger 
 trains daily, and two freight trains with passenger cars attached. 
 No trains for passengers or freight are run on Sunday, and no men 
 are employed on that day. But the trains leaving New York and 
 Philadelphia at 5 o'clock on Saturday evening arrive at each end of 
 the line early on Sunday mcu'ning. It would seem to be feasible to 
 start those trains earlier on Saturday, to avoid even this partial en- 
 croachment on tlie hours of the Sabbath. 
 
 The New Jersey Central Railroad Company run eight daily pas- 
 senger trains and an equal number of freight trains, on tlic secular 
 days of the week, employing 431 men, and with daily receipts of 
 about $2,000 ; but all business is suspended en the Sabbath. The men 
 enjoy their weekly rest, and the villages along the route are undis- 
 turbed in their Sabbath quiet. 
 
 The Morris and Essex Railroad Company run no Sabbath trains. 
 
 CANALS. 
 
 The canals in the State of New York have an aggregate length 
 of about 900 miles. The number of persons emploj-ed on these 
 works as collectors, forwarders, boatmen, drivers, &c., is estimated 
 at 25,000 ; the number of boats 5685, and the number of horses 
 12,000. It has been stated that of the whole number of persons thus 
 employed, some 6000 are minors, many of whom are orphan hoys. 
 
 So far as is known, the business of the State canals is carried for- 
 ward on the Sabbath without intermission, as on other days. The 
 Locks are all opened on that day as usual, and a population equal to 
 one-fourth of the entire group of the Sandwich Islands, pursues its 
 demoralizing traffic through the heart of a populous Christian State, 
 under cover of the laws of that State 1 
 
8 liAlLROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 We arc happy in being able to present, in contrast with this legal- 
 ized profanation of the Sabbath, the voluntary provisions of a pri- 
 vate corporation, whose directors have had the wisdom and the firm- 
 ness to close their Locks on the Lord's day, and to suspend all busi- 
 ness on their line during consecrated hours. 
 
 The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company employ 1125 boats in 
 the transportation of coal, and 100 in freighting miscellaneous arti- 
 cles, merchandise, &c. They are all prohibited from running on the 
 Sabbath. An aggregate of about four thousand persons are engaged 
 on the canal during the boating season. The opportunities for moral 
 improvement are such as are found in the schools and churches of 
 the different towns and villages through which the canal passes, and 
 in the labors of a missionary employed and paid by the Company. 
 His labors consist in the distribution of tracts and Bibles, personal 
 intercourse and conversation with boatmen, and preaching to them 
 on the Sabbath. The Directors believe that the closing of the Locks 
 has had a very beneficial influence on the morals and deportment of 
 the boatmen, and on the population along the line of the canal. 
 
 The esteemed President adds to this important testimony : "You 
 will perceive that we cannot give very satisfactory answers as to 
 the effect of Sabbath labor on man or beast, because we have had so 
 little experience. We believe it, however, to be highly pernicious 
 to both. When we closed our Locks, (say 23 years ago,) objections 
 were made to it, and some feeling of dissatisfaction was manifested, 
 both by boatmen and the population along the line of the canal. 
 Biit^ 1 have no doubt the fecVing would now be much stronger against a 
 'proposition to open the Locks on the Sabbath." 
 
 The Delaware and Karitan Canal Company close their Locks and 
 bridges every Saturday night at twelve o'clock, and open them 
 again directly after twelve o'clock on Sunday night. Between nine 
 hundred and a thousand boats navigate the canal, and from 5000 
 to 6000 boatmen, raftmen, drivers, and others are immediately con- 
 nected with the business of the canal. All work ceases on the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 From the intcrestiwg letter of the Cashier of the Company we 
 learn, that " the influence of Sabbath observance has been good on 
 the boatmen, and on the inhabitants in the vicinity of the canal. 
 The most intelligent of the captains— all of them, indeed, with a 
 single exception — state that the stoppage of labor on the Sabbath 
 has worked well, and is highly beneficial in a physical point of view 
 to all the force — captains, men, drivers, and horses. In some in- 
 stances, more trips have been made during the year — and I have 
 heard of none making less — than when work was carried on during 
 the Sabbath." 
 
 After stating the history of the efforts for securing the law by 
 
EAILROADS AIJD THE SABBATH. 9 
 
 wliich the canals in New Jersey are closed on the Lord's Day, and 
 of the efforts for the spiritual good of the boatmen, the cashier adds 
 the following : 
 
 " The receipts of the company at their office (Princeton), where 
 almost the entire toll is paid, for the years 1852 and 1853, compared 
 with those of 1856 and 1851 — two years under each system — show 
 an INCREASE OF ONE THIRD Under the plan of a due olservance of tlie 
 Sabbath, as appears from the State Director's Report for these 
 years." 
 
 We regret to state that many of the boats which have passed the 
 Locks at New Brunswick on Saturday are taken in tow by steamers 
 and brought to New York on the Sabbath. Would not the manifold 
 benefits of Sabbath observance on the canal, be experienced by a 
 like regard for sacred laws on the bays and in the harbor of the 
 
 metropolis ? 
 
 REVIEW OP FACTS. 
 
 A review of the facts thus grouped would seem to show that — 
 
 Sunday trains are unprofitable. Whatever exceptions may exist on 
 short city or suburban railways, it is clear that the legitimate busi- 
 ness of a road or canal may all be done in six days, with the econo- 
 my of labor, machinery, etc., of one day. The testimony of some of 
 the most influential managers of these companies is explicit on this 
 point ; and experiment, in one instance extending over a quarter of 
 a century, accompanied by almost unprecedented prosperity, would 
 appear to be conclusive. It is believed that the experience of the 
 companies in New England, nearly all of which keep the Sabbath, will 
 confirm this position. Corporations, as well as individuals, find that 
 in keeping the Commandments of the Lord " there is great reward." 
 
 Sunday trains are unnecessary. Humanity does not claim them, as 
 is shown by the instructive facts of the N. Y. & N. H. E.. R. Compa- 
 ny. Commerce can dispense with them : it can well be content with 
 the amazing increase of facilities for the transportation of manufac- 
 tures, merchandise, and the products of the earth, as compared with 
 other days; andean afford to let every wheel stand still one seventh 
 part of the time, as a security for the gains of the remaining six days. 
 The correspondence of the country, already expedited with five or 
 ten-fold rapidity as contrasted with the days of stage-coaches and 
 post-riders, may forego, without essential loss, the Sunday mail and 
 the demoralization of Government employes which hazards remit- 
 tances by post, — especially since the Telegraph affords the means of 
 instant communication with distant correspondents in all cases of 
 emergency. The fact that in the great metropolis of the world aJI 
 
10 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 post-office business on the Sabbath has been given up, for years, fa- 
 vors the view that the invasion of sacred time by Postal arrange- 
 ments cannot be necessary. What interest, then, compels the use 
 of these thoroughfares on the Lord's day ? 
 
 But if Sunday trains are not necessary, are they right 7 The laws 
 of the State only except from their prohibitions of labor on the first 
 day of the week works of " charity and necessity." Their whole 
 spirit is opposed to secular toil on that day. Is it too much to claim 
 that the potent example of great companies, extending their lines of 
 communication in every direction over the State, shall not be em- 
 ployed so as to bring its laws into contempt, or so as to weaken the 
 moral restraints essential to the peace and well-being of its citizens ? 
 But, all human laws aside, the unrepealed statutes of Heaven fur- 
 nish the unerring standard of right for men and for associations of 
 men : and we see not how, in view of their requirements, to vindi- 
 cate any systematic and unnecessary arrangements for secular busi- 
 ness seven days in a week. In the long run, we cannot believe such 
 business will have the blessing of Heaven. The general remark of 
 Chancellor Frelinghuysen must have specific applications — " God has 
 written the solemn truth on the whole line of His Providence, as 
 well as on the pages of His word, that the people who despise His 
 Sabbaths must suffer His frowns." 
 
 THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF RAILROADS. 
 
 The Railroad interest has become one of the most important in 
 the financial and commercial world. Stretching its net-work of 
 intercommunication over our broad land ; absorbing nearly a thous- 
 and millions of dollars of capital ; employing tens of thousands of 
 our population — its influence on the character of the country 
 has come to bear some proportion to that it exerts on its business 
 and wealth. As a civilizer, the power of Railways can hardly 
 be over-estimated. The snort of the iron horse as he rushes through 
 the forest, or over the prairie, or along the valley, wakes the indo- 
 lent to effort, and breaks in upon the stupor of hopeless isolation. 
 Our enterprising settlers gather along the line of the newly-opened 
 thoroughfare, as in other days on river-banks ; and villages spring 
 up around the stations as if by magic, with many of the appli- 
 ances of Christian civilization. Thousands of such communities 
 already exist, and contribute their quota to the tide of national 
 prosperity and greatness, — where not a habitation would have been 
 found but for the iron road and the locomotive. All honor to the 
 enterprizc that has planned and executed these gigantic monuments 
 of the wealth and industry of the United States ! 
 
RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 11 
 
 The moral iiißucnce of the Railroad system is a matter of immense 
 moment. If it be made the channel for the diffusion of a corrupt and 
 debasing- literature; or the means of training a multitude in its 
 service and along its lines of communication in habits of godless- 
 ness ; or if it become the medium of invading the hours of sacred 
 repose guaranteed by the laws of Grod and man to the communities 
 bordering upon its thoroughfares — then will its pecuniary and com- 
 mercial advantages furnish an inadequate offset to the injuries it 
 will inflict on interests of infinitely higher concern. Valuable as 
 the Locomotive may be — it is less valuable than the Decalogue ; 
 and if it cannot do its appointed work without running over " the 
 tables of stone," it were better that it never run at all. 
 
 It is believed that the tendency of the Eailroads of the country, 
 under proper regulations, would be greatly to diminish the amount 
 of intemperance, Sabbath-breaking and kindred vices. Multitudes 
 of animals employed on stage routes, with their army of drivers, 
 ostlers and hotcl-keepei^, are already freed from the exhausting Sab- 
 bath service of other days. The increased ease and rapidity of com- 
 munication takes away the excuses for Sabbath traveling of many 
 who have long distances to go by land or water, and for the use of 
 stimulants to restore over-taxed powers. The arrangements of 
 many companies for the exclusion of intoxicating drinks at refresh- 
 ment houses, and for entire rest on the Lord's day, contribute to 
 good morals. And to a greater extent than is commonly supposed, 
 all needful mail facilities being furnished by six days of Railroad 
 communication, the Post-office authorities and the Railroad compa- 
 nies have found it alike for their interest to suspend Sunday mail 
 trains. May it not be hoped that, ere long, the combined dictates 
 of interest and duty will prompt to the consummation of this volun- 
 tai-y and beneficent reform : so that as the sun rises on our New 
 England hills, and gilds our central States with his morning beams, 
 and pours his meridian splendor on the basin of the Mississippi, and 
 sheds his declining rays on the Pacific slope, over our broad conti- 
 nent he shall look down each seventh day on commerce in repose ; 
 industry renewing its vigor ; thoroughfares without a train or a 
 traveler ; " Deep calling unto deep" — the Atlantic unto the Pacific 
 — " This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be 
 glad in it ; " and a grateful nation rendering its homage to " the 
 Lord of the Sabbath." 
 
 ECONOMICAL MOTIVES FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE. 
 
 Many considerations would seem to prompt to the entire ceesation 
 
12 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 of secular labor ou the Sabbath on our thoroughfares — other than 
 those of general application. They may be briefly stated as follows : 
 The interest of stockholders. They entrust the manageinent of 
 millions of money to other parties. The immensity of the trust for- 
 bids personal oversight. Confidence must be a large element in such 
 relations. Conscience is relied on to control the administration of 
 a complicated and responsible business. But what security can the 
 stockholder have for the right employment and just returns of his 
 capital, if one vital principle of the moral law is systematically dis- 
 regarded ? If the Fourth Commandment is contemned, has he any 
 adequate security against the violation of the eighth ? If the claims 
 of God do not bind the conscience, will the rights of men fare any 
 better ? 
 
 The security oj" property and tlie profilühlt emj)Ioymcnt of capital de- 
 mand a regard for the Sabbath. No interest is more dependent on 
 a healthful state of public morals than liailroads. Let the fear of 
 God and the restraints of the Sabbath be removed from a community, 
 and private malice or wantonness would soon convert a Railway 
 track into a man-trap. "Accidents" — wliolesale assassinations 
 would follow in the wake of general demoralization. And human 
 law would be comparatively powerless for the protection of an 
 extended and exposed line of communication. What would Railroad 
 stock be worth with a lawless and imbruted population along the 
 roadway ? Does not every countenance given to a parent evil become 
 suicidal, in such a view ? 
 
 The discipline of a Railroad requires a day of religious rest for the 
 employes. Prompt, implicit obedience, forethought, conscientious 
 fidelity, undeviating honesty, are essential requisites on the part of 
 station-masters, conductors, and all parties employed on our thor- 
 oughfares. How many trains have been smashed, and how many 
 lives lost, by an unauthorized change of five minutes in the time 
 table, or by the careless manipulation of a switch ? But how can 
 men be expected to regard scrupulously the rights of others, when 
 their own right to a seventh part of time for physical, intellectual, 
 and moral improvement is denied to them ? AVhat basis is there 
 for a nice sense of responsibility when the moral law is practically 
 ignored ? Or how can a rigid obedience to the laws of a corporation 
 be expected, when the example of disobedience to a divine require- 
 ment on the part of the corporation itself is habitual and conscious ? 
 What security can there be for the honesty of the employes who 
 violate the Sabbath, or what certainty that the gains of Sunday 
 
RAILKOADS AND THE SABBATH. 13 
 
 are not filched from the earnings of other days ? [" I should never 
 doubt the honesty," says Judge McLean, " of a man who, from prin- 
 ciple, keeps the Sabbath day holy."] Or how can the powers be 
 fresh and vigorous, so as to meet the constant emergencies of a 
 perilous service, when they are overtasked, and the opportunities 
 are denied for recuperation required by the laws of being and the 
 commandment of Heaven ? It is not necessary to refer to the direct 
 Providence of God in explanation of the frequent disastrous oc- 
 currences connected with Sabbath-breaking conveyances — though 
 there are instances enough on record, taken in connection with the 
 history of God's care for His day, to deter a believer in the Bible 
 from trifling with holy time. An adequate cause may commonly be 
 found in the carelessness, or stupidity, or false judgment of men 
 whose moral natures lack the tonic influence of the Sabbath, and 
 whose physical and mental poAvers have been weakened by pro- 
 tracted and unintermitted tension. 
 
 T/ie safety of passengers urges a regard for the Sabbath. The esti- 
 mation placed on human life is one of the best tests of the degree 
 of civilization attained by a nation. Humanity and self-interest 
 alike prompt to the lessening of all liabilities to casualty in public 
 conveyances. But with men and machinery tasked to their utmost 
 by seven days' toil in a week, the exposure to casualties is greatly 
 increased, as we have shown, and in that proportion the patrons of 
 Railroads are imp(;riled in person and property. The pecuniary 
 responsibility of Railroads, in the nature of insurance on life, is im- 
 mense at best — so heavy, indeed, as to deter many capitalists from 
 investing in such securities on that very ground : but how is it en- 
 hanced when, to all other liabilities, is superadded that caused by 
 contempt for a natural and moral law, as imperative as the law of 
 gravitation ? 
 
 The peace and good morals of the communities through which our 
 Railroads pass would be promoted by their cessation from business on 
 the Sabbath. The tendencies toward a lax observance of the day 
 are strong enough to press hard on the barriers of conscience and 
 habit, in every community, without the additional motive of curi- 
 osity to witness the Sunday arrivals at the rail\ray station, and the 
 stir and bustle of omnibuses, carriages, porters, hotel-keepers, and 
 the corrupting influences too often clustering around a railway 
 depot. There are causes enough of diversion from the appropriate 
 duties and enjoyments of the home and the sanctuary, without the 
 noise of trains and the whistling of engines on the day of rest. 
 Every household has a right to the quiet and repose which the Sab- 
 
14 KÄILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 bath was appointed to secure ; and every community has an equal 
 right to the moral safeguards which the Sabbath brings. Self-inter- 
 eet may not sacrifice these rights of the many to the convenience or 
 profit of the few. A corporation may not over-ride or ignore the 
 religious convictions and the highest interests of the great body of 
 the people. And especially may the suburban population protest, 
 as they have often protested, against any arrangements by which 
 their country retirement is broken up, their grounds infested, their 
 gardens and orchards robbed, and their families thrown into con- 
 sternation by the Sunday excursionists poured out upon them in the 
 summer season, by land and water. The gains of such a business 
 will be poorly compensated, if our suburbs are made so dangerous 
 and unpleasant as to prevent respectable citizens from establishing 
 their homes there, and thus cutting off a considerable and inci'eas- 
 iug source of legitimate revenue from our Eailroads and Steam- 
 boats. 
 
 RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RELATIONS. 
 
 But we have too much respect for the intelligence and moral prin- 
 ciple of gentlemen concerned in the direction of our Railroad Cor- 
 porations to suppose that they have not anticipated us, in considering 
 liigher motives than those of interest in their bearing on this sub- 
 ject. They would blush to be thought to merge their individual re- 
 sponsibility in their corporate relations, and to ignore religious obli- 
 gations by the plea, that " corporations have no souls." They de- 
 voutly recognize the Supreme Being and His ruling hand in other 
 connections, and expect to give up their individual account in the 
 final day for these, as for other acts of earthly stewardship. And 
 none would be more displeased than themselves to be thought inca- 
 pable of appreciating the motives affecting this question, drawn from 
 the Word and Providence of God, and the moral and religious well- 
 being of the people. 
 
 We would, then, respectfully, but with all the earnestness of men 
 who associate the Sabbath with the creation and redemption of the 
 world, and with their personal hopes and future prospects, urge 
 the entire cessation af needless secular labor on our thoroughfares en the 
 Christian Sabbath : 
 
 Because it is a sacred day. The Word and Example of God have 
 " sanctified it" from the dawn of time. "The Decalogue hallowed it 
 forever. The Saviour of the world confirmed and illustrated its uni- 
 versal obligation and its humane intent, in divine teachings and by 
 miraculous power. Ilis Resurrection is commemorated by it It is 
 
RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 15 
 
 " the LorcPs day,^^ " made for " the rest and worship of " man." He who 
 made it guards it : and to profane it is to contend with its Author. 
 
 It is a blessed day. The poor profit by its repose : the rich are re- 
 minded by its recurrence of their stewardshrip. It comes to break in 
 upon worldly engrossment, and elevate the soul to purer and more 
 ennobling joys than earth affords. It gives to the family its period 
 for social communion and religious instruction ; it invites to the 
 Bible and the Sanctuary, and the preached word ; it is the day of 
 destiny to millions of our race ; it is the type of Heaven. Him that 
 keeps it, God will keep : he who desecrates it, tramples on one of his 
 choicest blessings. 
 
 It is a day vital to the prosperity of pure religion. The world over, 
 the prevalence and power of true religion may be measured by the 
 degree of sacredness with which the Sabbath is observed. So that 
 influences tending to its desecration have a direct bearing antago- 
 nistic to man's highest interests, and to the well-being of society. 
 Individual hostility to the Gospel and its fundamental institutions 
 must be expected : but the friends of religion have a right to de- 
 mand that the commerce and wealth of the country, represented in 
 the immense corporations they have created, shall not be employed 
 in breaking down the barriers by which vice and irreligion are held 
 in check, or in weakening and destroying the very institutions to 
 which they owe a large measure of their security and prosperity. 
 
 It is a day of paramount importance to the purity and perpetuity of 
 our free institutions. Despots may find their account in converting 
 the Sabbath into a holiday, and diverting their subjects from their 
 miseries by pastimes and idle sports. But the sturdy virtue and 
 self-discipline necessary to a successful experiment of self-govern- 
 ment, can only coexist with the universal respect of the masses for 
 law, human and divine. The influence of the example of respecta- 
 ble bodies of men in the public violation of the Fourth Command- 
 ment, must weaken the power of conscience as to all other moral 
 precepts. Our children and youth are liable to grow up with a fee- 
 ble sense of moral obligation, and with inadequate convictions of 
 parental, governmental, or divine authority. Foreign emigrants, find- 
 ing here neither the restraints of law nor of armies, may confound 
 freedom with license, and undermine and deprave the very institu- 
 tions that invite and shelter them ; whereas, a manifest and invaria- 
 ble regard for the Law of the Sabbath on all our lines of intercom- 
 munication, would serve to impress on the minds of these new com- 
 ers, and on the population along their borders, the great lesson that 
 the freedom here enjoyed is associated with the voluntary rccogni- 
 
16 RAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 tion of Divine Authority, and subordinated to the Supreme Ruler. 
 The question " whether we are to continue to be a Sabbath-keeping, 
 virtuous, free, and happy people ; and whether out blessings are to 
 go down to future generations, will depend much, very much, upon 
 the question, whether our numerous Railroads are to be Sabbath- 
 keeping or Sabbath-breaking concerns." 
 
 In conclusion, we would echo the truthful and eloquent sentiments 
 of the clergy of our city : 
 
 " The day of holy rest, to a land bearing the Christian name, and 
 to a republic based on equal rights, has the highest Civil Worth. 
 Man needs it, physically, as a season when Labor may wipe ofi' its 
 grime, and breathe more freely after a week's exhaustion, and when 
 Care shall slacken its hold upon the frame and the heart. Man needs 
 it, morally, to rise by its aid out of engrossing secularities and mate- 
 rialism to the remembrance of his spiritual interests, his iinal ac- 
 count, and his eternal destiny. Toil needs it to rescue its share of 
 rest, and its season of devotion from the absorbing despotism of 
 Capital ; and Capital needs it, to shield its own accumulations from 
 the recklessness and anarchy of the imbruted and the desperate, and 
 to keep its own humanity and conscientiousness alive. The Stale 
 needs it, as a safeguard of the public order, quiet and virtue ; hu- 
 man laws becoming, however wise in form, effete in practice, except 
 as they are based upon conscience and upon the sanctions of Eter- 
 nity, as recognized voluntarily by an intelligent people ; and God's 
 day cultivating the one and reminding us of the other. And in a 
 Republic more especially, whose liberties, under God, inhere in its 
 virtues, the recognition — freely and devoutly, — by an instructed na- 
 tion, — of Gud's paramount rights is the moral underpinning requisite 
 to sustain the superstructure of man's rights ; and without such 
 support from religion, — not as nationally established, but as person- 
 ally and freely accepted, — all human freedom finally moulders and 
 topples into irretrievable ruin." 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Cuairman, 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M.D. GEORGE W. LANE, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 JOHN M. BRUCE, Jr., GEORGE N. TITUS, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER. WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 
 WARREN CARTER, W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 E. L. FANCHER, E. C. WILCOX, 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, F. S. WINSTON, 
 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 0. E. WOOD. 
 
 Sabbath Committee, 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Rec. Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Cor. Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank,) Trcamrcr 
 
 m" OFFICE, NO. 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 
 
NEWS-CRimO AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 1. Memorial of Citizens. 
 
 2. Action of the Municipal Authorities. 
 
 3. The Daily Press on the Memorial and its Results. 
 
 4. The Religious Press on the Memorial. 
 
 5. The Sunday Press on the Memorial. 
 
 [Third Document of the New York Sabbath Committee.] 
 
 Memorial against the Crying of Newspapers on Sunday. 
 
 To the Mayor and Police Commissioners of New York: 
 
 Honored Siks, — We place in your hands herewith a copy of a note re- 
 cently addressed to the Proprietors of Sunday Newspapers in this city. It 
 would afford us great satisfaction to learn that the nuisance therein re- 
 monstrated against has been voluntarily abated. Should this hope be dis- 
 appointed, we would respectfully invoke the intervention of the constituted 
 guardians of the public peace and morals, to deliver our over-worked 
 citizens from the disturbance of their repose, and the interruption of their 
 public and private devotions, on their only day of rest, by the loud crying 
 and illegal sale of Sunday papers. 
 
 Beginning with the occasional sale of an extra-journal — issued on the ar- 
 rival of exciting news from abroad — the crying of newspapers has grown 
 into a system, extending over the entire city ; so that, on Sunday morning, 
 several hundred boys traverse our streets again and again, vociferating 
 the titles of a large number of journals, tempting to the purchase by an- 
 nouncing their contents or their price, and transacting their business with 
 an utter disregard for the rights or feelings of orderly citizens, or for the 
 sacred character of the Lord's day. These cries are so loud and discord- 
 ant as to forbid sleep, when sleep is necessary for refreshment after a 
 week of toil ; to disturb the quiet of the sick room ; often to interrupt 
 domestic conversation and worship ; to arrest the parent or the Sabbath- 
 school teacher when imparting religious instruction ; and even to disturb 
 Christian congregations in their acts of solemn worship. 
 
 We can regard this nuisance in no light than will aiford for it justifica* 
 
tion, compensation, or even apology. No public interest is promoted l)y 
 it. No private necessity demands it. Other methods are open for supply-- 
 ing the patrons of the Sunday press. And there arc other and appropriate 
 employments for the boys engaged in this business on the Christian Sab- 
 bath. We protest against the evil, then, 
 
 1. Because it is a school of vice to the boys engaged in it. They go 
 forth to their business with the knowledge that they are defying the public 
 sentiment, and outraging the feelings of all Christian families. Their 
 young consciences are hardened, and their character depraved by the very 
 nature of their occupation, and they are receiving thus a training for 
 criminals and outlaws. Then their Sunday earnings are very often spent 
 in petty gambling, drinking, or in vulgar amusements. To a great extent, 
 the Sunday newsboys are not the same who are engaged in the sale of 
 papers during the week ; but they come from other employments that they 
 may earn the means of attending theatres, or of enjoying other sources of 
 amusement or dissipation on Sunday evenings. Few of the parents of 
 these lads, if they have any, are benefited by their Sunday trade. Surely 
 the petty gains of the newsboys can be no offset to the debasing influence 
 of their traffic, and furnish no warrant for defying the rules of courtesy and 
 decency. We believe the good of these children requires that they should 
 be restrained from their demoralizing Sunday occupation. 
 
 2. The evil example of these boys is disastrous to the juvenile popula- 
 tion of the city. Parental restraints are feeble enough at best, where 
 fathers are so immersed in business as scarcely to see their children dur- 
 ing six days of the week ; and when the Sabbath — " the poor man's day" 
 — recurs, the heads of families have a rig/d to its aid in domestic discipline 
 and instruction, without the interposition of street influences unfriendly to 
 order, morals, or religion. The teachers of Sabbath-schools, numbering 
 5,000 or 6,000, may well claim that their beneficent labors among 30,000 
 children shall not be counteracted by a few hundred urchins, at the very 
 time of their gratuitous and self-denying efforts. The tax-payers of the 
 city, and voluntary contributors, who bear heavy burdens for the support 
 of Juvenile Asylums, Children's Aid Societies, and Public and Industrial 
 Schools, for the mental and moral elevation of the young, may, and do 
 complain of a system antagonistic to 'all these indispensable agencies of 
 good. If a vital precept of the moral law be openly and systematically 
 disregarded with impunity by the street boys, may wc not cease to won- 
 der at the growing violation of other statutes, or at the fearful records of 
 juvenile crime in our city ? 
 
 3. This system implies an unwarrantable monopoly. Nearly every class 
 of business is suspended on the Lord's day, out of deference to public sen- 
 timent, or from motives of interest or duty. The spirit of our laws be- 
 friends the laboring classes, and protects them in the enjoyment of needed 
 repose. By almost universal consent the gains of one day are foregone, 
 
that health and happiness for both worlds may be cared for. But if one 
 kind of secular business may be carried forward, why not all kinds? If 
 boys may pervade our streets on Sunday mornings with their cries, why 
 may not men traverse the same streets on Sunday afternoons with hand- 
 organs or gongs 1 If the newsboy may cry his wares, why not the oyster- 
 man his oysters, and the dealers in wood, charcoal, fish, brooms, images, 
 and every thing else, pursue their noisy traflSc, and thus destroy the day 
 of rest for the laboring man and the day of worship for the religious man ? 
 Nay, is there not a stronger claim for these branches of business, inas- 
 much as they supply an occasional and irregular want, while the news- 
 papers, if needed at all, may be served noiselessly at the door, as on other 
 daj's. 
 
 4. The crying of newspapers on Sunday is an invasion of the claims of 
 courtesy and good neighborhood. Even if it interfered with no rights and 
 involved no peril to public and private morals, it were a breach of good 
 manners to obtrude wares upon a whole community at an untimely period, 
 knowing that but here and there an individual is to be provided with 
 them. What would be thought of an over-zealous Christian who should 
 thrust himself into a theatre or a ball-room to cry and sell Bibles and 
 tracts ? What of a missionary who should traverse the streets fifty times 
 of a morning, and cry at the top of his voice, " Remember the Sabbath 
 day to keep it holy:" "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand?" It 
 would be justly considered as ill-mannered and offensive, even though 
 seven-tenths of the population were in sympathy with his object. 
 
 5. This system is a flagrant violation of the rights of our citizens. Every 
 man has an inalienable right to a weekly day of rest, and he robs himself 
 who gives it up. The Sabbath is the poor man's friend — the bulwark of 
 labor against the encroachments of capital. And every man has a right 
 to the peaceful enjoyment of his day of rest. Government fails of its duty 
 if it do not secure this, leaving to the individual conscience the mode of 
 observing the day and profiting by its privileges. But these rights are 
 invaded when from early dawn till mid-day, and, not unfrequently, at all 
 hours of the day, stentorian lungs break the repose or disturb the worship 
 of families, by vociferating the titles and contents of newspapers, and 
 compelling worldly associations like those which have wearied the brain 
 and engrossed tke energies during the week. 
 
 We deem it unnecessary to extend this discussion. The remedy for the 
 evil we expose rests primarily with the publishers of the Sunday papers, 
 and we trust they will promptly apply it. The newsboys themselves may 
 sometimes be unconscious of the wrong they are doing. Many of thera 
 probably know little of the laws of God or man, and are perhaps the un- 
 witting agents of more intelligent parties. We seek no harsh measures 
 for the poor lads : but we would respectfully urge the abatement of this 
 evil, for the sake of the newsboys themselves, for the sake of our juvenile 
 
population, for the sake of order and good morals, for the sake of our 
 families, Sabbath-scliools, and Christian assemblies, for the good name of 
 our city, and for the sake of restoring and perpetuating a quiet, refresh- 
 ing, sacred Sabbath to the business-driven and wearied citizens of the 
 metropolis you so worthily govern and protect. 
 
 With the highest respect 
 
 Yoiir obedient fellow-citizens, 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, 
 J. M. MORRISON, 
 E. L. BEADLE, 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 WARREN CARTER, 
 THOMAS C. DOREMÜS, 
 E. L. FANCHER, 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 GEORGE W. LANE, 
 GEORGE N. TITÜS, 
 WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 E. C. WILCOX, 
 
 F. S. WINSTON, 
 O. E. WOOD, 
 PELATIAH PERIT, 
 WILSON G. HUNT, 
 WM. V. BRADY, 
 JOHN C. GREEN, 
 JAMES BROWN, 
 JAMES HARPER, 
 DANIEL LORD, 
 CALEB O. HALSTED, 
 S. R. BETTS, 
 JAMES W. GERARD, 
 JOSIAH LANE, 
 ABNER L. ELY, 
 
 W. C. WETMORE, 
 JNO. SLOSSON, 
 GEO. DOUGLAS, 
 MARSH. S. BIDWELL, 
 JASPER CORNING, 
 HIRAM KETCHUM, 
 
 GREENE C. BRONSON, 
 TILLY ALLEN, 
 WM. CURTIS NOYES, 
 WILLIAM TRACY, 
 DAVID PARISH, 
 F. E. CHURCH, 
 JOHN LUQUEER, 
 J. G. ALLEN, 
 S. T. SKIDMORE, 
 BENJAMIN L. SWAN, 
 S. B. SCHEIFFELIN, 
 PHILETUS H. HOLT, 
 THOMAS DENNY, 
 WH. H. SMITH, 
 A. R, WETMORE, 
 T. KETCHUM, 
 R. L. STUART, 
 JAS. M. TAYLOR, 
 H. M. SCHEIFFELIN, 
 GEO. D. PHELPS, 
 JAMES DONALDSON, 
 JAS. D. OLIVER, 
 ALEXANDER STUART, 
 JAMES C. HOLDEN, 
 GEO. MATHER, 
 S. B. WOODRUFF, 
 
 C. W. MOORE, 
 J. T. MOORE, 
 RICHARD BELL, 
 JOSEPH STUART, 
 
 D. H. ARNOLD, 
 CHARLES J. MARTIN, 
 ALFRED EDWARDS, 
 WM. ALLEN BUTLER, 
 JAMES L. GRAHAM, 
 DAVID CODWISE, 
 SHEPHARD KNAPP, 
 WILLIAM FORREST, 
 
 PETER COOPER, 
 JNO. P. CROSBY, 
 C. A. DAVISON, 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 W. R. VERMILYE, 
 JOHN SLADE, 
 
 E. D. MORGAN, 
 J. N. PHELPS, 
 JOHN J, PHELPS, 
 
 B. W. BONNEY, 
 RICHARD M. HOE, 
 CHAS. P. KIRKLAND, 
 W. C. GILMAN, 
 
 L. ATTERBURY, JR., 
 
 C. CROLIUS, 
 
 N. L. M'CREADY, 
 ISAAC T. SMITH, 
 CHAS. M. LEUPP, 
 WM. C. MARTIN, 
 LORING ANDREWS, 
 T. C. CHARDAVOYNE, 
 CHAS. MILES, 
 
 D. FANSHAW, 
 JAMES STOKES, 
 ANSON G. PHELPS, 
 JOS. KERNOCHAN, 
 
 F. F. MARBURY, 
 GRIFFITH THOMAS, 
 THOMAS EGLESTON, 
 JOSEPH BATTELL, 
 
 A. B. NEILSON, 
 PETER V. KING, 
 THOMAS TILESTON, 
 THOMAS H, FAILE, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 
 B. F. BUTLER, 
 JNO. L. MASON. 
 
NOTE OF THE SABBATH COMMITTEE TO THE SUNDAY PRESS. 
 
 [The followiug note, alluded to in the above memorial, was addressed to the Proprietors 
 of the Sunday newspapers :] 
 
 To THE Proprietors op Sunday Newspapers : 
 
 New York, April 30th, 1858. 
 
 Gentlemen, — On our own behalf, and in the name of our fellow-citizens, we would 
 respectfully remonstrate against the Crying of Newspapers on Sunday. 
 
 This systematic nuisance is believed to be peculiar to this city. We can find no sanc- 
 tion for it in the principles of comity or morality. It is an invasion of the rights of the 
 people, who have a claim to one day in seven for uninterrupted rest and worship, by the 
 laws of being, and by the statutes of God and man. It is a violation of courtesy and 
 good neighborhood, — a selfish subjection of the community, in their homes and sanctuaries, 
 to a disturbance of their quiet, for the convenience or profit of a few. It demoralizes the 
 newsboys, who need the influence of the family and the school instead of the apprenticeship 
 in vice and crime to which they are tempted and frequently drawn by their immoral gains. 
 It corrupts the children and youth of our city by universal evil example ; tends to coun- 
 teract the efforts of parents, teachers, and of institutions ot an educational and reformatory 
 character, for the instruction and reformation of the young ; encourages the spirit of law- 
 lessness, and engenders irreverence for all authority, human and divine. It furnishes a 
 dangerous precedent : for if the least necessary and most offensive business may be done on 
 the day of rest, it will not long enjoy a monopoly of evil : the general desecration of the 
 Christian Sabbath may follow, bringing with it the undermining of the foundations of 
 morality and religion, the opening of the floodgates of dissipation and crime, and the ulti- 
 mate inauguration of a week without a Sabbath, and " without God." 
 
 The people of this city and the strangers visiting the metropolis have long endured, 
 without approving, the evil of which we complain — its very magnitude and universality 
 furnishing hitherto a security for the authors of it. Should it not be abated ? May we 
 not, without argument, appeal to you, as gentlemen and good citizens, to discourage and 
 
 suppress it i [Autograpli signatures of the members of the Committee.'] 
 
 ACTION OF THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES. 
 
 The preceding memorial was presented May 20 ; and, after discussion, its prayer was 
 granted. Pursuant to the action of the Police Commissionei's, the following order to 
 the Captains of Police was promptly issued by the General Superintendent, May 22. 
 
 Office of Superintendent of Police, 
 New York, May 22. 
 
 Sir : — The Commissioners of Police have directed the General Superintendent to enforce 
 the law prohibiting the sale of wares and merchandize on the Sabbath, and also to prevent 
 the crying of newspapers on that day. The 21st section of a law establishing a Metro- 
 politan Police District forbids the sale of intoxicating liquors on that day, under a pen- 
 alty ; and other statutes of the State prohibit the sale of other articles of merchandize on 
 the Sabbath. 
 
 The crying of newspapers on Sunday disturbs the quiet of the day, and is a violation of 
 law, and is a subject of earnest complaint by a large body of our most respectable citizens. 
 You will instruct the men under your command not only to report all violations of the 
 Sabbath, but to suppress the crying of newspapers on that day. The law authorizes the 
 forfeiture of all property exposed for sale on that day, except milk and fish in the morning. 
 
 Before enforcing the rigid provisions of the law, you will caution the persons crying the 
 papers, of the consequences of such violations of the law, and only upon its repetition will 
 you enforce its provisions. F. A. Tallmadge, Superintendent of Police. 
 
THE DAILY PRESS ON THE MEMORIAL AND ITS RESULTS. 
 
 From the Courier and Enquirer, May 22. 
 
 Sunday Disturbance. — We publish in another cohimn an ably-drawn memorial, ad- 
 dressed to the Mayor and Police Commissioners in favor of the suppression of crying 
 newspapers in the streets on Sunday. It is signed by a large number of our most respected 
 citizens, and we are pleased to know that it has met with a most favorable reception. 
 This practice is a nuisance which ought to have been abated long since, and would have 
 been had we had a respectable municipal government. But the time has gone by when 
 the better part of our community must needs patiently submit to these abuses. We have 
 a chief magistrate who will not for an instant pander, for his own self-interests, to our 
 viler elements — one who has both the honesty and the courage to maintain the laws, and 
 devote himself to the public welfare. This njemorial will repay perusal, and we have no 
 doubt that the action it invokes will be faithfully carried out. 
 
 From the Courier and Enquirer, June 5. 
 
 An End to Sunday News Ceying. — The sole request of as respectable a body of 
 memorialists as ever invoked the intervention of our Magistrates, was, that they would 
 deliver our over-worked citizens from the disturbance of their only day of rest by the loud 
 crying and illegal sale of Sunday papers. This petition was urged on grounds Avhich 
 united citizens of all classes and creeds, — the well-being of the newsboys, the injury to 
 our children of their lawless example, the unwarrantable monopoly of street traiEc, the 
 invasion of courtesy and good neighborhood, and the violation of the rights of our citizens. 
 
 We do not hesitate to say that there was never greater unanimity on any question of 
 the sort than exists in our community as to the reasonableness of their request. The par- 
 tial relief for a Sabbath or two from street noises has been felt to be a great boon ; and 
 the agency of the Police authorities has been recognized as beneficent and wise. Now 
 that the newsboys have had ample warning — so that even the pretext of harshness towards 
 them can hardly be set up in any quarter — the coup de grace should be given to this un- 
 pardonable nuisance. It will not do to permit the magistracy of the city to be openly 
 flouted by a few urchins, even though they may be backed by a portion of the Sunday 
 press. If any head is to be made against juvenile crime, if the city is ever to be restored 
 to order and quiet, the issue joined on the single question of Sunday ncM'scrying must be 
 promptly and efficiently met, and the young apprentices of crime must be taught that 
 officers of the law are not to be trifled with. A single day of vigorous action might 
 settle the question. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, May 21. 
 Crying Sunday Newspapers. — We publish with pleasure a memorial signed by near 
 100 influential citizens, praying the Mayor and Police Commissioners to put a stop to the 
 crying of newspapers on Sunday. The request is reasonable, and we trust it will be com- 
 plied with. It is decidedly too bad that the whole city should be kept in an uproar every 
 Sunday, because a few ragged boys choose to have it so. There is no need of crying their 
 papers, even if they sell them ; they can serve them to subscribers, or sell them, about as 
 well without crying them as with. We hope that the city authorities and Police Com- 
 missioners will follow the matter up until the evil is effectually cured. The crying of 
 newspapers on Sunday is clearly contrary to law. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, May 24. 
 An Unmitigated Nuisance Suppressed. — The public were hardly prepared for so 
 sudden, eSectual and immediate action as has resulted in relieving the city from the Sun- 
 day newspaper nuisance. Hitherto the sacred light hardly dawned before it was ruthlessly 
 profaned by troops of urchin peddlers, screeching through every thoroughfare. The 
 custom had been confirmed by long indulgence, till most people despaired of its being ever 
 abated ; but we awoke one fine Sunday morning (only yesterday), and the thing had 
 utterly disappeared, as by the stroke of a magician's wand. To the Mayor and Police 
 Commissioners, by whom this measure was more immediately effected, and to the Judges 
 whose learned opinions have contributed so largely to the same desirable end, the public 
 will be supremely grateful. Let private individuals co-operate with the authorities till 
 
the barbarous practice now so happily suppressed be placed beyond the power of resuscita- 
 tion. Yesterday was a Sabbath sucli as New Yorkers had not been previously privileged 
 to eujoy for a long period of years — silent, tranquil, solemn — an eloquent tribute to an 
 enlightened Christian civilization. May we have many more such. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, June 5. 
 
 Sunday News Cries. — The partial relief from this nuisance has given our people a 
 taste of unwonted Sabbath quiet. In many portions of the city there has been almost the 
 stillness of the country on the last two or three Sabbaths. If Sunday papers have been 
 sold, it has been done without disturbing the peace of a whole square to wake up or call 
 forth one or two patrons of the Sunday press. There seems to be universal satisfaction with 
 the reform — some, even of the Sunday papers, conceding the right to demand it, and one 
 of them having changed its day of publication to Saturday, in " obedience to law." Others 
 of them threaten tvdd bluster, but it is to be presumed that the Police Commissioners and 
 the General Superintendent will carry out their avowed purpose to suppress this needless 
 and offensive outrage on the rights and feelings of the Christian community — indeed the 
 whole community — and they will be sustained by the general voice of our citizens. 
 
 From the Express, May 21. 
 
 The Nuisance of Sunday Newspaper Crying is to be put down, if the very respect- 
 able body of gentlemen who compose the Sabbath Committee can put it down ; and, 
 judging from their well-known energy and perseverance, and the justness of their cause, 
 they will not rest until the quiet of the Lord's Day is no longer broken by the shrill cries 
 of" Atlas," " Mercury," " Dispatch," " 'P>ald," " Times," and " Sunday Courier." 
 
 Some weeks since, the gentlemen of this committee addressed a respectfully-worded 
 circular to the proprietors of the Sunday newspapers, urging them to voluntarily put a 
 stop to the nuisance complained of, and set an example of respect for the Sabbath, and 
 for the feelings of the great majority of the residents of New York, by having their 
 papers served quietly, if they nuist be printed on Sunday. This circular was received 
 with a universal shout of derision by the Sunday editors. They reviled the gentlemen of 
 the committee as " bigoted Sabbatarians," expatiated on the tyranny of " puritanical par- 
 sons," who wanted to rule all the world and make everybody as long-faced and hypocritical 
 as themselves, and dared the committee to proceed with their efforts to deprive the poor 
 man of his Sunday amusement, declaring themselves ready to sustain the fight to the end. 
 
 The spirit displayed by the Sunday editors was not a judicious one, and cannot be 
 sympathized with by the great body of thinking people in New York, who want one day's 
 rest from such every-day ideas as the crying of Sunday papers must bring up. The com- 
 mittee are more determined than ever to sustain their position — not because of their 
 enmity to the Sunday newspaper traffic, any moi'e than to any other species of Sunday 
 trade, but because in prosecuting the great reform which they contemplate — teaching our 
 people to " remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy" — they must make a beginning 
 somewhere, and they wisely judge that the most conspicuous and formidable antagonist 
 should first be encountered. If they should retreat before the opposition of the Sunday 
 press, all the Sabbath-breaking community would take courage, and the violation of the 
 Lord's day would become more intolerable than ever ; therefore, there is no retreat for the 
 committee, if they are in earnest in their work, as we believe they are. 
 
 Seeing that their appeal to the Sunday editors was of no avail, the committee have 
 memorialized the Mayor and Police Commissioners, respectfully inviting " the intervention 
 of the constituted guardians of the public peace and morals to deliver our over-worked 
 citizens from the disturbance of their repose, and the interruption of their public and 
 private devotions on their only day of rest, by the loud crying and illegal sale of Sunday 
 papers." 
 
 The memorial of the committee protests against the evil — 1st, because it is a school of 
 vice to the boys engaged in it ; 2d, because the evil example of those boys is disastrous to 
 the juvenile population of the city ; 3d, because the system implies a monopoly, and if it 
 is continued will encourage all other trades to prosecute their every day callings on Sun- 
 day ; 4th, because the crying of newspapers on Sunday is an invasion of the claims of 
 courtesy and good neighborhood ; 5th, because the system is a flagrant violation of the 
 rights of our citizens — depriving them of their weekly day of rest. In a word the com- 
 mittee urge the " abatement of this evil for the sake of the newsboys themselves, for the 
 
8 
 
 sake of our juvenile population, for the sake of order and good morals, for the peace of our 
 families, Sabbath schools and Christian assemblies — for the good name of our city, and for 
 the sake of restoring and perpetuating a quiet, refreshing, sacred Sabbath to the business- 
 driven and wearied citizens of the metropolis." 
 
 The authorities, we understand, are inclined to coincide with the committee. The Police 
 Commissioners, at their meeting on Thursday, adopted a resolution directing the General 
 Superintendent to enforce the Sunday laws and ordinances ; and as these laws positively 
 forbid the selling of OH (/;/img on Sunday but meat and milk — which must be sold before 
 nine o'clock A.M. — we may expect a decisive issue to the controversy ere long. 
 
 It seems to us that the wisest way to settle the question would be for the Sunday press 
 to change their day of publication. The weekly papers of the largest circulation and 
 most popular character are neither published on Sunday nor cried through the streets. 
 The opportunity now offers for the establishment of a weekly literary press, which will far 
 exceed in excellence the present Sunday press. The editors of the Leader have lost nothing 
 by publishing it on Saturday, and if the other Sunday papers would follow the example 
 of Aid. Clancy, our word for it, they would find their profit in the change. 
 
 From the Commercial Advert-ser, May 24. 
 
 Due Observance of the Sabbath Day. — The recent earnest movement for a better 
 observance of the Sabbath-day has been effectively seconded by the Metropolitan Police 
 Commissioners. Under their direction, the General Superintendent issued an order on 
 Saturday, requiring the Inspectors in the various precincts to instruct the men under their 
 command " not only to report all violation of the Sabbath, but to suppress the crying of 
 newspapers on that day ;" and this they are enabled to do, as the law authorizes the for- 
 feiture of all property exposed for sale on Sunday, except milk and fish in the morning. 
 The effect of this order was, that yesterday, in some parts of the city, was the most quiet, 
 peaceful, and orderly Sabbath known in the city of New York for many years. In some 
 of the precincts, however, the order did not appear to be enforced. 
 
 From Vie Evening Post, May 20. 
 
 The Sunday Newspaper-Crying Nuisance. — There is no doubt that the noise with 
 which the newspaper boys make Sunday morning hideous in the city, is a nuisance. As 
 such it is the proper duty of the police to abate it. They hitherto forbore from a variety 
 of reasons, no one of which was worth a great deal, but all together sufficed to prevent 
 action being taken in the premises. A number of our prominent citizens bave determined 
 to encourage the Municipal Police Commissioners in the effort they were disposed to 
 make to restore at least as much quiet to our streets on Sunday morning as is enjoyed on 
 the other mornings of the week. 
 
 From the New York Times, May 31. 
 
 Sunday News Cries. — Yesterday the city enjoyed another quiet Sunday, so far as the 
 cries of news-boys were concerned. Every person approves the change, and we are glad 
 to see that even the Sunday newspapers, which were at first most violent against the order 
 to discontinue the street-cries of news-venders' on Sunday, are beginning to concede its 
 propriety. The Dispatch, as we have already stated, has decided to issue its paper on 
 Saturday afternoon, and the Jtla^s now expresses the opinion that the cessation of these 
 cries, while it greatly promotes the public quiet, will not in the least interfere with the 
 proper and legitimate sale of Sunday papers. If the policy now entered on is pursued, 
 we presume the whole community will soon approve the change. 
 
 Same Journal, Correspondence, May 31. 
 
 Abatement of a Chronic Nuisance. — The prompt action of the Police Commission- 
 ers on the memorial against Sunday news-crying, and the consequent order of the Super- 
 intendent, deserve unusual commendation. Twenty-one years' continuance of such an 
 unpardonable nuisance ought to sufiQce. Every body wonders now that it should have 
 been endured so long. And when the reform is completed, the relief to families, Sabbath- 
 
9 
 
 schools, and churches, will be great enough to call for general thanksgiving. I am sure 
 I utter the sentiment of tens of thousands when I tender the most cordial thanks to our 
 excellent Mayor, and to the Commissioners and Superintendent of Police, for their inter- 
 vention to put an end to policy-gambling, Sunday news-crying, and kindred evils. 
 
 From the New York Times, June 12. 
 
 Sabbath Bells. — Our neighbors of the Sunday press have suddenly discovered that 
 the ringing of church bells on Sunday is an intolerable nuisance. The Herald rings as 
 many chimes on this subject as come pealing from an Old World cathedral, albeit they are 
 a little cracked and time-worn. And even some of our nervous Aldermen seem disposed 
 to put their hands on " +he tongue of time," lest it should tell some unpleasant stories in 
 its Sunday morning utterances. Well, " One man's meat is another man's poison." Per- 
 haps the very reason that made Douglas Jerrold love the music of Sabbath bells may be 
 the one that fills the souls — for all men are supposed to have souls, though they may not 
 always think of it — of editors and Aldermen with disgust at their sound. In St. lames' 
 and St. ones' the great humorist says, with equal pathos and beauty : 
 
 " * There's something beautiful in the church bells, don't you think so, Jem ? ' asked 
 Capstick in a sudden tone. ' Beautiful and hopeful, they talk to high and low, rich and 
 poor, in the same voice ; there's a sound in 'em that should scare pride, and envy and 
 meanness of all sorts from the heart of man ; that should make him look upon the world 
 with kind, forgiving eyes ; that should make the earth seem to him, at least for a time, a 
 holy place. Yes, Jem, there's a whole sermon in every sound of the church bells,' (here's the 
 rub !) ' if we only have the ears to rightly understand it. There's a preacher in every bel- 
 fry, Jem, that cries, ' Poor, weary, struggling, fighting creatures — poor human things ! 
 take rest, be quiet. Forget your vanities, your week-day craft, your heart-burnings ! 
 And you, ye humble vessels, gilt and painted, believe the iron tongue that tells ye, that for 
 all your gilding, all your colors, ye are the same Adam's earth with the beggars at your 
 gates.' Come away, come, cries the church-bell, and learn to be humble ; learning that, 
 however daubed, and stained, and stuck about with jewels, you are but grave clay. Come, 
 Dives, come, and be taught all your glory, as you wear it, is not half so beautiful, in the 
 eyes of Heaven, as the sores of uncomplaining Lazarus ! And ye poor creatures, livid 
 and faint, stinted and crushed with the pride and hardness of the world, come, come, cry 
 the bells, with the voice of an angel ; come and learn what is laid up for ye, and learning, 
 take heart, and walk among the wickedness and cruelties of the world calmly, as Daniel 
 walked among lions.' 
 
 " Here Capstick, flushed and excited, wrought beyond himself, suddenly paused. Jem 
 started, astonished, but said no word. And then Capstick, with firmer manner, said : 
 ' Jem, is there a finer sight than a stream of human creatures passing from a Christian 
 church ?' " 
 
 A New York Alderman thinks there is. In his view, " nine-tenths of church-goers are 
 hypocrites, and he seldom went there (to church) himself, because he deemed himself in 
 far better company among the people of the world " — where there is " drinking and racing 
 on the avenue ' on Sunday — " than he could find in the church." And this for popidarity 
 in the metropolis of a Christian laud ! Seven Aldermen vote the " ringing of church 
 bells a nuisance !" A witty and a chivalric way of meeting the universal demand of the 
 public and the press to stop the crying of newspapers on Sunday. 
 
 From the New Yo7-k Times, June 14. 
 
 THR0Wi>fG Away the Mask. — The attempt to stop the news-boys from shouting on 
 Sunday has had one effect, which might perhaps have been anticipated. It has converted 
 the whole tribe of Sunday newspapers into open, rancorous assailants of religion and the 
 church. They all teem now every week with the most vehement abuse of everything con- 
 nected with Christianity, and are rapidly becoming the open advocates of infidelity. We 
 can hardly believe their sales are as much injured by stopping the news-boys' cries as their 
 character will be by this movement. 
 
10 
 
 The news-boys who, left to themselves, have observed the Sabbath laws very respect- 
 fully for two weeks past, were heard yesterday morning crying out quite lustily the names 
 of the Sunday papers. The exertions of certain Aldermen — no better than they should 
 be, and journals no better than the Aldermen — to throw discredit upon the movement for 
 the enforcement of the Sunday laws, are probably at the bottom of the news-boys' re- 
 bellion. Perhaps the boys trust a little too to the hope that the policemen, true to 
 their antecedents, will relax their efforts to suppress such a crying evil, after such an 
 extended obedience to the orders of the Police Commissioners. 
 
 From the Tribune. 
 
 The Crying of Newspapers through our streets on Sunday morning is a public 
 nuisance, which we would gladly see abated. * * * The instructions issued to the 
 police to prohibit boys from crying Sunday papers through the streets has had a marked 
 effect in abating the nuisance. The boys keep a close mouth when they see a policeman 
 about. As a policeman is stationed in front of every church, the annoyance to which 
 church-going people was subjected by the news-boys is almost entirely abated. 
 
 From the Sun, May 21. 
 
 The Sunday Movement. — A strong effort is being made to put a stop to crying news- 
 papers on Sunday — first by application to the Sunday newspaper publishers themselves, 
 and next to the Mayor and Police Commissioners. It will be seen from the memorial that 
 this is no fanatical, religious crusade, in any sense of the term ; no effort to force a con- 
 formity to any special creed ; but simply an attempt to protect the rights of every one to 
 quiet and rest one day in seven, free from annoyance and disturbance by others. Whatr 
 ever may be the opinions of anti-Sabbatarians on the manner of observing the Sabbath, 
 they will not, we think, question the propriety of preserving to every man one day of rest 
 out of every seven, if he desires to take it. 
 
 In this case, the memorialists ask less than the spirit of existing laws already grants, 
 and we cannot doubt that the Board of Police Commissioners will promptly meet their 
 wishes to the extent of their lawful powers. Except by a total suspension of their 
 business, the newspaper publishers have less control over the manner of disposing of their 
 respective sheets than is generally supposed. They do not employ the newsboys, but sell 
 their papers in large quantities to carriers, agents, and boys, knowing no difiercuce between 
 those which are to be quietly left at the houses of subscribers, and those which are to be 
 cried aloud in the streets. The reform sought must, therefore, be eflected through the 
 enforcement of the present laws. 
 
 From the Daily News, 3Iay 22. 
 
 Sunday Cries. — A movement will be commenced to-morrow (Simday) to put an end 
 to the crying and bawling of newspapers and other articles through the streets on that day. 
 This is a reform much needed. There is no necessity for yelling and screaming all day 
 through the streets, Here's the Herald, Atlas, and Times, or milk, fish, and clams, to the 
 disturbance of everybody but the venders. Ixit these articles be served to those who wish 
 them in a proper and decent way, on Sunday at least ; or if papers must be hawked about, 
 let them be carried in silence, as an Italian carries his images on his head, depending on 
 the eye for a customer, instead of his throat. 
 
 SUNDAY NEWS-CRYING ILLEGAL. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, May 20. 
 
 Two decisions within the past year have a direct bearing on a nuisance of long standing 
 in this city. We cite them for the information of our readers, and with the hope that our 
 magistrates will bear them in mind when seeking to promote the quiet and morals of the 
 metropolis. 
 
11 
 
 Judge Thompson, of Philadelphia, decided as follows : 
 
 " Tlic crying of newspapers in the public streets on Sunday is a breach of the peace. As 
 well might the oysterman cry his oysters, or the charcoal man ring his bell. The peace 
 of Sunday may be disturbed by acts, which on other days cannot be complained of— such 
 acts as interfere with the rights which the law vouchsafes to the people who desire to 
 observe that day as a period of religious observance, and of rest from worldly business. 
 It is the duty of Courts to uphold the institutions and laws under which our liberties have 
 grown and prospered." 
 
 Judge Roosevelt, of this city, in the case of Smith vs. Wilcox, involving the question 
 " whether a contract, however clearly proved, and however obligatory in honor, to adver- 
 tise in a Sunday paper, can be the subject of a legal action," decided that such a claim 
 " cannot be recovered in any Court of this State." His ruling was, that although a 
 paper be printed on Saturday night, " the paper was to be issued on Sunday, to be dis- 
 tributed on Sunday, to be sold on Sunday, and to be read on Sunday," and was thus a 
 violation of the statute prohibiting "servile labor or working on that day, excepting 
 works of necessity and mercy," and the exposing " to sale of any wares or merchandise." 
 
 " A newspaper is clearly an article of merchandise. Admitting, then, that the crying 
 and carrying of a newspaper about the streets was a mere pastime, and not a work of 
 labor, its sale, notwithstanding, in that manner, would be an unlawful violation of the 
 prohibition which declares that no person shall expose to sale any merchandise, wares, &c., 
 on Sunday. 
 
 " It is this exposure to sale, and the consequent disturbance of the quiet of the day, and 
 not the sale itself, which in this State constitutes the illegality of the transaction. * * * 
 The prohibition of merchandising, as it was called, on Sunday, is as old in our law as the 
 statutes of King Athelstan. * * * Iq any view of religious obligation, it would be 
 difficult to contend that the reading of advertisements in a Sunday newspaper, or aiding a 
 person to do so, is a work either of necessity or charity. The mind certainly in that day 
 requires no such sustenance. And even as a matter of taste, it must be admitted that 
 common business advertisements of buying and selling are a very unsuitable outfit for a 
 feast of reason. Six days, at all events, of such diet are enough. Thought perpetually 
 running in one channel, like matrimony in one family, dwarfs the intellect. It is rather, 
 therefore, a work of charity in such cases to withhold than to give. Abstinence, not 
 sustenance is what is needed." 
 
 The honorable Judge has embodied in a single sentence one of the most weighty 
 arguments against secular occupations on the Sabbath ever penned : " Thought perpetually 
 running in one channel, hhe matrimony in one family, dwarfs the intellect." It is an 
 unanswerable objection to the publishing, vending, crying, or reading of Sunday news- 
 papers. " Six days of such diet are enough ; " the intellect and the heart need something 
 else than business and amusement, or they become dwarfed and debased. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS PRESS ON THE MEMORIAL. 
 
 From the Observer, May 27. 
 
 One Sunday Nuisance Abated. — The citizens of New York have been blessed with 
 one quiet Sabbath. On waking last Sunday morning their ears were not saluted with the 
 intolerable cry of the newsboys, which has for years been the chief public grievance of that 
 day. Not a sound of this nature was heard. We are indebted for this deliverance, in 
 the first place, to the earnest remonstrance of our most influential citizens, and, in the 
 next place, to the police authorities for their energetic enforcement of the law. We trust 
 that this nuisance is effectually abated. 
 
 From the Observer, June 3. 
 
 Honor to whom Honor. — Public officers are public targets. Every peniiy-a-liner may 
 give them a shot for some real or fancied delinquency. It must be confessed that for 
 many years there have been repeated occasions for censure in our ill-governed city. But 
 the habit of fault-finding ought not to be carried to the extent of overlooking or under- 
 valuing the efforts of our magistracy to restore the reign of law and order. And now that 
 we have an honest Mayor and an efficient Police Board, they should be made to feel that 
 their attempts to suppress vice^ud crime are appreciated, and will command the univer- 
 
12 
 
 sal support of good citizens. They are grappling manfully with chronic evils, entrenched 
 in the sclfislinoss and baser passions of considerable numbers. Gamblers and policy- 
 dealers and Sabbath-breakers are a power in tjie metropolis. It M'ill require no little 
 courage and firnmess of purpose, backed by the intelligent and orderly classes of society, 
 to route the hordes who have so long defied the officers of law, and prostituted the rights 
 of citizenship. 
 
 In the matter of abating Sunday nuisances, the action of the Police Commissioners 
 will commend itself to all but interested parties. Religious considerations aside, and 
 taking the lowest view of the question, an overworked city needs rest and quiet one day in 
 seven. Our laws provide for this ; but for a quarter of a century these laws have been 
 null and void. Our streets have been given up to newsboys, and our Sabbath mornings 
 have been made hideous by their yells. Quiet was impossible. A few hundred urchins 
 were suffered, without molestation, to annoy half a million of people. At last the police 
 authorities, at the instance of a immerous body of memorialists, and in accordance with 
 the wishes of ahnost our entire population, have laid their hands on the nuisance, and it 
 has disappeared, we hope for ever. Some of the Sunday papers, notwithstanding their 
 disclaimer of all responsibility for the manner of selling their sheets, bluster and tlircaten 
 vengeance. But they mistake the stuff" our magistrates are made of, and they know little 
 of public sentiment, if they suppose the reign of lawlessness is to be perpetuated, even 
 though an illegal and immoral press shall strive to sustain it. We can assure those in 
 authority that a calm, faithful carrying out of our statutes which contemplate the adequate 
 protection of the rights of person, property, and worship against all trespassers will com- 
 mand the respect, gratitude, and support of the citizens of New York. 
 
 From the Evangelist, June 3. 
 
 Sunday News Crying. — The effort commenced by some of our oldest and best citizens 
 for the promotion of the better observance of the Sabbath, finds its first success in abating 
 the nuisance of crying newspapers on Sunday morning. It is now two weeks since the 
 General Superintendent of Police issued his instructions, first to warn every offender, and 
 next to arrest every one disregarding the warning. Beyond some ill feeling on the part 
 of a portion of the Sunday press, no opposition to the measure has been manilested, and 
 we chronicled last week an almost entire cessation of the annoyance that church-goers 
 and quiet people have endured (not without complaint, but without action for relief ) for 
 upwards of twenty years. Quite to the surprise of all, one of the Sunday papers has pub- 
 lished a card, signifying its readiness to " obey the law," and last Sabbath was a repeti- 
 tion of the preceding. It ought to be understood that the movement is solely against the 
 public profanation of the Sabbath, and as such is directed only against the crying of the 
 papers — not against the business of publishing papers bearing the date of Sunday. * * 
 The press generally expresses approbation of the change, and the obligations of the com- 
 munity to the Superintendent of Police and his staff for their discreet and efficient ser- 
 vices in the matter. 
 
 From the Christian Intelligencer, May 26. 
 
 One Nuisance Less. — The Commissioners of Police deserve universal commendation for 
 the promptness with which they have acted on the memorial of fcitizens against the crying 
 of newspapers on the Sabbath. 'J'he manly order of the General Superintendent of Police 
 followed their action immediately ; and the effect was obvious in the diminished noise of 
 the newsboys, and in an apjn-oximation to a quiet day. Next Sabbath we may hope for 
 full relief from one of the most atmoying forms of Sabbath desecration of twenty years' 
 standing. 'Wliy would it not be appropriate to give thanks to God for a restored bless- 
 ing, and to pray for wisdom and firmness to be given to the worthy magistrates ^vho have 
 attempted this reform ? 
 
 From the htlellige/icer, June 3. 
 
 The New Sabbath in New Yoek. — We observe a general congratulation of each 
 other, among all good people, at the recent change in the character of our day of rest. 
 The nuisance of the newsboys' cries has entirely ceased. Formerly Cln-istians in their 
 private devotions, their household worship, and even in the sanctuary of God, were fre- 
 quently and painfully disturbed by these noisy outcries. Very many respectable people 
 who did not profess godliness, yet agreed with those who did, in denouncing this gross, 
 
13 
 
 offensive, and needless violation of the Lord's day. Yet these denunciations, the remon- 
 strances of clergymen, and the diatribes of the religious press, were for many years of no 
 avail. Now, however, by the regular, deliberate, determined action of the police, the 
 nuisance has for two weeks been effectually abated, leaving no room for doubt, that the 
 good work can and will be indefinitely prolonged in the future. 
 
 Great honor is due for this result to the Sabbath Committee for their judicious action 
 in the matter, and to the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, for the decided stand 
 they have taken, and the quiet but effective measures they have initiated. Both these 
 bodies have earned the good will and confidence of all who desire to " remember the Sab- 
 bath day to keep it holy." 
 
 From the Examiner, May 25. 
 The' result of the above order was an almost complete suspension of the yelling which 
 has heretofore assailed the ears of our citizens on the morning of the Sabbath. People 
 had so thoroughly disciplined themselves to a patient endurance of this abomination, that 
 they were unprepared for the sudden transition. It was a Sabbath such as New Yorkers 
 had not been privileged to enjoy for a long period of years — silent, tranquil and solemn — 
 an eloquent tribute to aa enlightened Christian civilization. May we have many such. 
 
 From the Chronicle, May 23. 
 It is sufficiently abhorrent to the moral sense for a man to prosecute, even in a quiet 
 manner on the Sabbath, his secular calling ; but when he does it openly in the streets, 
 and employs neglected and wayward boys to cry his news through the city from one end 
 to the other, it becomes a grievous nuisance which our authorities are imperiously called 
 on to abate. In no other city in which we ever spent a Sabbath, in this country or abroad, 
 have we ever met with anything of the kind. In Paris and other Catholic cities, the 
 Sabbath is indeed disregarded ; but we have no recollection of hearing the vociferous cry- 
 ing of newspapers which disturbs the quiet of our Sundays here in New York. Why, 
 therefore, should it be tolerated ? We are glad to give place to a memorial on this sub- 
 ject, signed by a large number of our principal citizens. And we are still more pleased 
 to find that this and similar movements are producing their effect. Last Sabbath, for the 
 first time in years, our streets were undisturbed by the shouts of newsboys. 
 
 From the Christian Advocate, June 1. 
 Observance of the Sunday Laws. — Sunday, the 23d ultimo, was an important era 
 in the history of modern New York. It was the day when an effort was made by the 
 police to obtain an outward show of respect for the observance of the Sabbath. In the 
 15th and 17th Wards the shops were generally closed. In the 14th, 8th, 5th, and other 
 down-town Wards, the shops were partially closed. In the 6th Ward some of the most 
 obstinate liquor dealers gave in, but most of the shop-keepers, Jews, and others in Chat- 
 ham-street, were iu full blast. The newsboy cries were stopped, as a general thing. 
 
 From the Way of Life, May 20. 
 It is exceedingly gratifying to learn that our city authorities have pledged themselves 
 to abate the nuisance caused by the crying of Suuday newspapers in front of our churches, 
 and near our homes. We trust that our readers will use their influence every where 
 against the sale of newspapers of every description on the Lord's day. 
 
 THE SUNDAY PRESS ON THE MEMORIAL. 
 
 We present a few extracts from the teeming columns of the Sunday newspapers, showing 
 their tone and character : 
 
 From the Sunday Dispatch, May 9. 
 * * The newsboys must organize in self-defence ; they, too, can call public meetings and 
 appoint committees, and, if we are not greatly mistaken, they will prove quite a match 
 for this Sabbath Committee and the clerical instigators who have prompted the subdolous 
 meanness that has marked the recent attempts to revive Puritanical coercive Sunday 
 observance. It is not many years ago since the newsboys had to appeal to the public 
 against a similar persecution. The public supported them then, and will do so again. 
 
14 
 
 Let them once more call a public meeting in the Park, and they will find that any attempt 
 at picayune dictation on the part of trumpery bigots and hypocritical dullards is not at 
 all to the taste of this community. 
 
 Same journal, May 23. 
 
 We suggest to the Sabbath Committee to offiir premiums to the policemen who shall 
 show most activity in capturing newsboys. Let them say — a free " conversion " to every 
 man who takes a dozen prisoners ; to him who captures two dozen of the wretches a " free 
 admission " to a Fifth Avenue church, and to him who seizes the greatest number, a copy 
 of the " respectable sixpenny" that was " down on " Commissioner . 
 
 Same journal, May 29. 
 
 The whole movement is an outrage against civic rights, based on tbe most shallow pre- 
 texts. Its instigators are designing hypocrites. We propose, by temporarily changing 
 our day of publication (to Saturday), to show these sleek and " most influential " parsons 
 and pettifoggers in aristocratic piety in tlieir true light. We are fully aware of the 
 encroaching spirit that animates our picayune " aristocracy," that causes them to chafe 
 and fret at the idea of the poor and vulgar herd enjoying one day out of the seven, free 
 from their upstart dictation. These petty tyrants, with the souls of promoted flunkeys, 
 are not satisfied with growing rich from the blood and toil of men, who for a wretched 
 pittance serve them six days in the week ; they are not content with reducing the people 
 almost to a condition of slavery in their workshops, but would put the badge of servitude 
 upon them at their own firesides. In their pitiful arrogance they affect to look upon the 
 principle of equal freedom as a dangerous heresy, that must be suppressed. * * 
 
 We warn these hypocrites and clerical sycophants to be cautious how they tamper with 
 the forbearance of the public, and arouse that public indignation which, once excited, 
 will hurl them from the precipice to which their unrebuked pride has urged them to climb, 
 or rather crawl 1 And these be your gods, Oh, ye sapient and supple Metropolitans ! 
 
 New York Dispatch, June 5. 
 
 Where is the evidence that the Sunday, which these besotted pretenders to optimism 
 in morals and religion seek to control for their own purposes, was even the day designated 
 on Mount Sinai in which man should do no work ? These questions should have presented 
 themselves to the Police Commissioners before they submitted to the degrading task of 
 subserving the views of an insolent and supercilious set of pharisaical vagabonds, whose 
 real motives for urging the war against the Sunday press may be found in the fact that 
 the chronic iniquities of the class to which they belong, and which they would fain screen 
 from public scorn and execration, find no mercy at the hands of that institution. The 
 
 forgers, , and , and the delinquents, , and , are all members of the same 
 
 fraternity of pious and aristocratic plunderers, who have so long preyed upon the vitals 
 of this abused community, and whose conspiracy against the liberty of the press is only a 
 desperate attempt to securce immunity from their crimes. 
 
 * * Our own observations on Sunday last convince us that the Police Commissioners 
 have no idea of attempting the enforcement of the absolete Sunday laws — their resolution 
 to the contrary notwithstanding. The only thing attempted was the suppression of the 
 Sunday cries of the newsboys. Even this part of the programme was but imperfectly 
 enforced, as the police found themselves rather puzzled to know what to do with the 
 refractory boys. In a few weeks this whole crusade will be forgotten. 
 
 From the Sunday Mercury, June 6. 
 
 Religious Peter Funkism. — The " unco-righteous," as Burns characteristically calls 
 them, are delighted at their " penny-dip" victory over the tongues of the newsboys. The 
 gentlemen of the Fifth Avenue, who toil so energetically through the week that they must, 
 they really must, lie late abed on Sabbath morning, are overjoyed that the voice of the 
 little newspaper dealers no longer disturbs their luxurious repose. * * Nothing could 
 more effectually demonstrate the hypocrisy of these Sabbatarians, who work their own 
 servants to death on the Sabbath, while they piteously implore the law to prevent other 
 people from laboring on that day, than the petition they sent in to the Police Commission- 
 
15 
 
 ers. The church bells, forsooth, do not disturb their cosy sS umbers, but the cry of " 'Ere's 
 the Sunday Mercury, on'y four cents," throws them into a paroxysm of wakefuhiess. The 
 church organ and the opera singers in the church choir do not affect their devotional 
 nervous system, but the sale of a newspaper that has the independence to laugh at their 
 affectation and expose their duplicity, afflicts them lilie an attack of neuralgia in the ears. 
 * * The distant music of the newsboy's vocation fills them with all the gall and bitterness 
 of humbug Chi'istianity. The petition says it even mars their " domestic conversation," 
 and surely the conversation of the broken-down bankers, commission merchants, parvenu 
 soap-fat dealers, and financial chevaliers d'industrie who constitute the religious Peter 
 Funks engaged in this movement, is too precious to be sacrificed because only two hundred 
 thousand better citizens than they desire to I'ead the news ! What is the convenience of 
 a quarter of a million of sensible people, when placed in opposition to the wishes of one 
 hundred and twenty of the elite, the very " fancy" of Fifth avenue Christianity ? 
 
 From the Sunday Mercury, June 6. 
 
 The war that has been, and still is, waged over the shoulders of the poor newsboys against 
 that press which dares to exercise its legitimate rights on every day of the week, will be 
 as impotent as it is absurd and fanatical. For a time the Salibatariaus may be able to 
 frighten the Mayor and Police Commissioners into lending their countenance and support 
 to their crusade against us ; but we think we shall soon be able to teach those officials 
 that there is a power greater than a miserable clique of fanatics and hypocrites, which 
 should command their respect. The people, who elevated them to office, will mark the 
 men who lend themselves to the furtherance of the selfish ends of the Sabbatarian clique, 
 and we promise them that they will not be overlooked by us at the proper time. 
 
 The right of the newsboy to sell and cry his wares in the streets of New York is co- 
 incident with the liberty of the press, and that liberty shall ever find in us an uncompro- 
 mising and determined defender. 
 
 From the N. Y. Herald. 
 
 One of the greatest reforms has been introduced that has been effected in any city or 
 country since the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt — nothing more nor less than the 
 gagging of two or three dozen ragged newsboys, who have been in the ha1)it of profaning 
 the blessed Sabbath by crying aloud for their bread in the public streets on that holy day 
 while blundering office-holders, swindling hypocrites and common thieves were on their way 
 like honest people, to church. 
 
 From the Sunday Courier, May 30. 
 
 " An Unmitigated Nuisance Suppressed." — Under this head, the " Journal of Com- 
 merce," on Monday morning, said : " Yesterday was a Sabbath such as New Yorkers had not 
 previously been privileged to enjoy for a long period of years — silent, tranquil, and solenm ; 
 an eloquent tribute to an enlightened Christian civilization. May we have many more 
 such." On Sunday last, about two, p.m., we happened to be walking down Full on street, 
 when we met a military funeral, with a band of music, making more noise than all the news- 
 boys in creation could possibly do, if they were all to unite their voices in screaming. At 
 the same time there were church bells clanging and banging in every direction, filling the air 
 with loud brassy sounds, that smote most harshly upon the ear ; all the railroad cars were 
 running, making a most thundering noise ; and there were hundreds of private cai-riages 
 rattling down Broadway and through the cross streets. Steamboat bells were dinging at 
 the wharves, and steam pipes were hissing and screaming ; the wind was blowing just as 
 hard as on any other day, dogs were barking, the waves were dashing against docks without 
 the regard to the day, and the bustle about all the ferries were no dififerout from what they 
 are on other days. And yet because a dozen or so of small urchins had been deprived by 
 the valiant police of the privilege of selling papers to furnish themselves the means to pay for 
 their cakes and coffee, the hypocritical " Journal of Commerce '" could have the lying mean- 
 ness to say " that the day was silent, tranquil, and solemn ; an eloquent tribute to an en- 
 lightened Christian civilization." The poor sneak who wrote that sentence must have tried 
 very hard if he did not exhibit the conscious look of a knave when he penned it. 
 
16 
 
 From the Sunday Courier, May 30. 
 
 The Sunday Dispatch Defunct. — We are very sorry to annonncc, that the " Sunday 
 Dispatch," which has so long occupied a prominent position among the Journals of this 
 city, has ceased to exist. The " Dispatch " has now become a Saturday paper, and will 
 doubtless be just as Dispatchy as ever, though its characteristics as a Sunday paper 
 will be no longer maintained. The proprietor has been induced to change the day of its 
 publicafion^as he states, out of deference to the expressed wishes of about a hundred cit- 
 izens, who had made a protest against Sunday papers. We think, for our own part, that 
 the wishes of the 270,000 people who read the Sunday papers are entitled to as much 
 respect as those of a hundred men who do not read them, and as long as a large and intel- 
 ligent public demands a Sunday morning paper, we shall continue to publish one for their 
 benefit. But the " Dispatch" gives a much better reason than this for changing their day 
 of publication. They are going to boldly and persistently contest the question of the con- 
 stitutionality of our Sunday laws, and in order to do this effectively they think it necessary 
 to put themselves on the right side so far as the technicalities of the law go. In this view 
 of the case the change is one to be commended, and the " Dispatch" will have the good 
 wishes of every opponent of narrow-minded bigotry and fanaticism. 
 
 From the Sunday Atlas, May 30. 
 
 The " Dispatch " is no longer to be published on Sunday. It is now the " New York 
 Dispatch," and is issued on Saturday afternoon. We do not exactly comprehend Alder- 
 man Williamson's idea of changing his publication day ; but we are positive he has not 
 joined the church. Yesterday's " Dispatch" opens a heavy battery upon the sanctimonious 
 Sabbath Committee, and discusses the whole Sunday question with masterly ability. We 
 have an idea that the Alderman prints his paper on Saturday, so as to afford the narrow- 
 minded hypocrites he pounces upon, an opportunity to see themselves in his mirror, with- 
 out being subject to the necessity of reading a " wicked Sunday journal." 
 
 From the New York Leader, May 29. 
 
 The Saturday Press. — It is more than one year since the " Leader," as a concession 
 to public sentiment, altered its day of publication to Saturday. The change was a haz- 
 ardous one, and against the advice of friends we tried the experiment, trusting to the mer- 
 its of the paper to maintain its position. For some time we suffered by the change, but 
 an unflinching perseverance carried us through every difiBculty, and we may truthfully say 
 that the " Leader" has established the fact that a weekly Saturday paper can be supported 
 in this city. We have found that our experiment has resulted profitably, and though a 
 combination of interests attempted to cry down our enterprise, we have triumphed over 
 all opposition, solely upon the superior merit of our columns. 
 
 We have prospered, and the public, to whom we are indebted for our success, has 
 rewarded our exertions generously as the pioneer of the Saturday press. The " Dispatch," 
 following our example, has altered its day of publication, and to-day is issued as the 
 second Saturday paper. We greet our neighbor cordially, and know that its enterprising 
 publisher will be successful, as we have been. 
 
 From the Sunday Atlas, June 13. 
 
 It is but few privileges the poorer classes enjoy in this city, and one of them is the right 
 to employ Sunday in their own way. To do a petty trade in candy and fruits, or to sell 
 newspapers, or any other trifles on Sunday, by which a few pennies can be realized, has 
 always been the privilege of the poor. Deny them that, and the rich may reasonably ex- 
 pect an onslaught upon all the immunities they now enjoy, from a strict enforcement of 
 the laws. Norman White, Horace Plolden, Peter Cooper, H. M. Schieffelin, and their as- 
 sociate signers of the memorial for the abrogation of the Sunday newspaper traffic, don't 
 comprehend, as yet, what an enormous devil they are going to raise, if their ideas are to be car- 
 ried out. 
 
 Office of Sabbath Committee, No. 21 Bible House, New York. 
 
THE SABBATH IN EUROPE: 
 
 THE HOLY DAY OF FREEDOM-THE HOLIDAY OF DESPOTISM. 
 
 SABBATH COMMITTEE'S BOG. NO. IV. 
 (fourth edition.) 
 
 [The Corresponding Secretary of the New York Sabbath Com- 
 mittee, on the eve of his departure for Europe for domestic reasons, 
 was requested by the Committee to confer with the friends of the. 
 Sabbath in Great Britain and on tlie Continent, and to investigate 
 the influence of a hohday Sunday on the social, moral, and religious 
 condition of the people. The results of these inquiries, and of 
 somewhat extended observation during two yeai's of European 
 travel, in 1853, '56, '57, are herewith submitted. They may have 
 value as affecting the important question of the comparative safety 
 of observing the Lord's Day as a holiday or a holy day.'] 
 
 THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Leaving New York in the Persia, July 7, my first Sabbath on 
 shore was spent at Glasgow. There, in the largest commercial city 
 of Scotland, the external observance of the Lord's day was almost 
 as complete as in a New England village of olden time. Business 
 of every kind was suspended. Every dram-shop was shut. The 
 commerce of the Clyde stood still. Excepting at the hours of 
 worship the streets were mostly deserted. The principal line of 
 railway — from Glasgow to Edinburgh — was entirely closed ; but 
 lines connecting with the English railway system continue their 
 traffic. As a whole, tnis Sabbath in Glasgow approximated one's 
 ide:\l of a Christian Sabbath for a great city — a day of general rest 
 ana worshii) ; a home, apparently, for everybody, and everybody at 
 
 1 
 
2 THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 home ; churches for the people, and the people at church. Of 
 course there must be darker shades to the picture ; probably there 
 are thousands of" Sabbath-breaking, unevangelized souls in such a 
 city. I speak only of the external aspects : and they certainly do 
 great honor to the Christian sentiment and the municipal govern- 
 ment of Glasgow. 
 
 The improvement within the past five years has been very great, 
 owing chiefly to the operation of the " Forbes McKenzie Act," 
 which effectually closes all dram-shops from 11 o'clock p.m. on 
 Saturday until 8 o'clock a.m. on Monday; and to the zeal and 
 benevolence of John Henderson, Esq., an eminent merchant, and 
 others, in diffusing light as to the claims and blessings of the Sab- 
 bath, and in providing spiritual instruction for the poor. "The 
 McKenzie Act " deserves careful attention. It is ofhcially stated 
 that it has diminished fully one third the arrests for crime, drunk- 
 enness, and disorderly conduct; while its influence on Sabbath quiet 
 kas been very marked. The Superintendant of the Glasgow Police 
 reports a continued " improvement in respect to order and decorvmi 
 in the streets on the Sabbath-day; and on Saturday nights, by 12 
 o'clock, peace and good order are obtained, instead of as formei'ly, 
 a state of turmoil and disorder the whole of Sabbath morning. In 
 no place," he says, " is the difference more observable than in the 
 police offices, where Sunday used to be a busy day, but it is now 
 perfectly quiet ; and it is not unusual for a whole Sabbath to pass 
 without a single case of any kind brought in. The lieutenants are 
 now at liberty to go to church, and the turnkeys have now little else 
 to do on Sunday than to read their Bibles. * * * I have no doubt 
 that to the new Public House Act we are wholly indebted for our 
 comparatively quiet and orderly Sabbaths." 
 
 Ninety-five of the ministers of Glasgow unite in making a similar 
 statement ; and like testimony is borne by the magistrates and 
 others of Edinburgh, and nearly all the large to^\ns of Scotland. 
 
 An important object in visiting Glasgow was to confer with Mr. 
 Henderson, to whose wise beneficence Great Britain and the world 
 owe so much in many relations, but especially in connexion with 
 Sabbath observance. His liberality prompted the premiums lor 
 essays by working men, which elicited " Heaven's Antidote for the 
 Curse of Labor," " The Pearl of Days," etc., and gave them a cir- 
 culation of tens of thousands among the laboring classes. His phi- 
 lanthropy prompted measures for rescuing cabmen and kindi'cd 
 classes from the thraldom of seven days' toil. His agency may >*«• 
 traced on the Continent in many a scheme for restoring a lost ba^ 
 \a.ih and a lost faith. On his return from Edinburgh on busine.««» 
 
THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND. 3 
 
 connected with the Bible Society, I drove with him to his beautiful 
 seat overlooking the Clyde; and I had the pleasure of a subse- 
 quent interview in London, as he was passing to Holland on an 
 errand of benevolence. The views and plans of your Committee 
 accord entirely with Mr. Henderson's, and we may rely on his coun- 
 sel and aid, at all times. His publisher, in London, supplied me with 
 copies of all the work^ issued by his agency — some of which may 
 well be republished in the United States — and he will use to advan- 
 tage a large number of some of the documents of this Committee, 
 
 I employed the " machine " of an old blacksmith when returning 
 from Park to Glasgow (10 miles) at night, the railway train having 
 failed me. The old man was a noble specimen of the Scottish 
 laborer, trained under the Sabbath and the Gospel. As a friend of 
 Mr. Henderson's, his heart was opened to me ; and he poured forth 
 rich stores of Christian A\nsdom and experience as we trundled along 
 a dark road. The facts of the American revival had refreshed his 
 spirit, and formed the subject of protracted inquiry and remark. 
 The bearings of Sabbath sanctification on the family and the indi- 
 vidual had been matters of jjrofound thought and blessed experi- 
 ence. His conversation was so imbued with Scriptural language 
 and imagery as to make some of his utterances truly eloquent. 
 Humble as is his station in life, one could not but feel a reverence 
 and respect for that old Christian which learning, and rank, and 
 wealth alone could never inspire. But the reflection is inevitable 
 that such characters are only formed under the influence of the 
 Sabbath and the Bible. When we parted at the door of my hotel, 
 he refused the piece of gold tendered in reward for his kind ser- 
 vice : " Na, na," said he, " I'll na take the like o' that, nor the hauf 
 ^o' it. 'Tis a gude talk we've had anent the kingdom of God. Ye're 
 a friend of Mr. Henderson's, and he's doing mair for the evangeliza- 
 tion of Britain than any man in it. Good-bye, and may God bless 
 you," 
 
 At Stirling I spent a day with my valued friend Drummond, 
 another active friend of the Sabbath, and one of the most enter- 
 prising Christians in Europe. Just ten years ago, " Peter Drum- 
 mond, seedsman," then at the head of a very large agricultural 
 warehouse, grieved at the increasing desecration of the Lord's 
 Day around him, caused some tracts to be written, published, and 
 circulated at his o^vn expense. The success of his efforts for the 
 Sabbath led to the " Stirling Tract Enterprise," which has come to 
 be one of the most efficient and far-reaching of the schemes for 
 popular evangelization in the Old World. Though still solely an 
 individual effort, Mr. Drummond is now issuing his twenty-second 
 
4 THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 miUio)i of tracts, and has expended some 110,000 beyond his rccei2>t3 
 in diffusing them among the destitute. Five years since he began 
 the "British Messenger" (prompted by the iisefuhiess of the 
 "American Messenger"), which has now a circuhition of 110,000 
 copies, and which seems Ukely to introduce a new era in the popuhir 
 religious literature of Great Britain. Besides a large and useful 
 series of Sabbath Tracts, the " Messenger" employs its colunms in 
 defence and commendation of the day of rest. The individual 
 enei'gies of Mr. Drummond, and of the excellent Editor of his pub- 
 lications, the Rev. Wm. Reid, are now devoted to the revival 
 of spiritual religion ; and he is the mainspring of a system of agen- 
 cies which the Holy Spirit is blessing in the salvation of multitudes. 
 
 A work of much research on the Sabbath is in press, by the 
 Rev, Mr. Gilfillan, of Stirling, from whom I received valuable 
 information respecting the Sabbath question iu Scotland. 
 
 At Edinburgh, I had profitable interviews with Dr. Greville, 
 Secretary of the " Sabbath Alliance ;" Professor Miller, of the 
 University, and author of " Physiology of the Sabbath ;" Rev. Dr. 
 Cunningham, President of the Free College ; Rev. Mr. Cameron, 
 of the " Christian Treasury ;" Mr. Bayne, of the " Witness," and 
 others : and became familiar with the methods successfully adopted 
 for the protection of the sacred day in past years. Little active 
 effort is employed at present: happily, little is needed. As a 
 people, the Scotch " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy " 
 as in no other land, excepting Wales ; and they love to trace the 
 connexion between this national trait and their high state of 
 worldly thrift and religious advancement. 
 
 The temptation is irresistible to sketch the interior Sabbath 
 arrangements of a Scottish Christian family, as an illustration oli 
 the blended holiness and happiness of the home day, and as a refu- 
 tation of the alleged connexion of " gloom" with sacred hours. 
 An intimate friend and correspondent, whose hospitalities I had 
 enjoyed on the Clyde, in 1853, had recently transferred his summer 
 home to the southern part of Scotland. Letters at Edinburgh 
 kindly ui-god a visit, which embraced the Sabbath. My friends 
 have a large household, with children ranging from infancy to 
 early manhood. They are in affluent circumstances, and occupy a 
 -high social position. While actively concerned in the various 
 schemes for benefiting their country and the world, the duties of 
 domestic life are discharged with remarkable system, fidelity, and 
 success. 
 
 Saturday is spent as peculiarly a social day, when the ])arents 
 • interest themselves in the amusements of their children, and seek 
 
THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND. 5 
 
 to cultivate their affections. At night, the little ones collect their 
 tools and noisy plaj'things. and put them aside till the Sabhath ia 
 past. But the smaller children have the iise of the newest and 
 most attractive of their quiet toys — the mother deeming it inex- 
 pedient to remove the means of diversion from the hands of those 
 who are not old enough to enter into the spiritualities of the day, 
 and to Avhom some form of amusement is as necessary as food or 
 sleep. These amusements, however, are to be quiet, so as not to 
 disturb those of maturer years, who have Sabbath occupations ap- 
 propriate to their age. By means of dissected pictures, a large 
 letter-box, drawing diagrams of missionary and Bible scenes, and 
 like devices, the tenants of the nursery are interested by the hour. 
 The older children attend their mother for their morning prayers 
 and texts — praying in their own language, followed by her petitions 
 in their behalf — always remembering to pray for the Sabbath. At 
 morning family worship, which is attended by children and ser- 
 vants, only the narrative parts of Scripture are read — the portion 
 for the day having been explained to the children by the mother 
 on the previous evening. After breakfast, the children go in turn, 
 beginning with the youngest, to the library, where they meet their 
 father, who has been furnished with the daily record of their con- 
 duct and progress in study, and who prays and converses with each 
 child. The topics of conversation during the day are drawn from 
 the various objects of benevolence in which the family are inte- 
 rested — the Sabbath schools in which they teach ; the religious 
 sei'vices they attend ; the books they are reading, etc. ; leaving no 
 need of resorting to the worldly matters of the secular days. All 
 is cheerful and free from constraint or " cant," The " charity- 
 purse," replenished from week to Aveek by rewards for good con- 
 duct or self-denials, is opened on Sunday morning, and the decisions 
 of the previous evening as to the amount to be contributed to one 
 or more of the twelve objects embraced in their benevolence are 
 carried out. The missionary cause is a favorite, four boxes having 
 been added, at the request of the children, to the one oi-iginally 
 procured for India. Missionary maps, pictures, and curiosities, add 
 interest to their family meeting for missions. 
 
 After public worship and dinner, each child tells a story, a hymn 
 is sung, and the texts learned during the week are repeated; but 
 no lessons are learned on the Sabbath, even by rote : it is in no 
 sense to be a tasJc day. When the younger children have retired, 
 the more advanced read the notes of the sermons they have heard 
 (I can testify to the accuracy of some of their reports) ; and later 
 in the evenijig the servants assemble for fahaily reading, and expo- 
 
6 THE SABBATH IN LONDON. 
 
 sition of the Scriptures, with the aid of maps and diagrams, closing 
 with prayer. This service Lists an liour or more, and is prized 
 highly by those for whose benefit it is designed. 
 
 Such is the routine for the Sabbath in one of the Christian house- 
 holds of Scotland. Can one expect to witness a more beautiful or 
 instructive sight till he reaches heaven ? The influence of such a 
 Sabbath is as visible as light : it will be lastmg as eternity. The 
 order of the family is perfect. The affectionate obedience of the 
 children is admirable. Unrestrained familiarity with their parents ; 
 easy grace in their intercourse with strangers ; quick intelligence 
 alike in secular and sacred things ; an unselfish interest in all 
 around them ; a disrelish for everything mean and vulgar ; a cheer- 
 ful and even frolicksome temper ; — such are the fruits of this Sab- 
 bath training. Religion is in-wrought with all the associations of a 
 happy childhood and youth, and hallows and ennobles every joy. 
 Ask one of the inmates of that home about the " asceticism" and 
 " gloom" of the Sabbath, and they will tell you the words have no 
 place in their vocabulary ; that it is the 
 
 " Day of all the week the best, 
 Emblem of eternal rest." 
 
 I am aware that such an example of Sabbath observance can 
 only be imitated fully by families somewhat similarly blessed with 
 means and leisure. But every Christian parent may gather profit- 
 able hints, and may be incited to the more perfect improvement of 
 the precious hours for personal and domestic cultin-e in spiritual 
 things. And those to whom the Sabbath is a weariness may see 
 how immeasurable is the loss to a family in foregoing the priceless 
 privileges and neglecting the high duties illustrated in the preced- 
 ing sketch. 
 
 I may add that my friend, whose residence is remote from 
 churches, has fitted up his stone barn as a place of worship for the 
 neighboring peasantry. When I parted with him, two colporteurs 
 were receiving their outfit from the stores of religious books and 
 tracts in his parlor, for a " fair " in a neighboring town. It is to 
 his Christian zeal that Scotland is mainly indebted for the mtro- 
 duction and successful ooeration on a large scale of the system of 
 colportage. 
 
 THE SABBATH IN LONDON. 
 
 A Sabbath in London afforded less satisfaction than those lu 
 
THE SABBATH IN LONDON. 7 
 
 Scotland. Notwithstanding the general suspension of business in 
 respectable quarters, and the orderly observance of the day by a 
 large part of the population, thousands of petty shops were open 
 for traffic ; omnibuses, railways, and cabs, continue their trijDS — with 
 few exceptions — and many forms of desecration exist. The nota- 
 ble exception, in the complete suspension of mail deliveries in the 
 metropolis, is honorable to the government and people of London, 
 Sydenham Palace, the Zoological and Kew Gardens are opened to 
 shareholders on the Lord's day ; and strenuous efforts are making 
 by the " National Sunday League " to open the British Museum 
 and the National Galleries, a petition to this effect, numerously 
 signed by professors of universities and literary men, having been 
 recently presented to Parliament under the leadership of Lord 
 Stanley. This measure is likely to be urged at the next session of 
 Parliament, and will test the strength of the fi'iends of a British 
 Sabbath in contrast with a Continental Sunday. There would be 
 less ground for apprehension as to the result, if the leading news- 
 paper journals of Great Britain — unlike those of the United States 
 — were not under the control of men, indiiferent, or hostile to the 
 interests of the Sabbath ; and if its friends trusted less to class 
 influence and prescriptive claims, and more to popular conviction. 
 The example of concession in England to Continental influences 
 would be disastrous to this country ; and every true friend of morals 
 and religion among us must desire that the existing barriers against 
 them may be strengthened rather than overthrown. 
 
 I enjoyed the benefit of repeated interviews with the experienced 
 Secretary of the London " Lord's Day Observance Society " — the 
 Rev. J. T. Baylee — which has done most eflfective service for twen- 
 ty-five )^ears. This organization is confined to the Church of 
 England ; but co-operates cordially with societies of a more general 
 character, as occasions arise. In connection with the "National 
 Lord's Day Rest Association," composed wholly of laymen, of 
 which Mr. Henderson, of Park, is President, some interesting mea- 
 sures are on foot in behalf of cabmen ; and recently Miss Marsh, 
 the benefactress of the " navvies " and the authoress of " Capt. 
 Headley Vicars' Life," " English Hearts and English Hands," etc., 
 has undertaken an important mission for their benefit. The excel- 
 lent editor of " The British Workman," whose fraternal kindness I 
 have often experienced when visiting London, renders valuable 
 service to the Sabbath cause through the widely-circulated journals 
 under his control. These, and kindred efibrts, are associated with 
 unwonted plans for popular evangelization in England. Open-air 
 p!"caching in numerous localities, and earnest religious services in 
 
8 THE SABBAtH on THE CONTINENT. 
 
 Exeter Hall, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and else- 
 where, with the co-operation of the dignitaries and clergy of the 
 Church of England, as well as Dissenters, all betoken a revived 
 state of religious feeling and eftbrt. The thorough education and 
 evangelization of the masses is the grand desideratum in Great 
 Britain. That would save the Sabbath : the Sabbath rightly 
 observed would secure that. 
 
 THE SABBATH OX THE CONTINENT. 
 
 A Continental Sabbath has been often described. By some it 
 has been lauded, and even commended to our imitation. It has 
 exerted no little influence in weakening the restraints of the sacred 
 day in Great Britain and America. As an eye-witness of its cha- 
 racter and influence in most of the kingdoms of Europe, Protestant 
 and Papal, I deem it a duty to attempt another sketch, with the 
 hope of undeceiving those who may have been betrayed into admi- 
 ration of a godless holiday. 
 
 There is this characteristic difference between a French, and a 
 German, or Italian Sunday :— In France it is almost wholly a day of 
 business or amusement, without regard to the religious element : 
 while in other portions of the Continent it is common to begin the 
 day with the church, and end it at the theatre, the tea-garden, or 
 the fields. In Home, hideed, government shops are open, and the 
 lotteries are drawn, with great parade, on the Sabbath — but the 
 people must shut their shops. The sacred character of the day, 
 howevei', is scai'cely recognised throughout the Continent. 
 
 A Paris Sunday has become proverbial for its godlessness. Pass- 
 ing along its clean and beautiful streets, you find the Cafes and 
 Restaurants crowded with men, taking their morning meal and 
 reading the newspapers of the day. Cries of fruit-dealers and 
 street-venders are everywhere hoard — though the needless abomina- 
 tion of crying newspapers is not tolerated, even in Paris. I'aviors, 
 masons, roofers , painters, — all kinds of mechanics are engaged in 
 their usual avocations. Places of business are universally open till 
 midday, as on other days. The whirl of cabs and omnibuses is 
 even more constant than during the six days of the week. I had 
 the curiosity to count the vehicles passing the Industrial Palace, 
 Champs Elysces, mostly going to or returning from the Bois de 
 Boulogne, in the afternoon of the second Sabbath in August — the 
 gi-and fete day at Cherbourg, — when Paris was emptied of the 
 elite of its fashionable society, and found the average to be one 
 
THE SABBATH ON THE CONTINENT. 9 
 
 hundred and forty a minute, or one thousand six hundred and eighty 
 an hour ! The grand waterworks at St. Cloud and Versailles play 
 only on Sunday. As the day advances, the gardens of the 
 Tuileries and the Champs Elysees present a scene of unrivalled 
 gaiety and folly. Bands of music execute lively military and ope- 
 ratic airs. Gaudy booths are surrounded with crowds of men, 
 women, and children, absorbed by childish sports. Automata, too 
 silly for the amusement of infants, serve to delight other groups of 
 soldiers and stragglers. Goat-carriages and whirligigs of wooden 
 horses or mimic ships divert the children and nurses. As evening 
 sets in, the out-door concert and drinking saloons flaunt their 
 attractions : brilliant mirrors reflect the fanciful gas-jets ; singing men 
 and singing women, accompanied by orchestras below, amuse the 
 multitude with comic, and sometimes immoral songs. Every con- 
 ceivable device for drawing the people away from home and from 
 God is employed. The Cirque de I'Imperatrice furnishes its eques- 
 trian attractions and its mirth-inspiring exhibitions. Adjacent 
 public gardens are thronged with dancers. Operatic and theatrical 
 amusements add tlieir seductive performances. The whole lino of 
 the Boulevards is fllled with i^eople seated in front of the cafes, 
 sipping their brandied coffee, playing dominoes, or gazing at the 
 promenaders along the broad pavements. Houses and homes (if 
 there be such a thing, without the name, in France) s>3em to be 
 emptied into the streets and places of amusement, and the city is 
 converted into a pandemonium of folly and of genteel or gross dis- 
 sipation. 
 
 Since the accession of the reigning dynasty, Sunday labor has 
 been suspended on tlie public works in France ; but I observed that 
 the stupendous preparations for the Emperor's fete day fire-Avorks 
 in the Place de Concorde, were in full progress on the second Sab- 
 bath in August, the fete occurring on the succeeding Sunday. But 
 on Monday, the Sunday workmen were not there — either because 
 dissipation or ovei'-exertion compelled a day of rest. 
 
 Such, without more of detail, is a Paris Sunday. In the light of 
 reason and of the Bible, and of eternity, how does it look ? And 
 Avhat are its fruits? Are they not found in the thriftless condition 
 of a vast proUtaire population — living from hand to moiith — rest- 
 less in spirit — ferocious in temper — kept from rebellion by a numer- 
 ous soldiery, or quieted by government labor and food ? May they 
 not be seen in the dwarfed stature, and pallid aspect, aiid wretched 
 inefticiency of the laboring classes, and in the "Blue-Monday" 
 records of employers or of the magistracy — the Sunday dissipation 
 disenabling thousands from Monday's occupations, or sending them 
 
10 THE SABBATH IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 to prison? Can they not be traced in the general declension ol 
 private, commercial, and political morals — whatever cover the refine- 
 ment and high civilization of Parisian life may throw over the incon- 
 ceivable iniquity of its social condition ; in the loosening of conju- 
 gal bonds, the utter loss of a home day, and of all the restraints and 
 joys of home life ; in the prevalence of godlessness, irreligion, and 
 infidelity ; and in the ascendancy of civil and spiritual despotism ? 
 Better Avould it be for Paris, for France, for the Continent, that no 
 distinction of days were recognised, and that the tide of life were 
 to roll on without cessation, than that the Lord's day should be 
 thus perverted into a day of sinful folly and universal demoraliza- 
 tion. Ceaseless occupation, with all its physical evils, and its em- 
 bruting influence, would be less disastrous than this devotion of 
 sacred time to godless pleasure. 
 
 THE SABBATH IN SWITZERLAND. 
 
 In Switzerland, especially in Protestant Cantons, there is a some- 
 what improved state of Sabbath observance, as compared with 
 Paris ; but even in Geneva, as in other considerable towns, there is 
 too little to mark the day as one having religious sanctions or uses. 
 The attendance on public worship is partial and formal ; and idle 
 sports, military parades, bands of music, steamboat excursions, and 
 theatrical amusements, undo the work of the pulpit, and rob the 
 day of its spiritual power. Religious convictions have a feeble 
 hold on the popular mind, and Popery is regahiing the strongholds 
 it lost in the great Reformation. Recently, the pastors of the 
 Established Chui'ch in Geneva and some of the other Protestant 
 Cantons have i-ecoiled fi-om the tendencies of a holiday Sabbath, 
 and have attempted some reforms in this behalf A few of the 
 leacling minds of Switzerland, connected Avith Free Churches, are 
 in sympathy with the views cherished in Great Britain and America 
 on the Sabbath question. The Rev. Dr. Malan has published 
 largely on the subject; and Dr. Merle D'x\ubigne has said, "Order 
 and obedience, morality and power, are all in Biitain connected 
 with the observance of the Sabbath .... The firmness of England 
 as to the Lord's day and other institutions, is an essential feature 
 of the national character, and an imperative condition of the 
 greatness and prosperity of her people." 
 
 I was invited to address the " Universal Conference of Young 
 Men's Christian Associations," composed of delegates from Switzer- 
 land, France, Germany, Belgium, and Great Britain, in session at 
 
THE SABBATH IN GERMANY AND ITALY. 11 
 
 Geneva at the time of my recent visit, and took occasion to suggest 
 the subject of the sanctilication of the Sabbath as a fundamental 
 object of their labors, — giving utterance to the deliberate conviction 
 that all evangelizing schemes on the Continent are, and must ever 
 be, comparatively powerless until the Sabbath is restored to its 
 place as the King of Days. 
 
 GEEMANT. 
 
 I was prevented from rej^eating my visit to Germany, as I had 
 intended ; but through personal interviews with delegates to the 
 Geneva " Conference," and by correspondence Avith well-informed 
 parties, I am happy to report some quickening of interest among 
 Christian pastors, and in other influential quarters, in the due 
 observance of the Lord's day. The subject has repeatedly occupied 
 the attention of the "Kirchentag," — the immense annual assembly of 
 the German clergy, — and the Kings of Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover, 
 with the governments of some of the smaller duchies, have made 
 some movements for the supjDression of the grosser forms of Sab- 
 bath desecration. As neological opinions subside, and a spiritual 
 religion revives, this subject will receive more earnest attention. 
 But, as a whole, the Fourth Commandment is practically rejected 
 by both Protestant and Papal Germany ; and the blessed institution 
 is perverted into a season of worldly diversion or revelry. As the 
 result, evangelical religion has no pervading power ; the pulpit 
 scarcely competes with the theatre and the tea-garden ; a Reformed 
 faith has made little progress for three centuries, in the very seat 
 of its early triumphs, and Avhole peoples, formed and sighing for 
 freedom, are in bondage. 
 
 IIALT. 
 
 If one may judge of the Sunday habits of the Peninsula by the 
 Sabbaths spent in Naples, Rome, Florence, Padua, Milan, and 
 Arona, including Easter Sunday at Rome — there is little to be said 
 of them other than that they are skilfully adapted for the diversion 
 of a people sporting with their chains ; and that we need search no 
 farther for an adequate cause for that enervation of character which 
 renders self-government impossible. Without the Bible, and without 
 a season to study it if they had it ; without Sabbath schools, and almost 
 without secular instruction; and with saints' days to strengthen 
 
12 GKNEKAL KE>IAKKS. 
 
 Buperstltion, and Sabbaths mainly for amusement — Italy has 
 been the plaything of foreign despots, and the hunting-ground 
 of a corrupt priesthood, 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 Nothing can be clearer to the intelligent observer of European 
 life than that a holiday Sabbath is a frightful cause of physical, 
 political, and moral degradation to the masses of the pjeople. A 
 day of worldly pleasure for the rich, makes a day of toil for the 
 dependent classes. An amount of labor is imposed on multitudes, 
 who need rest more than their employers, inconsistent with bodily 
 refreshment, mental improvement, or spiritual culture ; while those 
 to whom toil is not made a necessity are tempted to the waste of 
 money, time, and health, in haunts of dissipation. The condition of 
 the laboring classes on the Continent is, for the most part, so 
 deplorable as to excite the liveliest sjnmpathy of the traveller. 
 They are jjoorly fed — poorly clad — ill-instructed — over-tashed, 
 and without hope of improvement : not merely or mainly because 
 of an overcrowded population and oppressive governments, but 
 because the stamina^ of character, and the physical and moial 
 energy which a seventh portion of time devoted to rest and worship 
 — to the family and to God — would bring, are lacking ; and God- 
 given hours are devoted to the dram-shop, the tea-garden, and 
 other enervating and corrupting associations. He who made the 
 Sabbath "for man" has ordained the connexion between the sacred 
 day and that manliness of character which can brook no bonds. 
 
 A Holiday Sabbath is thus the ally of despotism.. It is a memo- 
 rable fact, that the only free countries in the world are those in 
 which popular conviction and legal enactment recognize and conserve 
 the sacred character of the Christian Sabbath. One of our most 
 eminent writers, who has " made the French and Continental mode 
 of keeping Sunday a matter of calm, dispassionate inquiry and obser- 
 vation," has said, "There is not a single nation possessed of a 
 popular form of government which has not our theory of the 
 Sabbath. Protestant Switzerland, England, Scotland, and America 
 cover the whole ground of popular freedom; and in all these, this 
 idea of the Sabbath prevails with a distinctness about equal to the 
 degree of liberty. Nor do I think this result an accidental one." 
 How should it be " accidental," when there is the best evidence that 
 Continental rulers encourage Sabbath profanations as a means of 
 unfitting their subjects for the assertion and exercise of their politi 
 cal rights? The historian Hallam reveals a pregnant fact when he 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 13 
 
 states that European despots " liave fov many years perceived and 
 acted on the principle that it is the policy of government to encou- 
 rage a love of pastime and recreation in the people ; both becau?e 
 it keeps them from sjyeculathig on religious and political matters, 
 and because it renders them more cheerful and less sensible to the 
 evils of their condition.'''' It may, indeed, be consistent "policy" 
 for despots to pervert the Lord's day into one of "pastime and 
 recreation," lest their subjects should " speculate on religious and 
 political matters" and become " sensible to the evils of their condi- 
 tion." " Yon Cassius thinks too much," said the imperial despot 
 of Rome ; " such men are dangerous." But the very life of a free 
 government depends, under God, on such a perpetual " speculation 
 on religious and political matters" as the Bible and the Sabbath and 
 a free Gospel prompt. If we would cling to our institutions, we 
 must cherish the holy day of freedom and religion, and frown on the 
 holiday of despots. 
 
 A Holiday Sabbath is a fmitfid source of inmiorcdity. One 
 link of the moral law broken, and that the central one, all are 
 severed. No truth is more established by universal experience 
 than that the violation of the Sabbath is the parent of innumerable 
 vices and crimes. Every magistrate, jailer, and prison chaplain, 
 will confirm this statement. To this effect is the testimony of the 
 experienced chaplain of the Model Prison, London — "We are 
 called to minister in a prison to few but Sabbath-breakers." And the 
 chaplain of Clerkenwell states, " I do not recollect a single case of 
 capital offence, where the party has not been a Sabbath-breaker. 
 Indeed, I may say, in reference to prisoners of all classes, that in 
 nineteen cases out of twenty, they are persons Avho have not only 
 neglected the Sabbath, but all religious ordinances." Not only the 
 divine precepts relating to the worship of God are rendered nuga- 
 tory by trampling on the Fourth Commandment ; but filial disobe-« 
 dience, michastity, and a disregard for the rights of person, i^i'o- 
 perty, and reputation, stand intimately connected Avith the voluntary 
 and habitual violation of this ordinance of Heaven. The condition 
 of the marriage institution on the Continent, is a sad commentary 
 on the influence of a dissevered Decalogue. It is in Paris that 
 official records return more than three thousand foundlings annually 
 in a single hospital. It is on the Continent that marriage is dis- 
 couraged by the laws and prostitution legalized and protected. 
 With governments of no more strength than ours, the Continent 
 would reek with corruption. With such a state of morals as exists 
 in Europe, our Government would be destroyed in a single genera- 
 tion, if not a single year. 
 
14 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 A holiday Sabbath is fatal to the growth and prevalence of 
 evangelical religion. Sabbath-keoi)ing and vital piety are so indis- 
 solubly associated as to make the former a certain index of the reli- 
 gious condition of any community. The Gospel accomplishes its 
 object as the Sabbath day is regarded according to the purpose of 
 its appointment. Germany reads us a terrible lesson on this point. 
 It was tlie home of the Reformation, and would have been to this 
 day, but for the folse leaven which vitiated the sanctity of the 
 Lord's day. Recoiling from everything positive and ritual in the 
 Papal system, the reaction of the Reformers in the direction of the 
 absolute freedom of the Gospel was a virtual abandonment of the 
 Sabbath, excepting the claims of expediency for its observance. 
 Such a bai-rier against selfishness and worldliness proved ina- 
 dequate; and three centuries of the fluctuating — perhaps waning — 
 power of a Reformed faith on the Continent, compared with the 
 centuries of increasing vigor and expansion of evangelical religion 
 in Great Britain and America, attest on a grand scale the 
 vital connexion between Sabbath sanctification and the ascend- 
 ency of the Gospel. It will be found throughout Europe that 
 attendance on the means of grace, the diffusion and study of the 
 ScrijJtures, works of Christian benevolence, all the signs and fruits 
 of a living faith, are graduated and may be determined by the 
 measure in which the Lord's day is held in sacred esteem. As a 
 general fact, the Pulpit has little power ; the masses being alienated 
 from its influence, or disj)elling its impressions by the misuse of the 
 closing hours of holy time. The Bible is, for the most part, a sealed 
 book, because the season specially designed for its study is devoted 
 to worldly pleasure. All schemes for popular evangelization are 
 feebly conducted, and fail in popular efficiency. The conviction will 
 deepen with every month of ol)servation, that until the Sabbath in 
 Europe is re-established upon its divine sanctions, error and in-eli- 
 gion will abound, and a general reformation and revival of a spi- 
 ritual faith must be hopeless. All efforts from Avithin or without to 
 this end must be fruitless until the grand mistake of' the sixteenth 
 century be corrected. Such is coming to be the conviction of some 
 reflecting men in Germany and Switzerland. It may be strength- 
 ened by the careful guarding and the increased efficiency of the 
 British and American Sabbath ; and by the reflex influence on the 
 Old World of the emigration to the new, when that emigration shall 
 have been instructed in the claims and benefits of the sacred day, 
 and brought under the power of a living Gospel. 
 
 But Ave are receiving by the shipload the population of the Con- 
 tinent, to become, in a brief period, citizens with us, of this free Re- 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 15 
 
 public. Is there not ground of apprehension that the prejudices 
 and customs thus imported may make a stronger impression on our 
 Sabbath habits than we make on these masses who establish them- 
 selves here? The population with which the emigrant soonest fra- 
 ternizes here, is not the best instructed or most orderly. Thus the 
 force of irreligious example may sweep away the restraints of the 
 Sabbath from tens of thousands of American households ; and a 
 frightful measure of degeneracy supervene, unless counteracting 
 measures are employed. For our own sakes, then, as well as for 
 the sake of the temporal and spiritual well-being of these " strangers 
 in a strange land," and for the sake of the lands from which they 
 come, we need to invigorate the Sabbath sentiment of the nation, 
 and to guard at every point against the incursion of an immeasura- 
 ble evil. A Continental holiday Sabbath would work our speedy 
 destruction. AVith the characteristic enterprise and recklessness of 
 our people, and with our almost negative government, what is a 
 day of recreation and folly on the Continent, would si^eedily become 
 a day of universal traffic or of wild dissipation here. Labor Avould 
 soon have no rest, and worldliness no intermission : universal god- 
 lessness and irreligion would rush in to monopolize the time that we 
 now give to repose and worship. 
 
 I have returned to my native land with deepened impressions of 
 the value and necessity to all its highest interests of a divinely 
 appointed, sacredly observed Sabbath, and of the indispensableness 
 of judicious and persistent efforts, like those contemplated by your 
 Committee, for its sanctification. It is time that the tendencies to 
 its desecration were rebuked by the manly Christian sentiment of 
 the nation. It is high time that invasions of principles and usages 
 as old as our institutions, and vitally related to their purity and 
 perpetuity, should be repelled ; that the right of Christian citizens 
 to the unmolested enjoyment of one day in seven for public and 
 private Avorship were protected ; and that such open profanations 
 of the Lord's day, by young or old, native or foreign-bom, as 
 interfere with this right should be suppressed. That this work 
 must be attended with difficulties, cannot be doubted. That it will 
 encounter opposition, must be anticipated. But the cost has been 
 coimted. And if there be an interest which, more than another, 
 may rely on the support and blessing of Divine Providence, is it 
 not one that, by unostentatious effort, would promote the proper 
 observance of His day who has styled Himself " the Lord ol the 
 Sabbath," and who has studded his word with the richest promises 
 to those who 'Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.' 
 
 R. S. C. 
 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS VALUE OF THE SABBATH. 
 
 At a Meet'tnrf of more than One Hundred of the Clergy of New York 
 
 Citi/, tlie followinc/ Resolutions were unanimouslij adopted: — 
 Resolved : 
 
 T. That, should influences now at work, in effecting the pro;:j:re.'^ive desecration 
 of the sacred day, meet witli no adequate counteraction, — travel, traffic, and labor, 
 newsvendiiig, frivolity, intemperance, profligacy, and riot must continuously and 
 rapidly encroach upon the authority and liallowed repose of the Christian Sabbath ; 
 — And that, by the influx of foreign immigration upon our own shores, — should 
 this new element be left unevangelizcd — and by the reaction of European travel 
 upon the character of our own people, the Sunday of Vienna, or of Paris, — a very 
 carnival of dissipation, — may insensibly supplant amongst us the time-honored, 
 orderly, and devout Sabbatli known to our forefathers ; — And that such desecration 
 has long increased, is now increasing, and should be withstood by all peaceful and 
 Christian methods. 
 
 II. That the day of holy rest, to a land bearing the Christian name, and to a 
 republic based on equal rights, has the highest Civil Worth. l^Ian needs it, physi- 
 cally, as a season when Labor may wipe off its grime, and breathe more freely after 
 the week's exhau.stion, and when Care shall slacken its hold upon the frame and the 
 heart. Man needs it, morally^ to rise by its aid out of engrossing secularities and 
 materialism to the remembrance of his spiritual interests, his final account, and liis 
 eternal destiny. Toil needs it to rescue its share of rest, and its season of devotion 
 from the absorbing despoti.sm of Capital; and Capital weeäs. it, to shield its own 
 accumulations from the recklessness and anarchy of an imbruted and desperate pro- 
 letariate, and to keep its own humanity and conscientiousness alive. The State 
 needs it, as a .safeguard of the public order, quiet, and virtue ; human laws becoming, 
 however wise in form, effete in practice, except as they are based upon conscience, 
 and upon the sanctions of Eternit}'', as recognized voluntarily by an intelligent 
 people ; and God's day cultivating the one and reminding us of the other. And in 
 a Republic, more cspeciallj-, whose liberties, under God, inhere in its virtues, the 
 recognition, — freely and devoutly, — by an instructed nation, — of God's paramount 
 right.s, is the moral underpinning requisite to sustain the superstructure of raan'.s 
 riglits ; and without such support from religion, — not as nationally established, but 
 as personally and freely accepted, — all human freedom finally moulders and topples 
 into irretrievable ruin. 
 
 III. Tliat, as to its Religious Value, this day of sacred rest has the strongest 
 claims upon all Christians, however differing as to its true origin, and whether they 
 trace it back to Eden, to Sinai, or to the Saviour's tomb, as finding there its real 
 commencement. They need the observance of the day, as the season of their assem- 
 blies and ordinances, and as furnishing one great bond of their fraternal communion. 
 In its relations to this world, the Church requires it to conserve and to extend its 
 religious influence and as the channel of a yet wider evangelization. In its relationa 
 to the heavenly world, the Church needs it for its collective prayers, intercessions, 
 and thank.sgivings: and that thus it may embody the image, and enjoy the antepast 
 of tiie endless rest to which it inspires in right of Christ's victorj'', on this day con- 
 summated, over Sin, Death, and Hell. And the God, who is the Giver of all time, 
 never having .surrendered to ordinary uses this His own reserved season, the infrac- 
 tion by man of God's claims here is ingratitude, attempting robbery, and perpetrat- 
 ing sacrilege, as against a Bounteous and Sovereign Creator. 
 
 The following gentlemen compose the Sabbath Committee: — 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 E. L. Beadlk, M.D. 
 Nathan Bisiior. 
 William A. Bootu. 
 Robert Carter. 
 Thomas C. Doremus. 
 John Elliott. 
 
 Fred. G. Foster. 
 David Hoadlf.y. 
 Horace Holden. 
 J NO. E. Parsons. 
 Gustav Schwab. 
 Wm. a. Smith. 
 
 Otis D. Swan. 
 William Tri'slow 
 W. F. Van Wagenen. 
 William Walker. 
 F. S. Winston, 
 0. E. Wood. 
 
 James W. Beekman, Rcc. Secretary/. [ Russell S. Cook, Cor. Secretary, 
 J. M. Morrison (President of Manhattan Bank), Treasurer, 
 
 ^ OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NE'WT YOEK. 
 
! !l 
 
 ! . 
 
 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC: 
 
 1 
 
 
 1. EXTENT AND ACCESSORIES. 
 
 
 
 2. ILLEGALITY. 
 
 
 
 3. WASTEFULNESS. 
 
 
 
 4. ENGENDERS PAUPERISM. 
 
 
 
 5. CAUSES CRIME. 
 
 
 
 6. PROMOTES LAWLESSNESS. 
 
 
 
 7. TENDB TO IRRELIGION. 
 
 
 
 8. REMEDIES SUGGESTED. 
 
 
 
 JBOCUMJENT No. V. 
 
 
 
 THE NEW-YORK: S^JBTJA.TII C OMITyriXTEE . 
 
 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 16 & 18 JACOB ST., 
 
 
 
 PIRE-PROOP BUILDINGS. 
 
 
 
 1859. 
 
 
 1 
 
DOC. No, 5. 
 
 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TEAFFIC. 
 
 The records of our Criminal Courts reveal the humiliating fact 
 that our day of weekly rest is sadly perverted and abused. The 
 period divinely allotted for the renovation of the vital powers after 
 six days of toil, and for needful attention to sacred interests after the 
 engrossment of the week in secular duties, is shamefully employed for 
 purposes of dissipation and wickedness. The home day — "the poor 
 man's day" — intended by its beneficent Author as the season for the 
 cultivation of all kindly Christian virtues, and the strengthening of 
 every manly principle, is made the occasion of temptation, strife, and 
 misery to numberless families, and of drunkenness and crime to very 
 many of the sons of toil. The blessings and restraints of the Lord's 
 Day yield to the seductions of the dram-shop. In defiance of public 
 sentiment, and of the public authorities — without right or reason or 
 law — the Sunday Liquor Traffic is persisted in with heartless rapa- 
 city. It is the object of this paper to inquire into the nature and 
 extent of this evil, and to urge the prompt application of some ade- 
 quate remedy. 
 
 Tlie Temperxance question, as such, and the grave topics of morals, 
 and of political economy, connected with the subject of excise, are 
 foreign from the purposes of this document. It is in its relations to 
 the desecration of the Christian Sabbath that we now have to do with 
 the traffic in intoxicating liquors : believing that how disastrous soever 
 that traffic may be to human interests, temporal and eternal, its evils 
 are immeasurably increased when associated with the profanation of 
 sacred time ; and that whatever views may be entertained of the 
 morality and expediency of the traffic itself, there can be no vindica- 
 tion of its claim to a practical monopoly of trade on the day when 
 legitimate business is generally suspended, in obedience to a natural 
 law and to the laws of God and man. 
 
2 EXTENT AND ACCES30EIES OF THE TRAFFIC. 
 
 EXTENT AND ACCESSOKIES OF THE TKAPFIC. 
 
 It appears, from the official returns of the Police Department, that 
 the whole number of dram-shops, lager-beer saloons, and places for 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors, in this city, is seven thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-nine; and they are rapidly increas 
 ing. Only seventy-two — or 1 in 100 — are licensed ! Estimating the 
 whole number of families at one hundred and twenty thousand, this 
 would give one dram-shop for Q:ic\iffteen and a half families ; while 
 in some wards the ratio can not be less than one for each eight or ten 
 families. 
 
 It is stated on the highest official authority, that at least two thirds 
 of these drinking-places — or five thousand one hundred and 
 eighty-sis, of the nearly eight thousand — carry on their traflSc 
 on Sunday : and that they are almost invariably kept by aliens 
 or naturalized citizens. 
 
 If we estimate the average number of proprietors and attendants, 
 who are deprived of their day of rest to pander to the debased appe- 
 tites of their customers, at two for each dram-shop and saloon, (some 
 of the larger employ a score or more,) it will make at least ten thou- 
 sand persons who are robbed of a j)recious right every recurring Sab- 
 bath. It is believed that the low average of twenty visitors to each 
 of these Sunday dram-shops and saloons — some of which count their 
 customers by thousands — would be quite safe : but this would give 
 more than one hundred thousand patrons of a demoralizing 
 business. And if we take $5 as the average amount expended at 
 each shop, (in many cases it is known to be hundreds,) it would give 
 an aggregate of $25,930 wasted every Sunday, chiefly by the poor 
 and laboring classes, for the means of intoxication and ruin ; or a 
 total of $1,348,360 for the Sundays of the year ! The statement in 
 one of our daily journals, {^The Evening Post,) on the authority of the 
 proprietor of a lagcr-beer theater, that not less than fifty thousand 
 glasses of beer had been sold at his establishment, (amounting, at 
 5 cents a glass, to $2500) on a sii^gle Sabbath, (Dec. 26, 1858,) 
 though probably an exaggeration, would serve to show that the above 
 estimates are far within the truth. 
 
 But there are accessories to the Sunday Liquor Traffic, only less in- 
 jurious and offijnsive than its direct evils. It seems to gather around 
 it whatever is seductive and demoralizing. Without ocular demon- 
 stration, it would be difficult to credit the facts as to the variety and 
 extent of the temptations to vice provided in the saloons, halls, and 
 theaters, open and thronged every Sabbath of the year, in the very 
 
THIS TRAFFIC ILLEGAL. 3 
 
 heart of our city. " The Bowery " abounds with them, and they are 
 springing up with fearful rapidity in all parts of the city where our 
 immigrant population have planted themselves. All of the larger 
 establishments have bands of music, which are a nuisance to the 
 neighborhood ; and most of them have theatrical performances, sing- 
 ing and dancing, both in the afternoon and evening of the Lord's Day, 
 Hundreds of people, of both sexes, and of all ages, crowd around 
 narrow tables, on which liquors are served to all: and remain for 
 hours drinking, smoking, and perhaps gambling — while low comedies, 
 or vulgar plays, are acted. More than one thousand persons were 
 counted in each of four such places on a single Sunday night. In one 
 of them, there were several billiard-tables ; a shooting gallery ; and an 
 exhibition of pictures for pay : and besides these diversions, added to 
 comedy and tragedy, there were four raffling-places where " every 
 throw wins ;" a roulette-table, and other modes of gambling, in full 
 operation under the same roof, at the same time — and that the time 
 claimed for Himself by the " Lord of the Sabbath !" A fearful pro- 
 portion of the frequenters of such places are mere lads — of the age and 
 character figuring so sadly on the records of our Police Courts. 
 
 Thus the Sunday sports of the worst cities of the continent ot 
 Europe are imported and foisted on our land, and with them the worst 
 morals of the worst classes of the worst countries of the old world. 
 The restraining, elevating influences of the home, the sanctuary, and 
 the Sabbath — without which character must lack the healthful moral 
 tone necessary to self-government — are all wanting ; and the baser 
 passions are left to uncontrolled sway. As a result — with the lack of 
 the elements of self-government, and of the rigid exercise of govern- 
 mental authority to which they have been accustomed — we have 
 growing up in the midst of us a vast population, impatient of the re- 
 straints of law ; berating and undermining the institutions that give 
 them shelter ; and ready for anarchy or rebellion, when their imagin- 
 ary rights are questioned, or their " liberty " — to do wrong — is 
 abridged. 
 
 THIS TKAFFIC ILLEGAL. 
 
 The spirit of our laws is accordant with that of the laws of Heaven, 
 in this regard, that it discourages and prohibits all ordinary traffic and 
 servile labor on the Sabbath. It looks toward the securing of a 
 universal and inalienable right by a universal restriction. It restrains 
 the rapacity of employers by rendering contracts for Sunday labor or 
 Sunday traffic null and void, with the same humane intent with which 
 it provides that ten hours shall be the legal limit of a day of toil. 
 And so far from exempting the trade in liquors from the general pro- 
 
4 ACTION OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 hibition, our statutes are explicit in their hostility to that most need 
 less and injurious of all the forms of Sunday profanation. 
 
 By § 21, chapter 628, of the Laws of 1857, the sale or gift of " any 
 intoxicating liquors or wines on Sunday, by any inn, tavern, or hotel- 
 keeper, or person licensed to sell liquors," is made " a misdemeanor," 
 with the penalty of imprisonment not more than twenty days. 
 
 By the laws of 1857, chapter 569, § 21, it is enacted that, " It shall 
 not be lawful for any person to publicly keep or dispose of any intoxi- 
 cating liquors upon the first day of the week, called Sunday, or upon 
 any day of public election, under a penalty of fifty dollars for each 
 offense, to be sued for and recovered by the District Attorney, for the 
 benefit of the Police Contingent Fund ; and it shall be the duty o-f the 
 Board of Police to strictly enforce the provisions of this section, by 
 its proper orders." 
 
 By an ordinance of the Common Council, passed in 1855, the sale 
 of intoxicating drinks " without being licensed according to law, or 
 being so licensed, the traffic in the same, on the first day of the week, 
 called Sunday," is declared to be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine 
 or imprisonment for each ofiense. 
 
 It is not seen how there could be greater explicitness in intention or 
 terms than is found in these laws and ordinances. And the Act defin- 
 ing the duties of the Metropolitan Board of Police, among other re- 
 quirements, such as " to preserve the public peace ; to prevent crime 
 and arrest oflfenders ; to guard the public health," etc., specifically 
 charges that Board " to see that all laws, relating to the observance of 
 Sunday . . . . , are properly enforced ; and to obey and enforce all 
 ordinances of Common Councils, which are applicable to police or 
 health." 
 
 ACTION OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 One of the earliest " General Orders" issued by the Superintendent 
 of Police, contemplates the enforcement of these laws. It is as 
 
 follows ; 
 
 Office op the Deputy Superintendent of Police, 
 413 Broome Street, Corner of Elm. 
 General Order, No. 6. 
 
 New- York, July bth, IRSt. 
 For tlie preservation of the peace of the city, and in accordance with the pro- 
 visions of the 21st Sec. of the Act entitled, "An Act to establish a Metropolitan 
 Police District," etc., you are directed to instruct the several Patrolmen under your 
 charge, to strictly enforce the law, by causing to be closed on the Sabbath all 
 places where intoxicating liquors are sold, and in case of any violation of the law, 
 to report the same, that its penalties may be enforced. 
 
 If any member of the Patrol force neglect the performance of this duty, you will 
 report him forthwith. F. A. Tallmadqe. 
 
ACTION OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS, 
 
 The then District Attorney, (Mr. Hall,) in his circular to patrol- 
 men, accompanying the above order, says : 
 
 " The public sale, or keeping of liquor upon Sunday, is forbidden, not hecause the 
 article is liquor, but because the law for thirty years has forbidden the sale of any 
 thing on that day (except meats, fish, and milk, before nine o'clock A.M.) It is 
 forbidden, not because the Police law, or the new license law, first forbid, for the 
 Kevised Statutes forbid it, and the Ordinance of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Com- 
 monalty, passed in 1855, forbid it. All these prohibitions are concurrent. Whilst 
 it may be a new thing to close shops on Sunday, the law itself on the subject is no 
 novelty. * * * xhe undersigned, being charged by law with a duty whose 
 disobedience renders him liable to a prosecution himself for a misdemeanor, submits 
 the following plan of instructions to patrolmen : 
 
 " Take the foregoing explanations of the law, and carefully, but politely, inform 
 every vender, not only of liquors, but of all wares and merchandise on Sunday, of 
 the provisions, and request an immediate closing up of the establishment, in such 
 a way as to indicate to the public that no sale is expected. * * * if he re- 
 fuses or neglects — or if, under pretense of closing, still ' publicly keeps, and dis- 
 poses of wares,' then each patrolman will please to fill up the blanks below, and at 
 close of Sunday, file with Inspector, who will send them to the undersigned tor 
 prosecutioB." 
 
 The Board of Commissioners of Police, Feb. 2od, 1858, ordered 
 the collation and publication of the laws and ordinances " respecting 
 the observance of the Sabbath," and directed the Superintendent to 
 issue an order instructing the captains of police to enforce them, and 
 to report on Monday of every week all violations thereof ; the Super, 
 intendent being further directed to " report to the District Attorney 
 the names of the persons violating them, so that they may be prose- 
 cuted in pursuance of law." On the 23d day of December, the Police 
 Commissioners are stated to have issued new and more stringent 
 orders to the same effect. 
 
 The Annual Report of the General Superintendent of the Metro- 
 politan Police, presented Aug. 1, 1858, shows that no less than nine- 
 teen thousand nine hundred and two (19,902) complaints for the viola- 
 tion of the Sunday Liquor Laws had been lodged in the District 
 Attorney's office during the year, in pursuance of the foregoing order 
 and instructions ; and the number of complaints since made, swells 
 the aggregate to twenty-six thousand. It appears that forty-five 
 convictions were had for violations of the Sunday Liquor Law, a 
 year or more since, and fines imposed : but that in every instance the 
 executions were returned by the Sheriff unsatisfied — no property 
 being found on which to levy ! 
 
 Meanwhile two Grand Juries have presented in impressive terms 
 the evils of this form of Sabbath desecration. In February, 1858, 
 
6 IT WASTES MONEY AND HEALTH. 
 
 " The Grand Jury present that a serious and growing evil, is the disregard, bj 
 certain classes of the public, of the laws designed to preserve the due observance 
 of the Sabbath. * * In some of the most populous sections of the city, on the 
 afternoons and evenings of the Sabbath, theatrical exhibitions, secular concerts, 
 bowling and pistol galleries, juggling shows, dancing-houses, bands of music, tip- 
 pling saloons, and all species of lawless entertainments are maintained, in open 
 violation of law, and in disregard of public authorities. To these lawless places 
 are attracted vast numbers of the unguarded youth and demoralized maturity of 
 both sexes, and dissipation, quarrelling, and frequent violence are among the con- 
 sequences. Independently of the annojance and offense which these disturbances 
 create to the law-observing and Christian portion of the community, the fact that 
 the laws may thus be openly violated, and the constituted authorities fail to secure 
 their due observance, can not but produce the most pernicious effect upon the ill- 
 disposed, who participate in these lawless gatherings, as well as those who are 
 encouraged in their evil course by the inefficient administration of the law. "We 
 would recommend that the laws for the suppression of these exhibitions be rigidly 
 enforced, and that it be made the special duty of the Police to suppress them by 
 the undeviating execution of the law. It can not be denied that these unlawful 
 gatherings are among the fruitful causes of engendering in the corrupted youth of 
 our city the fearful tendencies to crime which are daily manifested in our criminal 
 courts." 
 
 In their presentment, the Grand Jury of October say : 
 
 " The desecration of the Sabbath by persons frequenting the numerous drinking, 
 dancing, and singing saloons, scattered broadcast over the city, is a subject of con- 
 stant complaint, and calls for prompt and efficient action on the part of the authori- 
 ties for its suppression. The Grand Jury is in possession of facts showing that 
 about twenty thousand complaints for the violation of the Sunday Liquor Law have 
 been reported by the police, not one of which has been prosecuted. It is the opin- 
 ion of the Grand Jury that every law respecting the desecration of the Sabbath 
 should be rigidly enforced, at least so far as is necessary to prevent an interference 
 with the peace of those who prefer to devote the day to higher and loftier purposes." 
 
 We proceed, without .pausing to comment on the legal aspects of 
 the subject thus presented, to consider some of the economical and 
 moral hearmgs of the Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 
 IT 'WASTES MONEY AND HEALTH. 
 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic is wasteful. It robs the laboring man of 
 his money, strength, and character. No one can frequent the Sunday 
 dram-shop without becoming a poorer, feebler, worse man than before. 
 It is the unanimous testimony of respectable physicians that periodical 
 rest — one day in seven — is necessary to the healthy action of the 
 mental and physical powers ; and that continuous labor, or unnatural 
 excitement, exhausts the vital energies and shortens life. Home, with 
 
IT ENGENDERS PAUPERISir. 7 
 
 its quiet joys ; the church, with its blessed instructions, furnish the 
 Saturday-night and Sunday refreshment needed by man's nature ; and, 
 to take the gathered earnings of the week to the dram-shop, is to ' spend 
 money for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth not.' 
 By a godless alchemy the sweat of the brow is converted into poison 
 for the father of the family, instead of bread for his children. A 
 fevered, enervated workman goes forth on Monday to his toils — if in- 
 deed he is not compelled to take that for a day of rest, in place of the 
 wasted and worse than wasted Sabbath — instead of the strong, healthy, 
 clear-headed man of sobriety. The season for repairing the machinery 
 of life has been made a period of unnatural wear and tear, and it 
 works badly. The time given for invigorating the moral powers has 
 been employed in depraving them ; and the opportunity for learning 
 and doing the will of God, and preparing for eternity, is devoted to 
 the profanation of the Lord's Day, and to the companionship of evil 
 men and seducers. 
 
 IT ENGENDERS PAUPEKISM. 
 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic must be held accountable for a large part 
 of our increasing pauperism. A sober. Sabbath-keeping pauper would 
 be an anomaly in a country where honest labor is amply employed 
 and rewarded. Indolence and improvidence contribute their quota 
 indeed to the army of the poor, but it is no more than a corporal's 
 guard compared with the full ranks furnished from the recruiting sta- 
 tions found at almost every corner of the streets. Besides, in- 
 temperance is the foster-parent of idleness and thriftlessness. Our 
 alms-houses are filled to overflowing with the class whose weekly 
 earnings have found their way into the money-box of the Sunday 
 dram-shop ; and our charities are demanded in this or other forms for 
 wretched families, one or both of whose parents have poured down 
 their own throats the fruits of their daily toils, and perhaps those of 
 their children too. The custom of employers of paying off their hands 
 on Saturday facilitates the designs of the liquor-dealers. With a full 
 purse, the social drams of Saturday night awaken the appetite for 
 deeper Sunday drinking ; and with the return of working-days comes 
 a " blue Monday," with, perhaps, lost occupation, unpaid rent, a 
 heart-broken wife, and starving children — a family ruined. What 
 terms are strong enough to characterize a traffic that multiplies its 
 snares along the borders of a semi-mendicant population, to entrap 
 the laboring man and seize his hard earnings on his only leisure day — 
 robbing him of all his manly attributes, sending him forth a loathsome 
 
8 IT ENGENDERS PAUPERISM. 
 
 drunkard, and consigning him and his fanfiily, at last, to the eleemosy- 
 nary institutions supported by the sober and virtuous? By what 
 right do thousands of men, contributing little or nothing to the sup- 
 port of government, many of them owning no allegiance to that gov- 
 ernment, thus impose a burden of a million of dollars a year on the 
 honest capital of the city 1 And on what pretext do they pile up 
 misery and woe in ten thousand desolated homes 1 
 
 A reference to the Annual Report of the Govei'nors of the Alms- 
 Ilouse for 1857, (p, 66,) shows that only about ten per cent of the in- 
 mates of the " Island Hospital " were " temperate" — more than sixty 
 per cent being either " intemperate" or " habitual drunkards," and 
 twenty-five per cent " moderate drinkers." Nearly seventy per cent 
 (1982) of the whole number of sick paupers (2810) were between the 
 ages of seventeen and thirty ; and of these eighty-four per cent 
 (1706) were drinkers of intoxicating liquors, mostly to excess. 
 
 The Fourteenth Annual Report of the " Association for Improving 
 the Condition of the Poor," speaks of " drunkenness as the cause of 
 an overwhelming amount of poverty and suffering in this city. It 
 throws into the shade all other causes of wretchedness. Our nearly 
 four hundred almoners, who have made more than thirty thousand 
 visits to the poor the past year, with one voice attest, that it ingulfs 
 in its fiery deluge all hopes for the educational, economical, and social 
 elevation of large masses of the people. And such is its peculiar 
 virulence that it neutralizes to a frightful and lamentable extent the 
 benevolent labors it renders necessary. Facts and figures in support 
 of these statements might be piled up almost without limit. But the 
 public conscience seems already benumbed and paralyzed by their 
 accumulation." 
 
 The Fifteenth Annual Report of the same excellent Institution, 
 speaking of the tendencies of the movement for promoting Sabbath 
 observance to benefit the poor, says : " All secularization of the Sab- 
 bath, by unnecessary toil, traffic, and by frivolity, intemperance, and 
 pleasure-seeking, directly tends to deprive the working classes of their 
 rest-day ; and without strong countervailing forces to resist the insid- 
 ious and constant encroachments on holy time in this city, the labor- 
 ing classes will not only be deprived of their Sabbath, but also of 
 those invaluable ameliorating influences which are inseparable from 
 its proper observance. Every effort, therefore, to rescue the Sabbath 
 from desecration should be welcomed and sustained by all M'ho would 
 at once promote the best interests of the p'oor and industrial classes, 
 and of humanity generally." 
 
IT CAUSES CRIME, 
 
 IT CAUSES CRIME. 
 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic is a prolific cause of crime and disorder. 
 Both drunkenness and Sabbath-breaking, besides their own inherent 
 immorality, are severally related as causes to a large part of the 
 wrongs and evils which infest society. The former scarcely needs 
 illustration or remark. The latter is more insidious in its influence, 
 affecting the foundations of moral character ; though rarely ac- 
 knowledged as a cause of crime till remorse or penitence for wrong- 
 doing leads to a review of the steps by which the prison or the gal- 
 lows has been reached. Then it is common to trace the divergence 
 from the path of rectitude to neglected or violated Sabbaths. The 
 Chaplain for eighteen years of Clerkenwell Prison, testified before a 
 Committee of the British House of Commons, that " nearly seven 
 thousand prisoners had annually passed under his care — at the lowest 
 calculation one hundred thousand in all — and that the leading causes of 
 crime had been impatience of parental restraint, violation of the Sab- 
 bath, evil associations, especially with abandoned females, and drunk- 
 enness arising from attending public-houses, tea-gardens, etc." " I 
 do not recollect," he says, " a single case of capital offense, where the 
 party had not been a Sabbath-breaker. Indeed, I may say, in refer- 
 ence to prisoners of all classes, that in nineteen cases out of twenty, 
 they are persons who have not only neglected the Sabbath, but all reli- 
 gious ordinances." Another, who had " attended not less than three 
 hundred and fifty Newgate prisoners to execution," states, under oath, 
 that " nine out of ten have dated their departure from God to the 
 neglect of the Sabbath." Sir Matthew Hale bore substantially the 
 same testimony, and but expressed the truth known to every observ- 
 ant magistrate, when he said : " Of all persons who were convicted of 
 capital crimes while on the bench, I found a few only who would not 
 confess that they began their career of wickedness by a neglect of the 
 duties of the Sabbath, and vicious conduct on that day." 
 
 Now, combine these twin causes of crime and disorder, as in the 
 Sunday Liquor Traflic — the one depraving the conscience, obliterating 
 the sense of God and eternity, and undermining all moral and reli- 
 gious convictions ; and the other, dethroning reason, and stimulating 
 the passions — and we need go no farther to find an adequate cause for 
 nine tenths, if not nineteen twentieths, of the grosser forms of crime 
 which imperil and disgrace our crime-cursed city. 
 
 It is an instructive fact in our municipal history, that down to the 
 period of the Repeal in 1834 of the Ordinances for the protection of 
 the Sabbath, and those prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors on 
 
10 IT CAUSES CRIME. 
 
 that day, no necessity existed for a Sunday Police. The city governed 
 itself on the Lord''s Day, so long as Sunday dram-shops were closed / 
 but soon after the demoralizing influence of the Sunday liquor traffic 
 was thus extended, crime and disorder began to increase ; until, in 
 1839, it became necessary to pass an ordinance authorizing the ap- 
 pointment of Sunday ofliicers. (See Ordinance, chapter xxxviii. Title 
 II. for 1839.) The sluices of immorality had been thrown open — we 
 hope unwittingly — and the current of iniquity has rolled on with in- 
 creasing volume to the present day : when, with a full force of Police 
 on duty, as on other days, the Sabbath has become the carnival of 
 evil-doers ; and the arrests for crime and disorder on Sunday almost 
 uniformly exceed those of any other day of the week. Such a result 
 was apprehended by the friends of good morals at the time ; for in 
 1840 we find a committee of intelligent citizens, including Thomas 
 De Witt, Anson G. Phelps, James C. Bliss, and R. M. Hartley, 
 remonstrating with the then Mayor in terms like these : 
 
 " God forbid that our municipal authorities should deliberately in- 
 tend to multiply the violations of the Sabbath, siadi pari passu increase 
 the curses of drunkenness amongst us ; yet such, to an alarming ex- 
 tent, has been the effect. In proof of this, it may suffice to state, that 
 shortly after the repeal of the above law, it was ascertained that 
 one thousand four hundred and nine liquor-shops were opened on the 
 Sabbath ; and in 1839, as again ascertained by actual enumeration, 
 one thousand nine hundred and fifty-two were opened on that day for 
 its desecration !" 
 
 After twenty years of the bitter experience of a most suicidal 
 policy, the Mayor and Commonalty of 1855 passed an ordinance to 
 arrest the desolating influence of this traffic : but meanwhile, evil 
 habits, and the love of gain, and the foreign element of population, 
 had so increased as to defy legal restraint ; and popular degeneracy 
 had reached such a point as to throw the reins of government into 
 the hands, chiefly, of the very parties who had imbruted our electors, 
 and overthrown our moral safeguards. The record, in another part 
 of this document, of the fruitless attempts to carry into effect the 
 most wholesome and necessary laws, affords a sad comment on the 
 perils of legislation, tending to weaken the barriers erected again&t 
 human rapacity and debasing appetite. 
 
 The statistics of crime read us a terrible lesson as to the existing 
 state of things. It appears from the Annual Report of the Governors 
 of the Aims-House and Prisons, that of the 27,845 commitments to 
 prison in this city during the year 1857, 23,817 were of . persons of 
 " intemperate habits," of whom nearly ten thorsand (972G) were 
 
IT CAUSES CRIME. 
 
 11 
 
 females ! That is, more than five sixths of the criminals for the year 
 had their training in the dram-shop, and more than one third of the 
 whole number were drunken women ! Twenty-one thousand (21,278) 
 of these criminals were " foreigners," and about ten thousand (9568) 
 could not read. These facts are sufficient, in the absence of other 
 data, to determine the question as to the habits of Sabbath observance 
 of these victims of vice, for it is known that our emigrant population, 
 for the most part, consider the Sabbath as a holiday, and do not 
 scruple to make it the special season for tippling and revelry : so that 
 no violence will be done to facts to attribute this enormous amount 
 of crime — including, from a single District prison, 2216 cases of as- 
 sault and battery, 31 with intent to kill, 1225 cases of disorderly 
 conduct, and 46 cases of murder — chiefly to the combined influences of 
 intemperance and Sabbath profanation, to say nothing of the more 
 than eight thousand (8279) arrests for intoxication, and the innumera- 
 ble instances of crime and drunkenness which elude the vigilance of 
 the police. And it is a dreadful aggravation of the evil that its vic- 
 tims are mosthj in the prime of life — more than sixty per cent of the 
 commitments, including twenty-nine cases of murder, being of persons 
 between ten and thirty years of age. 
 
 A comparison of the daily records of the arrests for drunkenness, 
 disorderly conduct, and other misdemeanors, aflTords a farther de- 
 monstration of the connection between Sunday dissipation and crime. 
 It appears from these official data that the number of arrests by the Me- 
 tropolitan Police for Tuesday of each week, (reported on Wednesday,) 
 from July 1, 1857, to December 8, 1858, both inclusive, making 
 seventy-six days, was seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-one ; 
 while the number of arrests on Sunday (reported on Monday) for the 
 same period, was nine thousand seven hundred and thirteen, as follows : 
 
 ARRESTS FOR CRIME FOR SEVENTY-SIX DAYS. 
 
 
 Drunk. 
 
 Drunk and Disorderly. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Sunday, 
 
 2,453 
 1,928 
 
 2,580 
 1,865 
 
 4,680 
 4,068 
 
 9,713 
 7,861 
 
 Tuesday, 
 
 
 Increa'fee, 
 
 625 
 
 •715 
 
 612 T «?i'^ ! 
 
 
 
 ' \ 
 
 These figures show an increase of eighteen hundred arrests on the 
 Sabbath, or nearly txoenty-five per cent above the average of other 
 days during a period of eighteen months. That is to say, the extra 
 number of drunken, disorderly, and criminal ofienders above that 
 daily furnished by the influence of the dram-shop and other causes 
 
12 IT CAUSES CRIME. 
 
 for which the Sunday liquor traffic is directly responsible, exceeds an 
 average of tivelve hundred per annum. And every reader of 
 police reports knows that a fearful proportion of homicides and mur- 
 ders stands connected with the drunken brawls of Saturday night and 
 Sunday. 
 
 A further examination of these statistics shows that during the brief 
 period at the accession to office of the present Mayor, when the Sun- 
 day liquor traffic was partially suspended, the arrests for drunkenness 
 and disorderly conduct suddenly diminished one third from an aver- 
 age of sixty-six each Sunday to forty-four, or less than the average of 
 ordinary week days ; and a more marked diminution in crime at- 
 tended a similar brief experiment of the preceding chief magistrate of 
 the city. These facts are commended to the careful consideration of 
 political economists, to our judicial and police authorities, and to the 
 friends of public morals. They correspond substantially with the 
 criminal statistics of other countries — the result of the " Forbes 
 McKenzie Act " in Scotland, by which all traffic in intoxicating liquors 
 is suspended between eleven o'clock Saturday night and eight o'clock 
 on Monday morning, having been to abate one third of the crime 
 previously committed. (See Appendix, p. 24.) 
 
 It is a notorious fact that Sunday dram-shops are the centres of 
 resort for criminals and parties meditating crime. The police in pur- 
 suit of burglars, thieves, and murderers seek them most commonly 
 in these accustomed haunts. It is not long since an establish- 
 lishment of this character in the Twelfth Ward was found to be the 
 home of a gang of burglars, the implements and fruits of their crime 
 being found on the premises. 
 
 Before dismissing this topic, the influence of the Sunday liquor 
 traffic in depraving our youth should be more distinctly alluded to. 
 It would seem that the evenings of the week would furnish sufficient 
 temptations to dissipation, folly, and crime, with all the allui-ements 
 of the theatre, the gambling-house, and the brothel ; but it may be 
 doubted whether the seeds of ruin are not more thickly sown on the 
 Sabbath than during the entire week beside. Young men and lads 
 are then wholly at leisure. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, 
 of apprentices and clerks have no home in the city to attract ,or re- 
 strain them. The cheerful-looking, well- warmed and lighted " saloon" 
 presents its seductions ; vicious companions invite and lead the way ; 
 thus step by step the incautious youth is led in paths of present 
 pleasure and future ruin. It is from this class that our " shoulder- 
 hitters," " Dead Rabbits," and other clubs of disorderly and danger- 
 ous rowdies, recruit their ranks. The precocity in wickedness found 
 
IT PEOMOTES LAWLESSNESS. 13 
 
 among the lads of the city, rendering our public streets places of peril 
 for man or woman in some districts, is in no small measure due to 
 the training received in Sunday dram-shops and lager-beer saloons. 
 
 IT PKOMOTES LAWTiESSNESS. 
 
 It seems hardly necessary to add that the Sunday liquor traffic 
 engenders the spirit of lawlessness and contempt for rightful authority. 
 It is carried forward in known and avowed defiance of law. The 
 legal requisition for excise license is almost universally disregarded. 
 The positive prohibition by State and Municipal law against Sunday 
 sales is openly contemned. The illegal and immoral practices asso- 
 ciated with the traffic are continued without concealment. The inter- 
 position of the police is unavailing. The remonstrances of Grand 
 Juries are scorned. Public sentiment and the rights of quiet citizens 
 are alike disregarded. Thus every Sunday dram-shop becomes a 
 centre of disorganizing influences and a school of rebellion. How 
 numerous and how apt are the scholars, let the appalling records of 
 crime show and an almost paralyzed police testify. The example of 
 unchecked lawlessness becomes contagious. The recklessness with 
 which the most daring outrages are perpetrated, and the impunity for 
 the vilest criminals, have become proverbial. Nor can there be hope 
 of amendment, or of the restored majesty of law, so long as the 
 present attitude of the Rum Power is maintained. If our system of 
 government is not strong enough to suppress evils universally ac- 
 knowledged, inseparably connected with pauperism and crime, breed- 
 ing rebellion, and leading on to anarchy or despotism, let it be con- 
 ceded at once ; and let us abandon our free institutions in form as in 
 fact to the control of a few hundreds or thousands of Sunday liquor 
 dealers. But if half a million freemen still choose to be free, then 
 must they accept the issue forced upon them, and at all hazards sus- 
 tain our constituted authorities in the suppression of lawlessness, 
 whether among foreign or native-born, young or old, in filthy cellars 
 or gilded saloons, on secular or sacred days. 
 
 IT TENDS TO IBRELIGIOIf. 
 
 The Sunday liquor traffic tends to irreligion and infidelity. It pre- 
 sents its temptations in bold rivalry with the sanctuary and the Sab- 
 bath-school and all the means of moral and religious culture. It 
 counteracts every effort for evangelizing the masses. It hardens the 
 conscience, depraves the heart, and destroys the soul. On the very 
 day that God calls his own, it induces forgetfulness of the beneficent 
 Creator and of his holy law, or leads to the utterance of the name of 
 
14 IT TENDS TO IRKELIGION— KEMEDIES SUGGESTED. 
 
 Jehovah only in tones of blasphemy. There, where profane oaths 
 are prayers, and drunken orgies supply the place of Christian wor- 
 ship, thousands of our youth are receiving their training for American 
 citizenship and moulding their characters for eternity. And infidelity 
 opens its " Liberal Halls" close by the centre of the saturnalian 
 traffic. Now we have the most cordial respect for the wisdom of our 
 organic laws, which secure to every man perfect liberty of conscience 
 and the right even of self immolation, if he will, on the altar of appe- 
 tite, error, or irreligion ; but it is license and not liberty that sys- 
 tematically and for paltry gains, in defiance of human and divine laws, 
 pursues a traffic which tempts others, and especially the unsuspicious 
 youth, to the destruction of body and soul on the very day of mercy 
 and salvation. Society owes it to its own purity, nay, to its very 
 existence, to dry up these fountains of misery and ruin, that its foun 
 tains of life may send their healing waters to thirsting souls. 
 
 REMEDIES SUGGESTED, 
 
 The following suggestions as to remedies for the protean evils under 
 review, may serve, at least, to direct attention to the subject ; we shall 
 rejoice when other and more comprehensive plans are suggested and 
 acted on. 
 
 The simple change in the Pay-day, from Saturday to Monday or 
 Wednesday, if general among employers, would lessen greatly the 
 temptations to Saturday night and Sunday debauchery, increase the 
 chances for the expenditure of wages for the benefit of families, and 
 promote the interests of every class of employes. " Blue Monday" 
 would become obsolete ; or, if it did not, the number of tardy, ner- 
 vous workmen would be diminished. Some of the most extensive 
 establishments, manufacturing and mercantile, have found their ac- 
 couiit in this change ; and it is earnestly recommended to master 
 mechanics, manufacturers, and all others employing labor, to contri- 
 bute their influence in this way to a necessary reform. 
 
 The vieans ofmnocent, healthful, popular recreation on the evenings 
 of the weeic, combined with intellectual improvement, accessible to 
 the masses of the people, and disconnected with temptations to dissi- 
 pation and vice, should be multiplied and encouraged. 
 
 The establishment of public fountains, to which thirsty men may re- 
 sort, would be a measure of great practical utility, at comparatively 
 trifling cost. They need not be of marble or bronze, elaborately 
 wrought, as in most European cities : the simplest arrangement by 
 which the health-giving Croton could be easily reached by the poorest 
 
REMEDIES SUGGESTED. 15 
 
 laboring man, would suffice. Formerly the street-pump partially 
 supplied this want; but now the artisan or laborer who would slake 
 his thirst, can find almost no public place in the city to which he can 
 resort, with a feeling of right to a cup of cold water : and he is driven 
 to a dram-shop, where a false notion of self-respect impels him to 
 drink that which costs him something — and it often does cost him more 
 than he had counted upon. As a preventive of drunkenness, and a 
 means of removing temptation to evil haunts and habits, it is believed 
 that this expedient would be found worthy of trial, to say nothing of 
 its sanitary and humane aspects, which are far from inconsiderable. 
 
 The multiplication of churches, mission stations. Sabbath-schools, 
 missionaries, and all agencies for poindar evangelization^ is a measure 
 too obvious to need discussion. Without these, reforms are power- 
 less, and laws inoperative. They should be prosecuted with qua- 
 drupled resources and greatly augmented aggressive power. 
 
 The correction and concentration of public sentiment as to the evils 
 and the perils of the Sunday Liquor Traffic must be a work of time ; 
 but is indispensable to its thorough and permanent suppression. The 
 masses need to be convinced that it is inimical to their best interests ; 
 that it increases the cost of rents and provisions ; that it steals their 
 money, time, health, and strength ; that it depraves their morals ; that 
 it shuts them and their fomilies away from religious instruction ; and 
 that it destroys their souls. And our emigrant population must be 
 entreated to forego practices foreign to the genius and habits of the 
 country that has welcomed them, and fatal to the institutions that 
 shelter them. The pulpit and the press must bring their energies to 
 the task of exposing this prolific cause of political and moral degene- 
 racy, and of arousing the people to throw off the deadly incubus. 
 There is, there must be enough of conscience and selfrespect left, 
 when rightly appealed to, to secure a manly attitude on the part of the 
 friends of order and morals, on a question of this nature ; and it needs 
 nothing more to check the desolations wrought by an unauthorized in- 
 vasion of sacred time with the most odious and destructive of all 
 trades. 
 
 The Laws and Ordinances against the Sunday Liquor Traffic can and 
 should be enforced. The existing statutes relating to this subject, the 
 most stringent of which are of recent enactment, and commend 
 themselves to every right conscience as wise, wholesome, and neces- 
 sary to the peace and safety of society — but deliberately and persist- 
 ently violated— must be put in execution, kindly but firmly, by the 
 proper authorities, or all law and government lose their dignity and 
 power. In the case before us, every offender has been repeatedly and 
 
16 EEMEDIES SUGGESTED. 
 
 " politely" warned by the police to desist from his illegal course. 
 Complaints have been made by thousands of individual violators of 
 the law. The Board of Police Commissioners are specially charged 
 by the Act that gives them being and authority, to suppress this 
 wrong, and they have made the attempt with unquestioned sincerity. 
 It would seem that, in such circumstances, the only sympathy to be 
 counted on in further resistance of law and authority must come from 
 outlaws and rebels. Courts and juries and officers of justice, ex- 
 pounders and executors of law, owe it to their own dignity, and to the 
 community investing them with power, to wipe out the disgrace 
 brought upon our institutions by these fountains of dissipation, law- 
 lessness, and crime. And the citizens of New- York owe to the magis- 
 tracy of the city, no less than to themselves, and to every good in- 
 terest, to support with manly firmness every attempt to restore the 
 majesty of law, and the ascendency of Christian morals. Only then 
 can we hope for the immunities and blessings entailed for all time in 
 connection with the precept of unceasing obligation : " If thou turn 
 away thy foot from [trampling on] the Sabbath, from doing thy plea- 
 sure on my holy day : and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the 
 Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor 
 finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words : Then shalt 
 thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon 
 the high places of the earth : ... for the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it." (Is. 58 : 13-14.) 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M.D., WM. A. SMITH, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, W. F. VAN WAGENEN. 
 
 WARREN CARTER, WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, E. 0. WILCOX, 
 
 E. L. FANCHER, F. S. WINSTON, 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 0. E. WOOD. 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAM, Rcc. Seoretanj. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Cor. Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank.) Treasurer. 
 
 SABBATH COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW-TOKK. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 STATEMENT OF TWENTY" CITY MISSIONARIES. 
 
 The undersigned, City Missionaries and Ward Secretaries of the 
 " Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor," being daily 
 witnesses of the demoralizing influence of the Sunday Liquor Traffic, 
 hereby express our deliberate conviction that the intemperance and Sab- 
 bath profanation associated with that traffic, are the principal external 
 causes of a vast amount of the domestic misery, poverty, irreligion, 
 vice, and crime, which so abound in our city ; and that they create the 
 necessity for a large proportion of the public taxes and private chari- 
 ties for the checking of immorality, and for the support of the poor, 
 while they counteract both public and private efforts for the moral and 
 religious instruction and improvement of the masses. 
 
 We should regard the suppression of the Sunday Liquor Traffic as 
 a blessing to the young, as a great boon to the families of the poor 
 and laboring classes, as an indispensable means of restoring order and 
 good morals to the city, and as one of the most hopeful auxiliaries to 
 our own and kindred labors for the temporal and spiritual benefit of 
 the people. 
 
 Neiv-Yorlc, December^ 1858. 
 
 George Hatt, 
 A. Camp, 
 L. E. Jackson, 
 James "W. Bishop, 
 Chs. C Darling, 
 E. Mack, 
 Calvin Lathrop, 
 
 Edward Pratt, 
 J. B. Horton, 
 
 J. H. BULEN, 
 
 James "W. Munroe, 
 EiCHD, L, Horton, 
 RiCHD. Hatter, 
 Henry "Whittlesey, 
 
 ■WILLL&.M KiRBT, 
 
 J. L. Ambler, 
 Isaac Orchard, 
 John Euston, 
 P. A. Spencer, 
 A. R. "Wetmore, Bee. 
 
18 STATEMENT OP R. M. HARTLEY, ESQ. 
 
 STATEMENT OF E. M. HAKTLEY, ESQ. 
 
 The undersigned, Secretary of the *' Association for Improving the 
 Condition of the Poor," in expressing his full concurrence in the fore- 
 going statement, would add, that his labors for twenty-five years in 
 New- York in this and kindred departments of philanthropic effort, 
 have constrained the belief that, so long as the Sunday Liquor Traffic 
 continues, pauperism and crime will abound and increase with the in- 
 fallible certainty of cause and effect. The Annual Eeports of the 
 Institution have repeatedly demonstrated this connection ; the city mis- 
 sionaries, moreover, and all engaged in domiciliary visits to the poor 
 uniformly attest, that Sunday tippling tends directly to the demoraliz- 
 ation and ruin of large numbers of the laboring classes. At least 
 one half of the charities bestowed on this and kindred associations, and 
 a similar proportion of the taxes for the relief of pauperism, are occa- 
 sioned by intemperance ; and in his judgment, would be unnecessary, 
 if the ravages of this monster vice were arrested. 
 
 R. M. Hartley. 
 
 SUNDAY THEATRES, «SACRED CONCERTS," AND 
 GAMBLING-SALOONS. 
 
 The following extracts from an article in the columns of the Daily 
 "^mes, entitled " Sunday Walks in the German Quarter," reveal the 
 extent of the evil to which this Document directs public attention, 
 among one class of our population : 
 
 " The Odeon presented a strange scene to an American eye on that Sunda7 
 afternoon. More than two hundred men, women, and children (a large sprinkling 
 of the latter) were ranged along three lines of tables — all drinliing lager or some- 
 thing worse, and listening at the same time to a ' merry play in two acts, from 
 Kotzebue,' with orchestra, billiards, shooting-galleries, etc. — and all for ten cents. 
 In the evening, another theatrical performance for a crowded house. Dancing, 
 gymnastic exhibitions, speech-making, hurrahs, and a flood of lager-beer — such 
 was the Sabbath in that place." 
 
 THE people's garden, 
 
 " Now let us look in at the People^ s Garden, (Volks Garten,) a door or two 
 below in the Bowery. A shilling admits you to the place, but you can take your 
 wife and children with you ' free.' The bill assures you that you are attending a 
 ' sacred concert' — ^Eine grosses sacred Concert' But you become a little skeptical 
 about its ' sacred' character when you read the programriie and observe the sur- 
 roundings. The place is suspicious — ^Vaudeville Theatre.' The announcements 
 are suspicious — ' Exhibition of a Grand Pot-pourrL' ' The Artist Family ; or, the 
 
THE people's theatre. 19 
 
 Uncle as an Enemy of the Theatre — a Comic Operette in four acts.' This is for 
 three o'clock Sunday afternoon. The evening performance seems about as 'sacred.' 
 'The Beautiful Milleress; or, a Secret Passion — a merry play in one act.' Con- 
 cluding with ' Good Morning, Mr. Fischer — vaudeville in two acts.' ' Between 
 these acts, the Grand Ballet, and Grand Janisary Concert, with a grand orchestra.' 
 It all looks very grand, but not very sacred. Then the visitors at the City Theatre 
 adjoining are informed by the programme, that when that is closed, (say at eleven 
 o'clock,) they can enter the People's Theatre free — to test the quality of the Peo- 
 ple's lager. 
 
 " The surroundings are even more suspicious than the amusements. A half- 
 dozen billiard-tables, more or less, five raffling-stands, a roulette-table, a shooting- 
 gallery, and some other forms of gambhng — all in full blast — would not seem to 
 promise a very ' sacred ' aflair, to say nothmg of five or six bars, fully manned and 
 employed. 
 
 " The company does not give very marked indications that ' sacred ' pleasures 
 attracted them by hundreds to the place. We counted five hundred and fifty in 
 the afternoon, including children, seated in front of lager-bier mugs, and listening 
 alternately to the band of music and the play, and none of them seemed to be 
 imbibing any thing more ' sacred ' than bad ' lager.' In the evening there must 
 have been fully eleven hundred in the same place, engaged in the same way. If 
 the proprietor would drop one letter from his programme, and Frenchify his 
 announcement a little — thus, ' Sacre Concert ' — it would be more frank, and vastly 
 more truthiul." 
 
 THE people's theatre. 
 
 " But there is a People's Theatre as well as a People's Garden. It is in Fourth 
 street. Let us look in there. "What a spectacle in a Christian city 1 As you 
 enter, on the ground-floor, there are four billiard-tables, surrounded by perhaps a 
 hundred boys from ten to twenty years of age, occupied with and intent upon the 
 game. At one table, four lads, not more than thirteen years old, are playing — al- 
 beit it is somewhat difficult for them to reach the balls. But they will grow 
 taller — perhaps so high, by and by, that their feet wiU dangle in the air. Across 
 the room, and in front of the bar, stands a novel gambling-instrument. It is a 
 small brass cannon, from which balls are projected, probably by a spring, and 
 entering a curtained aperture a few feet distant, descend by an inclined plane, on 
 which stand small wooden pins. Ten tickets are given out, say at three cents 
 each. The holder representing the ball that upsets the largest number of pins, 
 wins twenty cents — the balance of the stakes, one third of the whole, going into 
 the pocket of the proprietor. This machine was surrounded by as many lads as 
 could see it, and betting was as constant as the machine could be made to work. 
 The spirit of the gambling-hells at Romberg and Baden-Baden was in fuU play in 
 these young scape-graces, and the foundations laying of desperadoes— and this on 
 tlie Sabbath ! 
 
 " But we have not yet entered the Theatre proper. This is but the ante-cham- 
 ber — free to all, notwithstanding the discontent of the proprietor on seeing some 
 'Americans' among his guests. In the rear is a hall, accommodating, in its way, 
 one thousand people or more, with music, lager-bier, and theatrical performances. 
 From six to eight o'clock, notwithstanding the afternoon performance, the people 
 were streaming in, ordering their bier and segar, and getting ready for the play. 
 Nearly one half of the company consisted of women and children. We saw hun- 
 
20 HARMONIA GARDEN — THE CITY THEATRE. 
 
 dreds of boys and girls of from twelve to twenty years, chiefly of German parent- 
 age, and a few who could be recognized as Irish and Americans. In all, there 
 wore nine hundred and fifty, by actual count, entering this single place between 
 the hours of six and eight o'clock. The expense to each guest can not average 
 less than twenty-five cents, and is probably twice that amount ; so that two hun- 
 dred dollars, at the lowest estimate, would pass from the scanty pockets of the 
 apprentices and jonmeymen and seamstresses, who seemed principally to make up 
 the group, into the full purse of the proprietor of this den of iniquity. And when 
 the pinching cold comes, you and I, good friend, will have our sympathies appealed 
 to, to relieve the poverty caused by this Sunday dissipation ; or be taxed for the 
 Almshouse expenditures, or the cost of criminal cases growing out of this Sunday- 
 night debauchery." 
 
 HARMONIA GABDEN. 
 
 " Now turn down into Essex street, and enter the Harmonia Garden. Your 
 ticket, which costs but sixpence, will be exchanged for you at the door by a long- 
 shanked sheriif's officer, and you will find a spacious hall, say a hundred feet 
 square, with galleries aU around, and tables for the accommodation of twelve hmi- 
 tlred or filteen hundred people. A band of music, of fourteen brass pieces, rings out 
 waltzes and airs, which may be heard for squares around. Bowling-alleys, shoot- 
 iug-galleries, and the usual means of diversion or of gambUng, are at hand. 
 Above-stairs you will find no less than seven billiard-tables, occupied mostly by 
 young men, playing with their own or their employers' money. It was at an early 
 hour in the evening that we visited this establishment, and there were not more 
 than about two hundred and fifty persons present. Later, it was doubtless filled. 
 TiU twelve or one o'clock, perhaps, the neighboring householders must listen to 
 the music of that band and to the noise of those revellers. Is it neighborly, is it 
 right, to deprive families of their day of rest in this way ?" 
 
 THE CITY THEATRE. 
 
 " Now let us return to the Bowery, and drop into the aristocratic place of Sun- 
 day amusement — the City Theatre. Gambling arrangements are dispensed with ; 
 lager-bier tables have no place. The interior is elegantly fitted up, with accommoda- 
 tions in parquet, dress-chcle, and second and third tiers for twelve hundred or fifteen 
 hundred visitors. At half-past eight o'clock, nearly every seat and standmg-placo 
 was occupied, and a play was in progress having the usual elements of interest, 
 acted with admirable talent. The dress-circle was filled with men and women, 
 handsomely dressed and of genteel manners, including a largo sprinkling of Jews. 
 Between the acts, lager and liquor were dispensed from the bar and carried around 
 the Theatre, but the amount drank was inconsiderable compared with other estab- 
 lishments. Many of the guests had undoubtedly attended one or other of the 
 German churches in the morning, after the manner of the Continent, and, without 
 a thought of wrong, finished their Sunday at the Theatre ; pitying, perhaps, the 
 poor ' Sabbatarians,' who cherish the British and American notion, that the Sab- 
 bath day, and the whole of it, was intended by its Author for rest and worship, 
 and not for fun and frolic. 
 
 " One more turn, and our Sunday walk will be ended for tliis time. Pass with 
 us around a small triangular block not far from tho City Hall, and you will cease 
 to wonder at the frequency of homicides and other crimes growmg out of Sunday 
 dissipation. If our count was accurate, there were twenty-nine lager-bier saloons and 
 
reporter's comments. 21 
 
 dram-shops — some of them accommodating two hundred or three hundred persons 
 — open and mostly filled on that single evening. In tliree or four of them, bands of 
 music attracted customers. Many of the buildings on the blocks facing the one in 
 question, were similarly occupied, so that within a distance of three hundred feet 
 square, there may be found not less than fifty Sabbath-breaking, law-despising 
 centres of intoxication and crime." 
 
 reporter's comuents. 
 
 " We returned from our Sunday walk with a heavy heart. Discarding all ultra 
 views of temperance, and disavowing sympathy with extreme ' Puritan' notions of 
 the Sabbath, we cling to the old-flishioned idea that there is a better way of spend- 
 ing Sunday than in tippling, theatre-going, and gambling. Good citizens are made 
 of sterner stuff than the frequenters of such places. Good men do not grow out of 
 the boys who spend their Sundays at Yolks Gartens and Volks Theatres. The 
 crimes against society at which the fifth, and sixth, and seventh, and eighth, and 
 ninth, and tenth commandments are aimed, have an intimate connection with the 
 violation of the fourth ; so that the wholesale manner of desecrating the Sabbath, 
 accompanied with wholesale drinking, rises into a leading cause — the leading cause 
 of the rampant crime and disorder which infest our city, and which have increased 
 pari passu with the multiplication of such estabhsliments as we have been visiting. 
 
 "Another consideration gave us troubled rest. Every one of these establish- 
 ments pursues its business in known violation of law. Not merely the accompa- 
 niments of the business — the gambling, which is a misdemeanor; the bands of 
 music, which are a nuisance ; the theatrical performances, which are positively 
 prohibited on the Sabbath — but pubUcly keeping and disposing of any kind of 
 intoxicating hquors is expressly forbidden by the laws of the State and the ordin- 
 ances of the city, of recent enactment, and in full force at the present time 
 Every proprietor and visitor of these establishments knows that the Police Com- 
 missioners, in pursuance of law, have directed patrolmen to report offenses against 
 the Sunday Liquor Law, and that thousands of complaints have been made. Then- 
 attitude, then, is that of rebellion against our constituted authorities, and defiance 
 of our laws. And it involves the question. Whether a few hundred keepers of 
 dram-shops and gambling-places are stronger than our government ? That is an 
 important question : there should be no delay in setthug it. 
 
 " Then another thought has been haunting the mind ever since that sad visit ; 
 it is connected with the future of those thousands of young lads seen in a single 
 Sunday night in places of sinfiil diversion. Whose sons are they ? Have they 
 mothers to weep over them ? Have they homes to go to ? Are they instructed 
 any where but here? Whither are they drifting? How many of them are 
 receiving their training for the prison and the halter ? What security has society 
 from rowdyism and disorder, if our youth are corrupted systematically, and edu- 
 cated in vice ? Is it right to punish juvenUe crhninals, and exempt their teachers 
 in crime ? Is it vrise to leave the nests of vipers undisturbed, and ran after the 
 fledglings that come from them, brood after brood ? If the present unrestricted 
 debauchery and ruin of the Sunday liquor trafiSc is to be perpetuated, would it not 
 bo just that the proportion of the nearly two millions of dollars expended for the 
 support of Police, almshouses, and criminal courts, traceable to that traflic, should 
 be levied on the proprietors of Sunday dram-shops? The demoraUzation and 
 misery it carries into ten thousand homes can not be reckoned, and so can not be 
 assessed — in this world." 
 
22 "GERMAN BEGGARS IN AMERICA." 
 
 JUVENILE CRIME. 
 
 The Police Reports in our daily journals indicate a measure of 
 juvenile depravity quite incredible but for the known sources of de- 
 moralization. The record of a single sentence-day of a single court — 
 a sample of other days — contains the following : 
 
 "court of general sessions. 
 
 " Edward Hempson, charged with burglary in the third degree On 
 
 account of his youth, the prieoner was sentenced to the Penitentiary for one year 
 only. 
 
 " Charles McDermott, aged eighteen years, indicted for the murder of Carsin 
 Coster, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree. Sentence deferred. 
 
 " James Kenney and Peter Murray, mere youilis, were convicted of burglary in 
 the third degree. Sentenced to three years and six months each in the State 
 Prison. 
 
 " John Duggan, aged nineteen, jointly indicted with tM hoy Hart, plead guilty 
 to an attempt at burglary in the third degree. As he was an old offender, he was 
 sentenced to two years in the State Prison. 
 
 " Thomas Briggs, aged twenty-two, was convicted of burglary in the third de- 
 gree. He was sentenced to four years and three months in the State Prison. 
 
 " William Brown, a hoy, pleaded guilty to petit larceny, and was sent to the 
 Penitentiary for four months. 
 
 "Jane Martin, a young servant-girl, pleaded guilty to petit larceny. Sent to the 
 House of Refuge. 
 
 "GERMAN BEGGARS IN AMERICA." 
 
 The December number of the Deutsche Kirchenfreund contains a sug- 
 gestive article by the Editor, the Rev. J. W. Mann, D.D., with the 
 above title. The journal and its editor may be regarded as the highest 
 authority on matters relating to the Oerman population in this coun- 
 try. The article before us, though bearing on questions incidental to 
 the main object of this document, nevertheless furnishes unprejudiced 
 testimony on a topic of vital importance — the character and influence 
 of beer-houses and their keepers. We give brief extracts from a trans- 
 lation kindly furnished by the Rev. Dr. Guldin : 
 
 "The great majority of these pot-house keepers," says the editor, "choose this 
 occupation only because they can make an easy and jovial living with the least 
 labor, under the appearance of an orderly and allowable profession. If any thing 
 is a disgrace of our German name, our numberless German beer-houses are such. 
 The evil was never greater than now, and hardly can become greater. If all these 
 tap-houses can subsist, it shows what a tavern-visiting, pleasure-seeking nation the 
 Germans have got to be. Their keepers deport themselves as arrogantly as if they 
 were privileged to scorn publicly all order, morals, or reverence for that which is 
 
VIEWS OF STATESMEN AND JURISTS. 23 
 
 holy. In their advertisements in our German newspapers, they abuse the most 
 sacred language of the Holy Scriptures, and turn it into mockery. 
 
 "We are not surprised when men who have been brought up as tavern- 
 keepers in Germany continue in their profession here, and many of them do it 
 in a respectable manner. But the great majority of these low beer-houses are kept 
 by persons who have been trained altogether for other professions. We know 
 men in this country who have formerly been German ministers, school-teachers, 
 military officers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, etc., who have chosen to keep pot- 
 houses, because it requires but little knowledge or capital to retail wine and beer 
 — to become retailers instead of customers as before — and because it is the easiest 
 method thus to offer CDJoyment to others, instead of earning their daily bread in a 
 regular laborious calling. We see weekly many mechanics, whose trade begins to 
 become inconvenient — such as tailors, shoemakers, etc — establish pot-houses ; cal- 
 culating on the custom of their nearest countrymen from the different German 
 States, and it seems that they hardly ever miscalculate. 
 
 "Among the most respectable Germans, who value the German name, and who 
 are not unconcerned whether a wholesome moral influence or a vicious one be 
 exerted, but one voice prevails in regard to this sad characteristic of their country- 
 men of our time. And how could we look on without sorrow and shame ? The 
 injury done to morals is incalculable, as the doings of our public courts bear weekly 
 testimony. "But we know what kind of influence they exert more silently. They 
 every where draw fathers away from their families ; they consume vast sums of 
 money earned by hard labor which should be employed for useful purposes ; they 
 offer temptation to gambling, and excite many low passions by their continuously 
 frivolous character ; and they become the source of destruction to the temporal and 
 spiritual well-being of hundreds of families. The whole business, worse than pub- 
 lic begging, rests as a curse upon the Germans ; their good name suffers under it ; 
 and a people who set the tavern-sign highest in their national escutcheon, forfeit 
 all claim to respect. Here we find the reason why so many German families cease 
 to prosper ; why no earnings are sufiicient ; why in days of prosperity nothing is 
 saved up for other times. Where no beggars were found before, through these 
 pot-houses beggars must arise. The benevolent societies of our cities experience 
 enough of the demoralizing effects of these places of lowest sensual gratification. 
 But do their keepers care for this 7 And the German press is silent in regard to 
 this state of misery — its tone in most instances not being of a serious moral charac- 
 ter, and pecuniary considerations having a great deal to do with the question. The 
 laws of the land, even, give this enormous evil the form of legality." 
 
 VIEWS OF STATESMEN" AND JUKISTS. 
 
 " I always felt myself under obligation to observe that law which was given by 
 God himself from Mount Sinai, in these solemn words, ' Remember the Sabbath- 
 day, to keep it holy;' a command which was subsequently received and reeribrced 
 by the injunctions of the Saviour of mankind. So far as propagating opinions in 
 favor of the sacred observance of the day, I feel it my duty to give all the faculties 
 of my soul to that subject." — John Quincy Adams. 
 
 " Where there is no Christian Sabbath, there is no Christian morality, and with- 
 out this, free governments can not be long sustained. As a civil institution merely. 
 
24: VIEWS OF WORKING-MEN. 
 
 the Sabbath is wise and politic I should never doubt the honesty of 
 
 a man who, from principle, kept the Sabbath day holy." — Judge McLean, Ü. S. 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 THE POLICE COMMISSIONEES ON" SUNDAY CEIME. 
 
 After the first edition of this Document had been published, the 
 Report of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners to the Legislature 
 of the State, was issued. The following paragraph from that Report 
 more than confirms the preceding statements (page 12) as to the pro- 
 portionate arrests for crime, etc., on the Sundays when the Liquor 
 Traffic was partially suppressed, compared with other periods : 
 
 " The laws of the State, in respect to the observance of the Sabbath, are openly 
 violated. Liquor shops and groceries are, in many instances opened, and their 
 contents vended as on other days of the week. The Commissioners caused the in- 
 fractions of the law to be noted by the police, and reported to the district attorneys 
 of the counties of New- York and Kings. There have been so reported over 
 twenty-six thousand cases, but none have been prosecuted to conviction, and unless 
 the Legislature shall compel the observance of the day by severer penalties, and 
 by summary proceedings, the onerous duty of reporting its desecration will bo use- 
 less. Aside from the religious duty of keeping the day holy by abstinence from 
 secular pursuits, there can be no doubt that the closing of hquor shops will lessen 
 the amount of crime and of breaches of the peace. This is conclusively shown by 
 the small number of arrests on the Sundays while the law was observed, compared 
 with the arrests made when the liquor dealers learned they could violate the law 
 with impunity. Public notice was given on the 5th July, 1857, that all infractions 
 of the law would be noted by the poUce, and be prosecuted. The arrests are : 
 
 Intox. and disorderly Miscellaneous 
 
 conduct. crimes. TotaL 
 
 Sunday, II July, 40 30 "70 
 
 " 18 " 40 41 81 
 
 " 25 " 52 51 103 
 
 "In December following, when the practice of selling liquor on Sunday was 
 
 more general, the arrests were : 
 
 Intox. and disorderly Miscellaneous 
 
 conduct. Crimea. Total. 
 
 Sunday, 8 Dec, 89 84 173 
 
 " 15 " 92 21 119 
 
 " 22 " 99 56 154 
 
 " And now, when it is manifest that the law will not be enforced, and ^one are 
 deterred from the apprehension of being punished, the arrests on 
 
 Intox. and disorderly Miscellaneous 
 
 conduct. crimes. Total. 
 
 Sunday, 7 Nov., 91 65 156 
 
 " 14 " 104 44 148 
 
 " 21 " 120 19 199" 
 

 ^ 
 
 nx foil thi[ c^abbath. f 
 
 THE 
 
 FIRST ^IsriSrTJA.L 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OP THE 
 
 NEW-YOPiK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 16 & 18 JACOB ST 
 Fibe-Proof Buildings. 
 
 1859. 
 
DOC. No. 6. 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 The Committee was organized at a meeting of citizens in 
 April, 1857. Preliminary investigations were entered upon 
 during the summer, and occasional meetings held ; but active 
 operations were deferred until November of that year. The 
 opportunity was then providentially presented of completing 
 the organization of the Committee by the election of a Secre- 
 tary, whose successful experience for twenty years in kindred 
 labors, and whose interest in behalf of Sabbath observance, as 
 shown by the fact that he was about to enter upon self-sus- 
 tained efforts in continental Europe for this very object, indi- 
 cated his adaptation to the wants of this enterprise. 
 
 But it was at the very height of the late commercial revul- 
 sion, and when the future of our personal, corporate, and bene- 
 volent interests was covered with a cloud impenetrable to 
 human vision, that the Committee were called upon to lay the 
 foundations of an enterprise involving the expenditure of time 
 and money, and requiring no inconsiderable measure of wis- 
 dom, faith, and patience. Yet, would not the very disasters 
 which seemed to discourage a new and formidable undertak- 
 ing, tend to moderate the worldliness, rebuke the selfishness, 
 and check the impiety which had ruthlessly trampled on the 
 Christian Sabbath, and secure a hearing for appeals to reason 
 and conscience too commonly denied in seasons of high pros- 
 perity ? The Committee thus judged ; and they have abund- 
 ant occasion for gratitude to God for the ample reward ac- 
 corded to whatever of faith, zeal, and prayer they were enabled 
 to exercise, in the unbroken harmony of their counsels, in the 
 success of their efforts, and in the brightening prospects of their 
 enterprise. 
 
 ISTearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since any con- 
 certed efforts have been made for the better observance of the 
 Lord's day in this city ; and those then attempted may be con- 
 sidered perhaps more as beacons than as guides for our own 
 day. Had there been less of censoriousness and impatience, 
 and more of that charity which " suffereth long and is kind," 
 
2 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 it is believed tliat the two reasons then assigned for foregoing 
 effort — the indifference of " ministers and church-members, 
 and the impossibility of procuring executive aid — might Iiave 
 been obviated. The wise and far-reaching labors of the late 
 Dr. Justin Edwards, at a subsequent period, were eminently- 
 useful in the country at large / but his influence was little felt 
 in this city. Occasional efforts have been made for the sup- 
 pression of Sunday news-crying and other evils ; but they have 
 been mostly spasmodic and ill-digested, so that their failure 
 has only emboldened the profane and godless. 
 
 Meanwhile the population had trebled, with a vast accession 
 of classes from abroad unfriendly to the Sabbath. The Sunday 
 press had established itself, and its venders monopolized our 
 streets with their deafening cries. New thoroughfares radiated 
 in all directions from the city, multiplying the temptations to 
 Sunday trafiic and travel. Dram-shops, saloons, and theatres, 
 in spite of law and its executors, perverted the day of rest into 
 a season of unwonted dissipation, folly, and crime. The Sun- 
 day ordinances, concurrent with the laws of the State, which 
 had existed from the foundation of our Government, had been 
 clandestinely repealed, and the sentiment had become rife that 
 all statutes for the protection of the rights of American citizens 
 to a weekly season for rest and devotion were obsolete. In 
 endless forms the sanctity of the Lord's day was assailed, its 
 moral and legal sanctions weakened, and its benign influences 
 counteracted. 
 
 Such were the circumstances under which the Committee 
 assumed the delicate trust reposed in them by their fellow- 
 citizens. A brief notice of the successive measures adopted 
 during the year will show how that trust has been discharged. 
 
 DESECRATION INVESTIGATED AND EXPOSED. 
 
 A careful investigation of the extent of Sdbhath desecration 
 in the metropolis seemed necessary at the outset, both as a 
 guide and stimulus to effort, and as a means of awakening 
 public attention. With this view, the Committee prepared 
 and issued the first document — " Tue Sabbath in New-1 ork," 
 embracing a brief history of Sahhath observance, its existing 
 desecration, and the catises of declension. The statement that 
 9692 places of business, including more than 3000 liquor- 
 shops, were open on the Sabbath, and kindred facts, excited 
 just alarm. An abridgment was also published, in an eight- 
 page octavo form, for popular circulation, entitled " The Sah- 
 oath as it was and as it is.'''' Four editions have been printed 
 — in all, eighteen thousand five hundred copies. 
 
 At the request of a Welsh pastor, "The Sabbath as it was 
 
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 3 
 
 and as it is" was translated into that language, and three 
 thousand copies were published in the " Cambro- American," 
 at the expense of the Committee, the translator engaging to 
 circulate several hundred copies among his countrymen in 
 this city. 
 
 CO-OPERATION OP THE CLERGY. 
 
 Tlie startling facts brought to light in the first document 
 were communicated to a large body of the clergy at one of 
 their stated gatherings ; and on farther consultation with some 
 of the respected pastors of the city, it was thought expedient 
 to invite the ministers of the Gospel of all evangelical denomi- 
 nations to assemble and take into consideration a subject of 
 vital moment to the cause of morality and religion. With 
 gratifying alacrity more than one hundred of our clergy re- 
 sponded to this invitation, meeting in the rooms of Spingler 
 Institute, generously tendered for the purpose by the Rev. 
 Gorham D. Abbott. The venerable Dr. Spring presided. 
 Addresses were delivered by members of the Committee, and 
 the Rev. Drs. De Witt, Krebs, Alexander, Smith, Bedell, and 
 others took part in the discussion. A series of Resolutions, re- 
 ported by a committee of six of our most eminent pastors, of 
 as many denominations, was unanimously adopted. These 
 Resolutions were characterized by the late lamented Mr. But- 
 ler, at the meeting in the Historical Rooms, as the finest trib- 
 ute to the Sabbath to be found in the English language. ISTot 
 far from a million copies were published in newspaper and 
 other forms ; and copies have been received from the interior 
 of the State printed on letter sheets. 
 
 Acting on the suggestion of one of the speakers at the Sping- 
 ler Institute meeting, the Committee issued a circular respect- 
 fully inviting the clergy of the city to preach simultaneously 
 on the claims of the Christian Sabbath, in the month of Feb- 
 ruary last. The promptness and cordiality with which the 
 suggestion was received, and the extent of the cooperation thus 
 rendered, were most cheering. With very limited inquiry, it 
 was ascertained that the following, besides many others of our 
 most valued pastors of various denominations, had preached 
 earnest and impressive discourses — in many instances se- 
 ries of discourses — namely, the Rev. Drs. Adams, Alex- 
 ander, Bedell, De Witt, Guldin, Hutton, Macauley, Mc- 
 Leod, Morgan, Parker, Peck, Potts, Prentiss, Smith, Spring, 
 Taylor, Tyng, Yan Zandt, Wiley, and Williams. Several 
 thousand copies of the " Sabbath as it was and as it is" were 
 distributed in the pews of churches whose pastors entered on 
 this discussion. Not less than one hundred sermons were thus 
 delivered on topics relating to Sabbath sanctification, the in- 
 
4 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 fluence of which it has not been difficult to trace in the rapidly 
 improving sentiment and the advancing reforms of the year : 
 whatever may have been the relations of this manifestation of 
 Christian nnity and quickened regard for a divine institution to 
 the work of grace liaving its beginnings and scattering its 
 blessings here, but extending over the land, and still moving 
 onward throughout Christendom. If even the organs of infi- 
 delity trace such a connection in their mingled taunts of the 
 Sabbath and the Revival, there may be no impropriety in this 
 allusion on the part of those who find an inspired warrant for 
 the relation between a holy zeal for the Lord's Day and the 
 richest spiritual and temporal blessings. 
 
 MEETING OF CITIZENS. 
 
 Tlie next measure was to arrest the attention and gain the 
 cooperation of influential citizens. For this purpose several 
 hundred gentlemen were invited to meet the Committee at the 
 rooms of the Historical Society, on the evening of March 17. 
 "Wm. B. Crosby, Esq., presided ; and W. E, Dodge, E. L. Fan- 
 cher, and Hiram Ketchum, Esqs., the late Hon. B. F. Butler, 
 Judge Slosson, General Superintendent Tallmadge, and others, 
 shared in the discussions of the occasion. An important im- 
 pulse was given to the object by this gathering. A series of 
 public meetings was projected ; but it was thought expedient to 
 forego them, lest they might divert attention even in the slight- 
 est degree from the then absorbing interest in the immediate 
 concerns of the soul, and inasmuch as every convert to Christ 
 and every Christian revived added a new friend to the Lord's 
 Day. 
 
 BAILROADS AND THE SABBATH. 
 
 Somewhat in advance of the season for arranging the time- 
 tables of our Railroads for the spring and summer, the Com- 
 mittee entered on an investigation of the extent and bearings 
 of Sunday traffic and travel. The results were embodied in a 
 document entitled Railroads and the Sabbath, exhibiting the 
 statistics of Sunday traffic on railroads and canals ; the moral 
 influence of railroads ; the economical motives for Sabbath 
 observance ; and the religious and civil relations of the Sab- 
 bath. Copies of this document were sent to the press through- 
 out the country, by which it was extensively noticed and ap- 
 proved. It was also addressed to the Presidents of all the 
 railroads in the United States and the connecting lines in 
 Canada — and to those Directors whose addresses were known — 
 accompanied by a circular, in which the Committee tendered 
 
FIEST ANNUAL REPORT. Ö 
 
 a sufficient number of copies to supply every director, stock- 
 holder, and employe, without cost. A considerable number 
 of orders were sent, and several thousands of copies were thus 
 circulated. Tlie distribution will be resumed the coming sea- 
 son, and arrangements made for reaching directors and stock- 
 holders through other channels, where the official representa- 
 tives of great corporations find it inconvenient to cooperate in 
 the undertaking. It is also the purpose of the Committee to 
 effect a liberal distribution of this document among the popu- 
 lation along the lines of those Companies whose managers con- 
 tinue systematically to desecrate the day of rest. 
 
 The results of this effort were not expected to be immediately 
 apparent. It will only be when the owners of railroads make 
 tlieir voice heard in the management of these thoroughfares 
 that a question of this sort will have a proper adjustment. An 
 instance has come to the knowledge of the Committee, in which 
 the stockholders have " adopted a resolution expressing their 
 disapprobation of the practice of carrying the mail and running 
 the trains on the Sabbath day, and pledging the Company to 
 cooperate with all connecting lines to have the Sunday travel 
 and mail service stopped." In this case (the " East Tennessee 
 and Virginia Eailroad Company") each stockholder had been 
 supplied with a copy of " Railroads and the Sabbath." 
 
 The Farmville (Va.) Journal alludes to a discussion of the 
 same question at the recent meeting of the Richmond and 
 Danville Company, and says: "We feel assured that the 
 mover of the resolution, requesting the Directory to adopt 
 measures to secure a discontinuance of the Sunday mail and 
 passenger trains on that and connecting roads, is sustained by 
 public sentiment in this region of Virginia ; and we hope the 
 time is not far distant when the agitation of this question will 
 result in the much desired discontinuance of Sunday trains. 
 The responsibility of the continuance of the evil will rest with 
 the stockholders. It is proper to add that the opposition to 
 the proposition was founded solely in an alleged necessity for 
 carrying the mails on Sunday." 
 
 SUIfDAY NEWS-CKYING. 
 
 As the first practical issue successfully attempted for a 
 quarter of a century, with the opponents of the Sabbath in this 
 city, the efforts for the suppression of the Sunday news-crying 
 nuisance may properly be recorded. 
 
 Though far from being the most demoralizing form of Sab- 
 bath desecration, the boisterous crying of newspapers on the 
 Sabbath was the most palpable and defenseless method of in- 
 vading the rights of the community on the day of rest and 
 
6 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 devotion. When public attention was fairly gained to the 
 general claims of the Sabbath, and evil practices, which had 
 become so familiar as to be regarded almost with indifference, 
 came to be viewed as abominations, energetic measures became 
 necessary to do away with this nuisance. But, warned by pre- 
 vious failures, the matter was entered upon with great delibera- 
 tion. A respectful note was addressed to the proprietors of 
 the several Sunday newspapers, setting forth the evil, and re- 
 questing their intervention for its abatement — quite in vain. 
 All responsibility for the public wrong was disclaimed. The 
 whole matter was characterized as " much ado about nothing." 
 In later stages of the discussion, however, most of the Sunday 
 journals made the cause of the newsboys their own, and affected 
 to think that the " liberty of the press," with sundry other vital 
 principles, were involved in the question. 
 
 The course of the newspaper proprietors made the way clear 
 for presenting to the Mayor and Police Commissioners a 
 Ifemonal, signed by more than one hundred of the best known 
 and most respected of our citizens, protesting against the 
 nuisance as a school of vice to the newsboys themselves ; as 
 an evil example to our juvenile population ; as an unwarrant- 
 able'monopoly ; as an invasion of the claims of courtesy and good 
 neighborhood, and as a flagrant violation of the rights of our 
 citizens to a day of uninterrupted rest, and requesting its sup- 
 pression. This Memorial, with the action of the Municipal 
 Authorities thereon, and the comments of the daily, reli^^ious, 
 and Sunday press, forms Document ISTo. 3 — entitled " Kews- 
 CKYiNG AND THE Sabbath," wliicli was widely circulated. A 
 small pamphlet was afterwards published, entitled ^^ The City 
 Press on Sunday Neiüs<rying^''^ containing farther extracts from 
 the editorial columns of our leading Journals — especially those 
 relating to the Recorder's charge to the Grand Jury. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners of Police immediately passed 
 resolutions directing the General Superintendent to issue an 
 order to the Captains of Precincts " to enforce the law prohibit- 
 ing the sale of wares and merchandise on the Sabbath, and 
 also to prevent the crying of newspapers on that day." The 
 date of the order was May 22d, 1858. 
 
 Tlie Police authorities proceeded with great forbearance in 
 obeying these instructions, and Police Justices have exercised 
 the utmost leniency in dealing with the young offenders — all 
 aiming at the suppression of the evil, ratlier than the punish- 
 ment of the authors of it. In most parts of the city, tiie nui- 
 sance has entirely ceased, and throughout it is substantially 
 abated. The riddance is hailed on every hand with satisfac- 
 tion ; and will be permanent, if citizens will mdlce immediate 
 complaint at the nearest Police station whenever the attempt 
 
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 7 
 
 is made to renew the offense. Churches, Sabbath-schools and 
 families, as a general fact, are no longer disturbed ; and the 
 quiet essential to the Sabbath is now rendered possible and 
 actual to most of the wearied population of our great city. The 
 Sabbath announces its hallowed dawning by that solemn still- 
 ness which is itself the voice of the universal Father to his 
 children, instead of the profane and worldly din which used to 
 mark and mar the day of God. It will be the fault and the 
 shame of our citizens if the refreshing repose of the Lord's Day 
 is again interrupted by the cries of the Sunday newsboy. 
 
 The news-crying discussion had a relative importance far 
 exceeding its intrinsic merits. This was well understood by 
 friends and foes of the movement. For, in connection witli it, 
 the real character and influence of the Sunday Press were re- 
 vealed. How ample soever the charity that should be extended 
 to the exasperation of self-interest, the community at large 
 were not prepared for such intemperate utterances as have 
 characterized many of the Sunday papers during this discus- 
 sion."^ It was this sad development that led one of the most 
 influential secular Journals to remark : " The attempt to stop 
 the newsboys from shouting on Sunday has converted the whole 
 tribe of Sunday newspapers [we hope there are exceptions] 
 into open, rancorous assailants of religion and the Church. 
 They all teem now every week with the most vehement abuse 
 of every thing connected with Christianity, and are rapidly 
 becoming the open advocates of infidelity. We can hardly 
 believe their sales are as much injured by stopping the news- 
 boys' cries as their character will be by this movement." 
 
 Another aspect of this discussion is worthy of note. On a 
 definite issue between the Sunday press on the one hand, and 
 the daily and religious press, the Police authorities, and the 
 friends of an orderly Sabbath on the other, the jntblic sentiment 
 has sustained the latter with gratifying unanimity. A more 
 healthful, manly, Christian regard for the sacred day than 
 many counted upon, still exists in this community ; and when 
 occasion requires, it can express itself in unmistakable tones. 
 A kind and forbearing, yet firm and unflinching, adherence to 
 the right, when such an attitude brought unsparing reproach, 
 prevented a disastrous termination to this issue, when failure 
 
 * Few things contributed more to the determined purpose of the people to sus- 
 tain the Memorialists against Sunday news-crying, than the republication of arti- 
 cles in which our best citizens were stigmatized as " puritanical vagabonds," 
 "pinchbeck Puritans," "trumpery bigots and hypocritical dullards," "petty 
 tyrants, with souls of promoted flunkeys," " an insolent and supercilious set of 
 Pharisaical vagabonds," "religious Peter Funks," "a miserable chque of fanatics 
 and hypocrites," "Sunday snivellers," "Aminidab Sleeks," and kindred terms. 
 
8 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 would have been the signal for new encroacliments on the Sah- 
 bath, and for increased lawlessness and irreligion among our 
 population. As it is, we can not but hope that we have seen 
 the worst of a sad evil, and that the moral and religious ele- 
 ments of influence will regain their popular ascendency. 
 
 Another phase of this discussion adds to its significance. It 
 has settled the miestion of the propriety and necessity of the in- 
 tervention of the magistracy for the 'protection of the right of 
 good citizens to the enjoyment of a weeHy day of rest and 
 worship. Availing themselves of some indiscretions on the 
 part of Sabbath reformers in other days, and of the legitimate 
 jealousy of all invasions of the rights of conscience, the enemies 
 of the Sabbath had, for a generation, paralyzed at once the 
 arm of the law and the manliness of the public in this regard : 
 so that outrages and nuisances as illegal as intolerable on any 
 day, had come to enjoy special immunity on the Zord''s Day, 
 lest the attempt to abate and punish them should be decried 
 as the prompting of " ascetic Puritanism," or identified with 
 " Church and state priestcraft" ! It may be hoped that the 
 day of this unworthy ruse has passed. The simple distinction 
 between the civil and religious relations of the Sabbath — the 
 former, as a sanitary, economical, and beneficent institution, 
 necessary to the being and well-being of civilized society, 
 guarded from the invasion of selfishness and disorder by human 
 laws ; the latter, with its divine sanctions, binding the con- 
 science to its sacred observance in the measure in which reli- 
 gious obligations are recognized, but asking nothing of the 
 magistracy beyond unrestricted " freedom to worship God"^ — 
 would seem to relieve the whole question of Sunday laws from 
 embarrassment. ISTo one thinks of demanding that the reli- 
 gious observance of the Sabbath shall be constrained by law : 
 that must be left solel}'- to the enlightened conscience, and to 
 the promptings of the reason and aifections. But free citizens 
 may and do claim that they shall not be molested by the god- 
 less and profane, in their churches or their homes, while exer- 
 cising their rights as citizens and as worshippers ; and that 
 protection shall be extended to all who choose to enjoy their 
 rest on the day of rest. So far the laws may go without 
 trenching on any thing more sacred than selfishness and sin. 
 And the public voice will sustain the administrators of law in 
 intei"posing its strong arm for the restraint of all flagrant inva- 
 sions of the inherent and inalienable right of man to a weekly 
 season of repose and worship. 
 
FIEST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 CO-OPEEATION" OF THE CIVHi AUTHORITIES. 
 
 In this connection it is but just to allude to the cordial co- 
 operation of the magistracy of the city, so far as it has been 
 invoked, in attempting to restrain public profanations of the 
 Sabbath. Our worthy Chief Magistrate, the Police Commis- 
 sioners, the General and Deputy Superintendents, the Police 
 Justices, and the Captains of Police, in all the intercourse of 
 the members of the Committee with them, have seemed to 
 appreciate the conservative principles which control the Com- 
 mittee's action, and to welcome the aid brought by the friends 
 of the Sabbath to their efforts for the promotion of order and 
 good morals. At an early period of the year, the laws relat- 
 ing to the observance of the Sabbath were collated and pub- 
 lished under the direction of the Commissioners of the Metro- 
 politan Police, and orders were issued for their enforcement. 
 Previous orders had required the patrolmen to report to the 
 District Attorney all violations of the Sunday Liquor Law ; 
 and no less than twenty-six thousand complaints have thus been 
 lodged with the prosecuting officer. The suppression of Sun- 
 day news-crying could never have been effected but for the 
 calm determination of the Metropolitan Police force — in spite 
 of denunciations from some quarters, and depreciation from 
 others. 
 
 Successive Grand Juries have presented the alarming mea- 
 sure of Sabbath desecration as a leading cause of crime, and 
 have remonstrated in earnest tones against this prolific source 
 of demoralization. 
 
 The Committee regard these indications of an improved pub- 
 lic sentiment with interest and hope. While they would be 
 the last to counsel a frequent or needless resort to the civil 
 power, it would seem that we have reached a crisis of lawless- 
 ness and crime, leaving no alternative between the exercise of 
 judicious authority, and utter anarchy. A government of law 
 must assert its power, or succumb to the vices of alien cohorts 
 accustomed only to governments of force. We can not but 
 believe that the Police, the Pulpit, the Press, and the People 
 of this city will be found stronger than rowdyism and im- 
 morality, whether in ruffles or in rags. 
 
 CO-OPEKATIOW OP THE PBESS. 
 
 One of the most gratifying and hopeful circumstances con- 
 nected with the Committee's labors for the year has been the 
 support given to the Sabbath interest by the Press, secular and 
 religious, of all parties and denominations. Dissevered from 
 ultraisms in sentiment, and from extravagance in plan, the 
 
10 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 measures of the Committee have so commended themselves to 
 the good sense and right judgment of the editorial corps as to 
 have received a steady advocacy from quarters most influen- 
 tial in guiding public sentiment. The archives of the Com- 
 mittee contain copies of articles friendly to the Sabbath, 
 gathered from the editorial and other columns of the news- 
 papers received at their office, of which an aggregate of more 
 than fifteen nniUions (15,165,500) of impressions have heen 
 printed during the year — taking the known circulation of most 
 of these papers, and moderate estimates for the remainder, as 
 the data for the investigation. We hazard little in expressing 
 the belief that this aggregate exceeds the entire number of 
 copies of articles on this subject published in this city during 
 the preceding quarter of a centur3^ And it has been done 
 with a degree of cordiality and ability most honorable to the 
 metropolitan press and to its enterprising conductors. 
 
 On the only immediately practical issue made by the Commit- 
 tee — Sunday news-crying — the leading journals of the city — 
 the Courier^ Journal of Commerce^ Co'mmercial^ Post, Express^ 
 Times, Tribxme, Sun, and JVetos, among the dailies ; and the 
 Observer, Emmgelist, Intelligencer, Advocate, Examiner, Chro- 
 nicle, and Protestant Churchman, among the religious papers 
 — gave an unwavering support to the position taken in the 
 memorial of citizens ; and it is mainly due to their influence, 
 in connection with the efforts of the police, that our city is 
 substantially rid, at last, of this chronic nuisance. It is be- 
 lieved that like unity will characterize the action of the press 
 on all kindred issues, which contemplate the securing for our 
 population a quiet, orderly Sunday, and the abatement of fla- 
 grant nuisances and evils offensive to all right-minded citizens, 
 and dangerous to public morals. 
 
 The aid rendered from the outset by the editorial and other 
 columns of a weekly journal having a circulation among the 
 masses of more than 300,000 copies, has been exceedingly 
 timely and valuable : the more valuable that its sound princi- 
 ples on this question are enforced by the consistent example of 
 the enterprising proprietor of the Ledger, who uniformly arrests 
 the motion of his busy presses, after twenty-three liours of 
 work each laboring day, that they and their attendants may 
 have their Sabbath, and the whole of it. 
 
 The Committee derive the greatest encouragement as to the 
 future from the facts thus gratefully placed on record as to the 
 attitude of the press on a vital question of social morals. In 
 other countries, and even in Great Britain, perhaps the pre- 
 ponderance of influence of the newspaper press is indifferent, 
 if not hostile to the Sabbath. On the continent of Europe 
 hardly a single journal would employ its columns for the dis- 
 
FIEST ANNUAL EEPORT. 11 
 
 cussion of the subject. May we not argue from the contrast 
 not only a more healthful moral tone among the conductors of 
 our public journals, but a greater prevalence of the religious 
 element among the myriad readers of our periodicals, and a 
 rising conviction in the minds of both editors and readers that 
 the conservation of the Lord's Day is vital to every civil, social, 
 and sacred interest of a free Republic ? 
 
 IiABOKS AMONG IMMIGBANTS. 
 
 Besides the beginnings of effort among the "Welsh popula- 
 tion, previously noticed, valuable articles have been translated 
 into the German language and published in the Aiiierikam- 
 sehe?' Botschafter — the most widely-circulated German journal 
 in this country. But the Committee knew of no direct chan- 
 nel of access to the German masses, which most need infor- 
 mation as to the views commonly cherished in this land on 
 the Sabbath question. They therefore deemed it expedient to 
 employ a missionary, who might communicate information as 
 to the views popularly entertained among his immigrant coun- 
 trymen on this subject, and by conversation and the distribution 
 of suitable publications, promote a more just appreciation of 
 the claims and blessings of the sacred day. 
 
 At the end of June, such a laborer entered on his mission — 
 one who had the advantage of more than fifteen years' expe- 
 rience in kindred efforts. After due inquiry and consultation 
 with competent advisers, Gossner's work, " The LorcVs Day the 
 King of Days,''^ was selected as the most appropriate treatise 
 for distribution at the present time, both on the score of its 
 intrinsic merits, and as being the production of an eminent 
 German author. On application of the Committee, the Ame- 
 rican Tract Society generously printed and made a grant of 
 four thousand copies of this book, which have all been distri- 
 buted gratuitously, family by family, accompanied with oral 
 instructions and faithful exhortations by the missionary of the 
 Committee. His monthly Reports have furnished ample de- 
 monstration of the utility and necessity of such labors, and 
 have made the Committee acquainted with the extent and 
 forms of Sabbath desecration among this important class of our 
 population. It would seem to be the dictate of wisdom and 
 charity to inform the population coming from other lands of 
 the time-honored laws and usages of this country as to the 
 observance of the Lord's Day — differing so vitally from their 
 own ; and, until this is done, we need to exercise the utmost 
 forbearance towards their errors and prejudices, often ignor- 
 antly cherished. But, when there is a wanton invasion of the 
 known rights of our citizens, and a systematic corruption of 
 
12 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 popular morals among themselves, and involving our own 
 children and youth — as in the so-called " sacred concerts," 
 which are but Sunday theatricals, accompanied by drinking, 
 gambling, and all forms of vice — no claims of hospitality, or 
 liberty, or right, can palliate the outrage. We can not aiford 
 to have our institutions Germanized in this way, lest the pro- 
 cess shall necessitate despotism in Government, and a standing 
 army for police. If our institutions, as they are, do not afford 
 sufficient liberty for those who have fled to their shelter, let 
 them seek others : they may not scuttle the ship that saves 
 them, nor burn the house that opens its doors to them, nor 
 strike down the sun that shines upon them. This they would 
 do, were they to obliterate the Sabbath, without which free 
 institutions no where exist, and can no where be perpetuated. 
 
 THE SABBATH IN EUROPE. 
 
 The Fourth Document of the Committee is entitled : "The 
 Sabbath in Europe: the holy day of Freedom — the holiday ot 
 Despotism." It presents a brief view of the present state of 
 the Sabbath question in Scotland, England, France, Switzer- 
 land, Germany, and Italy, from investigations entered upon by 
 the Secretary of the Committee when revisiting Europe during 
 the past summer. Its exposures of the influence of a holiday 
 Sabbath, as at once a leading cause of physical, political, and 
 moral degradation to the masses of the people ; as the ally of 
 despotism ; as a fruitful source of immorality, and as fatal to 
 the growth and prevalence of evangelical religion, were deemed 
 to be timely, inasmuch as tendencies are rife in this country 
 toward a Continental mode of spending the Sabbath. Two 
 editions have been printed. 
 
 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 I^ear the end of the year, various providences compelled the 
 attention of the Committee to the monster evil of our city — the 
 unrestricted traffic in intoxicating liquors on the Sabbath. As 
 the investigation of this subject advanced, it was found that it 
 involved political and moneyed interests of vast power, and that 
 the attempt to arrest this illegal and demoralizing business, 
 would require a measure of patient toil hardly within the 
 power of the Committee to bestow. But it was manifest that, 
 so long as thousands of centers of dissipation, lawlessness, and 
 crime were actively counterworking all plans for the moral 
 improvement of the city, little real progress could be hoped 
 for in this or any other department of Christian effort. Rely- 
 ing on God, and on the united cooperation of the supporters of 
 
FIEST ANNUAL REPORT. 13 
 
 law and morals, it was determined to move forward with 
 deliberation in this herculean undertaking. 
 
 Document No. V., on The Sunday Liquor Traffic, has just 
 been issued, discussing the extent and accessories of that traflBc 
 and its illegality, and showing that it is wasteful of money and 
 health ; that it engenders pauperism ; causes crime ; promotes 
 lawlessness, and tends to irreligion, and suggesting suitable 
 remedies. The official statement that there are 7779 dram- 
 shops in this city, of which 7707 are unlicensed, and 5186 of 
 which, kept mostly by aliens, are open on the Sabbath ; and 
 that, at the lowest estimate, not less than $1,348,000 are ex- 
 pended annually by the poor and industrial classes for Sunday 
 tippling, can not but arrest attention to one of the gravest evils 
 of the metropolis. The corresponding statement in this docu- 
 ment, that the arrests for crime on seventy-six successive Sun- 
 days exceed, by more than eighteen hundred and fifty cases, 
 the arrests on a similar number of Tuesdays / — showing that 
 the Sunday Liquor Traffic is directly respansible for twenty-five 
 per cent increase to the enormous average amount of crime, — 
 and kindred facts gathered with great care, — give to this docu- 
 ment more than ephemeral interest. Its general circulation 
 and perusal will carry the conviction that the Sabbath question 
 has wide relations to vital interests. It is hoped that the farther 
 measures of the Committee will be of a character to command 
 the confidence and cooperation of the community, and the 
 respect at least of even the agents and victims of an illegal 
 and destructive traffic. 
 
 FINANCES. 
 
 The necessary expenditures in the prosecution of this enter- 
 prise have been sustained hitherto by the contributions of a 
 few friends of the Sabbath and of the individual members of 
 the Committee, the audited report of the Treasurer having 
 been placed in the hand of each donor. It is believed that 
 private liberality will supply adequate funds for the support 
 of an expanding movement, without a resort to public appeals, 
 or the employment of collecting agencies. Thus conducted, 
 The Cause alone will occupy public attention, unprejudiced 
 by associations with pecuniary matters ; and free-will offerings 
 of personal influence — more valuable than money — may be 
 made to the extent prompted by patriotism and piety. Should 
 the readers of this document desire to share in the cost of sus- 
 taining the Sabbath enterprise — far from being inconsidera- 
 ble — the names of the members of the Committee, and the 
 address of its Treasurer, may be found appended. 
 
14 FIEST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 CONÜLUSION. 
 
 The Committee have not deemed it necessary to put forth 
 any formal exposition of their views of the Sabbath, or of their 
 plans for its sanctification. The object of their organization 
 was eminently practical, and their labors and docnments have 
 taken this direction, leaving scholastic questions to the schools. 
 It may suit the purposes of infidelity and of a lax Christianity 
 to traverse anew the field of argument (already covered with 
 the evidences of defeat,) as to the " proleptical" character of 
 the Mosaic record of the original institution of tlie Sabbath ; 
 the " moral" or the " positive," or the " moral positive" cha- 
 racter of the fourth Commandment ; the place the Decalogue 
 holds under the new dispensation ; the Saviour's treatment of 
 the Sabbath ; the authority for the change of day from the 
 seventh to the first day of the week ; the views of the Fathers 
 and the Reformers ; or as to the constitutionality of Sunday 
 laws, etc., etc. That there may be room for cavil or debate on 
 many of these and kindred topics, need not be denied. But 
 every candid student of the open books of nature, history, and 
 revelation knows that the law of the Sabbath is written as with 
 the point of a diamond on the constitution of man, in the Word 
 of God, and in the records of the race ; that it is girt about by 
 innumerable promises, threatenings, prophecies, and provi- 
 dences of perpetual significance ; that it was stripped of what- 
 ever was local, ceremonial, and traditional, not to lessen, but 
 to exalt its authority under a new and more spiritual dispensa- 
 tion as the fitting memorial of redeeming as well as of crea- 
 tive love ; that Christendom accepts and approves the Lord^s 
 Bay with unanimity almost as complete as its acceptance of 
 the Bible ; that good men three, or five times three, centuries 
 ago were fallible as now ; and that statutes enacted at the 
 foundation of our government, and existing in every free coun- 
 try of the globe, are likely to survive their violators. 
 
 But as practical men, conducting a practical enterprise — 
 while standing immovably on the basis of the divine institu- 
 tion and perpetual obligation of the Sabbath — the Committee 
 have chiefly to do with the palpable and flagrant profanations 
 of the day, whicli invade the rights of citizens, grieve the hearts 
 of Christians, and threaten the destruction of the institution 
 itself When our laboring population cease to be robbed of 
 the earnings which their families need by the Sunday dram- 
 shop and lager-bier saloons ; when our children and servants 
 are saved from the temptation of Sunday theatres and "sacred 
 concerts ;" when the pauperism, rowdyism, and crime tracea- 
 ble to the Sunday liquor trafiic, are checked ; when our homes, 
 
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 15 
 
 and Sabbatli-schools, and churches are freed from the nuisance 
 of Sunday bands and Sunday cries of whatever sort ; when our 
 population are persuaded that there is more appropriate em- 
 ployment for the Lord's Day than the reading of immoral tales 
 and infidel articles in newspaper journals ; when the tide of 
 dissipation, lawlessness, and unbelief, rolling in with the tide 
 of Sabbath-breaking emigration, is turned back, we shall have 
 a moral atmosphere more favorable to the discussion of theo- 
 retical questions affecting the nature and mode of Sabbath 
 observance. 
 
 Meanwhile, we would leave to the individual conscience, 
 enlightened by the word and Spirit of God, the many delicate 
 and difficult questions relating to the holy keeping of the 
 Lord's Day. The fundamental point being settled, that the 
 whole of it is to be employed in other than secular pursuits — ■ 
 as a rest-day for body and soul — as a day of grateful memories 
 and hallowed associations — as a stated period of devotion and 
 charity — freed alike from gloomy austerities and worldly follies 
 — then all the details of individual and domestic life will find 
 an easy adjustment to its essential requirements. Should there 
 be a leaning to the side of strictness^ in cases of doubt and 
 difficulty, the too common tendency toward an opposite lean- 
 ing will furnish an adequate warrant, if any were needed. 
 
 With the same view, the Committee have felt constrained, 
 on the one hand, to leave uncorrected the misrepresentations 
 and personalities resorted to by the enemies of the Sabbath ; 
 and on the other, to decline cooperation in many specific re- 
 forms urged on their attention by its zealous friends, as un- 
 timely and inexpedient. A corrected public sentiment will 
 initiate and sustain all needed reforms ; while every attempted 
 improvement, in advance of public opinion, will only fail of its 
 object, and in its failure afford new pretexts for wrong-doing. 
 
 The grand, paramount object of the Committee will have 
 been accomplished, when a healthful, manly, Christian regard 
 for the Lord's Day shall have attained its legitimate hold of 
 the public mind. All else will find its corrective here. Laws 
 will take their impress from an enlightened popular will, and 
 their administrators will then enforce them with fidelity. 
 Practices at variance with sound morals and good neighbor- 
 hood, will be abandoned. Eights, equally precious and 
 inalienable, now invaded with impunity, will then be respected. 
 Religion, having recovered its day of worship and instruction, 
 may pursue its conquests, and diffuse its blessings. The soul 
 may then have its allotted season for shaking off the dust of 
 material interests, and mount and sing in its heavenward aspi- 
 rations. Eternity, and its overwhelming realities, may then 
 occupy its just place in the thoughts, when the sacred day 
 
16 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 brings men to pause amid earthly cares, and reminds them of 
 " the rest that remaineth for the people of God." 
 
 In accomplishing this object, the Committee would not 
 multiply specitic issues ; but when made with deliberate wis- 
 dom, they would maintain them with manly and unyielding 
 firmness. They would especially avoid a frequent resort 
 to legal intervention. Certain public evils and nuisances, 
 indeed, can only be abated by the magistracy ; these the 
 public voice will require to be suppressed. Beyond these, 
 we would rely solely, under God, on appeals to reason and 
 conscience. We would erect a barrier as high as Sinai 
 against the rapacity of individual or corporate greed, that 
 would rob the laboring man of his rest, or strip him of his 
 earnings. We would surround the homes of the people with 
 a moral atmosphere so pure and genial, that the fetid air of 
 the places of Sunday resort shall stifle and repel. We would 
 leaven society with respect and love for sacred Sabbath hours 
 and their accompanying blessings, as a corrective for the spirit 
 of irreverence and lawlessness ; as a necessary counterpoise to 
 selfishness and sin ; as the basis of characteristics essential to 
 self-government ; and as the indispensable condition and safe- 
 guard of free institutions. We would inspire the Christian 
 community with a more profound sense of the value of holy 
 time as the appointed period for devout meditation, and pri- 
 vate, domestic, and public worship ; as the appropriate season 
 for acts of benevolence ; and as " the day the Lord hath made," 
 in which to "rejoice and be glad" in Him. And we would 
 arouse the friends of the Sabbath to a manly and determined 
 resistance of the tendencies to its desecration, and to a united 
 efibrt for its general and sacred observance. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, 
 E. L. BEADLE, M.D., 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 WARREN CARTER, 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, 
 E. L. FANCHER, 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Becording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
 1^^ SABBATH COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW-YORK. 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 WM. A. SMITH, 
 WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 E. C. WILCOX; 
 
 F. S. WINSTON, 
 0. E. WOOD. 
 
MEMORIAL MEMOPtANDA. 
 
 » ' « • » <« 
 
 L Memorial as to the Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 IL Basis of Memorial— Presentment of Grand 
 Juries. 
 
 in. Laws and Ordinances respecting the 
 Traffic. 
 
 IV. Comments of the Daily Press on the Me- 
 morial. 
 
 Y. The Germans and the Memorial. 
 
 VI. Pubhc Drinking Fountains. 
 
 DOCUMENT NO. VII. 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW YORK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 PRINTED BY EDWARD 0. JENKINS, 
 
 No. z6 Frankfort Street. 
 1859. 
 
SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 I.-Memorial as to the Sunday Liquor 
 
 Traffic. 
 
 To the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police : 
 
 Gentlemen: — Section 5 of tlie Metropolitan Police Act pro- 
 vides, that " It shall be the duty of the Board of Police hereby 
 constituted, at all times of the day and night .... to preserve 
 the public peace ; to prevent crime, and arrest offenders ; to pro- 
 tect the rights of persons and property; to guard the public 
 health ; .... to see that all laws relating to the observance of 
 Sunday, and regarding .... gambling and intemperance .... 
 are properly enforced ; and to obey and enforce all ordinances of 
 Common Councils," &c. 
 
 Your memorialists appeal to the accompanying extracts from 
 the Presentments of four several Grand Juries — made under the 
 sanctions of an oath by citizens of the highest respectability — and 
 to the records of your own department, for proof that the Sunday 
 Liquor Business disturbs "the public peace;" causes "crime;" in- 
 vades "the rights of persons and property;" wastes "the public 
 health;" defies "the laws relating to the observance of Sunday;" 
 shelters and encourages "gambling;" and creates "intemperance;" 
 and all this, and more, in open contempt of the Laws of the State, 
 and of the Ordinances of the Common Council, which your Board 
 are pledged " to obey and enforce." 
 
 The burdens of taxation for Courts, Police, Prisons, and Aims- 
 House purposes, have come to be so onerous as to compel the atten- 
 tion of tax-payers to their causes ; and your memorialists find that 
 the principal parasite on the industry and wealth of the city exists 
 in the seven thousand seven hundred unlicensed dram-shops, more 
 than five thousand of which pursue their otherwise illegal business 
 
4 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 on the Christian Sabbath. Now, were the evil merely negative, 
 as in the withholding from the Treasury of half a million dollars a 
 year due for Licenses ; or in the failure to collect the fines imposed 
 by law,-— amounting at the lowest computation to a million dollars 
 for the misdemeanors committed each Sunday of the year — it 
 might be endured. But, when this traffic throws a large majority 
 of the pauper army — some 40,000 strong — on the support of honest 
 capital and industry [see extract from Presentment, February, 
 1859] — itself contributing to multiply, but almost nothing to sup- 
 port its recruits ; when it crowds our Criminal Courts, monopolizes 
 the business of our Grand Juries, and throngs our prisons with 
 its thousands of pupils or graduates in vice and crime ; and when 
 it enervates labor, impoverishes and demoralizes families, engen- 
 ders juvenile rowdyism and general lawlessness, weakens the moral 
 restraints and invades the sanctities of the Lord's Day, and coun- 
 teracts the benign influence of philanthropy and religion, your 
 memorialists cannot refrain from invoking, as in their own behalf 
 and in behalf of their fellow-citizens they do respectfully but 
 earnestly demand, PROTECTioisr and relief. 
 
 The statistics of your Board demonstrate a connection so inti- 
 mate between Sunday tippling and crime, as, on that ground alone, 
 to require the attention and action of your Department. It appears 
 that while the arrests for the Tuesdays of eighteen months preced- 
 ing December 8, 1858, amounted to but 7,816, the arrests for the 
 corresponding Sundays were 9,713, — an absolute excess of one 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty-two above the ordinary average 
 of week days ; or an increase of drunkenness and crime on Sun- 
 days of twenty-five per cent, over the usual enormous projDortion of 
 wickedness traceable on all days to dram-drinking. 
 
 Even more convincing is the testimony of your last Annual Ee- 
 port, in which you give the arrests on three successive Sundays, 
 " while the law Avas observed," amounting to 254, compared with 
 those of the same number of Sundays, " Avhen the liquor-dealers 
 learned they could violate the law with impunity," which amounted 
 to 503, to " show conclusively the effects of closing the liquor-shops 
 in lessening the amount of crime and of "breaches of the peace." 
 Thus, on the evidence of this official paper, the partial and tem- 
 porary execution of the laws restraining the Sunday Liquor Traffic 
 prevented one-half of " the crime and of breaches of the peace" 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 5 
 
 otherwise to have been looked for, and actually committed when 
 legal restraints were removed. What then might be hoped from 
 the complete and permanent suppression of that trafl&c? And 
 with such demonstration of the connection of cause and effect, 
 would not your Department be warranted under the common law, 
 as well as by the provisions of your organic Act, which makes it 
 your " daUj to PREVENT crime and arrest offenders," in employing 
 the whole force under your control in suppressing this parent evil, 
 rather than in the hopeless pursuit of its offspring, whose " nam© 
 is Legion ? " Or, to use the language of a recent Grand Jury, 
 have you not authority to extirpate " the roots of this tree of evil, 
 so that it shall neither yield bud, leaf, flower, nor fruit, instead of 
 using ineffectual efforts to crush the fruit after it has ripened ? " 
 Here, as elsewhere, would not " an ounce of prevention be better 
 than a pound of cure ? " 
 
 But your Department is not left to the necessity of resorting to 
 its general police authority for the power to abate the evil of 
 which we complain. While existing laws may be susceptible of 
 improvement, they are numerous and stringent enough, properly 
 enforced, to secure the desired end. Besides the Metropolitan 
 Police Act, under which 26,000 complaints have already been 
 made by your prompting — some of which may yet be prosecuted 
 to conviction — the 7,702 unlicensed venders, or either of them, 
 may be arrested under the statute of 1857 for the misdemeanor of 
 selling on Sunday as on any other day ; while licensed dealers come 
 under the Sunday provisions of that statute. Then, the Corpora- 
 tion Ordinance of 1855 prohibits all Sunday liquor sales as misde- 
 meanors, punishable by fine or imprisonment, and complaints may 
 be made before any magistrate. Surely there is law enough, and 
 we believe public sentiment, so long outraged, will sustain the 
 enforcement of it ; and will demand the cooperation of the magis- 
 tracy, which may be expected to be cordially rendered, in freeing 
 the city from one principal cause of excessive taxation, pauperism 
 and crime. 
 
 But inasmuch as there may be among the thousands of dram- 
 shop and beer-house keepers — especially among the foreigners, 
 who embrace nearly the whole of the Sunday dealers — some who 
 are still ignorant of the unlawful nature of their business, your me- 
 morialists would suggest the expediency of printing and circulating 
 
6 
 
 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 in every dram-shop tlie laws and ordinances affecting the Sunday 
 liquor traffic : accompanied hy a distinct 7iotice that, from and after 
 a fixed date, the whole power of the Police Department will be per- 
 sistently employed in securing obedience to their provisions^ and in 
 restoring the ascendancy of law and order. 
 
 In the judgment of your memorialists, a course like this is due 
 to the dignity and authority of your own Department ; to the com- 
 munity whose lives and property are entrusted to your guardian- 
 ship ; to that portion of the foreign immigrant population who lack 
 respect for the laws and institutions which give them shelter ; to 
 the victims of poverty and crime whose moral natures need to be 
 nerved by sacred Sabbath influences against the temptations of 
 the week ; to the families whose daily bread is taken from their 
 mouths to become money for the Sunday publican, and poison for 
 husbands and fathers ; to Christian citizens whose quiet is invaded 
 and whose moral sense is shocked by the orgies of the Sunday 
 dram-shop and theatrical saloon ; and to morality and religion, 
 which can no more coexist with a profaned and dissipated Sabbath 
 than can our free institutions, — here and everywhere depending for 
 their prosperity and perpetuity on the popular recognition of the 
 principles of the Decalogue and the lessons of the New Testament. 
 
 It only remains for your memorialists severally, and in behalf of 
 all good citizens, to assure your Board of their cordial and un- 
 wavering support of whatever wise and efficient measures may be 
 adopted for the suppression of the Sunday Liquor Business. 
 
 P. Perit 
 Benj. L. Swan 
 Thomas H. Faile 
 C. E. Eobert, Jr. 
 Wm. Whitlock, Jr. 
 Wm. L. Jenkins 
 R. T. Woodward 
 Eobt. C. Goodhue 
 John Slade 
 A. B. Neilson 
 Stewart Brown 
 James Brown 
 James M. Brown 
 Fred, De Peyster 
 Eoswell Sprague 
 Wm. H. Macy 
 
 L. Lorut 
 Oliver Slate, Jr. 
 I. V. Onativia 
 Drake Mills 
 P. E. Pyne 
 Simon De Vissa 
 E. Ponvert 
 G. W. Gray 
 J. Whitehead 
 P. y. Hoffman 
 Benj. H. Field 
 John Alstyne 
 A. M. Tredwell 
 Theodore Dehon 
 Edward Penfold 
 James Thomson 
 
 John Hone 
 James S. Aspinwall 
 J. P. Giraud Foster 
 Wnn. H. Aspinwall 
 Sam'l W. Comstock 
 Peter V. King 
 N. W. Chater 
 Henry Chauncey 
 Fred. G. Foster 
 H.y Chauncey, Jr. 
 B. W. Weston 
 Horace Gray, Jr. 
 A. Foster 
 Geo. Griswold 
 Geo. Griswold, Jr. 
 Corn's Grinnell 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOE TEAFFIC. 
 
 Chas. H. Marshall 
 Clias. Larason 
 L. B. Wyman 
 David Ogden 
 Mortimer L. Fowler 
 Geo. T. Elliot 
 Arch'd Russell 
 John J. Morris 
 Jacob Story 
 Henrj Kelly 
 Oliver H. Lee 
 Nath'l Carrier 
 Horace Holden 
 R. B. Minturn 
 J. P. Fellows, Jr. 
 Geo, D. Phelps 
 Norman White 
 R. M. Hartley 
 
 F. Bronson 
 Wm. H. Smith 
 D. H. Arnold 
 Jacob Brouwer 
 Thos. H. Chambers 
 R. H. McCurdy 
 
 J. P. Cronkhite 
 Thos. W. Clerke 
 Wilson G. Hunt 
 Lucius Hopkins 
 
 G. T. Cobb 
 George Opdyke 
 L. B. Woodruff 
 Edw'ds Pierrepont 
 Joseph Hoxie 
 Thos. L. Chester 
 H. M. Forrester 
 
 J. B. Nelson, M. D. 
 James Graydon 
 John M. Bruce, Jr. 
 Roe Lockwood 
 Wra. G. Lambert 
 James Low 
 Geo. Carpenter 
 Daniel Lord 
 W. R. Vermilye 
 W. M. Yermiiye 
 Jasper Corning 
 W. S. Bishop 
 
 John J. Cisco 
 Thomas Denny 
 Wm. H. Neilson 
 R. J. Thorne 
 
 A. R. Walsh 
 Aug's Belknap 
 Edward Prime 
 Wm. Curtis Noyes 
 Lora Nash 
 
 John A. Ubsdell 
 John H. Redfield 
 Moses A, Hoppock 
 John C. Tucker 
 Horace Webster 
 Daniel Parish 
 H'yG. Marquand 
 Jacob Le Roy 
 Winth'p S. Oilman 
 Josiah Lane 
 James D. Oliver 
 Chas. P. Kirkland 
 Wm. A. Booth 
 Bernard Logan 
 S. H. Thayer 
 W. S. Clark 
 James H. Towle 
 James E. Weir 
 
 B. H. Stryker 
 A. C. Stryker 
 Henry Fisher 
 Caleb T. Rowe 
 Geo. Andrews 
 Wm. B. Bodge 
 Wm. H. Beebe 
 E. L Blake 
 
 R. N. Havens 
 P. Edw'd Vermilye 
 A, Merwin 
 J. W. Brinckerhoff 
 John L. Smith 
 Jos. W. Patterson 
 Seth G. Babcock 
 W. F. Van Wagenen 
 Peter Richards 
 James L. Todd 
 James W. Newton 
 Chas. B. Converse 
 
 James Lenox 
 
 G. B. Crane 
 
 H. P. Howell 
 
 Thomas Kehoe 
 
 Warren Carter 
 
 W. E. Sibell 
 
 Zebedee Ring 
 
 Peter Balen 
 
 Homer Morgan 
 
 John G. Nelson 
 
 H. T. Dwight 
 
 L. P. Stone 
 
 Jas Humphrey 
 
 E. White 
 
 Chas. B. Hatch 
 
 Samuel Hotaling 
 
 R. C. McCormick 
 
 E. L. Beadle 
 
 J. K. Johnson 
 
 0. E. Wood 
 
 Harmon Kingsbury 
 
 Robert Carter 
 
 S. H. St. John 
 
 Wm. Alex. Smith 
 
 Sam'l S. Sands 
 
 John Ward 
 
 John Warren 
 
 Jas. W. Underbill 
 
 J. H. Gourlie 
 
 T. W. Thorne 
 
 M. Tompkins, Jr. 
 
 H. T. Morgan 
 
 John Miller 
 
 Frederic Bull 
 
 H, Meigs, Jr. 
 
 Sam'l Coulter 
 
 Joseph T. Sanger 
 
 L. C. Clark 
 
 J. B. Trevor, Jr. 
 
 James B. Colgate 
 
 R. L. Cutting 
 
 Geo. T. Hope 
 
 Wm. H. Le Roy 
 
 Le Grand Lockwood 
 
 Thos. Morgan 
 
 J. M. Doe 
 
 Gus. P. A. Sabine, M. D. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 Matthew Maury 
 Rutson Maury 
 John D. Clate 
 William M. Dart 
 James Dart 
 Norman Dart 
 W. P. Comstock 
 W. B. Griswold 
 F. Thompson 
 Miles J. Jenkins 
 Elbridge T. Gerry 
 William Tracy 
 John M. Barbour 
 Fred. S. Tallmadge 
 Eastburn Benjamin 
 David W. Price 
 J. Campion 
 Ed. D. Barnes 
 John J. Johnston 
 John S. Neston 
 William Nixon 
 George T. Jackson 
 Eobt. B. Roosevelt 
 Theo. Roosevelt 
 Isaac Hicks 
 J. A. Roosevelt 
 J. T. Dean 
 H. L. Pierson 
 Sam'l Hopkins 
 Hy. L. Pierson, Jr. 
 James B, Taylor 
 
 D. L. Winchester 
 Leonard Warner 
 Henry B. Hyde 
 Robert Bliss 
 Wm. R. Moore 
 Wm. Hall 
 George Dixon 
 John S. Seal 
 
 E. H. Garbutt 
 Wm. H. Black 
 Sam'l E. W. Barry 
 W. Hart Smith 
 Charles Gould 
 Joseph H. Choate 
 Wm. H. C. Barnes 
 
 F. B. Betts 
 
 M. Van Schaick 
 Sam'l A. Church 
 Edmund C. Fisher 
 F. P. Woodcock 
 Frederick F. Betts 
 W. C. Williams 
 A. G. Ranney 
 George G. Spencer 
 Danford Knowlton 
 Ezra Wheeler 
 John Thompson 
 D. V. H. Bertholf 
 V. L. Buxton 
 R. H. Barnes 
 J. Jay Greenough 
 Duncan McMartin 
 Wm. A. Arnold 
 James Buell 
 John H. Ormsbee 
 Simon V. Vedder 
 Ira Bliss 
 A. Decker 
 W. W. Phillips 
 J. X. McLanahan 
 A. B. Belknap 
 Thos. C. Chalmers 
 Thos. S. Shepard 
 Edwin Hyde 
 N. Sullivan 
 P. F. Randolph 
 Wm. A. Budd 
 Thos. Slocomb 
 Aug. W. Sexton 
 M. G. Baldwin 
 Courtlandt Palmer 
 Chas. Tracy 
 Walter Edwards 
 Jno. E. Parsons 
 Leonard Perkins 
 Jas. M. Halsted 
 John A. Stewart 
 F. W. Downer 
 W. H. Munn 
 
 A. T. Anderson 
 Z. Stiles Ely 
 
 C. B. Corlies 
 
 B. M. Crawford 
 
 Peter Cooper 
 S. A. Mower 
 Tredwell Ketcham 
 Francis L. Johnson 
 R. E. Edwards 
 B. H. Bixby 
 David Wetmore 
 Henry Day 
 Geo. DeForest Lord 
 Samuel R. Mabbatt 
 W. Decker 
 Wm. H. Payne 
 Thos. Cutwater 
 Allwan H. Vassar 
 J. H. Williams 
 Jas, K. Place 
 Chas. Place 
 Jas. D. Sparkman 
 
 E. B. Place 
 
 S. F. Goomridge 
 Jno. T. Walker 
 Hugh N. Camp 
 J. O. Fowler 
 Wm. H. Kniffin 
 R. H. Nodine 
 V. LeComte 
 Philip Teets 
 Halsted & Gilman 
 
 F. L. Hewitt 
 
 G. M. Tracy 
 
 H. A. Bostwick 
 John Ruston 
 R. H. Lievesley 
 AVilliam Young 
 Sam'l T. Skidmore 
 Henry S. Oakley 
 Jas. C. Harriott 
 John G. Haviland 
 Richard Oaklej'- 
 E. H. Champlin, M. D. 
 E. M. Kingsley 
 Elias Loomis 
 Francis Bacon 
 0. R. Kingsbury 
 M.D. C.Crawford 
 J. P. Newman 
 D. Terry 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TEÄFFIC. 
 
 E. L. Fancher 
 Wm. Truslow 
 Zachary Peck 
 Gr. Mauiere Tracy 
 Andrew J, Odell 
 Thos. McFarlan 
 
 D. T. Staniford 
 Samuel Bangs 
 Wm. A. Budd 
 K J. Baker 
 Alfred S. Purdy 
 W. Keeler 
 Jno. McCliutock 
 John W. Grajdon 
 W. R Martin 
 Ealph Mead 
 AVm. A. Cox 
 Joseph Graydon 
 A. E. Wetmore 
 Noah Worrall 
 
 S. Throckmorton 
 Dan'l L, Ross 
 A. M. Osborn 
 T. A. Howe 
 Thos. Otis Le Roy 
 
 E. A. Le Roy, Jr. 
 Edw'd A. Le Roy 
 Irad Hawley 
 John H. Swift 
 
 G. W. Burnham 
 Chas. H. Booth 
 W. Clapp 
 E. R. Dibblee 
 Rüssel Dart 
 Lewis B. Henry 
 Effingham Cock 
 Chas. Tuttle 
 Jas. H. Patten 
 Jas. A. Edgar 
 Jas. P. Pennell 
 Wm. Van Allen 
 J. H. Woolley 
 E. M. Denman 
 Daniel Hofiman 
 Henry A. Lee 
 Robert J. White 
 Francis Hall 
 
 Wm. F. Havemeyer 
 James L. Phelps 
 Walter C. Palmer 
 J. B. Oakley 
 James Farrelly 
 James S. Huggins 
 R. R. Ward 
 W. Edwards 
 Philetus H. Holt 
 Benjamin Loder 
 James B. Wilson 
 Asher Taylor 
 G. De Forest 
 John A. Weeks 
 Francis R, Rives 
 Edwin O. Carnes 
 Cyrus W. Field 
 Daniel Conger 
 Jos. W. Alsop 
 John J. Owen 
 Joseph H. Gray 
 Edward J, Owen 
 E. H. Owen 
 Sam'l Carlile 
 G. Waters 
 Jos. Greenleaf 
 G. W. Thorp 
 J. M. McLean 
 James C. Bogert 
 
 C. R. Robert 
 Joseph Stuart 
 Wm. Forrest 
 Wm. E. Dodge 
 
 D. Willis James 
 Wm. E. Dodge, Jr. 
 I. Seymour 
 William Scott 
 Mason Thomson 
 Carlisle Norwood 
 C. A. Davison 
 Chas. E. Strong 
 H. B. Washburn 
 Henry C. Porter 
 John Post 
 
 R. B. Conkliu 
 Sam'l Smith 
 Wakeman Burritt 
 
 Wm. Tucker 
 
 Le Barron Hammond 
 
 A. G. Nichols 
 S. R. Smith 
 Jas. E. Smith, 
 H. C. S. Jervis 
 F. W. Jolly 
 Alfred Simonson 
 Reuben Pine 
 Gilbert F. Henshaw 
 
 D. H. Sargent 
 C. H. Hawkins 
 Isaac Anderson 
 Moses Baldwin 
 Alexander Miller 
 C. P. Woodworth 
 Wm. Barker 
 
 T. D. Thompson 
 
 B. Cauley 
 Henry G. Miller 
 John A. Dahn 
 Jacob Yisel 
 
 J. B. Arthur 
 Edwin H. Wade 
 Edmund Young 
 Vilroy Wilcox 
 John Dawson 
 J. B. Beers 
 James Furey 
 Benj. F. White 
 John Anthony 
 S. E. Reid 
 John Torkey 
 Chas. N. Daily 
 William Betts 
 A. W. Bradford 
 Sheppard Homans 
 AVm. K. Strong 
 Richard Patrick 
 John Wadsworth 
 
 F. S. Winston 
 Robt. Taylor 
 
 G. W. Ford 
 J. A. Cauder 
 
 E. D. Nelson 
 Sam'l M. Janes 
 James Webb 
 
10 
 
 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 Moses Taylor 
 J. E, lioaglancl 
 Freeman Bloodgood 
 Thomas Lewis 
 Chas. Roberts 
 R. Murray, Jr. 
 W. 0. R. Arnold 
 Alex. M. Ross 
 Henry J. Howland 
 Robert I. Lomas 
 J. F. Van Wickel 
 James McAllister 
 A. H. Wemple 
 G-. W. Smith 
 Sam'l Squire 
 William Penney 
 O. Twist Hopper 
 William Carpenter 
 Sidney Smith 
 David B. Dwire 
 W. M. Washburn 
 W. Cunningham 
 J. B. McDonnell 
 A. C. Hall 
 Wm. J, Durr 
 Thos. R. Ackland 
 Wm. R. Guest 
 Geo. W. Frost 
 Henry Knowlton 
 J. M. Naughton 
 E. H. Richards 
 Wm. Mook 
 James S. Egbert 
 Fred. Clinch 
 Chas. H. Dietz 
 William Lalor 
 Archibald Bishop 
 Janies Reid 
 James M. Taylor 
 Thos. G. Barren 
 Wm. L. Skidmore 
 Brastus Goodwin 
 Joseph Center 
 Francis A. Curtis 
 E. Norcross 
 O. F. A. Brockway 
 M. Perry 
 
 Caleb 0. Halsted 
 Joseph Flynn 
 C. Wm. Cregier 
 John E. Quin 
 Wm. W. Bennet 
 M. T. Condon 
 W. W. Knapp 
 S. R. Packer 
 Thos. B. Carpenter 
 Samuel J. Knapp 
 Daniel R. Young 
 Daniel S. Hoff 
 J. L. Snedecor 
 Elbert Austin 
 Walter Reid 
 Wm. A. Baldwin 
 Abel Gruber 
 Robert G. Cornell 
 William H. Taylor 
 John H. Moore 
 Alfred Smith 
 Dan Van Nostrand 
 W. L. Allen & Co. 
 W. K. Moore 
 George Smart 
 Samuel Crooks 
 Thomas P. Way 
 C. Bruno 
 Seth W. Hale 
 A. Carter, Jr., 
 Chas. E. Hale 
 Augustus K. Sloan 
 M. H. Gallaher 
 David Dodd 
 H. W. Wheeler 
 J. M. Morrison 
 Wm. H. Hoople 
 Jas. F. De Peyster 
 Wm. Muir 
 Chas. W. Sawyer 
 H. M. Lamport 
 John W. Baker 
 John M. Vandcrlip 
 Geo. H. Christian 
 Cyrus Peck 
 J: F. Stoddard 
 James Anderson 
 
 T. C. Doremus 
 John K. Myers 
 Edwin Hoyt 
 James Warren 
 Silas Brown 
 Geo. S. Stephenson 
 A. R. Lawrence 
 L N. Post 
 
 0. D. F. Grant 
 Robert Forrest 
 Howard Potter 
 John Crosby Brown 
 Clarence S. Brown 
 Abbott Brown 
 John E. Johnson 
 Wm. S. Doughty 
 James Stuart Gillan 
 
 1. H. Woods 
 James S. Woods 
 Alex. W. Murray 
 David S. Dodd 
 John Sandaver 
 William E. Ilebberd 
 J. S. Holt 
 
 Wm. Waters 
 Robert C. Martin 
 Stephen Smith 
 H. K. White 
 John W. Sterling 
 W^illiam Rockwell 
 Francis Lei and 
 A. Masterton 
 
 D. Fairbank 
 
 E. Lawrence 
 I. Park, Jr. 
 L. H, Holmes 
 T. Van Brunt 
 R. Ross, Jr. 
 Edmund Hyalt 
 J. W. R. Ludlow 
 Edward McVickar 
 J. A. iMcVickar, M.D 
 S. B. Barlow, M. D. 
 
 E. M. Kellogg, M. D. 
 
 F. P. Smith 
 
 W. D. Hutchings 
 Wm. Douglas 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 11 
 
 II —Basis of Memorial— Presentment of 
 G-rand Juries. 
 
 The Grand Jury of February, 1858, WILSON G. HUNT, Fore- 
 7nan, present : 
 
 " That a serious and growing evil is tbe disregard, by certain classes of the public, 
 of tbe laws designed to preserve the due observance of the Sabbath. * * In 
 some of tbe most populous sections of the city, on the afternoons and evenings of tbe 
 Sabbath, theatrical exhibitions, secular concerts, bowling and pistol galleries, jug- 
 gling shows, dancing-houses, bands of music, tippling-saloons, and all species of 
 lawless entertainments are maintained, in open violation of law, and in disregard of 
 public autborities. To these lawless places are attracted vast numbers of unguarded 
 youth and demoralized maturity of both sexes, and dissipation, quarrelling, and 
 frequent violence are among the consequences. Independent of tbe annoyance and 
 offence which these disturbances create to the law-observing and Christian portion 
 of the commimity, the fact that tbe laws may thus be openly violated, and tbe con- 
 stituted autborities fail to secure their due observance, can not but produce the most 
 pernicious effect upon the illdisposed, who participate in these lawless gatherings, as 
 well as those who are encouraged in their evil course by the inefBcient administra- 
 tion of the law. We would recommend that the laws for tbe suppression of these 
 exhibitions be rigidly enforced, and that it be made the special duty of the Police 
 to suppress them by the undeviating execution of the law. It cannot be denied 
 that these unlawful gatherings are among the fruiful causes of engendering in the 
 corrupted youth of our city the fearful tendencies to crime which are daily manifested 
 in our criminal courts." 
 
 The Grand Jury of October, 1858, L. R. MORRIS, Foreman, say: 
 
 " The desecration of the Sabbath by persons frequenting the numerous drinking, 
 dancing, and singing saloons, scattered broadcast over tbe cit)', is a subject of con- 
 stant complaint, and calls for prompt and efficient action on the part of the authori- 
 ties for its suppression. The Grand Jury is in possession of facts showing that about 
 twenty thousand complaints for the violation of the Sunday Liquor Law have been 
 reported by the police, not one of which has been prosecuted. It is tbe opinion of 
 the Grand Jury that every law respecting tbe desecration of the Sabbath should be 
 rigidly enforced, at least so far as is necessary to prevent an interference with the 
 peace of those who prefer to devote the day to higher and loftier purposes." 
 
 The Grand Jury of Jan. 21, 1859, THEO. MARTINE, Foreman, 
 say : 
 
 " The Grand Jury cannot close their labors without presenting to the Court and 
 to the putilic the important fact, that a very large portion of the business which has 
 occupied its attention has arisen from the sale and use of intoxicating liquors. 
 
 " A'eaj-ZT/ flZZ t/ie cö.?ffi /or 7n«r(7er and assault and battery which have been investi- 
 gated — and the number has been great — have been found to spring from these causes; and 
 the grand inquest can see no reason to expect any diminution of crimes so long as 
 tbe present almost entire absence or inefficiency of the laws for the suppression of 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors continues. 
 
 "The Grand Jury is well aware that this subject has often been presented to the 
 consideration of the Court, and suggests no remedy. This it leaves to the wisdom of 
 our Legislature. But so long as the evil exists to the alarming degree that it does 
 at present, so long will it demand the denunciation of all good citizens, and their 
 best eiforts to abate it. 
 
12 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 " It is well known that the number of places for the sale of such liquors j^ s 
 greatly multiplied within the last few years; a-nd this mm/ accottnt in the same mens re 
 for the great increase of the amount of crime, pauperism and taxation of our city, and the 
 increased business of our criminal courts." 
 
 The Grand Jury of February, 1859, CHARLES AUGUSTUS 
 DAVIS, Foreinan^ make this impressive presentment : 
 
 " The pauper circle of this city and county now reach the alarming number of 
 nearly forty thousand ; this number is divided into two classes, indoor and outdoor 
 poor. The indoor, about one quarter of the whole, or over eight thousand persons, 
 and the outdoor the balance, or say over thirty thousand. Thus about forty thousand 
 paupers (or pensioners upon public bounty,) are assigned to the care of the Govern- 
 ors of the Alms-house department, (and kindred charities,) at a cost to the tax-payers 
 of a sum nearly the entire tax levy of only twenty years ago. These are facts of a 
 very alarming character, especially so when we find, in the face of all this benevo- 
 lence the evil is rapidly on the increase, and gives unmistakable evidence that just 
 as far as public charity inclines to go, just so far will pauperism follow it up, if not 
 overrun it. Large and beautiful as our public charities now are, our private chari- 
 ties fall little short of it. ~' '■' '-' 
 
 " In the inveistigation of cases in a long catalogue of crime presented to us at the 
 beginning of the present term, we find, with very few exceptions, the crimes charged 
 have their origiii in resorts and dens of iniquity, where intoxicating liquors are sold and drank ; 
 and bad as the best of them may be, the lowest and worst are kept by foreigners, 
 or people of foreign origin, and all this in defiance of existing laws. 
 
 "If it wei'e practicable to transfer all such cases to another tribunal, the duties 
 of the Grand Jury could have ended in as many hours as it has required days to finish or 
 diminish the calendar. It is fearful, to the tax-payer, at least, to see how much he 
 is called to contribute of his industry to pay the Cost of Courts, Police and Prisons, 
 besides the Alms-house, which eventually becomes the recipient of the victims, if they 
 escape the prison or the gallows." 
 
 [Note. — The previous statements as to the extent of pauperism were based on 
 the Alms-house Report of '57. That for '58, just issued, shows the increase of thirty- 
 seven thousand out-door poor within the year. The superintendent says : " From the 
 accompanying statement and statistics for the year ending December 31, 1858, it 
 will appear that 7,625 adults and 12.527 children have been relieved by donations 
 in money, and 37,834 adults and 52,836 children with fuel, shouing an increase of 
 37,011 persons relieved, and an increase of expenditure o/" $29,826 78 over the preceding 
 year, ' ' ] 
 
 Extract from RECORDER BARNARD'S Charge, Dec. 10, 1858. 
 
 " Under the Liquor Law, 20,000 or more civil complaints had lieen filed, but there 
 had been no indictments under the law, in consequence of the differences of opinion 
 of various judges as to its constitutionality. But this question had recently been settled 
 in the Court of Appeals, in favor of its constitutionality, and if any cases of its violation 
 were brought before ihem, it would be their duty to find indictments, and help to 
 check that monstrous evil, the indiscriminate sale of spirits by day and night, in 
 all parts of the city. The Liquor Law also provided penalties for the adulteration of 
 liquors, and it tcouid he safe to say that at least nine tenths of the liquors sold in iV«/» York 
 were adulterated with the most deleterious poisom." 
 
 ALMS-HOUSE STATISTICS OF RUM AND CRIME. 
 
 City Prison. 
 
 J. C. Whitmore, Acting Warden of the City Prison, presents the following inter- 
 esting table among others: 
 
 Nativity. Malos. Fom.ilcs. Total. 
 
 Number received who were Natives, .... 5,983 2,785 8,768 
 " " Foreigners, . . . 15,ll4 11,290 26,404 
 
 Total, 21,097 14,075 35,172 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 13 
 
 Thus, of the 35,172 persons arrested for crime and disorder in 1858, 26,404 were 
 foreigners, and thirty thomand two hundred were "intemperate," as follows: 
 
 HABITS or LIFE. 
 
 Number received who were temperate, . . . 3,521 1,451 4,971 
 " " " intemperate, . . . 17,576 12,624 30,200 
 
 Total, ...... 21,097 14,075 35,172 
 
 Blackwell's Island Hospital. 
 
 The habits of patients admitted during 1858 are in the following proportions : 
 Temperate, 15 1-10 per cent. ; moderate drinkers, 23 4-10 per cent.; intemperate, 
 39 8-10 percent.; habitual drunkards, 21 6-10 per cent. ; unascertained, 1-10 per 
 cent. ; total, 100. Eighty-five of every one hundred persons confess the use of intoxicating 
 drinks in a greater or less degree. Sixty-one in every one hundred admit thai they are intem- 
 perate drinkers or habitual drunkards. 
 
 Ill— Laws and Ordinances affecting the 
 Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 
 1. Laws 'proliihiiing all trajffic., gaming and theatrical exhibitions. 
 
 § 58. [Sec. 64.] No person shall wilfully disturb, interrupt, or disquiet any as- 
 semblage of people met for religious worship, by profane discourse, by rude and in- 
 decent behavior, or by making a noise, either within the place of worship, or so 
 near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting ;* nor shall any person 
 within two miles of the place where any religious society shall be actually assem- 
 bled for religious worship, expose to sale or gift any ardent or distilled liquors, or 
 keep open any huckster-shop in any other place, inn. store or grocery, than such as 
 have been duly licensed, and in which such person shall have usually resided or 
 carried on business ; nor shall any person, within the distance aforesaid, exhibit 
 any shows or plays, unless the same shall have been duly licensed by the proper 
 authority ;-|- nor .shall any person, within the distance aforesaid, promote, aid, or 
 be engaged in any racing of any animals, or in any gaming of any description. f 
 
 § 59. [Sec. 65.] Whoever shall violate either of the provisions of the foregping 
 section may be convicted summarily before any justice of the peace of the county, 
 or any mayor, recorder, alderman, or other magistrate of any city where the of- 
 fense shall be committed ; and on such conviction, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding 
 twenty-five dollars, for the benefit of the poor of the county. 
 
 [In default of payment of fine and costs, by Sec. 68, imprisonment not exceeding 
 3D days is required.] 
 
 § 66. [Sec. 70.] Prohibits " gaming, frequenting of tippling-houses, or any law- 
 
 * Uuder this, the cries of newsboys become unlawful. 
 
 t This part of the section may apply lo lager bier theatricals. 
 
 X This prohibition is applicable to the cut-of-town racing sometimes complained of. 
 
14 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 ful exercises or pastimes, on the first day of the week, called Sunday," and pre- 
 scribes a small fine for each offense. 
 
 § 67. [Sec. 71.] No person shall expose to sale any wares, merchandise, fruit, 
 herbs, goods, or chattels, on Sunday, except meats, milk, and fish, which may be 
 sold at any time before nine of the clock in the morning ; and the articles so ex- 
 posed for sale shall be forfeited to the use of the poor, and may be seized by virtue 
 of a warrant for that purpose, which any justice of the peace of the county, or 
 mayor, recorder, or alderman of the city, is hereby authorized to issue, upon a con- 
 viction of the offender. When seized, they shall be sold, on one day's notice being 
 given, and the proceeds shall be paid to the overseers of the poor of the town or 
 city. 
 
 2. Laws prohibiting the sale of liquors without license. 
 
 The Laws of 1857, chapter 628, § 13, provide : 
 
 " Whoever shall sell any strong or spirituous liquors or wines in quantities less 
 than five gallons at a time, uithoui having a license therefor, granted as herein provided, 
 shall forfeit fifty dollars for each offence. 
 
 " § 14. Whoever shall sell any strong or spirituous liquors or wines to be drank 
 in house or shop," &c., " without having obiaineda license therefor as an inn, tavern, or 
 hotel-keeper, shall forfeit fifty dollars for each offence." 
 
 " § 16. It shall be the duty of every sheriff, under sheriff", deputy sheriff, consta- 
 ble, marshal, policeman, or officer of police, to arreM all persons found actually 
 engaged in the commission of any offence in violation of this act, and forthwith to 
 carry such person before any magistrate of the same city or town, to be dealt with 
 according to the provisions of this act ; and it shall be the duty of the magistrate" 
 
 " to require a bond .... in the penal sum of one hundred dollars . . . 
 
 or to commit euch offender to the county jail," &c. "And it shall be the duty of 
 the magistrate to entertain any complaint of a violation of this act, made by any 
 person under oath, and forthwith to issue a warrant," &c. 
 
 [These provisions cover Sunday as well as week days, and they affect the 5,000 
 Sunday liquor-shops, none of ivhich are licensed.] 
 
 3. Law of 1857, [Chapter 628] prohibiting Sunday sales by licensed 
 
 dealers. 
 
 § 21. No inn, tavern, or hotel-keeper, or person licensed to sell liquors, shall sell or 
 give away any intoxicating liquors or wines on Sunday, or upon any day on which a 
 general or special election or town-meeting shall be held, and within one quarter of 
 a mile from the place where such general or special election or town-meeting shall 
 be held in any of the cities, villages, or towns of this state, to any person what- 
 ever, as a beverage. In case the election or town-meeting shall not be general 
 throughout the state, the provisions of this section in such case shall only apply to 
 the city, county, village, or towns in which such election or town-meeting shall be 
 held. Whoever shall offend against the provisions of this section, shall be guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be imprisoned in the county jail, work- 
 house, or penitentiary, not more than twenty days. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 15 
 
 4. The Metropolitan Police Act provides: [Laws of ^57, chapter SQ^.] 
 
 § 21. It shall not be lawful for any person to publicly keep or dispose of any intoxicat- 
 ing liquors upon the first day of the tceek, called Swiday, or upon any day of public elec- 
 tion within the said Metropolitan Police district, under a penalty of fifty dollars for 
 each offense, to be sued for and recovered in the name of the People of the State of 
 New York by the district attorney of the county wherein the offense is committed, 
 for the benefit of the Police Contingent Fund, hereby authorized ; and it shall be the duty of 
 the Board of Police to strictly enforce the provisions of this section, by its proper orders 
 in respect thereto. 
 
 5. The City Ordinance of 1855 enacts : 
 
 § 1. If any person in the city of New York shall sell by retail or deliver in pur- 
 suance of any such sale, any wine, ale, lager bier, or other strong or spirituous 
 liquor, or shall consent to allow, or permit any wine, ale, lager bier, or other strong 
 or spirituous liquor by him or her so sold or delivered, to be drank in his or her 
 house, outhouse, garden, or other premises whatsoever, without being licensed ac- 
 cording to law, — or, being so licensed, shall sell or deliver, or consent to allow or 
 permit any wine, ale, lager bier, or other strong or spirituous liquor sold or 
 delivered as aforesaid, to be drank as aforesaid on the first day of the week called 
 Sunday, excepting to boarders and lodgers or actual travelers within the provisions 
 of the law, he or she shall, for every such offense, be liable to the pains and penal- 
 ties hereinafter mentioned. 
 
 §§ 2-4. Provide that it shall be the duty of any magistrate to issue a warrant "up- 
 on complaint of the violation of any part of the first section," and on proof or con- 
 fession, "to convict the offender of a misdemeanor, and for each and every such 
 conviction shall fine him or her in a sum not to exceed ten dollars, and in default 
 of payment" may be committed for "a period not exceeding one day for each 
 dollar of fine so imposed," all moneys thus received to be paid to the Almshouse 
 department " toward the support of the poor of said city.'' 
 
 Every Sunday sale of liquor, then, is a violation of at least four lares : — those against all 
 traffic ; that against unlicensed liquor-selling ; the Metropolitan Police Act of 1857, and 
 the city Ordinance of 1855. 
 
16 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TEAFFIC. 
 
 IV,— Comments of the Daily Press. 
 
 PRESENTATION OF MEMORIAL. 
 
 From The Times, 3fay 28. 
 
 Sunday Liquor Selling and the Police Commissioners. — A double delegation of 
 citizens, American and German, waitec! on the Police Couiraissioners yesterday 
 afternoon, to present memorials on the Sunday Liquor Traffic. Messrs. Pelatiah 
 Perit, James Brown, C. 0. Halstcd, Norman White, Koswell Sprague, A. B. Neilson, 
 James W. Beekman, and other well-known gentlemen, with Messrs. Moller and other 
 Germans, composed the delegation. 
 
 Mr. Perit, in presenting the memorial, briefly stated its objects, and expressed the 
 hope that, so far as they came within the scope of the Department, they would be 
 carried out. 
 
 Mr. Bowen thought the responsibility for the existing state of things was largely 
 with the magistracy and the prosecuting officers. Numerous complaints had already 
 been made which had not been prosecuted. He was uot certain as to the power of 
 the police to arrest offenders against the Sunday Liquor Laws. 
 
 Mr. White said the evils of the traffic under consideration were so obvious, and 
 affected so deeply the moral condition of the city, that the press and the public 
 would demand, or they had a right to demand, the execution of the laws. Surely 
 the magistrates would not obstruct their enforcement, with overwhelming proofs 
 that, while they were left in neglect, all law was comparatively powerless. He di- 
 rected the attention of the Commissioners to the city ordinance of 1855, which 
 makes every Sunday sale of liquor a misdemeanor ; to the Excise Law of 1857, 
 which provides a penalty of $50 for each offence, either of selling on any day with- 
 out a license, or of selling on Sunday if licensed, and makes it the duty of every 
 policeman to arred offenders ; to the Metropolitan Police Act, which affixes a fine of 
 $50 to every Sunday sale, and reiiuires the Police Board to execute the laws pro- 
 tecting the Sabbath, and to the Statute prohibiting ail traffic on that day, under a 
 penalty of confiscation of the goods exposed for sale, whether liquors or dry goods. 
 
 When distinguished strangers visit our city, we are proud to exhibit our humane 
 and reformatory institutions, and point to the ample provisions of our Almshouse, 
 and kindred establishments, as proofs of benevolent forethought. Would it not be 
 a prouder monument could we, by abating the causes of pauperism, and the temp- 
 tations to crime, show that Almshouse accommodations and municipal jails were 
 comparatively needless ? The memorialists are the more encouraged to seek pro- 
 tection and relief from the evils of the Sunday liquor traffic, on account of the readi- 
 ness heretofore manifested by this Department to comply with all reasonable re- 
 quests of citizens to suppress crime and abate public nuisances. 
 
 There is little room to doubt what the actiou of the Commissioners will be when 
 the committee to wliom the memorial was referred present their report. The case 
 is as clear as the alternative between anarchy and order. No law has power and 
 no executive department is entitled to respect, so long as a class interest defies both, 
 anddepradatss without restraint on the property and moral interests of the city. 
 
 From The Courier and Enquirer, 3Iay 31. 
 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic in New York. — We are glad that so strong and 
 earnest a movement has been made to stimulate the Metropolitan Police Commis- 
 sioners to enforce the laws against the Sunday Liquor Traffic. Undoubtedly that 
 Board have found some discouragement in the culpable remissness of the prosecuting 
 attorney and the magistracy, to prosecute and convict some of the offenders who 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 17 
 
 Bave been arrested ; but we fancy they will hardly themselves pretend that tbey 
 have fully and faithfully performed the duties imposed upon them, in the premises, 
 bj the Metropolitan Police Act. Should the Board once show themselves resolutely 
 determined to carry out their powers to the uttermost in this public service, and 
 not allow themselves to be diverted from the path of duty by oläicial delinquency 
 elsawhere, they would soon draw a force of public sentiment to their side that would 
 peiemptorily impose action upon the other branches of public administration. What 
 is most of all needed is an unflinching, untiring, thorough exercise by some one of 
 the Departments of the public service, of every meaus and appliance alforded by the 
 law. Let this determination once be put beyond question, and the other public 
 agents, whose cooperation may be necessary, whatever their disposition, will find 
 it impossible, for any length of time, either to thwart or hold back. Especially 
 will this prove true when an authority, provided with such powers and resources as 
 the Police Board, assumes such a stand. 
 
 There is not an honest, intelligent policeman in this city who is not ready to 
 declare that the Sunday Liquor trafßc is an unmitigated curse. It occasions nearly, 
 if not quite, as much drunkenness as upon all the other da3^s of the week combined, 
 and to tens of thousands it makes what ought to be a day of rest a saturnalia, pro- 
 ductive of misery, vice and crime. It bears with special injury upon the poorer 
 classes, for it exposes them to peculiar temptation on their only day of leisure, 
 fleeces from multitudes of them their hard earnings, destroys their physical consti- 
 tution, their character, and their self-respect, and sends hundreds annually to the 
 prison and the alms-house. The police records of every city where the Sunday 
 Liquor TraflBc is allowed are sure to show a very much larger number of commit- 
 ments on that day than on any other in the week. The suppre.'^sion of this traffic 
 within the last few years in many of the English cities has had an immense effect in 
 reducing the number of crimes and misdemeanors. There cannot be the slightest 
 doubt that the experiment would result with equal advantage in this city were it 
 once faithfully tried. 
 
 Those men whose souls are absorbed in a single idea, will, we suppose, look with 
 little favor upon this movement. If subterranean rum-hells are to be allowed to 
 pour forth their drugged and poisonous fire for six days in a wt-ek, they will see but 
 little gain in closing up the sluices upon the seventh. Many zealous friends of 
 temperance, we have little doubt, will regard time spent in lopping ofl' the branches 
 of the Upas tree of Intemperance as worse than useless. It must be rooted up and 
 annihilated. Nothing less will satisfy them, and unless they can do this they will 
 do nothing. Now this, we think, is all wrong. During six days of the week the 
 mass of our population is constantly and unceasingly at work. The inexorable law 
 of necessity impels all who must earn their bread by the sweat of the brow — and 
 there are but few others^-to employ themselves better during work days than in 
 drinking and revelling. ' But the seventh is a day of rest, and for twenty-four hours 
 the iron hand of labor ceases to move. The harrassed operative and the jaded 
 clerk, the industrious mechanic and the care-worn merchant, are all seeking rest 
 and relaxation to fit them for the toil of the coming week. And in what manner is 
 this done ? Many go to the temple of God, and others to the green fields of the 
 country ; but who, that is familiar with the streets of this city at Sunday midnight, 
 does not know that more are engaged in such licentious and drunken revelry as 
 only dares to show itself in the obscurity of night. Imbecile and drivelling drunken- 
 ness reels solitary along the sidewalks, muttering to itself curses and blasphemies 
 — fit prayers to close such a day's worship. Frantic and crazy drunkenness goes 
 about in gangs, raving impiously, and defying alike the laws of God and man. It 
 is sad but true, that the day set apart fur the observances of religion is more than 
 all others appropriated to drunken rioting and profligacy, i 
 
 Within the last three or four years our police system nag greatly improved in 
 efficiency, but there has been no corresponding diminution of crime. The last 
 Quarterly report of the Deputy Superintendent in fact showed a most marked in- 
 crease. To suppress crime, it is not enough to be vigilant in overtaking it ; it 
 must be barred and stopped at the outset. The law must always, to a certain ex- 
 tent, be its own helper ; and if it would save itself from violation, it must work 
 diligently in all directions. Its office is nut merely to punish, but to prevent ; pre- 
 vention is in fact its highest prerogative. It must prevent, by removing facilities 
 and temptations, and opening a clear field for the operation of all moral and 
 
18 THE SUNDtlY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 spiritual influences. The liquor traffic, at best, we know, is fraught with a vajt 
 amount of social mischief ; yet, in the existing state of public opinion, it is an un- 
 avoidalile evil. But there is no reason in the world why it should be an unregulated 
 evil. It may be restricted and controlled, and stripped of half its power of injury. 
 Our present license system is an utter sham. Nobody pretends to regard it. The 
 vilest wretches can deal out the vilest poison without let or hindrance. This curse 
 has been growing until it has come to be almost beyond endurance. It is high 
 time there should be some mitigation ; and the first great practical mitigation must 
 be the faithful enforcement of the laws againt selling liquor on Sunday, except in 
 such places as have accommodation for mau and beast. This single reform would 
 cut down the number of groggeries in this city a third, if not a half, for most of 
 them now derive their chief profit from the Sunday traffic. We most earnestly 
 trust that the Police Commissioners will respond to enlightened public feeling, and 
 address themselves with persistent energy to this great work. A clamor may be 
 raised by those who care for nothing but their own sordid interests, but all that 
 public spirit which is worth caring for will sustain the effort ; and its benefits would 
 soon make themselves so apparent as to silence, even for very shame, its worst 
 enemies. 
 
 From, The Journal of Commerce, May 28. 
 
 Sunday Liquor Trakfic. — The Sabbath Committee appeared before the Police 
 Board yesterday, and presented a memorial asking for the suppression of the Sunday 
 liquor traffic. Norman White, President of the Committee, and Pelatiah Perit, ad- 
 dressed the Board briefly in behalf of the measure. The memorial was referred to 
 the appropriate committee. It bears the signatures of 540 persons, including many 
 of our most respectable citizens. The material parts of it we subjoin, adding our 
 earnest hope that the Police Board will carry out the views of the memorialists, by 
 all the means in their power. Sunday tippling — turning the Sabbath into a day of 
 dissipation and excess — is probably tliemost summary method ever devised by man 
 or devil to corrupt the public morals, and destroy the bodies and souls of men. 
 The safety of the community demands that an evil so productive of pauperism and 
 crime, and consequently of taxation and misery, shall be done away. 
 
 Froin The Express, May 28. 
 
 The Sund.vy Liqdor Traffic. — We call especial attention to the memorial against 
 the liquor traffic that was presented to the Police Commissioners, on Friday, by a 
 delegation of prominent citizens. The document is plain, forcible, and unanswer- 
 able in its statements, and requires decided action on the part of the Police Board. 
 The whole subject of this miserable traffic has been under consideration by the Sab- 
 bath Committee for six months or more, and they have reason to believe that a com- 
 bined effort of the press, the police and the public, will result in the substantial 
 abatement of the enormous evil. 
 
 There is no need of argument to demonstrate the fact that the greater proportion 
 of crime in this city is owing to the liquor traffic in one way and another ; and the 
 comparison of the number of arrests on Sundays when the ordinances were partially 
 enforced, and when no efi"ort at all was made to procure an observance of the law, 
 proves that more than one half of the arrests on the Lord's day are rendered neces- 
 sary by the existence of this immoral business. The memorial calling upon the 
 Police Board, — not to assume any doulitful powers, but simply to enforce the exist- 
 ing laws, which are amply sufficient for the purpose, — is signed by over five hun- 
 dred of the most respectable and influential gentlemen in the community. Mer- 
 chants of universal reputation for integrity and wealth, lawyers of renown, physi- 
 cians and simple gentlemen, side by side, call upon the Commissioners to do their 
 duty. With all our heart we join our voice to theirs, assured that if the Commis- 
 fiiouers only make an honest, determined ettbrt, the Sunday liquor traffic can be 
 put down with comparatively little difficulty, and in a very short time. 
 
 From The Commercial Advertiser, May 28. 
 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic. — A large number of citizens have signed a memorial 
 addressed to the Commissioners of Police, asking that the laws and ordinances 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 19 
 
 against the Sunday traffic in liquor may be strictly enforced. The memorial was 
 yesterday presented to the Board, and by them referred to the committee on regu- 
 jations. We hope the gentlemen who presented the memorial will see to it that it 
 does not sleep in the committee of the Police Commission. It is time that the 
 question was settled whether the laws and ordinances directed against this fruitful 
 source of demoralization and crime can or cannot be enforced. 
 
 The memorial now before the Commissioners of Police clearly establishes three 
 things : First, that a large proportion of the crime of this city is directly traceable 
 to this Sunday liquor selling. Second, that the traffic is entirely illegal ; and, 
 third, that the Police Commissioners are by law responsible for its suppression. 
 
 The first point is too notorious to need proof, but the memorialists have deemed 
 it proper to recapitulate the evidence. This is found in the presentments of various 
 grand juries, who uniformly testify that nearly all the cases of murder, of assault 
 and battery, and of similar offences, are to be traced to intemperance, and that 
 such intemperance is largely promoted by the open sale of liquors on the Sabbath. 
 The memorialists also adduce statistics, prepared by the acting warden of the City 
 Prison, confirmatory of these presentments. In truth, the evidence on this point 
 is overwhelming. 
 
 Legal prohibitions of the traffic, and of its corollaries, gaming and theatrical 
 exhibitions, on the Sabbath, are abundant, and are all-sufdcient, notwithstanding 
 some tehnical objections that have been made against them, and these laws it is the 
 duty of the Police Commissioners to enforce. The act creating the Commission is 
 itself imperative on this point, as the following section will demonstrate : 
 
 " Sec. 1. It shall not be lawful for any person to publicly keep or dispose of any 
 intoxicating liquors upon the first day of the week, called Sunday, or upon any day 
 of publicelection within the said metropolitan police district, under a penalty of fifty 
 dollars for each oö'ence, to be sued for and recovered in the name of the people of 
 the State of New York, by the district attorney of the county wherein the offence is 
 committed for the benefit of the police contingent fund, hereby authorized : and it 
 shall be the duty of the Board of Police to strictly enforce the provisions of this 
 section, by its proper orders in respect thereto." 
 
 No words could have more clearly imposed ihis duty upon the Commissioners of 
 Police. Yet with this direct responsibility reciting upon the Commissioners, what 
 are the facts in .relation to the Sunday tralBic in liquor ? More than five thousand 
 liquor shops are open every Sunday, and the illegal business is openly carried on in 
 them, the consquence of which is a general dmoralization on that day, utterly at 
 variance with good order and Christian civilization. It is true that the police have 
 laid complaints against a goodly number of these offenders — a course that has 
 proved utterly ineffectual for the suppression of the offence. But by the Statute law 
 of 18-57, it is made the duty of the police to arrest such parties, and this part of the 
 duty the Police Commissioners have not discharged. Let them do this, and they 
 will effectually grapple with the evil. That it is their dut}' is plain ; and that con- 
 sideration should be sufficient. But they would be sustained also by public senti- 
 ment, for the community are weary of this monstrous evil, and would rejoice to see 
 it effectually and permanently removed. 
 
 And with this must be coupled the suppression of another rapidly growing evil, 
 viz. : Sunday theatres or theatrical exhibitions, which are a scarcely less prolific 
 source of demoralization than Sunday liquor shops. The Police Commissioners 
 have been as culpably negligent respecting these unlawful gatherings in desecration 
 of the Sabbath as they have with respect to the liquor dealers. There is no doubt 
 as to the interpretation to be put upon this law. These Sunday exhibitions are 
 notoriously and indisputably illegal, aud should be, and must be, suppressed, if the 
 sacredness of the Sabbath is to be a permanent institution in this city. But so far 
 are they from being even restrained, that their number is increasing, and their char- 
 acter rapidly becoming more vicious and base. Nor can the Sunday liquor traffic 
 be suppressed if these dens of dissipation are not also closed, for the liquor trade is 
 combined with the exhibition. Most earnestly is it to be desired that the Police 
 Commissioners will act upon the prayer of these memorialists, and apply the force 
 at their command to the immediate rectification of these evils. 
 
 From The Tribune, Jtcne 4. 
 The Sunday Liquor Traffic. — We are glad to see by the memorial of the Sunday 
 
20 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 Liquor Traffic which we publish elsewhere, that use and habit have not recopciled 
 all our citizens to the entire and total contempt with which the laws in restriction 
 of the liquor trade have of late been treated. It is well to have the public atten- 
 tion recalled once more to the fact — which well established and patent as it is, seems 
 in danger of being forgotten — that of our annual burden of forty thousand paupers 
 and thirty five thousand criminal«, by far the larger part are imposed upon us 
 through the agency of the seven thousand seven hundred dram-shops which exist 
 in this city, almost the whole of them in direct defiance of law. 
 
 It is true that this memorial aims directly only at preventing the illegal sale of 
 liquor on Sundays. But there are very good reasons on behalf of a special eifert, 
 limited in tlic first instance to that day. In the first place, the law as to the Sun- 
 day traffic is more strict, precise, comprehensive, available and reiterated. In the 
 second place, the prevailing sentiment of this community as to the sacredness of 
 Sunday will come in aid of the enforcement of these laws. la the third place, of 
 all days in the week, Sunday is the day upon which the illegal sale of liquor is 
 carried to the greatest extent, and is attended by the most injurious consequences. 
 
 As to the law, it is not only abundant, but superabundant. There are not less 
 than four distinct enactments by which the Sunday Liquor Traffic is made an offence 
 and is subjected to penalties, one of which, among others, is the forfeiture of all 
 the liquors thus exposed for sale. 
 
 As to the support which the enforcement of the law may be expected to derive 
 from the prevailing sentiment in favor of the sacredness of Sunday, there is this 
 notable fact: that of the seven thou.sand seven hundred unlicensed drinking-housea 
 of this city, a tiiird part, including almost all those kept by citizens, are closed ou 
 that day, though on other days of the week they do not scruple to disregard the 
 law ; so that one-third of the work is already done to our hands, and that by the 
 keepers of the shops themselves. 
 
 On the otlier days of tiie week, when not merely a great variety of other places 
 of resort and amusement are open, but when the great mass of our people are ab- 
 sorbed in their labors, the temptation to excessive drinking held out by these shops 
 is far less than on Sunday, which is a day of leisure and relaxation. All reasons, 
 therefore, combine to urge a special effort for the enforcement of the law on that 
 day. 
 
 From The Evening Post, June 4. 
 
 Sunday Liquor Selling. — We refer our readers to the memorial published in 
 another column, addressed by a number of our most prominent citizens, request- 
 ing the Board of Police Commissioners to suppress Sunday liquor selling, and other 
 nui.-;ance3. which interfere with the quiet enjoyment of religious worship. There 
 is no doubt, in our opinion, either of the desirableness of the measure sought by 
 the memorialists, or of the powers of the Board to employ and enforce them. 
 
 From The \onee, Sund.4.y] Dispatch, June 4. 
 
 ß^^ The New York Sabbath Committee have given up the chase after the Sun- 
 day newsboys and taken up the case of the Liquor Dealers. We have now before 
 us No. 5 of the Tracts being issued under the auspices of the Committee. It is 
 entitled "The Sunday Liquor Traffic," and after giving the extent of the business, 
 proceeds to show the evil accessories of the trade and its lawlessness, wastefulness, 
 consequent pauperism, crime and immorality, and closes by urging upon the Police 
 Commissioners and Courts the necessity of enforcing the Sunday law against the 
 Liquor Dealers. The Committee back this pamplilet by a powerful appeal to the 
 Police Commissioners, signed by about one thousand of our leading citizens, pray- 
 ing that body to exercise the power conferred on them to suppress the Sunday 
 Liquor Traffic. This is the most formidable petition that has ever been got up in 
 this city on the subject, and from wliat we hear of the agencies which procured the 
 appointment of Capt. PilLsbury as Superintendent of Police, we are led to believe 
 that the whole power of the police is about to be brought to bear against the Sun- 
 day Liquor Dealers. It is said that over a million of dollars has been pledged to 
 .protect the officers in the enforcement of the law [! !] 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 21 
 
 From The Sun, May 28. 
 
 A Memorial as to the Sunday liquoi- traffic was presented yesterday to tbe Police 
 Commissioners, stating: that there are 7,700 unlicensed dram shops in the city, of 
 which more than 5.000 do business on the Sabbath. The arrests on Tuesdays during 
 eighteen months' time were found to be hut 7,816. while the arrest.s on Sundays 
 were 9,713, being an increase of twenty-five per cent., cau.sed by dram drinking 
 alone. For three successive Sundays, while the Sunday Liquor Law was enforced, 
 the arrests were 254, and on three following Sundays, when not enforced, the 
 arrests were 503. These facts are urged with great pertinacity anJ force upon the 
 Police Depart jient, who are urged to enforce the Liquor Laws under the present 
 statutes. 
 
 From The Times, May 21. 
 
 Prevention op Crime.— A thriftless farmer leaves weeds and worms to scatter 
 their seeds and make their nests, until his domain is worthless. A day of timely 
 labor would have exterminated his pests. We have the image of such a farmer 
 before us whenever our attention is called to the mode of dealing with moral ver- 
 min in a great city like our own. Instead of nipping crime in the bud, drying up 
 fountains of evil rather than following its streams, staying the causes of iuiquitj"^ 
 instead of fruitless dealing with effects, — the begiiming, middle and end of Police 
 tactics seem to lie directed to the arrest of offenders. It is the hoasL of each return 
 from the Police Department that the arrests have been more numerous than ever 
 before. 
 
 Now, we would remind the Police Department that law, and philosophy, and 
 common sense, alike require the application of its powers iu quite another direction. 
 While arrests should follow crime with promptness and certainty, let the ambition 
 of the Department be to abate the known incentives to wrong-doing: to j^r event 
 crime itself. If one-half of the patrolmen were devoted to this single object, 
 under intelligent direction, and if a corps of Detectives were employed for this 
 specific service, the fruits would be apparent at once. But they must be men of 
 principle — not loungers in dram-shops and haunts of vice. 
 
 We would not fort'Stall the action of such ?i, preventive Police; but one or two hints, 
 based on the statistics of the Police Department and the Almshouse Reports, may 
 put them on the scent of crime-breeders. 
 
 When tracing crime to its causes, they will find 32,200 persons out of 35,172 
 arrested and committed to the City Prison in 1858 — or about ninety per cent. — were 
 "intemperate." Where did they become "intemperate?" At the seventy-two 
 licensed liquor-shops? or at the 7,702 unlicensed ones? If at the latter, why not 
 execute the laws against unlicensed dram selling, and thus prevent the crimes that 
 drunkenness causes? If at the former, why not hold them to their legal responsi- 
 bility!" 
 
 If they look a little further, they will find from the statistics of their own de- 
 partment that Sunday liquor-selling adds twenty-five per cent, on that day to the 
 terrible daily average ot crime ; and that even a temporary enforcement of the 
 numerous laws and ordinances against that traffic resulted in diminishing crime 
 one-half. Why, then, with such data, neglect the energetic application of the 
 powers of the department in suppressing that unjustifiable and most demoralizing 
 traffic ? 
 
 So of pauperism. If the ofiicial statement of the Ten Governors can be relied 
 on, the number of paupers has reached the prodigious proportion of about one-seventh 
 part of the population — an increase of 37,011 within the past year. There is some 
 cause for this; what is it? Turn to the Blackwell's Island Hospital Report, and you 
 read, "Eighty-five of everj' one hundred persons confess the u.se of intoxicating 
 drinks in a greater or less degree ; sixty-one in every hundred admit that they are 
 intemperate drinkers or habitual drunkards.'' Here then cause and effect again 
 stand connected, and the Police should occupy themselves with the cause. Do the 
 laws authorize this enormous burden on the wealth and industry of the city? Was 
 it by a legitimate traffic that a hundred thousand men, women and children were 
 impoverished and thrown upon public charity ? If not, would it not be as well to 
 arrest the trafiSc as to support its victims ? 
 
22 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 These are only hints. The subject might have multiplied illustrations. But the 
 principle is incontrovertibly sound that the prevention rather than the 2^^'nishmmt of 
 crime, as it is the great object of Government, should be the first aim cf the officers 
 of Law. 
 
 From The Tribune, May 21. 
 
 Ake wk Fkeejien ? — It is doubtful. Too much liberty has made ns slaves — slaves 
 of appetite, and of panderers to appetite. In a word, New York has sold herself 
 to rum. Rnm is king and master. Rum makes and breaks our laws. Rum electa 
 our rulers. Rum robs our Treasury. Rum piles up our taxes. Rum fills our 
 pri; ons and alms-houses. Rum is our ruin. 
 
 Official reports inform us that 30,200 out of the 3-5,172 persons arrested for crime 
 during the last year, were " intemperate ! " They tell us that eighty-five per cent, 
 of the sick paupers were more or le.ss intemperate, and that sixty-one per cent, 
 wore habitual drunkards. They tell us that the total of the pauper army in this 
 city exceeds 100,000 — larger tlian the force of Sardinia when on a war footing — 
 and that it lias increased 37,011 within a single year. Rum's doings again. 
 
 Cannot a truce be gained for one day in seven ? Must the poor man's rest-day be 
 invaded l>y temptation to drunkenness and crime? Is there not enough of self- 
 respect and regard for decency left to demand the protection which our laws extend 
 over the cirizens' right to Sunday? Should it not suffice that 7,700 dram-shops are 
 allowed to drug the community without license or law six days of the week : and 
 must 5,000 of them continue to break these laws by every Sunday sale of these 
 intoxicants? Why, the fines of a single Sunday for illegal sales of liquor, were 
 they collected, would pay the taxes of the city for a year ! The pitiable condition 
 of our city in this behalf is due solely to the apathy of its citizens. A single manly 
 concerted movement of the people would free the city from the power of its tax- 
 master, as speedily and as peacefully as the Italian states, one after another, are 
 casting off their tyrants. 
 
 From The Morning Express, June 3, 
 
 WuAT ARE THE Laws ? — With no king but law, not one of a thousand of our citi- 
 zens know aught of the vast body of statutes affecting popular rights and duties. 
 We have known instances when intelligent men have rushed to Albany to demand 
 legislation upon matters amply provided for in existing laws ; and, even public offi- 
 cials have been heard to express doubts as to the constitutionality of enactments 
 long before decided by the Court of Appeals as of unquestionable validity, or to 
 ask for authority to do what the law prescribed their duty and delegated to them 
 the power to do, by specific statutory ])rovision. 
 
 Since the agitation of the Sunday liquor traffic question, we have taken occasion 
 to refresh our memory as to the legal matters involved. We find concurrent legis- 
 lation on the subject for almost half a century. The statute of 1813, confirmed 
 by acts in 1824-7, and in various forms repeated down to 1857, with decisions of 
 courts of highest authority in support of every main principle — all go to settle the 
 point that the sale of intoxicating liquors of whatever sort on Sunday is a misde- 
 meanor, to be restrained by the magistracy. 
 
 The laws of most recent enactment are cumulative in their tenov and in their 
 stringency. The city ordinance of 1855 — prompted and partially executed by 
 Mayor Wood — imposed a fine not exceeding $10 for Sunday sales, as a misde- 
 meanor. The Law of 1857 prescribes a fine of $50 for every offence, if the vender 
 be licenced, and a like penalty of $50 for every unlicensed sale, irrespective of the 
 pvmishment to be inflicted for the criminal offence. 
 
 Then the Metropolitan Police Act also imposes a fine of $50 for every act of sell- 
 ing on Sunday or any election day, and it enjoins it as " the duty of the Board of 
 Police to strictly enforce the provisions of this section." 
 
 Thus, instead of exhuming some obsolete and defunct statute — " your strict old 
 Sunday laws," as the German Demokrat phrases it — the memorialists on the Sunday 
 Liquor Traffic simply demand the " protection and relief" afforded by half a dozen 
 living statutes, including that which gave being to the Police Board itself. If that 
 is obsolete, so is the Police Department. 
 
 We have liad a bitter experience of lawlessness, rowdyism, and crime. Year by 
 year it has been plunging the city into deeper disgrace. Shall wo not try the ex- 
 periment of good laws, firmly enforced by an honest magistracy and an efficient 
 police? If we understand the pul)lic wants, this is the one desideratum. If we 
 know aught of public sentiment, this is the universal demand. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 23 
 
 From Police Report in The Timks, Jv7ie 11. 
 COMMON PLEAS— THE SUNDAY LIQUOR CASES. 
 
 In the Halpin case the jury found a verdict for the State for the amount of the 
 penalty — $50. 
 
 The case of Peter Hynes was next called. This defendant is charged with selling 
 liquor on the Sabbath of the IGth of August, 18Ö7. 
 
 What appeared peculiar and wholly unexplained iu this case was, that four-fifths 
 of all the jurors called were liquor dealer?, or had been, or were particular friends 
 of that class of people. How they came to be present on these particular trials, 
 does not clearly appear. 
 
 CLOSING OF THE SUNDAY LIQUOR SHOPS. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, Jime 20. 
 
 Thk Liquor Shops Yestkrday. — The police yesterday made a really determined 
 and successful effort to shut up the liquor shops throughoiat the city. They have no 
 authority, it is claimed, to close the establishments forcibly and arrest the venders 
 in the act, and therefore confined themselves to notifying the offending parties 
 that they would surely be punished for a violation of the ordinance. Theiutention 
 of the police authorities in this respect having been publicly announced a few days 
 ago, the liquor-selling fraternity very generally conformed to the law by locking up 
 their bars and literally closing their places of business, front doors, back doors and 
 windows included, as it was understood that the mere technical closing of a half 
 door, and one shutter up, which is allowed to satisfy on election day, would not be 
 good enough for Sunday. The excellent effects of the movement were plainly per- 
 ceptible throughout the city in the marked diminution of drunkennes-s and rowdy- 
 ism ; and for once the day seemed like a Chiistian Sabbath indeed. The happy 
 change was particularly noticeable in the Fourth, Sixth and Seventeenth wards, in 
 which it had been confidently predicted that the ordinances never could be 
 enforced. That this opinion — which has long been entertained by people of the 
 despairing sort — is a bugbear, was completely proved by the general compliance 
 with the police mandate in those localities yesterday. The rowdies being excluded 
 from the rallying places where it was their Sunday custom to fire up, and then 
 issue forth for riot and crime, were compulsorily sober and peaceable. A few 
 small retail dealers snapped their fingers at the police, and defied the law which 
 they will have a chance to confront before the magistrates during the present 
 week. The larger sellers cheerfully acquiesce in the justice and propriety of the 
 ordinance, and, as their influence is on the side of right, there is no obstacle even in 
 this loosely governed metropolis, in the way of a thorough breaking up of the Sun- 
 day liquor-selling business. 
 
 From The Express, June 20. 
 
 sj o 5* What has been said of the above-mentioned wards may be said of the 
 rest. The city was more quiet than on any Sunday for many months. It was 
 also seen that those most obedient to the law were the keepers of small places, the 
 larger ones being kept wide open as a general thing. In the upper wards every- 
 thing was unusually quiet, and fewer shops were open than down town. It is esti- 
 mated that the decrease in the number of arrests throughout the city will be, 
 compared with last Sunday, about 35 per cent., owing, as a matter of course, to 
 the inability of "bummers" to get all the liquor they wanted. Even in those 
 places kept open the bar-keepers were instructed not to sell to men already affected 
 with liquor, and to this also may be attributed, aside from the closing of shops, 
 the small amount of drunkenness that prevailed. 
 
 This excellent beginning is the direct result of the efforts of the Sabbath Com- 
 mittee. They have been unwearying in their exertions to procure an observance 
 of the Sunday Laws, and, with Temperance men, to jjrocure the punishment of 
 those who violate the most stringent provisions of those laws. The successful 
 litigation that has been carried on against the Sunday liquor-sellers, during the 
 past week, has also had a very salutary efi'ect ; and should the Court of last resort 
 sustain the action of the Court of Common Pleas — of which there can hardly be a 
 doubt — the result will be the practical abolition of Sunday liquor-selling in this 
 city. We trust that the gentlemen who so far have succeeded will persevere in 
 their good work until the end. A long and patient continuance in well-doing 
 cannot fail to bring its own reward. 
 
24 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 From the same, June IG. 
 The Sunday Liquor Cases.— Yesterday morning, the People having recovered 
 twelve successive verdicts against the liquor dealers for violation of the Sunday 
 Liquor law, Mr. James M. SMrrH. the liquor dealers' counsel, entered into a stipula- 
 tion in open Court, that the ninety-nine cases remaining on the calendar untried 
 should abide the ultimate event of the People vs. James C. Halpin, in which «case, it 
 will be recollected, a verdict was found by the jury last week for the penalty of 
 $50 in favor of the People. The Court having approved of this disposition of the 
 cases, it was assented to by Mr. Wilcoxson, in behalf of the District Attorney. 
 
 v.— The G-ermans and the Memorial. 
 
 From, The Times, Jime 1. 
 
 The Germans and the Sunday Liquor Traffic. — We observe with regret that 
 the Sliiats Zeitung and one or two other German dailies seem disposed to mislead 
 their readers as to the object sought by the memorialists on the Sunday Liquor 
 Traffic. No new laws are demanded. No old and obsolete laws are dug up for 
 enforcement. All that is asked of the Police C(jminissioners is, the firm and for- 
 bearing execution of laws and ordinances enacted under the Administration of 
 Mayor Woon, in 1855, and by the Legislature of 1857, and this after due notice 
 served upon the offending parties. 
 
 It is no crusade of Temperance men against liquor-sellers, but a calm appeal 
 from a large body of our most conservative citizens, justly alarmed at the increase 
 of ta.xation, pauperism and crime, demonstrably connected with Sunday tippling, 
 for protection again?t the lawless and demoralizing traffic on that day. 
 
 Nor is it a movement of American citizens to abridge the rights or to interfere 
 with the comforts of citizens of foreign birth. The presentation of the memorial 
 in English, by an influential delegation, with Mr. Perit at its head, was accom- 
 panied by the presentation of a German memorial, numerously and respectably 
 signed, by a German delegation, with Mr. Möller, a wealthy sugar-refiner, at ita 
 head. Thousands of our German fellow-citizens feel as deeply the dangers and 
 the disgrace of the Sunday tippling habits of some of their emigrant countrymen, 
 as any American can. We are a.ssured on good authority, that it would be quite 
 easy, it it were needful, to present thou.sands of German names, attesting their 
 opposition to the immoral and destructive traffic which brings their national charac- 
 ter into reproach. The law-abiding element is strong in the German character ; 
 and when it is known, as it must eventually be, that the Sunday lager-bier theatres 
 and dancing saloons, and kindred places of temptation to crime ami wrong-doing, 
 are condemned alike by the laws of the State and the public sentiment of the City, 
 the Germans them,«elves will be the foremost to sustain the authorities in restrain- 
 ing the selfishness and disorder of the few thousands among them who prey upon 
 the substance and disgrace the name of our Teutonic fellow-citizens. 
 
 The organs of German opinion in New York will neither advance the interests 
 nor strengthen the influence of the race which they represent by angry appeals 
 to the unenlightened prejudices of their readers, against the deliberate drift of the 
 best public sentiment of New York. With the German theories of Sunday observ- 
 ance in general we have nothing to do. We advance no Pharisaic and sweeping 
 criticisms upon the customs which make the Sunday of the German so different a 
 day from the Sunday of the Englishman or the American. Races may well differ 
 upon this as upon so many other points of ritual worship or substantial theology. 
 But it is perfectly compatible with the largest toleration that we should insist upon 
 the observance by all classes of the community of statute laws which have^been 
 enacted by the delegated agents of the whole population. The minority which 
 undertakes to brow-beat the officers of the law into suspending the discharge of 
 their duty, and seeks practically to nullify the established order of municipal au- 
 thority, is quite as justly chargeable with overbearing bigotry as the majority which 
 sustains that order. A fanaticism of lager-bier is certainly not more respectable 
 than a fanaticism of cold water ; and if our German contemporaries really think 
 themselves aggrieved by the CrusaderS of Temperance, they can hardly ask us, 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 25 
 
 therefore, to acquiesce in their own contemptuous trampling under foot of the law 
 of the land. 
 
 From The Express, May 31. 
 
 The German Pkess on Sunday Laws. — The "Demokrat"' is talking about the 
 "frogs," who presented to the Police Commissioners a D)emorial, praying them to 
 enforce the Sunday laws ; and it is ver}' indignant that two German "frogs," 
 Messers Moller and Fackiner, were among them. These " frogs," it says, come out 
 at times like frogs, croaking about the desecration of the Sabbath. The Demokrat 
 then quotes the memorial, and exclaims, " that it goes even beyond the real frogs !'' 
 
 It contends that the people must have one day in the week, when they may relax 
 and recruit themselves ; and that it is all the fault of the "frogs" themselves, that 
 on Sundays there is more crime committed and more drunkenness than on any 
 other day of the week, because they cut off every opportunity for the people to 
 enjoy themselves properly on Sundays. It says : 
 
 " They are all not such stockfish as to content themselves with the prayer-book. 
 We have some summer gardens, summer theatres, &c., but not half enough. Our 
 day steamboats and railroads ought to convey thousands to the suburbs, where 
 music and dancing and gymnastic exercises, on the greens, under the trees, should 
 be in order ; and joy and life should reign supreme everywhere. Then, Messrs. 
 water simpletons, put your noses in your Irish dram-shops, and you will find them 
 empty.'' 
 
 This is the sort of slang used in answer to a memorial which said not one word 
 against Sabbath recreations, visits to the suburbs, &c. , which was mainly aimed at 
 Sabbath drunkenness, Sabbath violations of law and Sabbath offences, which add 
 nothing whatever to a man's moral, social, physical or personal comfort, but which, 
 upon the other hand, commit nothing but injuries. We know very well that 
 reformers may push things to extremes, but when they do not ask for these ex- 
 tremes, and do ask for only that which is right, the German Press ought to help 
 and bless them, instead of maligning and denouncing their efforts for good. 
 
 From The Times, June 3. 
 
 Our Germanic Coteniporaries. 
 
 The literature of Lager-bierdom is all Dutch, happily or unhappily, to the great 
 mass of New Yorkers. The Demokrat or the StaaU- Zeitung may rail, or blaspheme, 
 or talk treason bj' the column, and not one of a thousand of those to the manor born 
 know a word about it. Thus, one of the most important elements of our popula- 
 tion may be corrupted and misled on grave questions of moral or political concern, 
 not only without the knowledge of the English-speaking population, but without 
 any antidote — for there is not a single German journal that can be relied on to 
 communicate fairly the views commonly cherished in this country on questions 
 involving distinctive national characteristics, — not one that represents justly the 
 opinions of the Americanized portion of the German population itself. 
 
 We have an illustration of the condition of matters in this respect in the course 
 of the German press of New York on the " Sunday Liquor Memorial," presented 
 by respectable American and German Delegations, last week, to the Board of Police 
 Commissioners. Instead of treating a document of the most marked character for 
 its prudence and forbearance — leaving the general Temperance question as well as 
 the general Sunday question wholly out of view — with courtesy or decency, these 
 organs of the Lager-bier interest resort to the most vulgar abuse of the memorial- 
 ists, and to the grossest misrepresentations of the memorial. Appeals are made to 
 the lowest passions and prejudices. An attempt is made to override law and cus- 
 tom dear to every American, and to inaugurate the manners and morals of a special 
 class of European immigrants in their stead. According to the Demokrat, the 500 
 or 600 gentlemen who signed that memorial are " hull-frogs," who stick their heads 
 out of the mire of their orthodox faith and croak into the world, " keep the Sab- 
 bath !" The act of presenting a respectful memorial for the execution of numer- 
 ous laws recently enacted by the people of the State, but openly defied by a small 
 class of refugees from the Old World — is styled a " frog-concert ;" and gentlemien 
 of position and worth are " a Delegation of frog-heads '" 
 
26 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 Tlie Staats- Zeitung seems to have a little more method in its madness, but is very 
 mad nevertheless. It sees nothing in the movement but ultra-Temperance and 
 ultra-Sabbatli oppres.-^ions, which are to be manfully resisted ! One would suppose, 
 from its diatribe, that each of the thousand memorialists was a rampant reformer 
 of the> Garrison type, vrith a besom in bis baud, as formidable as Luther's pen, 
 which readied from Ei-furt to Rome ! 
 
 Our Teutonic neighbors should remember that all of their readers are not forced 
 to gather all knowledge of city affairs from their columns. There are large num- 
 bers of respectable merchants, importers, and others, who read both German and 
 English ; who know the character of the abused memoralists, and of the memorial, 
 and who also know that the German name suffers by the attempted identification of 
 it with the ascertained causes of our city's predominant curses and crimes. They 
 know that the once frugal and industrious German emigrants are preyed upon by 
 interested countrymen, who beguile them of money, health and character, by their 
 pot-houses and Sunday theatres, so tliat beggary and ruin are coming to be common 
 among Germans, as they used not to be. And knowing these things, it will be in 
 vain that editors lend their columns to the support of the law-breaking, pauper- 
 malving, crime-breeding traffic, even if it is associated with the lax, and, in many 
 cases, vicious notions of Sunday observance cherished by a part of our continental 
 immigrants. 
 
 Wc would also suggest to our German neighbors that something is due to the 
 deep-rooted cunvictions and the time-honored laws of the land of their adoption. 
 Emigrants from Europe knew, if they knew anything of America, that Sunday was 
 liere held in popular estimation as a day of rest and worship, and guarded as such 
 by statutes in vogue from the foundation of our Government. They knew that 
 the rollicking pastimes, and drunken carousals, and popular theatricals common to 
 some parts of Europe, were unknown and unsuffered here. While no statute 
 abridges the rights of conscience or prescribes any method of Sunday observance, 
 numerous laws hedge around the poor man's — every man's right to undisturbed 
 quiet one day in seven ; and, in the interest of the laboring man, interpose needful 
 restraints on the selfishness that would compel him to labor, or tempt him to dissi- 
 pation. In this view, may we not claim that the Sunday laws, until repealed, shall 
 be respected and enforced ? 
 
 The old proverb, "When among Romans do as the Romans do," — though capable 
 of abuse and having its limitations, yet embodies a maxim of morals and manners. 
 Suppose American residents in Berlin or Vienna should take it into their heads that 
 a rollicking Fourth of July, with songs, and toasts, and rockets, was more jovial 
 than Good Friday, with its stillness and gloom ; or should prefer to substitute a 
 weekly carnival of the sort for the frequent Fast or Saints' days of the calendar — 
 would it be seemly and right to claim a place for such offensive or revolutionary 
 plans? Would it be oppressive or discourteous should the gens d' armes say: " Gen- 
 tlemen, you came from America with the knowledge of our laws and customs ; you 
 are free to enjoy their protection, or to return to your homes : but while you stay, 
 you must forego even cherished national peculiarities oti'ensive to our laws and dan- 
 gerous to our institutions." 
 
 Whether right or wrong, Americans cling to Sunday, and will cling to it, and to 
 all that is necessary to its vitality as a day of home, happiness, and devotion. 
 And, in spite of the blunders of temperance reformers, they will cling with equal 
 tenacity to the cardinal virtue of temperance rightly understood, so as to save the 
 city and the nation from plunging into the besotting vice of drunkenness. 
 
 Translated from The New York Demokrat, May 30. 
 
 "Tue Lord's Day."- — As bull-frogs from time to time stick their heads out of 
 the mire, and liy their melodious croaking fill the listening air and then again re- 
 turn to their watery and muddy clement, so the Sabbath-holy ones now and then 
 put forth their heads out of the mire of their orthodox faith, and croak into the 
 world : " Keep the Sabbath ! " " Break not the Lord's Day ! " Such a frog-con- 
 cert was had on Friday afternoon before the Police Commissioners, to whom, by a 
 delegation of frogheads, was delivered a memorial, in which they protest most 
 sacredly against the sale of intoxicating drinks on Sunday, and ask the enforcement 
 of the Sunday laws. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 27 
 
 The Times names anionpf the delegates two Germans, though it is said there have 
 been more with them. On Saturday we received a German petition to gather sub- 
 scriptions for the above purpose. The following passage may serve as a character- 
 istic of the same ; * * * * 
 
 This beats the frogs ! 
 
 However, ye lords of the Sabbath, hear a word in earnest ! Why are the tav- 
 erns crowded mostly on Sunday? Why is more crime committed on Sunday than 
 on other days ? Are not the same taverns anrl theatres open every day ? 
 
 You yourselves are to blame, with your strict old Sunday laws. The workman is 
 deprived of his day of recreation, which he needs after a week's toil. Not every 
 body is so stockfish-like as to find recreation in the prattling of a black gown or in 
 a pious prayer-book. The narrow workshop requires the contrast of open nature, 
 and the necessity of work compels perfect freedom. Well, then, give this natural 
 inclination a free course, and the Sunday will be a day of joy and not of vice. 
 
 To that freedom it will and must come yet in spite of the croaking of the water- 
 men ; every day shows progress in this respect — and all the harmonic music-making 
 from the miry regions " is for the cat" (for nothing). 
 
 Though, in some places where influence of the preachers predominates, they 
 should succeed to repress reason for a while, to dream such a thing of New York 
 is ridiculous. 
 
 We have summer gardens and summer theatres, but not half enough. Steam- 
 boats and railroads must yet carry the thousands into the open air on Sunday ; 
 music and dancing must sound under green trees and whither we turn ; everywhere 
 we must meet pleasure and life and joy; and then, ye lord water- simpletons, ycu 
 may stick your no-ses into the rum-pot houses which make your pious hearts trem- 
 ble so much, and you will find them empty, but not before. 
 
 Translated from The New York Staats Zeitung, May 31. 
 
 Sunday Law Petitions. — Petitions demanding the strict observance of the 5th 
 Section of the Metropolitan Police Act are now going around. One translated into 
 German has come into our hands. We do not recommend signing it, and decidedly 
 caution against it. 
 
 This fifth paragraph, it is known, speaks of the Sunday law. The petition has 
 particular regard to the sale of intoxicating liquor. — it is a temperance petition. We 
 do not intend to excite to disobedience of existing laws, neither is it in our mind 
 to speak the word for a movement in favar of laws whose constitutionality we 
 have always disputed. 
 
 We consider drunkenness, either publicly or privately indulged in, a vice ; nor 
 do we belong to those who think intoxication on the Sunda}'^ more justifiable than 
 on a week day ; but we combat every thing done in the interest of the temjjerance principle 
 as prejudices, hypocrisy, and political capital. Whoever puts his name to the petition sub- 
 scribes to all these prejudices, and as an immigrant takes the same position to the 
 temperance fanatics, in which aa adopted citizen stands who petitions for para- 
 graph 12 ; for in the circular the immigrants are particularly mentioned as Sunday 
 violators. 
 
 The error and arbitrariness which connect the European Sunday observance with 
 the increase of crime and pauperism, have been sufficiently discussed by us. We 
 give the same answer to the originators of the petition, based upon the Sunday 
 manifestoes of several grand juries, which we gave to the argument of the grand 
 jurors. At that time we proved by figures that the imprisonments on Sundays did 
 not originate in an actual increase of immoral actions, but from the fact that the 
 Metropolitan Police law created a new kind of unlawful deeds. 
 
 [Were not the " unlawful deeds" the same in '57 as in '58 — the periods when 
 the returns were made ?] 
 
 To show the character of the petition, we will cite the following passage : " And 
 we say that our free institutions cannot exist with it, as their preservation and pros- 
 perity depend upon the public acknowledgment of the ten commandments, and the 
 fundamental doctrines of the New Testament." 
 
 But there are two points of the circular which seem to us unintelligible above all 
 others. First, how such a pious document can prove the material fact that the 
 revenues of the city are defrauded through the existence of unlicensed tippling 
 
28 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TEAFFIC. 
 
 houses — as if the price of lost souls could be any blessing to the city treasury ! and 
 secondly, how jjond Christians can malce the being in favor with God of their fel- 
 low-men dependent upon prohibitory laws and the physical impossibility of indulg- 
 ing in vice, and thereby deprive public morals of their true merit, which is volun- 
 tary abstinence. 
 
 From The Journal of Commerce, June 5. 
 
 German Notions. — " Yankee Notions" are proverbial. There are German no- 
 tions as well. Some of them are good ; some are indifferent ; and others are posi- 
 tively bad. When they assume a form of evil, they must be rebuked, as much for 
 the advantage of those by whom they are fostered as for the public safety. 
 
 The ardent love of freedom which has ever characterized the Teutonic race com- 
 mends them to American fellow.-liip. The industry and frugality commonly exist- 
 ing amongst this class of people make them welcome accessions to our population. 
 Under right influences, and especially when dispersed among our American popula- 
 tion in reasonable numbers, so as to blend their stream of life with our own, they 
 become our most valuable citizens, and deserve as they receive a high measure of 
 regard. 
 
 But when congregated in masses, so as to retain the worst peculiarities and preju- 
 dices of their race — and these stimulated into intenser action by a skeptical press, 
 by Red ilepublican orators smarting under the European reaction of '49, and by the 
 drinking saloons and Sunday theatricals continually tempting them, to beggary and 
 ruin, they become quite another and an unsafe class — the more dangerous that they 
 are secluded by difference of language from those moulding, elevating influences 
 which act perpetually on an English-speaking population. 
 
 The Eastern portion of our city is rapidly becoming essentially German in char- 
 acter. The Eleventh and Seventeenth Wards, with some others, already contain 
 more Germans than most of the cities of the fatherland. It is becoming more and 
 more important that the notioixs prevailing among them should be understood, and 
 their bearings on our customs and laws canvassed. We may find some lessons to be 
 learned from them ; they may need to be taught some important truths. 
 
 Our notions of Sunday are certainly at wide variance. With us it is a religious 
 festival, sacred to rest and devotion. Ordinary business stands still. Ordinary 
 pastimes are laid aside. We give one day in seven to physical repose and spiritual 
 improvement ; and our laws compel the employer to respect the universal right of 
 the laboring classes to this boon of heaven. They go one stop farther, and, still in 
 the interest of the poor man, they forbid the Sunday publican from grasping the 
 hard earnings of the week, and perverting the poor man's only rest-day into a curse 
 to himself, to his family, and to the community. With Americo-Germans, Sunday 
 is the time for material and sensuous enjoyment — for pic-nics ; excursions by land 
 and water ; target-shooting ; noisy music ; dancing ; theatrical amusements, all ac- 
 companied by the freest potations of Lager-bier, or something stronger, that the 
 capacity of tlie stomach or the pocket will admit. 
 
 We will not pause to discuss the merits of these notions respectively. A single 
 sentence from a German paper of last Saturday will show that we have stated the 
 matter fairly. " We have summer gardens and summer theatres," says the Dem- 
 okrat ; " but not enough by far. Steamboats and railroads must yet carry thousands 
 into the open air on Sunday ; music and dancing must sound under green trees ; and 
 wheresover we turn, everywfhere, we must have pleasure and life and joy ; and 
 then, ye lord Water-simples, [Memorialists] you may stick your noses into the rum- 
 pot-houses, which make your pious hearts tremble so much, and you will find them 
 empty; but not before." 
 
 We are not certain that the means of " emptying the rum-pot-houses'' would not 
 fill others as full ; thmigh they might be dispersed in the suburbs, and afford our 
 neighbors along the Hudson and on tlie Bay a taste of one of our O-be-joyful city 
 Sundays under German ausjuces. One thing we know, that of all the impure, ill- 
 ventilated, health-destroying places in any land, a crowded lager-bier theatre in the 
 Bowery or on Fourth street on a Sunday night, is the very climax. So that the 
 pretext of escaping from " the prattling of a black-gown or a pious prayer-book," 
 to " find recreation," is as bald a folly as to rush from Broadway to Cherry street in 
 search of a clean street. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 29 
 
 But, the merits of these notions apart, which is to prevail ? Which, with its his- 
 torical antecedents, ought to prevail ? Certain it is that a century or two of experiment 
 with our American Suaday has not weakened the attachment of our people to what- 
 ever is essential to its beneficent provisions. As to its physical, mental, moral, so- 
 cial influence, we have not discovered any radical cause for distrusting or discard- 
 ing it. Our national life has thriven sufficiently to have attracted millions of people 
 from the lands where " the pleasure, life and joy" of a weekly holiday have been 
 had to the full. Nor are we aware that the people remaining in those lauds find the 
 pathway to freedom through " music and dancing sounding under green trees'' par- 
 ticularly safe or certain, however full of "pleasure." We have some recollection 
 of a passage in Hallam which alludes to the policy of Continental Despots to " en- 
 courage a love of pastime and recreation in the people ; both because it keeps them from specu- 
 lating in religious and political matters, and because it renders them more cheerful and 
 less sensible to the evils of their condition.'' On the whole, then, it would seem 
 that, under a free government, it is as safe, to say the least, to hold to the anchor- 
 age at which the only free nations in the world have ridden safely, and not yet to 
 put to sea with lager for our cargo, Sunday for our sailing day, and perdition for 
 our port. 
 
 From The Journal of Commerce, June 11. 
 
 More German Notions. — Our German contemporaries presume too far on the 
 ignorance of the English tongue among Germans, and of the German tongue among 
 Americans. The necessities of the press compel a, polyglott staff in connection with 
 our leading journals, and the necessities of business constrain thousands of our 
 German fellow citizens to speak and read the English language. This is well, for 
 otherwise the isolation of a large element of our population, and their subjection 
 to the prejudices of journals little in sympathy with the interests and institutions 
 of the country of their adoption, might be productive of great mischief to us and to 
 them. The true interests of native and foreign-born are identical. There is abund- 
 ant room for all. Our institutions are elastic enough and good enough to protect 
 the rights and promote the well-being of all. They are the common enemies of all 
 who seek to foment jealousies and prejudices fatal to mutual good understanding 
 and confidence. We have more than once had occasion to rebuke native prejudices ; 
 now it seems necessary to remonstrate against like tendencies among the Germans. 
 
 The Demokrat and the Staats Zeitung seem determined not to understand the design 
 of the memorialists on the Sunday liquor traffic, and continue to misrepresent the 
 whole matter. With them "Temperance" is an abomination, and Sunday re- 
 straints are the offspring of superstition. Both, in their view, are bound up in this 
 "croaking of bull-frogs," and hence they counsel opposition and resistance. With 
 exclusively German readers, this dodge may be successful. But, just so far as the 
 fact becomes known that the signers ofthat memorial, with scarcely an exception, 
 are gentlemen as far from ultra-temperance affinities as they are from other ultra- 
 isms — that not one of them, so far as is known, entertains extreme views on the 
 Sunday question — that they are men of all parties and creeds, intelligently alarmed 
 as to the growth of pauperism, crime, and consequent taxation and misery, con- 
 nected with Sunday tippling — the representations of these German papers must react, 
 and all but the German keepers of Sunday theatres and saloons, and their unhappy 
 victims, will come to repudiate the mistaken leadership that would commit them 
 to the support of lawlessness and immorality. It ought to be a significant fact for 
 the editois of these papers, that not one of our dozen daily journals printed in the 
 English language has ventured to question the reasonable request of the memorial 
 that the existing laws be published and enforced. Not even the Herald, cited by 
 the Demokrat as " vigorously defending the right born with us," has disputed this 
 ground. Whatever may be the delinquencies of our journalism, no paper and no 
 party will hazard its reputation by an open commitment on the side of rebellion 
 and crime — and there is no other side to take, as against the petition respecting 
 Sunday liquor selling. 
 
 But our neighbor of the Demokrat thinks he caught us napping when we remarked 
 last week that " a century or two of experiment with our American Sunday has not 
 weakened the attachment of our people to whatever is essential to its beneficent 
 provisions." As a specimen of the logic and taste of Americo-German journalism., 
 we quote : 
 
30 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 " How the editor can reconcile the Blue Laws, which make cookinp;, promenad- 
 ing, and kissing of wife and children on Suuday, a sin, and which 200 j'ears ago 
 were considered essential for sustaining the sanctity of the Sabbatli, with the run- 
 ning of trains on the Railroads, even io Boston and Brooklyn, is a riddle to us. 
 The Sunday laws of Cotton Mather & Co. have lost so much of their terror in the 
 course of two centuries, that an illustrated copy of them might be profitably ex- 
 hibited by Barnum for the amusement of the public. What is left of them will fall 
 to the ground in America as soon as reason shall escape from the prison of faith." 
 
 The English of this sentiment we suppose to be, that when Atheism shall have 
 supplanted the popular belief in the existence and supremacy of the Divine Being, 
 and blind " reason" shall have superseded Revelation, lager-beerdom will have its 
 own way, without human or divine laws to restrain the greed of its agents, or to 
 protect the rights of its victims. We will not controvert that sentiment ; we only 
 ask " Wlien will the long expected day begin ?" And as to the historical question, 
 a brief word, not for our readers, but for the editor of the Demokrat, and if he 
 pleases for his readers. Strict as were the Puritan notions of the Sabbath — made so 
 by a natural recoil from the latitudinarian views of the country they had left — the 
 stereotyped caricature of them in the "Blue Laws" [which never existed, save in 
 the imagination of wicked men,] ought not to find a place in a journal of our day, 
 claiming common intelligence. It is very lame and vulgar wit that resorts to such 
 devices, and much worse argument. 
 
 But, even it there had been provincial follies of legislation as to the Sabbath, they 
 did not etfect " whatever is essential to its beneficent provisions." The history of 
 American legislation furnishes a consistent record here. The earliest and the latest 
 laws of all oiu' States — with one or two exceptions, where the Fi-ench and Spanish 
 element predominated — have recognized the necessity of a weekly day of rest for 
 man and beast. They have made the first day of the week a dies non as to all ordi- 
 nary labor and moneyed contracts. They have sought to secure a breathing time 
 for the sons of toil, white or black, bond or free. They have said to capital, " you 
 shall not compel seven days' work, but you shall pay enough for the six working 
 days, to enable the laborer to have the seventh as a day of rest." And then they 
 have said to rumsellers and lager-venders, " You shall not have a monopoly of 
 trade, and practise your arts of temptation on the only day of rest the working 
 man has; you shall not empty his week's earnings into your till, instead of the 
 hungry mouths of his family." These things the laws have always been saying, 
 with increasing emphasis ; and are we now to be told that such laws are and 
 always have been unconstitutional f Who says that? The toiling masses for whose 
 benefit they were enacted ? Or the men whose selfishness would rob the poor man 
 of his rest and his money too ? 
 
 These " essentially beneficent provisions" of our Sunday laws were never more 
 popular in this country than now, in spite of the tide of immigration, and notwith- 
 standing the mistakes both of Sunday reformers and Sunday haters. It is only when 
 extreme claims are made, or arc supposed to be made, as to coercive Suuday observ- 
 ance, tliat our people revolt. But our laws make no such claims. They do not 
 touch the question of religious obligation and observance ; that is left, as it should 
 be, to the individual conscience. They do protect the rights of those who wish 
 to " remember the Sabbatli day to keep it holy," and they forbid the interruption of 
 public worship. But a man may drink himself drunk, or make a fool or a beast of 
 himself in any other way on Suuday, if he will, and the laws do not forbid him ; 
 but they do forbid his disturbing the public peace, or interfering with the rights of 
 his fellow men. 
 
 These statutes and the sentiments they embody, form as essential a part of our 
 national life as the representative system, or the trial by jury ; nay, they are more 
 characteristic and fundamental, for they affect our moral as well as political founda- 
 tions. Duponceau, tlie venerable helper from France in our Revolutionary strug- 
 gle, after a long residence here, wont so far as to say, " that of all we claimed as 
 characteristic, our observance of the Sabbath is the only one truly national and 
 American, and for this cause, if for no other, he trusted it would never lose its hold 
 on our affections and patriotism." It never will. And if our counsel were of any 
 avail among our German and other immigrant classes, it would be that they content 
 themselves with the full and equal measure of freedom, civil and religious, under 
 which this nation has prospered as no other on the globe can hope to do ; and that 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 31 
 
 they forego those preferences and practices of the old world which have necessitated 
 governments of force there, as they may here, if self .assertion, lawlessness and 
 irreligion invade our wise and happy government of law. 
 
 VI.— Public Drinking Fountains. 
 
 From The Express, May 21, 
 
 Croton Fountains for the People. — The people are earnestly waiting for the 
 next step towards the establishment of Croton Fountains by which pure water shall 
 be as free as air to all. We hope that Alderman Peck and Councilman Ottarson, 
 who took the initiative in bringing the matter before the Common Council, will not 
 rest until the fountains have become an established fact, pouring out their crystal 
 waters, so that every one that thirsteth may "Come and drink, without money 
 and without price." The credit of the suggestion has been claimed by one of our 
 morning contemporaries ; but it belongs in fact to the Sabbath Committee, who, in 
 their last tract on "the Sunday Liquor Traffic,'' published some months ago, used 
 the following language: 
 
 "The establishment of public fountains, to which thirsty men may resort, would 
 be a measure of great practical utility, at comparatively trifling cost. They need 
 not be of marble or bronze, elaborately wrought, as in most European cities ; the 
 simplest arrangement by which the health-giving Croton could be easily reached by 
 the poorest laboring man, would suffice. Formerly the street pump partially supplied 
 this want ; but now the artisan or laborer who would slake his thirst, can find 
 almost no public place in the city to which he can resort with a feeling of right 
 to a cup of cold water ; and he is driven to a dram-shop, where a false notion of 
 self-respect impels him to drink that which costs him something — and it often does 
 cost him more than he had counted upon. As a preventive of drunkenness, and 
 a means of removing temptation to evil haunts and habits, it is believed that this 
 expedient would be found worthy of trial, to say nothing of its sanitary and 
 humane aspects, which are far from inconsiderable.'' 
 
 Now that this sensible and humane proposition bids fair to assume a practical 
 form, the gentlemen of the Sabbath Committee, individually and collectively, 
 should bring their powerful influence to bear, for its success, on the Common Coun- 
 cil. An active demonstration from that Committee, just now, might hasten the 
 laggard action of the Circumlocution Office. Let there be no shuffling about the 
 question. It is not one of a difficult nature, and should be' decided at once. If we 
 are to have the fountains, no time should be lost in putting them into operation ; 
 if we are not to have them, the people ought to know it, and know, also, who it 
 is that denies the right of drawing pure water. 
 
 From. The Herald, May 31. 
 
 Give Drink to the T'hirsty. — We perceive that our suggestions about establish- 
 ing public drinking fountains throughout the city have been taken up and advo- 
 cated in difi"erent quarters, and that the President of the Croton Board sent a com- 
 munication to the Common Council last evening on the subject. We are constantly 
 receiving communications approving the idea. Even the religious newspapers are 
 coming out in favor of hydrants or public fountains. We hope they will advocate our 
 proposition, that a hydrant and drinking cup should be placed in the vicinity of all 
 the churches, so that the spires and turrets thereof might serve as indices to the 
 thirsty wayfarer, pointing to the spot where he can be nourished from the fountain 
 of pure Croton, as well as the fountain of spiritual grace. This plan is being now 
 carried out in London, and it strikes us as aa excellent one. There is not a city in 
 the world with so large a population as ours so wholly unprovided with the means 
 
32 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 of enjoying a simple drink of water, notwithstanding that an ever-flowing stream 
 of it, pure and cold, gurgles beneath our feet in every highway. But it flows 
 unseeu and untasted by the traveller who broils in the sun through our hot, dusty 
 streets. 
 
 Independent of the value of public fountains to physical comfort and good health, 
 as elements in the moral improvement of the masses, they should be encouraged by 
 the clergy, by temperance reformers, philanthropists generally, and by the clergy 
 especially ; for they should remember what their Master promised to those who 
 give a cup of water even to the least one. 
 
 It may be that for every fountain you open you will close a grogshop ; and this 
 is a consideratiou worth entertaining. The cost would be very trifling, and would 
 be amply compeiisated by the good whicli would accrue from the establishment of 
 such conveniences. Let us persevere, then, until we compel the authorities to 
 give ixs public fountains such as other cities possess. 
 
 From The Times, 3Iay 18." 
 
 Public Drinking Fountains. — We have already expressed a cordial approval of 
 the proposition before the Common Council for tlie establishment of five hundred 
 Croton Fountains. As a public necessity, there should be no hesitation or delay in 
 building them. Nearly six months ago, in a condensed notice of a document on the 
 "Sunday Liquor Trafiic," this measure was suggested as one of the preventives of 
 drunkenness ; and, on turning to that document again, we find that the sagacious 
 gentlemen of the "Sabbath Committee" have presented the argument for this im- 
 provement in a nut-shell. 
 
 From The Times, Jkme 2. 
 
 "Drink and Awat." — One of the most beautiful fountains in Barbary, on account 
 of its frequent use and the lurking of assassins in its neighborhood, is called Shrub 
 we Krvb — Drink and away. In our highly-civilized city we have no such lurking- 
 place for robbers. No Croton fountain tempts to drink or danger here. Superior 
 refinement has compelled the thirsty to resort to the dram-shop, where fuel may be 
 added to the flame, but where nature's provision for quenching thirst can only be 
 made available by quenching manly self-respect too. 
 
 What shall the wayfarer ia our streets do of a Sunday when even this dernier resort 
 is lost, as it seems likely to be if the Police Commissioners do their duty, and shut 
 up the illegal places of Sunday traffic? Croton drinking fountains, and a plenty of 
 them, would seem to be the necessary complement of the suppression of Sunday 
 dramming. And when the fountains of dissipation and crime are stayed, and gush- 
 waters, which cheer but not inebriate, take their place in our streets, we may reverse 
 the Barbary fountain motto, so that it shall be: Kruh we Shrub — Away and Drink. 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT OF 50 DRINiaNG FOUNTAINS. 
 
 From The Tijmes, Jime 25. 
 
 The report of the Special Committee in favor of directing the Croton Board to 
 erect ßftij drinking Icydrants in different parts of the city, was adopted last evening; 
 Councilman Bulteel ["Oyster Saloon"] alone voting in the negative. 
 
 From the same., July 7. 
 
 Drinking Hydrants. — The Board of Aldermen concurred with the Board of Coun- 
 cilmen in adopting the report of the Special Committee in favor of erccting^ty 
 hydrants in various parts of the city. 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TKAFFIC. 83 ■ 
 
 A German's Appeal to the Germans 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 
 
 [An important Document of 24 pages, 8vo., has been issued by 
 the New York Sabbath Committee, in the German language. It 
 contains the "Memorial as to the Sunday Liquor Traffic," with the 
 official data forming its basis; a Digest of the Sunday Liquor Laws; 
 a translation of the Editorial articles in the leading New York Dai- 
 lies — the Joxtrnal of Commerce, June 5th and 11th, Express, May 
 21, The Times, June 1, Comtnercial and Enquirer, May 31, etc., (see 
 "Memorial Memoranda" pages 16-30:) and the Editorials of the 
 Staats Zeitung and the Demokrat in opposition to the Memorial. 
 As introductory to this matter, a kind and able discussion of the 
 Sunday question, by a German writer of unusual power, is published, 
 which may be hoped to dispel many prejudices and to conciliate the 
 better disposed among our German fellow citizens toward American 
 and Biblical views of the claims and uses of the Christian Sabbath. 
 A translation of this appeal is here given, partly because of its in- 
 trinsic interest, and for the sake of informing those who do not read 
 the German, of the mode adopted by the committee in dealing with 
 an important class of our foreign born population. It is intended 
 to give the widest possible circulation to this document among the 
 Germans in this city and country, and in the father-land.] 
 
 The aim of the Memorial— signed by more than 400 Germans and 600 Ameri- 
 cans, and presented to the Police Commissioners May 28 — having been frequently 
 misinterpreted, it seems desirable, on its republication, briefly to explain its 
 design. 
 
 The Memorial does not aim at making men pious by compulsory measures. 
 The Memorialists know quite well that such a kind of piety would be displeasing 
 to God, and that all endeavors of the sort are even more repugnant to the spirit of 
 Christianity than to the spirit of the age. 
 
 Nor does the Memorial intend to compel men to do this or that on Sunday. 
 Whether one prefers to stay at home, or to go into the free air ; to spend the day 
 in solitude or at church, in conversation or in reading, is to be left with him, so 
 far as civil laws are concerned. 
 
 Nor is it the intent of the Memorial to coerce the Germans to renounce their 
 national sentiments and customs. The fact that several hundred Germans have 
 2 
 
34 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 signed it — and many more signatures might have been obtained had more time 
 been used — is sufficient guarantee of this. 
 
 Nor does the Memorial propose new legislation. It only aims at the enforce- 
 ment of existing laws. To have a law remain a dead letter is in itself wrong and 
 injurious, especially in a free land, where the laws are made by the people, and 
 should therefore be obeyed by the people — the minority submitting to the 
 majority. 
 
 The Memorial opposes the existence of monopolies and privileged classes of 
 society. It goes for equal rights. In order that factory-laborers, clerks, ap- 
 prentices, etc. may have a day of rest, the factory-owners, merchants, employers, 
 etc. must be compelled — if this be compulsion to them — to close their factories, 
 stores and shops on Sunday. If ten merchants out of a hundred were to keep 
 open their stores on Sunday, one and another by the power of competition would 
 be tempted to open their stores too. Therefore to secure a day of rest to the 
 ninety, all Sunday traffic must be prohibited to the ten. Partial restrictions im- 
 posed oh the rights of some men, in order to increase and guarantee the rights of 
 all men, is a sound democratic principle. But how does it agree with this princi- 
 ple to have stores closed on Sunday, while liquor shops remain open ? No cloth, 
 coffee or tea must be sold, but you may sell as much whiskey, beer and wine as you 
 please ! The honest merchant may not make money on that day, but the rum- 
 seller may ! Is this right ? Certainly not. In a free country, under a consti- 
 tutional government, all men must be treated alike. 
 
 And what special claim have intoxicating liquors to be exempted from the 
 prohibition of ?ales on Sunday ? Do they promote domestic happiness, increase 
 virtue, engender philanthropy, nourish patriotism ? We have seen no proofs of 
 it. But it is plain enough that many a father on Sunday converts the money 
 which should buy bread for his children during the week into liquor ; that many a 
 son then consumes the means of supporting his parents, and many a husband 
 returns home on Sunday night drunken, abusing his wife, or at least unfitted for 
 his work and for a proper treatment of his family. As for the influence of intoxi- 
 cating liquors on patriotism and love of freedom, we will only mention that 
 Frederic Hecker, when he returned to this country in 1849, after the failure of 
 the revolutionary movements in Germany, publicly ascribed that failure to the 
 fact that the Germans had rather talked and boasted of their prospective freedom 
 over the beer-glass than labored and acted for it. 
 
 Still, " Drinking on Sunday is a German custom, so we won't have it taken 
 from us !" is the cry. It is a German vice [mis-custom] we answer. Boxing 
 and horse-racing are English vices ; carnival with its follies is an Italian vice ; 
 bull-baiting is a Spanish vice : but what sensible Englishman, Italian or Spaniard 
 would undertake publicly to stand up for these vices, to which a portion of his 
 countrymen is addicted ? Still less would he dare to undertake the introduction of 
 them into another country. The same rule applies to German Sunday amuse- 
 ments, to which in many [iiot in all] places in Germany a large proportion of the 
 inhabitants are given ; but under constant protest of our best men, and constant 
 attempts at restraint by laws — the latter being found rather in the partially free 
 States of Germany than in the others. 
 
 The opponents of the Memorial are talking and behaving as though Sabbath 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUO» TRAFFIC. 35 
 
 legislation proceeded only from " Puritanism." But we need only to appeal to 
 the better knowledge of the well-informed among them. We ask, for instance, of 
 the editor of the Stoats Zeitung, Do you not know well enough, from German 
 history, that at different times, and in different parts of Germany, stringent laws 
 against drinking and dancing on Sunday have been enacted : not by the moi'e des- 
 potic princes, but rather by those who really cared for the welfare of their people ? 
 True, in modern times, Sabbath legislation in Germany has become more lax, but 
 this has been owing to the influx of infidelity, which, coming from France, over- 
 threw both the former obserrance of the Sabbath, and the ancient honesty and 
 fidelity of the German nation. 
 
 But, supposing Sabbath laws to be something specifically American, even then 
 there would be just cause to ask : Is it well for the Germans of this country to 
 oppose an institution which has existed here frojn the first beginning of European 
 settlements on this continent, and has since then taken such deep root in the 
 whole social and political life of this nation ? Would this not be an abuse of the 
 hospitable welcome and reception which this country extended to us ? Would it 
 not provoke the ill-will and suspicion of the English-speaking, native-born citi- 
 zens ? On questions respecting which one party of Americans stands against the 
 other, we may decide for either of them ; but in a question concerning which nearly 
 the whole American people stand together as one man, to oppose them as a German 
 party, will certainly not prove the means of promoting kind relations between 
 foreign and native-born citizens. It would, to say the least, be quite hazardous 
 to undertake such a thing, and to be justified in the undertaking, we should be 
 manifestly in the right. But such is not the case, neither in a political nor in a 
 moral point of view, as we will now show. 
 
 CIVIL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 In the days of the first Dutch colony of " New Amsterdam," as early as 1647-8, 
 Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General, issued proclamations and decrees against the 
 invasion of " the Lord's Day of rest." One of the earliest acts of the " General 
 Assembly of the [English] colony of New York," in 1695, was one entitled, "An 
 Act against the Prophanation of the Lord's Day, called Sunday." In 1813 the 
 Legislature of this State passed laws protecting the Sabbath, based on the 
 colonial act of 1695 ; and they remain in the Revised Statutes. The Metropolitan 
 Police Act prohibits the sale of any intoxicating liquors on Sunday, under a 
 penalty of $50. These are State laws. During forty years, from 1797 to 1834, 
 concurrent municipal ordinances were enacted, of a stringent character. They 
 were revised and reenacted in 1803, '5, '7, '12, '17, '21, '23, and '27. 
 
 It is clear, from the above, that the fifth section of the Metropolitan Police 
 Act, which is so much hated by our opponents, contains nothing new, but only 
 old regulations. That these regulations are supported by the public opinion and 
 general custom of the American people, shall be proved by two facts. One is, 
 that the Constitution of the United States demands that the President shall be 
 inaugurated on the 4th of March ; but it is understood that when the 4th of 
 March falls upon Sunday, the inauguration takes place on the 5th of March. 
 The other fact is, that our great national holiday, the anniversary of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, in case July 4th falls on Sunday, is kept on the 5th. Thus, 
 both the law and the custom of our country treat Sunday as a day set apart for 
 
36 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 religious jDurposes, but not as a day for national or other festivals and pleasures. 
 We adopted citizens ought, therefore, even if Sunday pleasures were not morally 
 wrong, to avoid them, because they are, in this country, unlawful, and from con- 
 siderations due to our fellow-citizens. 
 
 MORAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. 
 
 We will now inquire, from a moral stand point, whether Sunday pleasures are 
 right and allowable. And we would first ask our oi)poneuts. Can you deny that 
 Christianity has favored civilization wherever it has penetrated ? Can you name 
 any civilized nation which is not a Christian nation ? And we ask further, Is not - 
 the Bible read — which is the foundation of Christianity — in all countries in which 
 a free government exists and prospers ? Or can you name countries which are 
 free without the Bible ? From all we know, notwithstanding all the deficiencies 
 found among us, things are " golden" among us compared to our neighboring 
 sister republic Mexico, with her endless civil wars and anarchy. What is the 
 cause of this great difference ? The people of the United States have the Bible — 
 the people of Mexico have it not. If we look at Europe, we see England, Scot- 
 land, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Prussia, and Norway, comparatively free and 
 prosperous ; but Russia, Austria, and Spain, are oppressed and unhappy. And 
 why ? In the first named countries the Bible is read, while in the last named it 
 is not. 
 
 Law and morals must always go hand in hand. The best laws are of no use 
 where the morals are bad. But how can men agree on morals if the Ten Com- 
 mandments are not taken as their foundation ? Were we to take our morals from 
 Lycnrgus and Solon, from Numa and Cicero, from Confucius and Mohammed, 
 or from Voltaire and Rousseau, from Fichte and Hegel, — into what confusion 
 should we get. No agreement can be expected. But the Ten Commandments 
 are so generally acknowledged, — are considered pure, true, and obligatory, by so 
 great a majority, — that we have in them a firm centre of agreement. Now, one 
 of the Ten Commandments says : " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 
 Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of 
 the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt do no work," &c. If we lay aside this one 
 commandment, all the others go with it ; and where are we then ? 
 
 Again : Where but in the moral law of Christ and his apostles do we find so 
 beautiful and clear an exposition of the spirit and sense in which we are to fulfil 
 our moral duties ? "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them, 
 likewise." " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." "Avenge 
 not yourselves." " Give to every one his due." If such sayings are no longer 
 publicly acknowledged, what is to become of the world? If Christianity, with 
 its command of love to the neighbor, is set aside in any land, a total disorganiza- 
 tion of all relations, a civil war, must follow. The first French Revolution, with 
 4ts Reign of Terror, furnishes an examj^le. Men are bad enough with their belief 
 in the Bible ; if they are deprived of this belief they become totally bad. This 
 is the dry but fitting saying of Franklin, with which he answered Tom Paine 
 when he sent him his "Age of Reason." 
 
 Without Christianity, we repeat it, no popular freedom can consist. Now, 
 Christianity, although it is something spiritual, by several forms and regulations 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 37 
 
 peculiar to itself, is interwoven with civil life. Among these regulations the 
 Christian Sabbath, the day of the Lord, the day on which Christ, the founder of 
 the Christian religion, rose from the dead and from the grave, stands foremost. 
 What did the ancient Romans and Greeks, what do the Hindoos and Chinese 
 know of a Sunday ? They know nothing of it. And we, too, should know noth- 
 ing of it had not Christianity come to us from our fathers, and with it the news of 
 the resurrection of Christ through its weekly returning memorial day. The Sun- 
 day is therefore a Christian Institution, and it is hence a moral wrong to employ 
 this Institution contrary to its spirit, for strange and unchristian objects. Sup- 
 pose a company of trifling boys were to make one of their number pronounce the 
 words of the Institution of the Lord's Supper at one of their carousals, and then 
 take a drink and say, " We have now celebrated the Lord's Supper," would not 
 the feeling of every upright man, no matter what his religious views are, be out- 
 raged ? Would we not say to them, " Carouse, if you are determined to carouse, 
 but let the Christian celebration of the Lord's Supper alone !" And as the 
 Lord's Supper is the memorial of the Sacrificial death of Christ, and is to be cele- 
 brated as such only, or not at all, as every sensible man allows ; so Sunday is the 
 memorial day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is to be celebrated by all in 
 a serious and quiet manner, although by each one according to his own particular 
 religious conviction. Whoever desires pleasure and amusement may select any 
 one of the other six days, but let him celebrate the Sunday in a Christian manner, 
 for the object for which it is instituted. 
 
 American history shows plainly that the founders of the first European Colony 
 in this country came for the sole purpose of worshipping GOD according to the 
 dictates of their conscience. Their numerous descendants, therefore, will not per- 
 mit themselves to be deprived of this great privilege, neither by fanatical perse- 
 cutors nor by infidel traitors. Among us Germans, also, many have come here 
 because they knew that here religion and the worship of GOD are not only tole- 
 rated by the State, but publicly acknowledged and legally protected. There are 
 also those among us who formerly did not value this, but since their sojourn in 
 this country have learnt to value it. Both these classes of Germans are unwilling 
 to forego the right of a free, public and undisturbed worship of GOD. It is in 
 their own interest, in that of their children, in that of their German countrymen, 
 and in the interest of the whole people, that they unite with their fellow-citizens 
 in removing the desecration of the Sabbath and the disturbance of the worship of 
 GOD by public amusements. Our opponents may well look at what they are do- 
 ing. Should they succeed in defeating our object, it would, in our opinion, be 
 the greatest injury to themselves. But whoever is not of this opinion, let him at 
 least consider and understand that the right is on the side of those who desire a 
 quiet Sabbath, on which business as well as amusement is to be at rest ; and that 
 the laws of our land are not made for promoting infidelity and dissipation, already 
 sufiBciently rank everywhere, but for promoting morality and religion. 
 
 IMPORTANT RESOLUTIONS OF THE POLICE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 At the regular meeting of the Police Board, July 8, Mr. Stillman presiding, 
 and all the members of the Board present. Judge UlshoefiFer, on behalf of the 
 
88 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 Committee on Laws and Ordinances, submitted the following report, which was 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 " The Committee on Laws and Ordinances having considered the petitions for, 
 and remonstrances against, the enforcement of the existing laws relative to the 
 observance of Sunday, respectfully offer the following resolutions : 
 
 1. This Board is bound by its organization to enforce the laws as they exist ; 
 it being a well-settled principle that the administrative departments cannot excuse 
 enforcing a law, on the gruund of doubts as to its conflicting with the spirit of the 
 Constitution. 
 
 2. The Christian religion is that which has always existed since the settlement 
 of the country, and now exists in these United States ; recognized and professed 
 by the masses of the people of various religious denominations, and neai-ly all of 
 which regard the Christian Sabbath as part of their religion. 
 
 3. That the highest judicial authorities regard the Christian religion as the 
 prevailing religion of the country, and that the protection of the rights of all 
 other religions must still leave the principles, practices, and laws of the whole 
 Christian community paramount, and in full force. 
 
 4. That the true principles of religious liberty do not allow the smallest por- 
 tions of the community to call upon the great masses of the people to abandon 
 the enforcement of those Sunday laws, which have existed since the settlement of 
 the country. 
 
 5. That present abuses in disregarding the Sunday laws, particularly in public 
 exhibitions on Sundays, and trafficking in liquors and other like things, should, as 
 far as the law allows, be prevented by the whole power of the police force and of 
 the magistracy. 
 
 6. That the laws of the land, in conformity witli the opinion of the masses of 
 the people, in regard to moral principles and practices, and for the punishment of 
 transgressors any day of the week, are not to be disregarded or repealed, because 
 of peculiar notions of morals entertained by small portions of the community." 
 
 THE "REMONSTRANCE" AND " COUNTER-MEMORIAL." 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, July 9. 
 
 Attempt to "Sell" tue Police Boaud. — A great parade was made last week by 
 the Sunday Liquor party, who bored tlie Police (commissioners an hour or so with 
 their '" Remonstrance" and " Counter-Meniorial," ostensibly "signed by about 
 five hundred citizens," — a German copy being ,, signed by nearly a tbousaiid citi- 
 zens of German birth." In both cases tiic remunstraiits claim to be "voters." 
 The special object of the demonstration was to prevent tiie police authorities from 
 closing tlie Sunday dram shops. 
 
 Unfortunately for tiie credit of the Remonstrance, the signers appended their 
 places of abode iu coioniou with their nauics — making it an easy matter to classify 
 the list, and to expose its l)ogus character. This being carefully done, the folIoAving 
 results are reached : 
 
 Number of names claimed for the Sunday Remonstrance in English 500 
 
 Actual number 446 
 
 Error 54 
 
 Number of names claimed for the Sunday Remonstrance in German 1.000 
 
 Actual number 742 
 
 Error 258 
 
THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 39 
 
 Classification of the 446 Remotislranfs — English. 
 
 Non-Eesidents 118 
 
 Liquor-Dealers, Segai'-Sellers, Sunday Newspaper Editors, and otlaer inter- 
 ested parties 38 
 
 Not to be found in the Directory 241 
 
 "Clerks," "Shoes," " Physicians," &c 49 
 
 Total 446 
 
 Classification of the first 500 Remotid rants — German. 
 
 Non-Residents 104 
 
 Lager and Liquor Dealers .... , 36 
 
 Not to be found in the Directory 1 80 
 
 All others 180 
 
 Total examined 500 
 
 Thus it appears that an abatement of more than three-four tins must be made from 
 this list of about a thousand names, to bring it within the range of decency or pro- 
 priety, as a matter of official cousideratiou. What consideration should be given 
 to the remaining fourth might be determined by continuing the investigation. 
 
 From the Teibune, July 4. 
 
 We have elsewhere noticed the fact that the Rev. J. L. Hatch, and a"number of 
 other gentlemen equally gifted with himself, yesterday waited on the Police Com- 
 missioners and delivered a long and elaborate address, beseeching the Commissioners 
 not to enforce the Sunday laws, and especially the law against the sale of liquor on 
 Sunday. To say the Rev. J. L. Hatch and his associates are all fools, is more than 
 we dare do ; but they certainly talked like egregious fools yesterday. The Police 
 Commissioners have no choice between enforcing the law and not enforcing it. 
 They are not legislators, but simply executive officers. AVhether the laws are good 
 or bad, is not a question for their consideration. Their duty is simply to have them 
 observed and obeyed ; and all the rest belongs to the Legislature and the Courts. 
 
 It is not an argument to say that certain laws have not been regarded hitherto, 
 and that the Police ought therefore to connive at the breaking of them hence- 
 forth forever. Indeed, it seems to us rather an insult to the Commissioners than 
 otherwise ; and Mr. Hatch and his fellow-laborers in the cause of free liquor on 
 Sundays might without impropriety have been kicked out of doors accordingly. 
 
 A SABBATH AGAIN. 
 
 From The Express, Jdy 4. 
 
 It is estimated that for the last three Sundays or so only about one-tenth of the 
 liq\ior-dealers have kept open — something very remarkable for this city. Of these 
 violators of the law, the majority have only kept private entrances open for the ac- 
 commodation of their customers. Taken together, these few Sundays past have 
 been the most orderly known in New York for a very long time indeed. 
 
 From The Hekald, July 4. 
 
 Of the upper wards of the city, commencing with the Fifteenth, about the same 
 reports are to be made as in the precincts above. Each Sunday since the giving 
 out of the police order has shown marked improvement. Citizens have enjoyed 
 more quiet Sabbaths, and the police magistrates have had but little to do. At the 
 Tombs yesterday, where tlie commitments on Sunday for drunkenness are usually 
 sixty and seventy, but five were committed for being drunk. At the other police 
 courts the falling olf in the number of Sunday commitments for the same offence 
 was about in the same proportion. 
 
 From The Times, July 11. 
 
 The Observance op the Sabbath Laws. — Since the Police Commissioners adopted 
 resolutions, on Friday, which admitted their power and intimated their intention 
 of enforcing the Sunday laws, naturally enough an impression became general that 
 decisive and peremptory orders would be issued to the Police henceforth to assert 
 the law's supremacy. And this opinion prevailed to such an extent even, that the 
 hitherto obstreperous saloon-keepers, who, in spite of repeated notifications, have 
 
40 THE SUNDAY LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 
 
 insisted in selling on the Sabbath in defiance of law, became generally alarmed at 
 the anticipated demonstration, and many vohintarily closed their places yesterday, 
 believing that otherwise they would be forced to close. Contrary to general antic- 
 ipation, however, no new orders were issueil. Throughout the city, even in those 
 portions where hitherto liquor has flowed freely, scarcely a drop could be had for 
 "love or money," and when it was obtained it was only dispensed to those in 
 whom the vendor felt he could place confidence. The effect of the closed stores, of 
 course, was another quiet Sabbath, which, contrasted with those of four weeks ago, at once shows 
 the good result of even the partial attempt of stopping the sale of liquor. Nowhere was 
 the effect more marked than at the various Toiice Courts, where heretofore the 
 Sunday committals for drunkenness have numbered as high as from 20 to 30 in 
 each court, while yesterday they scarcely exceeded a dozen throughout the city. 
 General-Superintendent Pilsbury, accompanied by Deputy Carpenter, visited a 
 large portion of the city, including Yorkville, Harlem and Blooniingdale, yester- 
 day, in a carriage, to notice how the Sunday laws were observed ; and it is under- 
 stood he will familiarize himself with what is done, and how far the laws are trans- 
 gressed, before he takes any effective action. 
 
 From The Herald, July 10. 
 
 o « s;- " III the Sixth Ward onlj' two men were arrested for drunkenness, a fact 
 unparalleled since to this Ward was applied the prefix " bloody." In the Seventh, 
 Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Wards, but few places aside from 
 the lager beer saloons were open. " '■•' A marked change over any previous Sunday 
 was evident in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Wards. Here scarcely a liquor 
 shop was open, and where half a dozen fights are usually reported on Sunday not 
 one occurred yesterday. In all the upper Wards of the City the observance was 
 very general. The majority of the liquor stores were completely closed. But few 
 arrests were made for drunkenness.'' 
 
 ^^^ A circular has been issued by the managers of the '• Liquor Dealers' Asso- 
 ciation" to more than four thousand members, advising them to close their shops on 
 Sunday, without resistance. 
 
 ß^" The lager beer dealers and brewers met on Friday evening, July 8th, to 
 denounce the Liquor Dealers' Association, vvith which they had " become disgusted, 
 because they would only protect the 'rum-sellers,' and had no regard for the lager 
 beer interest," and to form " an Association of Lager Beer Dealers.'' 
 
 The Excise Commissioners have requested the General Superintendent of 
 Police to report to them all lager beer saloons at which spirituous liquors are sold. 
 "An eminent physician of this city had informed Mr. Commissioner Holmes that he 
 had recently attended a man in the upper part of the city, who had drank nothing 
 but lager beer, and was severely affected with delirium tremens. He said the man 
 had it so badly that the ])hysicians never before saw a man recover who was so 
 severely affected. Mr. Holmes believed that lager beer was a spirituous liquor, and 
 he was convinced that it was used as a mere cover for the selling other and more 
 deleterious liquors without licenses.' — Com. and Enq., July 7. 
 
 ß^^ Office of New York Sabbath Committee, No. 21 Bible House. "^ 
 W Treasurer's Office, (J. M. Morrison, Treasurer,) Manhattan Bank. 
 
Doc. No. 8. 
 
 e 1 1 1 1 11 
 
 Joiber ben 
 
 ©Dinitaoöljaiikl mit fieröufi^enkn ©etröiifciu 
 
 t^^ ^tllü^eUi 
 
 L 35ortoort 
 
 2. 2)ic petition. 
 
 3. djrimblagc bcr ^ktition, 5luöf^rü(|c ber (i)raiii)=3«i'^» 
 
 4. ®cfc$c imb SBerorbiiuiißcn in 33ctrcff bc^ Sountag^^aubelö 
 
 mit Bcrauf^eubeii (^cträiifciu 
 
 5. ^u^jügc au^ bell yfeto=?)orfci' ^cüungciu 
 
 herausgegeben »on ber fflc)^f^oxUx ©abbatl^sSommittee. 
 
 H. Ludwig, Buchdrucker, 39 Centre-Str., N.-T. 
 
SBür to or t. 
 
 ^te nacf)|ic]^enbc petition, »on 400 !l)cutf^cn unUx^tiä^nü, 
 warb, nebft einer, eben ba[fe(bc entl)a(tcnben petition in eng(ifd)er 
 ©prad)c, am 27. 9J?at b. 3. ber betreffenben obri9feit(id)cn ©c()5rbe 
 übcrreicl)t. !l)ie[er Sdjritt Ijcit, wit jum 23oraug ju crumrtcn nmr, eine 
 nid;t geringe S3eivegung l)ervorgerufen. SSict ift für unb wibcr bk ^^a 
 tition gerebet imb gefd)rteben, Ie|tere§ fowpl)( in eng(i)"ri;en al§ in beuts 
 fd)en 3eitnngcn. 't)abti [inb benn fo üiele 93Zi§beutnngcn unb unrid)tige 
 Sluffaffungen beg Sinned unb 3^^^^^^^ ^'^^ ^^ctition mit untergelaufen, 
 ba^ c§ bienlid) crfd^eint, hci gegenwärtigem SBieberabbruff berfetbcn in 
 Äürje barj^utegen, \va§ fie tviU unb wai fte nid)t will. 2ßir beginnen 
 mit Sc^term. 
 
 !Die ^^etition get)t nid}t barauf aug, bit 9)?enfd)en öoit au^en 
 Therein, burd) ßwangi^ma^rcgein unb aufgenetf)igte @eircl)nl)eiten fromm 
 3U mad;cn. 2)ie fte t»erfa^t unb unterjcid)net l)aben, wiffen fel)r wol)I, 
 ba^ @ctt an erjwungener grommigfeit fein 2öol)[gefatIcn, fonbern 3)iitjs 
 fallen t)at, unb ba^ alle barauf abjiclenben 33eftrebungen bem ®eifte bd 
 St)riftentl)uml nod) yiel mel)r, alg bem ©eifte bcr 3cit, juwibcr fmb. 
 
 3nfonberI)eit beabftd)tigt bit ^^etition nid)t, bie Seute ju nötl)igen, 
 ba'^ fie am (Sonntag bieg ober feneg tl)un unb i»ornel)men follen. Db 
 3emanb bal;eim ftfeen ober in'g g-reie t)inau§gct)n, ob er in ber (Sinfam* 
 feit, ober in ber ilird)e, ober mil ©efprdd) unb Unterl)altung btn ©onn; 
 tag jubringcn will, mu^ 3ebem fclbft iiberlaffcn bleiben; bem burgers 
 lidjtn ©efet^ liegen alle SSeftimmungen l)icrübcr fern. 
 
 (Sbenfo wenig will bit ^setition bit 3}eutfd)en nötl^igen, it^rer Dolfg* 
 tl)nmtid)en 3)enfireife unb Sitte ju entfagen. 9J(el)rcre l;unbert Teiitfdjc 
 l)abcn ftc unterjeid;net, unb nod) weit mel)r Unterfd)riftcn waren ju erlangen 
 gcwefen, wenn man fid) mcl)r 3cit genommen f)atte. (£d)on l)icrin liegt 
 ®cwaf)r genug, ba§ fein Eingriff gegen ba§ ®eutfd)tl)um I)ier ftattftnbet 
 
 9^ein, bieg SUleg wollen wir nid)t. 2Bir gcl)n überl)auvt nid)t barauf 
 aug, neue, bigger nid)t bagewefene ©efel^e unb (Sinrid)tungen einjufül^s 
 reu. 9Bir wollen blo^, ba^ bit bercitg l^orl)anbnen unb ju 9ied)t bes 
 fteljenben ©efe^e in 5(ugfül)rung gebrad)t werben. SBenn ein ®efe^ tin 
 trbter 53ud)ftabe bleibt, fo ift ba§ fd)on an ftd) unrcd)t unb fdiablid), in* 
 mal in einem greiftaatc, wo baä SSolf felbft burd) feine 33ertreter fic^ 
 
4 !l)er 6onntag§t}anbeI mit berau[d)cnben ©ctranfcu. 
 
 [eine ÖJcfol^c (3icbt iinb bal)cr audi [d)ulbig ift, if}ncn ju gcT)ord)en. 3ft 
 abec ciu Ö)c[c() cincu 9}ciiiberl)cit bcia 3ic(feg nid)t 9cncl)m, jo mu^ fic fid), 
 ivic aüöcmciii jugcftviubcn iinrb, bee 93?cl^rl)cit füöen. 
 
 SBic uioücii ferner nid)t, ba^ priintegirtc jtaftcn ober bet^oryigtc 
 jllaffen in bcr ©c[ca|d)aft bc[tcl)n. 3ßir l>i(ten cl mit bcm (^runb[a^ : 
 \m§ bem (Sincn rcd)t ift, bag iit bem 5tnbern biüig. 2)ag biirgertid^e 
 ©efct^ barf unb foK befd){en, 'ba\i am (Sonntag -bcr g-abrif()err feine 
 g^abrif, bcr Kaufmann feinen Saben, ber ^anbivcrf^mciftcr feine SBcrfs 
 ftatt fd)liei?t. @cfd)iel)t bieg nid)t, fo l)aben gabrifarbeiter, gabenbiener, 
 ti^anbiverf»s©efetlcn unb Sel)r(inge feinen 6onntag, feinen Zao, bcr 
 9inl)C unb (Sil)oUing mel)r. ©g muf? bal)er urn il)rer 5-reil}eit unUen 
 3c neu ein ^\i\^nQ — infofern e§ ein S^^^J^S fii»^ fie tt^ciie — aufcrfegt 
 iverben. Urn ein anbre§ ^eifpief anjufül)ren: gefegt, jcbcr Äaufmanu 
 bürfte, ivcnn n wollte, feinen iabm am (Sonntag offen l)a(ten, unb nun 
 fänben fid) unter f)unbert Äaufleuten jel)n, bii bit§ tl)äten, fo würbe, 
 burd) bic 9)cad)t ber Soncurrenj, l^on ben übrigen ncunjig einer nad; bem 
 anbern i)erfud;t werben, bem 33eifpiel bcr jel)n ju folgen. Um bat)er ben 
 9^eunjig einen Diul)etag ju fid)ern, mu^ ben ^djn ba§ 35 erf auf en am 
 (Sonntag i^erboten werben. 3;()ci(wcife 33efd)ränfnng ber Sefugniffc 
 (Einiger, jum ^wcd gröi?erer 3tugbel)nung unb (Sid;erung bcr 9ied)te 
 5((lcr, ift ein ad;t bemofratifd^eg -^rinjip. 9?un aber fra<^en wir: ift'g 
 red)t, wenn ^anfiente am Sonntag ben 2abcn fd)(iet5en muffen, 
 SBirttje aber i()re (Sd^enfftuben offen l)a(ten bürf<;n'? 3ft'g rccl)t, wenn 
 am (Sonntag fein Sinnen unb !Iud), fein Äaffee unb X\)cc tterfauft wers 
 ben barf, aber S3ranntwein, 33ier unb SSein nad) SScIieben? wenn ber 
 (Spe^ereiljanbler fid) atsbann nid)t bereidjern barf, ber (Sd)napp§.l)äubler 
 aber barf eg? 3ft ba§ red)t? 2BaI;r{id) nidvt! 3n einem freien ^anbc, 
 in einem 9kd)tgftaate mul? bcr (Sine gel)a(ten werben wit ber ^nbre. 
 
 Unb wag für einen bcfonbern Stufprud) l)atten benu grabe bie be: 
 raufd)enben ©ctranfe auf bic SSergünftigung, von bcm aUgemcinen 53er; 
 bote beg 6onntaggycrfaufg auggcnommen ju werben? SBirb etwa burd) 
 fie ^^amilienglüd t>ermel)rt, S^ugenb beforbert, 9)?enfd)en{iebe erzeugt, 
 93ater(anbg(icbe gena()rt? 9Bir ()abcn bat^on nod) feine ^4>robcn gefel)n. 
 2)agc3cn liegt eg am Zac^c, bat? mand)er 5?atcr baß ©clb, weld)eg feinen 
 Äinbern bic 2Bod)e {)inburd) 33rob geben foUte, am 6onntag »ertrinft 
 imb fomit ba§ ©lücf feiner g^amilie jn ©runbe ridHct; bai^ mand)er 
 ©ol)n bie Untcrftül}ung feiner alten Gltern, bic bod) eine ber crftcn 
 menfd)lid)cn ^^flid)tcn ift, luerüber lu-rfäumt; ba^ mand)er ©atte am 
 (Sonntag entweber ganjlid) trunfen Ijiimfclut unb fein avmeg 31>eib mif?* 
 T)anbelt, ober bod) ben Äopf fo l^oU Ijat, ba^ er bic nad)ften Za^c jur 
 
!Der ©onntag^I^anb'ct mit betauf(^.cnben ©etranfen. 5 
 
 Slrbeit, \vk ju Itebreid)er S5eTjanbhtng bet (Scintgen, g(etd) iingefd)icft 
 ift. Uiib n.md ben (ginfliifj bc5 S^rinfcn«? auf 9Satcr(anbg; unb g-ieil;cttgs 
 liebe betrifft, fo fiil)rcii wit nur an, ba^ griebrid) ^erfer, aU er im ^erbfi 
 1849 nac^ Stmerifa jurücffcl)rte, eine 43«upturfad)e beg 93?if (ingeng ber 
 bcutfdjen greil^eitebcftrcbungcn in bcm Umftanbe fanb, ba'^ bk 2)eiit[d)en 
 ju Did ()inter ber Sierbanf renommirt unb ju if en ig gctl^an, bit 
 greil)cit beim ®Ia§ r;od)ieben (affcn, aber nid)tburd; fräftige Zl)atm tn'ig 
 Seben gcfiiljrt l)atten. 
 
 ,/vHber eing trinfeuam©onntag, ift einmal cine beutf d)e ©itte, 
 bic laffen nnr nng nid)t nel^men!" ruft man xm§ entgegen. (Sine 
 bcutfd)e Unfitte ift'g! lautet unfre älntwort. S5o,ren, 6^C[\)mnf 
 fampfe, ^>fcTbe tobtcnbc ^sfevbevcnncn finb englifdjc Unfittcn; ber 
 Sarnewal mit all' feinen 3^l)orl)eiteu ift eine italicnifdje Unftttc. 
 2ßcld)er i^erftanbige (gngUlnber unb Italiener wirb für bicfc llnfitten 
 e i n e 5 2^ l) e i U feiner Sanbelcute cinftel)en unb üollenb» gar ba$ 5ied}t 
 beanfprud)cn, fie in einem anbern I'anbe öffenttid) ju betreiben? — (Sbcn 
 baffelbe gilt »on ben beutfd^en (Sonntaggbeluftigungen, benen aller; 
 bingg an »ielen Drten 2:eutfd)lanbg — nid;t an alien — ein grower 
 ^l)eil ber (Sinwol^ner fid) l)ingiebt, aber unter ftetem SSibcrfprud) ber 
 33cfferen unfern 3Solf5 unb unter ftetcn 33erfud)en ber (S'infri^rmifung 
 burd) ©efeije. Unb leljtve, ba§ ift wpl)l ju bead;ten, finbct fid; mel)r in 
 benjenigen S anbern 3)eutfd)lanbg, \vo eine tl;eihreife freie 33crfaffung 
 beftel)t, aUS in ben anbern. 
 
 I^ie ©egncr ber ^;|]0tition rebcn unb gebel)rben fid) grabe, alia ob 
 @efe(^c jur Unterbriidung ber «Sonntaggarbeit unb ber (Sonntags^'öer; 
 gnügungen bloß berfenigen rcligiöfen ®eifte§rid)tung angcljörtcn, bic man 
 $uritani§mug nennt. SBir braud)en aber in biefer »^pinftd)t nur an ba§ 
 bcffere Stiffen ber U''oI)lunterricl)teten unter unfern ©egnern ^u appe-iliren. 
 QBir fragen 3. 33. ben Svebafteur ber „Staat^jeitung": wiffen (Sic nid;t 
 red)t gut an§ ber @efd)id)te 2)eutfd)lanbg, b«^ ^u r>€rfd)iebnen ^nkn 
 unb in t}erfd)iebnen Zaubern fd)arfe ®efe^e gegen ^irunf nub 2'anj cr; 
 laffen irorbcn ftnb, unb jivar nid)t Pon beispotifd)en, fonbcrn pon fold)en 
 gürftcn, benen bc[§ 2öol)l il)rer Untertliancn am <g)erjen lag? 2l?enn in 
 neuerer ^cit bie ©onntagggefc^gebung in !Deutfd)lanb fd^laffcr gewors 
 ben ift, fo ift bieg bcm (Sinfluf be§, »on ?5r«nfrcid) l)er cingebrnngnen 
 Unglauben^ unb ©ittenöcrbcrbenä ju,5ufd)reiben, iroburd) jugletdi bie 
 alte beutfcl)c (BonntagSfeter unb bie alte bcutfd)c (Sl)rlid)feit unb 3:rcnc 
 auf fo beflagcnö'.rertl)e 3I?eifc gefd)mafert ift. 
 
 2)ocb, angenommen and), (Sonntag§gefe|c feien cttvaS öorjug^s 
 UH'ife ?(merifanifd;cg, anbern Säubern grembcg, fo unire felbft bann all«' 
 
6 2) e r 6 o u n t a g sS I) a ii b e ( mit b e r a u f d; c n b en ® c t r ä u f c n. 
 
 lUfad), jii fragen: ift e» \vot)(gett)an, u^cnn wir einer, feit bcm crften 
 (Sntftcl)n europaifdicr ^Injicbclnngen t)ier eingebürgerten, tief eingeiinirs 
 jelten unb mit bem ganjen amerifanifd^en ^i>olfö; unb (3Kiat6!cbcn 
 eng i^erwadjfenen (Sinridjtung entgegentreten? 'iQci^t ta§ nid)t bie &a\U 
 frennbfc{)aft, mit ber bieig ?anb un§ unllfommcn l)iep unb anfnal)m, mijps 
 braudicn, ben Ununüen, biV$ 9)citUraucn unb bie ?(bneigung iinfrer 
 engiifd) rebenben, l)ier im Sanbe gebornen SJiitbiirger mntl)aHÜig l)eran»s 
 forbein? 3» ber 6f(ai^enfrage unb aUen anbern ba§ 23olf beu^egenbön 
 (fragen, bei bcnen eine amerifanifd)e ^iuirtei ber anbern gcgcniibcrftei)t, 
 mögen unr unbebenÜiel) naä) eignem (Srmeffen unfre ^uirtei \v>al)len. 
 Slber in einer grage, bei ber ba§ ganje amerif an ifd)e 2]o(f »vie 
 Qin 9Jcann jufammcnfte()t, bemfelben in ber (Sigenfd)aft einer beut = 
 fdjen ^^wirtei entgegentreten, ift ftd;ertid) nid)t ba§ 93Jitte(, ein freunb; 
 iid)eg 2]ert)altni|^ junfd)en eingebornen unb eingenninberten 93ürgern ju 
 beforbern. 
 
 2)ie ©egner ber petition bet)anbe(n bie ©efel^e, wcUljc biefelbe in 
 §(ugübung gebradjt wiffen mil, a\^ etumg ganj 5Reueg unb Unerl)örtC!3. 
 Gin 33(iff auf bk bi§l)erige iSonntagSgefel^gebung unfere§ Staate^ unb 
 unfrer 6tabt tinrb (cl)ren, ob fie l)iebei im 9ied)te finb. 
 
 (Bd)on im 3af)rc 1647, a{§ 9Zew=g)orf nod) 9?eu:5{mfterbam I)ie^ 
 unb eine f)oüanbifd)e Kolonie ivar, erlief3 ^43cter (Stui)tiefant, bamaiiger 
 ©eneralbireftor ber vfloionie, eine ^4>rof[amation gegen bie 93eeinträd)* 
 tignng bc^ „Dinl^etage^^ bi^S Jperrn," aunnn unter -ilnberm and) ber 
 SSefnri) ber @d)enfen, \renn nid)t ganjlid) t^crboten, fo bod) fel)r bcfd)ranft 
 iinrb. 3m 3at)r 1695 erlieB bie @enera(=?lffemb(i) ber, bamalg fd)on 
 unter brittifd)er Dberl)ol)eit ftebenben Äoionie 9{ew;^orf ein (^)efetv worin 
 alleg 9teifen, 5J(rbeitcn, «Sd^ie^cn, ©pieien, SBcttrennen, 3aflcnunb 33 e* 
 fud^enfon @d;enfcn am ^age be» ^^errn verboten wirb. 3m 
 3a!)r 1797 verorbncte bie 9}?nnicipa(ität von 9iew=2}orf, am üagc beä 
 ^crrn ober Sonntage foUe fein 9Birtl) in feinem «i^aufe (^efeüfdjaft aufs 
 nel)men ober bcunvt()en, nod) QT^ein ober anbre^ ftarfe^ ^etranf verfau; 
 fen, auf^er an 9ieifenbe unb Äoftganger. 2)iefe 33erorbnung unirbe in 
 ben Sabren 1803, 1805, 1807, 1812, 1817 unb 1821 erneuert. 
 
 ^^ierang erl)et(t, bat? ber, unfern ©egnern fo verftaf^te fünfte 9(b* 
 fdjnitt ber 9J^etropolitans^^o(iJei=^^(fte burd)au§ nid)t§ 9Jeue^ cnt()ä(t, 
 fonbcrn nur frnl)erc ©cfel^cobeftimmungcn wieberI)oIt. 1)ai? fid) aber 
 biefc 33eftimmnngcn auf bie öffcnt(id)e 9J?einung unb allgemeine Sitte 
 be§ amerifanifd)en 23o[fc§ ftül3en, bafür wollen wir l)ier bloli jwci 2;i)at' 
 facbcn aU$ ^iBeiege anfüt)ren. 2)ie eine ift, baf? bie (Sonftitntion ber 93cr. 
 Staaten an\'i bcftimmtcfte vorfd)reibt, ber ^^^räfibcnt folle am 4. d^läq 
 
!D e r © n n t a g 5 1; a n b e ( mit t e r a u [ d) c n ^ e ti ® c t r o «i f c n. 7 
 
 in [ein Shut cingefiit)rt werben; g(cid)ivot)( aber unrb c§ aU fclbfti^crftvinb* 
 lid; angefcl;cn, ba\% wenn ber 4. 9Jcärj auf einen (Sonntag \ai\t, bk 
 ^•infnl}rung cift am 5. 53tarj gc[d)cl)n fann. 2)ie anbre 3:i)at|adjc ift, 
 ta\} unfcT groi3cr SfJationalfcfttag, ber 3al)rc§tag ber Unabl)ängtgfcitf^= 
 crflarnng, \aiU$ ber 4. 3n(i auf einen ©onntag fallt, crft am ö. gefeiert 
 unrb. So bel)anbelt fowoI)( ba^ (^Sefet3 al» bk Sitte unfrei Sanbe§ ben 
 (Sonntag als einen ju gottesbicnft(id)en Strerfen beftimmten, nnb nid)t a{§ 
 einen für 9iationatfefte ober fonftigen g eft (id; feiten unb ^H'rgniignngen 
 geeigneten 2;ag. 3Bir Slboptiybiirger foüten bal;er, fclbft ivenn ©onns 
 tag§yergmignngen fein moral if d)cg Unred)t wären, fic bod; bc^s 
 l)a(b mciben, weil fte nun einmal l)ier ju?anbe etwag Ungefe^Iid)el 
 unb in 23ctrad)t ber Sincffid^ten, bie wir unfern 5Jcitbürgern fd;u(ben, 
 ctwhis Unbillig ei" ftnb. 
 
 9ßir wollen nun jule^t nod) unterfud)en, ob ©onntaglt»ergnügungcn 
 öom moralifd)en (Stanbpunft au§ red)t unb erlaubt finb. 2)a fragen 
 wir benn jnnäd^ft unfere Ö3egner: fiJnnt 3I)r e^ in SIbrebe [teilen, ba^ 
 bcii Sl)riftentl)um überall, woI)in eä gebrungen i[t, bk (S.i))ili\ation bes 
 förbert ^at? ^önnt 3^c uns irgenb ein civilifirteä Q3olf nennen, ba§ 
 nid)t ein d)riftlid)c5 S^olf wäre? — Unb wir fragen weiter: wirb niä^t 
 in allen Säubern, in benen eine freie 'SScrfaffnng be[tel)t unb gcbeil;t, bie 
 S3ibel, weld;e bie ©rnnblage be§ Sl)riftentl;um^ ift, t)om SSolfe gcbraud)t? 
 Dber fiMint 3I)r 5änber nennen, bie frei finb ol)ne bit 33iber? — ^^ad) 
 5(llem, wa§ un§ befannt, ftel}t eS tro^ be§ inelen 9JtangelI)aften, ba§ ftd; 
 bei un^ finbet, bod) golben unter un^ auä im Q^ergleid) gegen unfere 
 ^'taä)hav'- unb 6cfcweftci--„9^epublif" dJlexito mit iljrer [teten ?(nard)ic 
 unb il;ren cnblo[en 93ürger!riegen, ^a§ i^t bie Ur[ad)e bie[er großen 
 ^^er[d)iebenl)eit? !Da§ a^olf ber 93er. Biaaten beft^t bk 93ibel, baB 
 93olf 93ccxifo'g nid)t. SSlicfen wir auf Europa, fo fel)eu wir bort @ngs 
 lanb, 6d)ottlanb, bie 9(ieberlanbe, bie (Sd)Weij, 5i.U-eu^en, 9?ürwegen jc. 
 I>erl;ä(tnit5mät3ig frei nnb glücflid), l)ingcgen 9üt§lanb, Dcfterreid) unb 
 (Spanien gcbrüdt unb unglücflid). 5Öol)er fommt bie§'l 3ii ben juer[t 
 genannten Säubern wirb bie S3ibet gele[en, in ben leOtgenanuteu uidjt. 
 
 @ e [e<3 unb (Sitte mü[[en eben alljeit ^anb in i^anb gelten. 2)tc 
 bcften ©efe^e l;elfen nid)t^, wo bie Sitten fel)le4)t ftnb. 2Bie aber föns 
 neu bie 9)?enfd;eu fid) über bie Sittenlet)re einigen, wenn nid)t bie jel}n 
 ©ebote aU gunbament berfelben angenommen werben? ^Sollen wir ooii 
 §i;fu^g wib Solon, üon S^Juma unb Sicero, üou SonfucinS nnb 9}iul)ami 
 meb, ober and) t»on SSoltaire unb Diouffeau, t>on gid)te unb Jpegcl un[r€ 
 Sittenlcl)rc entnet)men, in weld)e enbto[e SSerwirrung geratl}en wir? 
 ilcine (Einigung i[t bann ju erwarten. 1)ie jel^n ©ebote l)ingegen geuitJ 
 
8 2) e r © n n t a g § T) a n b e ( m i t 6 c i- a u [ d) c ii b c n ® c t r ä ii f e n. 
 
 0ctt eine [o allgemeine ^nerfennung, iverbcn »on einer fo ungeTjeurcn '^OMjx* 
 I)eit aI-3 vein nnb unil}r, ali biinbig nnb förnig, a{§ binbenb nnb i^er; 
 Vfiidjtcnb bctradjtet, ba^ mv baxin einen fcften Ginignnggpnnft befil^en. 
 9Znn like (autct einia »on ben je^n®cbcten: „©ebenfe be^ ©abatljtageg, 
 ba\j hn ii)\\ l)ci(igcft ! (Sed)g Siage foUft bn arbeiten nnb a((e beine 2)ingc 
 be[d)irfen. Slbcr am fiebenten S^age ift bcr ©abbatl) be§ Jpcrrn, bcines 
 @otte», ba [otlft bu fein SBerf tl)nn, k." SÖirb nnn bic§ eine @Qbc\ 
 bü ©eite gefeilt, fo fatten atte anbern mit. llnb wo finb wir bann? — 
 
 9iod) mcl)r. SBo finben nnr cine \o bcnt(id;e nnb fd^onc ÖTlänternng 
 beio ©eifteiä nnb (Sinned, in weldjcm wir nnfcre fitt(id)en ^fiid)ten er^ 
 fiitten nu'iffen, a{§ in bem 6ittcngcfct) (ft)rifti nnb feiner 5?(pofter? 
 ,,^Mc§, was il)r woilt, ba[^ end) bie £'cnte tl)nn fatten, bai? tl;nt il)r 
 i^nen! — ,,?at5 bid) nid)t bciS 33öfc iibenxnnbcn, fonbern libeninnbe 
 baS S3öfe mit ©ntem!" — „9iad)ct end) fclber nid)t!" — „©ebet 
 3ebcrmann; waß il)r fd)nlbig feib!" — 2Senn fo(d)e ?(nf^fpnui)e feine 
 offen tl id) e 5(ncrfcnnnng mel)r finben, was wilVS mit bcr 2Be(t 
 werben? 2© enn ba^ (?l)riftcntl)nm mit feinem ©cbct ber 9iäd)ftenüebe 
 in einem ?anbe befeitigt wirb, ft) mnf? ja cine ganjU'd)e i^eninlbcrnng 
 unb 5(nf(öfnng atter 2]erl)a[tniffc, ein Ärieg fitter gegen 5{ttc folgen. 2}ie 
 erfte fi-anjöfifd)e Oieüointion mit il)rcr (£d)rerfcnöl)err|d)aft gibt ein 33ei; 
 fpici baüon. „T)ic l)}?cnfd)en ftnb fiidedit genng bei il)rcm (^lanbcn an bie 
 33ibe(; nimmt man il)nen biefen ® (aubcn,fo werben fic iH'ittenbi^ ganj fd)(edn 
 werben!" 3)a§ ift ber trorfene, aber trcffcnbe '^(ugfprnd), womit ^ranflin 
 bie 3iifenbnng t»on ^aine'ä „3i'tta(tcr ber Sßernnnft" beantwortete. 
 
 Dl)ne (Sl)riftentl)nm, wir wicbcrl)o(cn c§, fann fein 3So[f^wol)l bi'ftet)n. 
 9tun tritt aber ba§ (Sl)riftentl)nm, obwoI)( cy jnnacbft etwa» (L^ciftigeü 
 nnb 3nner(id)ea ift, bnrd) mel)rere il)m eigcntl)iimlid;e Drbnnngen nnb 
 gormen and) in'^ iinpere Seben. Unter bicfcn Drbnnngen ftelit noran 
 bcr d)rift(id)e ©abbat!), ber 2^ag bcsä •S^cxxu, ber 3^ag, an weld)em 
 Sl)riftn§, ber ©tifter ber d)rift(id)cn 9ie(igion, anl Zcb nnb &xab anfev« 
 ftanb. 2Öa§ wnfitcn bie aitm DUnner nnb Öiried)en, wa^i wiffcn (unit; 
 jntage bie .r)inbn'!3 nnb Sl)inef8n öon einem ©onntag? TiidHS iviffen 
 fie ba»on, Unb and) wir wnfUcn nid)t!5 bavon, wari nid)t nnfern ^i^atern 
 ba§ (Sl)riftentl)nm jngefommen nnb mit il)m bie Ännbe >oon (fl)rifti 
 5(nferftel)nng nnb il)rcm wöd)entlid) wieberfctircnben ö^ebäd)tni|:tage. 
 !Der ©onntag ift alfo eine d) r i ft I i d) e 3 n ft i t n t i o n , nnb balier ift'ö 
 ein mora(ifd)cg Unred)t, bicfe ©tiftnng, bem ©inne bco ©tifter^ 
 jnwiber, jn ganj anberartigcn, nn d)riftlid)en 3wecfen anjnwenben. 
 ©cfel^t, eine C''3cfe(Ifd)aft IciriUfinnigcr 53nben würbe inmitten einet 
 tviiftcn ©d)we(gcrei einen an§ il)rer iWitte bie (Sinfel^nngoworte b(^ 
 
Der Sonntägig an bei mit berauf^eub en ©et raufen. 9 
 
 5(£»enbmat;f§ [preci)en laffen unb bann einen 3^runf tl)un unb fagen: 
 jefet l)aben wii tuv^ 2tbenbmal)( gefeiert — würbe nidjt ein jeber reblidje 
 9J?en[rf), gfeicf)inc( öon we[d;en 9teIigion^anfid)ten, barüber cntriiftet 
 Werben? 2öürbe man iljnen nid;t jurufen: fd)Wefgt immerl)in, wenn il)r 
 finmal [d)we(gen wollt, aber lat^ ba§ d)rift[id;e 2lbenbmal)t ftel)n, wo Ci^ 
 ftel)t! SB ie aber ba§ 5lbenbmal;l ha§ ®ebäd)tnimnal)t bc!^ Dpfertobe5 
 6l)rifti ift, unb entwebcr gar nid;t, ober nur in bie[em @inne gefeiert 
 werben [oll (wie jcber Q3ei'ftanbij]e ^ngibt) : fo ift ber ©onntag ber ®c= 
 badjtnifUag ber 5^u[erftel)ung 3c[ii (£l)ri[ti unb foil ba'^^r, wenng(cid) »on 
 Sebemnad) feiner befonberen rcltgiöfcn llebcrjeugung, hod) üon Slllen auf 
 eine ernfte, fti(fc 9?3eife gefeiert werben. 2ßer 55ergungen unb S3eluftigung 
 wiinfd)t, ber waljle bajii irgcnb einen i^on ben anbern fed;:3 3^agcn, laffc 
 aber \\n§ (£l;riften ben Sonntag ju bem ^wtd feiern, woju er eingcfe(3t ift. 
 2)ie amcrifanifd)e ©efd)id)te jeigt auf'y bciitlid;fte, bap bie ©rünber 
 ber erften europaifd^en Äolonien Ijier im ?anbc blo'^ ^u bem ^wcd Ijicn 
 l)erfanten, um l)ier ©ott n a d; ben Sßor fd)rif ten iljrex^ &C' 
 wiffcuig anjubetcn. 3l)i"e 5al)lrcid;en 9?ad)fommen werben ft4> 
 bal)cr biesS grofjc ^I5orred)t, \x>k 'oon fanatifd^en 23erfo{gcrn, fo and) iwn 
 ungläubigen 3]eräd;tern nidjt nel;men (äffen. 3Son unä iTeutfdjen ftnb 
 g[eid)faniä »iele mit um beilwillcn l)iel;er auSgewanbert, weil fte wußten, 
 bat! l)ier Ütcligioii unb ©ottelbienft üom (Staate nid;t 
 uur erlaubt, fonbern offentlid) anerfannt unb gcfefelii^ 
 gefd)ii^t wirb. 5tnbre gibt'§ unter ung, bie ^war früljer bieg nic^l 
 bead)tetcn, wä^renb il)rc§ 5(ufentl)alt0 l;ier im Sanbe aber eg ad)ten unb 
 wertljfc^äl^en gelernt l)aben. 3)iefe hdbcn Älaffen i->ou 3}eutfd)en finb 
 ebenfalls nid)t 9Bilfen§, ba^ 9ied)t beg freien, öffentlid;en, un g eft orten 
 @ ottegbienftcg fa'^ren ju laffen. 3n il}rem eignen, in il}rer ^inber, 
 in il)rer beutfd)en Sanbglcutc, in beg ganjen Q3olfeg 3ntereffe i^erbün; 
 ben fie ftd) mit iljren, für bm Sonntag einfteljenben amerifanifd)en 
 9??itbürgcrn, um bie Gntwei^ung bc§ Sonntagg unb biz Störung bes 
 ©ottegbienfteg burd) öffentlid)e 23eluftigungen ju entfernen. 2)a mögen 
 benn unfre ©egner Wol)( jufelin, wa§ fie tl;un. SBürbe eg i!^ncn gelingen, 
 unfer Streben ju nid)tc ju madjen, fo würbe bci§ nad) unfrcr Ueberjeui 
 gung für fie felbft ber gröi^efte Sdmbe fein. 3S?er aber biefe Ueberjcu? 
 gung nid)t tl)eilt, ber erfenne unb bcbenfe wenigfteng, ba^ ba§ 9ied}t auf 
 Seiten berer ift, bit einen \tiUm Sonntag wollen, an welchem fowol)t 
 bit ®efd)äfte alg bit 95ergnügungen ru'^en; unb balj überl)aupt bit ©e* 
 fe^e unferg Sanbeg nid)t baju ba finb, btn Unglauben unb Seid^tfinn ju 
 beförbern, ber ol)nebieg überall üppig genug empor wudjert, fonbern ben 
 ©ot^egbienftunb bie gute Sitte ju f^ü^en. 
 
10 2)''r ©onntaglf)anbeI mit bcraufd^enbcn ©ctcänfen 
 
 petition 
 
 feibfr belt Sonnt^gsljiinbcl mit kr^iitsffjcnbciT 6ttrSnIicir. 
 
 §(u ben Scarb bcr ^ommifförc bcr SJJctroJJoIiton^Mijci. 
 
 ©ee^rte .^evren ! — Xie fünfte 6eftion bet 2Retropolitan=^Dliäei^3lfte be: 
 fagt: Q§ foil bie ^$f(td}t ber l;ierbiivd) cingefet.ten $oliäei=33e(?örbe fein, jebers 
 jeit bei STage nnb bei 9^ad}t .... ben öffentlichen {^rieben aufredet 3U l;alten, 
 S5erbred)en gu üevljüten, unb bie, roelctje 3ßerbred^en begangen babcn, ju ücrs 
 baften, bie Sid)erbeit won Seben unb ßigentl;um ju fdjill^en ; einen guten 
 ©cfunbbeitljuftanb ju beförbern ; . . . . barauf ju b^itcn, ba^ alle auf bie 
 ©cnntag'ofeier bejiiglicben ©efe|5e, .... fott>ie bie ©efe^e binfid}tlid} Spiels 
 unb 2runf» .... gebörig toolljogen h)erben; unb alle ftabträtblic^en SSer« 
 orbnungen ju befolgen unb ju »olljieben :c. 
 
 Sie Unteväeid^neten berufen fid) auf bie beifolgenben 2(u§fprüd)e üon »ier 
 ioerfd}iebcnen ©raub ^uvieä — bie »on ben ebrenlt>ertbeften 93ürgern l)tXi 
 rubren unb eiblicb bclrdftigt fmb — fomie auf bie amtlidjen 33crid)te, bie 
 toon ^b"en felber abgegeben finb. Seiüeife genug liegen barin öor, ba^ ber 
 Sonntagicbanbel mit beraufdjenben ©ctränfen ben öffcntlidben ^yrieben ftört, 
 SBerbrecben berbeifübrt, bie Sidjerbeit üon £eben unb Gigentbum gcfäl^rbet, 
 ben cffentlidben ©efunbbeitSjuftanb üerfd}ledbtert, bie auf bie Scnntagöfcier 
 beäüg(id}en ©efehe mit e^ü^en tritt, bie Spieliuutb b^gt unb beförbcrt, 3;runE5 
 fud)t erjeugt — unb ba^^ Stile» in offcntunbigcr S^eradjtung bcr Gefcfce bC'S 
 Staate^ unb ber SSerorbnungen bey Stabtratb^J, jU bereu 5k'fülgung unb SSoIIj 
 jiebung Sic, geebrte Ferren ! fid) feierlid} i'»erpflid}tet baben. 
 
 S)ie Steucriaft, bie ber 93ürger jur Söeftreitung bcr iJcftcn bcr ©criibtä« 
 )jflcge, ber $cli3ci, bcr ©efdngniffe unbbcr 2lrmen:33erpflcgung aufzubringen 
 bat, ift fo brüdcnb geiüorben, baf} man billig fragt: ftiC'Sbalb fmb fo Ijcljt 
 Slbgaben nötbig? Unb ba finben lüir benn, baf? üor 3lllem bie 7700 nicbt 
 lijenfirten Sdienfortc, ton benen i'iber .5000 am Sonntage offen fteben, bal 
 DJlar! be» ©circrbefleifje^ unb SBoblftanbeä unfcrer Stabt terfiijlingen. 
 Sine balbe 2)lilliDn ^^ollar», bie bicfelben jäbrlicb ffir Si3en3en be3ablen foH: 
 ten unb bocb unbejablt laffen, loirb bem ftäbtifi^en Si^a^e entgegen; bie öoni 
 
2) e r © n n t a g § T) a n b c I mit b c r a uf d; c n b c n @ c t r 5 u f e n. 11 
 
 (Sefet'e [eftgeftedten ©trafgelber für gefe^tuibrige .^anblimgen am 6onntagc, 
 im 93etrage tion irenigfteng einer äRilUou 3)o[Iar§, iverben nid^t eingeforbert; 
 »on ben 40,000 öffentlidjen 2lrmen ift bei SBeitem bie ^cl}xiaU in '^olQt bet 
 2:runffudit arm gemorben. 31(1' biefe Summen I;at anftatt berer, benen 
 ibre Sejablung mit SHcd^t obläge, ber fleißige unb orbentlid^e 93ürger ju ial): 
 len. 5)od^ bie^^ i)'t nod^ ba^ 2Benig[te. 23or unfcren ©erid)töbö[en unb in 
 unfern ©efdngniffen befinben ficb S^aufenbe, bie in ^yolge betS Hu^fc^enfenl 
 beraufcbenber ©etrdnfe am Sonntage adererft auf bie Sabn beg fiafter;? unb 
 S3erbred^en§ bi^fl^leitet h^urben. S)ie £uft unb 2ü{f)tig!eit gur Strbeit föirb 
 baburcb cerminbert, SSerarmung unb Gntfittlic^ung beförbert ; bei ber Sugenb 
 »ornebmlicb föirb eine njüfte £eben»tt)eife, unb in golge baoon bag Dioföb^^ 
 tbum unb bie äügcUofe Uebertretung ber ©efe^e genährt, ba§ fittlicbe ßefübt 
 gefcbmäd)t, bie .^eiligteit be» Stage» beä ^errn üerle|t unb ber föobltbätige 
 einflui5 ber Dkligion gel;emmt. ^m ^inblid auf all' fold^e Ungebübr fcnnen 
 bie Unteräeid}neten nii^t um^in, in ibrem eigenen unb ibrer ÜJiitbürger ^n-. 
 tereffe, jur 33e!ämpfung biefer Uebel ebrerbietig unb bennocb ernftlid) Sdbu§ 
 unb .^ülfe ju begebren. 
 
 Sie ftatiftifcben 2(ngaben ^l)xe§ 93oarb'ä befunben einen fo genauen 3«» 
 fammenbang jhjifc^en bem Sonntag§bfl"bel mit beraufdienben ©etränfen unb 
 ber 23egebung Don SSerbrec^en, ba^ er ^\)xe 2tufmertfam!eit unb 3br ®i"= 
 fcbreiten gebieterifcb erforbert. Gg gebt baraug berüor, baJ5 in ben acbt^ebn 
 SIRonaten »om 8. ^uli 1857 big 8. ®e3ember 1858, am 2» i e n ft a g im @an= 
 jen 7816, am Sonntag binsege« 9713 SBerbaftungen ftattfanben, alfo 
 25 ^rocent mebr. 
 
 3tod^ fcblagenber ift bag S^ugni^ 3>br6§ legten 3abregberi(^tg, morin Sie 
 bie 3'^bl tier S3erbaftungen an brei aufeinander folgenben Sonntagen, an 
 mc[d]en „bag ©efetj beobacbtet nnirbe," auf 254 angeben, mäbrenb bie SSer^ 
 baftungen an eben fo t»ielen Sonntagen, „nadjbem bie 5Berfäufer beraufcben: 
 ber ©etrdnfe erfabren batten, baf; fie bag tSefe§ ungeftraft übertreten !i3nn= 
 ten," fid) auf 503 beliefen. Sieg jeigt auf g bünbigfte, iüie febv, n^enn jener 
 .^anbel aufbort, bie SSerbrecben unb Störungen i)eg offentüdjen ^riebeng ab' 
 ncbmen. tiefem offiziellen Slftenftüd gemd^ oerbinberte alfo bie nur tbeil' 
 njeife unb üorübergebcnbe ^Solljiebung ber ©efe^e tttiber ben Sonntaggban^ 
 bei mit beraufd}enben ©etränfen bie §älfte ber S?erbrecben unt) UJubeftö: 
 rangen, bie ju erwarten lt>aren unb n?irflicb gefcbaben, fobalb .bie Sdjranfe 
 be» ©efe^eg biniüeg getban trar. 2Bie »ie^ ift baber ^u l)o\ien, föenn jener 
 §anbel nöltig unb bleibenb unterbrüdt ttiirb! S)a nun ber Sufamntenbang 
 
12 :l) c r 6 n n t a g S I) a n b c I mit 6 e r a u f d; c n b e n © c t r ä n f c n 
 
 jluifd)en Urfad^e unb SBirfun^ in biefem fjalle [o beutlid) gu Sioge Hegt, fo 
 fte^t ^f)nen, ac()tbare ^erren! foirof)! nacf) aHgemein gültigen ©efeljieS'^rinjij 
 ^ien, aU nad) ben 33eftimmungen ^i^ter Drgani[intng|:2nte, (it»cld}e 6ie »er^ 
 pflid}tet, „3?evbrec^en su t)erl}üten unb bie, njelc^e fie begangen I)aben, ju 
 öer^aften,") ba^ unbeftrittene 3^ec^t gu, bie ganse unter Syrern 93efel)I fte^ 
 benbe ^cU^eigeiratt üielmebr 3ur llntevbriicEiing ber Urfad^e bei3 Uebell, 
 aU feiner jat^nofen eingelnen i?unbgebitngen ju üeriuenben. Sie I;aben, 
 um mit einer neueren ©ranb^^ui^P 3« reben, [onjcfjlbaä D^led^t aU bie 2Ilad}t, 
 „bie SBurjeln biefeio ©iftbaum^ anäjurotten, fo baji er föeber ©(ättcr, äno§- 
 pen unb 93lütt)cn, noc^i 5rüd)te bringt, momit oI;ne 3>ücifel n'el;r auege= 
 rid}tet ivivb, aU burd^ ba^ frud}ttDfe Streben, bie bereite jur Dieife gelang- 
 ten 5rüd}te 5u jerftören." ^\Vä bod} unenblid} Ieid}ter, ein Uebel t>cn üorn 
 berein abjun^ebren, al^, inbem man e§ ftetiS fic^ neu er3eugen unb ncr^ 
 breiten läjjt, iä bann nad^ber f)intreg gu fd)affen! 
 
 3lad) bcm Statut üom ^al;re 1857 !ann jeber üon ben 7,702 nid}t li^enfir 
 ten 3}erfänfern berauf(^enber ©etränfe beiSbalb ferbaftet Serben, lüeit er über 
 baupt (am Sonntag, n^ie an jebem anbern S^age,) biefen .^anbel treibt; ge 
 gen bie Ujenfirten SSerMufer ober ift gemä^ ber in jenem Statut entl;alte 
 neu 23eftimmungen n^iber ben Sonntaglnerfauf ju »erfaf)ren. Scbann »er 
 bietet bie ftdbtifdje 35erorbnung (Corporation Ordinance) üon 1855 alkn 
 Scnntag»l;anbel mit beraufd)enben ©etr.än!en bei ®elb= ober ©efängnifjftrafe, 
 unb fct5t feft, ba| öor irgenb föeld^er obrigfeitlic^en 5ßerfon besba'b ullage 
 eingelegt werben fann. Gi? fmb alfo ©efelje genug gegen bie^s Uebel »erbans 
 ben, unb bie öffentlid)e 3)Ieinung >üirb unferä Grad)ten!§ für ibre Soll^iebnng 
 eintreten unb bie 2)^it»uirfung, ber Dbrigfeit forbern, bie, mc toir l]o\icn, wil-. 
 lig geleiftet ttjerben iüirb, um bie Stabt öon einer .^aupturfa(^e ber üb'crmä; 
 ^igen 33efteuerung, ber 23erormung unb ber SSerbred}en ju befreien. 
 
 S)a jebocb unter ben STaufenben toon 93iermirt^en unb anbern 25erfäufcrn 
 berauf(benber ©etränfe — befonberä unter ben ni(bt |)icr ju $?anbc gcbcrnen 
 — mancbc fein mögen, bie nid)t lüiffen, ba^ il)r ©efcbäft gcfel^iioibrig ift, 
 fo möd^ten mir anempfeblen, bafj bie ©cfege unb 2>erDrbnungen binfid}tlid^ 
 bc§ Sonntagg^anbcliö mit beraufd^enbcn ©etränfen gebrudt unb in allen 
 S^enfplä^en toertbcilt merben. 3ngfei<i? o'^c'^ irerbe ausobrüdlid? angcfüns 
 bigt, bafi toon einem beftimmten Sage an bie ganje ^oli3ci:©emalt bcbanlic^ 
 baju toermenbet njerben mirb, biefen SBcftimmungen ©cborfam 3U toerfdjaffcn 
 unb ©efe§ unb Orbnung miebe^ ^erjuftelten. 
 
 31.^^ ber Slnftd^t be« Unterzeichneten ift ein berartige^ SScrfabren erforber« 
 
!3)er (Soiiutag»I)anbe{ mit 6crau[c()enbcn ©cträiifeu 13 
 
 lid), um bie SBürbe unb ba5 2(nfel^en Sl^reä SSoarbS ju bel^auptcn, ur, p urn 
 ba» 2Bo[;l bcr Giiuuol^nerfcijaft, beren £eben unb ©igeutl^um ^i^vem Sd^ulji an- 
 vertraut finb, ju ben)af)ren. UeberbieiS begefjren mir ein berartigey Serfal^- 
 ren im ^"terefie beejenigen 3;l^ei(e§ unserer eingeiranberten 93eüöl!erung, ber 
 für bie ©efe^ie unb Snftituticnen, unter benen et lebt, nid}t bie erforberlidje 
 S(d)tung befiW; im ^t^tereffe ber ungtüdlid}en Opfer ber Slrmutf) unb Sßer= 
 bred}en, benen eine ftiKe, ernfte Sonntagsfeier jtüiefad; 9cotI) tfjut, um .ftraft 
 in ertjatten jum SBiberftanb gegen bie $Berfud)ungen ber SSod^e; im ^ntereffe 
 ber 5<^iiii'ie"/ benen ba» taglii^e 93rob burd} ben ©onntagtSüerfauf berau= 
 fdjenber ©ctrdnfe for bem 3Jiunbe »neggencmmen unb in ©ift für il;re ©at= 
 ten unb Später umgeiuanbett lüirb; im ^ntereffe ber c^riftlid^en Bürger, beren 
 9fiut)e geftort unb beren fittUcbeiS ©efütjt burcb ben toilben £ärm bcr (£onn= 
 tag^fdjenfen unb Scnntagätl^eater gehäuft föirb; im ^ntereffe ber €ittli(^= 
 feit unb 9ieIigion überf)aupt, bie nic^t beftel;en fönnen, menu ber Sonntag 
 entf)ei(igt unb in jügedofer 3ei^ftteuung jugebrad^t mirb. Unb >üir be^aup = 
 ten: audi unfere freien ^nftituticnen fönnen babei nid)t beftctjen, inbem itjr 
 ®cbei[;en unb it)rc ©rtjaltung t>on ber öffentlidien 2(nerfennung ber 3e(}n ©e= 
 bote unb ber ©runble^ren bei3 3ieuen Seftament» abfjdngt. 
 
 (£c^Hef5lid} erflären luir Unterjeic^nete, fotrofjt in betreff unfer felbft, ala 
 aller guten Bürger, ba^ ^l)v 33Darb non unfver billigen unb ftanbl)aftcn 
 Unterftülutng jeber gmedmä^igen 9Jia|rege( jur Unterbrüdung be» Sonn» 
 tageljanbelio mit beraufd}enben ©etränfen überjeugt fein barf. 
 
 [gotgeu bie Olamcn »on 428 beutf^en (Sinwcfjnevn ucn ?len3:2)orf.] 
 
14 2)cc <Sonutag§l^anbcl mit bccaufc^cnbcn ©ctcänfctt. 
 
 1. 2)ie ®ianb-3uri? »om gebruat 1858, unter SSorfi^ »on SBil* 
 
 [on ©. Jpii'^t/ eifldrt: 
 
 „2)ie oon einem S:(;cile bcr 93cüü(fcvuiig an ben S!ag gelegte SBevad^tung ber ®e« 
 fc^e, uicldje bic (Scnntagö:geiet betreffen, i|l ein bebenflid;cö unb ftctö junct^mcnbc^ 
 liebet. ... 3n einigen ber üolfi:eid)ften (£tabttl)eile ftnb am ©cnntag -Jiadjmittag 
 nnb 5lbenb tljeatralifdje SÖtn-ficflungen, tvicltüd;e (Soncerte, Jlcgclba()ncn, (gd)ie^< 
 VlälpC, Oaufclfpiclc, fSanjfale, ^infifbanbcn, <gd}eiifcn nub alle mDgltd)en [üuftigen 
 nngc|"c§lid}eu ä3crgniigungcn in aodem ®ange, in cffenev a3crletpung be^ ©cfe^ciJ 
 nnb 5Jid}tad}tung bcv Obrigfcit. (Sine gvc^e ä)Jcnge unberoad)ter junger ilente unbent« 
 ftttlid)terälterec ^cutebeibcrlei ®efd)led)tö ftri»mt ju biefen, gefe^wibrig uffenen Orten 
 ()in, nnb bie ^ülgen baycn ftnb: SUi6fd}lr)eifungcn, -giänbcl unb l;ciu[ige ®cwalttl;atcn. 
 5tbgefc()en «on ber ^Belaffigung unb 33cleibiguug, iveldjc bcm bai3 ©ofe^ beubadjten; 
 ben unb d)riftlid}cn£()eilebcr Süeüijücrnng burd) fo(d}e Störungen enr>äd}|t, mu^ fd;oii 
 bie S;t)at)"ad;e, ba^ bie ®efctj,e auf foldje 3lrt öffcntlidj nerlcgit »ocrbcu foniien, cijnt 
 bag bie baju Dcrcrbncte Dbiigfeit i(}re -öanbl^abung burd;fe^eu fann, «on ber fd)äb= 
 lid)flen SBirtung fein. !Diefe 9Bir!ung crfirecft fid) nid}t nur auf bie Uebclgcfinuä 
 ten, wetdje an biefen ungefe^lidjen 3ufamnienfiiuften tl)eilnef)men, fonberu auf 5lllc, 
 irield)e burri) bie unwirffame «^anbl^abung bcö ®efe^eö ju einem fd;lcd)ten Scbeniäwaus 
 bet »eranlajjt werben, liüir cmpfel;lcn bal;cr, bap bie ®efc^e belauf«? Uuterbriiifung 
 biefcv iadjaujlednngeu fircng burd}gcfiif;rt, unb eö jur befoubercn ^4>ri'd;t ber ^poli^ei 
 gcniad)t i»erbe, biefelbcu burd} flete unb gteidjmajjige J^anbl)abung besS ®efc§e>5 ju 
 unterbriicfcn. (St3 ifl nid)t ju leugnen, bap biefe ungefe^lidjcn Sufammenfiinftc ju ben 
 -5au))turfad)en gefrören, burd) »etd)C in ber oerbcrbenen 3ugenb unferer ©tabt bie 
 furd)tbare ®eueigt()eit ju 93erbred)cn erjeugt wirb, bie »or unfern Jlriminal:®erid)ten 
 fid) tdglid) funb gibt." 
 
 2. 3)ic ®ranb=3un) üom Dftobcr 1858, unter SSorfi^ öon ß. fR. 
 9ÄorrU, crflürt: 
 
 „©ic 6ntweil)uug be3 ©onntagsJ »on ©eitcn berer, Wcld)C bie ja^lrcid)en !£tinfj, 
 Hanj- unb ®efang=üüfalc befud)en, bie burd) bie gan^e ©tabt fid) in aJknge finben, 
 ifi ein ®egcnftanb fteter Älage, unb erferbert ein cntfd)lüifencö unb wirffameö ©in; 
 fd)reiten ber Dbrigfcit bebnfö Unterbrücfung berfclben. 3)ie ®ranb=3ur^ ifi im ©cjt^ 
 \)cn 2;()atfad)en, n)cld)e bewcifen, baf gegen 20,000 j^^lle »on Uebertretung be^ 93er« 
 betö l)i^iger ©etränfc am ©cnntag ber ipolijei angezeigt Yoorben finb, o^ne bap auc^ 
 nur in (Sincm %a{k ein gerid)tlid)eö 5ßerfa{)reu cingeleit*:t itdre. <Dic ®ranb 3un) itt 
 ber 5lnfid)t, bap jcbeö @efe|}, bie (Sntwei^ung beö «Sonntag« betreffcnb, fircnge ge« 
 t)anb()abt werben folltc, wenigiienö fotceit ali nöt^ig iji, urn alle Störung ber öffent« 
 lidien giube ijon bencn fernzuhalten, bie eö öot^ic^cn, biefen Züq ^ö^crcn nni 
 beiligeren 3wccfen ju wibmen." 
 
ÜDer ©ountag!3t)vtiibc( mit berauf ii)enbeit ©etränf en. 15 
 
 3. 2)ie ©wnb-Siiii; lunu 21. San. 1859, unter SSorfi^ üon Z'i)ioi> 
 5Diartine, eifUut: 
 
 „3)ic ®ranb:3iui) faiin if;rc Sttbcitcn nirtjt fdjliefen, c^ue bcm ®ettd}t(S^cf uni 
 btnt ^^iiblifum bic inid^tige 2:f)atfacl)C »ovjulegen, baf ein fcf)r grofer S:()e(l bcr XUiiU 
 jiviubc, bie ftc in (Svuiägiing jii jiel;en ijutte, öoii bem SBevEauf unb ©eOiaurf; hixaw. 
 fcjjeiibcr ©ctvänfc (;errülute. 
 
 „gaft 'illc Siitfc uon 5Dlorb, lleberfaU unb ©djiägcrei, bt'c jur Untevfiu 
 (^niig gcfciumcii finb — unb bic 3a()t berfelben i|l fef)i: giop — vüfjrcn nact)wcislict; 
 üon bicfci' lUfadje l;cr. (ä'ö läßt fürt; bal}er nid^t abfc(;cn, wie eine 93cimiiibciung 
 ber ffictbvcdien ju cnravtcn fei, fo lange ©cfc^e juv Untevbviufung beö 33evfaufcö bcs 
 taufdjcubcr ©etvänfe cntivcbcv feilten, über, infoferu fie üciljauben, fid; alö ununiffvint 
 bewcifcn 
 
 „(S'tS irt adgenieiu bcfannt, baß bie 3al)l bec ©djcnfpla^c, wo jene ©etränfc »er; 
 fauft »evi?eu, ftd; binnen weniger ^Cif^xe (lavf üermef)vt l;at; unb I]ierau5 mag in 
 
 gkuöcnt Tlaijt bic fiiu-fc Öenncljtung kr 5öerlircc()cn, bcr Sjcrarnmng imb bcr 'ab: 
 gakuiaft ititfercr Stabt, fowie bie »emiel;rte Slrbeit unfercr (5riminal:©erid)tc ju er= 
 Haren fein." 
 
 2)ic ©i-anb-3url) i)om ?5ebruar 1859, unter SSorfi^ öon Sljarleä 
 5lug. !Dain^, gibt folgenbc nac^brü(f(tct)c @rf (drung ab : 
 
 „^te aJlenge ber Slvmeu biefer ©tabt unb Sounttj ift je^t auf beinahe öicrjig 
 itaufenb gefttegen. S)icfe ßa^l, bic mit 5)ied)t Seunrnbignng erweifl, jevfällt 
 in jtt^ei Jtiaffen, nämltd) foldje, bic tu beu öffcntlid^en Slnfialten, unb foldjc, bic 
 anberwcitig unterftii|t werben (indoor and outdoor poor.) 2)ic crtlcre klaffe niadit 
 Hngcfä(}r ein SSievtljeil, ober iiber 8000 auö ; bie (entere klaffe über 30,000. ©o: 
 mit finb 40,000 3lrme auf bie ^ürforge ber ©iniüerneurc be^ 2tvmeul}au3;3)cijartc-: 
 mcnt'J angewiefen, ju einem uon ben ©teucr^jflid)tigen aufjnbringenben .ftoftenbc^ 
 trage, wcld)cr ber ganzen Jlbgabeniaft gteidjfommt, bic cor nur 20 3^i()reu aufgebradit 
 werben mußte. 2)aö finb Sil^atfadjen fefjr beunruf)igenber 3lrt, iiüfleubö wenn wir 
 fiuben, baß nngead)tet einer fo anSgebefinten aBcf)U^ätigfcit baö Uebet in rafd}em 
 3une^men begriffen ijl, worauf unocrfennbar erhellt, baß 9lftei3, waö bie cfenttic^e 
 ä)iilbtl)ätigfeit geben mag, bie 93erarmung binnimmt, unb Wol;l ncd) weit me^r 
 baju. Uno bürf) bleibt baöjenige, watS bie ^riuat^iDiilbtljätigfeit tl)ut, nur Wenig 
 I)inter ben anfeljnlidjeu ©uninien jnriicf, weld)e bie bffentliri}e äJtilbt^dtigfeit uerauö: 
 gabt. 
 
 ,,*-öci Uuterfud}ung bcr %äilc, bie unö in einem langen SSer^eii^niß yon 93erbrcd;en 
 ju Slnfang unfercä je^igcu 3!crmincö uorgelegt würbe, finben wir, baß mit fefjr wenigen 
 2ln^na()mcn, bic angezeigten 93crbred)en in ^lä^en unb ^öf)len ber ©d}leri;tigfeit ent« 
 fprangcn, Wo bcranfdjenbe ©etränfc öcrfauft unb gctrnnfen würben." 
 
16 2)er 6onntag§l)aube( mit Berau[d)cnbcn ® ctran feu 
 
 ^cfc^c unb S5ci'orbmnigcn, ktrcffcub bcu 8omitag^^[)anbc( mil 
 kraufdjcnbctt ®cträu!cu, 
 
 1. ®c[c(pc, wc[d)c aikn 43^inbc[, itcbft ©picleii unb t()catvali[d)en 
 SSorfteÜungeu, am ^Sonntag i^ei-btctcii. 
 
 § 58. [5lbfct)nitt C4.] Diicmaub fc(( ivcjeiib cine Sßevfammluitg uon Scutcn,t'ie jum 
 ©cttcebiciift jufanimciiijcfoiiimen [tiiti,buvcl} lofe Sieben, biirdj rol;ei3 unb uuauftäubigcö 
 ^etivigcii, obcf buvcl; (Sireguug ücn Sävm, abfidjtUd) ftövcu, untevbred}cu iifcv beiin; 
 niljtgen, fei cä an ber Stätte beö ®ütteöbienfte(5 felbji, cbcv fo na()e babci, ba^ 
 bie Dvbiuuig unb feievtidje -Haltung ber 33erfammlung babuvd) gefiijit ipivb.-' 9lu^ 
 füf( Dcifnianb iunei()alb jwei i'Jieileit Don t>cnt Dxtt, 'mo ivgcnb eine 9lcligiLin(?;®efeHi 
 fd;aft gevabc jum ©ütteabieni^ uei'fanuneU ijl, Iji^ige ober beftillivte ©etväufc jum 
 aSevfauf übcv 5ßevfd}enten auäftetlen, obev cine ^ccfeibiibe t)alten an ivgenb einem 
 Dxk, ffiivtfjiStjaufc, Jlanf; cbcv 8pejcrei=l'aben, al^ nur an fold)cn, bie gel)övig liicn« 
 ftvt ftnb; unb an benen bev Jßcifäufei: feine geaHif)nlid)C ÖBo()nung gcl;abt ober fein 
 ®efd;äft betrieben [)at. 5hid; foil DJienianb, innerfjalb ber genannten (Sntfemnng, 
 irgeiibwcld)e @d}aufte(lnngcn ober ©piclc verantlatten, außer wenn biefelben ucn bet 
 betreffcnben 93cl;övbe ge(;örig lijcnfirt »vcrbcu ftnb.f 9lud) foU iJtiemanb, inucrl^alb 
 ber genannten (S'ntfernuug, irgenb ein Sycttrenncn irgenbweld)er SJ'l^ierc, über irgenb 
 ein ©picl \)i.ni ivgenb\ric(d}er l'lrt bcföiberu, unter|"tii^en ober betreiben, t 
 
 § 59. [l'lbfd^nitt 65. J äüer irgenb eine Jücftinunung beei vcrl)erge[)enben ?lbfdinittö 
 ücrlcljt, fann üur irgenb einem j5ricbeni3rid.)ter beS (icuntl), cfcr irgcür einem i'ialjor, 
 Steccrber, Sllbermann, ober fonftigcr obrigfeitlidjen *4^*erfün ber Stabt (city), n^o baö 
 •5yerget)n ftattfanb, fummarifd) übenincfon uu-rben ; unb U'cnn er übenviefcn uicrbeu 
 ift, füll er in eine ©elfftrafe r>erfa((en, u^eldje bie ©umme von 25 Sollarö nid)t iibcr» 
 fleigt, juni !i3e|ten ber Slrmen im (Sountl). 
 
 [(Viir ben 'tfaK, bajj jemanb bic ©etbftcafe unb Jloflen nid}t bcjafjlcn fann, ivirb iu 
 9lbfd)nitt G8. ©efängnififtrafe ücrgefdjrieben, bie nid)t über 30 S'age banern foil] 
 
 § 06. [^ilbfd)nitt 70.] ©iefer 5lbfd)Hitt »erbietet „<Svtcl, *ycfud) von (£d)enfcu, 
 ober irgenbwclct;e fonft gcfe^lid) erlaubte Hebungen ober 53eluftigungen, am evilcr 
 2Bod)entag, genannt Sonntag/' unb fdjrcibt für jcbeä S3ergel;n eine geringe ®elb. 
 firafc iior. 
 
 § 67. [2lbfd)nitt 71.] Qfliemanb foil irgcnblueld^e ffiaaren, ^anbcK^artifel, ?irüd)te, 
 »Kraut, ©üter ober fonftige Jgabe am ©onntag jum 93erfauf aueiftetlcn, aut^genomme« 
 Slcifd), iDiild) unb SifrijC, bic ju irgenb einer 3cit i'or neun Ul)r üliorgent^ ücvfaufl 
 tuerben bürfen. Sie in fold;er SBcife jum 33erfanf anögeftelltcn ©egenftänbc feilen 
 jum äBtften ber Firmen eingcjcgen unb Traft ctncä ju bicfem 3ivetfe auegcftefUeu 5i3avj 
 rantö, ben irgenb ein griebencirid;tev bc3 Süunt«, ober SDJaljor, Slcccrber ober JU'dccj 
 
 * 3n Oülge bitftr äöcflimmung ijl iai Slitäfijjrticn ber BcitungSbutcn unflcfctlid). 
 + Viei ifi auf SoflerMer-ÄlKater auweiibV'ür. 
 
 t Xxei 'BcrbBt i(l auf bic aufeer^alb tcr ©labt onattleHtcn Wettrennen tvcriibcr ffter« flctlagl wirb, 
 «mecnblnr. 
 
5)er SonntagS^anbet mit bcraufc^cnben Oetrdnfcn. 17 
 
 mann ber ©tabt ^icrmit ermädjtigt ifi auöju^eflen, auf gefc^el^cne UeBcrweifung be« 
 ©c^ulbigcn »cggencmmen weroen. 9laci) erfolgtet aBegna(;me foKen (le, nadjbcm 
 folct;cö einen S^ag jnüor bcfannt gcmati;t njorben ifi, »eifauft, unb bet (Srlöö ben 
 2(rmen:5Uiffc(;ci-n tesJ 33cjivfi5 (town) oiix bee ©tabt auäbi^aijit »erben. 
 
 2. ®e|c(^e, ive(d)c beii 3}erfauf beraufcf)enber ©etcänfe, ol)ne Sicettj, 
 »ccbictcn. 
 
 ®te @c[ege öon 1857, Aap. 628, Bcfiimmen : 
 
 § 13. aL*cr ivgcnDroeld^e t^^irfe ober [piritnöfe ©etrdnfe ober Sffieine in Ouantitdten 
 »on weniger aU fünf ©aKonen auf einmal perfauft, cl)ne eine Sicenj bafitr ju Ijabcn, 
 btc fo crtl)eilt i\t, wie f;ier »orgefdjricben, fod in eine ©elbjirafc »on fünfzig ^oüaxa 
 für jebe Utbertretung »erfaden. 
 
 § 14. aßcf irgeuMoeldie ftarfe ober fpiritnöfe ©etränfe ober SBeinc in feinem 
 ^aufe ober l'abeu ju trinfcn oerfauft, o^ne eine Sicenj aU ^i\i)cihex eineö 2ßirt^a= 
 Oaufeä, einer ©cl;enfe ober einctJ ©ai'ilioftJ ju (jaben, feil in eine ©elbftrafe »on 
 fünfzig S)oüarö für jcbc Uebertretung »erfallen. 
 
 § 16, m füll bie *4>fiict)t jccf^ @cl)crijf'ö, Untcrfc^eriff'^, 2)epiit^:©c{}eriff'ö, Äon-= 
 ftabler'iJ, i'Jiavfcl}all'i?, *4)olijeibienerei otier ^^^'olijei^Dffijier'ö fein, ^eberniann ju »etc 
 Ijaften, ber über ber tl)atfärt)licl)en 5J3egel)ung irgenb einer Ucbertietung bicfcr Slfte 
 betroffen wirb, uud benfelbcn fofort »or irgenb eine obrigfeitüc^e *4^*etfcn berfelben 
 ©tabt ober iti JBejirfö ju füliren, bap mit iljm nacf; ben 33ejiimmungen biefet Slfte 
 »erfal;ren werce. Unb eö foil bie ^flidjt ber obrigfettlicl}en *4>evfon fein, .... einen 
 
 iöonb JU forbcrn jum ^betrage »ou einljunbert Dollar^ ©elbjlrafe ober 
 
 ben @cl;ulbigen in bag @ounti;=®efängni^ ju überliefern. Unb ferner foil cö bie 
 !j5iiid)t ber obrigfeitlidjen ^erfon fein, irgenb eine Sluflage wegen SSerlc^ung bicfer 
 Slfte anjune^mcn, bie Pon irgenb Senunben eiblid; gefd}iel;t, unb fofort einen SöavraHt 
 auöjufiellen. 
 
 Stnmcrfung. 2)iefe 58eftimmungen be,jie^n fid) fowo^l auf ben Sonntag al^ auf 
 bie aBerftage, unb geben bie 5ü0ü am ©onntag offenjie^enbe ©d;enfplä^e an, beren 
 feiner Sicenj l}at. 
 
 3. @e)c^e »ou 1857, Äav. 628, welche ben ©onntagglwnbel ou^ 
 bec lijenjirten 33erfäufec »erbieten. 
 
 § 21. Äcin Snljaber eineiS aBirt^äi;aufc:3, einer ©djenfe ober eineä ©aßbofö, ober 
 3emanb,ber Siccuj tjat, ©etränfe ju »erlaufen, foil beraufd}enbe ©eträufe ober SBeine 
 «m ©onntag, oocr an irgenb einem 2^age, an bem eine allgemeine ober befonbcre 2Ba^l 
 ober 5öejirfi2i;33evfammlung (towa-meeting) fiattfinbet, innerl)alb einer 53iertclmcile 
 »on bem Orte, wo fold;e allgemeine ober bcfonbere 3Bal;l, ober 93cjirf«3»crfammlung 
 in irgenb einer ©tabt, Sorf ober QBejivt biefeö ©taateö gel^alten wirb, an irgenb 3e- 
 manben, wer eö and) fei, alö ©ctrdnf »erlaufen ober »erfdjenfen. ^atlö bie SBa^l 
 ober 58e^irfö:93erfammtung nid}t allgemein burd) ben ganjen ©taat l)iu gefdjie^t, 
 follen bie 93ejiimmungeu biefeö 9lbfd;nittö nur auf biejentge Btabt, (Sountp, S)orf 
 ober SBe^iif Qluweufung leiben, in beneu foldje a3at)l ober 53ejirfe<a3crfammlung 
 fiattfinbet. 20er immer bie Seftimmungen biefeö Slbfcf)nittci3 übertritt, foil ali3 eineiS 
 33ergel;eni3 (misdemeanor) fdjulbig angefel)n, unb iiadjbcm er überwiefen i|i, i« 
 (Süuuti)=®cfängnif, 5lrbeitö()anfe ober ©trafgefängni^ nic^t mel;r aU jwanjig 2:a9e 
 gefangen fi^en. 
 
 4. 2}ie 9}^ett:ovo(itani^o(ijeü3(ftc bcftimmt: [©efe^c üon 1857, 
 
 ^ap. 569.] 
 § 21. (So foil Dliemanbcn gefe^lic^ erlaubt fein, irgenbwelc^c beranfdjenbe @C# 
 
18 iDcr ©onntaggl^anbel mit beraufc^enben ©ettdnfeu, 
 
 tranfc am ciftcn ilag tcv SDcdje, genannt ©onntag, ober an ivgenb einem öf|cnt(id)cn 
 lÖal)Uage, iniicifjalb beö befagten S)Jctvüpülitan=^4)ülijci=53ciirfö öftc"tltcl) ju l)c;teQ 
 cbev feiljubicten, unter einer ©clbfirafe »on fünfjig 2)o((arö fiir jcbc Uebertrctung; 
 unb eö foil bc()ufö ®injiel)ung biefcr ©elbftrafe Jllagc eingelegt werben im Dkmcnbcö 
 ffloUö beö ©taated 9tew=ä)or'! bind) bcn 5i3cjirtö-.2lttc»nici) bcä (Sonnti;, in raeld}em bie 
 Ucbcrtvetiing begangen twrben ijl, jnm S3eficu beg Police Contingent Fnnd. Unb e3 
 feU bie *]>rlid)t ber ^;potijei=53e()crt)e fein, bie 93eftimmungen biefeS 3tbfd)nitt3 ftrengc 
 burd;jufül)ren, burd) angcmeffene 93efet)te ju biefcm 3»e(fe» 
 
 5. 2)te ftäbtif^e SSerorbnung »on 1855 fe^t feft: 
 
 §1. «Kenn irgeub Semanb tu ber ©tabt 9letv=g)LH-f SBein, 9l(e, SagerBier übet 
 anberc fiarfe über fpirituöfe ©etränfe im Älcinljanbel \)ertauft über überliefert, ober 
 julä^t, bap fijein, 2l(e, Sagerbier cber anbere ßarfe ober fpirituöfe ©etränfe, bie ocn 
 i^m fü »erfauft ober überliefert werben fiub, in feinem ^aufe, Dlcbenljaufe, ©arten 
 ober fonftigem ©ruubeigentbum irgenbweld)er Slrt, getrunfen »erben, ül;ne gefe^lic^ 
 licenrirt ju fein, über weniv Semanb, ber fo liceufut ifi, iulägt, bag fflein, 5llc, Sager= 
 bier über anbere ftarfe cber fpirituöfe ©etränfe, bie in oorbefagter 3Beife \)erfauft über 
 überliefert fuib, am crften SJage ber aBod;e, genannt ©onntag, in Dürbefagter SBeife 
 getrunfen »erben, aufgenommen oon Äüftgängeru unb bei Um Sogirenben über wirf= 
 lid)en SReifenben, innerf)alb ber ^Beftimmungen bcö ©cfe^cö, fo feil er fi'ir jebe foldje 
 UebertretiMig ben f)ievnad} benannten ©trafen nnb ©trafgelbcrn verfallen fein. 
 
 §§ 2-4. S)iefe ^aragrav^fien bejlimmen, bap cä bie 5l5flid;t jeber obrigfeitltd)eu 
 ?Perfon fein foil, auf gcfci)et)ene Älage wegen 93erle^ung irgenb eineef %i}(i[6 bed erfteu 
 Stbfdjnitteä, unb auf fiattgeljabten 93e»eiö ober ©ejtänbnig, ben Uebertreter cinc^ 
 S3crge()cne( fd}utbig ju erflären, unb if)m für jebe foldje @d)u(bigevfläruiig eine ©elbfirafr 
 ton nid)t über je()n ©ollarö aufjulegen, unb wenn er biefclbe nid)t be^afjlen fann, ibn 
 für einen 3citraum üon nid)t md)x alö einem S^ag für jcbeu Sollar ber fo aufcrlcgtcu 
 ©ettiftrafe gefangen ju fc^eu. Stile auf foldje aöeifc eingejcgcnen ©eiber aber follcu 
 an baei 2lrmcnl}auö=2)ei3artement befjufö Unterftü^ung ber 3lrmeu ber ©tabt auöbe-- 
 jal)(t werben. 
 
 Slnmerfung. Stuö Dbigem gefjt Ijersor, bag jeber ©onntagsJinnfauf bcranfdjenber 
 ©etränfe eine Uebertretung uou wenigftenö nier ©efe^^ien ift: nämlid) ihmi ^cn ©efc^en 
 Wiber allen ©onntagtS^anbet; bcnen gegen nid)t liccnfirten 2ßcrfauf beraufdjenber 
 ©etränfe; ber aJictropontan=5ßplijei:3lftc üon 1857, unb ber fiäbtifrijcn a3ercrbnun^ 
 öon 1855. 
 
 -•■ — • — ■•- 
 
 'ätiM ou*? ^J?cti)=9)orfer Leitungen, bie Soiintnö^fraj^c Bctrcffciib. 
 
 3luö bem Journal of Commerce »om 5. 3uni. 
 
 ®cutfche 3tccn un6 ©fgentftfitnlichrcitcn. 
 
 3!)ie ^been uno @igentf)ünilid)fcitcn ber g)anfcc''J( (Yankee notions) flnb fpvüdjwört; 
 tid) geworben, (iß giebt aber ebeufowoljl beutfdje 3been unb CS'igentbümlid); 
 feiten. (Sinige barunter fiiib gut, anbere liegen in ber iliitte jwifd)cn gut unb fdjlec^t, 
 nod) anbere finb entfd)ieben fd)led)t. 9ßenu biefelben ftd) ju etwaö wirtlid) Sööfem 
 geflalten, fo muffen fte bcfämpft werben, fowo(;l jum heften berer, bie fie l;egeii, alö 
 um beö üffentlidjcn Sßo^leö willen. 
 
5)er ©onnta9§I)anbcImit6crauf(^enbcn @etranfcn. 19 
 
 ©ie warmc ?^reif)eit^(iebf, hjclc^e altjcit t>cn bcutfc^cn ©tammc^enoffcn eigen ge^tc 
 fen ift, mad}t fie für 9lmerifa ioo(}lgeeignet. 2)ei- glei§ unb bie ©pavfamfeit, tie fidj 
 ge»cl)iUid) untev il)iien fiubeit, lä§t unö-in i^nen einen iDillfornmencn 3n^vact}ö unfe= 
 rer fflcuölfctung evbücfen. ilntec guten (Sinfiiiffcn, befontcv^ wenn füc unter tcr 
 amerifanifrl}eu Jöeoölterung gct}ijvig ücvt^eil't ftnb, fo bag bcr ©tvcm i()veö Sebcuö fid) 
 mit bem unfern eint, werben ftc unfere fdjä^barjlen 93iirger, unb verbieneu, uiaö il;nen 
 aud) ju S'()eil lüirb, groge 2ld)tung. 
 
 "^ '"' ■" ' "" ■ "■ ■^- ---r <--.- ^ w.-. rj.f.j^.i.n.._ "••■--itpj,,, 
 
 eifel= 
 euro; 
 fteteu 
 
 .,.„v.....,v" 0" ' V —>•• ,..,.,„,.-.. ^ , ... ,..., r bcn 
 
 ©cutfdjcn'finben, in cr{]iij()te iftjätigfcit unb Jtraft fe|,en, foinerbeu bicfelben gauj a\u 
 bere Sieute, auf bie l^infort fein 93crlag mef^r ift. ©er Unterfd}ieb ber Spradje, bct 
 fie ijon ben bilbeuben, ijieilfamen (iinpiiffen fernfjatt, »cld)e beftänbig auf bie cuglifd) 
 rcbenbe SBeuijlferung einw>irten, mad)t bie ®cfaf)r um fo grijgjer. 
 
 2)cr b)llid}e ^ijeil unfcrer ©tabt nimmt mit rafd)eu fcd^ritten einen bentfrf)cn 
 (S^arafter an. 2)te ciifte unb fiebeujefjute nebft nod) einigen anbern Sarbö ent()alten 
 bereit»^ me{)r !l>eutfd)e alö bie mciften großem Stäbte 2)cutfd)lanb'»3 felbft. (So »oirb 
 begfjalb für unä immer h5id)tiger, bie unter itjuen (jerrfc^enben 9lufid)ten ju feunen 
 unb i()r ^Berf^ältnig i;u unferen ©efe^cn unb ©eirofjn^^eiten ju erörtern. (So ift fd)on 
 oon üorn therein ju erwarten, bag wir einerfeitö ä)tand)eö üon i^nen lernen, anberfeitö 
 i()nen einige wid}t!gc Sctjren geben fijnueu. 
 
 Unfere bciberfeitigen 9lnjtcl)ten üom Sonntag gc^en febenfaKö weit auöetnanbcr. 
 Uu3 ift ber Sonntag ein gctteiJbienfttidjcr, ber 9itul)C unb 2lnbad}t gcwibmeterJ'ag. 
 !Die gcwöfinnd)cn @efd}äfte ftcf)eu ftif(, bie fonft üblid)en 93crgnügungen werben bei 
 Seite" gcfcBt. 'Ji^ir beftimmcn (Sinen Xüq unter ficben ju fc>rperlid)cr 9taft unb geifti: 
 ger (Srl)ebuug. Unfere (Sefe^e nötijigen ben 9lrbeitgebcr, baö aKgcmeine 9(nred)t bcr 
 arbciteuben jltaffen auf biefe @abe bco Jj^immelö ju c()ren. Unb nid)t nur ba(3, fie 
 geben nod} einen Sd)ritt weiter unb oerbiubern, ebcnfa((3 im 3ntcrc|te bcö 9lrmen, 
 bag fein fauer üerbienter 3Bod)en(of}n in bie !£afd)e beS 2Birti)cö gctjc, unb fein ein.^is 
 ger Kuf^etag i()m, feiner j^'ini'^ie "'ib feiner weiteren Umgebung ein %l\id) werbe. 
 53ei bcn S)eutfd)eu ()ier ,^n l'aubc ift bagegcn bcr Sonntag ein Xaq bctS finnlic{)en ®t: 
 nnffci^, ber S!ag für *l>ifnifi^, (Srcurftoncn jn ffiaffer unb ju :^aube, c'ffcntlid)e S)jie(e, 
 lärmenbe iüiuftf, S^anj, £l)eatcr:93orftc((ungen, 9l((e^ im (Selcit gaujer Ströme H,a-. 
 gerbier ober nod} ftärferen (5)etränfecs, je nad)bem ber äJtagen unb ber (55elbbeutel ti 
 julägt. 
 
 2Bir woficn unö nid}t babei auff)a(tcn, bie 9lid)tig!eit biefer jwei fo iicrfd)iebenar; 
 tigcn Sluffaffungcn be^ SonutagsS nä()er ,^u erörtern. (Sine einzige Stefte aui^ einent 
 bicfigeu bcutfd)cn 581atte wirb jeigen, bag wir bie Sac^e rid)tig targcftcllt f)aben. ©er 
 ,,1)cniofrat" vom oorigen Sonnabenb fagt : ,,ffiir b^iben Sommergärten unb Som^ 
 mert()eatcr ; aber nod) lange nid)t genug, ©ampfboote unb (Sifenba[)nen muffen 
 Sonntags erft 2!aufeube l)inanstragcu in'^ ^rtic; Wlwiii unb San^ unter grünen 
 ©änmcn müiTen ertönen, Wobin man ftd) wenbet; i'iberad Suft unb Veben unc ^■rcut'C, 
 unb bann, 3l)r .öerren SBaffcrftnipct, ftccft (Sure Olafen in bie Sd)navp3fpeüinfcn, bie 
 (Suer frommes 4?crj je^t fo erbittern mad;en, ^i)x werbet fie leer ftnbeu ; aber nid)t 
 früber." 
 
 (iä will unö bcbüufen, baS f)ier angegebene 5DtittcI, bie Sdmavvofpcluufen leer ^n 
 mad)en, würbe ba,^u dienen, anbcre 9lnftaltcn ricn gfeidier 2!enbcn^ um fo mcl)r ju 
 füllen ; nur bag bicfelben weiter ab in bie 33orftäbtc bini^nörücfen unb unfern OJacl): 
 barn läugo bcß JDubfon-.§lu(fC'3 unb t>er 93al) eine fleine ''^robe eines nad) bcm iDiotto 
 ,,rjmmcr luftig!" gefeierten 3iew>:5)orfer beutfd)en Sonntagö gcwäl)rcn würben. So 
 »icl aber ift gcwig, bag ein gebräiigtoollcö l*agcrbicr--!Sl)cater in tuT i^oiocrl) ober 
 Sicrtcn Strage alien aiibcrn unreinen, fd)lcd)t gelüfteten, bie (^^cfun^bcit luHiicrbenben 
 Crtcn in ber iBclt ben 9Liug abläuft, ©er 33orwanb, bem ©efalbabereincS Sd)Warj-. 
 reifes ober eines brunftigen (53ebctbüd)(cinS jn entgcben, um an fold)cn £}rtcn ,,(Srl)o» 
 hing" jn finbcn, ift bal)cr ein ebcufo banbgreiftid)er Unfinn, als wenn 5cmanb «om 
 g?roabwal) binweg nad) ßf)erri)ftr. eilen Würbe, in ber 9lbftd)t, bort eine reinlidjere 
 Strage an.^utreffen. 
 
 ©od), bie %x<.iQi nad) bcr Sflid)tigfcit biefer 5ln(td)tcn bei Seite — wcldjc 9liiftd)t 
 
20 2)et@onntag3^anbe(mitberaufc^cnben®ettänfcn. 
 
 foH bei un« gelten ? SBel^c f)at gcfdjid^tlid^ ftd^ fo ImäUt, ba§ fie geredete 5lnfvni^e 
 auf ©eltung tjat? ®ä ifijeDcnfall^ 3et»if_/ ba§ bec Sevfiic^, ben mir mm einbikJ jwet 
 3a^rf)unberte (ang mit unfevem aiueiifanifc^n Sonntag gemadjt ^ben, bie iHnfjäug^ 
 liAfcit unfercö SSolteö on bie wefentlic^eu ©vunblagenbicfcr tt)o(;ltt)ätigen (Einrichtung 
 niä)t gefd)wäd^t ^at. äßir ^aben nod) feine Urfad/e gcfunben, feinen l)eilfamen läins 
 flup auf Äijrper unb ®ei)t, auf bie ©ittlid;feit unb bae öffentlid;c Üöoi^i in 3»eifel ju 
 jieljeu; unb in Solge beffen il)u ju bcfcitigen. Unfcr nationaieiS geben i(] fo getieften 
 unb fo evjlavft, ba§ cö SJüilionen Ü)icnfd;en axi& bcn Säubern, in bcnen am «Sonutag 
 „Sujl unt> Seben unb greube" f)errfd;t, Ijicdjet ge,^ogen ^at. Ölud) ift uu^ niri;t be^ 
 faunt, ba§ man unter iDtufif unb Zan^, bie im ©djatten griiner 53änmc ertönen, bie 
 Saf)n jur erfe^nten j^rei^eit in jenen Säubern mit CSrfolg eingefd)lageu I)ättc, »IBir 
 üerweifen {)icrbei auf eine ©teile in Jpadam, n)eld)e ba()iu lautet, bafj bie *|jotitif be^^ 
 potifd)er J^errfd;er allzeit barauf gcrid)tct gewefcn fei, bie Suft an ä?crgniignngcn 
 unb ©cniiffen in bcn 93ölfern ju beföibern, weilbaa fie üom *Jlad)bcufen über politifdje 
 unb OteligiouiS-.'gragen abl^altc unb jtc in fold^er äöcife auf[)citerc, bajj fie il)rcu Srucf 
 nid^t fiU/len. (So fd^eint bemnad), ba§, wcnu eine freie Siegieruugeiform bei uuij fort; 
 beiielien fo((, eä fldjercr ifi, jtd) au ben Slnferpla^ ju Ijalten, ben bie eiu,^igen freien 
 Sölfer auf (Srben junerläffig befunben t)aben, aiß in ©ee ju ge()en uub Sagerbier jur 
 @d)iplabung, bcn Sonntag jum 5lbfat)rtdtag uub baö 33erberbcn jum 3iel ber galjrt 
 
 ju cvwätjlen. 
 
 Stu3 bem Sounial of Commerce »om ll 3nni. 
 
 !Der ,,'3)emofrat" unb bie „Staatöjeitung" fc^einen ben feftcn 2üi(len ju 
 
 Ifaben, bie 5Jlbfid}t ber ^^ctitiou über ben ©cnntagöbanbel mit beraufdjenbeu ®eträn-. 
 
 fen nid)t ^u nerfteljen ; fie fabrcn fort, bie ganje @ad)e unrid;tig bar^^uftellen 
 
 Sie SRebafteure biefcr 5i3lätter füllten jcbori) bie feljr bebeutfame Stjatfadjc bead^tcn, 
 bag üüu unferm !Du^enb taglidjer Seitungeu, bie in engtifd;cr @prad)e erfd^einen, 
 uic^t eine cinjige gewagt l)at, bie Q3illigfeit .beö in ber *)Jetitiou au^.^fprodiencn 53e'. 
 gel;renä, baf? bie beitebcnben ®efe^e i)eröffentlid;t unb auägcfiU)rt »erbeu, in 3weifel 
 JU jicljen. ©ogar ber ,,4ieratb", »ctd)en ber ,,2)emofrat" at'3 ,,träftigen 93ertl;eibis 
 ger ber unä angeboreucii StedHc" anfiUjrt, Ijat biefelbc nidjt beftritten. ffiaö für 
 i^ebler unfcre Saget^neffe fjnft and) baben mag, feine Seitung unb feine Partei I^at 
 Suft, il;ren gutcniHuf babu«-d) auf'sJ @piel ju fe^en, bap fte bem 2lufrul;r unb SSetä 
 brcd}en baö öBort rebet. 
 
 2)ie ältcftcn wie bie jüngfien ©efe^c alter nnfrcr ©taaten — mit ein ober 
 
 jwei 5lui^nal)men, bte aui5 bem Sßorwiegeu beö fran.^oftfi^cn unb fpanifd^en (Slementd 
 l)crriil)rten — l)aben bie 9lotl)»eubigteit eine^ »ijd^entltdjen ülubetageö für iDlcnfd, 
 unb äJiel) anerfanut. ©ie ^aben bcn erjlen Xa^ ber aöod;e in 33ejiel)ung auf geiuöljns 
 lid)e 5lrbeiten unb ©elbfontrafte bel^aubelt, aiä fei er gar nid)t ba. ©ie (;aben gcs 
 fucl)t, bem 9lrbeitcr, fowo^l bem fdjwarjen wie bem »eigen, bem leibeigenen wie bem 
 freien, alöbann ein rut)igei5 SUbembolen ju ftd)ern. ©ie ^aben bem Kapital geboten: 
 bu follft Dlicmanben ju jiebentägiger Strbeit nötl)igen, fonbern follß für bie l'lrbcit ber 
 fcd)ij äöcrftage fo «ict ijal^lcn, ba§ ber Slrbeiter ben fiebcnten iSag als gtul)ctag bcnu^en 
 fann. ©ie Ijaben bcn 53raunt»ein= unb Sagerbier^UJertäufern geboten : iljr follt an bem 
 cin,y'geu Stubetage beö 5lrbeiteri5 fein ^anbel^;9){oncpol t;aben, uub follt feineu SBodben« 
 lobn, ber bem l)ungrigeu iDhtnb ber ©einigen gebort, nid)t in eure 3;;afd;en fJerfen. 2)ied 
 Silleö ()abcn unfre (Sjcfe^e jeber.^eit mit ftetä j^unebmenbcm Öladjbrud auijgefprodjen ; 
 unb nun will mau uuä auf einmal fagen, bag biefc (SJefc^e nnferer a3erfaffuug juwi^ 
 ber ftnb unb if;r |tet^ ,^u»iber waren'? äi?er fagt bieö? ©ie fidj mül)cube aJlcnge, ju 
 beren 5Dol)t jene ®cfe^e gegeben würben? ober bie Seute, bereu ©elbtlfud}t bcn Sir» 
 men jugleid) feiner 9lube uub feinet ©elbC'J berauben möd^tcn? — 
 
 ®iefe ®efe^e mit ben in il^nen oerförperten 9lu(i[d)ten bilben einen ebenfo 
 
 Wcfentlidicn "^eftanbtbeil unferesJ nationalen Sebenö, wie bad 9iepräfentativ:©i)ftem 
 ober bie @d)wurgcrid)te. 3a, fie finb für bie ^■igentbümlid^feit unb tieffte (SJrunbiage 
 nnfercL^ nationalen Sebenö nod) be3eid}nenber; beun fie berübren fowobl unfre mora-- 
 lifd)on aliJ unfve politifdjen (5)runblagen. 35npouceau, unfer würbiger frau^öftfdjer 
 Sliitfämvfer im Sieüolntiout^friege, ging fo weit, bag er, nad) langem Slufeutbalt bier 
 im Sanbe, fid) äugcrte, ,,bag tjon 3lllcm, worauf wir als? auf ctwaö und (S"igeutbüm-. 
 lic^eö ftol,5 wären, unfre ©onntagdfeier bad ciujige wabrfiaft Dtationale unb Slmeri« 
 fanifcl;e fei; unb wenn nidjt um anberer Urfadjcn, fo l)offc er fd)on um biefcr willen, 
 
!Dcr(5onntagal;anbctmitJ)craufc^cnbett©cträn!cn. 21 
 
 ra§ wix immci-bav mit ipatriotifc^er a}cvliebe ii)t jugctljan bleiben njucbcn/' Uni» baä 
 werben wir. ^at uufcv 9iat^ bei unfern bcntfc^en unb fonfJigen (Sin»anbcretn trgenb 
 ein ®cwicl}t, fo ratfjen tttir i^nen, {xdj mit bcm ooUcn unb gleichen 2)lage bürgerli^er 
 iinb religiijfcr 5veil;cit ju bcgniigen, unter »eldKm unfer 93olf fid) eine« ©ccei^enöer: 
 freut i}at, baö fein anberetS 93clf auf li'rbcn erreiri;en wirb. Ünb »vir ratfjcn i^nen 
 ferner, biejenigen aus5 l>er alten ffielt flammenben l'iebl)abereien unö ©emot^n^eiten 
 aufjugcbeu, ir»elcl)e bort 3wangö = 9iegierungen nct^iBenbig gemacht t;aben unb 
 ein ®Ieict)eö ()icr t[)un ««erben, u-enn (Sigenmadjt, ©efe^lcftgfeit unb ^rreligion un= 
 jlere njcife unb glücfUc^e ©efe^eösSÄeg terung umwerfen. 
 
 2luö ber yim^'^oxta Stactöjcüuno t»o»n 3i- 2Jiai. 
 ©onntagögcfe^« Petitionen. 
 
 ^etitionäformutare, bie fircnge 93efc(gnng bcö fünften 5lbfc^nttte3 bet ajietro^jolta 
 tan *4Jctijei=2tfte oerlangenb, circuUren wieber. öinö in bentfc^et Ueberfe^ung tarn 
 auä) unö jur -^anb. — "^äBir emj^fe^Ien bie Unterjeidjnung btefer petition nic^t unb 
 ratzen entfc^iecen baüon ah. 
 
 ©iefcr ^aragrapl^ fünf fjaubcU befanutlic^ Dom ©onntag^gefe^e. S)ie *)Jetit:on 
 nimmt befonberij Dtitcffid^t auf ben ä5cvfauf beraufd}cuber ©etränfe, — fie ifi eine 
 il'cmpcrcnjr^^etition. — (So fällt unö lüdjt bei, junt Ungc^orfam gegen be)lel}enbe 
 @efc|e aufzureihen, aber ebcnfowenig fann eä un3 in ben ©inu fommen, einer ^ewe: 
 gung ju ®uuflen i^ou ©cfe^en, benen wir il)re conßitutionelle ©iiltigfeit fietö beftrit- 
 ten, bae! 3Bcrt ju retten. 
 
 äßir l)alten bie Srunffudjt, werbe fie öffentlid) ober fjcimlid) befricbigt, für ein Sa-- 
 fier, gel)i>ren and) nid)t ju denjenigen, wcld)e einen ©onntagöraufd) für berechtigter 
 galten ais bcu 'iBod}entag'3raufc^ ; aber 2llteö, tvci^ im 3ntcrcffe beö S^cmpercnjprinji^ 
 pei gcfd)ie()t, befämpfenwir al^ Sorurt^eil, alö iDiucferei, alö Vclitifd)e Jlapitalma- 
 d)erci. 3Ser ben ciratlirenben Petitionen feineu 91amen beifügt, untcrfdjreibtallbiefe 
 S3orurtl)eile unb nimmt alö (S'iugcwanberter ben 3!emperenjfanatifern gegenüber bei^ 
 läufig biefeibe (Stellung ein, in weldjer ftc^ ein für ben ^^aragrapl) 3»öif petitioniren^ 
 ber 5(boptiwbürgcr befänbe; — benn es wirb in bem ISirculare anöbrücfüci^ bed 
 (äingcwanberten, at3 f)cr»orragenben ©onntagö^Stttentätcra gebad)t. 
 
 Sie 3rrtl)ümer unb 2öi(lfürlid)feiten, weld)e barin liegen, bie curopäifcfee 9lrt ber 
 ©onntagsfeier mit ber 3unal)me beö S3crbred)enö unb ^isauperisJmuä in 3nfnnimen: 
 I)ang ju bringen, l;aben wir fc^on genügenb befprcc^cn. ®cn SSerfaffern ber ^Petition, 
 weld}e ftd} auf bie (Scnutagömanifefie üerfd)iebenfr ©ranbjurorö berufen, gilt biefeibe 
 ffliberlegung, weld}e bie argumentation bcr®ranbjurorö ibrer 3eit yon unferer@eite 
 crfaliren. 2Bir Ijaben bamalö bnrd) 3a^len nad^gewiefen, ba^ bie 3unaf)me ber 93er: 
 Haftungen am (Sonntage uid}t üon einer wirfüd)en 93erme^rung unfittlid;er ^anblun; 
 gen ficvrülne, fouberu uon ber !Jl)atfad}e, ba§ burd) baö S)letropolitan:^]}olijeigefe^ 
 eine neue ®attung ungcfe^tidjcr |)anblungen gefd)affcn Würbe. 
 
 Um ben ®eift, in weld)em bie petition abgefaßt ifl, ju c^arafteriftren, lieben wti 
 bloö folgcnbe (Stelle t}erocr : ,, Unb wir beljaupten: and) uufere freien ^nftitutionen 
 fönnen babei nid)t befieljen, inbem if)r ©ebeifien unb i^rc (Srl)a(tung pon ber öffentli; 
 d)en Slnerfennung ber je^n ®ebcte unb ber ©runbicljren beö neuen S^efiomentö ab: 
 l;ängt." 
 
 3wei fünfte be3 Gircularö fc^eiucn uns aber por äffen anbern unbegreiflich. (Bx-- 
 jlenö, wie ein fo frommeä ©ofument gfeid) in aflem 9lnfangc ben materiellen ®rnnb, 
 bie (Sinfünfte ber ©tabt burc^ baö 93c|^ef)en uid)t licenftrter iBirtl)fd)aften beeinträd); 
 tigt ju feben, gcltenb mad)en fann — alö ob baä ©ünbcngelb für »ertorcne ©eelen 
 bem ftäbtifd)en ©cf)a|,e ©egen bringen fönne — unb j^weitcui?, wie gute (Sf^riften bie 
 ®cttgefälligfeit ibrcr ä)iitmenfd}en yen ^>ro^ubitisgcfe|en, ron ber pl)pfifd)eu Unmög= 
 lidjfeit, bem Safier ^u fröl)ncii, abfjängig mad)en unb ber (;ffcntlid)en 2)cciat babnrcf^ 
 ibre wat;rc 2öei^e, nämlid) bie freiwillige ^Ibfiinenj, rauben fönnen.=* 
 
 * Xai iil gcrabe fo gerebet, luie rcenn man fagcn mürbe: bie freiwiDigc (Sntfialtuag »on bcrUjt- 
 fcufd)6cit ifl bie roatjre SBeifee ber (S^e.folflüd) rauben alle 9>vo!)ibiti»gefefe gegen Unteufdjbeit unb (Sfje- 
 brud) ber &t ii)ve xea\)tt SOet^e. DCer : ?!roI)il)iti»9efe^e gegen Siebiiatl rauben ber (S:!)rlui)feit i^ri 
 wafere äBeil^e. 
 
22 !Der6onntag§fjanbctm{tbcraufd)cnben©ctränfen. 
 
 Stuö bcm ^m=^otitt 2)cmo!rat »om 30. 3Jiai. 
 ©cr!£ag beö <§errn. 
 
 2Bie bie St^cfAjc im ©umvifc uon 3cit ju Seit '^ic .Köpfe cmpcvfirccfen, nnb bitrd) 
 ffir me[obifcl)eö ©equafc bie (aufct}enbcu l'iifte cvquirfcii, um brtim ivtebet in iljt 
 »äjyciig fiimpftgei5 (ilemcnt juvüff^ufinfcn, fo verteil audj bicSünntagöfjcilicicn ab unb 
 ^u ausj rem 'eiimpf iljveä Jliidieiiglaubenö bie .Köpfe in bie ffielt (jinein unb quafen : 
 „.ryeiligi bcii Sabbatl) ! (£ct)äubet nicl}t bcn Sing bcö .^cnn !" (Sin folctjeö Srofc^^ 
 concert ift am Freitag 9!ad)mittag üov bcn ^^ülijciconimipren aufgefüljvt »üiccn, 
 benen eine ©clcgaticn vm §vüfd}fcpfen ein äliemcvanbnm übevveid)te, in U>e'd)em 
 feicvlid)ft gegen bcn 33cvFaiif vcw beranfd}cnben ©etviinfcn am ©cnntag pvotcftirt nnb 
 bie 5lnfved}Ü)altung uub Snvd)fiUjvnng bei- ©onntageigefe^c pevlangt UMVt>. ©ie 
 ,,3;!imei5" nennt niitev ben Delegaten and) jwei bentfd)C 'gvöfd)c, iDfoller unb 9(iied)er, 
 bod) follcnncd; mel)icrc babei gcwefcn fein. ?lm ©onnabenb fam nnö eine bentfdie 
 ^iUtiticm ,^n, bie Untevfri)iiften ju cbigem3weife jufanimcn fammcln foK. ^ülgcnbcr 
 5paifng btene jnr ö()aroftci-trtif bevfelben : (.»pier folgt bei" ©djlnp bcr 4>ctition.) 
 
 ©aö gebt i'ibei bie t^'föfdjc ! 
 
 SDod), ibv ■Oevren bct^ Sabbatbö, ein SBovt im (Srnf^e! SBarnm finb bie Jlneipen, 
 unb jwar bie gemcinfteu, am Sonntag überfüllt? aßaruni fmb bie 5Bcrbred)cn am 
 gcnntag böuftger alö an anbtrn !Eagen ? ®te(;cn nid)t biefclben Jlncipcn, biefelben 
 S;i)eater aud) an jcbcni andern S^agc offen? 
 
 5l)t fcib|1 tragt bie ©d)nlb baran mit euren pcrfteinerten S^onntagägcfe^en. 3)cr 
 Slrbciter, bcr bie iücd)e l}inbnrd) füd) fdjwer abgcmü()t f)at, will einen 'taa, bcr (Srtjo- 
 lung babcn ; nnb bicfc ©rbolnng irivb ibm I)ier abgefd)nitten ; ea iftnid)t jercr JDienfc^ 
 fo ftin'fjifd}artig, bafi er feine (S"vl)clnng fid) auö bem ©efalbaber eineö igdjUHirjrorfea 
 ober anö bem' brunftigen ®ebetbüd)lcin l)olcn iönnte. 3)ie enge 2ßcrt|latt »erlangt 
 ben ©cgcnfag, bcr fielen Statur, ber 3wang bcr Slrbeit briingt jur Ungebnnbcnl;eit. 
 ®nt beiin ; fo gebt bicfeni natürlid)en ©range eine freie 9tid)tung, unb ber Sonntag 
 fttirb ein fTag ber j'ircubc, nid)t be(? i.'af}ere( loerben. 
 
 .giabcn bicbcntfd)cn -perren, wcld)e bie *45ctition entworfen (jaben, jemalö einen beuts 
 fd)cn Sonntag gcfel)cn? .§aben fie gefcljcn, wie in frohem ®cwül)le fidjadcö j^uben 
 $!l)orcn t)inauöbrängt? 3n j'jn^c nnb jn Üßagen, jn 2öaffer unb yt ^anb. J^ier wirb 
 gctanjt nnb gi-fpielt, gcfcgelt nnb gefnngen, unb bie ^Jjolijei ftcljt müfjig, fie l}at nidjtö 
 jiu tt)un ; benn bie gebotene greil^eit bcr lSrf)olung ift bie fid;er|te ©d;ranfe gegen bie 
 Ucbcrtretnng. 
 
 2)al)in wirb nnb muf; eö and) i;icr fommen, tro^ allem Dnafen ber SBaffcimänncr ; 
 jeber JTag bringt 95ortfd)ritt in btefcr 33cjicl)nng unb alles? tjarmonifdje Dinficiven auö 
 ben Sumpfgegenben ift „für bie Jla|^." iüiag c3 bie nnb ba, wo bcr pfäffifdje (Sin: 
 finfj ncri) übdwiegenb ift, gelingen, für eine SBeilc bie 93ernnnft äurücfjnbrängcn, — 
 über fid) bevgieicijen J^räumen in yjew^Sort b'"5"9cben, ift iäd)erlid). 3ßir Ijaben 
 ©ommcrgärten nnb Sommertljeatcr, aber nod) lange nid)t genug, ©ampfbootc 
 unb (Sifenbabncn niüffen ©onntagö crft S^anfenbe ()inaui3tragen in'^ Srcic; *Diufif 
 unb Ifanj unter grünen 5Bänmcn muffen ertönen, Wol)in man fid) wenbet, überall ^ufl 
 unb Scben unb ?ireube, unb bann ibr .|3crrcn aCaiferfimpel, ftedt eure Siafen in bie 
 ©d)nappöfpelunfen, bie euer frommet <§erj jc^t fo crAittern mad)cn ; tljr werbet fie 
 leer finbeuj aber nid)t früljer. 
 
 5Utö bem ?JclD=?)orf (?j)Jrcf? viom 31. Tlai. 
 S>U bcutt'd)c treffe über @onutag$flcfc<je. 
 
 ©er ,,5)cmofrat" fprid)t »on ben ?jröfd)en, wclcf)e bcn *polijeieommiiJärcn ein Tie- 
 moranbum gegen ben Überlauf »on beraufd)enren ©etränfeu am Sonntag überreicht 
 l)ätten, unb ift fcl)r entrüftet barüber, bafj and) ,,jwci beutfd)c 'Sröfd)c" mit babei gc^ 
 wcfcn feien ic. (J^ierauf folgen mcljrere Stellen auö bem Slrtitcl im ,,!Demcfrat." 
 ©dilic^lid) l)cij!t ci:) 
 
 ,,Sold)' gemeinct^ ®cfd)Wä^ ill bie Slntwort auf eine 5l5etition, bie nid)td gegen 
 Sonntagt3.(Srboluiigcn, gegen einen 5lucflug auf'ö l'anb ic. cntl)ält, unb l)anptjäd)lid) 
 gegen !Jrunfcnbeit unb Q3erlc^ung bed ©efcijct! am Sonntag gerid)tet ilt, woburd) bet 
 5i)i'"M*d)en fittlid)et<, gefelligcei, förpcrlid)eö ober pevfönlid;eö SBoblfein niri)t im ©Cj 
 ringjien geförbert, fonbevn nur Sd;abcn angerid;tet wirb. Sßir wiffen fcljt Wof)l, baf 
 
2) c r © n 11 1 a g § I) a n b e t m i t b e r a u [ d) c 11 b e n © e t r a n { e n. 23 
 
 (egiicn. 
 
 -2(ii(5 bcr 9^ctti=3orf XarnS vom i. 5uiü. 
 ü^ic S5c'.«tfd)cn uu& fcer ®ouutafl§hantcl mit bcraiifdicutcu ©cträttfeii. 
 
 yjiit *i3cfaiiei-n iie()mcn wiv »at)!-, bag bie ,,Staat!3jeituiu3" unb iicdi ein cbev jn^ci 
 ant'cxc ^cutt'cl)e Sla^C'^blättov iljve Vcfcc iu y3etvcff bed .Swcitcö ivrc fü()i-cii, bcii bie 
 'lU'titieu (^(.'iicit bcii ©onntag-jljaubcl mit bcvaufclienbcii (Sctvänfcii ci-nrcbt. Äciiie 
 neuen (.Mefcl3e werben f aein bcgel)rt. .Reine alten Idn^ft abgefümmencn Ocfct^c wcvbeu 
 rtus5 beni Staube Iievyuigefuriit, um wieber iu Jlvaft gefcPit ju uunben. VlKe.?, wai 
 CüK bcn 'i^clijeicümmiffävtu üevlaugt wire, ift bie fcj'te, gebulbige 2huifiil)iung uon 
 @efeg,en unt iCerorbnimgen, bic unter ber ftäbtifdteu 33eiwaUnng i^ni yJtai)i.H- ÖBucß 
 im ^ün 1855, fowie bnvd) bic ©efelpgcbuug uüu 1857 crlaffen worben finb, unb aud; 
 ^aiJ nur uad) vergängiger äßaruuug ferer, wetd^c fie biöl)er übertreten (jaben. 
 
 iSä ift alp fein Ävenv^ng t^er S}ui(;igfeit3i'creiue gegen bie S3ranntn)ein:93erfäufcr, 
 füu^evu taö bifennene iBege()ren, gegen ben ungefel^lidjen unb cntfittlid}cnben Scmu 
 tags3l)anbeL SdjuK ju er(;alten. Unb biefe ?(orc>ernng ge(;t ausS neu einer 5ln,^al)l un-. 
 ferer eüuferyativMtcn 53iirgcr, bie über bie 3unal)me ber Steuern, foivie tcr 3lrmutb 
 unb bci3 5öerbrcd)enö, bie uadnveiöbar mit bem Scnutag6:3ed)cn ^anb in •iQant' geljt, 
 gcred)tc ^cfcrgnijj cmpftuben. 
 
 Sind) ift CO! feine, vcu anicrifanifdjen ©ärgern gemadjtc 93ewegung ju bem Swcrfe, 
 bie 9ied)tc freuifgeboveiicr ä3ürgei ju nerfürjen unb il)r ißul^lfcin ju ftoreu. 2)ic XU-- 
 berreidnii-.g bcr englifd)Cu ^l)etiticn iumi Seiten einfilut;rcid)er Slbgeortnctcu, mit 
 iirn. 'lUrit an t>cr Spille, gefd)a() gieid)jcitig mit bcr Uebcrrcidjnng einer b e u tf d} e u 
 *4>ctittL<n, unter bcr j^aljlrcidie nnb ad}tbare Otamcn ftantcn, lum Seiten bcutfd)er ^Ib^ 
 gcürbnctcn, mit >5rn. iDiöKcr, einem Wcl)ll)abeiit>cu Suiferfabvifantcn, an ber Spi^e. 
 S.'aufcnt'e uuferer bcutfdjcn l'Jiitbürger cmpfinccn baö Sri)ätilid)e unb Sdjanrlidie beö 
 Scuutagei;3ed!cni3 einccS 3;'l)citc^ tljrcr eingcuvinbcitcn ii-aubtncutc eben \o tief uui? 
 frijmerijlid) wie irgcnb ein Slmcrifaner. 3Bir fiub glaubhaft ucrftdjcit werben, bafj, 
 wenn uinljtg, cö ganj Icidjt gewcfcn fein würce, tanfcnbe lum bcutfd)en OJamcu yorju: 
 Jcgen, ^!C gegen riefen, itjrcn Dfaticnaldiaraftcr entctjrenbcn, uufittlidieu unt) uevt'crb; 
 lid}cu -öanDcl iÜtDcrfpvud) tl;un. Streue gegen ta^i Ocfc^ ift ein wcfcntlid)cr 3iig 
 im beuti'du'u (S()arafter. ifficnn cö babcr allgemein befannt wirb, (wie cü ^enu eub; 
 iid} betaniu werben mut;,^ ba§ bie am Senntag geijffneten Üagcrbier^J'ljcatcr, ^an^-- 
 fäle nnc- iil;ulid}e iDrte, wo^3eibred}euuub Ucbeltl)atcn beförbert wcrren, jngleidi burd) 
 bic ©cfe^c unfercis Staaten unb bie cffeutlidie ^.llicinnng unferer Slaft gcäd^tet fiub, 
 fo werfen bie S)cutfd)en in bem Streben, bic Cbrigfeit ,^u nntcrftiigcn, fclbft voran: 
 geljcn. Sie weiten i()r fjeifeu, baf? bcr (&elbftfud)t nnC> UnoiCnnug tcr wenigen Sau; 
 "fente unter iljnen, »elri)C bic ■ipabc nnfeter beutfrijen äiiitbürger uerpraffen unti il;reu 
 guren yjamen fdiänbcn, enblidj Sd)ranten gefefct werben. 
 
 S)ie Crgauc ber beutjd)eu ■"lu'cffc in OicwrS^Lrf werfen waljrlici) bie ^ntcreffeu beö 
 bcitfri^cn Stamme«?, ben fie certreten, nid)t bcferfcrn, ucri) beffen (S'influg ocvftarfcn, 
 wenn fie burd) l)cftigc Stufrufe bic y3crurtl)eile unfunriger l'efer gegen baö entiaileiTeuc 
 Streben ber ejfcntlidjen 2}Jeinnng Ölcw^JöcrfiS iu bereu beften "Xenrcn.^ui aufl)eöcn. 
 ä'Jit ben ceutKi)en 5lnnd)ten Ben ber Sonntagi3feier im SUlgemeincu liaben wir nfd)l^ 
 HU tl)un. '^iUr erlauben unö f^ine pl)aiiiäifd)C, wegwerfeuta* \!3eurtl)eilungeu bvi 
 Sitten, Durd) wcld)C fid) bei beutfdie Sonntag iwn bem cnglii'd.'en niif anierifaiiifd)Cii 
 \o auffalleuD unterfd^eiDct. 5}erfd}iebcnc QjolftJfiämmc nu\gen immerhin in Dicfen, wie 
 in \o mandicn anbercn ^]>unfteu bed äußeren ®ottedt<ienfte>5 nnb ber tl;eclegifd)en \.'el)i. 
 anffaffnug fid) Ben einanPcr untcrfdH'ibcn. Siber Ci? ilimnit fel)r Wi.'i)t mit ter aniJi-jebeOur 
 teftcn Snlf famfeit, t>ag wir barauf beftebu, ade (ilaffen fCö »golfed fi-'Ueu ben ÖJeKfen 
 gcl)crd)en, bic von feu 9tbgeorbneten ber gefammten 'ijcinHfi'inng eviaffcu werfen ünD. 
 Sie *l'iinperbcit, bie (S wagt, bnrri) trol^igcu SßiberftauD bie 1)leucr bed Wcfe^ed »eu 
 ber CSrfiilUnig il)rcr l^flidit ab^nljalteu nnb fcmit fie beffebeuben Oifnungen ter 
 ftäftifclien SJegicrung ^n uid;tc jn mad)cn, !ann mit einem cbcuio grcijen Üied'te cineö 
 übermütl}igen Starrfinndbefd;ulfigt werben, alö bie iWebröcit, weldic jene Orbnungen 
 cufvcd)t crl)ält. Sagerbier-i5'rnatii3mud oerbicut gcwMJj feine böigere Sldjtnng aliü 
 ßaltwaffcrr'janatiSmud. SSenn ba^er unferc bcntfd}eii 3citnn3en wirflid; meinen, 
 
24 2)et 6outag§I)anbcI mit bcraufd)cnben ® etränfcn 
 
 bag bie aJJa^igfeiteimanner i Ijn e n gu nafjc treten, fo fönncn fie fd)UicrIid} «on una 
 begehren, bap wie vu()ig üu|"c(;cn, \vk \ii bie ganbeögefe^e vctädjtlidj mit SiiOcu treten. 
 
 5lug bcni G^oiiricr anb ©nqittrcr »cm 3i. SKai. 
 
 !Cer 9?c>t)s2)ortcr ®onntng^J)an^cl mit beraufcbentcn ©ctrniifcii. 
 
 5ßiv fvcucii uiiij, bafi ciu fo tuiftigcv unb cvii ftev i£d)vitt gctl}au uunfcii ill, urn bif 
 SJlcti'opolitau^^^oli.jcicommifTäic äur J^anDl)abung bcr (SJcfe^e gegen ben Sonntagä: 
 ()aubcl mit beiaiifcl;eiibeu ©ctväiifen ju bringen. S)ici"et Jpaubel bringt beinahe, cfet 
 röllig, fo niel Srunfenfjeit junu'ge, atä an ben i'ed)ä übrigen Sagen bcr 5löort)e ^^U; 
 fammen uorFcnimt. (ir uerfeljrt .'janfencen ifjren Dlnl;etag in einen :?ag ter i&djivcl: 
 gerei mit (S'lenC, Safter imb iBcrbrertien im ©efolge. ^efonbevö fd)UHncn (2d)a^en 
 tbnt cr ten ärmeren iSlaiJcn, bie an fiefem i(;rem einigen 9hi(;ctage «m fo grofieren 
 93erfnd;nngen auiSgefclpt fint». aJiele f,\mx getjen in ben Stempel ©otte«?, 5lnbcre auf'd 
 Sanb in'ö (äriuie; aber wer, ber bie ^tva^en nnfcrer <Stabt in ber Sonntag-yjiittcv« 
 nad;t beobadjtet l)at, iceig nid}t, bag Un^vä(;tigc fid) alöbann einem fo UMiften ©anfen 
 unc <£d}Weigcn fjingi'Iifi, teie fici)'ö nur in bc\- Snnfclfjeit ber 5^id)t in ,^eigen uvigt. 
 2)ort taumelt iSincr allein ba()in, ber wie ein ^BUi^finnigev fafelt, unp i>'liid;c gegen 
 |!cl)fclbft nebft Hälterungen auöftcigt — ®ebcte, wie fte ju feiner freute geübten die- 
 ligion paffen. Slnbrc jieljen in toller 9lu3gclaffenl)eit (janfenwci^ baljer nnb bieten 
 gijttlid^en nnb menfd)lid}en ©efel^en ängleid) !rro|. (§3 ift traurig, aber waijx, bag 
 ter ZüQ, weldjer cigent'tJ für Sfieligionöübungen bcftimmt ift, mel)r als alle anbern ju 
 tvunJeueni Samt unb sJlnöfd^voeifung migbraudjt wirb. 
 
 Sn ber 93erfammluug ber ^olijei^Sommiffare, am (^'reitag, ben 8. 5iiti 1859, ba 
 alle älfitgliercr yigegcn waren, überrcid)te 9tid)ter Uilätjöffcr folgcnben S3crid;t, in 
 33e,^ng auf bie 9luöfü()rung ber (gonntagö^Ocfe^e : 
 
 ®ie ®efe^= unb Drbin"au^.(Sommitt'ee, nad) SBcrüiffidjtigung ber ?l.?etiticnen für 
 nnb gegen bi'c 9lufred)tl;altnng ber befteljenbcn ©onntagiä-.Qcfc^c, fam ju bcn folgen: 
 ben 5üefd)lüffcu : 
 
 1. 2)tcfc Söefecrfce, jwfolqe lljrer Orgauifntlon, ift »erpflldjtct, bie beflef)cnben ©efofe aufregt jii 
 erfjatten, fca ei ein wobiverlliinbcitc« 9)rtnjiB ill, ba§ tie »erwoltfnbcii Sbcl)i>rben nidit bie SIu«(fiibning 
 line« (iicfe^cä unterlaficn fcnncit, aus bem Cöruitbe, »Dcil ti jrociftl^aft iji, »b ti iiid)t bem Weijie ber 
 Sonftitution juiviber ifl. 
 
 2. £tc djvitllidjc ^Religion t(l bicienigc, »c(d)e feit bcr Slnrtebtiing bc3 ScinbcS eriftirt bat, iinb gc- 
 «enmärtiä in biefen i5ereitiigtt'n Staaten beftebt unb anertannt i|'t bei bcr »Diaffe bc2 iicifcs, aus »«r- 
 U^itbcncu gicliflii)na=i^crfa(tuugcu beflebenb, n)cld)e beinabe atlc ben d)rifilid)eu ©atbatb ata einen iöc- 
 flartbtbeil ibrer iUeligicn bctradjten. 
 
 3. Xie biJdjften (iieriditsbcfc betradjtcn bie d)ri|i(id)C JReliglon a\i bie im Sanbc bcrrfd)enbc, nnb bie 
 i8efd)i'ifung ber Sied)tc aller iibrigni Steligioneu nutO itbcrjcit bie i^rinjipien, (iSebrnudje nnb (iiefefc ber 
 ganjcn d)ri|Kid)cn (iJemeinfdjafi torjugäiucifc unb in soller Äraft beftcben laiTen. 
 
 4. S)a« ivabre *Prinjip bcr SJeligionsfreibeit erlaubt nid)t bcn tlcinjtcn 2bcilcn bcr S-^epclfcrung bie 
 gro§e iJiaffc be3 iUilfc« anfjuforbern, bie Slufredjtbaltung berScnntagä-Üicfcge anfjugcben, )vild)e feit 
 6er Slnfleblung beä l*anbca bcftanben baben. 
 
 5. Eie gegenwärtige 3iid)tad)tung ber ©onntflg«=(Scfe$e, bauptfädjiid) PtTcntlidjc ©d)üu(letlnngen 
 am Sonntage, unb bcr iierfanf von ö)etränfen unD anbern Sadjen, feilte, fo iveit ei im l^efef erlaubt, 
 burd) bie ganje ■'Polijci nnb biird) ben *J}iagiftrat pcrbinbcrt werben. 
 
 0. X'ic iiicft1;e teS IJaiibcci, lucUbe mii tcr cfTcntlid)cn SJii'innng be« 2<olte? in S^cjug auf moralifdie 
 S.^injipien nnP o>cl'vaud)e, nnt über bie Öcftrafung ber llcbertreter an irgenc einem iagc ber 'Jl'od)e 
 iibereinfiimmcrt, miiyen nidjt auier 2ld)t gefegt ober wibcrrufen iocrbcn, wegen befonterer moralitd)er 
 aJJeiunngcn »on (leinen CS>emfin|d)aften beä Üolte«. 
 
 5)er 5i3crid)t würbe eiufJimmig angenommen. — öin allgemeiner 53cfef)l wirb wat)r: 
 fd)einlid) l}cute von bem ®enerat:(Superintenbenten an bie ^J-'flijei gegeben werten, 
 baranf ^u feljen, tiaft alte Drte, wo ©etväufe verfauft werben, nnb alle S'l)cater am 
 näd)fteu unb allen folgeuben Sonntagen gefd}lcffen werben, nnb alle (Sigeutl^ümcr foU 
 d}er *43lä^e, weld)e fid) weigern, bem-'®ef'el^e golgc ju leiften, jn iHnf)aften. 
 
 2)ie Dlew^Sorfer (£abbatl)-.(5ümmittee bejtel)t and folgenbeu 2)iänncrn: 
 
 giormaii aSPI)itc, 3?orfi?cr. 
 •ipcnrw 5. Safer, Jliomaä ff. ^Dtcmiiö, Wni. 31. Smith, 
 
 (*. i'. ScaMc, Mi)., Cr. V. Jvandicr, William 3niöli)i», 
 
 9Jatliaii S!>i|l)üp, ^rct. W. "Alfter, 3H. "ä. 3>au aPaflcntii, 
 
 TCifliam 'JI. 5i>ootl), !Sat)i& .^oaMci), aiMHiam Walfev, 
 
 9?ol>cvt (5artor, .Oorncc *ü16cii, ^. S. IlMnftüii, 
 
 worrcii Charter, 5olm (g. *>>arfou*, i>. <^. 2\>ot>b, 
 
 .^omod 3S?. iicriiniiiin, iroter. Setr.. 9Itlffcn S. (Soot, correfp, ©tct. 
 
 0. -rOf. "DJiorriffoii, (liafiircr ber IDJan^attan SJanf) SdjaSmciiler 
 
2)ie 
 
 SeutfiS^e S^crfaiitmliitig 
 
 jur görberung ber 
 
 ff Iff 114^^ (^^^^ti^^^ftUt^ 
 
 gehalten 
 
 im (Soo^jcr 3nftttut ju 91cto=5)orf, 
 
 ant ©onntafl 21&enb, Un 16. Dftober 1859. 
 
 ma ben 9?cbcn öon ^^aft, ®ulbtn, 3)r, 5(bomi% ^^rof. 2)r. ei^nff, ^^rof. 
 §itc^coi!, !Sr, ^^ring, nnb ben S3ef(^Iü[fen ber 5öerfamm!nng. 
 
 ^etauiSgegcben »on ber ^lew-^oxtex 6abbat^ = 6ommittee. 
 
 (Doc. No. 9.) 
 
 ©ebrudt bei §. Submig, 39 Q,er\txe'. Btta^e. 
 
 1860. 
 
2)eHtftfjc Scrfanimfitng 
 
 ä"i 
 
 gcfjoltcn im Soo^jcr ^iiftitnt 51t ^Ictu^^orf, 
 
 otn ©onntog ^Ibent, ben 16. Dttober 1859. 
 
 Die beutfd)en Siirger 'oon 9?ew;^orf ftnb l)äuftg, fowo'^t in englifcf)cn 
 a{§ bcutfd)en ^^agesblattcni, a(g ©cgner ber (£onntag§fcicr iinb ber baraiif 
 be,5iiglicf)cu ®e[ei3e, bic btn ©omitag a{$ einen ber Diul)e unb 5tnbad)t ge; 
 nnbmcten Zaa, in (2d)u6 nel)mcn, bargefteKt \vorben. SBeI)uf^ ber 9(birer)r 
 biefer ungcrcd)ten 3?e[d)n(btgnng nmrb auf (Sonntag Slbenb, ben 16. DU 
 tober, eine üffcntlid;e ^erfanimhmg üon 2)eutfd)en im Sooper ^nftitut 
 angefünbigt, in n^eld)er bie (Sl)re bc§ beut[d)en 9?amen§ gerettet unb t»on 
 ber ^,?ld)tnng, bk and) ber 2)cutf4e bem S^age h($ |)errn joUt, em Bt-'uS'^ii^ ^^&= 
 gelegt ircrben foüte. 3Die 3Serf)anbIungen biefer erftcn, je in beutfc{)er Spraye 
 gel)a(tenen öoIfötl)ümnd)en 9Serfamm(nng jur g-örbernng ber @onntag§feier 
 liaben gered)ten ^Infprud) auf aUgemeine ^efannttverbung unb b(eibenbe 
 ^^(ufbett.>af)rnng, uni) ftnb bef,^a(b in biefer ©d)rift üoüftänbig aufge^etdjuet. 
 
 Dbg(eid) bk 5Serfamm(ung nur bind) fnrje unb fd)(id)te Sl'njeige ange; 
 fünbigt Ycav, unb in mand)cn bcutfd)en jlird)en jur gleid)en ©tunbc 9[benb= 
 gotteSbienft gehalten niurbe, fo trarcn bod) bie weiten 9iciume be§ Sooper 
 ^jnftttutö um fteben nf)r i^on einer anfet)nlid)en 9Jtenfd)cnmenge gcfiiüt, bic 
 faft augfd)(ief;(id) aug 2)eutfd)en beftanb. 2)ie ^a\)i ber ^erfamme(tcn 
 unirbe i)on einigen auf 1500, »on 5(nbern auf 2000 gefd)ä^t. ^unberte 
 i>on 5lmerifanern, bit a\\§ Sleugierbe ebenfalls '^erjufamen, fcl)rten lieber 
 um, a(§ fte a\v (Singang erful)ren, ba§ bie 5Serl)anbUtngeu in einer i()nen 
 unbefannten ©prad)e ftattftnbcn unirben. ?^aft aUe beutfd)en $rebiger ber 
 Stabt unb nad)ften Umgebung, gegen 25, nebft ineten einfluf?reid)cn beutfd}en 
 .tlauf- unb ®efd)äft§(euten befanben ftd; auf ber platform. S(u^erbem Tratten 
 fid) üiele ber älteften imb angefet)enften amerifanifd)en ^rebtger eingefun; 
 bcn, um it)re X^iiUxaljmt für bcn ^wed unb bie 2!enbenj ber 3Serfamm{ung 
 an ben Siag ju tegen. 9?ament{id) faf) man bie !l)oftoren ber 5;i)eo(ogie 
 Spring, 5(bam^, $t>tt§, ^itd)cocf, ©finner, ^^rime unb £)roen. 5{ud) 
 mand)e geadUcte Saien waren zugegen, wie bie ^errn SBetmore, ^partfci), 
 ^oott) ($rdfibent ber 9(m. (Jjcbange 53anf), .f)oab(ep (^räfibent ber $anama 
 6ifenba()ni®efet{fd)aft;, !l)oremu§, 9[ßl)ite, 3;ru§(ow, SEoob unb Stnbcre. 
 ©oui^erneur (Sü^wort^ t>on Connecticut war ebenfalls auf ber ^[atform. 
 
 4perr ©uftaö (3d)wab, «Solju be§ berül)mten beut[d)en 3)id)ter5, 
 unb 93titg(ieb ber g-irma De(rid)^ unb Comp., führte ben 93orfti3. '^ladi 
 bem bag Sieb gefungen war: ,,^ie\\ gt)riften, ift ber 2;ag bei ^errn," 
 »erlag ^aftor (yarlid)g t?on S3roof(pn mit feterlid)cm 9?ad)brucf bic ^el):! 
 ®ebote unb T)ie(t barauf ein paffcnbeg (Singangggcbet. 
 
 ^aftor 3. 6. ©ulbin, feit ftcbenjel)n Satiren ^rebiger au ber 
 beutfd)cn 93?ifftongfird)e in ber v^ouftonftrajie (in 3Serbinbung mit ber nie: 
 berlanbifd; rcformirten ©i;nobe) {)ie(t I)terauf folgenbc Ütebe: 
 
 3 
 
»on 
 9>rcbt6cr bet l)cutf(iert ©Bangelif^en Wifflcnä- (5Jtebcr{änbifd)'SRcformtrten) Sixi)t »on SRew>8orf. 
 
 „©nabe fei mit cud), unb griebe üon ©ott, unferm ^ater, unb bem §errn 
 :;^efu 6f)ri[to. 
 
 Ungert)Dbnlid)e ^i^eube gcimifjvt e§ mir, bei einer fold) en ©elegenfjeit cine 
 foldje 3<if?l fee»-* bcutfd}rebenben 33eü5lferung unferer Stabt f)ier ocrfammelt jn 
 fefjen. 2}lit Siedet i[t un'§ ber beut)'d)e 9tame efjrmiirbig, unb mit ^^ei^t freuen 
 ftir un§ bari'iber, irenn beutfd}er Ginflufs tiaä toaijxe relrgiöfe unb fittlic^e 2Bcf)l 
 be§ £anbeä begünftigt. @(eid^ bem beutfcben j^orfcbungegeift unb ber beutfdjen 
 2Biffenf(^aft ftet)t auä} beutfd)e ^ieligiöfität, \vo fie eine biblifd)e ift, an Jiefc unb 
 ßrnft ber feineä anbern S>clfe's nacb ; unb mie fonnten toir anber» aU un^ 
 freuen, iwenn wit eine folc^e SJienge ber 6i3f)ne unb Socbter 2)eutfd}(anb!S biefen 
 Slbenb l^ier feljen — Ijier, too fie mit il^rer ©egentoart einer tiefen unb ernften 
 Sa&ie, ber beiligen Sfteligion, ba^SBort reben! Gin 5Beföet!§ ift eiS, baf} frommer 
 Sinn, Gt)rfurd)t »or bem cßeiligen, unb Siebe für ^i^^P^af''^ Stiftungen unter 
 ibnen nid}t erlofc^en, unb baf5 ©ott nod) ein grof^e» beutfcbe» 25olE in biefer 
 Stabt l^abe, toeld^e§ feine ßniee üor 95aal nicbt beugt — ein 35oIt, ba§ tcm 
 beutfcben S?aterlanbe unb bem Sanbe feiner Slboption 61)re mad)t. 
 
 Oeffentlicb luollt ibr, tro^ be» fpottenben gi^eoelu ber 53ibelfeinbe, ju cvfcn: 
 neu geben, 't>ci^ iijr ©ott metyr ate 9Jlenfd}en gebordjen, unb baf) il;r tea d}avn 
 Sag, ben man euc^ toegjunebmen befliffen ift, l^eilig batten tooUt. 
 
 Sauge genug — ju lange, in ber Z\)at, Ijabt ibr ftiUe gefd^toiegen, toabrenb 
 eine gemiffe .Hlaffe ber 2)eutf(^en ben Sabbatb o^ne 2Jta^ entl^eiligte unb be- 
 fdjdftigt mar, mie fie e§ no^ ift, »renn möglid), benfelben ausjutilgen. Sauge 
 genug f(^ien e», alä ob beutfc^er Unglaube, burci^ feine Meu^erungen in ber 
 GntbciHgung be§ Sonntagey, 2ll(e» mit fid) fortreij^en roollte, unb aUS ob nur 
 »ücnig ^römmigfeit unter ben S)eutfd)en I^ier übrig geblieben märe. Sauge ge^ 
 nug mürbe burcb baä 93enel^men jener .klaffe ber ßinbrud auf ba» amcrifanifcbe 
 'iPublifum gemadbt, alä ob bie Seutfcben am Sage bei§ .^errn fidj um nidbt^^ als 
 finnlidje 93ehiftigung fümmerten. 
 
 ©emi^ ift c^} Qdt, bafs bie beffergefmnten S)eutfcben (©ott fei '^ant, bafs fie 
 an 3^1)1 ttod) bag Uebergctoidjt I;aben) inie ein SJiann fid? aufmacben unb, alä 
 bie 3eu9ß" "^^^ ^errn, ben Sag ©otteg ju retten unb ju erbalten ficb »ereinigen. 
 Sie finb fid)'y felber fcbulbig — \l)x guter ?lame er^eifd^t eo. Sie fmb'y ibren 
 Familien fcbulbig: — SBeiber unb .Jiinber muffen notbmenbig mebr unb mefjr 
 unbefi^reiblicb in ?5oIge ber immer äune^menben Sabbatbentl}eiligung leiben. 
 Sie finb e» bem 9?ei(^e ©ottci? fcbulbig. S)er Sabbatt) ift innig mit bem ^oxU 
 beftanbe unb ©ebeil^en be§ JHcidjei? ©otteg ßerfnüpft. ßr ift ber ilird^e unb ben 
 ©laubigen, mie cinft ben .fiinbern i^t^^taelä bie 93unbe§labe, ein beiligejS Äleinob. 
 Unb bieg ift ben Ungläubigen mo^t bemuf,t, unb ba^er lommt e§, bo^ fie ben 
 Jag be§ ^errn fo gerne auä bem 2Bege räumen moüen. 
 
grägt ^emanb: „^[t eine folc^e Sßerfammlung mie biefe nöt^ig? ^^fbn 
 ZaQ beä ^errn ftirflic^ in ©efa^r?" fo emiebern mir: ©efn^r, ba^ unl ber 
 Sabbat^ gencnimen merben fönnte, freiließ nic^t — benn ©ott njtrb nie feine 
 eigenen Stiftungen feinem 58olfe entreißen laffen. SBenn aud) eine ßeitfang 
 ber Ungtaitbe einen fdjeinbaren Sieg ert)ä(t, fo fprirfit boc^ ©Ott: „53iö l^iefjer 
 unb nid)t rtjeiter!" 2lllein, föer roitl eä in Stbrebe ftetlen, ba^ t§ ber 6I)riften 
 l^eiüge ^fti(^t ift, mit allem Grnft ba aufjutreten unb i^ren ßinflu^ 
 geltenb ju mad}en, tt»o auf eine me^r alä geiüi3l^ntid}e 2Beife 
 ber Unglaube in feinen üerfd^iebenen formen ber cl}ri ft lid^cn 
 ©laubenä= unb Sittenlel^re entgegentritt? Sinb Gl)riften „baä 
 Sict)t ber SBelt" unb „baö Salj ber ßrbe," fo follen fie ba il)r Sic^t nic^t unter 
 einen Scheffel fe^en, tvo ginfternifs ba§ Sid^t üerbrängen mill, unb ba ba^^ Salj 
 nidjt in ein ©efäfs einfdjiiefjen, mo g-äulnif, jcbcm nütili(i)en unb nctfjtücnbigen 
 Subfiftenjmittel brol)t. — 3Ber mill e» leugnen, bap gerabe in unferer ^cit, unb 
 gerabe unter ber beutfdjen Söeüöllerung unferer 6tabt, ber Unglaube feine Stirne 
 auf eine freche Söeife seigt unb feinen g^eüel auf bie ^ö(^fte 
 Stufe treibt, um 33ibelreligion unb miHin ©otte§ l^eiligen 
 2:ag 3u ftürjen? 2ßem blutet nic^t baä ^er^, menn er nxdjt nur loabrnimmt, 
 mie am Sabbatl}tage in 5>oll»gärten, 3;l)eatern, niebrigen ^Bierfneipen, fic^ bie 
 du^erfte ©ottoergeffenl)eit 3eigt, nic^t nur, mie in ©roceriel unb 53ranntmein: 
 fdienten gelauft unb »erlauft mirb, fcnbern menu man nod} ba3u Ijört unb lieft, 
 mie man barauf au^gel)t, bie Sonntagc-gefel^e mirtiicb aiiä bem 2ßege 3U räumen ! 
 
 5)ie 2Ba|)rf)eit ift: man mill gar leinen Sabbat^ Ijaben. 6"r foil 
 ganj au-Jgetilgt merben, 2)ie§ ift eine in ber ©efc^ic^te ber iiirc^e bii5l;er gauj 
 unerl^örte Sad}e. 23on einem 93eifpiele lefen mir, ba man ben 3ef)uten ftatt be» 
 ficbenten al§ Sonntag einfel^te. G» mar mci^renb beä letzten ^af)V3ef)nty bey 
 üorigen ^a^rl;unbert^, meldte ^ßeriobe un;? belannt ift aU bie „Sc^iredcn^seit" 
 in granlreic^. Gine furd^tbare 3eil '^'^^ e» — eine 3eit ^^ man lehrte: ber 
 ^lame 5?ater, SJlutter, 33ruber, Sd^mefter, G^egatte unb Gljegattin fei meitcr nid)t§ 
 al^ ^^faffentrug; ba man behauptete: ^ebermann fei fein eigener ©Ott unb fein 
 eigener ©efeligeber ; ba man t)as> 6l;riftent^um austilgen unb bie lelUe Sibel Der= 
 brennen moUte ; ta Supont, mie eä ber Unglaube in biefer Stabt mill. Schulen jur 
 Grjiel^ung ber ^ugenb, gang auf at^eiftifd^en ©runbfä^en berui^enb, ba^ SBort 
 rebete, in metd)en alfo feine 33ibel unb lein ß^riftu» fein fottte; eine 3eit, ba man 
 über bie 3;l;üren an ben ©otte^l)äufern unb ©otteisädern fc^rieb: S)er 2;ob ein 
 emiger Sdilaf; ba man aufrief: iteine ©ott^eit al^ bie 5reil;eit, leine ätnbetung 
 al» bag Sßaterlanb, unb fein Goangelium al§ bie ßonftitution; ta man ein 
 l^albnadteä, buljterifc^eg Sßeib aU ©ottin ber Vernunft auf ben älltar ber $arifer 
 Gattjebrale ftellte unb it)r bie 25erel)rung jollte, bie man bem Si^öpfer üerfagte. 
 Sßon Seuten, bie fold)e 2)ingeanftifteten, bon einem DbbeiSpierre, DJlarat, S)upont 
 unb 2:l)omaio ^^aine ift e» freili(^ nid)t ju termunbern, ba^ fie feinen ernften, 
 {»eiligen Sabbatl) Ijaben mochten. 2)od& moKten fie nod) ben seljnten Siag al» 
 Sonntag, freiließ nur al§ einen Jag finnlic^er 5^rcube, gelten laffen. ©ar fei» 
 neu Sonntag l)aben ju mollen — alle Sountagegefet^e jU befeitigen, blieb übrig 
 für baä neun3el)nte 3at;r^unbert, für uufere Stabt unb für eine gemiffe S^))l 
 beutfd^er Ungläubigen. 
 
6 
 
 2)kn fie^t f)icr Ieid}t ein, me äi/nlxäie ©(emente älmlidje f^rud}t erjeugen, 
 bort lit Si^flnfreid) unb l^ier. Unb fielet man nidjt f)icr (ciber [c^on ju üiele reife 
 5vüd)te baüon? Unb babei bürften 6f)ri[ten gIeid)3iiUig bleiben? 6{)riften 
 füüten nicfn bereinigt »nirfen — nicbt burc^ ben G)ebran($ jebe» gcf)eiligten 
 •Dlittel'.' unb mit ©ebet bie 33unbex4abe ber ^l^ilifter ^dnben entreißen? — " 
 
 5lm Sd)Uii3 biefer Dtebe cifd)oU bcc taufeiibftimmigc ©efang bc5 
 fci)öncii Jicbcö yon 3;()o(ucf, welrf)e§ bcc fürjlid) er[d)icncncn, v>on ^^rofeffor 
 6ii)af[ beaibeiteteii (Sammlung beut[d)er: Äird^enlicbeu entnommen wax. 
 
 2Jlel. : SBie fd)ön leui^tet ber SJIorgendcrn. 
 
 1. D ©aBBatf;, beu i>cr ^crr gemadjt, 
 3)amtt (äv gnäbig unö bebad)t, 
 @i-quicfinigötag ber Svommen, 
 
 aSo iu'ö ©ctümmcl bicfev aSeÜ 
 
 (Sin i£tva()l bcö cw'gcii ©abbatt;^ fäf(i 
 
 3u bem id) einfi [ofl fommen ! 
 
 ^a id) 2öill mid) .g»icr fc()ou le^cn 
 
 3tn bell ©cl)a|icu ©eincv ©tiUe 
 
 23iö jur ciü'geu ©abbatf)fü((e. 
 
 2. 2Bte f)cl)r unb Ijcilig ifi bic ^iii)' 
 
 aBcld)' ftincö ^riebcnöfcfi, baju 
 35cr i-)cn- uni3 t)at gclabcn! 
 SSen ?jticben, bcn (är felb|l gcneußt, 
 (Sv bcMt iiuö Um'c ein ^.'Jieer cvfd)Uni^t, 
 (Sin ©cclcnbab bev ©naben. 
 ©Ciig !Iauri) id) 3)avin unter, 
 D n.uc munter ®d)t jnnt ÜBcrfe, 
 äBem bie^ ©celcnbab gab ©tärfe! 
 
 3. Sltö 33u julcfet bcn SRcnfdjeufobtt 
 S)cr ©d)bvfung aufgefegt alß Äron', 
 5llö in ber aJlcvgcnfiifte 
 
 ©ic ®elt nun fertig üor S)ir tag, 
 Äein iOicnfd) ift, ber ju fageu ivag' 
 33on ©einer SBonnen '^iilk, 
 2BaUet, ©ri)al(et, Seiertlänge, 
 geftgcfänge, 2)enn ben Svicben 
 •§at (Sr beut aud) mir befdjtebcn. 
 
 4. Unb bicfe fcbönc (Sotteöttett, 
 
 Sä) I)ab' fü fd)mäbtid) fie entfleflt, 
 3d), ©einer @d;ijvfung Jtrcne. 
 2)n aber, ÜBunberliebe ©u, 
 ©ibtt ©eine 2lnferftebnng>3vuf; 
 ©afiir mir nun jnm Sobne. 
 •§ente, «^entc, @d)irft bte ©inwcn 
 (53anj nad) innen, SKleS ©enfen 
 mü^' in 3efu 9luf) fid; fcnfen ! 
 
 5. 3m (55fauben jet^t mein ^crj em^jfäl^t 
 S)ie 9tub', bie mir beviiberwetjt 
 SSom 2(uferftc()nng3morgen ; 
 Unb feb id) 3f)n bann, tüie @r ift, 
 93(cib, nicnn (Sr mid) in'ö -^erje fcblicft, 
 3d) c\vic\ brin geborgen, 
 ©eine 9tcine @abbat()ftif(e, 
 ^err, mid) füftc a)iit bem «^rieben 
 !Den 3)u breifad) mir bcfd)ieben! 
 
 ^^aftor 3©. 9(bam§, !Dr. ber 2;ijeoIogte unb ^^rcbigcr ber prci^bi^tc; 
 rianifd)en ®cmeinbeiu SO?abifon;@quarc, l)ic(t barauf in eng(ifd)er (Sprad)e 
 eine üicbe folgcnben 3nl)att!p: 
 
^tht 
 
 Dotter ber ZijioUQit unb S^rebigct ber tsresb^terianif^cn (Semeinbe in 2Jlabifou Square, 9leiB=9orl. 
 
 „Q§ erfiillt mid^ mit f^ex^lxdjtx ®an!bar!eit gegen ©ott, Ijier eine fo gtofse unt 
 ad^tbare beutfd^e 23er[antm(ung üor mir ju fef)en unb anreben ju bürfen. Sßenn 
 ii) innl;erblide unb erlüdge, bajj fie bie freie .Runbgebung ber ©efinnung meiner 
 beutfci}en DJiitbiirger unb ein fd^lagenbesiBeugnifs iljrer .god}ad}tung für ben d)rift= 
 lii^en 6abbatf) ift, fo üermag ii^ !aum SBorte ju finben, bie meine Sl^eilnafjme unb 
 greube genugfam ausbriiden. 
 
 211^ id) eurem ©efange laufd&te, ber fo ^ell unb lebensüoll erflang, luie man eS 
 nur üon 5)eutfd;en üernefjmen fann, tarn mir bag 93ilb eineg ©onntagg mieber r>or 
 bie Seele, ben ic^ »or fünfje^n ^a^ren in S)eutfd)Ianb erlebt, ^n gleid)er Sßeife 
 lüie je|t, borte ii^ ba in ben Diäumen einer alten S)omlircbe alle SSerfammelten, 
 DMnner, Sßeiber unb ilinber, in üollem Sion ben SSater im ^immel loben, ßä ge= 
 reid}t mir ju lier^li^er greube, meine beutfc^en Srüber aU 3}titfämpfer für eine 
 fo beilige 2ingelegen^eit, lüie bie ©acbe be» ©onntagä ift, ju begrüfsen. SBäl^renb 
 t>on mandjer 6eite bie Seutfcben angefeben unb bebanbelt Sorben finb, alsS l)abe 
 man »on il)nen nur Sßiberfpruc^ unb Slbneigung gegen unfere ©onntagsfeier ju 
 erwarten, fo ben^eifet il)r je|t, ba^ iljr ben ©onntag liebt unb el;rt. Safür loben 
 mir ©Ott unb faffen im 93lid barauf neuen Tluti). 2Bir finb alle ©lieber ßiner 
 großen e^a'itilie, unb, infofern mir bemfelben Sanbe unb ©taatäüerbanbe ange= 
 frören, finb mir gleic^fam SHeifegefäl^rten, bie, menn audi gleich anä üerfdjiebenen 
 Sänbern fommenb, ficb auf ßinem g^aljrjeug eingefcbifft l)aben, S)a muf) benn 
 jebem 3:i>eile bie ^^vei^eit jufte^en, feiner Sitte unb Söeife gemä^ ficb einjuridjten, 
 unb infofern etma^ gu beratl^en ift, \va§ Sitte angebt, muJ5 bie» frieblid) unb güt= 
 lieb gefcbeben. Sollte aber jemanb üon ber 6d»ifficgefetlfd)aft ein £od} in ben 
 Hielraumgebobrt ^aben, fo merben biejenigen, meld}e ibn bial)er al!§ i^ren 2anb§5 
 mann unb ^-reunb- anfallen, ebenfo bereit fein, alä alle Slnbern, i^m ju mef)ren 
 unb ba» 2ocb mieber ju üerftopfen. 
 
 (E§ ift etma» Schöne», ju einem fo großen unb berrlid^en S^eäe, mic berje: 
 nige, ben mir jeljt im Singe l^aben, äufammenjufommen, ©eftattet mir aber bei 
 biefer ©elegenbeit bie Sßitte an meine beutfcben 93rüber im ^rebigtamte, bajj mie 
 mir jeljt fie befud)en, fie ciuäi öfterä in unfre iiird^en Eommen unb unfre ©emeinben 
 anreben mögen; id) meinesStljeilio merbe fie mit ^reuben auf meiner ilan^el feben. 
 SBenn mir burd} gegenfeitigen ©ebanlenauetaufc^ einanber beffer lennen lernen, 
 fo merben mir Giner uom 3lnbern mand}e» ©ute annebmen, 93orurtbeile bagegen 
 unb ©infeitigfeiten ablegen, unb fo mit einanber jur Stuöbreitung unferio gemein= 
 famen d}riftlic^en ©laubeuiä immer träftiger jufammen mirfen." 
 
 ^^^rofeffor ^l^itip^) ©d)aff, 2)oftor ber 2it)eo(ogie imb 2ef)rec am 
 tI)eo(ogifcl)en (Seminar ju 5)tcrccr^burg in $ennfi;limnien, l;ielt jct^t fofgcnbe 
 Diebe, hei bec bie SSerfammhiug laufd)cnb an feineu Sippen I)ing, unb 
 ^)ä\\f^o, ifire Ueftcrcinftimmuug mit bem, n?a^ er au^fprad), äujjertc; 
 
flefec 
 
 DC« 
 
 ^rpfeffpt? ^r. *(;iUvv «Schaff, 
 
 auä 9:itercEr8tiirfl, 9.Vimft)l»anien. 
 
 „.§err ^Präfibent! 
 
 SSerel^rte SBerfammlung ! 
 
 SReine ©rfd^einung unter ^ijntn bebarf feiner 9Jcd^tfcrtigung. 2t(y id? »or 
 ein paax SBoc^en »on bcutfd^en unb englifd^en ^i^eunben in 9lcm:?)cr! eingelabcn 
 murbe, »or einer beutfdjen SSerfammlung ^ur ^^orberung ber d^riftlid)enSonntagy= 
 feier eine 'Siett ju Italien, fonnte ic^ über bic Shinabme biefea unerwarteten !')tufe» 
 feinen Hugenblid äh)eifel|)aft fein. e)§ bandelt ficb I}ier urn eine f;et(igc 9(nge= 
 Iegenf)eit, urn eine brennenbe £eben§froge, trelc(}e feit einiger Seit faft alle grö: 
 ^eren ©täbte Slmerifa'», t»cr allem aber 3leiü=9)orf unb ^bilabelpl}ia, aufgeregt 
 'i)at unb mit ben tfjeuerftcn ^ntereffen ber öffentlichen Sittlic^feit unb 9?eligion, 
 mit ber it)al;ren S55ol)lfa^rt unfereä 2lboptit>:5Baterlanbe» unb mit ber 6i;r e beg 
 beutfd}en SUmeng auf» innigfte üerfnüpft ift. 3"v SBabrung unb gorbe^ 
 rung biefer ©üter einen SSeitrag ju liefern, l^alte i(i> für meine ^^flic^t, für ein 
 2]orrec^t unb eine ß1;re. Svcilid), menn e§ fic^ blo§ um ben Flamen bc» 6abbatf)§ 
 ober ©onntagiS — \dix braudjen biefe 2lu!lbrüde bier gleid)bebeutenb — ober aud^ 
 um bie Sifferenj jirifd^en ber anglo=puritanifcben unb ber beutfcb=eoangelifcben 
 ©Dnntagi§=2;f)eoric unb ^^rayiä ba^feelte, fo wäre iä) ju t^aufe geblieben. 2lbcr e§ 
 banbelt fid? bier um Sein ober 3Rid}tfein, um bie ßrbaltung eine» Scgeni§tage§ 
 ober bie ßinfübrung eine!§ B-[ud}tage§. S)er Sonntag — ba» bitte id? bier gleich 
 »on üorn berein 3u bebenfen — ift in biefem amerifanifdjen f>-reiftaatenbunbe, 
 h)o ber 93eftanb ber d)rift(id?eii .Sirdbe nid)t auf ©taatci^tüang, fonbern auf bem 
 freien 3?Dlf!§n)illen, auf ber Maä}t ber öffentlicben $IReinung unb Sitte rubt, ein 
 ifolleftiü^^Rame für alle Ginricbtungen ber (briftlid}en Türd^e unb g^unftioncn be§ 
 cffentlid}en ©otteigbienfte», eine ©arantie für bie ;->ofitit)e 2(u!?übung ber un§ 
 iura) bie Sanbef^gefel^e gert)äl?rtcn ©lauben»; unb Gultugfreibeit, ein mä(btige0 
 S3olltt)er! um baä .^eiligtbum ber ^^'^nii^ien unb ber ®otte^ol;äufer, unb ein 
 lüödjentlidier fc^lagenber 53eit)eiio üor ber ganzen 2Belt, ba^ ta§ antcrifanifc^e 
 SSolf, trol5 ber Slrennung üon itird?e unb Staat, ein gottegfürd}tige» unb 
 dbriftlidbeg Solf ift unb bleiben ntill. 
 
 Sie SSeranlaffung ju biefer 33erfammlung ift 3ibncn Slllen befannt unb braudbt 
 nicbt erft auyeinanbergefe^U ju tüerben. Sie ift nicbt eine h)illfürlid}e unb unbes 
 rufene 23eranftaltung einiger 9l(>iü:?)orfer SonntagsSfreunbe. Sie ift ein 33ebürf= 
 nif;, eine ^flid}t, eine 9lotb»t)enbigfeit. ®ie beutfd}en Sabbatbfd)änber, ange: 
 fübrt üon einigen d? arafterlofen amerif anifd)en ^olitifern, 
 iveld^e unfere £anb»(cute gerne, ivie bie ^[rlänber, al'3 Sßerfjeuge für if)re mife; 
 r-ablen B'i'edemifjbraudjen möd}ten, aber jum ©lud nid)t fonnen, l)alen ibrem 
 bitteren i^af, gegen bie Sonntag(?gefe|3e unb gute Sitte be» Sanbeio unt> gegen 
 ba§ 6^riftent()um felbft mitten unter Sabafi^gualm unb trunfen non Sagerbter; 
 aSegeifterung, feil jur Söerle^ung ber allgemein:menfd^lid^en ©efc^e ber SBürbe 
 
9 
 
 unb be§ 5(nftant)e^, freien ?aitf gefaffen unb baburdf) tt)rer eignen fc^Iecfiten Qad:)i, 
 naä) bem einftimmigen Sengnifj bcr englifc^en '^^reffe, fo fcfjr gefcfjabet, bafs föir 
 fd}on bef5f)alb aller iceitercn poIemi[d}en DÜidfidjt überf)obcn finb. 2ßir finb überhaupt 
 nid}t jufamniengefümmen, um nnfere (Segner gu befämpfen, fonbern um einfach 
 unferer eignen lleberjeugung einen cffentlidfjen Slusbrud ju geben unb unfern 
 amerifanif(^en Sanbilleuten einen faftifi^en Semei» ju liefern, ba{3 e§ jföei ganj 
 »erf(^iebene JKaffen üon S)eutfd^en gibt, lüelc^e in biefer focialen Sebeuicfrage ir>ie 
 geucr unb SBaffer, toie £i(i)t unb g^infterni^, irie ßfjriftuä unb Selial fic^) gegen-- 
 überfte^en. 
 
 Unb 3it>ar glaube iä) äuüerfid^tlid^ behaupten gu bürfen, baf3 wh aU 33ert^ei= 
 biger beä göttlicf) eingefe^ten SRu§etage§ ni($t nurbie gro^e 30^ajcrttät ber angloj 
 amerifanifc^en Seüijlferung, öon SRaine hxä g^loriba, üon 3Rem=^or! bi'o San 
 e^ranci»fc, fonbern bei hjeitem ben befferen 2;{)eil ber eingebe men 
 unb eingetranberten ®eutf d^ien felbft auf unferer ©eite I^aben. Qum 
 33ertieife bofür fann ic^ mid} getroft berufen auf bie mir fe(;r \vo\)l betannte beutfd?e 
 SanbbeüiJlferung, bie ju ben rul^igften, flei^igften unb nüljlidjften 33ürgern 
 Stmerifa'ä gehört, fomie auf bie fielen f)unberte üon nrd)Iid}en Gkmeinbcn, lut^e: 
 rifc^er, reformirter, eüangelifd^er unb anberer i!onfeffion, bie über faft alle Qtaa-- 
 ten biefer unerme^Hd)en Union ^erftreut finb unb fid) mit jebem Safere üerme^^ 
 ren. Slber el genügt, auf bie gegenwärtige 3Serfammlung beutfc^er ©onntag^« 
 freunbe l^injutneifen, bereu impofante ©röf^e unb mürbige .^aUung unfere ©rmar^ 
 tungen n?eit übertrifft unb unfer .^er^ mit 2)an! unb {yreube erfüllt. 
 
 [.§iev \imnbtc ftrf) ter SUcbiicr in en g ü f d) er (gpvadje an 9ieo, S)r. 91. ©. (5 o o f auf 
 ber ^latform, mit ben SBorten: (Si'laiibcu ©ie mir bie ?<rage, irttc üietc ^cvroncii mögen 
 utof)( in bicfev großen >öa((e anUiefenb fein? SDarauf antnuntetc S)r. Soot: S5cr®viinber 
 biefer 3n)litute3, .§err @ooi)cr, fagte mir, bag bie «^afteim ®anjen jn^citaufcnb ©iije, mit 
 C5infrf)htß i^Du ,5Wet Ijunbcrt ©t^en auf bcr ^tatfcrm jätjle, unb ba bie ©ige fafi alle bc; 
 fe^t ftnb, fo muffen ^icr, naä) ber gcringflen 3äf)lung, wcnigftenö fünfjcf;n big fed^äjcljn 
 f;unbevt Slcufdjen anwcfcnb fein. 3)arauf wanbte ftrf) 5)r. @d)aff, ebenfalls in englifdjcr 
 ©pracbe, an bie auf bcr platform beftnblid)en amcrtfanifd)cn ^rcbigcr unb Saien mit bcr 
 Semerfung : ©ic fcl)cn alfo, wir ©cutfdje fönncn and) eine S)laffeu;93erfammlung, un> 
 j»ar jur görberung bcr ©onntagöfeicr, fjalten. SBir fönnen unfere Ocgner fclbfl mit ber 
 3abl fd)lagcu ; wir baben bie 9Jiajorität auf unfcrcr ©eite. M) bitte ©ie, biefcti nicbt 
 ju Dergcffeu, unb tveit unb breit bcfannt ju mad)cn. 
 
 ©ann fuf)r 2)r. ©d)aff in [einer beutfdjen 3lebe fort.] 
 
 Sllfo beinal^e jmei taufenb unb nod) baju meift eingetnanberte 3)eutfc^e, inic 
 man fd)on an§ bem faft einftimmigen unb erf)ebenben ®efang unferer f)errlidf)ei» 
 beutfc^en ß^oräle fd}liefDen mu^ ! SBa^rlid), bag ift bie gröfjte beutfc^e, ja f o g ar 
 bie 3al}lreid}fte engUfc^e 3SerfammIung p ©unften ber Sonntag'ofeier, bie 
 menigftenS ich hi§ babin in Stmerifa ober Europa gefeiten fjabe. Htlein mir f)aben, 
 nu^er ber SJ^ajorität, auch bie Autorität, bie in folchen fittlic^en fragen beffer ift ; mir 
 haben bie 95ibel; mir !^aben bie Sanbe^gefel^e unb bie mel^r a\§ gmeihunbertjä^: 
 rige, burd) bie gefegnetften g-olgen bemährte Sanbegfitte; mir h^^en bie heilige 
 Sad)eberöffentlid}en Orbnung, ber öffcntlid^en Sittlicjhfeit, ber nationalen SBo^Ij 
 fa^rt, furj, mir \)aben göttUc^e^ unb menfd)Ii(^e§ JRec^t auf unferer ©eite. 2Rit 
 foldhen SBunbe^genoffen bürfen mir mof)( ben ilampf magen unb beä enblid)en ßrfol: 
 ge§ gemi^ fein, eingeben! ber alten fiofung : „Tlit biefem 3eid)en mirft bu ftegen !" 
 
10 
 
 ^s<i) rebe 311 ^^nen nidfjt aU Puritaner, obgleid^ ii) gerne be!enne, tor bem 
 iPuritanigmu», aU einer ber grofmrtigften Grfd^einnngen ber 2BeIt= unb ^ird^eu; 
 gefd^iitte, einen tiefen 9iefpeEt ju I^aben, fonbernalybeutfc^er 2:f)eolcge; nictt a(3 
 SSevt()eibiger einec^ cingftUdjen jübifiten Sabbatlji'^muy, fonbern einer freien 
 d)rtftü(^en Sonntag^^feier. ^c^ rebe aber and) ju ^Ijnen nid}t aU ein '^tbfomm= 
 ling Don 2)ionard}ieen, fonbern a(§ ein geborner DJepublifaner — benn ic^ bin »on 
 .0auy an^ ein £d}mei3er — unb aU g'^eunb ber amerifanifd}en ©(aubenS= unb 
 6uUuyfreif)eit. 
 
 Sltfo üorn beutfc^en unb repubHfanifd}en ©tanbpunfte an» ergreife id; fjeute 
 bag SBort ju ©unflen ber pljt)fi)c^en, ber fitt(i(i^en unb ber religiöfen 
 5totl^tt»enbigfeit be!§ 6onntag§, al§> eine§ 2;age§ ber 9hif)e, ber 3u^t 
 unb be!3 SegeuiS für ben Ginjelnen, bie Jamilie unb ben Staat. 
 
 [SiefctS Xi)cma wiebcvfjette-ber SJtctiner, auf einen 5Binf f)tn, in enc^lifd)cr ©pvadjc für 
 bie auwcfenben Scvirfjtcrftatter ber ciiglifc^en Bettungen, mit ber 58cmcrfung, bag fie 
 fid; mit ber 3tngabc beffelben beguiigen möchten, wenn fie fonfi ni^tö «on bev Diebe 
 oerftcfien fo((ten,] 
 
 I. 
 
 S)er SabbatI} ober $HuI)etag tft feinem SBefen unb feiner ^hte nad) äiter, al§ 
 bie ntcfaifc^e ©efehgebung unb al§ base ^ni^ei^t^nii^- ßr gef;t, lüie bie G"infet}ung 
 ber @^e unb bay ^nftitut ber ^yamilie, juriid Uä auf ben Slnfang bei menfo^s 
 lidjen ©ef($(ed}te!5, bii3 in bie ^$forten beä ^sarabiefe» ber Unfd}ulb: er rui^t auf 
 ber urfpriinglic^cn Schöpfung unb auf bent Üöefen beiS iDIenfd^en, all eincc^ finn; 
 lid}=i->ernünftigen 6rbenmefen§. Sarum meift and} haa nierte ©ebot auf biefen 
 Urfprung ^urüd mit ben befannten SBorten, meldje bal ©ebot be^riinbeii: „5)enn 
 in fei^g 2:agen (jat ©ott ber t§err .§immel unb ©rbe gemad^t unb bal 2Reer unb 
 2lüe§, \va§ barinnen ift, unb rufiete am fiebenten^iage. 2)arum fegnete ber .§err 
 ben Sabbat^tag unb f^eiligte i^n." Sa§ ift natiirlid) nic^t fo ju üerftel;en, all 
 ob ©Ott üon ba an au[geF|ört Ijahi ju fc^affen unb ju mirfen; e§ ift nid^t bie 9iu^e 
 be§ 9Iid)tät{)un§, fonbern bie S'tul^e ber SSolIenbung, bei ©egneng unb feligen 
 ©cnuffes gemefut. ©ott I}at, ba!§ ift ber 6inn biefer populären Sluebrudäineife, 
 am Sd^luffe feiner erften Offenbarung nac^ aufsen fjin feine einige unb felige 
 JRuf)e, burd) gnäbige .^^erablaffung unb Slccomobation, bem iDlenfc^en norbilblic^ 
 gur älnfd)auung gebrad^t unb if)n baburd} angcioiefen, baf3 auc^ er feine 2lrbeit an 
 jebem fiebten S^age buvd) 9hil;e in ©ott abfd)lief5en unb innertid) üollenben unb 
 ^eiligen foil. .§ier fjaben mir alfo bie göttlidie Santtion unb bie gDttlid}e ^e= 
 grlinbung eine§ fööc^entUdjen 9fiuf)e= unb Segenetage^, nid)t blc§ für ^u^en» 
 fonbern für alle SDtenfdten. 2lu(^ in bem neuen 3:eftamente, in ber tieffinnigen 
 6tc[le .§ebr. 4, 3 — 4. mirb bie Sabbat^rube auf bie ©d^öpfung jurüdgefül^rt unb 
 a!'? uranfänglid^e Orbnung ©otteä be5cid}net. S^a-o ©abbatf}gebot entfpri^t 
 einem allgemeinen Staturgefe^je, ba^ 3iiemanb ungeftraft üerlejjen faun. Sa§ 
 Tnenfd)li(^e Seben ift nad) feiner leiblichen, geiftigen unb fittlid^en Seite auf 
 einen fteten unb regelmäfügen SBedifel jinifd^en Slrbeit unb 9iuf)e, 3mifd}en äuf3e: 
 rem 2Bac^i§tl;um unb innerer Sammlung, ^loifdjen üluebreitung unb 3?ertiefung 
 angelegt. 3>ebc Slrbeit fd}lief5t fid} in einem JHul)eatte ah, unb jebe Dhilje ift 
 »pieber ein StnfatJ ju neuer 3;bätigfeit. tiefem ©cfet5e ift felbft bie ^^^flanje unb 
 taä Silier unterttjorfen, unb biefem ©efe|je ift ber 2auf ber äußeren 9ktur, ber 
 
11 
 
 6onne, be§ 2Jtonbe§ unb ber Sterne btenftbar gemadjt. S)al)er ber SBec^fel öon 
 %aQ unb ^adit, unb bie Gintfjetlung ber irbifc^en ^dt in SSocben, Tlon- 
 ben unb S^f^i^egäeiten. 2Ba^5 nun bie ''Raät i[t int 3?erf)ä(tniB^ 3Um 3;age, 
 ber §erb[t unb SBinter im 33er[;ältni^ gum grüfjüng unb Sommer, ba^ ift ber 
 Sabbatf), b. I), ein möc^entlid^er 9^ul^etag, im 2>erf)a(tni^ juben fcd)5 2Berftagen. 
 Ob e» ber fiebte ober ber erfte S^ag ber 2Bcd}e [ei, ba» i)'t für bie allgemeine 
 Jrage l^ier ganj glei(f)gültig. ßr ift bie 9tuf)e ber 2Bo(!^e, föie ber Scblaf bie 
 JRube be» 5rage§. 2eib unb Seele bebürfen ju il^rem 2Bot)lfein nid}t nur ber 
 täglidben, fonbern aucb ber periobifd)en mi3c[}ent(icben 9tube von ber Strbeit, ber 
 Grf)o(ung »on ber Slnftrengung, ber Jirdftigung aller ©liebmafjen unb 5äf)ig: 
 feiten ju immer neuer Strbeit, unb in bemfelben SJtafje, in meldjenx bie regel= 
 mäßige Sefriebigung biefe» Sebürfniffe» üerfagt wirb, mirb au(f)bie ©efunbbeit, 
 ber SBcl^lftanb unb bie 2{rbeityfä^igfeit untergraben. Setannttid) finbet fid} bie 
 SGßcd}eneintl^eitung mit einer mel^r ober meniger flaren ^eier beio fiebten Zaqe§ 
 nid^t nur bei ben -Hebräern, fonbern bei allen gefci^icbttic^en 25ölfern besS Stlters 
 tl^um§, ben femitifdjen unb inbogermanifcben, bei ben ätrabern, 2(egi}ptern, 
 ©riechen, Diömern, ßf^inefen unb felbft ben Siegern ber afrifanifd)en ©olbtüfte, 
 bie i^ren mcd)entlid)en 5etifd}tag l;aben, 3um beutlicben 53emeife/ bafs biefe Gin: 
 tl^eilung nid^t blo» temporäre unb nationale, fonbern allgemein menfcblicbe 33e= 
 beutung i)at unb auf einem loef entlicben 9Iatürbebürfniffe berufet. S)ie Siebenja^I, 
 Jüeld^e ^^f)ilo „ba» Seben^prinjip aller Singe" nennt, f)at eine tiefe Sebeutung, 
 nid)t nur auf religiöfem ©ebiete al» bie Sunbe/^jaljl ober bie S<^i)l ber 3ufammen= 
 faffung ©ottey unb ber 2Belt, fonbern aud) in fosmifc^en unb planetarifcben 
 SSerJ^dltniffen unb mac^t fic^ in ber normalen unb tranfljaften ©ntmirflung be>^ 
 menfd)li(^en £eben» überall geltenb. 
 
 5}er Sabbatl) ift alfo, mie ßf^riftug fagt (iDIart. 2, 27.), für ben DJIenfdien, 
 nid)t ber SRenfd} für ben Sabbatil) gemadit. Gr ift feiner urfprünglidjen 2(bfid)t 
 nad^, JtJie alle ©efe^e unb Ginrid^tungen ©otte», fein S^iang, fein ^odi, fonbern 
 eine föafjre 2Bof)ltl)at, eine (3abe unb ein 9ted&t, bag @ott ben iDIenfd^:n, unb 
 äit»ar allen 30lenfd)en, befonber» aud) ben armen unb fjart arbeitenben ^tlaffen, 
 ben Sienftboten, ben g-remblingen, unb felbft ben unoernünftigen S^bieren gege: 
 ben f)at. Siefe mof)ltf)ätige 2(bfid}t tritt im oierten ©ebot gan3 beutlid) I;eroor. 
 „SedE)§ 2!age," fo i^ei^t eg, „follft bu arbeiten unb alle beine Söerfe tf)un, aber 
 am fiebenten Stage ift ber Sabbat^ be§ ,§errn, beine» ©ottesS; ha follft tn feine 
 Strbeit t^un, ncä) bein Scljn, nocb beine iocbter, no(^ beine 2)kgb, nod} bein 
 9Sie^, nocl) bein grembüng, ber in beinen 3:f)oren ift!" Saö 33erbot ber 2trbeit, 
 — öon roe(d(}em jebo(^, nad^ allgemeiner 3uftiwmung, ^^erfe ber 3iotbmenbig = 
 feit unb ber Siebe aufgenommen finb, auä bem einfachen ©runbe, ireil bie 
 $Rotbit)enbigfeit fein ©efe^ fennt, unb meil bie Siebe beil ©efetie» l)cd}fte Gr; 
 füllung ift, — ic^ fage, haä SSerbot ber Slrbeit ift nur bie negatioe Seite unb 
 unüermeiblidje Sebingung be» pofitiöen Stnrec^te» auf IHu^e für Seib unb Seele, 
 jur Grf)altung unb ©efunbf)eit beiber. 
 
 Siefe natürliche 9iotl)menbigfeit unb 2Bof)ltf)ätigfeit eine» inöd^entlic^en 
 9ftuf)etage§ für £eib unb Seele »t»irb burdb bie Grfaf)rung unb burd; bie getnid^; 
 tigften drätlic^en 3eugniffe beftdtigt. Unter ben festeren mill ic^ ans cielen 
 bIo| einige anfüfjren. ^m ^a\)xe 1832 lie^ bag britifc^e <§au§ ber ©emeinen 
 
. 12 
 
 bie eonntagc^frage mit 9üidfid)t auf bie arbeitenben klaffen burd^ eine Gommi^ 
 f\on i^on breif5ig ^arlament^mitgliebern unterfuc^en, ju benen 6ir Slnbre» 
 Hgncm, Sir SJobevt ^4>ecl, Sir fiebert ^ngli^, Sir %l)oma§ Saring, Sorb 2lfl|)= 
 lei} unb anbere auc-gCöCicbnete Staat!§Tnänner"gel;örtcn. ^iefe (Eommifficn con; 
 fultirte eine grofje Stnsabl Beugen aug üerl'd^iebenen Stänben unb 93efc^äftigun= 
 gen, unter Slnberu aiiä:) ben berübmten unb erfahrenen 3(r3t S)r. ^o^n Siidjarb 
 g-arre von £onbon, ber aU Dtefultat feiner beinahe toieräigiäf)rigen gJraji» unb 
 93eobad)tung folgcnbe» 3e"g"ife aus-ftellte: 
 
 ,,mß ein 3iuf)etag Italic id} ben ©abbatf; für einen (Srfa^tag fiiv bic unjuvei^ 
 c^cnbc 2öiebevt)cvfiel(uiig£Shaft beö .ilörvcris unter fortwd tjvcnt'cv 9Ubeit unb Sluf= 
 rcguiig. Sin 9lvjt nimmt immer gfliiftficiit auf bie (Si()altung bcr 5ßiebcrl)cvftc((ungöfvaft; 
 bciin itcnn bicfc ücrloven ift, fo t)at feine ^cilfun(^ ein (Snbe. iSin 9lvjt ijt bebadit auf 
 bie (Srf)altung ber @lcid)nuif;igfeit beö Slutumlaufe^ (the balance of circulation) al& 
 nL-t()Wenbig jur lilöicber()crße(lungöfraft bee Seibeö. 3)ic gcwöf)nlid)e Sinftrcngung beä 
 S)icnfd}eu fd}»äd)t ben Umlauf an jebem Siage fcineö Sicbcuö; unb ba3 evtle allgemeine 
 gjaturgefcl^, burd) n)cld)eö ©ott feine 3evjtörung oertjinbevt, ijt bcr aBed)fcl you Sag unb 
 5iJad)t, bamit S(luf)C auf Jtrbeit folge. 9lbec cblvcfil bie 9?ad}t fd)cinbar ben Q3lutumtauf 
 ouöglcid)e, fo ftcUt fie bod) bag ®lcid}gc»id)t fitr bie (Srrcid)ung cinc<? (angcn Scbcu>j nid)t 
 ()inlänglid} {)cr. 3)e(i^alb ijt burd; bie ®iite ber aSorfcliung ein ;j:ag unter ficbcn a(3 ©r^ 
 fa^tag bajugcgcbcn, bamit burd) beffen Oiulje baö animatifdje ©ijjtcm nollenbet iverbe. 
 iDkfc^rage Ki^t fid} leid}t faftifd} entfdjeitien buvd}ben ^öcrfud} mit einem 8afttl}ier. a)Jan 
 nel}mc j. fS. ba(5 ^fcrb, unb man wirb balb finbcn, bap ein 9iul}ctag feine Äiaft fiir bie 
 i'lbrigeu fed}ö S^agc itcrme(}rt unb ju feiner üollen ®ffunb(}eit noil^wcnbig ift. 3)cr ÜUcnfc^ 
 wirb burd} bie l}öf}ere .traft feinet ®ei|te3 aufrcd}t gcl}alten, fo bafj fid} bcr nad}t()cilige 
 (Sinfiup fort wäf}rcnbcr täglid}cr 5lrbeit unb Slnftrcnguug nid}t fo fd}ncn unb uumitj 
 tclbar fuub giebt aU beim untjeruiinftigen Xijkxe, aber im 33erlaufe brid}t er rafd}er jus 
 fammcn unb öcrtiirjt fid} bie Sänge feinet Sebenö unb bie p(}^fifd}e Äraft bcö 9Utcrö. 
 3d} betrad}te bepf}alb bie (Sinfc^ung beö @abbat(}ö aU cine gütige (Sinrid}tung ber SSor^ 
 fel}ung jur (Sr^altung bcö menfd}ti^cn Scbcnö, unb bie 53eobad}tuug bcfTclben alä eine 
 natürlid}e ^jiidjt, fofern nämlid} jugcitanben wirb, baß bie Scbenöcrl}aUuug cine ''^fiid}t 
 unb bie unjeitige Sebenojcrftiiirung cine 9lrt lion ©elbjtmorb ijl. 3d} fage bicfj blof alö 
 ein 9lrjt unb otjnc alle 9iürffid}t auf bie tl}Cologifd}e ©cite bcr forage. ?lbcr wenn man 
 ferner bie SBirhingen bcö wal}reu Sf)riftentl}umß bctrad}tet, niimlid} griebe bc»5 @cmütf)3, 
 93crtraucn auf ®ott UKb Üöo(}lwoneu ju ben a)lcnfd}eu, fo wirb man in bcm t}öl}crcn ®e: 
 brand} be« ©abbatM, alö eincö tieiligeu 9lu(}ctagcö, cine jufä^lid}c Ouclle bcr Scbenöers 
 
 neucrung für ben ®cift unb burd} biefen and} für ben Scib pnben Uutcrfud}u»igcM 
 
 in bcr ^]3l}i}iiolügie jeigcn burd} bie 2tnatogie bcö Söirfcnö bcr 93orfc(}ung in bcr Olatur, 
 tia§ baö göttlid}c ®cbot feine willfürltdie Stnorbnung, fonbern für baö ffiof}l bciJ a}icnfd}cn 
 uotT}Wenbig ift. ©ief? ift ber ®runb, auf welchen id} bie <Ba(i)c ftcllc, im Untcrfd}icb r>on 
 93orfd}r(ft unb ©cfc^gebung. 3d} betrad}te bie ©onntag^rufie <iH notfiwcnbig für bcu 
 S)Jenfd>en, unb b arum finb bie »^einbe bcö ©abbattiö aüä) gcinbc be« 5Dknfd}en. 9U(c 
 ftarfen Slnftrengungcu bcö Seibeö ober ®ei(teö/ fowie alle Strten »on ?luefd}wcifung unb 
 58eluiligung, weld}e ben 33lutumlauf forciren, ber an biefcm SSage ruljeu foflte, ftnb ein 
 «ad}t()eili3er .Sllijjbraud} beö ©abbatl}^, wä(}renb bie 9(bfvannung Don bcu gcwcil}nlid}cn 
 Scficnöforgcn, b«.r ®cnuß ber 9luf}e im ©d'ooge bcr Familie, tjcrbunben mit bcu rcligiöfcu 
 Ucbungen unb ^,fiid}ten, wcld)e bicfer !5!ag auferlegt, »on welchen, gcl)örig iicrtlanbcn, 
 .■^eine .einjigc bag Seben abfürjt, ben angcmeffenen unb wof}lt(}ätigcn ®ebraud} bes <Siii". 
 j(ja^'-'öö.au6m«(^cn." 
 
 Sei einer regelniiälfjigen SSerfammlung ber „3Reft>=^at}en 9}lebicaI=3lffociation," 
 ■.mc\^i cm§ fünfunb^lDanjig 2teräten mit Ginfc^Infiber ^rofefforcnbei^ mebijinifdjen 
 lg;olIegium^ beftCi^t, ipuy.ben fol^enb.e .bre.i B^ragen aus.füf)rlid^ befprod^en unb 
 
18 
 
 ctnftitnmtg bejal^enb beantwortet: 1. 3fft bie Slnfid^t bei S)r. ^atxt in 
 feinem »or ber Committee beä britifdjen .^aufeio ber ©emeinen abgelegten 
 3eugntffe rid^tig? 2. Sinb 2)lenfc^en, bie blo^ fed^g 3;age arbeiten, ber JRegel 
 nad) gefünber unb leben fie länger, a(§ fcld^e, irelcbe unter gleid^en SSerbält; 
 niffen fieben 3:age arbeiten? 3. 23erri(bten fie mebr «nb beffere Strbeit? — 
 Sr. ^obn ß. 2Barren oon Softon, ^rofeffor am mebijinifcben ßoUegium ber 
 Unioerfitat t)on Sambribge, gibt ebenfalls feine Dolle 3uftintmung in biefen 
 SBorten: 
 
 ,;3^ fitmme ber Slnftc^t beö 35v. i^^irre, ben tc^ ^erfönüc^ a(3 einen Strjt üom 
 i)bä)ften Oiange fenne, »cHfornmen bei. Sie Sflii^licbJeit bcö ©abbat^ö aU cincö 0iu^e= 
 tagcö, ücni »eÜlicf^en ©taub^junfte auö betrachtet, ru^t auf einem ber allgcmeinficn ÖJatur: 
 gefeite, beni ©cfe^c be3 ))eriobifd)cn Söed^felö (periodicity). @o ivett meine S3ccb; 
 o(!f)tung rcid)t, getrf)nen fid; bie SJicnfcbe«/ »eldje am ©abbat^ »»cltlidjc ©ovgcn unb Sirs 
 beitcn ju »ermeiben Jjflfegcn, aud) am mcifien burd) üollfommene (Erfüllung i^rcr $fiid^ten 
 tt)äf)venb bev 2Bod)C auö. 2)er ©influ^ etneö 2Be^felö ber ©ebanfen am ©abbatf; auf ba3 
 ©emütl) fulc^er Werfen gteid)t bem (Sinfiuf beö SBccbfela ber Otabrung auf ben Äör^jer. 
 3encr fdjcint ben ©eijleöfräften/ toie biefcr ben Seibeöfräften, neue ??rifd)e unb (Bnnqit 
 ju geben. 3d) 6in feft überjeugt, ba^ folc^c «ßerfonen im ©taube finö 
 mc^r unb bcffere 5lrbeit in fcd&ö 3;agen jju »errid^ten, al3 tücnn fie 
 (iHc fjfben Silage arbeiteten. !Daö (Sinatffmen ber reinen unb erf;ebcnben Sltmoöj 
 V^äre etneö religiöfen ©abbatfjö erfrtfdjt unb fväfttgt ben ®eifi. (Ss bilbet eine (S^)oc^e 
 in unfcrm Seben, üon ber tütr neue Stnregung erf)alten, unb ifi bal;cr bie befte SSorberei^ 
 tung für bie Strbeiten ber fofgenben ffiodie." 
 
 Gine ßommittee ber gefet;gebenben 35erfammlung toon ^ennf^loanien fübtt in 
 einem 93erid)te über ben Ä?analbau öom ^a^xe 1839 bie SBebauiJtung ber 6onn= 
 taggfreunbe an, „bafe fotrobl 2Renf($en alä 93ieb mebr Strbeit t>errid)ten fönnen, 
 it)enn fie einen 2:ag in fieben ruben, al§ menn fie alle fieben arbeiten," unb fügt 
 binju, „ba§ ibre eigene Grfabrung al§ ©efdiäftämänner, Sanbmirtbe unb @efei^= 
 geber mit biefer 5Bebauptung übereinftimme. " S)a§ ßyperiment ift bäufig in 
 ßnglanb unb Slmerifa mit 2)ienf(ben, ^^ferben unb Ocbfen gemocbt lüorben unb 
 bat baffelbe 9iefultat geliefert, unb bie SBeiä-beit unb ©üte ber göttlid)en Slnorbs 
 nung eine§ fööd)entlicben Diubetageg beftätigt. ©in auffallenbeS Seifpiel jeigte 
 fid;) no(^ »or furger 3eit in ßalifornien, mo eine amerifanifd)e ©efellfcljaft üon 
 ©olbgräbern im ßifer für plö^lid)en 9leid^tbum ben Sonntag »erlebte, aber balb 
 bur(b allerlei Jlranfbeit unb Seu(be bie ßrfabrung machte, ba^ fte ftatt beä ©olbes 
 üielmebr ibr eigenes @rab grub, unb baber jur geier be§ 9lubetage§ jurüclfebrte, 
 beren iDobltbätige e^olgen für £eib unb Seele ficb aud) in furjer 3eit einfteQten. 
 
 3u biefen englifc^en unb amerifanifcben 3eugniffen lüill id) noä) ein beutfcbeä 
 bingufügen üon einem berübmten Spanne, ber gtüar feine tbeologifd^e unb religiöfe 
 Slutorität ift, aber in ben bi5*^ften .ßreifen meltlid)er Silbung ben beften 0ang, 
 unb baber für unfere ©egner um fo größeres ©etoid^t bot. 
 
 ,,3d) tf}ci(e ganj ^^xi SO^einung," fagt ffiiltielm l^on ^umbolbt in ben ©riefen au feine 
 grcuubin (1850, 5öb. 1. ©. 282 f.) ,,ba^ bie (Sinrid)tung befiimmtcr SRufietage, felbjl luenn 
 fte gar nid)t mit religiofer ^eier jufammen^inge, eine fiir 3cbc:t, ber ein mcnfd)enfreunb; 
 lidjeö, auf alte Äiaflien ber ®efef[fd)aft gcrid)tete« ©emiitt; f}at, f}öd)ft ern"cu(id)e uub 
 ttivtlicb erquicfcnbe Sbce if!. (SS giebt nid)tä fo Sclbüifdjeä unb ^erjlcfcö, ciU mm 
 aStmebme unb Sdcidje mit 3Jli^fa([en, ober wenigflenä mit einem gewiffen üerfd)mäbenbcn 
 eiel auf ©onn. unb Feiertage juriicfbticEen. ©elbfi bie ffia^l bcö fiebenten 2;ageö ifl 
 
14 
 
 getoi^ bic tveifeftc, weld^e ^dtte gcfunben »erben fönnen. ©o hjtflfü^rdc!^ eö fd^etnt, bie 
 Strbeit urn einen !£ag ju »erffirjcn cbcr ju üerlängern, fo Bin id) iibevjeugt, bap bie fed^a 
 S;age gcrabe bati lüadrc, ben 3)lenfr[)cn in iifxtn ])\)t)\i\A)cn Jtvaften unb in il;rem 53cf)avren 
 in einförmige«: 93c[(t)äftigung angemeJTene Maa^ ift. 6'^ liegt nod) etwaö «^umvxneiS and) 
 barin, ici^ bie ju« 5lrbeit be^ixljiic^en Siliere biefc Dln^e mit genicjjcn." 
 
 SlUein nun fagen unfere ©egner: ba§ geben iriv gerne ju, »üir lüoUen ja and) 
 einen möc^entUdien STag ber ^tul^e, ber ßrl^olung unb ber ejreube. 2l((erbing§! 
 Slber eine 9*tu(;e, irelc^e bie grofste Unruhe unb Slufvegung i[t, eine Grl/otung, 
 tuelcbe ßrtnattung unbälufreibung beiüirft, unb eine ^veube, bie mit bitterem Seibe 
 enbet! §ört einmal bie Spradje biefer £eute: ,,2)er 2lrbeiter mill einen Sag 
 ber ßrbolnng, unb jtüar nict)t aü§ bem ©efalbaber eineä Si^mar^rode^ ober au§ 
 einem brünftigen @ebetbüd}lein, moran fid^ blc^ alte fficiber unb SummfÖpfe er= 
 bauen fönnen ; bie enge 3Berfftatt »erlangt ben ©egenfalj ber freien 3iatur, ber 
 3tüang ber Arbeit brängt gur Ungebunbenbeit. 2Bir baben Sommergärten unb 
 6ommertbeater, aber nocb lange nidbt genug ; S)ampfboote unb Gifenbabnen 
 muffen Sonntags erft 2:aufenbe binauS tragen in'?^ greie: 2Jlufi! unb Sans un^ 
 ter grünen 93äumen muffen ertönen, mobin man ficb inenbet, überall £uft unb 
 Seben unb g-reube." ^ebermann üerftebt ben Sinn biefer Sprache; jcbermann 
 lDeif3, irelcber müfte 'unb robe 2Jlateriali§mu§, meld;e Seftialität ficb barunter 
 birgt, ^eiiei^inann tüei^, mie e§ hd biefen tüeltlid^en 93ergnügung»arten, fei eg 
 unter grünen Säumen, fei e» in ben Sauf= unb Spielböllen ber Stabt, am 
 Sonntag gettiöbnlid) bergebt. 5)ie folgen berfelben finb leiber nur ju oft in 
 bem pb^[if<^en unb moralifcben ■ßai^enjammer, in Slrmutb unb SSerbrecbcn, in 
 unfäglicbem ^^amilienelenb unb im enblicben S^luin üon £eib unb Seele 5U lefen. 
 Solan nebme blo^ bie 9Ieh):9)or!er 6riminal=Statiftil" ber legten paar ^abre unb 
 bie @efcbi(^te ber ficbentaufenb fiebenbunbert nid}t licenfirten Jincipen biefer 
 Stabt jur $anb, unb man \-)at baran ben fdjlagcnbftcn unb traurigften kommen: 
 tar ju biefer Sabbatbfcbänbung, ber alle weiteren SBemeife erfe^it. 2Beg mit bie« 
 fen inüften, auggelaffenen 93ergnügungcn, mel(^e bie @efunbbeit untergraben, 
 ben ©eift abftumpfen unb üertbieren, bie Sitten jerftören unb ben guten beut; 
 fcben 3lamen bem Spott unb ber ^Berai^tung preiy geben! SBabrlid), c» giebt 
 fcbönere, reinere unb eblere Sonntaggfreuben, trelcbe bem £eib unb ber Qede 
 ttjabrbafte Grbolung gelt»äbren, fie ju neuer 2trbeit ftärfen unb einesi üernünfti; 
 gen fittlidben SBefenä unb gerabe auä) eine§ äd^ten beutfcben OJtanneä allein mür= 
 big finb, ^^reuDen an ©otteg SBunbermerfen in berDtatur unb ©efd)id}te, Jvcuben 
 im ftillen Äreife ber {^amilie, ^^reuben an SBerfen ber Sarmberjigfeit unb dJlcn- 
 fcbenliebe, e^reuben an ber .^erjeng^ unb ©eiftegbilbung, greuben ber DJcligion 
 ober beä Umgangs ber Seele mit bem elüigen Urquell alles SebenS unb aller 
 §reube. ^yür foldbe Jreuben, für foldbe 3?ube unb ©rbolung ift ber Sonntag uon 
 ©Ott felbft beftimmt, unb t»on jeber hjoblgeorbneten d}riftlidben 3tegierung aufrcdbt 
 g^baiten. 
 
 Senn ber Sonntag bat neben feiner pb^fvfdben 5Rotbft>enbigfeit als Dhtbctag 
 aucbeine böbere fittlidje 5Rotbroenbigfeitunb Sebeutung, unb blo^in bemfelben 
 ©rabe, in melcbem er feinem fittlidben Stfede bient, fann er audb feinen pb^jR- 
 fdben 3wederreidbenunb bem Seibe beS 2Jlenf(ben jur loa^ren Gr^olung bienen. 
 
15 
 
 II. 
 
 2)er Sonntag ift nämli^) einer ber ®runb)3feiler beä lüofjlgeorbneten ^ami« 
 lienlebeng, foiüie ber öffentlid^enOvbnung unb6itt[icfefeit in jebem ©emeinmefen. 
 S)aruni [te^t iai^ 6abbat{)ge|elj nic^t unter ben Geremonialgeboten, fonbern in 
 bem 6itt enge fei} a(»eine^beräe^n ©cbote, n3elc^efeitbembiefittli(^eS3ai"iy nic^t 
 nur be» jübifc^en, fonbern oder d}riftHd)en Staaten gebilbet fiaben, unb bis an'ä 
 6nbe ber Qiit bilben loerbcn. ®iefe Stellung ift üon ber größten S3ebeutung 
 für bie allgemeine fittlic^e 9Totl)n)enbigfeit unb SBidtitigfeit eine» lüi3d}entli(^en 
 9lul;etage» unb ein gemaltige» Strgunient ju ©unften ber angto = anievifanifct)en 
 Sonntagä=2;l;corie unb ^rayig im ©egenfa^ gegen bie layeren 2lnfid}ten ttieter 
 3;f)eDlogen beio Sontinent». äßarum I)at @ott, ber atlmeife unb aüiuiffenbe (Sott, 
 in bem SOhiftcrgefelibud), baä bie ©efe^gebung beg Solon unb Stjhirgu» unb aller 
 2Beifen bei5 2lltert^um§ überlebt ^at unb ^eute noi^ fo mabr, fo einleud)tenb, fo 
 uncntbel;rlic^ ift al$ je, bie Sabbatl)öfeier mitten in bie allgemeinen unb emig 
 gültigen Sittengefe^e l}ineingef(^oben, unb bieSabbatl)öfi^änbuug ebenfo ernftli(^ 
 oerboten al^ ben ©ö^ienbienft, ba^ glucken unb Sdjiuören, ben Ungeborfam gegen 
 bie Gltern, ben SJlorb, ben @l)ebrud}, ben 2)icbftal)l unb bie 93erläumbung bes 
 aZdcbften? @emi§ lä^t fid^ biejj nur burd) bie Stnnabme eines engen ^ufammen^ 
 i{iang§ beg Sabbatljä mit ber öffentlidien Sittlid^leit, mit bem SBotjl unb 2Be§e 
 «iner 3^ation erlldren. 
 
 6ben barum lä^t fid) aud^ üon üornenljerein gar nid^t benfen, baf] (Ebriftug, 
 ber nad^ feiner eigenen ßrlldrun^ nid)t gefommen ift ba» @efe^ aufjutöfen, fons 
 Sern 3U erfüllen, ba§ vierte ©ebot feinem Sßefen nacl; aufgel)oben ober aud^ 
 nur abgefd^mäd^t f)aben follte. StUerbing» lüurbe ber Sabbatlj oom fiebten auf 
 Sen erften 2;ag ber Söodie »erlegt, n»eil 6l)riftuö am erften Söoi^entage auferftan^ 
 oen ift unb baburd^ bie bösere geiftige Scböpfung unb bie ©rlöfung ber Sßelt 
 ^oUenbet ^at. Sa» ift aber blo^ eine S^eränberung ber duneren jeitlid^en j^orm, 
 2iic^t bf§ SBefeng. ®er alte jübifc^e Sabbatl) ift mit 6|)rifto begraben morben, 
 anb am erften 2Bod}entage fiegreicl) unb oerfldrt al§ d^riftlicber Sonntag, al§ 
 ©ebenttag ber fittlid)en Sc^iöpfung, als greubentag ber oollenbeten ©rtöfung 
 toieber auferftanben. Stllerbingg treten ßbriftu» unb bie Slpoftel in mebreren 
 Stellen be» 3leuen Xeftamentg bem abergldubifcl)eu, ftlaoifc^en, tüerfgeredjten 
 ^f)arifdifd)en Sabbatbigmug, hjie überhaupt allem töbtenben 33ud}ftabenbienft 
 unb aller fd)einl)eili9en.^euc^elei,entfd)ieben entgegen, aber, tt)oblt»erftanben ! uid^t 
 IVL ©unften ber profanation beg S o n n tagg, fonbern umgefe^rt im ©egenfa|5 gegen 
 bie gJrofanation ber SBod^entage unb im ^ntereffe ber Heiligung aller Sage. 
 Sag ift ein ^immelmeiter Unterfc^ieb. Sie Sabbatl)feinbe trollen alle 3eit unb 
 aße 2lrbeit im Sienfte berSBelt unb Selbftfucbt profaniren; ßb^ftug unb ^$aulug 
 iDollen alle 3eit unb alle Slrbeit bem Sienfte unb ber ei)re ©otteg gebeiligt feigen. 
 Sag ift ber ibeale Stanbpunlt, ber bem ©Triften allerbing» ftetg alg 3iel be» Stre= 
 beng unb bet Sebnfucbt »or Slugen fd)lüeben foil, unb beraucb bereinft im Sen= 
 feitg, in bem enitgen Sabbatb beg Sßolfeg ©otteg oerH)ir!lid)t werben mitb. 33on 
 bemfelben ibealen Stanbpunfte oerbietet ber .§crr ben ßib, ber allerbingg in 
 einem ^uftanbe tollfommener SBabrbaftigteit loegfaUen rcirb, ja unter irabren 
 G^riften fcbon ^iei^unnütbig ift, in einer gemifcbten SBelt coli 2üge unb Srug 
 fiber ni(^t iVol)l entbehrt werben !ann. ßbenfofinb wir in bieferunoomommenen 
 
16 
 
 fßelt nod) immer auf einen SBec^fel 3rt»i[c^en2lrbcit unb9hil;e, ätüif(i}en2ßcrftai]en 
 unb Sonntag angemiefen, unb gerabe ber Sonntag unb feine hJürbige g-eier ifl 
 bie befte unb unentbel)vlid}e 5Borbereitung jur |)erbeifü^rung jene» loealen ^\i~ 
 ftanbe§, iro jeber Jag Sonntag, unb jebeä SQBerf ©ottesbienft unb feliger ©enu^ 
 fein hjirb. 
 
 S)at)er finben wir benn au(^ bie ^^eier bei Sonntags, aU ,,be§ Jage! be3 
 ^errn," fd^on in ber apoftolifc^fen unb nad^apoftolifc^en Äivd^e unb feitbem un« 
 unterbrochen mit größerer ober geringerer Strenge oberfiajfjeit in allen d^riftUc^en 
 Säubern unb 3af)r^unberten bi§ auf unfere 2;age. Unb fobalb bal 6^riftentf)um 
 nac^ breif)unbertiäl)rigem ^ampf für feine ßy iftenj üom römifd^en Staate anerf annt 
 mar, erliefen Sonftantin ber ©ro^e unb feine 3Ra^fo(gc fof ort ©efe^e für bie b ü r s 
 g erliefe «^eier, ober öielme^r ©efe^e gegen bie bürgerliche Gntmeif)ung unb gut 
 2Bal)rung ber religiöfen g^eier bei d^riftlid^en Sonntagl. Sotd^e negatiüe unb 
 protectiüe ©efe^e Don größerer ober geringerer Strenge giebt el in allen d;riftli(^ 
 ciüilifirten Säubern, unb gmar merfmürbiger SBeife üorsugimeife gerabe in ben« 
 jenigen, mo am meiften bürgerliche unb religiöfe i5reil)eit l^errfd)t, mie in ber 
 Sc^meij, in ^ollanb, ßnglanb unb Scbottlanb. 
 
 SSor allem aber jeic^net fic^ bal amerüanifd^e 33ol!, ba§ freiefte unb lebenl« 
 fräfttgfte 2?olf unferel 3eita[terl, burd) ftrenge Sonntagifeier axi§. 5)iefer 3w9 
 ift mabrlic^ feine feiner Sc^mäc^en unb HJtängel, fonbern umgeleljrt ein 3eid}en 
 feiner fittlic^en Stärfe unb Selbftbefierrfd^unglfraft, ein Seroeil feiner 5Äf)ig' 
 feit gum ©enuffe »ernünftiger ^^rei^eit, unb ein ßrflärunglgrunb feinel beifpiet* 
 lofen ©ebeibenl unb feiner roeltgefc^id)tlict)en ©röf5e. 5)i'efe Sonntagifeier ift 
 ^ier ein urfprünglic^el (3eWaä)^ unb ein gemeinfamer 93eft^, an roclc^icm alle 
 c^riftlii^en Benennungen 3;beil ^aben. ßl ift befannt, ba^ bie puritanifd^en 
 $ilgert»äter, bie ©rünber öon 5Reu=@nglanb, gleid(; ben erften Sonntag nad) il)rer 
 Sanbung in ^Ipmoutb Siod, im 2a))u 1620, im falten December, troj3 aller ^in= 
 berniffe ber erften 2lnfieblung, ol^ne Dbbad^ unb in raufier Söilbnijj, auf bie 
 ftrengfte unb roürbigfte SBeife feierten. ®iefe puritanifcfie Sitte ift tief in ben 
 amerifanifd^en 9lational(^arafter eingebrungen unb allgemeine 33Dl!-?fittc ge= 
 morben. Sie bat groar mit bem SBadjItbum einer beterogcnen 93eo5lfcrung üicl 
 üon if)rer urfprünglid^en, jum 3;beit allerbtngl rauljen unb übertriebenen 
 Strenge »erloren, befonberl in ben großen Seeftäbten, roo bie Sonntag|:©cfe^e 
 neuerbingl toielfac^ burcb bie ^Rac^fidit einer fd^roacben unb d^araftevlofen Slbmi: 
 niftration jum tobten 93uii)ftabcn berabgefunfen finb, fann aber nie aulgerottet 
 »erben, ^aä amerifanif(^e 55olf roirb fid) ben roöd^enttic^en 9iuf)ctag nie rauben 
 ober in einen Sag ber roeltlicben 3erftreuung unb Suftbarfeit cerfebren taffen. 
 2)ie Sonntaglgcfe|e Don 9tem=3)orf ftef)en nicbt »ereinjelt ba; alle anbern Staa« 
 ten unferer 5lepublif, mit 3Iulnal)me Don einem ober groei, roo bal fransöfifd^e 
 ober fpanifd^e Clement Dor^errfd)t, baben äbnlid^e, gum Zl)eil Diel ftrengerc 
 ©efe^e. 
 
 5Run tritt unl aber ^iet gleich bie populäre unb oft micberbolte Ginroenbung 
 entgegen, ba^ bet Staat nidbtl mit ber Äircbe 5U tbun l)abe, unb ba^ bie 
 Sonntaglgefe^e ber amerifanifdben ©laubenl« unb Gultulfreibeit miber« 
 fpredben, alfo eigentlich conftitutioninjibrig feien, .folgli^ aufgehoben roerben 
 fottten. 
 
17 
 
 Siefe Ginmenbung ru^t junädjft auf einem ööüigen SRi^oerftänbni^ ber D^atur 
 unb 2(bficf)t ber amerifani|cf}en Sonntag^gefe^e. 6ie [inb ndmlic^ gar nic^t 
 coerciü ober jmingenb, fcnbern b(of5 prctectio ober befcbügenb; [ie finb rtidit 
 fomD{)( pcfitiö, aly negatiü; fie gebieten nic^t bie ©cnntagsfjeiligung, [onbern 
 »erbieten bicfs bie Scnntag^entbeitigung; fie ^mingen 91iemanben in bie ^irc^e 
 ju ge^en, fonbern befd^ü^en blo^ bie Äird^engänger in if)ren burd) bie ®lauben;S= 
 unb @eiüiffensfreil;eit bes £anbe» ifjnen gemäbrten unb verbürgten Siedeten, 
 ©iejs gilt felbft üom 2(ltte[tamentli(^en Sabbat^gebot; e» [agt ni^t: am (£ab= 
 batf) foüft bu bie ©tiftsbütte ober ben Sempel befudjen unb beine Opfer bringen, 
 fonbern: 5)u foUft am 6abbotb feine 2llltag§rtierfe »erricfiten, »reber bu, nod] bein 
 6obn,nocb beine Jocbter, ncdb bein Änec^t, nodb beine 2Ragb, S)er Staat üerf)ä(t 
 ficb 3ur ilird^e ungefäbr luie ber Seib jur Seele, ober trie ba^ ©efe^ jum ßt)ange= 
 lium. Gr bat mit ber inneren ©efinnung, mit bei fubjectiüen Sittlicbfeit unb 
 5ßriüatfrömmigfeit, fofern fie nicbt mit ben Diecbten 2(nberer in Gonflift gerdtb, 
 nicbtio äu tbun, unb barf bie ©eiüiffenärecbte nii^t einfdjränfen ; irobl aber ift 
 6)0 feine ^ftid^t, bie ijffentli($e ©ittlic[}feit unb bie freie 2(u»übung ber D^eligion 
 ju lt)al;ren unb ju f(f)ü|en. Gr barf m<i)t gebieten: 2;u follft beinen 3iäd}ften 
 lieben unb ifjm ©ute» tbun; föobl aber mu^ er »erbieten, bem 9iäd}ften ju 
 f(^aben, unb mu^ bat;er bie S3erläumbung, ben Siebftabl unb ben 2Rorb beftra = 
 fen. Gbenfo barf er, mie fd)on eriuäbnt, and) niäjt bie Sonntagsfeier unb ben 
 ©Dttesbienft gebieten; lüof)! aber barf unb muf3 er, fo lange er auf ben 9tamen 
 eineio d^riftlic^cn 2(nfprucb madjt, bie Sonntagsentmeibung unb bie Störung be» 
 ©ottesbienfte» üerbieten unb nötl^iigenfall» beftrafen, unb feinen ^Bürgern bie 
 e^eier be!§ Sonntag^ unb bie Slueübung ibrer Gultusfrei^eit möglidi mad;en. 
 S)aä ift alles, unb nidjtü meljr unb niditio ireniger, ma» mir ücm Staate unb 
 feiner ©efe|3gebung »erlangen. 
 
 5Run menbet man aber meiter ein, ber amerifanifd&e Staat fei ja gar fein 
 cbriftlicber, fo menig al^ ein jübifcber, ober muljamebanifd)er, ober beibnifcber; er 
 üerbalte fi(i} gegen alle DfJeligion gans gleid}gültig unb muffe bie 9?eligionylofig; 
 feit unb ben 2(tl)eiömus ebenfo frei geroäbren laffen, als irgenb eine gorni ber 
 Steligion. 
 
 Sülerbing» finb .ßird^e unb Staat nid)t nur in unfcrer @eneral:9?egierung, 
 fonbern audb in allen einzelnen Staaten unb Territorien, mit Slusnabme be>? 
 ganj abnormen unb blo^ temporären iDIormonenftaates, getrennt. Slllein biefe 
 Slrennung rul)t nicbt auf ©eringfd}ä^ung ber Religion unb ^ird)e, fonbern auf 
 tiefer 2ld)tung »or beiben. Unfere!ReUgions= unb ßultuäfreil^eit ift nid;t eine nega-- 
 ti»e ^reibeit, ober Gmancipation »on ber 9{eligion, fonbern eine pofiti»e greibeit 
 jur ^ieligion, bie al§> ^u bod} unb beilig für bie politifdje ©efetigebung angefe; 
 ben, unb baber bem freien ©emiffen be^o Ginjelnen in feinem Sßerbältni^ 3;! ©ott 
 unb ben fird)lid)en iiörperfdjaften überlaffen mirb. S)er 2(merifaner betrad;tet 
 Die Dieligiong: unb Gultusfreibeit eben fo mie bie 9iebe= unb ^-]]reJ3freibeit, melcbe 
 in bem befannten Slrtifel ber g-cberal^Gonftitution jufammcn genannt merben, 
 alle eine» ber unüeräuJ3erlid}en ©runbre(^te einc^ amerifanifcben 33ürgery unb 
 oerlangt »on ber Dtegierung, ba^ fie jeben Untertbanen in biefem 3lecbte, mie in 
 feiner $erfon unb feinem Gigentbum befcbü|en foil. Sa nun bie gro^e SJkffe 
 be§ SSoIfes fid^ jum Gbriftent^um in feinen »erfcbiebenen gormen befennt unii 
 
18 
 
 ben Sabbati} 3ur 2(u^n"ibiing beg Q,ljx\)lent\)um§ für uncntbebrUcf} f)ätt, fo imif, bie 
 Dlegievung fi^on nad) bem repub(ifani)"d}em ©ruiibfalic ber 3)iaiotitäten^evv[c{)aft 
 'ü)\m\ ben SJSongenu^ iljxn C£)ri)"tenred}te unb bie 'Jtusiibung i{;ver (ibrifteiipfUc^: 
 ten, ai\o unter anberm auc^ bie Jeier be^i gottlid? eingefeliten ^tuf^etag^ möglich 
 mad}eu, unb [ie barin befc^üljen. 
 
 Sie Trennung beic Staate» ücn ber iiixdjc i[t nic^tsS »reniger al» eine 3:ren-- 
 nung ber 3Zation nom 6I)riftent(;um; üielmel^r ift bie amerifanifcfee 9Iation 
 üiel entfd)iebener djriftlid^, al» irgeub eine i)iation ber alten SBelt, luobie beiben 
 2)lcid}te iier[d}mol3en finb. S)aö (Sl;riftentl;um i)"t ein Sl^eil unfereiä ücn (fnglanb 
 ererbten gemeinen 3\ed}ti§ (Common Law), ift mit all unfern Stnfc^auungen 
 unb Sitten öeriüoben, be^errfd}t unfere bäu»lid}en ©inricbtungen unb gan^c 
 Giuilifation unb ift bie einzig mögliche 9teligion für Slmerifa. ©erabe föeil eä 
 ^ier nicbt üon ber Staat^^getüalt aufge^mungcn, fonberu uon il}v blof; befc^ül^t 
 »uirb, ift e« nur um fo mäcbtiger unb cinfluJ5reid}er. 2ßol)er benn bie üielen 
 taufenb iUrd^en unb ©eiftlid^en; luober bie ^ibel = , ll)iiffiony= unb ^^raftatgefell? 
 fd)aften mit ibren enormen Ginnabmen ; \vol)cx bie 3abUofen (^riftlid} religiöfen 
 unb pbilfl"tl;ropifd)en 3(nftaUen, ^Bereine unb Siebe-Jmerfe, obne ben geringften 
 Seitrag aiiS^ ber Staat^laffe, alle gegrünbet, geboben unb getragen burd} ben 
 freien Sßillen beS ^Solfe»? Sinb fie nidit eben fo t>iele 33etr>eife unb Gl)renben!= 
 mälcr ber 6l}riftlid}teit ber amerifanifd}eu Station ? 
 
 :3a, bai§ (Eljriftent^um ift nid)t nur bie i)ietigion be^ SanbeiS, fonbern oud} bie 
 ein3ig fefte ©runblage ber amerifanifd)cn Stepublif, obne meldjev' bicfe nid}t fecb^ 
 3abre befleißen !önnte. S)a!§ ift bie3lnfid}t ber bebeutenbften unb lüeifeften amerifas 
 uifd}eu Staatsmänner. „Jöäbrenb eine geredete SJegierung," fagt 3Ba»^ington, 
 ber unfterblid}e Sßater biefer 9tepublif, ber felbft ein gottei'fürc^tiger unb bibel: 
 gläubiger 'Dlann mar, „alle 33ürger in ibren religiöfen ^'Hedjten befd}ü(5t, fo ift an= 
 bererfeitS mal;re Stcligion ber fid}erftc Sd}ul3 ber ;){egierung." Unb jioar oerftaub 
 er unter Dieligion nid}tö anbere«; aU 'üa'^ Cbriftcntbnm. „'3)av ameritanifc^e 
 3Solf," bemertt fein J-reuub unb iMograpb» Ts^ljn 'fliarfball, ber erfte Oberrid)ter 
 beio oberften ©erid}tc-bof!c ber ^Bereinigten Staaten, „ift ein burd}au'5 d)riftlid}e» 
 äJoll; unb bei unS finb ßbriftentbum unb 3{eligion C'inS unb baffelbe. (Se märe 
 in ber 2l)at fonberbar, n^enn bie 3>M'titiiti'-''nen eine» fold^en 3.>oÜey nidbt überall 
 tai^ 6bviftentl;um t>orau§feMen." Ser Oberrid}ter ^ofepl; ©torp, fein goUegc 
 unb ber berübmtcfte Sluäleger unferer Gonftitutiou, fagt non bem oben berübrten 
 5lrtitel über bie ;){eligionc^freil)eit: „Sie eigeutlid}e ^Ibfubt biefe» 3"fal3e!&* mar 
 nidit, ben 9}tul)amebani!omu;S, ober baiS ^ubentbum, ober ben Unglauben 3U be= 
 fii}ül3en, no(^ üiel meniger ju beförbern unb ba§ 6b>^iftcntbum 3U benaditbeiligen; 
 fonbern blog, alle politifd}e 9{iüalität smifcben ben V)erfd)iebenen dn-iftlid^en Se= 
 nennungen aue3nfd}lief5en unb bie Ohiinbung einer Staati.^tir(^e mit einer auy; 
 fdilief?lid} üon ber Sktionalregierung begünftigten .r)ierard}ie 3U uerbinbern." 
 „Senn," fäbrt er fort, „3ur 3eit ber Slnnabme ber Gouftitution unb ber 3ufä|}c 
 mar eio mabrfdjeinlid) bie berrfd)enbe, mo nid)t allgemeine Slnficbt in 2lmerit'a, bafj 
 
 * 3!m cvftcii SJUtifcl ticv 3ii[ii^c : " Congivss shall make no law rospc-cting un estab- 
 lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom 
 of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
 petition the government for a redress of grievances." 
 
19 
 
 bas ßf)rt[tentf)um ücm Staate begünfti^t iinb gei'd}üi;.t mcvben folle, [o \vc\t bie& 
 mit ben ^$nt>atrcd}teu be» ©eiüiffen» unb mit ber grcifjeit beä religtöfen Gitituä 
 »ereinbar ift. Gin 2ßevfu(i), alle ^teligicnen gleid} 3U [teilen, unb e§ jur Staate-- 
 pDÜtit gu madicu, gegen alle gleicf) inbiffevent 311 [ein, irürbe allgemeine 9JU^bil= 
 ligung, lüo nid)t allgemeine Gntvü[tung (universal disapprobation, if not univer 
 sal indignation) fjemorgenifen l^aben." Ser[elbe ^ubge Storp erflävt: ,,5röm= 
 migfeit, 9ieligion unb Sittlidifeit [inb au[e^ Snnig[te mit ber 2ß!:f)t[abrt eine» 
 Staate» üeriroben unb für bie 2tbmini[tration ber bürgerlichen ©ered)tigfeit un; 
 entbebrlidi (indispensable.)" Dead) 3^anicl 2öeb[ter, ber [icb ben ßfjrennamcn 
 be»2lu!S(eger»ber Gonftitution erlücrben bat, [prid}t alles bafür, baf, bas (ibri[ten: 
 tf^um unb nur bav 6f)riftentt)um bie anerfannte Sieligion ber ^vereinigten Staaten i[t. 
 
 Unb nun tocllen bie rotf)en Siepublifaner, melt^e ungerufenju un» famen cber 
 ju fcnimen genctbigt inaren unb bie 0a[t[reunb[d>a[t bie[e^ Sanbe» unbanfbar 
 mi^braudjen, un» belel;ren, baf3 un[ere ©e[e^e unb Jreiljeit religioneloö imn 
 unb bag 6l)ri[tent{)um mit bem 2ltf)ei»mu» auf Gine Stu[e [teilen ! 2Bal^rlic^ 
 biefe -Ferren l}aben eine grunb[al[d}e 33Dr[tellung üom amerifani[d)en 9tational= 
 6f)aratter unb mü[[en nc<ii 'i>a§ 31 S3 (£ ber lual^ren ^reibeit lernen. S)ie rotf>: 
 repubtifanifd)e unb bie amerifani[d}e 5reif)eit Ijaien nicbt» mit einanber gemein 
 aU ben 3iamcn. i^ene greil^eit i[t rein negatiö unb be[tebt blog im <§a[[e gegen 
 e5ür[ten unb ^[affen, gegen alle be[d}rdnfenben @e[etie unb Sitten ; [ie i[t in 
 2Bal)rl;eit 3ügeUo[igfeit bes ^-leifcbe» unb eben barum bie elenbe[te Sflaüerei ber 
 £eiben[d}aft; fie mu[5 im Staate nctl^iuenbig gur 2(nardjie unb bann, auf bem 
 SBege ber unausbteiblid^en Dieaftion, ^um militäri[d}en S'e[potiÄntUi3 fübren. 
 Sdjiagenbe Seireife bafür tiefern bie erfte fran35[i[d»e Dienoluticn unb bie pfeubo- 
 republifanifdien 'Diipgeburten be» i^aljre» 1848, meldten lüir bie Giniranberung fo 
 üielerüerunglüdtenunbüerjagten Jrcibeit»: ober 3ügellD[igfeit»t;elben verbauten. 
 
 2)er 3lmeritaner bagegen fann fid) inbiüibueüe unb nationale 5i-'ei(''-'it nur 
 benfen auf ©runblage ber unantaftbaren lUutorität be» ©e[efee» unb unter ber 
 58ebingung bei5 [cgenannten self-government, b. b- ber fittlid}en .f)evrfd}aft be-» 
 ^Bürger» unb be» 2}clfc» über fid)felbft. Senn ta§ SBörtlein „[elb[t" ober seif ift 
 in bie[em berübmten So[ungeiiiDrte anglo^amerifanifcber greibeit nid}t al;» 3io; 
 minatit» unb Subje!t ju faffen, mie in bem ruffifd)en 2Borte ,,Selbft:<0errfd)er," 
 self-ruler, »elcbe» bie au£^fcblief5lid)e ^perrfcbaft @ine5 äBiüen», be;» Gjaren, über 
 bae ganse 2>Dlf, alfo ba» ^^rincip be-J abfohlten Sefpotiemu» aui^brüdt, fonbern 
 e» ift ba» Objeft unb 3eigt an, bafe jeber fid) felbft ein ©efeti unb über alle feine 
 2eibenfd}aften .§err fein muffe, et)e er jur 5reif)eit reif ift. ^n äl;nlid}em Sinne 
 fagt ber gröj^te beutfd^e S)id)ter ebenfo toa\)x aU fc^ön : 
 
 ,,3ii ber 23ct"ctnäufiiiig nur jcigt fid) t»ev S)kiflcr, 
 Unb bai5 ®cfc| nur fann bir §vcit;ett geben." 
 
 ^a, nad) amerifanifcber unb überbaupt nai^ ber rid)tigen 2lnfid)t ift nur ber 
 ein irtal)rbaft freier 2Rann, ber fid) felbft ©efe| ift unb iebem beftebenbcn ©efetje 
 um be» ©eiuiffeng föillen ficb freubig unterwirft. Unb ber leiste ©runb biefer 
 üernünftig fittlid)en greibeit ober Selbftbeftimmung ift bie ©otteiSfurcbt. 
 3htr wer ien ^errn aller ^erren fürd)tet, braudit fid) i->or feinem irbifd)en itönig 
 unb itaifer 3U fürd)ten ; nur mer fid) von ©ctt abbängig fül)lt, ift nnabbangig üon 
 3Jlenfd)en; ber Sienft ©otte» ift bie lüabre grei^cit. Sa» m.ir bie oreiboit ber 
 
20 
 
 alten Puritaner unb erften Slnfiebler he^ Sanbe», ber ^ollänber, Hugenotten, bet 
 Oudfer, ber beutfd^en £ut[;eraner unb 91efcrmirten unb 2111er, bie um i^reä 
 ©(aubcuie^ »üiKen bic 33equemlid}fciten be;« Saterlanbeä mit ber rau[;en 2Bilbni^ 
 üertaufcf)tcn unb 2llle^ opferten, um Gott nad) iljrem eigenen ©cmiffcn anbeten 
 ju fönncn. 5)ie @ctte'?furd}t Iiat [ie frei unb ftart unb 3U Si>ätern eine» uners 
 meHlid)cu Gkfi^Iei^t» unb ber grofuirtigften Diepublif ber 2Beltgefd)id)te gemacbt. 
 Soio ift nod} jeljit bie 3'rei(}eit jebec-' ächten älmerifaner»; bas bic grei(;cit, bie unä 
 burd) bie l*anbe!Sgefet;e unb Sanbe-^fitte verbürgt ift, toäbrcnb ber iliifibrauc^ ber 
 ^reibeit unb bie ^uc^ttofigfeit I;ier, mie in jebem anbern Sanbe, ber geredeten 
 Strafe unterliegt. 
 
 [Jpicr U'-auttc fidj ber Stcbiiev in cnglifrf)ei- Spiad)c au bic anwcfcnbcn 3lnglo=?lmeri« 
 fanev mit mcl)i-crcii Sc>''J9tnt juc 33cftätiguntj bcö ®cfagten, weldjc cinftimmig mit 3a be« 
 antwcitct untvbcii.] 
 
 ®ie 0)efd}id}te, biefeä bibattifcbe Helbengebi($t ®otte§, biefe grofse £el)rerin 
 ber SBeiöbeit unb (5rfat)rung, fjat längft unb üielfad) ben pofitiüen unb negatit»en 
 5Beh)eiy geliefert, baf? nur eine fold)e greil^eit, bie auf fittlid)er ^a[h> xnljt, mit 
 ßbrfurdjt üor ©efejj unb Orbnung ^^anb in ^^anb gebt unb üon bor C)ottec^furd}t 
 unb 2;ugenb beö S>olfe'S genäljrt unb getragen mirb, befleißen unb ein 2>olf glü(f= 
 lid}mad}en fann, roäljrenb jener reoolutiondre, fittenlofe unbreligionolofe libera» 
 liömuy alle ©runblagen ber ©efellfdiaft jerftört unb mit ©(^mad) unb 2d}anbe enbet. 
 
 Söabre greibeit ftel;t alfo nicbt im äöiberfprud} mit 6t)rfurd}t r>or öottcio l)ei= 
 Ugem 3Borte unb ©efe^e, alfo and) nidjt mit Gljrfurdjt cor feinem bciligen Sage, 
 fonbern mirb umgefei)rt baburcb nur geftüt3t unb geförbert. "Without support 
 from religion," fagt ein auogeseidjueter ameritanifd)er Scbriftfteller, " all human 
 freedom moulders and topples into irretrievable ruiu." Saber biirfen lüir 
 uuio and) nid)t munbern über bie bebeutungyoolle, fd)on oben berübrte 2;batfa(^e, 
 baf5 gcrabe bie freiften a>i3lter ber 9Bclt, bie ©d^meijer, bie §ollänber, nor allem 
 aber bie Gnglänbcr unb 2lmerifancr bie ftrengftcn 33eobac^ter be« ©onntag», aiB 
 cine'? ftillen, gottgemcil^ten^HubetagC'ü finb, unb ibrej^reil^eit gerabe in bemfelben 
 ^a]ic beiüabren unb genief,en, al» fie in ber gurcbt unb Siebe ju ©ottee b^-'ilisem 
 SBorte unb ©efe^e üerbarren. 
 
 Ser tuobltbatige fittlid)e (5influf3 einer mürbigcn ©onntagc-fcier auf taä 
 g^amilientoben, bic cffcntlid}e Ovbnung unb nationale SBoblfabrt tanu Icidjt burd) 
 beniicntvaft jiüifdienbem !ontinental-europdifd}en, befonber^ parififd}en, nn'i) bem 
 anglD:amcriEanifd}en Sonntag unb feinen unmittelbaren ffiirhingcn anfd}aulid) 
 gcmacbt nicrbcn. "^dj frage b'*-'»-" i*^t)en ber anmefenbcn iUmerifancr, bie ben 
 europäifcben itontinent jum 3;l;eil mebrmal» befud^t bciben, ob fie nid}t bei aller 
 a3ciüunbcrung nor bem inelen .r-)crrlid)en, Sd)önen unb ©utcn in ber alten 2Belt, 
 bocb gerabe burd) bie leiber fo bdufige Sabbatb»fd}änbung unb ibrc traurigen 
 folgen fd)mer3lid) berübrt mürben unb in bicfem 'fünfte menigfteniö mit boppclter 
 2(d}tung unb Siebe ju il^rem ameritanifcben Sabbatl) 3urüdgctebrt finb ^ 
 
 [^tcv foibcitc ber 3iiebncv |>erni 3)v. 9t. «g» itrfjcüif, *lJvüfeffor amSÜtjecl. ©oniinavber 
 ^rei^ln)terianifct)cn Äivcl}e in DJcm^iOorf, unb etucu giüublid)cii jtcnucf unb 33cwuubcret 
 ber beutfd)cu I'itciatuv, aii)tung«üoU auf, ber Sicrfammluug baei 9tcfuUat feiner *i3eobad): 
 tuug in bicfcr •g»inficl)t »äl)rcut> eincö j>i>eijät)rigcn sJlufcutbaltc^ iu (Europa Vluuo 1848 uuö 
 1.849 mit^ut()cilcu. 3)arauf trat ■öcrr Sr. i}. Ijeriun- uub fpradj jticrft iu einigen bcutfd)e« 
 äöortcn unb banu in cuglifd^er ©pract)C, Pen bem Untcrfdjicb jwifdjcu bem rLMuifd):Fati)C5 
 lifd}cn holiday unb bem ciuingelifd) d,uittlid)cu holy day, banu iuni ber uncrmcfdidjcu 
 aöirfung ber gicformation I'utbcref uuP (SalvMntJ, bie altS cine CSid)cl auf ben jungfraulid)en 
 83obeu i'lmevifaö ncipflan^t, ungel)cmmt von frcmbartigcn S^rabitioucn unb (Siurid}tungcn, 
 5U einem riefigeu lSid)baum ()erangcnMd)fcn fci, von bem nt)tl)lvcnbigen 3ufammeul}ang 
 oiler »va()rcu (5(rcibeit mit lHd)tuug I'l^r gottlid}cr *Jlutorität, unb äufjcrtc feine bcljc j^reube 
 iibcr baö begonnene Sufammcuwirfen ber beutfdjcn 3)iitbürgcv jur 2lufred)tt)aUi)ng ber 
 ametifauifdjeu Sabbat btSfcicr. 
 
 Slufgeforbert, feine Sftcbc jupeltcnbeu, trat fobauu !Dr. @. nod) einmal auf uub fuf)r in 
 bcutfdjcr i£prad)e fort ] 
 
21 
 
 III. 
 
 piiiliiiliip 
 
 Siechte fönLu mir aber ot^f.^Pn "^f- ^''T ^^^'^feit. 2Rit bemfelben 
 
22 
 
 ütrnünftige Gkfd^öpf mit bem edjöpfer, ben ev(oiunc3^3bebuvfti3cu »len *en mit 
 bem en'iaen UvaucU a^ Seben^ unb §ei[§ i^erbmbct. Sie ift 3"9(ei^ tai 
 ftävtfte i^anb bev ©cfcllfd)aft, bauevubev alö ^-veuubfcbaft unb sei!tlid}e^^,witereffe. 
 ^ic 'Kcliaion ilt ba.. tieflte, adgemcinltc unb beilic3lte Sebüvrnt ;, bie 3Enirbe unb 
 Hicrbe, bie .Urone unb ^45evle bt-^ mcnfd}lid}cn S^afein^; Je ift ber macbttgf e 
 ^amm qccicu Sünbe, Saftet unb Sersmeiflung ; fic ift bic 2)^uttev be^^ t /• ,?" 
 ter Siebe unb bev .f)cffnung; fie begeiftevt su.grcfjcn ©cbant^en, eblen ©efu^ten, 
 niit^tid^eu Sbaten; fie lebvt iDläf^igung im ©lüde unb ©cbulb im Seiben; fie gibt 
 5s-rieben im Sebeu unb Svoft im Jcbe ; fie ücrfnüpft btv5 Sieifeitö mit einem be1ie= 
 reu Scnfeitg, unb üevEldrt ben flüd}tigen Sammer bev Grbe m ben eirigen ^ubel 
 
 ^^''^a"""aie''^ gilt aUx im ücllen Sinn blcf? ücm (.^briftentf^um, bev anein mab = 
 rcnfbev dlgemein mcnfdjlidjen, bev üctlfcmmenen ^kligion, meld)e bie al^el5belt 
 ©vied)enlanb^>,bie ^^olitit 9bm^3, bie 93arbavei bev gelten, ©cvmanen unb Stallen 
 ebne Sd)mevtftrcid} befiegt bat unb gemi^ and) ben mobevnen Unglauben föie feme 
 ^cvadugev übevimnben mivb, >üeld)e jeM »eitev verbreitet unb tiefer t^^anmbet 
 ift aU je sni^or, meld)e bie ganje cimlifirte 3}lenfd)beit beberrid)t, bac^ Diuber ber 
 Wcltge d)id)te fübrt unb in ibrem frieblid^en Siegesläufe fcrtfd}reiten föirb, bi. 
 ;ile anbereu Sieligiouen ibr in M^cn fallen unb fi* ^3jnn Sobe beg Sreieinigen 
 mte^- beö ecböpfer«, erlöferö unb Solleubcvc^ ber 9Jtenfd}l)eit, üerenugen. 
 
 ßat e^ aber ie ein G^riftentbum in ber ffielt gegeben obne gcmemfamen 
 ©ctte^^bienft? Unb ift gemeinfamer ©ctleebienft uad) ben ©efel^^u be? irbiicb^ 
 menfcbtid^en Sebeng möglieb ebne einen bciligen gottgeorbueten ^"^^^to^g? .lie 
 Arif lid)en ßonfeffionen unb Seften, gleid)mel ob fie ben Urfprung be. '^abbabS 
 auf ba? offene ©rab be^ ßrlöfer^, ober auf ben 93erg ©mai ober in ben ©arten 
 eben suvüdfübren, gleidjmel ob fie einer ftveng puritanild}en ober einer freien 
 eüangelifici 2[ufid)t über bie 3lrt unb Sßeife feiner ^eier bulbigen, b^^^en auf 
 biefe ^fragen nur eine unb biefelbe Antwort. .. 
 
 Wa ber mödientlidje Dhibetag ift bie notbioenbige »ebmgung ber regelma|5i= 
 aeu'^r'ebigt be^' GMugelium^, be^S öffcntlidjen ©ebet,^ unb ©efange^J ber feier= 
 liden WrLltung ber Saframente, furj aller g-unltionen ber d)nltUd)en >:.rd)e 
 unb il;veg unermef;lid)en, reinigenben, erbaltenben, crbobenben unb f)c.lujenbcn 
 Ginfliffeg auf bai ^Bolfvleben. Ser 9?ubetag ift eine äl5agenbuvg um ba. Qhw- 
 n 1 n berun; ein toöcbcntlid) mieberfebrenber ©lodeurnf jur Jn^e ?um 
 ©laiiben, ur 2^;rföbnung, jur ^äiic^nn, unb aj^ollenbung; ein 93 «vre un 
 bem fid} bic roüften SBogen bes ^Jtammoni^mug unb eetulari.mu., i^e^-^ l^^i^.^ ' 
 S unb ber Unfittlid)feit immerimeber bredjen; ein .^eremfcbetncn ber .V'im-- 
 mefM-onne in bie Grbennadjt ; ein Sßegn^cifer an§ ber 3eit m bie eiotgteit. 
 
 Unb m^ in biefer ^tubetag ober bev Sag be-5 C^errn, — mie er xm neuen 
 ^eftamente im Unterfd,ieb «on bem jübifd^eu Sabbatb unb bem be.bniuten 
 Sonntage beifst, - für ben gläubigen Gbrifteu feine^ioeg^ ein baile. ©eleMmb 
 f*»ücre^^ 3od), fonbern feiner urfprünglidien S3ettnnmung gemaf? cm fanfte. 
 eoangelimn unb füf5e? 5Borred)t, eine toftlidje C)immelggabe unb ©nabcugefd)cnt 
 er erinnert unö ja an alle SBobltbatcn ©ottec> in ber .ollenbeten^cd^omung unb 
 erlöfung, im a{eid)c ber 9ktur unb ber ©uabe. Gr ift ]a ber Aag be^Jluiti^ 
 ne un ,^än mcld)em bev .^^cn Sob, Scufel unb ^ölk befiegt bat, f^"-- ou"3ern 
 ad ben Sebenefüvfteu fid) offenbavt unb immcv auf-o 9teue fem „tvuebc fu m t 
 ?ud) " ibnen u vu t. Gr ift ja ber Sag ber 3(u.Miiefumg be^ beUigcn ©eilte., 
 er feit cm !n bei^ivd^e gemobnt bat unb un^ fortnnrbrenb burd) 2Bort un ea = 
 !vameut au^ ber ginftcrnif, jum nntnbejt-baren Sid)te be^ ^^^"^^ "^m 
 tftalfoein beiüger greubentag, ein Sag ber geiltlid}en Sonne ber^aiHlb 
 unb bcg Sebeng, ein Sag t>c6 5tufgang. au-3 ber f^f^V/'\^^l (^-vf^nSn 
 ber Hucd)tfd)aft, ein 9ied)t juv 9hibe mitten in bev Unrubc bc. GibcmULun., 
 ei,l^ WbSfenbanl- auf ber ^ilgerfabvt buvd) bie Sßüfte, ein Sag bev Gvf)olung 
 
23 
 
 Ttrtb (Srqutcfung für Scib unb 6eele, eine Erinnerung an taS ^arabieo ber lln= 
 f(f;u[b unb ein SScrfc^mad be« emigen Sabbatb'^ im ^iinmel, ido alle Grbenarbeit 
 fid} jur ©otteiC-irulje unb alle 3eit i" bie (?lüigfeit üerflären unb fcllenben 
 toirb. S)a'5ift bie dc^t d}riftlid}e, taä ift bie beutfc^ et»angelifd}e 3(n(d}auung fiom 
 S^age bes^ i^errn, tvk fie in bem Don un» angeftimntten Siebe meineiS tljeuren I'el); 
 rer!§ unb "JreunbesS, tie§ berüfjmten 3:i)eologen 2)r. 2;i^olud, fo fc^ön unb (iebs 
 lic^ auiSgefprod^en ift: 
 
 ,D ®cibhati), ben ber «0cvr gemacht, !Damtt (Sr gnabig unS Bebac^t, ©rquicfungätag 
 ber 'Jvcmmen, 9Sc tn'3 ©etummet bicfcc ffiett (Sin ©trafilbcö cw'gcn (SabKitfjs^ fällt, 
 3u bem id) cinfl füll fcmnicn! Said) SBitt mid» >§iev fd)ün te^cn 3(n ben ©ctjä^cn 
 ©einer ©title Siö jur erc'gen ©abbat^fitfte.' 
 
 Unb biefen g5ttlid)en ©egen^tag foKten rt>ir uni? Don ben g^einben be^ 6l)ri: 
 ftentt)um^ entreif^en unb in einen glud^tag Derteljren laffen? Stein, fo ioal}r ber 
 |jerr lebt, fo lieb ung unfer 2eib unb unfere unfterblicbe 6eete ift, gegen biefeiS 
 3erftörungC'merf »ollen tt>ir un^ h)ie @in 33knn mit aller -Siraft bcy ^eugniffey 
 unb ber 2bat erbeben! ^m 5Ramen eurer leiblidjen unb geiftigen ©efunbbeit, 
 im 9bmen eurer äeitlid}en unb einigen SBoblfabrt, im 3Ramen eurer gamilien, 
 eurer SBeiber unb Äinber, im 5Hamen ber offentlicben ©ittlicbfeit unb nationalen 
 SBeblfabrt, im 9iamen beä Staates unb ber itircbe, in; Xiamen ber beut)d)en 
 ©otte^^furdjt unb grommigfeit, im Stamen ber beutfd)en (S'bre unb SBiirbe, im 
 Stamen alley beffen, may end} aU 9Jtenfd}en, aly 93ürger unb a\§ Eb^iften bcilig 
 unb tbeucr ift, befd^more id) end}, ba^ ^i)x end) mit unfern ameritanifd}en Sanbig; 
 leuten unb 2}titd}riften vereinigt jur 9iettung unb 33eiüabrung ber uufdja^ibaren 
 ©titer biefe^^ beiügei^ SageiS, unter beffen fd}ül\enbem unb fegnenbem Ginfluffc 
 biefcy 2anb unb biefes S^olt frei unb ftart, eine ©rofjmad^t ber SBelt unb ein 
 SBunber ber ©efd}id)te geioorben ift. 
 
 5)ann njirb ein reid}er ©eminn toon biefer 21benbt>erfammlung ausgeben, 
 bann merben mir ^eutfcbe ein Segen für unfere neue .^eimatb merben unb un« 
 fern' alten Ssaterlanbe C'bre madjen. ^a, S)cutfd)lanb felbft mirb unei bafür 
 banfen, bie fpätefte Siadiiuelt in 3tmerifa ben beutfd)en Skmen mit 2(d)tung unb 
 Siebe nennen, unb ber |)err beic Sabbatby ^ny mit feiner emigen Sabbatb; 
 rube im ^immet belobnen." 
 
 Ter Q3i.Hfttjier öertag Ijteraiif fofgenbe fteben 53efd)(üffe, (bie and) im ^^ro? 
 gramm ftanbcn, bag jcbeu 5(nwefcnbe tu ^^aiibcn l)atte,) unb crfiid)te bk 
 2]erfamm(uin3, fofcrn fie bcufclbcii beifttmme, bicf? burd) 3(ufftel)cn timb ^u 
 geben. (Sofort crl)ob ftd) hk ganje Sierfammlung, unb bk 33e[d){ü[fe ftnb 
 bal)er a{§ einftimmig angenommen ju betrad)ten. 
 
 33efd}[ offen, ba^ bie ^eiligbaltung beä %aqe§ be§ .§errn für jeben cltl: 
 äclncit 9)Jcil[t^eil t»on ber gröleften 2Bi($tigteit ift, "meil ibm baburd), nad) fed)g 
 SBcrttagen, ein 2;ag ber 9iube unb mit bemfelben 3eit unb ©elegenbeit ^u gei^ 
 ftigerunb fittlidberStuöbilbung unbgurSSorbereitungfurben^^immelgelrdbrtiinrb. 
 
 Sefd}Ioffen, ba^ bie ©onntagilfeier für baä ^-ainUienlelJCll 'ocn ber bi-^cb= 
 ften Sebeutung ift, inbem bie 93anbe ber ©attenliebe, fomie ber Gltern=, itinbey= 
 unb ©efd)mifterliebe öermittelft bey längeren, rubigen Seifammenfeini? fid) fefter 
 fd)lingen unb burd) bie gemeinfame S^beilnabme am ©ottelbienft gebeiligt unb 
 »erebelt merben. 
 
 Sefcbloffen, ba^ bie Sonntag§feier für bie gan^e menfd)licbe ®efcHfd)flf* 
 ein bringenbef> Sebürfni^ ift, bamit ba§ ©eräufcb unb ©etriebe be;? Sllltagslcoen^ 
 ftillftebe, unb baburd} bie ©efabr beg SSerfinfeng in 2RateriaIigmug abgetnenbet 
 unb ba§ 93emu^tfein toon ber gemeinfamen Seftimmung aller ÜRenfcben unb ben 
 
24 
 
 baraitg entfpringenben ^flid)ten gegen bie ÜJlenfdifjeit überf>au^)t unb ba§ SSater« 
 lanb ins'befonbere, geiredt tperbe. 
 
 93ef d^Iof) en, baMie Sonntagsfeier für bie djriftlirfjc .Q^iri^C unentbe^r» 
 lid^ ift, inbem burd^ bie rcgelniäfjig lüiebertebrenbe ^^rebigt unb Unter>r»cifung 
 ber Sitgenb bie cbriftlid}e Grfenntnif? ftet» neu angeregt, d^riftlid^e Siebec-tbätig; 
 feit nnb a(Ie anbcrn Sugenben gendbrt, unb »on ber JHube, „bie nocb üorbanben 
 ift bcm Isolte ©otteä," ein SSorbilb bargeftellt inirb. 
 
 93ef cbloff en, baf? bie unter unfern £anb!§ieuten fo bäufig ftattfinbenbe 
 Sßertebrung bei? Sageg ber "Stuije unb Slnbacbt in einen Jag ber 3erftreuung unb 
 be5 ftnnlicben 3?ergnügeny ein £c(}anbf(ed' be!§ beutfcben Dkmeuig ift, gegen ben 
 Joir aiä S)eutfcbe feierlicb proteftiren unb an unfere ameritanifcbcn DJlitbürger 
 bie Stnfcrberung ftellen, baf5 fie taii ungebübrücbe 2;reiben nielcr !3^eutfd}en nidjt 
 ungered}ter SBeife bem gail^CU SSclte unb beffen Stammlanbe 3ur I'aft legen. 
 
 53 efd} (offen, ba^ ipir bie, feit ber erften ©riinbung europätfd)er Slnfiebe^ 
 lungen bier ju Sanbe eingefübrte ftrenge ©onntagsfeier, meldie feitbeni allge^ 
 meine anieritanif(^e 35olt£ifitte geblieben ift, nidit al» einen 2Hangel 3(merifa'ä 
 besagen, fonbern aU einen grofjen S-^orjug 2lmerita'^' ebren unb ipertb bauen, 
 unb baber aucb n^illig belfen mollen, biefen SSor^ug gu beioabren unb ju pflegen. 
 
 53efd}lof fen , bajj ton in ben Sonntagegefe^^en unfereig neuen SBaterlan« 
 be!§ burd}au!o nid)t!§ mit bem ^^rin^ip ber greibeit Streitenbe^ finben tonnen, 
 »ielmebr barin eine ©eföäbr bes g-ortbeftanbe^ unferer freien ^^nftitutionen unb 
 ein tuirtfanteä DJIittel erbliden, urn bie ^i'gellofigteit unb Sluefdjiueifung, unb 
 bamit 3uglei(^ bie SBerarmung unb 6"ntfittlid}ung, n^elcbe bie greibeit jebesä SSol= 
 fe§ auf'ä fd)limmfte gefdbrben, »on unl abjuttJebren. 
 
 2)ec ^rebiger 9{. 6. (Soof, ©efretcir bee 9?en);§)orfet (Sab6att)jSoms 
 mittee, braute in (Snvä()nung, bat? 2)r. Spring fid) auf bet ^Uatfcrm bes 
 ftnbe, bcc felt bciuat}c fiinfjig 3itl)i"cn ^4>'"tfc>tger an einer ber grlH^ten @e; 
 meinbcn »on 9ieir;g)t>rf fei. !Die äicrfammlung irerbe balder gern einigen 
 Sßortcn t)on iljm i\)x Ol)r (ei()en. Dec c^ninirbtge ©rcig, gebeugt von bet 
 Saft bc^ enters nnb ber bamit i^erbunbencn (Bd)ivad)\)cit, aber and) bcbecft 
 mit bem @d)mucfe attgemetnet »^od)ad)tnng, würbe l)terauf jum ''^[ai\c 
 bei S3orfit5erä geleitet, unb fprad) feine (*kfril)le bet Danfbarfcit gegen O^ott 
 a\i§, ber it)m geftattet l)abe, einen fo(d)en §(nbltrf ju genießen, ©t fagte, c§ 
 l}anb(e ftd) l)iet ntd)t urn ben (SabbatI) allein, fonbetn nm baB ganje 4)cr 
 baubc d)r{ftlid)ct Sel)rcn unb (Sinrid)tungen, u^eld)e alle mit bem ©abbatl) [o 
 eng »etbunben feien, i>a^ fte mit i()m ftanben obct ficten. (St begrübe bk 
 <2anbl(eute Sutl)et'§ all 9}?itatbeitct an bem gefegnetcn Untetncl^mcn, ben 
 ZaQ bei 'S^axn bet @nttretl)ung unb 33etberbni^ jn entreißen. 
 
 2)te 3Setfammlung ftimmte minmel)t ben Sobgefang an: „9hm banfet 
 SlUc^ott!" unb umrb batauf mit bem apoftolifd)cn ©egenluninfd) entlaffen. 
 
 ©er JRcbaftcuv bcö "llcui-Dork ©bflcrticr" (baö ifl: Sflcw-.JDorfcv ©ccbad^ter), einer 
 »vcit »eitveiteten, aK^emcin cjcadjteteu d)rifin(^en aBüd)enf<l)i''ft/ »»>i>r aiä aufmciffamer 
 3uf)övcr ben ganjcn Sibenb jitgcgen. @r fprad? ftc^ tarauf in feinem Statte »cm 20. DU. 
 folc^enbernia^en bariiber auö: „iöir erinnern unö niäjt, je einer beffern Serfammlnng in 
 unferer ©tabt beigc>iiob"t ju l;aben. !Die 5lnwefcnben waren fafi au^fdjlie^liri) 3)entfd;c, 
 gut getleibete, tttüf)i auöfe^enbe, adjtbare iDiänner unb fsrauen; Seute, bie im (Staube 
 u-'b. "bem ©taat a(^ gute Söürgcr ju bienen, unb bereu aBcbnen unter un« ein ©egeu, nnb 
 nidjt »in glucb fi'u und ifi." 
 
 VlHe religiöfcn nnb cni^ bte beften jjotitif^en Journale »ou öiettJ^^orf fpra^en fld^ 
 fel;r giinfiig über bicfe benfroürbigc 93erfammlung au«. 
 
SUI^DAY THEATEES, 
 
 "SACRED CONCERTS" 
 
 AND 
 
 BEER-a^RDENS 
 
 1. Diminution of Crime by Suppression of Sunday Liquor 
 
 Traffic— Statistics of Police Department, 
 
 2. Extent and Character of Sunday Theatricals. 
 
 3. Sunday Lager-Beer Trade. 
 
 4. " Sacred Concerts" Unmasked. 
 
 5. The Lager-Beer System in other Cities. 
 
 6. The " National Custom" Plea Examined. 
 
 7. American Customs "Vindicated, 
 
 8. Effects of Holiday Sunday Illustrated— Mexico. 
 
 9. Constitutionality and Adequacy of Sunday Laws 
 10. German Sentiment on the Sunday Question. 
 
 DOCUMENT NO. 11, 
 
 THE NEW YORK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 EDWAED 0. JENKINS, PRINTER, 
 
 No. 26 FRANKFORT STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, 
 
 "Sacred Concerts," and Beer-Gardens. 
 
 All good citizens must have noted with gratitude the recent improve- 
 ment in the observance of the Sabbath in New York. The Sunday News- 
 crying nuisance has ceased, and Juvenile Rowdyism is essentially checked. 
 The Sunday Liquor TraiSc, as to its j)^''^^'^(^ violation of law, has been 
 substantially suppressed. The marked advance in public morals, as the 
 direct result of this reform, and the gratifying decrease in drunkenness and 
 crime, are already indicated by the records of the Police Department, and 
 are palpable in the proceedings of our Criminal Courts. 
 
 Suppression of Sunday Liquor Trafläc— Results. 
 
 In a document on the Sunday Liquor Traffic, published a year ago, the 
 Sabbath Committee presented the statistics of the Police Commissioners, 
 showing an average increase of twenty-five per cent, of arrests for intoxication, 
 disorder, and crime on the Sundays of seventy-six weeks, over the arrests 
 on the Tuesdays of the same period, — attributing the increase to the unre- 
 stricted sale of liquors on the Sabbath. The precise facts were as follows : 
 
 ARRESTS ON SUNDAYS AND TUESDAYS, 
 From July '57 to Doc. '58 — Sevcuty-six weeks. 
 
 DKTTNK 
 DRUNK. AND DISORDERLY. MISCElLANEOtrS. TOTAL. 
 
 Sundays 2,453 2,580 4,680 9,713 
 
 Tuesdays 1,928 1,865 4,068 7,861 
 
 Excess on Sundays 525 715 612 1,852 
 
 A similar collation and comparison of the statistics of the last five 
 
4 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC, 
 
 months (July to December, '59), embracing the period since the Sunday 
 Liquor-shops were generally closed, furnishes the cheering evidence of a 
 DIMINUTION OF THiRTY-THEEE per Cent, of criminal offences on Sunday as 
 contrasted with Tuesday. The summary furnished by the chief clerk of 
 the Police Board is as follows : 
 
 ARRESTS ON TUESDAYS AND SUNDAYS, 
 For five months — twenty-two weeks — from July 3, to Dec. 1, 1859. 
 
 ASSAULT ALL TOTAL 
 
 INTOXICATION. DISOEDKBLT. AND BATTEEY. OTIIEKS. AP.EKST8. 
 
 Tuesdays 2,161 897 616 1,311 4,976 
 
 Sundays 1,515 652 352 828 3,357 
 
 Excess on Tuesdays . . 646 245 264 483 1,619 
 
 Important Deductions from these Statistics. 
 
 ■ It appears from these statistics that while the arrests of the Police in 
 1858, when the Liquor-shops were open, were an average o^ tioentij-five per 
 cent, more on Sundays than on Tuesdays, — in 1859, when the Liquor-shops 
 were ostensibly closed, the arrests Avere within a fraction of fifty per cent, 
 more on Tuesdays than on Sundays ; showing a gratifying change of seventy- 
 five per cent, in favor of order and morals, as the result of the enforcement of 
 the Sunday Liquor Law and the improved Sabbath sentiment. Had the same 
 ratio of arrests continued as formerly, during the five months for which we 
 have returns, the Sunday arrests would have been 6,220; whereas they 
 were in fact 3,357: showing a diminution of 2,863 cases of drunkenness 
 and crime, on one day of the week, in that brief period, equal to an average 
 of 572 per month, or 6,864 per annum. 
 
 Another result, scarcely less cheering, is the fact that the ratio of arrests 
 is steadily diminishing, on loth Sundays and Tuesdays. Thus, there w-ere 
 654 arrests on four Sundays in July, '59 ; on the Sundays of November 
 there were but 451. [The two previous years show, in both cases, a 
 greater number in November than in July.] And the arrests for the 
 Tuesdays of July and August were 1990, against 1594 in October and 
 November ; or a diminution of twenty per cent, of week-day crime, taking 
 Tuesday as the average of the week, as the result of Sabbath sobriety. 
 With such resu^s of a partial execution of a wholesome law, at the very 
 outset, what may not be reasonably expected, when universal respect is 
 secured for its provisions ? * 
 
 • The Scottish Journal, among other facts illustrating the benefits of the " Forbes 
 McKenzie Act" against Sunday Liquor soiling, states that the "decrease of four years 
 in the consumption of ardent spirits is actually $2.5,050,560, or nearly a fifth part of 
 the whole previous consumption. Tlie people of Scotland have scarcely drank more 
 
SUNDAY TIIEATEES, ETC. 5 
 
 These statistics vindicate, and more than vindicate, the propriety of the 
 demand made by good citizens and by the respectable press for the sup- 
 pression of the Sunday Liquor Traffic ; while they demonstrate the wis- 
 dom and efficiency of our police authorities in this behalf, and prompt to 
 increased vigilance and fidelity in the enforcement of beneficent laws. 
 
 But they still leave the question for consideration and action as to the 
 source of the remaining drunkenness and disorder on the Sabbath. Should 
 it appear that the protean evil continues its ravages by evasion or conceal- 
 ment, or that it has tak-^a refuge in a still more seductive, but scarcely less 
 ruinous, traffic — claiming the immunity of " national custom" and even of 
 " sacred" affinities — then consistency of principle must necessitate measures 
 for its more thorough eradication. Justice to the Liquor Dealers them- 
 selves requires that the business they or any of them have abandoned, for 
 whatever reason, shall not be transacted under another guise. And it is 
 surely due to the community that the partial protection already secured 
 against its deadliest foe, with issues of such positive benefit, shall not be 
 lost by the adroit tactics of the panderers to appetite and vice. 
 
 Sunday Theatres, "Sacred Concerts" and Beer- Gardens may now be re- 
 garded as the most undisguised haunts of Sunday dissipation and folly. 
 Trusting to their deceptive announcements, or to their large profits, or to 
 the numbers visiting them, they have continued their invasion of the 
 decencies and proprieties of the Sabbath without intermission during the 
 progress of the effort to suppress a kindred evil. "We propose to examine 
 their claims to exemption from the operation of laws obviously as much 
 designed to protect the community from the immoralities of these estabhsh- 
 ments, as from those of the Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 
 Sunday " Sacred Concerts," as advertised. 
 
 We present literal translations of some of the advertisements in a single 
 number of the Sunday edition of the Daily Staats- Zeitung, as the most just 
 and impressive method of bringing the evil in question to the knowledge 
 of the reader. 
 
 New York Stadt Theatre, Nos. 37 and 39 Bowery. 
 
 Directors, 0. Hoym and E. Hamann ; Stage Director, A. Meubert ; Play 
 
 Director, Mr. Knorr ; Music Director, Mr. Herwig. 
 
 SACKED CONCERT, Sunday, December 11, 1859. 
 
 Musical — Declamatory — Dramatical Evening Entertainment. 
 
 than three-fourths of the quantity of spirits consumed under the old law. Thus not 
 only has the Sabbath drinking been annulled, but the drinking of week days has also been 
 largely diminished." 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 Part I. — Overture to "Nebuchadnezzar." 
 
 [Play.] — "The Changing Multiplication Table; 
 
 or, 
 
 The Arithmetician and his Daughters. 
 
 [Names of principal performers given ; four women and eight men.] 
 
 Part II. — Waltz, "Waves and Billows, by Strauss. 
 
 [Play.] — "Two Gentlemen and One Dress Coat; 
 
 or, 
 
 The Assistant in Necessity. 
 
 [Names of twelve performers, as before.] 
 
 Part III. — Mode- Quadrille, by Strauss. 
 
 [Play.] — "The Helper in Trouble." 
 
 [Names of twelve performers, as before.] 
 
 Part IV. — Potpourri, from the Opera of " Martha," by Flotow. 
 
 [Farce.] — "Extemporaneous Society :" 
 
 Dramatic performance, with Songs by MdnL and Mr. Meubert. 
 
 Prices as usual. 
 
 Sacred Concert. 
 
 With Serious and Comical Duetts, and Solos, and Band Music, in Carl 
 
 Kmuschka's Concert Hall, Avenue A. 
 
 Sacred Concert, in Constanzer Brewery, 565 and 567 Fourth Street. 
 
 Sunday, December 11. Great and Extraordinary afternoon and even- 
 ing entertainments. [Performers named.] 
 
 These well-known artists will try their utmost, by Comical Duetts, Solos 
 and Concerted Music, to entertain my respectable guests. 
 
 Busom's Fortuna Hall, 220 Second Street. 
 Sunday, December 11. Great and Extraordinary entertainments by the 
 family Fahn, in the afternoon, 3 o'clock. Dramatic, Humorous Singing, 
 Comical Duetts, Dances, &c. 
 
 In the evening, at 7 o'clock, 
 'Vaudevilles, Operettas and Farces, with Songs. 
 Grotesque and Modern Ballet Dancing. 
 Entrance Free. 
 
 Harmony Garden, Essex Street, Nos. 139 to 145. 
 Sunday, December 11. Great Sacred Concert, with Double Or- 
 chestra. Entrance Six Cents — good for a glass of Lager Beer. 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 Central Hall of the Social Reformers, 28 Grand Street. 
 SuNDAT, December 11. Theatrical Performances. 
 
 EuSTACHi's Volks Theatre, Fourth Street. 
 Sunday, December 11. Great Sacred Concert, combined with Mu- 
 sical, Declamatory Performances, 3 o'clock P. M. 
 
 "The Conversion from Temperance Madness; 
 
 or. 
 
 Before and After the Election." 
 
 Schwank, Farce, in Two Acts. 
 
 " The Magistrate's Daughter" Vaudeville, in Three Acts. 
 
 8 o'clock P. M. " The People Weeping and Laughing" with Songs, in 
 
 Five Acts, and Ten Tableaux. Bj F. 0. Berg and D. Kalisch ; Music 
 
 bj Conrad. 
 
 Two new decorations painted by Neckmawer : 
 
 1. The Park in Berlin, with the Long Bridge, and the Statue of the 
 Elector. 
 
 2. Kroll's Establishment in Berlin, with Six Thousand Gas Lights. 
 Entrance Ten Cents. 
 
 TuLp's TiiALiAN Hall, Avenue A. Sunday, December 11. 
 
 Mid-day. " The Son on a Journey." In Four Acts. 
 
 At 7 o'clock p. M. " The Bewitched Prince ; 
 
 or, The Adventures of a Shoemaker." 
 
 1^^ Imported Wines on draught, and those who loant to get a brick in 
 
 the hat [tipsy] may come. 
 
 Hoaie of the Singers. Sunday, December 11. 
 Great Dramatic afternoon and evening entertainments by the Schiller 
 Association. 
 
 "The Return from Russia," a Comedy, in Pour Acts. 
 "The Barber of Seville," a Drollery, in Five Acts. 
 
 [The programme of a new establishment, opened Sunday, Dec. 25, 
 shows that the "sacred" feature is thought no longer necessary.] 
 Sunday, Dec. 25 : Great Opening of a New Theatre, 
 In Germania Hall, by Christophe Carl, No. 42 Av. A. 
 U^^ For the first time in America : How the People Howl & Roar — 
 Picture of American Customs, in 3 Acts. 
 Characters: Quisenow, Alderman; Munnide, Mayor of New York; 
 Schneppke, a Thief or Smart Man ; Ferdinand, a Lover ; Pat. Maloney, 
 a Jailer. 
 
 Those acquainted with German Artists will identify the performers : 
 discretion forbids our naming them. 
 
 jll;^^ Drop scene painted by Roger and Scheierman; Costumes made by 
 Obermaher. 
 
 Herewith I recommend my new Theatre to the public, having spared 
 
8 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 no expense for this performance. At the close, the Metropolitan Hotel, 
 which is the scene of the phay, will be shown with 10,000 larups ; and in 
 the background will be seen people, high and low, from the .34 States ofi 
 Germany. Entrance Free. 
 
 The number of advertisements of the above character, in a single paper, 
 is usually from thirty to forty. Many similar establishments do not pub- 
 lish their own infamy.* It will be seen that the principal advertised attrac- 
 tions are Theatricals, Bands of Music, Songs, Dances, Lager Beer, &c. 
 The arrangements for gambling, shooting, raffling, bowling, and other con- 
 veniences, would not look well in a newspaper, (the Deputy Superintendent 
 of Police states in his Report, that of "the 580 houses of prostitution and 
 assignation, 170 are lager and drinking saloons comhined with prostitution,^^) 
 but are familiarly known to many of the frequenters, young and old, of 
 these "Sacred Concerts."! 
 
 Extent and Character of Sunday Theatres. 
 Several of these establishments will contain from one thousand to two 
 
 « One such establishment, not publicly advertised, contained full fifteen hundred guests on Sunday 
 night, December 11. The performances lasted till after 12 o'clock P. M. Among other scenes, two 
 men representing devils performed a characteristic dance after 11 o'clock. The whole scene, from 7 
 to 12 o'clock, was described by an eye-witness as " devilish." 
 
 f A highly respectable German magazine characterizes the Beer-Garden system and its influence : 
 
 " The great majority of these pot-house keepers choose this occupation only because they can make 
 an easy and jovial living with the least labor, under the appearance of an orderly and allowable pro- 
 fession. If anything is a disgrace of our German name, our numberless German beer-houses are 
 such. The evil was never greater than now, and hardly can become greater. If all these tap-houses 
 can subsist, it shows what a tavern-visiting, pleasure-seeking nation the Germans have got to be. 
 Their keepers deport themselves as arrogantly as if they were privileged to scorn publicly all order, 
 morals, or reverence for that which is holy. In their advertisements in our German newspapers, 
 they abuse the most sacred language of the Holy Scriptures, and turn it into mockery. 
 
 " We are not surprised when men who have been brought up iis tavern-keepors in Germany con- 
 tinue in their profession here, and many of them do it in a respectable manner. But the great ma- 
 jority of these low beer-houses are kept by persons who have been trained altogether for other pro- 
 fessions. We know men in this country who have formerly been German ministers, school-teachers, 
 military offlcors, lawyers, physicians, merchants, etc., who have chosen to keep pot-houses, because 
 it requires but little knowledge or capital to retail wine and beer — to become retailers instead of con- 
 sumers — and because it is the easiest method thus to offer enjoyment to others, instead of earning 
 their daily bread in a regular laborious calling. Wo see weekly many mechanics, whoso trade begins 
 to become inconvenient — such as tailors, shoemakers, etc. — establish pot-houses ; calculating on the 
 custom of their nearest countrymen from the different German States, and it seems that they hardly 
 ever miscalculate. 
 
 " Among the most respectable Germans, who value the German name, and who are not uncon- 
 cerned whether a wholesome moral influence or a vicious one bo exerted, but one voice prevails in 
 regard to this sad characteristic of their countrymen of our time. And how could wo look on with- 
 out sorrow and shame ? The injury done to morals is incalculable, as the doings of our public courts 
 bear weekly testimony. But we know what kind of influence they exert more silently. They every- 
 where draw fathers away from their families ; they consume vast sums of money earned by bard 
 labor which should be employed for useful purposes ; they offer temptation to gambling, and excite 
 many low passions by their continuously frivolous character ; and they become the source of destruc- 
 tion to the temporal and spiritual well-being of hundreds of families. The whole business, worse than 
 public begging, rests as a curse upon the Germans ; their good name suffers under it ; and a people 
 who set the tavern sign highest in their national escutcheon, forfeit all claim to respect." 
 
SUNDAY THEATllES, ETC. 9 
 
 tliousand people ; some of the largest, when crowded, are claimed to hold 
 three thousand. They are comparatively little frequented on week-day 
 evenings ; but most of them are thronged to their utmost capacity on Sun- 
 day, and especially on Sunday night. Several of them give two, three, and 
 even four performances on Sunday — at 10 o'clock A. M.; 3 o'clock P. M.; 
 and at 7 and 10 o'clock at night. Few of them close their doors till 12 
 o'clock P. M., or later. A large proportion of their guests are youth of 
 both sexes ; but there have been seen in many of them children of tender 
 years, drinking their lager and sharing in their sports. Probably, it would 
 be no exaggeration to estimate the number of people gathered in these 
 places on a single Sunday night at fifteen thousand ; and the whole num- 
 ber of different persons patronizing them during some part of the Sabbath, 
 at thirty thousand. 
 
 The character of the Plays on these boards may be inferred from the 
 titles. "The Devil and the Miller," "The Brigand in Florence," "The 
 Robbers of Maria Culm," "The Dance of the Dead," "Conversion from 
 Temperance Madness," and like "attractions," form the staple of these 
 Sunday exhibitions. Men and women full of lager are not over-fastidious 
 as to the quality of a ten cent drama. 
 
 Sunday Lager Trade. 
 
 The amount of drinking would be incredible but for sworn testimony from 
 drinkers that they had consumed as many as a hundred glasses in a day! 
 The sum annually expended for beer on Sunday in this city alone, (and 
 nearly one half of the entire expenditure is believed to be on Sunday,) must 
 be reckoned by hundreds of thousands of dollars ; mostly the hard earnings 
 of apprentices, journeymen, servants, and other working-men and women. 
 Well may the proprietors afford the enormous rents they pay, of $3,000, 
 $5,000, and even $10,000 for the halls they occupy, when they are al- 
 lowed a Sunday monopoly of a business yielding 300 or 500 per cent, profit 
 on their weekly investment — with no real value and hence no taxation ; 
 ever contributing to swell the taxes of legitimate business for the support 
 of pauperism and crime, but freed from the burdens thus cast on honest 
 trade. 
 
 Nor is it Lager Beer alone that flows at these " Sacred Concerts." One 
 bar of many may have the blind for the Police and the uninitiated, " No 
 Liquor sold on Sunday;" but other parts of the premises are often known 
 to furnish Liquors freely. Few are bold enough to advertise " a hrick 
 in the hat ;" but many supply these " pigtails." Men who pervert language 
 by calling such performances " Sacred Concerts," do not scruple to pervert 
 law, and to sell whatever will bring profit to their tills. 
 
 It is not necessary, for the purposes of this document, to discuss the 
 
10 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 question whether Lager Beer is an intoxicating beverage. A " saloon" 
 that should advertise a quality of Lager that did not intoxicate, would be 
 deserted. Those who sell it know — often by experience — that it does 
 produce drunkenness ; and those who buy and drink it do so for the pur- 
 pose of unnatural exhilaration — pleasant for the moment, as are all stimu- 
 lants, but stupefying and enervating when the reaction comes. It is 
 undoubtedly less maddening in its effects than alcoholic drinks ; but every 
 consumer knows, as well as the physician and chemist, that taken in con- 
 siderable quantities and habitually. Lager depraves the appetite and de- 
 ranges the tone of the system as certainly as Liquor. Our Police records 
 are full of instances of crime traceable directly to the intoxicating influence 
 of this drink ; and there are cases enough of delirium tremens caused by 
 Lager Beer to settle the question beyond all cavil. While, as the bridge 
 over the gulf of conscience and self-respect to whiskey-drunkenness, it is 
 perhaps more mischievous than in its direct effects. The fallacy that Lager 
 Beer diminishes the use of alcoholic drinks is disposed of by the fact of the 
 rapid increase of dram shops since its introduction into this country. 
 
 It is enough, however, for our present object that it is made a regular 
 article of Sunday Traffic — when all such traffic is forbidden by the laws 
 and customs of the land. Were it nectar^ instead of being as it often is 
 a poisonous decoction, [the Evening Post of June 13, '58, cited the Mer- 
 chant's Magazine as its authority for enumerating "thirty-eight substances 
 which are employed to give potency, flavor, consistence, and other desira- 
 ble qualities to this delectable form of grog ; among which are marble-dust, 
 opium, tobacco, henbane, oil of vitriol, copperas, alum, strychnine, and 
 other deadly drugs,"] its public sale would still be illegal and immoral on 
 the Lord's day. 
 
 Sunday Trade Illegal. 
 
 The policy of our Sunday Laws is and always has been opposed to all 
 traffic and trade on Sunday ; and especially to those branches of trade 
 which pander to the grosser appetites and passions of the people. If tho 
 penalties for the violation of these laws are small, they have sufficed to 
 secure general obedience hitherto among American citizens ; if they are 
 not sufficient to restrain others, they may and should be increased. These 
 laws have not been imposed by despotic rulers or aristocratic legislators ; 
 but they are the voluntary restraint which society has placed on its own 
 selfishness and depravity, and equally on all its members. While securing 
 for all a season of weekly repose and reflection, society has sought to hedge 
 itself around so as to exclude the rapacity of capital and the temptations to 
 vice, either of which would destroy its rest-day. But tliis object can only 
 be secured by universal respect for law. If a few estabhshments, or a 
 
SUNDAY THEATKES, ETC. 11 
 
 privileged traffic, may profit by the general suspension of business, — per- 
 verting the very restraints by which morality and religion hold back the 
 masses from labor into a source of pecuniary advantage to themselves — it 
 is easy to see that injustice is done to the mass of good citizens who yield 
 obedience to law. Competition may drive others to engage in Sunday trad- 
 ing, until the Sabbath itself is obliterated, and all protection of the rights of 
 the laboring classes to a season of rest and devotion shall be swept away. 
 On what ground then shall the traffic in Beer, with noisy and immoral 
 accompaniments, claim a practical and recognized exemption from the 
 operation of these laws, and a virtual monopoly of Sunday trade ? Must 
 our ships lie still in their berths, and our factories cease their productions, 
 and our tens of thousands of shops for-the sale of books, clothing, provisions, 
 and all other necessaries of civilized life, suspend their business twenty-four 
 hours of each week; and the shops, cellars, and "saloons," established for 
 traffic in Lager Beer, Segars, and Confectionery, monopolize the trade of 
 fifty -two days in the year? Was it "for man," as an animal and a beer- 
 drinker, that "the Sabbath was made?" Was it in the interest of Brewers 
 and Lager-Beer dealers that the Laws of the Republic caused the wheels 
 of Commerce to cease rolling, and all branches of human industry to sus- 
 pend their activities, one-seventh part of each week ? 
 
 " Sacred Concerts" Unmasked. 
 
 But it may be claimed that the "Sacred Concerts," and other diversions 
 of the Beer-Garden and Saloon, sanctify the traffic, meet a popular want of 
 recreation, and present a claim for exemption from the operation of whole- 
 some laws. Why, the very necessity of concealment for these disgraceful 
 exhibitions under a "sacred" name — "stealing he livery of heaven to 
 serve the devil in" — is a concession that their true character is an insult to 
 the public, and an outrage upon the proprieties of the day. But what 
 must be the standard of morality that can rank as "sacred" the vaudevilles, 
 and comic operas, and libidinous songs and dances, publicly announced, 
 and publicly performed, from Sabbath to Sabbath ? And what must be 
 the social and moral condition of the thousands, or tens of thousands, 
 who crowd these performances — substituting the excitements of drink 
 and play, amidst promiscuous throngs, in a fetid atmosphere, for the quiet 
 joys of home, or the ennobling worship of the house of God 1 What a 
 process is this of self-discipline, without which self-government is an im- 
 possibility, and the institutions presupposing it a mockery I What a use 
 is this, of the season beneficently set apart by the Creator for self-culture, 
 for His own worship, and for preparation for heaven ! Viewed from any 
 other stand-point than that of the self-interest of the proprietor, and the 
 
12 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 self-indulgence of the victim, this whole system of " Sacred Concerts" is a 
 stupendous scheme for money-making and pleasure-seeking, at the expense 
 of popular morality, in defiance of American pubhc sentiment, and in con- 
 tempt of the laws of God and man. 
 
 "Sacred" Literature, 
 
 We feel constrained here to utter a protest against the corruption of lan- 
 guage and perversion of truth which has grown up with Sabbath-breaking 
 and an anti-Sabbath literature. The actual scenes occurring in these fre- 
 quented temples of folly are a sufficient outrage on the rights and feelings 
 of the decent community, without attempting to gild iniquity or to blind 
 the public to their real nature by a misnomer as false as to inscribe over a 
 house of infamy, " The School of Virtue," or to invite custom for a dram- 
 shop as " The Nursery of Temperance." The fashion of employing language 
 to express the exact opposite of its Just signification, has extended to jour- 
 nals whose interests conflict with the moral law. Their vulgar libels against 
 the friends of a quiet Sabbath are indited in the name of " civil and relig- 
 ious liberty I" — ^when their authors deserve to be indicted for outraging com- 
 mon morality. A lawless traffic, demonstrably responsible for nine-tenths 
 of the pauperism and crime with which our city is cursed, is defended in 
 the name of " rehgious freedom !" A calm, principled, forbearing opposition 
 to illegal and demoralizing courses is styled "Phariseeism," "Puritan- 
 ism," "Fanaticism;" the respectable citizens sharing in the movement are 
 "Mawworms" and "Aminidab Sleeks," and "the practice of Sabbatarians*' 
 is said to be " to give six days to the devil, to lying, and slandering, and 
 cheating, and to nine-tenths of the vices and crimes prohibited by the Deca- 
 logue :" while Sunday Liquor and Lager Dealers are the ^^ good men to 
 unite against despotism and fanaticism," when '■^had men, the Sunday-Sab- 
 batarians, combine [ ! " Why, we have reached a point in the perversion 
 of terms to indicate vice and virtue far in advance of the Spaniards, who 
 only call high-way robbery ^^novedad," — a novelty ; here it would be termed 
 an "obligation conferred on the weary traveller!" A little more, and a 
 parricide would be feted as a "young gentleman who had suddenly in- 
 herited an estate." Shame on the false system that begins by appropriat- 
 ing the Lord's Day to nameless and shameless abominations, and then screens 
 the wrong by perverting language, and by indiscriminate libels on the mil- 
 lions of men who cherish a reverence for the Bible, and the Sabbath, and 
 the Great Author of both ! 
 
 The New York System in "Western Cities. 
 But this system of Sunday Theatres, " Sacred Concerts," and Beer-Gar- 
 dens, so prevalent and profitable here, has been extended from the metrop- 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 13 
 
 olis to all the principal cities of the West, to the dread and disgust of good 
 citizens. So demoralizing have been its fruits, that in St. Louis the people 
 have taken measures for self-protection, and, by a majority of more than 
 two thousand in a popular election, have stamped this, and the kindred traf- 
 fic in Sunday rum, with their reprobation. A stringent law for the ex- 
 tinction of these evils has been presented to the Missouri Legislature, sup- 
 ported by the entire delegation from St. Louis, with a single exception ; 
 and the motion for its rejection was negatived by a vote of ninety-four to 
 seven.* The representative who reported the bill, [Mr. Drake, of St. Louis,] 
 made an impressive exposition of its provisions, and the necessity for them 
 as a " remedy imperatively demanded for a great and alarming evil." Mr. 
 Pilkinton, also a member from St. Louis, said " he had visited twenty-seven 
 Sunday Theatres ; in one, where he had paid ten cents for admission, he 
 had heard the most obscene songs he had ever listened to or heard of in 
 his life. From close observation during his Sunday visits to the leading 
 saloons, he could fully bear out all that had been said by the gentleman 
 from that city, not only as regards the "cup-bearers," but other infamies 
 which had come under his observation." [The allusions are to Mr. Drake's 
 statement that in some of these places there is " the attendance of courte- 
 sans serving out lager beer to customers, and, at the same time, making 
 their assignations with such as may be inclined thereto."] 
 
 The state of things is substantially the same in Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, 
 Cincinnati, and elsewhere, as in St. Louis, only that the measures for re- 
 sisting the tide of evil are less energetic, as yet. May it not be hoped that 
 as evil example in New York has tended to corrupt other cities, so the 
 suppression of evil here may stimulate the friends of good morals to sue 
 cessful effort in other great communities. 
 
 Are Sunday Lager-Theatricals a National Custom? 
 
 The most plausible plea in behalf of the vicious system under consideration 
 is, that it is a "national custom," and is therefore entitled to a liberal con- 
 struction of our laws, and a large toleration of our authorities and people. 
 The obvious answer is, that national vices have no claim to be regarded as 
 "national customs," and if they had, that it would not warrant their impor- 
 tation from despotic kingdoms and their domestication in a christian republic. 
 
 "Whatever latitude may be allowed under the despotisms of the conti- 
 nent to popular amusements on the Sabbath — according to Hallam, avow- 
 edly " to keep the people from speculating on religious and political matters, 
 and because it renders them more cheerful and less sensible to the evils of 
 their condition" — they are restrained by a vigilant and powerful police, 
 
 * The Bill has passed the Legislature by a decided majority, since this document was in type. 
 
14 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 backed by vast standing armies, from such indecencies and excesses as dis- 
 grace the boards o^ our Sunday Theatres and Beer-Gardens. The "hells" 
 of Homburg and Baden-Baden, are gentlemanly and civilized resorts com- 
 pared with the orgies of Jones' "Woods and the Volks' Theatre. In many 
 parts of the continent of Europe, and especially in the agricultural districts, 
 the whole system is unknown. It is in the corrupt capitals and larger 
 cities alone that it is tolerated ; and even there, it is only tolerated — the 
 protest of the more moral and considerate classes, whether Protestant or 
 Cathohc, having been repeatedly and earnestly uttered. It is not, then, 
 in any proper sense, " a national custom" that appeals to American citizens 
 for their forbearance, but rather a foreign vice, or a complication of vices, 
 seeking to be naturalized on our soil. 
 
 Are "National Customs" entitled to Naturalization? 
 
 But if it were a national custom, it would not follow that it might claim 
 a home among us. Bull-baiting and cock-fighting are national customs of 
 Spain — recognized by her laws and patronized by her court, nobility, 
 and people. Shall they, hence, be foisted on this land ? The sports of the 
 ring are common in England : our laws reprobate and punish them. The 
 Carnival is an Italian custom : would it be tolerated here? Polygamy is a 
 Turkish custom : the laws of every American State make it a crime. There 
 are specialties of this nature more or less intimately connected with tlie 
 national life of the several races and kingdoms of the earth. Will any 
 one claim that the right of immigration involves that of importation of the 
 very vices which have been the cause of popular degeneracy and despotic 
 rule abroad — nay, which have compelled impoverished and oppressed mil- 
 lions to seek a land where a sterner morality has rendered a free govern- 
 ment possible ? Or, does not the voluntary election of our institutions, civil 
 and religious, imply acquiescence in whatever restraints we have found 
 necessary as the conditions of a government of law, and the abandonment 
 of such " customs" as are offensive to a civilized and christian people ? Is 
 not the full talc of liberty meted out to ourselves — the utmost that is con- 
 sistent with the safe working of free institutions — enough for those who 
 never enjoyed any considerable measure of civil or religious liberty till 
 they landed here ? Emigrants from all lands are welcomed, with but the 
 slightest probation, to the enjoyment of equal rights and privileges in the 
 magnificent patrimony secured to us by the virtue and heroism of our 
 fathers. They can acquire property, go to the ballot-bo:^: at every election, 
 attain any office for which they aspire and are deemed worthy, and exert 
 all their influence in the control of public affairs. They may worship as 
 they please, where they please, or not at all, if so inclined. There is not 
 a burden of a hair laid on foreign shoulders beyond that on the shoulders 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 15 
 
 of every American. "What more can be asked? More has been asked — 
 and taken. The whole system of Sunday follies, of which we complain, is 
 of a sort that Americans never allowed to themselves : they cannot grant it 
 to others without sacrificing vital principles, and paving the way for a wise 
 government of law to succumb to a cosmopolitan mob. 
 
 How are our "national customs" dealt with in the old world? The 
 Ballot, Freedom of the Press, travelling without Passports, &c., are com- 
 mon here. "Why should not the American abroad insist on voting when 
 he pleases, publishing what he pleases, and going where he pleases ? Com- 
 mon sense answers : simply because he has voluntarily placed himself under 
 governments, institutions, and customs different from those of his native 
 land ; and, unless he is prepared for revolution or outlawry, he acquiesces 
 in the laws and usages he finds in vogue, until he can persuade the people 
 or governments where he dwells, that his notions are best ; or until he can 
 decently take himself out of the way. 
 
 Sabbath Customs in the United States. 
 
 The relation of this discussion to the topic in hand cannot be mistaken. 
 Perhaps there is no one custom more fixed and distinctive among us as a 
 nation than the almost universal regard for the Christian Sabbath.* Pain- 
 ful as are the exceptions, the rule throughout the United States is, to devote 
 one day in seven to purposes of rest and devotion. The most industrious 
 people in the world — ^perhaps the most avaricious — by common consent, 
 suspend their worldly toil, and millions of them resort to the temples of 
 rehgion, and their children to the Sunday-school. At least nine-tenths of 
 the American-born population, and probably a large majority of the foreign- 
 born, esteem the Sabbath too sacred to be spent as a frivolous holiday. It 
 has been so from the settlement of the country, and the existence of our 
 confederacy. The laws of every State in the Union — ^with a single excep- 
 tion — recognize this national sentiment, and embody it in Acts prohibitory 
 of needless labor and of vicious public amusements. "With trifling excep- 
 tions, the Christian churches, of every name, regard the Sabbath as a day 
 to be kept holy unto the Lord, and to be employed in acts of religious 
 worship and charity : so that millions of our citizens are grieved, and 
 justly grieved, as they think, by a systematic perversion of the day into a 
 mere carnival of sensuous pleasure. 
 
 Now, the question is not whether these convictions are well or ill 
 founded — that can be discussed at another time : nor whether the Sabbath 
 
 * Tlie venerable French scholar, Duponceau, said, " That of all we claimed as char- 
 acteristic, our observance of the Sabbath is the only one truly national and American . 
 and for this cause, if for no other, lie trusted it would never lose its hold on our affec- 
 tions and our patriotism." 
 
16 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 is or is not a divine institution ; nor whether American views of the Sab« 
 bath are more or less just than Continental notions : — but, whether the Sab- 
 hath, thus entrenched in the affections, usages, and laws of the American 
 people, shall not he respected hy our foreign emigrant pojndation, and their 
 Sunday customs, of whatever sort, conflicting with its quiet and trampling 
 upon its sacredness, be forborne ; — at least until public sentiment shall be 
 so revolutionized as to accept the holiday of Despotism in place of our 
 holy-day of Freedom, and until the laws expressing the imroremorial and 
 existing views of this country shall be modified to suit European laxity, or 
 repealed altogether — ^for the benefit of Lager Dealers and Sunday Theatres. 
 
 Sunday Theatricals an Invasion. 
 
 It surely needs no argument to prove that the system of Sunday Thea- 
 tres and Beer-Gardens is as utterly inconsistent with the spirit of our Ameri- 
 can Sabbath as it is with any code of morals higher than that of Atheism. 
 Even the lowest view, that simply accepts the weekly leisure and rest from 
 toil, must repudiate the congregation of thousands in over-crowded and iU- 
 ventilated halls, with all the excitement of drink, and dance, and play, and 
 the varied temptations to vice held out to young and old in these haunts 
 of noisy mirth. It is not rest: it is dissipation and rioting that comes from 
 such scenes. But the broader view of the social, intellectual, and spiritual 
 nature, and of the culture necessary to the right discharge of domestic, 
 civil, and religious duties, and taking into the account the destinies of an 
 immortal being — all of which to the laboring man stand associated with 
 the proper use of Sabbath hours — makes this system of Sunday revelry 
 and folly a crime against himself, his family, his neighbor, and his Maker. 
 No man has a right to embrute himself, and expose society to the depreda- 
 tion of ungoverned passions, stimulated by a resort to the Theatre and the 
 Beer-Garden, on the day made to hush human passion and sin, and to school 
 the soul for citizenship here and on High. And no set of men may inno- 
 cently indulge their own selfishness at the expense of the money and morals 
 of their neighbors, by placing snares and pit-falls along their pathway, and 
 exulting over their destruction with songs and dances, and " sacred con- 
 certs." 
 
 Our Native Stock of Virtue not Inexhaustible. 
 
 "We have spoken thus far chiefly of the influence of a Lager-beer Sunday 
 on our foreign population : what is it, and what is it likely to be, if natural- 
 ized, on our children, clerks, servants, and the classes exposed to its seduc- 
 tions ? It may be that the boast of a speaker at the Turner's Festival at 
 Cincinnati is well-founded: "We Germans may drink as much as we 
 please ; the capital stock of our intelligence and character is so great, that 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 17 
 
 even, witli our good-will, we cannot exhaust it !" "We Americans are not 
 thus gifted. Our " capital stock of intelligence and character " has accu- 
 mulated by generations of pains-taking — with all the appliances of schools, 
 and churches, and domestic training, and self-discipline, and the varied ele- 
 ments of a Christian civilization ; and our institutions are the outgrowth 
 and expression of the organic life of a people thus tutored. Considerable 
 as we believe this " capital " to be, it is flxr from being " inexhaustible." 
 If it shall have a weekly outward current, as Sunday beer flows in, half a 
 generation will see the last of it. If our inspiration is to bo drawn from 
 the beer-barrel instead of the Bible, and our Sabbath is to be " sacred " to 
 Gambrinus and not to God, then even the superadded "capital of intelli- 
 gence and character " of Lager — ^beer-dom will not enable Americans to save 
 the institutions bequeathed to them. It cannot be denied, and need not 
 be concealed, that there is much in human nature to respond to the seduc- 
 tions of the Sunday theatre and "sacred concert." There is a vast juve- 
 nile population, uninstructcd still in morals and religion, ready for any cheap 
 Sunday sport. And there may be thousands of the sons of respectable and 
 even pious parents to whom the restraints of the Sabbath are irksome, and 
 whose consciences are quieted by the blind of " sacred " performances. 
 These and other classes may be willing to accept a foreign custom, ignor- 
 ing its antecedents and its consequences ; as the foreign panderer accepts 
 our liberty, ignoring its conditions. It cannot be doubted that a vast pro- 
 cess of demoralization is thus going on among our native population through 
 these imported vices. Self-respect and self-protection demand that this pro- 
 cess should be stayed, while some part of our " capital of intelligence and 
 character " abides. 
 
 Influence of the Holiday Sunday System on Mexico. 
 
 "While there is a conceded necessity for occasional recreation and 
 popular diversion, — of which the evenings of the week furnish a some- 
 what liberal supply, to say nothing of our recognized holidays, — the effects 
 of an undue devotion to vulgar amusements, and of the habitual violation 
 of the Sabbath for this purpose on the character and destiny of a nation, 
 are impressively illustrated in the unfortunate career of our neighboring 
 Republic. The intelligent regular correspondent of the New York Times, 
 when portraying the causes of the decline of Mexico, wrote last summer as 
 follows : 
 
 [After describing the dissolute character of Sundays and the scores erf 
 fast and feast days of Ecclesiastical or Governmental 'appointment — on 
 which " all manner of amusements are attended by all classes of people of 
 both sexes," the writer proceeds :] 
 
 "The tax laid upon the time and energies of the nation by these feasts 
 
18 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 amounts to about one-third of the JDest force of the country, which under better 
 rules would be devoted to the accumulation of private wealth and increasing 
 the public revenues. Besides the apparent loss occasioned by the great number 
 of Mexican feast days, there is a loss to the nation of still graver importance, 
 which is to be found in the demoralization of the people. It is a notorious fact 
 that on Sundays and the other feast days the consumption of spirituous liquors is 
 from forty to fifty times greater than on laboring days. The consequence of this 
 extra consumption of spirituous liquors is to he found in the squalid misery and 
 prostitution of the lower classes. Some reason that those things would be under 
 all circumstances. To let such people keep their false promises, we have still 
 more forcible examples of the evil effects of feast days, in the extra number of 
 assassinations and imprisonments for drunkenness and murder on those days. 
 Sundays and other feast days produce on an average from five to seven murders 
 each I How many imprisonments it is difficult to say. But I am very safe in 
 asserting that each feast day in the Mexican calendar will show a greater num- 
 ber of killed and prisoners — in the city of Mexico alone — than the average run 
 of pronunciamentos and battles of the country 1 
 
 * * * " Taken all together, the feasts of Mexico are a great and destroying 
 curse to the country. They feed the vilest passions of a weak people, and do 
 no good to society or individuals. The religious feasts give occasion for more 
 debauchery than they do for religious worship ; and all the other feasts are bad, 
 without having a single redeeming quality. Until they are stopped^ one and all, 
 excepting the Sahhath, Mexico will be just luhat she is — a weak, demoralized, and 
 decaying nation.'^ 
 
 Is not Mexico nominally a Republic ? Why the failure of her institu- 
 tions, and the stability of ours ? Our citizens have been trained to habits 
 of industry, morality, and religion, under the influence of the Bible and 
 the Sabbath: hers have given themselves up to self-indulgence — "the 
 vilest passions of a weak people" have been " fed " by holiday pastimes 
 and vicious pleasures "without a redeeming quality" — and she is hence 
 " a weak, demoralized, and decaying nation." So shall we be, if we let 
 go our anchorage of the Word and Day of God, and accept in their stead 
 the childish vanities and the profane mockeries of a godless holiday 
 regime. 
 
 Are Sunday Laws Constitutional? 
 
 But is there power to restrain the class of offences against good morals 
 and the public peace under consideration ? If there be not, then society 
 is defenceless against a foe as insidious as terrible. If certain American 
 and German Journals are to be credited, the extremes of folly and wicked- 
 ness may claim immunity under " constitutional " guarantees ! " The Con- 
 stitution of the State of New York," says one of these Daily apologists 
 for Sunday rowdyism, " prohibits any preference to be given by law to 
 the opinions of o?ie religious sect over another. All Sahhath laics are 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 19 
 
 therefore in opposition to the State constitution. * * The time has gone hy 
 when people can he compelled to follow the religious observance of any sect hy 
 egislative enactments, and when men can he made pious hy the law of ike 
 land." 
 
 What! cover a system of unmixed iniquity by claiming for it a 
 " sacred " character, and then demand protection for it on the score that 
 " the constitution prohibits any preference to be given by law to the opin- 
 ions of one religious sect over another /" There is a heaven-wide difference 
 between " religious liberty " and irreligious license : between " freedom of 
 conscience " and freedom of passion. The one is secured by the constitu- 
 tion; the other it is the design of constitutions and laws, human and 
 divine, to hem in and hedge about. Why, the very article of the consti- 
 tution thus shamelessly wrested from its object, rebukes the insult to com- 
 mon sense and to religious freedom, when it farther provides that "the 
 liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not he so construed as to excuse 
 acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety 
 of the State." 
 
 "All Sabbath Laws are therefore in opposition to the State constitu- 
 tion?" Wherefore? What part of the constitution ? What "sect" is 
 established or preferred by laws prohibiting Sunday rumselling and subter- 
 ranean theatricals ? Irreligious and immoral practices are not "religious 
 opinions." The only constitutional shelter for the newly-discovered "sect" 
 must be the clause above quoted — which its organs have never yet seen fit 
 to publish. 
 
 " The time has gone by when people can be compelled to follow the re- 
 ligioxis observance of any sect, and when men can be made pious by the 
 law of the land:" for its only existence in this country is in the imagina- 
 tion that cannot discriminate between a place of Christian worship and a 
 Sunday Dram-shop, nor between a free conscience, and free rum. If men 
 cannot be " made pious by law," it does not follow that they may be made 
 impious against law. 
 
 But a German daily paper in this city goes still farther, and declares : 
 " In religious matters there shall be anarchy throughout the Union ; thus 
 the constitution decrees. [Where ?] We would protest against all Sunday 
 Laws which the people might impose upon themselves hy their own majority. 
 We do not submit, in the Sunday question, to the decision of the population,^' 
 etc. It will be seen subsequently, that German sentiment is misrepresent- 
 ed by this Journal : but it may be supposed to indicate the tone of feeling 
 of the Lager-beer interest. Coupled with the counsel of the editor of an- 
 other journal in this city, at the Yolks Garden meeting, to resist the authori- 
 ties who should attempt to interfere with Sunday theatricals, etc., " hy force," 
 it presents the question whether American Law or German appetite shall bo 
 
20 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 the rule in matters vitally affecting the moral welfare and civil rights of 
 this country. Practical " anarchy" is one thing ; anarchical and revolution- 
 ary principles, boldly avowed, are a novelty among us ; it remains to be 
 seen whether a people accustomed to respect law and the will of majorities 
 will succumb to them. When our German fellow-citizens come to under- 
 stand that all the liberty an American citizen has, or needs, whether native 
 or foreign-born, is the power to do whatever may be beneficial to himself 
 and not injurious to his neighbor nor to the State, they v/ill cease the advo- 
 cacy of principles as inconsistent with all free government as they are sub- 
 versive of our own. 
 
 "We would commend to those who write in a foreign language, of consti- 
 tutions and laws they cannot be supposed to have studied, the expositions 
 of Marshall, Story, or their own Prof. Lieber. They will find the latter, in 
 his work on Civil Liberty, remarking : " The great mission which this 
 country has to perform, with reference to Europe, requires the utter divorce 
 of State and Church — NOT Religion." Judge Story well says : " It is 
 impossible for those who believe in the truth of Christianity, as a divine 
 revelation, to doubt that it is the especial duty of government to foster and 
 encourage it among all the citizens and subjects. This is a point wholly 
 distinct from that of the right of private judgment in matters of religion, 
 and of the freedom of public worship according to the dictates of one's 
 own conscience." Our State constitutions recognize this principle — securing 
 to all the opportunity for unmolested worship ; but not warranting the 
 grossest immoralities under the plea of "sacredness," or on the score of 
 '''■religious freedom." 
 
 If Christianity be a part of the Common Law of the land, as decided by 
 our couns, and the Common Law be recognized as of equal authority as 
 our Statutes, may not practices palpably inconsistent with the spirit of that 
 law, and in direct conflict with the opinions and usages of the Christian 
 community, of all denominations, be restrained? "We are not less but 
 more a Christian nation that we have and wish to have no estoblished 
 church ; and that deep down in the heart of the people the conviction lies 
 that "righteousness exalteth a nation" — such "righteousness" as is insepa- 
 rably associated with the holy keeping of the Sabbath, and irreconcilably 
 opposed to the perversion of that day into an occasion of senseless popular 
 folly and dissipation. The significant fact that in all the discussions which 
 have arisen respecting our Sunday Laws, the journals opposed to the Sab- 
 bath have invariably ignored their real provisions and caricatured their 
 object — without once informing their readers what the laws are, and what 
 the practical issues have been under them, — is conclusive evidence that 
 the laws as they are and as they are executed contain no oppressive or 
 tmreasonable provisions. 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 21 
 
 Of our Sunday Laws it may be enough to say that they have existed, 
 in various forms, from early colonial times, and from the foundation of our 
 several State governments. Tiie only decision against their constitution- 
 ality was pronounced by a California judge, whose subsequent acts do not 
 add special weight to his legal opinions. We have not known of any 
 serious opposition to them, excepting from parties whose interest or appe- 
 tites render their restraints irksome. Of their propriety and necessity no 
 reasonable doubt can be entertained. No one, we suppose, will question 
 the right of the Legislature to restrict the legal term of daily labor to ten 
 hours; is there any more question of its right to restrict the number of 
 working-days to six in a week ? The right to restrain the sale of intoxi- 
 catmg liquors on election days is undisputed ; may not the same right be 
 exercised as to the day of weekly leisure ? Theatrical exhibitions and 
 various shows can only be publicly given under a formal license therefor ; 
 may not conditions as to time and circumstances be inserted in their 
 licenses ? The Legislature enacts that boys under fourteen shall attend 
 no theatrical exhibition ; may it not consistently direct that those exhibi- 
 tions shall only be held on secular days? 
 
 As to the adequacy of existing statutes to the suppression of the specific 
 evils now exposed, it is not our province to determine. It is clear that 
 none of them contemplated such vast organized and complicated methods 
 of popular corruption as have come into vogue ; else the penalties would 
 have been more proportioned to the offence. But it is believed that the 
 spirit and letter of the laws and ordinances designed to prevent all traffic 
 on Sunday, especially the tratde in intoxicating liquors ; the laws against 
 gambling at all times, and the general authority of the Police Department 
 " to prevent crime," " to preserve the public peace," " to protect the rights 
 of persons and property, and to see that all laws relating to the observance 
 of Sunday, and regarding gambling and intemperance are properly 
 enforced," — ^if carried out with firmness, would abate most, if not all, of 
 the evils under consideration. 
 
 Or, should it be found that a dangerous and demoralizing system has 
 grown up, for which there jare no adequate restraints, — because no Legis- 
 lature of former years was apprised of the existence of such flagrant 
 wrongs, — may it not be claimed that our Legislators shall frame and enact 
 such statutes as the exigency demands ? Can there be a doubt that a vig- 
 orous public sentiment would sustain the execution of such statutes ? 
 
 G-ermaii Sentiment on the Sunday Question. 
 
 It should not be forgotten, that besides the almost universal conviction 
 among citizens of American birth, that on humane, sanitary, patriotic, or 
 religious grounds the christian Sabbath should be guarded from frivolous 
 
22 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 or demoralizing uses; no inconsiderable portion of the immigrant popula- 
 tion, and especially the emigrants from Germany, have accepted the Amer- 
 ican vicAvs on this question, at least so far as to earnestly reprobate the in- 
 fidel and atheistic notions and practices of a later and looser emigration. 
 Thus, the leading influences in the Roman Catholic body cannot but be 
 hostile to a system as irreligious as it is demoralizing. The Lutheran 
 body as a whole — by far the largest Protestant German sect — ^is under- 
 stood to repudiate the scandalous system which falsely pleads the name of 
 the great Reformer of Germany as a cover for its excesses. The German 
 Reformed Church — the next denomination in size to the Lutheran — at the 
 last meeting of its General Synod, in Harrisburg, Pa., uttered its " solemn 
 testimony against the m-ovement in opposition to that christian observance 
 of the Lord's day which has hitherto distinguished us as a nation, as calcu- 
 lated not only to undermine the foundations of our free institutions, which 
 rest greatly on the virtue and piety of the people, but also as at war with 
 the physical, mental, and moral good of our citizens." The resolutions em- 
 bodying this testimony were passed unanimously. All the minor German 
 christian denominations are believed to occupy a similar position. 
 
 The memorable expression of popular sentiment among the Germans, 
 made at the recent meeting in Cooper Institute^ (October 16, 1859,) when 
 fifteen hundred of them arose from their seats to affirm their approval of 
 the following resolutions, would show that our German fellow-citizens may 
 be largely classed among the friends of Sabbath observance: 
 
 Resolutions of 1500 Germans at Cooper Institute. 
 
 ^''Resolved, That we, as Germans, do solemnly protest against the perversion of 
 Sunday from a day of rest and devotion into a day of noisy excitement and dis- 
 sipation, which is only too frequent among some of our German countrymen, 
 and brings dishonor on the German name ; and that we request our fellow-citi- 
 zens by no means to charge the fault of many upon the lohole people and upon 
 Germany, where for many years past noble efforts are successfuDy making to- 
 wards the promotion of the better observance of Sunday. 
 
 " Resolved, That we regard the strict observance of Sunday which was intro- 
 duced into this country with the very first settlements of European immigrants, 
 and has ever since been the common custom of the land, by no means as a de- 
 fect, but on the contrary as a great advantage and blessing to America, and we 
 will cheerfully assist in keeping it up and handing it down to future genera- 
 tions. 
 
 '■'Resolved, That in the Sabbath Laws of this country, as they obtain in nearly 
 every State of our great republican confederacy, we see nothing that conflicts 
 with the cherished principles of civil and religious liberty ; on the contrary, we 
 regard them as one of the strongest guarantees of our free institutions ; as a 
 
SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 23 
 
 wliolesome check upon licentiousness and dissipation, as a preventative of the 
 pauperism and crime which must necessarily undermine and ultimately destroy 
 the liberty of any people." 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the vast body of Germans, who comprise so 
 industrious and useful a portion of our agricultural population, sympathize 
 with the spirit of the above resolutions. It is in our cities, among the 
 sceptical and radical elements of society, that the men are found to sink all 
 moral considerations in those of selfish greed or corrupt appetite, and for the 
 sake of both, to defy both human and divine laws, and the prevailing 
 public sentiment of the country of their adoption, as well as of the bet- 
 ter disposed of their own emigrant countrymen. One of the latter, an 
 eminent German writer, expresses his " disgust" at the " apeing of German 
 national festivities and Sunday amusements in America" — comparing it with 
 the effort of " a party of monkeys from a tropical climate to try their antics 
 on polar ice-fields — expecting that the polar bears will jump and dance with 
 them ! " or with " that northern summer of which H. Heine says, it is no 
 proper summer, but rather ' winter painted green!'" Whatever maybe 
 true as to the implication of coldness in our American social life, there can 
 be no question as to the absurdity and the wickedness of obtruding upon us 
 the monkey pranks of the " Sacred Concert" and the Beer-Garden. But 
 the object of this citation is simply to show, as we might by extended 
 quotations from German writers, that this whole system of Sunday pleasure- 
 seeking is an oSence and a scandal to the right-minded Germans them- 
 selves, who would be the first to hail its extermination 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 We have thus sought to interest the public in a question of no inconsid- 
 erable moment. A vast, organized, and rapidly extending system of 
 Sabbath desecration and popular demoralization has sprung up under the 
 concealment of a foreign language, and of false announcements. Scores of 
 theatres give public entertainments, with comic songs and dances, on the 
 day and at the hours of public worship. Thousands and tens of thousands, 
 especially of the young, resort to them for drink, play and revelry. We have 
 shown that this system cannot justly plead for forbearance as a " national 
 custom," because of its excesses, and because the rights of emigration do 
 not imply the right to import and naturalize foreign usages and especially 
 foreign vices. We have shown that the organic life of this country is that 
 of a Christian Sabbath-keeping nation ; that whether the views almost uni- 
 versally cherished here are right or wrong, they are to be respected because 
 they are American views, by those coming from other lands ; and that it is 
 an impertinence to invade our institutions and laws by practices known to 
 
24 SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC 
 
 be inconsistent with the spirit of both — such practices as have made a neigh- 
 boring repubhc " a weak, demorahzed, and decaying nation." We have 
 demonstrated the absurdity of the objections to the constitutionahty of laws 
 in the interest of good morals, of immemorial authority, and have sought 
 to free the German population as a whole from complicity with lawless 
 views and practices. 
 
 We now commit this question to our authorities, Judicial, Executive 
 and Legislative, and to an intelligent community. Every citizen has an 
 interest in preserving and perpetuating an orderly Sabbath, and in guard 
 ing it from such invasions as are herein exposed. Even the parties to the 
 wrong of which we complain would be more "healthy, wealthy and wise" 
 by the removal of the temptations to wicked and idle indulgence in the 
 Sunday saloon. And, as a community responsible for good or ill example 
 over a continent, do we not, in addition to every motive of self-preservation 
 and self-respect, owe it to other cities to purge ourselves of a system of 
 Sunday profanation so scandalous, demoralizing, and indefensible as that of 
 our Sunday theatres, "Sacred concerts," and Lager-beer saloons? 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J". BAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M.D., JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 
 NATHAN BISHOP, GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, WM. A. SMITH, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 
 WARREN CARTER, W. F. VAN WAGENEN 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 E. L. FANCHER, P. S. WINSTON. 
 
 PRED. G. POSTER, 0. E. WOOD, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
 53 
 
 SABBATH COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 
 
 |^=° Orders for this Document may be addressed to the Secretary as 
 above. Price^ $2.50 per hundred. 
 
■^-^-^■^■**-^^*'******-*******'**'*-*-*-*-'^-*-'^^*^^-'-'-'-'^'^^'^^-'-'*-'^-^ - 
 
 PROGRESS 
 
 SABBATH EEFOEM. 
 
 »■ ^» « •- -•« 
 
 1. Suppression of the Sunday Liquor Traffic— History and Results. 
 
 2. Sunday News-Crying Abolished. 
 
 3. The Broderic Sunday-Pageant— Protest. 
 
 4. Sabbath Sentiment and Labors among the Germans— Volk' s Garden 
 
 and Cooper Institute Meetings. 
 
 5. German Theatres, Sacred Concerts and Beer-Gardens. 
 
 6. Co-operation of the Periodical Press. 
 
 7. Opposition of the Sunday Press. 
 
 1. Constitutionality of Sunday Laws. 
 
 2. Morality of the Sabbath. 
 
 8. Progress in other cities, and in Europe. 
 
 9. Conclusion— Narrow Issues — ftuiet Methods — Opposition Unmasked 
 
 —Manly Action Invoked. 
 
 10. Great Public Meeting — Proceedings and Addresses. 
 
 DOCUMENT No. XII 
 
 THE >^EW YOEK SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 1<: D W A R D . JE N IC I N ,^ , 1^ R I N T E R 
 
 No. 2Ö FKANKFORT STlilCET. 
 
 18Ö0. 
 
Progress of the Sabbath. Reform. 
 
 It is due alike to the Committee and the public that the cheering 
 events in the progi\3ss of the Sabbath Reform should be placed on 
 record, as a memorial of the Divine goodness, and an incentive to 
 future exertions. They are believed to have a significance and a 
 scope of pregnant interest, not merely in the city which forms the 
 principal scene of their occurrence, and for the passing hour; but 
 wherever the Christian Sabbath is invaded, and whenever its friends 
 shall seek to guard its sanctity. Nor is their value lessened by the 
 fact that the results already achieved have been attained in a great 
 city, whose population is largely composed of heterogeneous and hos- 
 tile elements ; with authorities partly committed to interests un- 
 friendly to this Reform ; with powerful and amply endowed com- 
 binations, ready to turn to account any mistaken movement, and to 
 contest every wise one ; and in the face of powerful presses, whose 
 self-interest conspired with their hatred of legal or moral obligations to 
 render their opposition fierce and unscrupulous. If such results as are 
 hereafter recorded may be reached in these circumstances, it would 
 seem that wise and patient efforts, under more favoring auspices, 
 might, under the blessing of God, secure all that is needed in restrain- 
 ing the open profanation of the day of rest. 
 
 Suppression of the Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 
 The leading enterprise of the j^ast year has aimed at the suppres- 
 sion of the Sunday Liquor Trafiic. A brief history of it will not be 
 out of place in this document. 
 
 The circumstances of discouragement at the outset of the effort to 
 close more than 5000 Sunday dram-shops need not be recapitulated. 
 It is enough to say that nothing in the constitution or condition of 
 the municipal authorities, judicial or executive; in the state of public 
 
2 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 sentiment ; or in previous attempts at city reform, encouraged the 
 undertaking. The Metropolitan Police Commissioners, after lodging 
 26,000 complaints for the violation of the Sunday Liquor Law with 
 the prosecuting officers, none of which had been prosecuted to con- 
 viction, say in their Report to the Legislature, Nov. 1858: "Unless 
 the Legislature shall compel the observance of the day by severe 
 penalties, and by summary proceedings, the onerous duty of report- 
 ing its desecration will be useless." The deep conviction of the 
 necessity of prompt and manly action, and the confidence that a 
 vigorous public sentiment miglit give adequate energy to existing 
 laws, and efficiency to their administration, induced the committee 
 to undertake a movement surrounded with so many difficulties. 
 
 Afler protracted inquiry and deliberation, the issue Avas joined with 
 this gigantic evil, in a document (No. 5) issued in February, '59, en- 
 titled, " The Sunday Liquor Traffic," of which some 7000 copies were 
 circulated gratuitously. The facts and views of this Pamphlet were 
 made the basis of an able popular discussion by the Press, and the 
 reform was advocated with special ability by all our respectable daily 
 journals. Public sentiment rapidly assumed a tone of calm determina- 
 tion that admitted no farther parleying with an unblushing outrage 
 against law and right and religion. 
 
 With the view of concentrating public opinion, and securing the 
 action of the department charged with the execution of laws and 
 ordinances affecting this evil, a Memorial of Citizens was prepared, 
 settmg forth its nature and extent, as shown by the Presentments of 
 successive Grand Juries ; by the statistical records of the Police De- 
 partment, and by other authentic data ; and appealing to the Com- 
 missioners of the Metropolitan Police, in virtue of their organic Act, 
 and to the extent of their powers, to interpose for the Protection and 
 Relief of the city from this demonstrated cause of Pauperism, Taxa- 
 tion and Crime. A Digest of the Laws and Ordinances against this 
 Traffic, and other bases of the memorial, accompanied the jiaper. It 
 received between 500 and 600 signatures of our most influential 
 citizens in a few hours : enough to show that all classes and conditions 
 of right-minded men, without regard to sect or pnrty, concurred in 
 sentiment as to this matter. A similar memorial in the German lan- 
 ffuacce had more than 400 sicrnatures of Germans. The two memorials 
 were presented to the Commissioners, Mny 27, by a joint Delegation 
 of American and German citizens — Pclatiah Perrit, Esq., at the head 
 of the former, and Mr. John Müller of the latter. The memorials 
 were referred to the Committee on LaAvs and Ordinances. 
 
 [The two memorials in English and Gorninn, Avith the neAvspaper 
 
PKOGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 3 
 
 discussions growing out of the movement, constitute Documents Nos. 
 7 and 8, more fully noticed hereafter.] 
 
 A " Remonstrance" and '■'' Coimter-MemoriaV'' were presented to 
 the Commissioners, July 3, signed by 446 Americana, and 742 Ger- 
 mans, all of them claiming to be " voters.'''' A comj^arison of their 
 names with the Directory showed, however, that of the 446 Ameri- 
 can "Remonstrants" against the enforcement of laws to restrain 
 Sunday tippling, 118 were non-residents ; 241 coida not he found in 
 the Directory ; 38 were Liquor Dealers, or other interested parties ; 
 and the remaining 49 were " clerks," etc. Of 500 German names 
 examined, 104 were non-residents, 180 could not be found in the 
 Directory, 36 were Lager or Liquor Dealars, leaving 180 qualified 
 petitioners. 
 
 Action of the Police Commissioners. 
 
 At the meeting of the Police Board, Jxily 8, Mr. Stillman in the 
 chair, and all the Commissioners being present, Judge Ulshoefler, on 
 behalf of the Committee on Laws and Ordinances, submitted the 
 following report, which was unanimously adopted: 
 
 " The Committee on Laws and Ordinances having considered the 
 petitions for, and remonstrances against, the enforcement of the exist- 
 ing laws relative to the observance of Sunday, respectfully ofler the 
 following resolutions: 
 
 " 1 . This Board is bound by its organization to enforce the laws as they exist ; 
 it being a well-settled principle, that the administrative departments cannot excuse en- 
 forcing a law, on the ground of doubts as to its conflicting with the spirit of the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 " 2. The Christian religion is that which has always existed since the settlement of 
 the country, and now exists in these United States ; recognized and professed by the 
 masses of the people of various religious denominations, and nearly all of which regard 
 the Christian Sabbath as part of their religion. 
 
 " 3. That the highest judicial authorities regard the Christian religion as the prevail- 
 ing religion of the country, and that the protection of the rights of all other religions 
 must still leave the principles, practices, and laws of the whole Christian community- 
 paramount, and in full force. 
 
 " 4. That the true principles of religious liberty do not allow the smallest por- 
 tions of the community to call upon the great masses of the people to abandon the 
 enforcement of those Sunday laws which have existed since the settlement of the 
 country. 
 
 " 5. That present abuses in disregarding the Sunday laws, particularly in public 
 exhibitions on Sundays, and trafficking in liquors and other like things, should, as far 
 as the law allows, be prevented by the whole power of the police force and of the 
 magistracy. 
 
 " 6. That the laws of the land, in conformity with the opinion of the masses of the 
 people, in regard to moral principles and practices, and fur the punishment of trans- 
 gressors any day of the ircek, are not to be disregarded or repealed, because of peculiar 
 notions of morals entertained by small portions of the community." 
 
 These important Resolutions take higher ground than that claimed 
 by the Memorialists, and furnish a basis for all needed Refonns for 
 the restoration and protection of our civil Sabbath. And their unani- 
 mo^(s adojition by a Board composed of men of various parties and* 
 
4 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 creeds would seem to argue the existence of a united public senti- 
 ment on the main principles underlying the Sabbath Reform. 
 Whether " the whole power of the Police force and of the magis- 
 tracy" has been, as yet, employed to " prevent the present abuses in 
 disregarding the Sunday laws, particularly in public exhibitions ou 
 Sundays, and trafficking in liquors and other like things, as far as the 
 law alloios^'^ may be doubted. It is the opinion of competent coun- 
 sel, and the opinion has been expressed from the Bencli, that the 
 organic act of the Police Board authorizes the Commissioners " to 
 order the Police to close up the jjlaces lohere intoxicating liquors 
 are sold ; to guard the premises., and restrain 2^ersons from going 
 into them ; and to arrest p)ersons selling liquors contrary to laxo 
 icithout a, xoarrant^ if the act is committed in their presence /" 
 and farther than this, that the neglect of a policeman to make such 
 arrests for a violation of the Laws of the State, committed in his 
 presence, is itself a misdoneanor. [See sec. 22 of Meti'opolitan 
 Police Act.] 
 
 It may be worthy of consideration whether the time has not come 
 for the exercise of these reserved and unused powers, inasmuch as 
 Prosecuting Officers and Courts of Law fail to execute the Laws 
 under which the Commissioners have hitherto proceeded. 
 
 Action of the Police. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the presentation of the Memorial of 
 Citizens, the then Acting-General Superintendent (Carpenter) stimu- 
 lated the action of the Captains of Precincts and Patrolmen ; and in 
 some Wards the Sunday traffic was considerably checked before the 
 accession of the General Superintendent Pillsbury, and in advance 
 of the action of the Commissioners. Many nicmbers of the Depart- 
 ment entered with spirit on the enforcement of the laws, the con- 
 stant violation of wdiich was the known cause of a large share of 
 their burdens. The way was thus ])repared for the new General 
 Superintendent, when he entered on his office (July 3), to prosecute 
 this and kindred measures of Reform — ample powers being pledged 
 for this purpose as the condition of his acceptance of the important 
 position. After a sufficient interval to survey the ground and mature 
 his plans, he issued a General Order (Aug. 9) to the Captains of 
 Precincts, directing them to " instruct the members of their com- 
 mand to see that all places in their Precincts where intoxicating 
 liquors are, publicly kept or sold on Sunday shall be closed in 
 future on that day." This order was generally obeyed; and the 
 p>uhlic exposure and sale of liquors on Sunday, thenceforward, became 
 the exception and not the rule, with results hereafter to be noted. 
 
 Action of Courts of Laio and Excise GommAssioners. 
 
 Meanwhile, some of the almost innumerable complaints lodged by 
 the Police in the District Attorney's Office were moved for trial in 
 the Court of Common Pleas, Hilton^ Justice. Thnnks to the firm- 
 *ness of the Judge, and the altered tone of public sentiment, an 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 5 
 
 impartial Jury was obtained with no little difficulty.* In twelve 
 successive cases verdicts wei'e rendered and fines imposed according 
 to the statute. The counsel of the Liquor-dealers excepted to the 
 ruling- of Judge Hilton on some points of law, and an appeal was 
 taken to the Supreme Court in the twelve cases — the legion of suits 
 remaining to abide the event. It was reasonably expected that a 
 matter of such moment, affecting the interests of many thousands of 
 dealers, and so vitally related to public morals, would have had an 
 early hearing — especially after the unexplained and unpardonable 
 delay of one or tAVO years in bringing the suits to trial at all. But 
 nearly nine mouths have passed away (the trials occurred in June, 
 1859) ; and the intimation is now given that not until the return 
 of the prosecuting officer deputed to try these suits, will argument 
 be had, — with a decision, xohenf Are other public interests than 
 those affecting the business of rum-selling similarly trifled with ? It 
 is certain that Sunday street-preachers are fined and imprisoned on 
 the day of their offence ! 
 
 The Excise Commissioners, whose office was so nearly a sinecure 
 that the whole number of licenses issued in 1858 was less tlian 100 — 
 or about ojie per cent, of the dealers, — entered on more vigorous 
 action, the Police authorities having furnished the names of many 
 thousands of unlicensed venders for their consideration. It seems 
 that 357 inn-keepers, grocers, &c., were licensed during the year ; 
 and that " suits for violation of the License Law have been com- 
 menced against 8,628 jDersons." Some convictions have recently 
 been had against Sunday dram-sellers on suits prosecuted by the 
 Excise Commissioners under the Act of '57 ; and the intention is 
 avowed to continue the suits. Meanwhile, more than 95 per cent, 
 of all the dram-shops in the city violate the law of the State by every 
 sale of intoxicating drinks on a7iy day of the week. 
 
 The Liquor Dealers'^ Association. 
 
 Perhaps a partial explanation of the difficulties and delays attending 
 the effort to suppress the Sunday Liquor Traffic may be traced to the 
 existence of a powerful secret organization, known as the " Liquor 
 Dealers' Association," composed of more than six thousand members, 
 mostly of foreign birth. The ample funds of this body are furnished by 
 an initiation fee of twenty-one dollars, and an annual payment of four 
 dollars by each member. The objects of this association may be 
 inferred from fxcts brought to light by the explosion last summer of 
 the Bi'ooklyn organization — the seceding party laying down a new 
 basis for their association, to the effect that there wei'e to be " no 
 forced levies tqyon its members for the purpose of influencing courts, 
 public officers, or paying imaginary counsel fees ; no dictation of 
 political jKirties loho they shall have for candidates,'''' etc. Besides 
 the occasional boast of political power and success in behalf of this 
 
 * The law reporter of the Times says : " Four-fifths of all the jurors called were 
 liquor-dealers, or were particular friends of that class. How they came to be present , 
 on these particular trials, does uot clearly appear." 
 
6 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 organization, there have been manifold indications of its restraining 
 and disturbing influence in the administration of public justice when- 
 ever the rights of the people and the lawlessness of the liquor interest 
 have been in question, as the Excise Commissioners avow, and as every 
 magistrate knows. 
 
 The course pursued by the Sunday Press in this conflict between 
 the friends of law and morals and the antagonists of both will be 
 noticed hereafter. It is enough to say here that all that could be 
 done by the multiplication of false issues, and by the abuse of the Police 
 Connnissioners, the Superintendent of Police, the Sunday Liquor 
 Traftic Memorialists, and the Sabbath Committee, was done, and was 
 persisted in to the last : without a grain of justice — and loithout a 
 xoord of reply. 
 
 The attempts to enlist party support, or to form a new party on a 
 No-Sunday platform ; and the culmination of this policy in the Volks- 
 Garden intidel meeting, will be subsequently alluded to more dis- 
 tinctly. The aid they unwittingly rendered in hastening the over- 
 throw of the bad interest they sought to advance, should be recog- 
 nized in this connection. It Avill be seen that they had other valuable 
 uses. 
 
 Statistics of the Police Department. 
 
 A comparison of the statistics of crime for the six months since 
 August 1, 1859, (the order of Gen. Pillsbury to close the Sunday 
 Liquor-shojis was issued August 9,) with those of the eighteen months 
 preceding the exposure of the evils of the Sunday Liquor Traffic, pre- 
 sents the followinar instructive results : 
 
 SUNDAY CRIME IN" 1857-58. 
 
 Arrests on Sundays for eighteen months, . . 9,713 
 
 " Tuesdays " "... 7,861 
 
 Excess of arrests on Sundays, 1,853 
 
 or about twenty-five per cent, more of arrests for drunkenness and 
 crime on Sundays than on Tuesdays. 
 
 SUNDAY CPJME IN 1859-GO. 
 
 Arrests on Tuesdays for six months, to Jan. 31, 1860, 5,461 
 Sundays " " " 3,481 
 
 Excess of arrests on Tuesdays .... 1,980 
 
 or sixty per cent, more on the Tuesdays than on the Sundays during 
 the past six months. If extended over a corresponding period, it 
 would make an excess of Tuesday over Sunday crime of 5,940 arrests 
 for eighteen months, in ])lace of the excess of 1853 arrests on Sunday 
 over Tuesday, as formerly. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. . T 
 
 But to make the comparison just — to say notliing of the steady 
 dhiiinution of arrests for crime ou all days — the previous average 
 excess of Sunday arrests over those of Tuesday should be taken into 
 account in ascertaining the relative as well as the absolute gain on the 
 side of good morals. Thus, had the former ratio continued at twenty- 
 five per cent, of Sunday over Tuesday arrests, the statistics tooidd 
 have been as follows : 
 
 Estimated arrests for the Sundays of past six months, 6,826 
 Actual "■ " " 3,481 
 
 Relative gain on Sunday crime for six months, . 3,345 
 or within a fraction of one-half of the whole amount. 
 
 To these cheering statements should be added the fact that, while 
 the number of offences is as much greater on Sundays than on other 
 days. as there are Sunday laws and ordinances to be violated — the 
 number of offenders, as appears by the statistics of arrests, has steadily 
 and rapidly decreased from month to month during the period mider 
 review, so that it is an average of more than thirty-three per cent, less 
 during each of the last three months than during the preceding three 
 months ; and the ratio of arrests for Tuesdays has also fallen off twenty 
 per cent. 
 
 Froni the Quarterly Report of the General Superintendent, Jan. 3, 
 1860, it appears that there has been a falling off during the quarter of 
 seven thousand (7,028) in the number of arrests within the Metropol- 
 itan Police District, — nearly six thousand in this city alone — as com- 
 pared with those of the quarter ending November 1. This is believ- 
 ed to be the first indication of an ebbing tide in the sea of crime 
 that has nearly engulfed us, since the flood-gates were opened in 1834 
 by the repeal of all our municipal Sunday ordinances. 
 
 We are thus receiving the first instalments of the promised bless- 
 ings invariably accompanying even an external regard for the Sabbath ; 
 — the earnest, we may hope, of those rich rewards of Providence and 
 grace divinely pledged to the individuals and communities who "turn 
 away their foot from doing their pleasure on the holy day, and call 
 the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable." 
 
 Hesults of the Sunday Liquor Traffic Movement. 
 
 Existing facts do not warrant the claim that the Sunday Liquor 
 Traffic has been completely suppressed. It has been checJced, and a 
 hopeful beginning made in eradicating a great wrong. The pidylic 
 violation of law has been much lessened, and open temptation to vice 
 has been mostly removed. In a large number of instances, dealers 
 who have any self respect, or a decent regard to public opinion and 
 legal authority, have abandoned their Sunday business altogether. 
 In other cases, the traffic is continued secretly or with considerable 
 caution. Others boldly defy the authoi'ities, or trust to their neglect, 
 or to the complicity of prosecuting officers and courts of justice, and 
 drive on their work of ruin without concealment and Avithout com- 
 punction. The Sunday Theatres, " Sacred Concerts," and Lager 
 
8 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 Beer Saloons and Gardens have not ceased tlieir performances, or their 
 traffic in malt or s})irituoiis liquors ; and numerous large establish- 
 ments on Broadway outdo the German " Gardens" in the grossness 
 of their immoralities and the infamous nature of their attractions. 
 Thus a vast M'ork remains to be done before the city shall be purged 
 of one of its principal sources of demoralization. 
 
 But, Avith these acknowledged drawbacks, — sufficient to stimulate 
 the zeal of the Police authorities and to incite the friends of the 
 Sabbath to ceaseless vigilance, — enough has been accomplished to 
 demonstrate the practicability of doing all that is needed ; and with 
 such moral results as reward past endeavors and animate future toils. 
 
 Public DrinJdng-Fountains. 
 
 The suggestion in the Committee's Document on the Sunday Liquor 
 Traffic of the humane, sanitary and moral benefits of Public Drihking- 
 Fountains, was echoed by the Press ; and after much delay and de- 
 bate, the Common Council authorized the construction of fifty free 
 hydrants, as an experiment, with a view to their general adoption. 
 It is believed that the public good would be consulted by their speedy 
 introduction in all j^arts of the city. 
 
 Sunday Kews-Crying. 
 
 The Committee are happy to state that the city has been substan- 
 tially free from the Sunday iiews-crying nuisance during the past 
 year. At intervals, the eflbrt has been made to revive the wrong, 
 and in a few instances it has been perpetuated tlirough the indiffer- 
 ence of citizens and the neglect of patrolmen : but, as a city usage, it 
 has ceased, — it maybe hoped permanently, — to the great relief of 
 moral families, Sunday-schools, and churches. Kindred street noises 
 are less common than Avhcn the shrill cries of news-boys provoked the 
 ill-mannered emulation of milk-men, -bakers'-boys and rowdies ; and 
 most of the streets of the city have come to enjoy the profound quiet 
 previously unknown for a generation without a resort to country 
 retreats. 
 
 Sunday Bands in Central Park. 
 
 Shortly after the successful efforts of a few citizens to provide a 
 Band of music for thousands of visitors at Central Park on the Satur- 
 day afternoons of summer, the Sundny papers began an agitation for 
 the introduction of Sunday bands. A '•'• derical'''' resident of another 
 city presented a Petition to the Commissioners of the Park, signed by 
 himself alone, praying for this measure. They laid the petition on the 
 table — the respectable Press of the city sustaining and approving 
 their course, and giving expression to the general sentiment of the 
 community in opposition to the use ofthat beautiful and costly enclo- 
 sure as a means of promoting among us the holidav Sunday system of 
 the Old World. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 The Broderic Sunday Pageant. 
 
 Public annoimcements were made early in November of a grand 
 Procession of Firemen, with Banners, Bands, and the paraphernalia 
 of a public Pageant on Sunday, in honor of Senator Broderic, for- 
 merly a member of the Department, who had fallen in CaUfornia, in a 
 duel with Chief-Justice Terry, Some of the Daily Journals remon- 
 strated against such a needless invasion of the newly-enjoyed Sunday 
 quiet. Preparations being incomplete, the obsequies were postponed un- 
 til another Sunday. An inclement day required further postponement, 
 and Sunday Nov. 20, was again fixed upon for the parade. The Com- 
 mittee deemed this persistent policy of fixing a mock-burial on the Sab- 
 bath a just occasion for embodying the sentiment of the orderly com- 
 munity in defence of the universal right of citizens, Christian congre- 
 gations and Sunday-schools, to immunity from the disturbance of their 
 peace and quiet. A calm and temperate Protest was drawn up, 
 which soon received 550 signatures, and all our leading journals gave 
 it publicity. Copies were also placed in the hands of the Foremen of 
 all the companies in the Department. The Pageant, which promised 
 to call out the strength of a Department numbering some 4,000 
 men—" Sixty companies" were advertised to appear — proved to 
 number just 541 persons, musicians and " the public generally" in- 
 cluded ; about 300 of the whole number wearing the badge of Fire- 
 men — and of these a considerable part were from Staten-Island, Ho- 
 boken, etc. It is hoped that no like demonstration will be attemj^ted ; 
 or, if it is, that a public sentiment as healthful and vigorous as that 
 which frowned the Broderic Pageant out of its formidable propor- 
 tions, will find as earnest an expression as now. 
 
 The Protest of citizens and the comments of the Press, with the 
 facts and incidents of the occasion, were embodied in Document No. 
 10, and in addition to other circulation, copies were forv/arded to each 
 Fire Engine, Hose and Hook and Ladder company for their several 
 members to the' number of about 4000. The Document acknowl- 
 edges the good conduct of the Department as a whole, in refraining 
 from participation in a Pageant so oflensively invading the feelings 
 and the rights of our citizens. 
 
 Labors Among the G-ermans. 
 
 A lay missionary has continued his labors among the German immi- 
 grants during the year. His monthly reports are too extended for 
 this document. They reveal the sentiment existing among this inter- 
 esting popuhition on the Sabbath question ; furnish information as to 
 the manner and extent of Sabbath desecration ; and afford evidence 
 of the fidelity and success of the missionary in his visits, and in the 
 distribution of tracts, documents and papers. Besides completing 
 the distribution of 4,000 copies of Gossner's book — The Loi-d's Day 
 the King of Days — 10,000 copies of a single number of the Amerika- 
 nischer Botschcifter (the German paper of the American Tract Society) 
 
10 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 containing able articles on the Sabbatli, and explaining the objects of 
 this coniniittee, were circiilated gratuitously through the agencies of 
 the City Tract Mission, and by the labors of our Missionary. Not 
 far from 8,000 copies of documents Nos. 8 and 9 (24 pp. 8vü. eacli) 
 in the German language have also been distributed, with very general 
 acceptance and usefulness. 
 
 The progress of the movement among the Germans, and the pre- 
 sentaticn of the memciials on the Sunday Liquor Traffic to the Police 
 Board, caused a violent assault of the German Daily Press on the 
 Sabbath Committee, on our Sunday Laws, on the Christian Sabbath, 
 and on the religion of the Bible. The latent infidelity and atheism 
 of these foreign Journals seem to have found their occasion for utter- 
 ance, stimulated by the leadership of certain American Sunday 
 Papers, and by the pretended zeal in certain quarters for " civil and 
 religious liberty." Perhaps the trust to concealment for atheistic and 
 treasonable sentiments in the general ignorance of the German tongue 
 among our native-born citizens, and in the fact that there is no 
 daily German Journal friendly to the Sabbath and to (Christianity 
 through whose columns their errors of fact and of principle might be 
 corrected, may have had something to do with the incautious and 
 slanderous dealing of these newspapers with the " Sunday-fanatics," 
 who had ventured to question the right of a set of refugees to under- 
 mine the institutions that sheltered them. However this may be, 
 the secular journals of this city did themselves great honor, and the 
 public a lasting service, by refuting the errors and exposing the licen- 
 tiousness of these advocates or apologists for Sunday dissipation and 
 folly. And it is but just to say that the more decent and widely cir- 
 culated of these German papers have since become more chary of 
 their scepticism, and more courteous in their bearing. 
 
 Volks-Garden Anti-Sunday Meeting. 
 
 Among the measures for resisting the enforcement of the Laws 
 against the Sunday Liquor Traffic, " a mass meeting of the friends of 
 Civil and Religious Liberty," German and English, was planned forthe 
 evening of Sept. 13, in the large theatre and drinking saloon, known 
 as Volks- Garden^ in the Bowery. The editorial cohunns of one of 
 our most Avidely circulated Daily Journals, and of other Sunday 
 papers, English and German, were occupied for a month or two by 
 appeals to the prejudices and passions of their readers, to rally on 
 this grand occasion " against the Pharisaical, straight-laced. Puritani- 
 cal hypocrites, who would turn Sunday into a day of moping, and 
 compel every one by statute to Avear a long face on that day of rest." 
 But not one in a hundred of their readers believed a word of these 
 insane ravings. As a result, the number of peo})le gathered at the 
 Volks-Garden, to drink lager and listen to infidelity, was somewhat 
 larger than the usual week-evening assemblies; but not half as large 
 as that to be found in the same theatre every Sunday night to 
 "pledge their fortunes, lives and sacred" lager to the same sort of 
 " Civil and Religious Libertv." 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM, 11 
 
 Perhaps no single event of the past year has contributed more 
 directly to advance the real and only objects of the Sabbath Com- 
 mittee than that thus briefly recorded. It revealed the true nature 
 and strength of the oj^position to their eflbrts, and the powerlessness 
 of a journalism that puts at defiance the decencies of common moral- 
 ity and perverts every principle of truth. It demonstrated the infidel 
 and atheistic tendencies of the Anti-Sunday crusade, and the hypoc- 
 risy of the claim that the daily contemners of ICvW ave the special 
 guardians of " civil and religious liberty." It awakened the friends of 
 the Sabbath to the fact of the existence of an element in our society 
 imbued with the foulest errors of " Red Republicanism," allied with 
 the vilest system of popular demoralization. And it carried disgust 
 and alarm to tens of thousands of respectable Germans — who thus 
 became impressed with the inseparable connection, in this country at 
 least, of Sabbath profanations with vulgarity, deceit, and numberless 
 vices. It is not the first instance in which " the wrath of man" has 
 been overruled to the Divine Praise. 
 
 Cooper Institute Meeting of G-ermans. 
 
 The wounded feeling of self-respect, and a growing interest in 
 Sabbath observance, prompted our German fellow-citizens to hold a 
 public meeting in behalf of the Sabbath — the first ever held by Ger- 
 mans, so f;\r as known, for that specific object. The large hall of 
 Cooper Institute was filled at an early hour of Sunday evening, Octo- 
 ber 16, by a respectable and orderly body of Germans — at least 1,500 
 in number. The platform was occupied by many prominent American 
 clergymen and laymen, and by German pastors and people. A highly 
 esteemed German merchant presided : he has since been elected a 
 member of the Committee. After reading the Scriptures and 
 Prayer by an excellent Lutheran pastor, the Rev. J. C. Guldin, for 
 seventeen years pastor of the German church in Houston street, made 
 a brief and earnest address. A noble Sabbath Hymn of Tholuck's 
 was sung, as no Hymn can be sung but by a congregation of Germans. 
 The Rev. Prof Dr. Schaff, of Mercersburg, Pa., delivered a masterly 
 speech on the physical, moral, and religious claims and benefits of the 
 Christian Sabbath — alternating from the German to the English as 
 his remarks drifted in their application toward the one or other 
 nationality. The Rev. Drs. Adams, Hitchcock, and Spring made 
 brief addresses in English during the exercises. A series of short 
 Resolutions was passed unanimously — the whole congregation rising — 
 attesting tlieir regard for the American Sabbath; disavowing the 
 opinions and practices of some of their countrymen as " bringing 
 dishonor to the German name ;" and expressing the conviction that 
 " the Sabbath Laws in this country are among the strongest guaran- 
 tees of our free institutions ; a wholesome check upon licentiousness 
 and dissipation, and a preventive of the jiauperism and crime 
 which must necessarily undermine and ultimately destroy the liberty 
 of any people." The Editor of the JSFeio York Observer^ who was on 
 
12 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 the platform, in liis sketch of the occasion, wrote : " We do not recol- 
 lect ever attending a better meeting. The assembly was ahnost 
 exclusively German : well-dressed, good-looking, respectable men and 
 women ; men who are able to serve the State as good citizens, and 
 whose presence is a blessing, not a curse, to the community." 
 
 The Committee deemed this demonstration so important as to 
 warrant the publication of its proceedings in j^amphlet form for 
 popular circulation in this country and in Germany. The principal 
 speeches of the occasion were kindly Ma-itten out in full by their au- 
 thors, at the Committee's request, and a Document (No. 0) of great 
 practical value has thus been prepared in the German language, of 
 which six thousand copies have been printed and mostly circulated. 
 Of these, with the jjrevious Document (No. 8), seven hundred copies 
 have been sent to a friend at Hamburg, there to be posted to the 
 leading scholars and men of influence in the Fatherland. For the 
 sake of reaching the German population in other parts of this country 
 with this powerful plea tor the Sabbath, the American Tract Society 
 have approved it for circulation by their colporters, and an e<lition of 
 four thousand has already been printed by that society for this pur- 
 pose. It is hoped that the friends of the Sabbath in other cities will 
 adopt measures for placing this document in the hands of their Ger- 
 man fellow-citizens. 
 
 The influence of the meeting thus sketched is believed to have 
 been wide-spread and most happy. It demonstrated to the German 
 community itself the existence of a powerful element, composed of all 
 Christian denominations, intelligently opposed to the abuses of the 
 Sabbath on the part of many of their countrymen. It presented a 
 new and encouraging aspect of tlie German j^opulation befoi-e the 
 American Christian community, and tended to draw closer the bonds 
 of brotherhood between the pastors and people of the mingled Teu- 
 tonic and Saxon races among us. It furnished occasion and material 
 for discussion on the part of the German Press and Pulpit — and the 
 occasion has not been misimproved. It gave the daily German papers 
 to understand that their constituency were not all of the Anti-Sunday 
 stripe, and that German public sentiment was not altogcthei- in sym- 
 pathy with their Anti-American and Anti-Christian diatribes. It 
 blighted the schemes of intriguing politicians, some of whom were 
 calculating the chances of gaining the German vote by pandering to 
 German vices ; — for it indicated that possibly as much might be lost 
 as won by dragging into the political arena a vital question of morals 
 and religion, of common concern to men of all parties. And it pro- 
 vided the means of disabusing the minds of Cliristian scholars in 
 Germany as to the supposed demoralization of emigrants to America: 
 possibly, under the divine blessing, it may result in awakening good 
 men in Germany itself to the necessity of reviving the Sabbath ques- 
 tion there. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. IS 
 
 German Theatres, "Sacred Concerts," and 
 B eer-G-ar dens. 
 
 In the issue made with the Sunday Liquor Traffic, some of the 
 iniquities of the Sunday Beer-Garden system were exposed, and it 
 was hoped that the suppression of the principal evil would involve that 
 of its accessory and supplemental wi'ong. It was found necessary, 
 however, to enter on a new enterprise for this purpose ; and the 
 Committee's Document No. 11 presents to the jDublic the facts and 
 views on which the movement specially occupying their attention at 
 the present time is based. 
 
 It may seem incredible to the mass of American readers that scores 
 of Theatres, " Sacred Concert "-Halls, Drinking and Dancing Saloons, 
 and Gambling houses — often combined under the same roof — should 
 be publicly advertised in Sunday morning papers, and their perform- 
 ances held on the morning, afternoon, and evening of the Lord's Day 
 — commonly in the evening — every Sunday in the year, under the 
 eye of the Police, and in the midst of a civilized, church-going, and 
 Sabbath-keeping population! Yet, all this is startlingly true. Nor 
 does it abate aught from the evil or the danger that it is concealed fi-om 
 the public gaze under a Teutonic guise. The 20,000 or .30,000 fre- 
 quenters of these Sunday temples of Bacchus, Terpsichore, and Venus, 
 though they mostly employ a foreign tongue, form an integral part of 
 our po])ulation, and contribute their quota of influence to our n^uni- 
 cipal character and moral standing : perhaps moi-e than their quota 
 to demoralize and degrade our political institutions ; Avhile they help 
 to swell tlie ranks of our Pauper Army, to crowd our Prisons, and to 
 distend the annual Tax levy. The argument for the suppression of 
 this base system of Sunday profanation would seem to address itself 
 to every element of self-respect, self-preservation, and true patriotism ; 
 a.s well as to the higlier principles of benevolence, morality and relig- 
 ion. It may he condensed thus : 
 
 1. A quiet Sabbath, free fi-om noisy interruption and from demoral- 
 izing temptations, is a prescriptive, inalienable right of every Ameri- 
 can citizen : the system of German Sunday Beer-gardens invades this 
 right : it should be abated. 
 
 2. Our free institutions are based on the theory of popular morality 
 and A'irtue : this system tends to materialize, deprave and imbrute 
 the people : it should be suppressed. 
 
 3. All tliat our immigrant population can claim of us is the measure 
 of liberty consistent with the perpetuity and healthful working of our 
 institutions ; the measure meted out to ourselves : but by immemorial 
 custom and law, we have denied ourselves such indulgences as are 
 involved in this system of Sunday revelries : we cannot grant them to 
 others without a sacrifice of principle inconsistent with duty or safety. 
 
 4. Even if the system worked no vital ill to the population support- 
 ing it, its profitableness, and its varied adaptations to vulgar and 
 debasing appetites, will tempt American panderers to adopt it, and 
 
14 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 native-born rowdyism to patronize it : so that a foreign vice, or com- 
 plication of vices, will be added to the many forms of domestic 
 demoralization. Already there are numerous establishnjents of a 
 similar character flaunting their sinful attractions in our most fre- 
 quented thoroughfores — several on the first floors of Broadway itself — 
 with all the concomitants of music, dancing, singing, acting, and 
 drinking— and the super-added fascination of women of the town by 
 dozens as attendants and waiters. Hundreds of apprentices, country 
 youth, and debauchees of riper years, throng these places every 
 Sunday night. Nay, their proprietors do not scruple to advertise 
 among their principal attractions — "The most charming Lady Vocalists 
 and Dancers, introducing fifty distinct acts, by forty performers ;" 
 and " boasting the prettiest waiter girls, handsomest young ladies, 
 the most attentive, polite, and prepossessing of any in the city, 
 Sunday Evening — open at 7 — close at 13." 
 
 It becomes then a question of self-preservation. As such we meet 
 it. Every employer has an interest in it. Every parent is concerned 
 in its settlement. Every citizen, if not indifierent to the influences 
 that are coming in to mould our character and destiny as a people, 
 must see that longer neglect of an insidious and seductive system of 
 unmixed evil may leave that system, with all its sensuality and its 
 corruption, to l)ecome quietly naturalized and domesticated on our 
 soil. And surely, every Christian — with his eye on the spii-itual and 
 eternal bearings of this skillful device of Satan to counteract the 
 benign influences of the Sabbath and the sanctuary, and to draw away 
 from elevating, saving agencies the very classes most needing instruc- 
 tion and restraint — would be false to every conviction of duty, and 
 every impulse of benevolence, did he not resist by all legitimate 
 means these soul-destroying tendencies, whether afliecting our o\nx 
 population or that of foreign birth. 
 
 But the Committee would refer the reader to the Document (No. 
 11) on "Sunday Theatres, 'Sacred Concerts,' and Beer-Gardens" 
 itself for their views at length respecting the evil under consideration. 
 The further measures proposed for the consummation of this lleform 
 will be taken deliberately, and with the Divine f ivor and the manly 
 cooperation of the friends of the Sabbath, it is believed that they will 
 be successful. 
 
 The Documents of tlie Committee. 
 
 The more important of the Documents issued during the pnst year 
 have been incidentally alluded to in the previous pages. They are 
 designed to be calm, clear, candid expositions of the several subjects 
 under discussion — avoiding all exaggeration or appeals to prejudice or 
 passion — and aiming to lay foundations in popular conviction and 
 Christian principle for the several Reforms attempted. They are 
 intended to influence clergymen, editors, public oflicers, and reflecting 
 men in every sphere of influence ; and to furnish mateiialsof fvct and 
 argument for moulding a right public sentiment on a question of no 
 trifling moment. Tlieir reception by the Press and the public has 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 15 
 
 afforded gratification and encouragement to the Committee. In all 
 the discussions to which they have given rise, it is a pleasing fact that 
 no statement has been called in question and no position refuted. 
 The opposition has been directed against issues the Committee have 
 not made, and against theories the Committee have not advanced. 
 Indeed, there has been no alternative, thus flxr, for right-minded men, 
 but the ground of open infidelity and immorality, or the support of 
 measures demonstrably needful for the jJ^blic peace and the conser- 
 vation of public morals. 
 
 The Committee have considered it a wise economy to extend the 
 circulation of these Documents among our citizens, and to some 
 extent among men of influence in other parts of the land. Some 
 thousands of each have been placed in the hands of individuals at their 
 residences, as soon as issued, and have been forwarded to the Press in 
 all parts of the country. The Police and Fire Departments have 
 been supplied with important documents, as occasion required. The 
 Legislatures of New York and Pennsylvania have been furnished with 
 copies for the members of each. Orders from the country for the 
 Committee's publications, both in German and English, are increasing. 
 Three thousand copies of the series have been ordered from Cincin- 
 nati, and 500 copies of No. 9 (German) from Baltimore. The whole 
 number printed during the year has been 43,575, including 10,000 in 
 the German language; and the circulation has been somewhat greater, 
 including an edition of "Railroads and the Sabbath," (No. 2,) pre- 
 viously printed. 
 
 Cooperation of the Periodical Press. 
 
 The Committee gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness, and 
 that of the christian community, to the Daily and Weekly Newspa- 
 per Press of this city, for the unwaveiing support it has given to the 
 various measures undertaken in behalf of the better obserA'ance of 
 the Sabbath. Rising above the atmosphere of party, sect, and self, 
 nearly all tlie respectable journals have contributed their influence to 
 form and foster a just public sentiment as to the value of the Christ- 
 ian Sabbath, and the danger to all the great interests of the individ- 
 ual and of society of perverting its objects so as to make it a day of 
 noise^ parade, or dissipation. Some of the Editorial utterances in sec- 
 ular journals have been of so high an order of excellence in senti- 
 ment and ability as to have excited general remark. And the whole 
 discussion on the side of the Sabbath has been so courteous and dis- 
 criminating — notwithstanding many provocations to embittered con- 
 troversy — as to disarm prejudice, and confound op])osition. It is 
 not the least of the occasions of gratitude that the Committee have 
 been so guided from above in their labors as to have commended 
 their measures to the confidence and support of those who wield the 
 most powerful moral agency, for good or ill, known to the world. 
 
 For important reasons, the current newspaper articles and items 
 beai'ing on the Sabbath question have been preserved and classified 
 
16 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 in the office of the Committee. It appears that the aggregate circu- 
 lation of copies of newspapers, Secular and Religious, containing 
 articles friendly to the Sabbath or bearing on the discussion — taking 
 the known or estimated circulation of each journal as the basis of the 
 calculation, has amounted during the year 1859 to more than ticenty- 
 four millions (24,098,000) — exceeding the amount of the previous 
 year by about nine million copies. And so far as the Committee have 
 observed, there is scarce a line of this matter that they or the 
 Editors 
 
 — "dying need wish to blot." 
 
 The more permanent Periodical Literature of the country is inte- 
 resting itself increasingly in the discussion of the Sabbath Question. 
 The Biblical Repository and Princeton Review for October contained 
 an elaborate and exhaustive article on " Sunday Laws," from the pen 
 of the Rev. Dr. Hodge, which has been republished for wide circula- 
 tion in this country and in England ; and several of our Magazines 
 have treated the subject with ability. An article in" The Examiner," 
 understood to be from the gifted pen of the Rev. W. R.Williams, D. D., 
 on the Civil Relations of the Sabbath, and will reward a careful perusal. 
 An edition of 2,000 has been published by the Committee as No. 1 
 of " Sabbath Leaflets;' 4 pp., 8vo. 
 
 Opposition of the Sunday Press. 
 
 We regret the necessity of alluding to the course pursued by a 
 portion of the Sunday Press, in such marked contrast with that of 
 the journals just noticed. Making all allowance for the real or 
 imaginary interference with tlieir profits by the suppression of the 
 new's-crying nuisance ; the partial closing of the Dram-shops ; and 
 the o-rowing conviction in the pul)lic mind that some other literature 
 is m^re suilable for the Lord's day than that from Sabbath-hating 
 sources : still it would seem that sell-respect and^ ordinary prudence 
 might have restrained many of the false, sophistical, and even libel- 
 Ion's utterances with which Bally and Weekly issues have literally 
 groaned. If it was the purpose of these journals to frighten the 
 Committee from their course of public duty, they misapprehended 
 its composition. If the object M-as to overawe our Police authorities, 
 it was attempted at an unfortunate juncture. If it was the design to 
 bewilder the pubhc by the multiplication of false issues,_or to draw 
 the Committee away from a carefully chosen position into general 
 and fruitless controversy, it was thwarted by the distinctness of the 
 issues before the public and the steadiness with which they have been 
 adhered to. And if political and personal ends had something to do 
 with the atheistic and futile measures at the Volks-Garden meeting, 
 and with the editorial gasconade preceding and following that mem- 
 orable movement — Avhich we would not assert — their uttei-_ failure 
 may be taken as a popular verdict against employing infidelity and 
 immorality and selfishness as political hobbies. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 17 
 
 The Committee have deemed it inconsistent with self-respect to 
 notice any of the hiuidi*eds of abusive newspaper articles that have 
 made their appearance ; and they are grateful to the decent press for 
 suffering them to pass without rejoinder. Such articles do more 
 harm to their authors and to the bad cause they advocate than to 
 those sacred interests against which they are directed. There are 
 only two points in them all to which a word of reply seems called 
 for: 
 
 The first point relates to the constitutionality of our Sunday Laxos. 
 
 To the hundreds of diatribes on this subject our only reply is — 
 that their readers have in no instance been truly informed what those 
 laws are, nor what the Constitution is. xV fair statement of either or 
 of both would have exploded every argument yet presented. Thus : 
 the only clause of the Constitution quoted in justification of Dram- 
 selling and other immoralities on Sunday has been the following : 
 "The free exercise and enjoyment of religioiis profession and worship, 
 without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this 
 State to all mankind ;" and there the sophists have stopped, while the 
 Constitution proceeds : 
 
 '■'■JBut the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so con- 
 strued as to excuse acts of licentiousness (excesses of liberty) or jus- 
 tify loractices inconsistent tcith the peace and safety of this State.'''' 
 And that is the very thing these apologists for lawlessness and crime 
 and pauper-breeding have been doing in this whole discussion. 
 
 3Iorality of the Sabbath. 
 
 The second point relates to the morality of the Sabbath. It has 
 been asserted for the hundredth time that the strict observance of 
 the Sabbath " has been most unfavorabln to morality., and has driven 
 thousands into infidelity and irreligion, and into every irice and 
 crime?'' "Experience has proved that Sabbatarian despotism so far 
 from preventing vice and crime, has the contrary tendency," it is said, 
 and " England, Scotland and the United States" are cited in illustra- 
 tion of "the immense moral as well as physical evils" flowing from 
 the sacred observance of the Lord's Day: while France, Germany 
 and Italy are referred to as showing the beneficent moral influence of 
 the no-Sunday or the holiday-Sunday principle ! The bare statement 
 of the proposition is a sufiicient refutation to a mind retaining some 
 reverence for the divine administration, and ordinarily informed as to 
 the moral condition of the world. We think a few statements will 
 make the matter plain, 
 
 1. The Statistics of Crime demonstrate the intimate connection 
 between Sabbath desecration., intemperance., and vice. Thus, it ap- 
 pears from the Report of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners 
 that of the 61,445 arrests in 1858, only 11,520, including "colored," 
 were natives of the United States — or about 17 per cent, of the 
 whole. But the foreign-born population does not exceed about one- 
 third of the aggregate as given by the census of '55. If, however, 
 one third of our population, and that the Sabbath-breaking third, 
 2 
 
18 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 furnish 83 per cent, of our criminals, and a larger proportion of our 
 paupers, while the native. Sabbath-keeping two thirds furnish but 
 17 per cent, of the whole — and that from its churchless, Sabbathless 
 part — how can the inference be avoided that crime, pauperism and 
 Sabbath desecration are inseparably associated ? 
 
 The statistics of other cities and countries compel the same conclu- 
 sion. The British House of Commons summoned before a Commit- 
 tee a great number of officers of Prisons, Criminal Justices, and 
 Chaplains, whose testimony was substantially concurrent witli that of 
 one twenty-eight years connected with prisons, and who had had the 
 care of more than 100,000 prisoners, to the effect : " that in nineteen 
 cases out of twenty, they are persons who have not only neglected 
 the Sabbath, but all other ordinances of religion :" and adding his 
 " conviction that Sabbath-breaking is not only a great national evil, 
 but a fruitful source of immorality among all classes, and preeminent- 
 ly of profligacy and crime among the lower orders." He further 
 states : " I do not recollect a single case of capital offence where the 
 party has not been a Sabbath-breaker ; and in many cases they have 
 assured me that Sabbath-breaking was the first step in the course of 
 crime." 
 
 But 2. Successful efforts for the pro})er observance of the Sabbath 
 invariably diminish crime. The result of the " Forbes McKenzie 
 Act " in Scotland is in point here. In all parts of Scotland, the 
 moral condition of the people has improved in the ratio of the fidel- 
 ity with which this law for suppressing Sunday sales of liquors has 
 been enforced : the amount of ardent spirits consumed having been 
 reduced nearly one fifth (or $25,0.'50,.')60) in four years— "-Sabbath 
 drinking having been annulled., and the drinking on loeeJc-days hav- 
 ing also been largely diminished.'''' 
 
 Even more marked results are under our eyes in this city. The 
 statistics in the early part of this document show that, in the lax 
 state of Sabbath observance whicli allowed the unrestricted sale of 
 liquors on that day, drunkenness and crime were so rampant as to 
 swell the immense average of ai-rests on all days to the extent of 
 twenty-five per cent, on the Lord's Day above secular days, and that 
 for a period of eighteen months : but that when a better sentiment 
 demanded the enfercement of the Sunday Liquor Law, the average 
 of arrests on the secidar days has exceeded by about sixty per cetit. 
 that for the Sundays, during a period of six months — with a steady 
 declining ratio of arrests on both sacred and secular days. — [See 
 statistics on previous page, which show a total fiiUingoff of more than 
 seve?i thoiisand arrests during the last as compared with the preced- 
 ing quarter.] 
 
 Now, a book written thousands of years ago, may be misinterpre- 
 ted and its institutions despised; the laws of God and nian may be 
 caricatured and violated ; the principles of connnon morality may be 
 ignored : but one would tliink that oflh-ial statistical records of our 
 own day, in our own city, might be entitled to some weight with a 
 press claiming the patronage of a decent, Christian comnnniity. 
 But again, 3. The statistics of births show that the degree of re- 
 
PEOGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 19 
 
 spect for the Christian Sabbath is the measure of social purity, and 
 that Sabbath-breaking and licentiousness are intimately associated. 
 Thus it appears from the official return of the Registrar-General of 
 Scotland, that while the proj^ortion of illegitimate births in London 
 [the capital of one of the countries cited to sliow that Sabbath ob- 
 servance "has been most unfavorable to moralit)^, and has drawn 
 thousands into every vice and crime !"] is four (4) per cent., it is 
 thirty two (32) in Milan ; thirty-three (33) in Paris ; thirty-five (35) in 
 Brussels; forty-eight (48) in Munich; mn\. fifty-07ie (51) in Vienna! 
 "These figures are astounding," says the Review we quote. "They 
 seem almost invented for a purpose. And yet they are official and 
 governmental returns, as certain and authoritative as such records 
 can be." 
 
 Thus assured to us, they deserve profound study in connection with 
 the palpable truth that, in spite of recent efforts to convert a London 
 Sunday into a godless holiday, the percentage of proven contempt of 
 the Seventh Gomynandment in the several capitals of Europe named, 
 is in appaling coincidence with the ratio of the open disregard of the 
 Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue. In this light, these terrific 
 numerals glare out upon the world as the commentary of fact and of 
 history on the Eternal Law of God ; and they would seem to echo in 
 tliunder-tones — from the Old World to the New — from kingdoms thus- 
 debased in their social morality, because godless in their religious fiith 
 — to a Republic still clinging, despite all alien influences, to the sanc- 
 tities of Home and the Home-Day : " Remember the Sabbath-day 
 
 TO KEEP IT HOLY." 
 
 Delegation to Western Cities. 
 
 The discussions growing out of the Committee's enterprises, and 
 the success of their plans, created some influence in stimulating ac- 
 tion in other parts of the land, and especially in western cities. It 
 was deemed expedient that a Delegation should visit those cities in 
 the early autumn, with the view of learning the state of existing 
 facts, communicating the results of experience in this city, contrib- 
 uting to unity of views and efforts in a common cause, and awakening 
 to action where it was thought proper. After conferring with friends 
 of the Sabbath from various parts of the country then found at Sara- 
 toga, the Delegation proceeded to Buffalo — where they were happy 
 to learn that an efficient Mayor had mostly subdued the grosser forms 
 of Sabbath-breaking ; thence to Detroit, wdiere everything seemed 
 ready to their hand in an awakened interest, and where a Sabbath 
 Committee was formed at once — as there was at Toledo on the even- 
 ing of the same day [and where an active Mayor has anticipated the 
 action of the committee ;] thence to Chicago, where the differences 
 growing out of a previous movement were speedily adjusted, and an 
 able committee took the matter in hand with a view to quiet and pa- 
 tient effort : thence to St. Lotus, where a Committee was already in 
 
20 PROGEESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 existence, and a signal triumph had ah-eadybeen achieved (Aug. 1,) in 
 a majority of 2,000 against Sunday dram-shops on a popular vote, and 
 where important measures were in progress for perpetuating the suc- 
 cess of the friends of morality ; thence to Obicinnati, where a vigor- 
 ous Committee was formed at a timely juncture — for a German Com- 
 mittee was appointed on the same evening to agitate for the repeal of 
 all Sunday laws, and to break down all Sabbath restraints, though 
 neither i^reviously kncAv of the movements of the other [a competent 
 executive officer has recently been appointed by the Cincinnati com- 
 mittee] ; and thence to Pittsburgh, at the very hour of spontaneous 
 action of citizens to arrest some local invasions of the Lord's Day. In 
 all the cities named, except Buffalo,the Delegation had the.opportunity 
 of addressing select meetings of the citizens, and of conferring at length 
 as to the best methods of promoting Sabbath observance. In most 
 places it was found that the same forms of iniquity the Committee 
 have contended with here abound there — sometimes imported from 
 New York and exaggerated at the West. Everywhere, nearly, the 
 the beer-garden system had taken root, and its demoralizing influence 
 had become a just occasion of disgust and alarm. 
 
 Early in the year a Sabbath Committee was formed at Baltimore, 
 Md., with whom this committee has had personal and written corres- 
 pondence. A free supply of documents has been made to the various 
 committees, and such mutual cooperation pledged as may be hoped 
 to advance the great object contemplated by all. 
 
 In Philadelphia the Sunday-car question was precipitated on the 
 friends of the Sabbath, l)y the attempts of various local railways to 
 abandon the policy of Sabbath intermission in the running of their 
 cars ; and much excitement and litigation grew out of the efl:brt of 
 public officers to resist the innovation. The courts sustained the 
 action of the municipal authorities. An agitation was begun for the 
 repeal of the Sunday statutes of Pennsylvania, with what success re- 
 mains to be seen. In anticipation of the Legislative discussion, an 
 officer of the Senate has midertaken to place copies of suitable docu- 
 ments from the Committee's series in the hands of members of the 
 Senate and House. 
 
 Th.e Sabbath. Reform in Europe. 
 
 Great Britain. — The two events most nearly affecting the Sabbath 
 have been the investigation of the Royal Commission into the operation 
 of the " Forbes Mackenzie Act" in Scotland, and the extension of the 
 Revival in the United Kingdom. The result of the inquiries in 
 Ediuburgli and Glasgow, as reported in the Scottish journals, have 
 been " eminently favorable," as appears by the fact that, among other 
 things, "the consumption of ardent spirits has decreased $'25,050,560 
 in four years, or nearly a fifth part of the whole previous consumption. 
 Thus, not only has the Sabbath-drinking been annulled, but the drink- 
 ing on week-days has also been largely diminished." A recent procla- 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 21 
 
 mation has been issued by the Town Council of Edinburgli, warning 
 those who persisted in illegal Sunday trading — " 488 shops having 
 been reported as carrying on traffic in the city and suburbs" — that 
 the laws would be strictly enforced. 
 
 The statements of the delegation to this country concur with the 
 printed reports of the remarkable work of grace in Ireland, that one 
 of its most palpable fruits has been the better observance of the 
 Lord's Day, and the decrease in drunkenness and immoralities of every 
 kind. Similar results are noticed in Wales, and wherever the con- 
 verting power of the Holy Spirit has been displayed. So tliat, as in 
 this country, and in all countries and all ages, a revived and spiritual 
 Christianity and a sacred regard for the Day of Religion are indis- 
 solubly associated in the experience of the church, as they are in the 
 Book of God, 
 
 A Royal Example. — A pleasing incident is recorded of Prince 
 Alfred, the second prince of England, connected with his late visit at 
 Athens, Greece. "It may allay any fears that have been enter- 
 tained," says the correspondent of the N. Y. Times, " lest the young 
 Prince should prove to have been injured by his tour through Europe, 
 and spoiled by the adulation he has received everywhere, and not 
 least of all in the ' Eternal City.' The celebration of the Olympic 
 Games (revived in December last, for the first time since the days of 
 their suppression through the influence of Christianity,) happened to 
 be under way at the very moment when the Prince reached Atliens. 
 Hearing of his expected arrival, the Committee of management de- 
 ferred the horse-race in the hippodrome — one of the most important 
 parts of the festive occasion — from Monday until the succeeding 
 Sunday, so that he might grace it with his presence. " But the son 
 of the Queen of England had received a diiFerent education from the 
 gentlemen of the Committee, and answered positively and emphati- 
 cally, that he could not be present at the race on the holy day of the 
 Lord; and the Committee postponed it anew until tlie next Tuesday, 
 when it took place." 
 
 France. — It is a somewhat curious fact that the only newspaper in 
 the world specifically devoted to the promotion of Sabbath observ- 
 ance — the Observateur du Dimanche — is published in Paris, and is the 
 organ of an Association numbering some 4,000 members in that city. 
 " New associations," says the Observateur, " some of them embrac- 
 ing entire dioceses, have of late requested to join us ; the major part 
 of those uniting with us during the past two years have not confined 
 themselves to the simple observance of Sunday as a day of rest, but 
 have endeavored to keep it holy. The number of shops which close 
 on Sunday has more than trebled during the last two years. Every- 
 thing that leads people's hearts and minds to God, will more and 
 more secure the observance of the Sabbath ; and on the day when 
 all Frenchmen shall have become fervent Catholics, the Observateur 
 will have completed its task." 
 
 Switzerland. — Increased interest has been awakened in Sabbath 
 observance in various cantons. A private letter from the KrCV. Dr. 
 
22 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 Prentiss, late of this city, written at Vevey, Dec. 1, contains the fol- 
 lowing paragraph : 
 
 " I have just returued from a three weeks' excursion to Germany. On my way 
 back, I spent Sunday at Neuchatel in order to make the acquaintance of the Rev. 
 F. Codet, to whom Profs. Guyot and Tholuck had given me letters. Mr. G. is 
 one of the most distinguished pastors in French Switzerland ; he is an old Ber- 
 lin friend of Prof. , and now a principal tutor to the present crown prince 
 
 of Prussia. I called upon him on Saturday evenhig, and found him full of a 
 meeting for the better observance of the Christian Sabbath, which was to be held 
 the next day at the close of the afternoon service. He informed me that about a 
 year ago an Association had been formed for the sanctification of the Lord's day ; 
 and that already it had borne most excellent fruits. He was eager to get infor- 
 mation on the subject, and specially delighted to hear of the meeting of Germans 
 at the Cooper Institute, of which I chanced to have an account with me. I at- 
 tended the meeting on Sunday afternoon. In spite of inclement weather, the 
 chapel in which it was held was crowded to overflowing ; the exercises were 
 highly imprcj^sive, and the audience appeared to listen with serious and profound 
 interest. In the course of an animated address, Mr. Godet alluded with much 
 effect to the great meeting in N. Y., and to the admirable remarks of Prof. Schaff, 
 himself a son of Switzerland. I know you will be glad to learn of this impor- 
 tant demonstration, and also to receive the constitution of the Association which 
 I enclose." 
 
 Germany. — There are many indications of a revival of the Sabbath 
 question — the " Church-Diet," " Inner-Mission," and other bodies 
 having taken it ixp in various forms, and some of the Governments 
 having found it necessary to restrain Sunday excesses by more strin- 
 gent laws. The " Inner-Mission," of the Rhine Provinces has offered 
 a premium for a treatise on tlie Lord's Day in its relation to the com- 
 munity, the family, and the Church. 
 
 A letter from the Rev. Dr. Ckaig, of Hamburg, Germany, Feb. 7, 
 '60, acknowledging the arrival of TOO copies of German Sabbath 
 Documents, (Nos. 1 and 9,) sent to his care for distribution among 
 the Editors, Professors, and other leading minds of Germany, thus 
 alludes to the Sabbath question there and here : 
 
 " I received a few days ago a copy of* Sunday Theatres, Sacred Concerts,' &c., 
 (No. 11,) and had it immediately laid before a committee which has been formed 
 in this city in connection with the ' Inner Missions' for promoting a better observ- 
 ance of the Lord's day. I was requested when an opportunity occurred to return 
 thanks and to express the interest which Christian friends have taken in your ex- 
 ertions in behalf of the Germans who have left our shorcs'to seek a home with you. 
 Good men in Germany are longing to see the dawn of better days in this respect, 
 and mourn over the slow progress that is being made. We rejoice, however, in 
 beholding the energy and success with which friends in America, aided by their 
 Constitution and tlie freedom of their Institutions, are laboring to bring out the 
 great truth that the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. May the God of peace 
 and holiness acknowledge your labors, and own this work as a cup of cold water 
 given in Uis name to many a thirsty soul that is longing for the peace and rest 
 of the Sabbath." 
 
 Among other Newspapers in Germany, the Kirchen-Zeitung of 
 Erlangen, Bavaria, contains a handsome notice of the German meet- 
 ing at Cooper Institute, from which we extract a few lines : 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 23 
 
 " As the Americans judge their German fellow-citizens by the tone of th.e 
 newspapers, of which the Germans publish an enormous number, and which al- 
 most unanimously oppose the Sibbath Laws with a blind rage, it was proper to 
 show the Americans that there are other Gertnans besides the radical newspaper 
 Editors. Pastor Guldin, a venerable man who for more than one reason deserves 
 the good-will of the Germans, made an address in which he did justice to the 
 Germans. Prof. Dr. SchaS" delivered a discourse distingTiished for its sound 
 depth, in which, in a practical manner rarely found in German Professors, he 
 argued the incalculable influence of the Sabbath on all classes of society," etc. 
 
 Sweden. — A letter from a distinguished clergyman in Sweden, in- 
 forming of the signs of increased religious toleration and progress in 
 that country, writes : " The question of Sabbath observance is now 
 fairly arresting the attention of Christians. Baron Posse has, in a 
 vigorous and earnest speech, laid a motion on the subject before the 
 House of Lords." 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 The Committee submit this record of their labors for the year to a 
 community whose highest interests they have aimed to subserve, . 
 with the hope that it may contribute to awaken a juster conviction 
 of the value of the Sabbath, and of the feasibility of rescuing it from 
 the shameless neglect and profanation into which it had fallen. Some 
 important hints may surely be gathered even from their brief exj)eri- 
 ence. 
 
 The wisdom of making simple, clearly defined issues, and adhering 
 to them to the last, would seem to be vindicated. There have been 
 plentiful endeavors to divert the Committee from the specific meas- 
 ures they have deemed it expedient to initiate ; but they have 
 not seen fit to recognize these unfriendly devices, and they have 
 failed of their object. 
 
 Then, the quiet method of Christian lie form has proved the most 
 effective. If any conspicuity has been given to the Committee, it 
 has been vmsought and undesired, and is due mainly to the denuncia- 
 tions with which they have been visited. They Jiave attemjDted no 
 measures of popular agitation ; have held no " mass-meetings ;" have 
 asked no legislation ; have avoided the literature of epithets ; have 
 shunned personalities; have eschewed controversy; — in a word, they 
 have aimed to commend their object to every man's conscience in the 
 sight of God, and to attain it by means consistent with christian self- 
 i-'spect and with the recognized principles of manly christian action. 
 
24 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 The Committee, with a full knowledge of the imperfection of their 
 work, are not unwilling to submit the whole question at issue between 
 the friends and the enemies of ^the Sabbath, on the tone and objects 
 of the parties respectively concerned in rescuing or overthrowing a 
 vital interest. And they refer to a future Scene the development of 
 those unobserved agencies whose results alone concern the public 
 welfare. While they presume not to suggest to others their policy in 
 effecting necessary reforms, they would avow their confidence in calm 
 and quiet methods : 
 
 For " every power that fashions and upholds 
 
 Works silently — all things whose life is SJtre 
 
 Their life is calm : silent the light that moulds 
 
 And colors all things ; and without debate 
 
 The stars, which are forever to endure, 
 
 Assume their thrones and their unquestionable state. 
 
 The policy thus indicated — narrow issues and quiet methods — has 
 unmasked the real character qf the opposition to the Sabbath move- 
 ment. Had the Committee concerned themselves with questions of 
 casuistry, or attempted reforms of doubtful expediency, in the style 
 of invective and the spirit of fanaticism, it wonld have been easy to 
 cover a fatal opposition under the cry of " civil and religious liberty" 
 and a pretended defence of " popular rights." But with no " rights" 
 assailed more sacred than those of the Sunday newsboy to disturb 
 the public peace; or of the Sunday Dram-seller and Lager-Beer 
 dealer to drug and demoralize our population ; this clamor became 
 ridiculous : and no other defence was possible than that of open 
 hostility to the Sabbath, and to the revealed religion it conserves. 
 The proceedings of the Volks-Garden meeting, and most of the 
 articles in the Sunday papers, German and English, on this sub- 
 ject, would disgrace the pen of Tom Paine: indeed, the only 
 avowed organ of infidelity in this country, has taken pains to express 
 sentiments on the Sabbath and our Sunday laws vastly more conserva- 
 tive and truthful than those propagated daily, month after month, in 
 this city. We do not regret this disclosure. An enemy in ambush 
 is doubly formidable. Revealed and outspoken, he is powerless as 
 against that mighty current of patriotism, principle, and piety which 
 can be made to set with irresistible force against selfish, lawless, 
 demoralizing elements banded together to corrupt society and over- 
 throw its moral safeguards. 
 
 The belief is cherished that some advance has been made in this 
 movement, in combining atid bringing into manly action the dor- 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 25 
 
 mant moral power of the cultivated and Christian classes of society. 
 The measure of recuperation, in the direction of the Committee's labors, 
 is mainly due, under God, to that prompt support accorded by citizens 
 whose position in social and business circles entitles them to influence 
 in all great questions affecting the public welfare. And if the future 
 of our municipal history is to be redeemed from the scandals and 
 perils of the past, in this as in other interests, it will be because the 
 men who have most at stake in the weal or woe of this great commu- 
 nity, and are entrusted of God with the capacity and the means of 
 giving a right direction to its destiny, come forth on fitting occasions 
 to confront the hosts of iniquity Avith determined courage and self- 
 sacrificing zeal. We have made the bitter experiment of a Sab- 
 bathless, godless, dram-shop rule — of the " sin that is a reproach to 
 any people :" is it not time that we should attempt to restore the 
 supremacy of law and morality, — of the " righteousness that exalteth 
 a nation ?" 
 
 The events of the year have demonstrated the intimate relation of 
 this city to the country., in moral no less than in commercial aspects. 
 As the various sources of corruption that are rife here are copied 
 elsewhere, so the enterprises successfully inaugurated here to combat 
 vice and iniquity prompt to action in other great communities. And 
 the Committee derive new incentives to exertion from the fact that 
 a restored Sabbath here may become the signal and the encourage- 
 ment for universal effort throughout the land to check the tenden- 
 cies toward degeneracy in Sabbath observance. The hopeful move- 
 ments in sister cities, previously noticed, may indicate the dawn of 
 an American Sabbath enterprise. 
 
 But we refrain from extending the deductions which every intelli- 
 gent mind will be apt to draw from the facts of this pamphlet. We 
 have but entered on the threshold of the Sabbath movement, and it 
 may be safer and wiser to merely record the fiicts of Providence re- 
 specting it, than to indulge in generalizations which a larger experi- 
 ence may prove to be delusive. Enough has indeed been done to 
 demonstrate that something can be done, and to furnish some clue to 
 the way of doing it. To that unaccomplished work the Committee 
 address themselves with hope. Their future plans and efforts Avill 
 take shape and form as the Providence and Spirit of God, may 
 indicate. Their trust is in God, and in the principled cooperation 
 of those who value the Day of God. Their only interest in the 
 cause of the Sabbath, is that common to every Christian citizen. 
 Their labors for it are only effective as Christian citizens second and 
 sustain them, and as the Lord of the Sabbath owns and prospers them. 
 
26 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 Thus supported and blessed, the Committee indulge the hope that 
 the enterprise entrusted to their direction will become an humble 
 instrument of good to our city, our country, and the world. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., 
 NATHAN BISHOP, 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 WARREN CARTER, 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, 
 E. L. FANCHER, 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 
 DAYID HOADLEY, 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 WM. A. SMITH, 
 WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 F. S. WINSTON. 
 0. E. WOOD, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recording Secretary. 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
 SABBATH COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YOBK. 
 
GREAT PUBLIC MEETING. 
 
 Proceedings and Addresses. 
 
 The friends of the Sabbath assembled in 
 great numbers on the invitation of the Sab- 
 bath Committee, at Cooper Institute, on 
 the evening of Feb. 26. The large hall 
 was full — at least 2000 persons being pre- 
 sent, an unusually large proportion of whom 
 were men of age, position, and influence. 
 After a fervent prayer by the Rev. Dr. De- 
 Witt, senior pastor of the CoUegiate Re- 
 formed Dutch Church, and the singing of 
 an appropriate hymn, 
 
 Mr. Norman WnrrE, who presided, stated 
 the object of the meeting, gratefully recog- 
 nizing the Divine blessing on the Sabbath 
 movement, and briefly characterizing the 
 work done, and in progress. The Commit- 
 tee knew something of the magnitude of 
 their enterprise at the outset ; but it had 
 expanded beyond their anticipation, and 
 beyond the apprehension of the general 
 public. When the first meeting was held, 
 it was stated by one of the speakers that in 
 addition to the other invasions of the Sab- 
 bath, there was a theatre in fuU operation 
 every Sunday evening. The audience was 
 so much surprised at the statement that 
 the speaker was asked whether such was 
 really the case. Now they would hear that 
 there is in the city, at this hour, and on 
 every Sunday evening, not only one, but a 
 score of theatres in full operation. It was 
 
 necessary they should hear these things, 
 that the Christian public might know what 
 they had to do. One of the objects for 
 which the Committee had labored, was to 
 convince the pubhc that they had a deeper 
 aim than the mere enforcement of laws. 
 They had striven to make the pubhc under- 
 stand that there was reason, philanthropy, 
 and benevolence in the Sabbath reform. 
 In that work they had met with many 
 obstacles and much vituperation. But those 
 who had used vituperation had not been 
 answered. The Committee beheved it to be 
 the duty of good citizens to consider the 
 causes of the alarming amount of pauperism 
 and crime. It is clearly better to remove 
 temptation and to prevent crime than to 
 erect institutions on our " Islands " and to 
 fill them with the fallen ; as it is better to 
 erect Hght-houses, alarm-bells, and beacons 
 on a dangerous coast, than to fine the 
 shore with wreckers. They had worked at 
 the wrong end too long. If they had done 
 their duty correctly before, they had not 
 seen such a condition of things now. How- 
 ever, with the knowledge now possessed, 
 the work could be prosecuted with good 
 promise of success, and every citizen was 
 responsible for it. While communities 
 were not immortal, individual members of 
 them were, and their responsibihty, under 
 (27) 
 
28 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 God, -was measured by their capacity and 
 opportunity. He was glad to be able to 
 say that there was encouragement to go 
 on in the work. We hear the voice of 
 Providence, saying, "Be of good courage. 
 Go forward." 
 
 Address of Mr. Secretary Cook. 
 The Secretary of the Committee gave the 
 history and results of one of the enterprises 
 of the past year, — that for the suppression 
 of the Sunday Liquor Traffic. He first 
 sketched the difficulties and obstacles en- 
 countered in dealing with nearly 8000 un- 
 licensed dram-sellers, more than 5000 of 
 whom prosecuted their business on the 
 Lord's day, with multiplied accessories of 
 the most demoralizing character and of the 
 most formidable extent. Their investiga- 
 tions had demonstrated an intimate connec- 
 tion between these sources of Sunday dis- 
 sipation and the abounding crime and 
 pauperism of the city. But all efforts to 
 check the evil had been powerless. The 
 police authorities had lodged 26,000 com- 
 plaints for the violation of the Sunday 
 Liquor Laws with the District Attorney ; 
 but as no case had been prosecuted to con- 
 viction, the Police Commissioners had just 
 then stated in their Report to the Legisla- 
 ture that without "severer penalties and 
 summary proceedings, the onerous duty of 
 reporting Sabbath desecrations will be use- 
 less." The Excise Commissioners were 
 also defied, and only 72 licenses had been 
 applied for and granted — less than one per 
 cent, of the dealers ! The criminal judici- 
 ary, to say nothing of other municipal offi- 
 cers, was largely the creature of the liquor 
 interest; and, worse than all, public senti- 
 ment had been corrupted, drugged, para- 
 lysed, so that a feeling of despair had fallen 
 on the community. " Temperance " men, 
 failing to secure all they wanted of legisla- 
 tive action, had abandoned the existing 
 laws: hope had died out on all hands. 
 
 Such were the circumstances in which 
 the Committee undertook this effort. Their 
 first work was to prepare a Document — 
 " The Sunday Liquor Traffic " — exposing 
 the extent and bearings — financial, sani- 
 tary, moral and religious — of this gigantic 
 evil. The appeal was made to the under- 
 standing and conscience, rather than to the 
 prejudices and passions of the community ; 
 and it met with an almost universal re- 
 sponse. The respectable Press of the city 
 accepted and discussed the questions pre- 
 sented with great ability and thoroughness. 
 Journals divided on most other questions 
 were unanimous on this topic ; and that 
 unbroken front, backed by a united public, 
 taught the Sunday Press and the Sunday 
 Dealers that they were confronted by a 
 new and overwhelming power. The Com- 
 mittee and the public owed a profound 
 debt of gratitude to the respectable Press 
 for its service in this behalf. At the proper 
 juncture, public sentiment was concentrated 
 in a " Ifemorial of Citizens" to the PoUce 
 Commissioners, invoking their intervention 
 and positive action, which soon received 
 some 600 influential signatures. A " coun- 
 ter-memorial," with a list of signers as 
 limping as its logic, (three-fourths being 
 non-residents or not to be found in the 
 Directory!) was also presented. The ac- 
 tion of the Police Commissioners was 
 worthy of them and of the city — pledging 
 " the whole power of the pohce force " for 
 the " prevention of public exhibitions on 
 Sundays, and trafficing in liquors and other 
 like things." Then came the trial of some 
 of the 26,000 complaints in the District 
 Attorney's hands, before 'an honest judge 
 and jury, with honest verdicts in twelve 
 suits. These were all appealed — but till 
 this day without argument or decision. 
 Why ? Why, for years, has it been im- 
 possible to secure the ends of law and jus- 
 tice in this city when hquor-selling was 
 concerned in the issue? May it not be 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 29 
 
 due to the influence of a secret organization^ 
 numbering 6,000 members, mostly foreign- 
 ers, ■with ample funds, boasting its poUtical 
 power, and perhaps employing its resources 
 " for the purpose of influencing courts and 
 pubhc officers," as well as in " dictating to 
 pohtical parties who they shall have for 
 candidates ? " It may be to this organiza- 
 tion, the Excise Commissioners allude when 
 they speak of the "obstinate litigation" 
 they have encountered in the trial of the 
 thousands of suits in their hands. Add to 
 tills the combined power of the Sunday 
 Press, which had done all that could be 
 done, by the multiplication of false issues 
 and by abuse of the Sabbath Committee, 
 the Superintendent of Police, and the Po- 
 lice Commissioners, to shield an iniquitous 
 business, and it would be seen that it had 
 been no trifling conflict. Then, as the con- 
 flict thickened, a rally of opponents was 
 made in the Volks-Garden, where the op- 
 position of the Liquor, Lager and Sunday 
 newspaper interests culminated in a meet- 
 ing so boldly infidel, atheistic, and demor- 
 alizing in its composition and action, as to 
 destroy itself The greatest reliance had 
 been placed on emigrant Germans as the 
 basis of an agitation for the repeal of our 
 Sunday laws, and, if need be, the organiza- 
 tion of a no-Sunday party. But the re- 
 spectable Germans became indignant that 
 the German name should be made respon- 
 sible for affinity with the immoralities of 
 Lager-beer-dom and the Volks-Garden 
 meeting ; and they assembled to the num- 
 ber of 1,500 in this place to testify their 
 regard for the Sabbath and the laws which 
 guard its sanctity. Their proceedings, pub- 
 lished in a document of the Committee, 
 have exerted a wide and important influ- 
 ence in this country and in Germany, and 
 tho respectable and Christian Germans are 
 in a position of more positive friendliness 
 to the Sabbath than ever before. 
 
 Before entering on a statement of the 
 
 results of the partial suppression of Sunday 
 tippling, Mr. Cook read an extract from 
 one of the Sunday papers, which claimed a 
 higher morahty for Sabbath-breaking Eu- 
 ropean Capitals than for Sabbath-keeping 
 communities, and arguing that "a like 
 cause here is working like eff'ects ; so that 
 if Sabbatarians only succeed in their mis- 
 sion," (a decent observiince of the Sabl:)ath,) 
 "New York will be more degraded by the 
 intoxication of its inhabitants than even 
 Glasgow." To which Mr. C. replied : that 
 whatever degradation there might be in 
 Glasgow, and other " Sabbatarian " cities, 
 was notoriously among the Sahbath-ireak- 
 ing element of the population — as appeared 
 from the fact that the " Forbes Mackenzie 
 Act" for closing Sunday liquor-shops had 
 checked a large part of the crime of Scot- 
 land, and had diminished the use of intoxi- 
 cating liquors by more than $6,000,000 a 
 year during the past four years. But who 
 committed crime in New York ? Let the 
 statistics of the Police answer, which show 
 eighty-seven per cent, of the arrests for the 
 last year to have been of the foreign-born, 
 Sabbath-breaking population, to thirteen per 
 cent, of our native population, and that the 
 Sabbath-breaking part of it : whereas the 
 foreign element composed less than one- 
 third part of our aggregate population. 
 And, if the morality of the Sabbath were 
 further questioned, he would point to the 
 statistics which show the comparative chas- 
 tity of communities observing or contem- 
 ning the Fourth Commandment. How 
 is it that Governmental Records of unques- 
 tioned authority show the ratio of illegiti- 
 mate births to have been but four per cent. 
 in London — the capital of a comparatively 
 Sabbath-keeping kingdom — while it is 33 
 per cent, in Paris ; 35 in Brussels ; 48 in 
 Munich; and 51 in Vienna — the notorious 
 centres of the holiday, pleasure Sunday of 
 the Continent ? Such are the facts. Qual- 
 ify them as you will, explain them as you 
 
30 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 may, no ingenuity of logic can lessen the 
 terrible implication of fact and of history 
 that Sabbath-breaking and adultery and ly- 
 ing and kindred vices and crimes are in- 
 timately connected in human experience, 
 as they are in the prohibitions of the moral 
 law. 
 
 But he would come home figain to our 
 own city, and see what are the lessons of 
 experience here. By the showing of 
 the Police Eecords, extending over a pe- 
 riod of eighteen months preceding the 
 attempted Eeform, Sunday crime exceeded 
 the average of week-day crime hy twenty- 
 five per cent. These were the days of Sun- 
 day dram-selhng. We had had the experi- 
 ence of six months under a different regime 
 — Greneral PiUsbury having issued his order 
 to close the liquor shops in August last : 
 and what have been the practical results f 
 Why, the average arrests for drunkenness 
 and crime, during the last six months, have 
 been about sixty per cent, more on week- 
 days than on Sundays; or an absolute 
 change of some eighty-five per cent., and 
 a relative change of about one hundred 
 per cent ! And, as was expected, the ratio 
 of week-day crime itself is rapidly dimin- 
 ishing. Thus, for the last quarter, the Su- 
 perintendent of Police reports a falling off 
 of more than seven thoiisand arrests; and 
 last Sunday had a smaller number than has 
 been recorded on any day in three years. 
 
 Yet the work of suppression was incom- 
 plete, while there were, in his judgment, 
 adequate but unemployed powers in the 
 Police Board to consummate and perfect 
 this Reform. That Board could not only 
 complain of offenders: they could arrest 
 them; they could shut up the premises 
 where intoxicating liquors were " pubHcly 
 kept and exposed for sale;" they could turn 
 men away from doors opened to tempt 
 men to drunkenness and crime. And their 
 organic Act not only thus empowered 
 them, but it required them to " prevent 
 
 crime" if they could, and to " arrest offend- 
 ers" if offenders there were ; and " to see 
 that all laws relating to the observance of 
 Sunday, and regarding gambUng, intem- 
 perance, disorderly persons, &c., are pro- 
 perly enforced." More than this, it empow- 
 ered patrolmen with the authority of 
 constables, who, by common and statute 
 law, may and must arrest for misdemeanors 
 committed in their presence, without war- 
 rant or complaint; and it makes such 
 patrolmen themselves guilty of a misde- 
 meanor if they neglect to do this. Such 
 is the unquestionable import of Judge 
 Hilton's reply in the matter of the Sunday 
 Liquor cases ; and such the obvious teach- 
 ing of the statutes affecting this question. 
 
 Mr. Cook then passed to the discussion 
 of the extent, character and influence of 
 the German system of Beer-Gardens, The- 
 atres, and '•' Sacred Concerts," and of the 
 measures requisite for their suppression. 
 He also exposed the scandalous establish- 
 ments, even more debasing and corrupting 
 in their accompaniments, now in operation 
 every Sunday night in the most puljlic 
 halls in Broadway, under American and 
 Irish auspices — tempting our apprentices 
 and stranger youth to ruin. And he closed 
 with an appeal to good citizens — men of 
 position and influence — to stand by the 
 Committee and by the expanding work 
 they were attempting, by divine help, to 
 perform, for the good of the city, the coun- 
 try, and the world. 
 
 Address of Bishop Janes. 
 
 Bishop Janes was the next speaker. He had not been 
 surprised by the statements of the Chairman or the 
 Secretary that their organization had awakened oppo- 
 sition. When did an enemy fail to sow tares ? The 
 most disgusting characteristics of the world were it.s 
 antagonisms. They existed in every nation, and even in 
 the domestic circle antagonisms arose. But in the 
 moral world those collisions were most frequent and 
 most fatal. Every heart was a battUvfloUl in which a 
 vi' tory was to he lost or won. As a heathen once ex- 
 pressed it, he felt he had two hearts, the one impelling 
 him to do right and the other tp do wrong. Or, as the 
 
PROGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 31 
 
 Bible expressed the same idea : " When I would do good, 
 evil is present with me, so that the good I would I do 
 not, and the evil that I would not that I do." Equally 
 clear, perhaps, was the declaration of the poet : 
 
 " We see the right, and we approve it, too. 
 Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue." 
 
 In these single combats between good and evil, where 
 the evil gained the ascendancy, it led its degraded cap- 
 tives in the hosts of wrong. It was this organic wicked- 
 ness that jeoparded social and national piety. Large 
 cities are the points where the allied forces of evil make 
 their combined assaults upon virtue and piety, exactly 
 as in the history of war the main assaults were upon 
 the cities. Look at the influence of this city upon this 
 nation. That influence was felt everywhere, and 
 whether it was good or evil, it was general and power- 
 ful. He believed the influence of New York on the 
 morals of the land was pervading and mighty. With 
 what grandeur did that idea clothe the objects of this 
 Association 1 Its work was no longer local, but the mo- 
 ral welfare of the nation, perhaps of the world, were 
 affected. Who could measure the human destiny in- 
 volved in this success 1 Tlie work was difScult in a 
 large city. The wicked could carry on their plans in 
 secret ; they could hide, to some extent, the deformity 
 of their conduct. Here these evil-disposed persons 
 could communicate directly and safely with each other, 
 and thus educate each other for the work of wrong. All 
 these associations of dram-shops, places for gambling, 
 bawdy-houses, and other places of vulgar amusement, 
 were catering to animal appetites, evil propensities, 
 and excited and depraved passions. They worked with 
 the current, while moral reform had to roll against the 
 current, employing sufficient power to stem the current, 
 and bear on general piety. Their opponents illustrated 
 the fact that this was a combat between benevolence 
 and cupidity. Their opponents did not give, but receiv- 
 ed ; they were not benevolent, but selfish, and there was 
 never selfishness so ungenerous as theirs ; they would 
 not bury their own slain : they were so sordid that 
 they would not attend to their own wounded ; others 
 must take care of the loafers made through their in- 
 strumentality. When they saw how uncaring they 
 were for their own victims, the good would pity and 
 pray for them, in view of the terrible fate awaiting 
 their crimes. 
 
 But the good could associate also. A more direct 
 agency could be had to rescue the fallen than could be 
 procured in the rural districts. He that was for the 
 reform was mightier than all that could he enlisted 
 against him. Here was the reason why virtue had not 
 all been swept away — there had been a God, a Bible, 
 and a Sabbath in the city. While they had these, vir- 
 tue would prevail and have the ascendancy in the 
 earth. The Secretary had referred to an agency to in- 
 fluence childhood in the wrong path. He was satisfied 
 that childhood was the strong point of morality and re- 
 ligion. If they would promote charity, they should 
 continue and enlarge their influence over childhood. 
 
 If children were enlisted in the cause of morality and 
 religion, they would have not only an additional force 
 when they were grown, but a better trained and equip- 
 ped power, commencing with the children, and work- 
 ing by all the authority of the laws of the land and the 
 commandments of God, they could not but continue, 
 until in all the by-places the day of God would be re- 
 membered, sanctified, and heeded. 
 
 Then other virtues would follow, one virtue always 
 engendered kindred virtues, and with religious institu- 
 tions the Sabbath did not stand alone. Promoting all 
 and sustaining all, they would combine all the influ- 
 ences that God had given for the salvation of men. He 
 hoped the cause would be in their hearts as well as in 
 their hands, so long as God gave them capacity to labor 
 for him and for humanity. 
 
 Address of Rev. Dr. Hogk. 
 Rev. Dr. Hoge was the next speaker. He said he felt 
 it was profitable though painful for them to be here. 
 Most of them had come from influences that made them 
 feel that all was safe with them. But at this meeting 
 they had heard things that ought to make the stoutest 
 heart quake. Would to God that all sober, industrious, 
 honest citizens could have heard the statements made 
 to-night. The snow-clad earth had recently looked so 
 pure, that all the earth seemed spotless. But, away 
 below all this, they knew that there was a gulf reeking 
 with filth and corruption, bearing away the impurity of 
 the city. But he felt as he did a few nights since, when, 
 resting quietly in his chamber, he detected the gradu- 
 ally accumulating smoke. Through the house the 
 smoke kept gathering, and yet there was no flame ; it 
 was working in secret through the walls. He thanked 
 God that these moral dangers allowed of a cry for help 
 in the coming struggle. The Committee had thia night 
 given the notes of warning. He knew that the work of 
 the Committee had been a difficult one, and perhaps 
 distasteful ; but it was sometimes neces.sary, when a 
 neighborhood had been ravaged, for the courageous 
 man to go down in the dark den of the wolf, and strive 
 with the ferocious enemy that in secret stole out cand 
 committed its ravages. It would be the people's fault 
 now if the evil continues. The trumpet had been 
 sounded for help to come up on behalf of the Lord 
 against the mighty, the desperate, and the wicked. The 
 Committee could not do the work alone. The meeting 
 had been called to create energy in a work that was to 
 be long, patient, and costly, and from which probably 
 they could never be discharged. The work appealed 
 to all to be its advocates and defenders. 
 
 Wliat was it that called for help ? The oldest institu- 
 tion in all this world — that which God had made pe- 
 culiar to his people. When creation was finished, the 
 Sabbath day was its crown. When God's work was 
 complete then came this blessed jubilee, and God and 
 man rejoiced. It was God's seventh day, but it was 
 man's first day. The change at the resurrection of 
 Christ was beautiful. Ilencoforth man celebrated his 
 own first day in joyous communion with his God, and 
 
PEOGRESS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. 
 
 the day on which the second Adam went to his Father. 
 There was a twin institution horn at the same time — 
 the institution of marriage. He was not surprised at 
 the statement that the seventh and fourth command- 
 ments were alike violated, and that those who would 
 strike down the one would demolish the other. When 
 man struck a hlow at one he would never rest until the 
 other could bo destroyed. It was simply a question 
 whether the city should he another Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah. How could they spare the Sabbath day? Even 
 the brute needs his Sabbath. Our physical and intel- 
 lectual life demands it. They might show how all the 
 noblest faculties of the mind were filled with their 
 proper nutriment on that day. There should be one 
 day on which man could learn the lesson of his immor- 
 tality. How should they secure the feeling that man is 
 immortal, and lift his aspirations towards Heaven ? 
 Could it be learned in Chatham street among the ready- 
 made and second hand clothes seven days in the week ? 
 Could it be learned among the sales and exchanges of 
 real estate in Wall street, where the chief music is but 
 the chink of the dollar, and the chimes of old Trinity 
 serve but to remind the merchant of the hours of bank- 
 ing and business? Could it be learned in Broadway, 
 among the silks and diamonds ? How could they bring 
 sweet and high and holy influences upon them ? They 
 must have a day for this, and God gave them that day, 
 not simply for relaxation from labor, but for a high and 
 holy end. Some would deem a Sabbath of amuse- 
 ments sufficient ; but, if they would read of the effect of 
 such Sabbaths, follow a company on a Sabbath to 
 Jones' Wood, and see the spiritual stimulants of the 
 preachers. All accounts agreed that the day was spent 
 in dissipation ; that the men had not been drinking in 
 the beauties of nature — it was lager bier that they were 
 drinking in from morning to night. It was the rope- 
 dancing, and all the belittleing influences of the mind, 
 that attracted the crowd. And were they most re- 
 freshed for the next day's labor ? Or was it not those 
 who observed the Christian Sabbath who were most 
 refreshed by the day of rest? Was it not these, at 
 peace with God and man, who awoke refreshed for the 
 duties of another week? But, if this life was our all, 
 we might eat and drink, and perhaps the sooner we die 
 the better. Then is man the waste of all that is 
 believed to bo noble, and the gospel of the German 
 
 philosopher — the doctrine of suicide — is the only gospel 
 for man. When society had so forgotten its immor- 
 tality, that doctrine of suicide became practical ; it 
 was preached, and men plunged into destruction by 
 thousands. 
 
 Let the friends of reform therefore gird on their 
 armor. They preached not the long, gloomy, dull, im- 
 pleasant, Pharisaical, puritanical Sabbath that their 
 enemies suggested, but the Sabbath that God " made 
 for man " — ministering to man's best want, and bring- 
 ing down its mercies upon him. If the editors of 
 those presses who had aided them were present, ho 
 would call upon them to renew their efforts. Oh I let 
 them write for God, for truth, for what ennobles men, 
 for that which will train up our youth as citizens 
 of whom our country may be proud. And, oh I that 
 they should write no line that, " dying, they would wish 
 to blot." 
 
 What memories and hallowed associations were gath- 
 ered round the Sabbath day ! Well might it be called 
 the Pearl of days. Well had CoiERroGE said, " It brings 
 fifty-two Spring days to us in the year. Spring days, 
 indeed, they were, which, leading back to the remem- 
 brance of Paradise, led onward to that day when eter- 
 nal Summer should spread again over the earth. 
 
 The venerable Mr. George Douglas, of 
 Long Island, arose among the audience, 
 and gave utterance to his interest in the 
 Sabbath Reform, with the munificent prof- 
 fer of $2,000 to sustain the operations of 
 the Committee. Not a word had been said 
 during the exercises as to the pecuniary- 
 burdens of the movement; but this and 
 other generous acts show that the friends 
 of the Sabbath are not unconscious of 
 their existence, and are not unwilling to 
 share them. 
 
 With the Christian Doxology, and the 
 Benediction pronounced by the Rev. Dr. 
 Krebs, the immense assembly dispersed. 
 
Doc. No. XIII. 
 
 THE PPiESS OF NEW YORK 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 
 
 1. The Law. 
 
 2. Grerman Petition and Remonstrance. 
 
 3. Action of Police Department. 
 
 4. Organized Resistance to Law. 
 
 5. Comments of the Daily, Weekly, and Sunday Press. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To Preserve the Public Peace and Order oyi the first day of the 
 week^ commonly called Sunday. 
 
 SECTioisr 1. It shall not be lawful to exhibit on the first day of 
 the week, commonly called Sunday, to the public, in any building 
 garden, grounds, concert-room, or other room or place within the 
 city and county of New York, any interlude, tragedy, opera, bal- 
 let, play, farce, negro minstrelsy, negro or other dancing, or any 
 other entertainment of the stage, or any part or parts therein or 
 any equestrian, circus, or dramatic performance, or any perform- 
 ance of jugglers, acrobats or rope-dancing. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any person offending against the provisions of this 
 law, and every person aiding in such exhibition, by advertisement 
 or otherwise, and every owner or lessee of any building, ground 
 garden, or concert-room, or other room or place, who shall lease or 
 let out the same for the purpose of any such exhibition or per- 
 formance, or assent that the same be used for any such purpose, if 
 the same shall be used for such purpose, shall be guilty of a mis- 
 demeanor, and in addition to the punishment therefor provided by 
 law, shall be subjected to a penalty of $500, which penalty the 
 Society for the Eeformation of Juvenile Delinquents in said city 
 are hereby authorized, in the name of the people of this State, to 
 prosecute, sue for, and recover for the use of said Society ; in 
 addition to which, every such exhibition or performance shall of 
 itself forfeit, vacate and annul, and render void and of no effect, 
 any license which shall have been previously obtained by any 
 
% THE FEESS OP NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 manager, proprietor, owner, or lessee, consenting to, causing, or 
 allowing, or letting anj part of a building for the purpose of such 
 exhibition and performance. 
 
 Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 [ T/ie above Act was passed, and signed hy the Governor^ April 
 17, I860.] 
 
 G-erman Petition and Remonstrance. 
 
 [The following Petition, printed in English alone for the signature 
 of Germans, was circulated in Beer Gardens and Theatres, and 
 received 4,805 names, including fabrications and forgeries. It speaks 
 for itself.] 
 
 PETITION FOR THE REPEAL OF THE SUNDAY LAWS, 
 To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York : 
 
 The undersigned, residents of the City of , being satisfied that 
 
 the Sunday Laws as they now exist are unconstitutional, inasmuch as they 
 deprive citizens of their civil and religious liberties, and being further convinced 
 that they cannot and ought not to be enforced, because public opinion has con- 
 demned said Laws : Now we, the undersigned, respectfully petition Your Honor- 
 able Body for the repeal of the said Sunday Laws, and we at the same time 
 remonstrate against the passage of the bill recently introduced, by which said laws 
 are to be made still more stringent and vexatious. 
 
 And Your petitioners will ever pray. 
 
 From The Journal of Commerce, March 17. 
 RALLY OF GERMANS FOR THE SUNDAY LAWS. 
 [The attempt of the German beer-garden gentlemen to repeal all our Sunday 
 Laws has aroused the respectable German population. Without any public meet- 
 ing, and almost without concert of action, they have sent forwai'd about one 
 thousand signatures to the following remonstrance, and thousands more will fol- 
 low. It turns out that the noisy, Sunday-despising portion of the German popu- 
 lation is not so numerous or powerful as their boasting would indicate.] 
 REMONSTRANCE OF GERMANS AGAINST THE REPEAL OF SUNDAY 
 
 LAWS. 
 [Translation.] 
 To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York: 
 
 The undersigned, German residents of the city of New York, concur in the 
 sentiment of one of the resolutions unanimously passed at a meeting of more than 
 1,500 German citizens, held at Cooper Institute, October 16th, 1859, as follows : 
 
 '^Resolved, That in the Sunday Laws of this country, as they obtain in nearly 
 every State of our great Republican Confederacy, we see nothing that conflicts 
 with the cherished principles of civil and religious liberty ; on the contrary, 
 we regard them as one of the strongest guarantees of our free institutions ; as a 
 wholesome check upon licentiousness and dissipation ; as a preventive of pau- 
 perism and crime, which must necessarily undermine and ultimately destroy the 
 liberty of any people." 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 3 
 
 "We therefore earnestly remonstrate against the repeal of the laws of this State, 
 which guarantee and protect a day of weekly rest and worship for all classes. 
 
 The undersigned would also pray that a law may be enacted to regulate and 
 restrain demoralizing public performances on all days of the week, and especially 
 on Sunday, as a necessary means of arresting the dissipation, pauperism and crime, 
 which are bringing a reproach on the German name. 
 
 From The Times, April 4. 
 BOGUS NO-SUNDAY PETITION.^ 
 
 Albany, Friday, March 30. 1860. 
 To the Editor of the Neiv York Times : 
 
 A German gentleman of New York, who does not train in the LindenmuUer Com- 
 pany, a little curious about the Anti-Sunday Petition of his countrymen, gives me 
 the following results of his investigation this morning. The whole number of sig- 
 natures claimed to be attached to the petition varies from 10,000 to 100,000 ! The 
 actual number is 4,805. Of these, 317 are appended to a MS. petition, addressed to 
 the Governor, and purport to be the signatures of ^•Citizens of the City of New 
 York. " These names lie compared with the New York Directory, and it is ascertained 
 that eleven are genuine — including five saloon-keepers and grocers ; but that three 
 hundred and six out of three hundred and seventeen are not to he found ! 
 
 Among the signatures in the larger list are many obvious forgeries: for example 
 — " Horace Greely, No. 95 Elizabeth street," has not the poor merit of being spelled 
 accurately. Other equally unfortunate errors abound. This ought to dispose of the 
 No-Sunday Petition, and of the opposition to the bill for suppressing the Sunday 
 theatres. They are the known centres of many vices and crimes. This bogus peti- 
 tion must now be added to the catalogue of iniquities for which they are responsible. 
 
 K. 
 From The Observer, April 5. 
 
 ANTI-SABBATH MEETING. 
 
 The German meeting at the Cooper Institute last year was a noble demonstration 
 in favor of the Sabbath, and a proof that the Germans as a mass do not sympathize 
 with the keepers and frequenters of beer-gardens in their effort to break down the 
 respect for the Lord's day which is a characteristic of our land. There has recently 
 been a demonstration on the other side, called out by the introduction of the bill 
 before the Legislature of the Stale to suppress Sunday amusements in the theatres 
 and gardens. It was a most ridiculous failure, as the following report which we 
 take from the New York Times will show. Not only are the I'espectable class of 
 Germans ashamed of this opposition to the Sabbath, but it seems that the enemies 
 of the day cannot rely upon their own forces. The Times of March 29th says : 
 
 The response was not very cheering to the call in the German papers for a meet- 
 ing yesterday, in Lindemuller's Saloon, to oppose the passage of the Sunday Amuse- 
 ments bill. Our reporter remained an hour after the time advertised, and was able 
 to count only sixteen persons. 
 
 Mr. Lindemuller was displeased at the indifference or opposition of the Germans 
 to the bill. Here are a thousand German musicians, said he, who are paid liberally 
 for their Sunday work out of the hard-earned money of the proprietors of theatres 
 and beer-gardens ; and if they would come and give only a dollar a piece, it would 
 make a fund that might defeat the bill. But they spend the money in the pot- 
 houses during the week that they earn on Sunday, and we can't get help from 
 them. He wished with all his heart that the bill might pass ; and he would himself 
 become a spy to aid its execution, so as to punish the fellows who did nothing to 
 
4 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 prevent it ! And he had thought of getting a law against all business on Sunday 
 from 10 to 4 o'clock, for then he could stop preaching. 
 
 All present abandon the hope of preventing the passage of the bill. One said that 
 it was the/rtr/ner's boys from the country, who know nothing of city life, whose votes 
 in the Legislature made such laws. Another said that while there was no " Church 
 and State " in this country, the religious feeling was much stronger than in Europe, 
 and that was the foundation of such laws. To the inquiry whether it would be en- 
 forced if passed, it was replied that Mayor Wood could not be expected to help them 
 resist a plain law. Some complaint was made that one of their delegates to Albany 
 had charged $50 and another $100, for two or three days' work, and it was agreed 
 not to send another. The suggestion was made that the American theatres might 
 be induced to give Sunday performances, which would strengthen the German Anti- 
 Sunday cause. Our reporter came away with the feeling that the No-Sunday move- 
 ment among the Germans is not in a very flourishing condition. 
 
 Extracted from The Evangelist, April 5. 
 
 We have nothing to say now of the legislation that is based on the mere chances 
 of party, nor of the peril to our institutions from the disposition to pander to vice 
 and iniquity for the sake of votes. We wish simply to suggest the inquiry whether 
 in the existing state of parties, a practically No-Sunday position, in accordance with 
 the claims of the German beer-garden gentlemen, will be likely to conciliate more 
 votes than it will alienate. Politicians underrate the numbers and the strength of 
 the moral and religious element in the city, State, and country. It is rarely aroused. 
 On many issues it would be divided — even on those relating to the Sunday ques- 
 tion. But on so simple an issue as that now before the Legislature — the suppression 
 of the monstrous system of Sunday theatres, associated as they are with drinking, 
 gambling, and prostitution — there can be no division of sentiment or action. A 
 party that should arouse that sentiment by tampering with the very vice sought 
 to be suppressed, would destroy its prestige, and endanger its existence. 
 
 There were in the State of New York in 1850 no less than 4,134 churches, 
 having accommodations for 1,913,854 persons. There must be now at least 5,000 
 churches, having at least 800,000 members. A still larger number of attendants on 
 public worship and friends of order and morals may be counted on as in sympathy 
 with the Christian element as to the value of the civil Sabbath. And how strong 
 soever may be the political affinities of this million and a half of our population, 
 there are tens of thousands of them — voters too — whose moral and religious convic- 
 tions are still stronger. Whatever may be true of city members, it is certain that 
 no representative of the people from the interior of the State dare face his constit- 
 uency when recreant on a question of this nature. A majority even of the German 
 population itself, away from the city — and a large minority here — as earnestly rep- 
 robate the Sunday excesses of their countrymen as do the best American citizens ; 
 and no surer method of driving them from a party could be adopted than to hesi- 
 tate on a question of simple morals at the beck of Sunday-theatre proprietors. 
 
 Another fact seems to be overlooked in the calculations of party leaders. The 
 Religious Newspapers of the city and State, with an aggregate of half a million 
 subscribers, are a unit on this question. It would be with extreme reluctance, 
 doubtless, that they would intervene to disturb the relations of political parties ; 
 but a manifest sacrifice of public morals for partisan purposes would leave them no 
 alternative. A rallying cry from that quarter would bring thousands of men into 
 the field in opposition to any parly that should choose to barter away the Sabbath. 
 And the respectable secular Press, for the most part, would be true to the ground it 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 5 
 
 has taken on this question, adding its immense influence to the movement for re- 
 sisting the coalition of party with immorality and crime. 
 
 We would adrise the managers at Albany to pause before they render it neces- 
 sary to arouse the friends of the Sabbath, who are notoriously the friends of morals 
 and good government. Whether Protestant or Papal, native or foreign born, their 
 convictions are settled and inßexible. And the party that trifles with them may 
 gain some votes of rowdies and Sunday beer-guzzlers, but it will disappear before 
 the distrust and indignation of citizens who have a stake in a government of law 
 based on popular intelligence and virtue. 
 
 Action of Police Commissioners. 
 
 COPIES OP GENERAL OEDERS. 
 
 No. 186 : New York, April 21, 1860. 
 
 I am instructed by the President of the Board of Police, to direct you to forth- 
 with notify all persons dealiug in intoxicating liquors in your Precinct, that they 
 shall not publicly expose or dispose of the same on Sunday, under the penalty of 
 fifty dollars for each offence ; and if such persons shall after such notification per- 
 sist in displaying or disposing publicly intoxicating liquors, to arrest them in the 
 manner prescribed by law for the arrest of offenders. 
 
 No. 1S9 : New York, April 27, 1860. 
 
 By advertisement in the newspapers, and by personal notice to the Captains 
 of Police, all persons in the city of New York have been informed of the provi- 
 sions of the Police Act which makes it unlawful to publicly dispose of intoxicating 
 liquors on Sunday, and which requires the police to arrest all persons who shall so 
 publicly dispose of intoxicating liquors on Sunday. You are therefore directed to 
 instantly arrest all persons who shall be found publicly disposing of intoxicating 
 liquors on Sunday. 
 
 Repeated inquiries have been made during the past week if Lager Beer be intox- 
 icating liquor. The Board of Police on application to its counsel is informed that 
 the question has not been finally adjudicated.- It has been held in several instan- 
 ces that Lager Beer is not, while in other cases it has been affirmed to be, intoxicat- 
 ing liquor. In view of these contradictory decisions you are directed not to make 
 arrests for the vending of Lager Beer until the action of the Board of Police, but to 
 make complaint as usual in cases of persons violating the laws of the State, and the 
 ordinances of the local authorities in respect to the observance of Sunday. 
 
 No. 190 : New York, April 28, 1860. 
 
 You are directed to cause to be arrested, on Monday morning of each week, 
 all persons who shall have held theatrical or other entertainments in the city of New 
 York on the previous Sunday, in violation of the act, entitled, an act, &c., passed 
 April, 1860, and you are admonished that the Board of Police expect the prompt and 
 rigorous enforcement of this order. 
 
 '^ It would appear that the counsel had not been advised of the recent decision in 
 THE Court of Appeals affecting this question, of which the following notice has been 
 published : 
 
 THE LICENSE LAW— IMPORTANT DECISION. 
 
 (From the Coopersloion Freeman'' s Journal.) 
 We notice by the published decision of the Court of Appeals, announced at the 
 close of the late March terra, that tlie judgment of the Supreme Court in the case 
 of the Board of Commissioners of Excise of Tompkins county agt. Taylor et al., 
 was affirmed. As we understand the question in that case, the Court of Appeals has 
 decided that " ale and strong beer" are included in the terms " strong or spirituous 
 
6 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 Organized Kesistance to Law. 
 
 From The Tribune, May 1. 
 
 MEETING OF GERMAN INN-KEEPERS. 
 
 A meeting of upward of three hundred inn-keepers was held on Saturday morn- 
 ing at the " Stadt Theatre," in the Bowery, fur the purpose of resisting the execu- 
 tion of the Sunday law, Mr. Leutz, the President, in the chair. This was the second 
 meeting of an association formed a week ago, with the motto, "In Union there 
 is Strength." The rolls of membership were produced and circulated until 280 
 names bad been written therein, each member in advance paying a heavy in- 
 itiation tax, to be appropriated for lawsuits and fines. They all bind themselves 
 thus to pay the expenses of the first man who is attacked by the law, and to see him 
 through the trial. A number of other societies already exist on tlic same prin- 
 ciple. There is one defending upward of a tliousand suits for selling liquors with- 
 out license, but it is confidently believed by the saloon-keepers that they will never 
 come to trial, they being required, notwithstanding, to give bail to appear. Prelimi- 
 nary business having been disposed of, various speakers expressed their views aa 
 to the best course to be pursued under the circumstances. The meeting was kept 
 up for several hours, and, finally, it was ngreed to make a compromise. All be- 
 longing to the association pledged themselves not to allow any gaming, billiards, 
 shooting, dancing, or other amusements at their establishments; and the saloons 
 and theatres were to be shut up entirely between the hours of 9 o'clock in the 
 morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Before and after these hours it was stated 
 they had been assured by the police they would not be interfered with in the 
 manner of keeping the Sabbath. Those overstepping these regulations were not to 
 be benefited, in case of a prosecution, by the treasury of the association. A tax 
 of ten cents upon every barrel of lager beer sold, it is expected, will bring into the 
 treasury from S500 to $1,000 weekly. The meeting adjourned for one week. 
 
 liquors," as used in the Act of the Legislature, entitled " An act to suppress intem- 
 perance and to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors," passed April 10, 1857. 
 
 The old Court of Errors decided that " ale and strong beer" were within the pro- 
 hibition of the statute then in force, the phraseology of which was like the present 
 act, (see 3d Denio, 437,) and the Supreme Court in this District, at the July term, 
 1859, decided the satne question now affirmed in the Court of Appeals, in the case of 
 the Commissioners of E.Kcise of Madison county vs. Hill. This decision was made 
 the law of this District, and was of course binding on the Circuit and County Courts 
 within its jurisdiction until otherwise determined by the Court of Appeals — and yet 
 Judge Turner, in his charge to th Grand .Jury at the February term of the County 
 Court, said in effect that it was competent for them to determine whelher tbey would 
 find any indictments against parties charged with selling strong beer without a li- 
 cense, until the Court uf Appeals should finally settle the question at issue ! 
 
 Il is now held to be llie law of thin Stale, that the retailing of" ale and strong beer, " as ivcll 
 as other strong or spiriluouf liquors, or innes, in quantities less than five gallons, nithout li- 
 cense, renders the party liable, not only to indictment, but to be sued and a recovery of $50 had 
 for each f/tass sold. Tavern keepers, druggists and store-keepers who have complied 
 with the act, and paid for licenses, have complained of the unequal working of the 
 law, while other parties have been permitted to sell ale and strong beer without a 
 license; and others have complained that the clau-se intended to prevent the sale of 
 any intoxicating li(iuors on the Sabbath, and to close all tippling shops on that day, 
 has been actually annulled. In New York the number of Sunday beer-shops in- 
 creased enormously for a time. 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 7 
 
 From The Times, May 2. 
 
 THE GERMANS AND THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 
 A portion of our German fellow- citizens are resorting to practices for the evasion 
 •of the new Sunday law, which will prove neither creditable »lor serviceable to their 
 •cause. Those of them who sell beer oJbject very strenuously to being curtailed of 
 that privilege of one day in the week, and have formed two associations for the 
 purpose of contesting the validity of the law and disarming the vigilance of the 
 police. A meeting of the parties concerned was held at the Stadt Theatre on Sat- 
 urday, and was attended by nearly forty of these gentlemen. A tariff of twenty 
 cents a barrel, or thereabouts, was imposed on the Sunday sales of lager, to be ■ 
 collected on Monday morning, and expended on lawyers, courts, &c.,and to pro- 
 tect the confederates in violating the law. 
 
 The proprietors of the theatrical establishments have resorted to a still more 
 discreditable process. They pretend to have established a new religious sect, and 
 under cover of the freedom permitted to all kinds of worship, claim the right to 
 have such exercises as they see fit on Sunday. M. LindenmuUer, who seems to be 
 one of the least scrupulous and most shameless of these persons, has published a 
 programme of his purposes ia the German papers. He announces that he has 
 founded a new free German church, which has for its object the sanctification of 
 the Sabbath, the instruction of the people, and the improvement of young crimi- 
 nals in this happy land. He denies that he intends to ridicule religion, but he 
 claims the right, under our Constitution, to practise any religion he chooses". A 
 preacher in church only tells you from the Bible that if good, you will be rewarded, 
 if evil, punished, in this world and the next. Any man who acts on the principl« 
 of doing to others as he would have them do to him', does not need this assurance ; 
 and any one who does not act upon it will not care for the warning. No priest can 
 change him. He has more fear of the Judge in Centre-street than of the Judge in 
 Heaven. "If," says he, "I give moral representations on Sunday, decent and 
 instructive, I am a preacher, and my actors are orators ; no church is anything but 
 a different kind of theatre." He announces, therefore, the discourses which he 
 and his colleagues will deliver — each being in five parts. Ten cents is to be paid 
 for admission into the temple ; but admission to the garden — "under the eye of 
 God and the free sky" — is free. 
 
 ATHEISM AVOWED. 
 
 Under this announcement, his Shaker congregation, as he calls them, assembled on 
 Sunday evening last. Towards midnight— after the regular performances— he de- 
 livered his discourse, and was a good deal more frank than he had been in his pub- 
 lished programme. " I openly confess,'' said he in substance, " that lam an Atheist. 
 What is an Atheist? An Atheist bdieves only ivhat he sees. Here the wealthy classes 
 have seven days of rest in ä week, instead of one, as we have ; and they want to 
 take away from us this one. If these hypocrites would be consistent, they must 
 stay away from the church on the Sabbath, for God commanded, as they say, that 
 they should rest on that day. Is not the bawling of psalms and prayers a great 
 labor ? But all labor is prohibited to them on the Sabbath. What think ye of the 
 justice of God ? I don't think much of it. Would a jtmt God permit an unfortu- 
 nate deaf mute to suffer for the eins of his parents ? Pretty justice, that ! Do you 
 believe in miracles ? Do you believe that Moses led the Egyptians through the 
 
8 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 Red Sea? That Christ fed 3,000 with so little ? I have fed some thousands, bnt it 
 took more than five loaves to do it. These cursed priests say all this merely for 
 gain. Don't you believe that if they could get more money by establishing the- 
 atres, they would to-morrow change the church into a theatre, and engage play- 
 actors? Most certainly they would. Nothing but professional envy induces them 
 to force the Sunday law upon us. Go to the Bible Society, and tell them you need 
 fifty'cents for a poor family ; verily, you would not get it. "We must multiply 
 more such theatres as mine, so as to compete with the churches ; and then the 
 preachers will become play-actors, and let us alone.'' 
 
 Nearly a thousand half-drunk Germans listened to and applauded these Atheistic 
 ravings in a Sunday Theatre, in the interval of come lies performed in open, 
 avowed defiance of a law of the State, passed within a fortnight ! 
 
 From the same, May 8. 
 ANOTHER MEETING OF ANTI-LAW GERMANS. 
 
 A loud call was made in the German papers of Saturday, for a rally of " Import- 
 ers and Dealers in Wines and Liquors, Brewers," and Lagerbier-dom generally, as 
 well as " every German whose means will allow," at the Stadt Theatre, in the 
 Bowery. The object of the meeting was to gain .strength for the " Anti-Sunday 
 Association," and to settle the principle that "what is lawfully allowed on so- 
 called week days shall be allowed on the so-called Sunday." The moderate sum of 
 $1 is received for membership until the 15th May, when $3 will be charged. 
 
 The meeting came ofif at 10 o'clock, but the demonstration corresponded poorly 
 with the promise of the announcement. Not more than twenty persons were pres- 
 ent, and it was stated that only fifty-two members have joined the Association. 
 Even the amiable keeper of the Volks Theatre, Eustachi, was not there, but Linden- 
 muller was. Eustachi's arrest, on Monday last, may have disgusted him. It was 
 stated that only one brewer was present. The proceedings were quite fame. It 
 was agreed to print the Constitution, &c., so as to awaken the sympathy of the 
 hotel-keepers. If any member of the Association is arrested for Sunday Theatricals, 
 he is to call upon Leutz or Hermann, and he will be helped out of the scrape. It 
 was stated that everything depended on the Captains of Precincts, and on the Police 
 
 Justices, Some of them would make no arrests or convictions. Justice was 
 
 alluded to as specially friendly ; and if they could manage to be iaken before him, 
 Üiey would he certain to be discharged. [Perhaps the Patrolmen will thank them for 
 this information.] 
 
 It wa.s announced that the Stadt Theatre would give a performance on Saturday 
 night for the benefit of the rebellion fund ; and liadenmuller and Eustachi are to 
 follow suit. 
 
 If the parties interested in violating law cannot get up more formidable demon- 
 strations than those we have reported, we shall soon tire of the task. We suppose 
 the fact to be, that while some thousands of Germans are not _im willing to carouse 
 in a Sunday theatre, if opened to them, very few of them care enough about It to 
 fight the battles of the score or two of men who wish to pocket the profits of their 
 dissipation. A little vigor on the part of the police, and a few $500 fines against 
 owners, keepers, players, and all concerned, will end this unequal contest. 
 
 From, the same, April 30. 
 
 THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 The Sunday law, notwithstanding the impetus afforded to, its violation by the 
 excitement occasioned by the Great International Fight, was pretty well observed 
 yesterday. Certainly it was not so openly disregarded as on the previous Sundays. 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 9 
 
 The prominent offenders were located in Broadway, and in the leading streets a few 
 blocks from that thoroughfare, in whose " Institutions '' side-doors were open, ingress, 
 and egress made feasible, and the whipping of Satehs by Heenan was the prominent 
 topic of discourse. That discourse had to be " washed down," but the fear of the 
 law on the part of the proprietors prevented the admission of more than half a 
 dozen disputants at one time, and bolts and bars were prohibitive to any but " the 
 old, familiar faces." The keepers of every drinking saloon were notified on Satur- 
 day night that the penalties of the law would be fully and impartially enforced, in 
 the event of an infraction of the statute, and, in consequence, the majority of the 
 "dispensers of liquid enjoyment" closed their houses altogether, without any 
 deception of side-doors. As a doubt exists with the Police Commissioners that 
 lager beer is an intoxicating drink, the members of the force were directed not to 
 arrest the proprietors of saloons where that beverage is exclusively sold, but merely 
 to report them for future action, when the still-disputed point shall have been 
 decided. Accordingly the lager beer gardens in the Bowery and other streets were 
 overrun with customers all day long, and an extraordinary quantity of that bever- 
 age was sold. Early in the evening the usual dramatic and musical entertainments 
 were given in the German theatres and gardens. With the proprietors, however, 
 the police did not interfere, merely contenting themselves with a sedulous search 
 for offenders of this sort, all of whom will be reported to the District-Attorney. 
 The following arrests were made, the prisoners having been discharged after fur- 
 nishing $300 bail : Frederick Dehlke, No. 246 Delancey street ; Louis Bitjemann, 
 No. 122 Canal street ; Thomas Casey, No. 300 East Broadway ; Henry Swartz, No. 
 57 Pike street; James Casey, corner of James and Madison streets; and Ellen 
 Sheehan, Worth street, near Centre. 
 
 From The Evening Post, May t. 
 THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 If we were to credit fully the returns of the police and the items of some of the 
 morning papers, we should believe that the Sunday liquor and amusement law has 
 been very generally observed. If, however, we go behind these, and learn the real 
 facts of the case, we shall find, that while there has been in numerous instances, a 
 pretended observance of the law, it has been so evaded and secretly violated that it 
 has, in fact, been virtually nullified. 
 
 Not only is this the case, but the instances are numerous in which it has been 
 openly set at defiance. The Bowery, last night, was as lively as the mo.st deter- 
 mined enemy of the law could desire ; and while some of the small places were 
 closed, the large ones were in full blast. 
 
 Volks-Garten, the great Sunday evening resort for our Teutonic population, 
 where they take their families and drink lager beer and Rhine wine, had an audi- 
 ence of not less than two thousand persons, and the waiters were busy until mid- 
 night, in dispensing the forbidden beverage. The billiard tables, shooting gallery, 
 &c., were incessantly patronized, while the performances on the stage elicited loud 
 applause. 
 
 Many other places were less lively, only because less extensive. At Hoym's 
 Theatre a notice was posted in German and English, to the effect that a new relig- 
 ious society called "German Shakers" met there, and that none but members 
 were admitted. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that this was a mere rwse for sup- 
 plying drinks to the thirsty. 
 
 Around the Central Park booths were erected, and beer sold without restraint. 
 
 The police made a few arrests yesterday for violation of the law ; but it is worthy 
 of note that these were among the keepers of small and comparatively unimportant 
 
10 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 places. Some of our officers seem to be troubled with visual obliquity in passing 
 the establisliments of powerful and wealthy proprietors ; but when they come to a 
 wretch who has neither money nor friends, the majesty of the law is vindicated. 
 
 From The Express, May 21. 
 THE SUNDAY LAW AND THE POLICE. 
 In another part of our paper will be found a full report of thfe principal places 
 about town whose scandalous misdoings on the Sabbath was just the occasion of the 
 new Sunday Law, and which g ive direct point and bearing to its enactment. Dis- 
 reputable and profane as these things have heretofore been represented to be, we 
 were not prepared for the truth, in its full extent, as presented in our report of 
 these disgraceful scenes and orgies. It is doubtful if one in a thousand of our 
 orderly citizens have even a faint idea of the seductive and abominable dens thrown 
 wide open on the Sabbath, witli all their degrading and demoralizing influences, to 
 the youth of the city ; our youth, who are hereafter to be our men, our guides and 
 exemplars. The contemplation is a fearful one. There is something either very 
 ridiculous, or very outrageous, in the sufferance of these things, and the public 
 should demand that the intention of the law be enforced at all hazards. 
 
 Mode of Dealing with Sunday Liquor Dealers 
 in Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Judge Stump having been impeached for drunkenness and want of fidelity to his 
 official duties, and Justice Bond having been appointed as City Judge of Baltimore, 
 one of the first steps in restoring public order and morality has been the suppres- 
 sion of the Sunday Liquor Traffic. 
 
 In the " BdUimore Exchange '' of April 25, we find, in a notice of the proceedings 
 of the Criminal Court, n any items like the following : 
 
 " State vs. John Hoflman, indicted for selling liquor without license. The court 
 thought the establishment ought to be broken up, declared the traverser guilty, and 
 ordered him to pay fine of $200, and costs ; total, $217.25. Jeremiah Dillon, 
 indicted for selling liquor without license. Tried before the court, guilty. Fine 
 and costs, 158.57. Jacob Petrie, against whom three indictments were pending for 
 selling liquor on Sunday, forfeited his recognizance, and a fine of $50 and costs in 
 each case was imposed on his bondsmen. Jolin Kohlis, charged with selling liquor 
 on Sunday, was fined (two indictments) $G7.14. A large number of indictments 
 for selling liquor on Sunday, and without license, will be disposed of to-day." — 
 Lawlessness has ceased with the suppression of a lawless business. 
 
 Comments of the Daily Press. 
 
 From The Tribune, April 25. 
 SUNDAY LAWS. 
 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, have 
 seen fit, we may say from time immemorial, to enact that the fir^ day of the week, 
 commonly called Sunday, sliould be peculiarly a day of rest. On that day no man 
 need fear an arrest for debt, or the service of any civil process ; no man is required 
 to serve on juries, to attend court as a witness, or (in time of peace) to perform 
 military duty. It is empliatically the poor man's day — his weekly day of exemp- 
 tioa from ordinary labor — a day on which he may enjoy fully the society of his wife 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 11 
 
 and children. We believe that, if all peculiar respect for it were obliterated, the 
 majority of the poor would work sevea days per weeli for no more average wages 
 than they now receive for six, and that their moral, physical, and pecuniary condi- 
 tion, would be decidedly worse than it now is. We hold it, tlierefore, the clear 
 interest of tiie Laboring Class as such to uphold and insist on the present legal 
 Uatus of Sunday. 
 
 This day of the week is also regarded with peculiar reverence and honor by the 
 great majority of the Christian world as that on which their Saviour rose from the 
 dead. Some of them — we believe a majority — regard it further as bearing, by 
 transference, the peculiar sanctity anciently attached to the seventh day of the 
 week, or Saturday, as that whereon God rested from his work of creation and hal- 
 lowed it. Most; Christian sects and churches celebrate Divine worship in public on 
 this day ; but this is a matter of free personal choice, with which the law of our 
 State does not concern itself. We trust, however, that any fair, liberal man, no 
 matter of what creed, or of none, will say, " If the State sees fit to declare and 
 maintain a weekly day of rest from all ordinary labor, then it is but reasonable and 
 just to select for the purpose that day which the largest number of our people con- 
 secrate (at least in part) to religious instruction, meditation, and communication 
 with God." 
 
 If there were any attempt to make people religious by law — to compel them to 
 attend church, or to participate in devotional exercises of any kind — -we should 
 strenuously resist it. We stand for freedom not merely in religion, but in irreligion. 
 We insist that an Atheist shall be not merely allowed-, but required to testify in 
 courts of justice precisely like any other man, leaving his want of religion to he 
 shown and allowed to have such weight as it may be deemed to deserve. There are 
 a great many sceptics whose word will go further — because it is worth more — than 
 that of many avowed believers. Let us have freedom in all things but doing evil ; 
 but freedom to fling stones through the windows of a church, upon the bowed 
 heads of a worshipping congregation, seems to us carrying the thing rather far ; 
 and we do not see that it would be less wrong to disturb them by drunken yells and 
 snatches of obscene or ribald songs. It seems to us that even gentlemanly infidels 
 should say : " Since the Christian majority wish to be undisturbed ia their devo- 
 tions on Sunday, we will so order our pursuits as to give them no needless annoy- 
 ance.'' So much the law of our State requires of her citizens : we cannot tliiuk it 
 too much. But, says an objector, " You quietly assume that the Sunday-upholders 
 are a majority." Yes, we do. The fact that our laws have uniforijily assumed it, 
 yet have stood substantially unchanged in this respect, is to our mind conclusive. 
 But we freely, cheerfully concede the right of the opponents of the civil Sabbath to 
 make up an issue on the subject, and try conclusions before the grand inquest of the 
 People. If the anti-Sabbatarians choose to make such an issue, though we must 
 go against them, we shall respect their frankness, and endeavor to give them fair 
 play. 
 
 But the course they see fit usually to follow does not command our respect. 
 They are perpetually barking at the heels of the Sabbath, not looking it square in 
 the face. They talk of " Aminadab Sleek," " the Saints," " pious Pillsbury,'' &c., 
 &c., all of which sounds to us like very cowardly and rather dirty slang. So do 
 their outcries against each attempt to enforce some tolerable respect for the Sab- 
 bath, as if it were an entirely new device, when, in fact, it is but requiring obedi- 
 ence to laws wliich have existed in substance for generations. It surely cannot be 
 necessary to state that keeping theatres, tippling-houses, &c. , in full blast on Sun- 
 day, is not legal in this State, and has not been at any time during the thirty years 
 we have lived in it — how much longer, we will not now say. All recent legislation 
 
12 THE PRESS OP NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 on the subject has consisted simply of attempts to stop evasions or open violations 
 of original provisions of the Revised Statutes. The act recentlj^ passed is nothing 
 more. 
 
 We say, then, to the anti-Sabbatarians, If you deem yourselves men, be manly ! 
 Make a square issue, if you will, on the abolition of all State laws which distinguish 
 Sunday from other days, and if the people are with you, their votes will show it. 
 If you do not choose to abolish all civil recognition of the Sabbath, agree among 
 yourselves as to what portions of those laws you will have repealed, make a dis- 
 tinct, square issue thereon, and, if your requirement is reasonable, you need not 
 fear an adverse decision. But this growling, and snarling, and calling names, is 
 sorry business ; and, if you have nothing better to say, it were wiser and better to 
 keep silence. 
 
 From The Journal of Commerce, May 3. 
 OUR GERMANS— LAW, OR NO LAW? 
 
 We inserted on Monday a notice of an organization of the " German Anti-Sun- 
 day Law Association " without comment. Had it been an association to effect the 
 repeal or the modification of a Sunday law or any other law, we should not have 
 returned to it. But as a class-combination, avowedly to resist the enforcement of 
 an existing statute, this organization, and the action last Sunday of its several 
 members in defiance of our authorities, demand the attention of the press and the 
 public. 
 
 The antecedent facts out of which this association sprung are briefly these : With 
 the increase of European emigrants gradually arose a system of Sunday amuse- 
 ments previously unknown in this country. The large measure of liberty here 
 enjoyed, rendei-ed still larger by an undisciplined police and the concealment of a 
 foreign language, at last degenerated into the grossest license. Sunday had come 
 to be preeminently the day of dissipating sports and of personal indulgence. The 
 beer-saloon grew into the theatre, and the theatre into a pandemonium of gambling, 
 dancing, and nameless vices. Many such establishments, thronged by thousands of 
 the youth of both sexes, and by the vicious of all classes, at length compelled the 
 attention o£ the community to the tendencies of such a skilful system of popular 
 demoralization. 
 
 When the parallel wrong of the Sunday liquor-traffic was exposed, it was thought 
 that a proper enforcement of the law would dry up both of these sources of evil. 
 But it was fourwi that men who were pocketing hundreds of dollars every Sunday, 
 could laugh at the trifling penalties which restrained smaller offenders, and that 
 new legislation v?as demanded, to control adequately these mammoth establish- 
 ments. A law for this purpose passed the Legislature, but in a form not satisfactory 
 to Governor Morgan, and he returned it with his objections — expres.sly approving, 
 however, its Swiday provisions. Another bill, relating simply to the peace and 
 order of Sunday, was put on its passage. It was bitterly opposed by the parties 
 interested in Sunday amusements ; but became a law on the last day of the session. 
 The Police authorities have entered on its execution— whether with needful delib- 
 eration, and in the wisc.«t manner, need not here be discussed. 
 
 Now, with all allowance for imperfect acquaintance with our laws and institu- 
 tions on the part of recent comers from other lands, it would seem that common 
 prudence would restrain our German friends from direct conflict with our authori- 
 ties, in a case where American public sentiment is clearly embodied in a statute of 
 the State. So long as they braved that sentiment by acts obnoxious only to the 
 moral sense of the community, and perhaps offensive to the common law, it was 
 simply a breach of the peace ; discourteous and ungrateful enough, indeed, but 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 13 
 
 capable of being palliated on the score of old-world customs. But now that the 
 convictions of the overwhelming majority of the people of this country — including 
 the body of the German immigrants themselves — have crystallized into statutory 
 law, it is little better than bald rebellion to combine for mutual protection in 
 openly violating that law and defying the authorities who are bound to enforce it. 
 
 Aside from the urgent motive of self-interest, and the unwillingness to give up a 
 profitable business, probably two considerations incite to the dangerous policy of 
 resistance. One is, the hope of party capital or partisan intervention. That hope 
 is delusive ; corrupt as parties have become, no party in this country dare hang the 
 mill-stone around its neck of a no-Sunday issue. Then the precedent of the Maine- 
 Law failure has already been adduced by the Sunday Press to stimulate the German- 
 Theatre men in their lawless zeal. But a moment's reflection must dispel that 
 hope. The Maine Law was an anomaly, sweeping in its provisions, defective in its 
 structure, and oppressive in its operation. The' Sunday-Theatre Law is in harmony 
 with the legislation of all our States, from the foundation of our Government. 
 Public sentiment revolted at the enforcement of the former : it demands the execu- 
 tion of the latter. The German press may not have interpreted either American or 
 German sentiment aright, to the keepers or frequenters of Sunday Theatres ; but 
 we can tell them that there is a calm, determined purpose among the masses of 
 right-minded citizens, of all classes and parties, that the day of rest and worship 
 shall be freed from play-acting, dancing, gambling, and the innumerable immoral- 
 ities which cluster around the Sunday Theatre and Beer Garden. Eesistance to 
 that purpose will prove as vain as it is ill-mannered and rebellious. 
 
 If our Teutonic friends think us mistaken in our judgment of public opinion on 
 this question, they have a palpable method of testing the question, without trying 
 their strength with our government and people. They can renew their agitation 
 for the repeal of all Sunday Laws. Nobody will hinder them. But, until they 
 succeed in that, they will consult their own good and honor the German name by 
 obeying, under protest if they please — the laws as they are. Their appeals to the 
 law for protection would come with an ill grace if they do not respect and obey 
 law. On every account, let those who have profited so long by a monopoly of Sab- 
 bath-breaking sports, content themselves with their gains, and fall into the line of 
 all other trades, which content themselves with the earnings of six days, without 
 trenching on " the poor man's day " — the Lord's Day. 
 
 From the Courier and Enquirer, May 4. • 
 
 GERMAN ATHEISTS. 
 
 The most intelligent and influential German paper in this country once claimed 
 for its emigrant countrymen the position of atheistic preeminence. Its language 
 was: " Every one who knows our share in the progress of science and philosophy, 
 knows that among our people, who stand nearer to the atheistic view than any other in the 
 world, piety and morals are more strictly separated than among nations whose book 
 of life is the Bible, and the Bible alone." 
 
 We should not dispute this statement were it restricted in its terms to the class 
 of emigrants of the Red Eepublican type of 1848. As applied to the Germany 
 of the present, or the German immigrants as a whole, it is unsupported by facts. 
 That it aptly characterizes a large class in our great cities, especially in New York, 
 cannot be denied. With some exceptions, the Sunday beer-garden gentry belong 
 to " the people who stand nearer to the atheistic view" than anybody else ; but 
 without that marked " separation of piety and morals," alleged by the Zeitung. Their 
 morals and their godless creed are intimately allied. Eecognizing no Great First 
 cause — " believing only what they see" — rejecting any rule of right, but their own 
 will — acknowledging no law — reckless of present duty or future retribution, — a 
 
14 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 more material, sensual, unprincipled set of viauvnis suj'ets never left a despotism to 
 curse a Republic. They number many men of thorough University education ; 
 men with talents and acquirements for high positions in literary or political life. 
 But their atheistic " piety," and their consequent want of decent " morals," have 
 plunged them into depths of wickedness, and made them leaders of their country- 
 men in paths of dissipation and folly. 
 
 It was only last Sunday night that one of these dangerous men stood up before a 
 thousand Germans congregated in his Sunday theatre, and when they had imbibed 
 lager and witnessed vulgar comedies enough to prepare them for hia ravings, avow- 
 ed himself an Atheist, defining his creed to be that of one who " believes only what 
 he sees,'' and then pouring out his blasphemies on the Bible, the clergy, and the 
 people who keep Sunday and " bawl psalms and prayers !" 
 
 He is a "representative man," though a little exaggerated. The great body of 
 the hordes who are systematically trampling on our American Sabbath, and who are 
 now banded together to defy the recent Act against Sunday Theatricals, are sub- 
 stantially of this class. Some of them have grown wealthy on their immoral gains. 
 Some of them have influence as politicians. Most of them despise the institutions 
 of their adopted country, and are as anarchiceil in their views of government, as they 
 are atheistical in their religious creed, and corrupt in their ethical notions. They 
 have even provided a school system, extending to all the principal cities, and num- 
 bering scores of teachers and many hundreds of pupils, in New York, avowedly to in- 
 culcate atheistic vieivs of " piety and morals f^ and the GevmAU daily pres^s is largely 
 committed to infidel, if not atheistic sentiments — without a single daily journal, 
 so far as we can learn, to defend, or even explain, Christianity, or a Christian mo-' 
 rality. 
 
 It is such an interest— foreign to the spirit and genius of our country, and hostile 
 to every vital element within our borders — that has ventured to try its strength 
 with our laws and magistracy, in the persistent violation of the recent Act to pre- 
 serve tiie public peace and order on Sunday. 'J'he establislnnents started in Broad- 
 way and elsewhere, under American auspices, in imitation of the German beer 
 gardens, have now closed their doors, we believe, on the Sabbath. But atheistic 
 Germans stand out and defy the police. They have chosen to present an issue 
 which our authorities and people can only decline by the abandonment of a govern- 
 ment of law, and a surrender of the city into the hands of atheistic Sabbath-breakers, 
 and Europeans at that. No : we can do no such thing. The law must be enforced, 
 and promptly enforced. If a majority of the people of this State choose to give up 
 the principle of protecting the Civil Sabbath by legislation, at the next meeting of 
 the Legislature, so as to enable these Sunday Theatr« gentlemen to pocket their 
 profits — let it be so. But a wise and needful statute, consistent with those existing 
 from the earliest settlement of the country, stands on record ; a vast police system 
 is charged with its enforcement ; the public good demands firm and persistent 
 action ; and, unless atheism ends in anarchy here as elsewhere, we shall soon see 
 the end of the iniquitous and indefensible system of Sunday Theatricals. 
 
 l^rom The Times, May 22. 
 
 THE SUNDAY LAW AND THE GERMAN PRESS. 
 The cry of Religious Freedom always so captivating, has been raised by a great 
 number of the so-called Anti-Sabbatarians, who insist on ignoring the real charac- 
 ter and basis of the laws protecting the Sabbath. Instead of accepting the obvious 
 and uniform interpretation given by their supporters, and recognized by our Courts, 
 or of discriminating as to their practical operation, it has been maintained by both 
 American and German journals, within a week, that " the Sabbath is not a political, 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 15 
 
 nor a civil, but a religious institution ;'' and tbat " the Sabbatarians intend to make 
 the civil power subservient to the Church, and will soon compel every man to go to 
 church on that day, or mulct him in a penalty for his disobedience." Reams of 
 paper have been spoiled in asserting the " uncons^itulionalily'^ of all such statutes. 
 Were the laws what they are represented to be, or were the Constitution the mu- 
 tilated, perverted thing claimed, there "might be ground for the clamor against both. 
 But in truth, both the laws and the Constitution have been shamefully misrepre- 
 sented. And in point of fact, the constitutional objection has been almost univer- 
 sally based on the first clause of Art. I, sec 3, [" The free exercise and enjoyment 
 of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall for- 
 ever be allowed in this state to all mankind:"] without any reference to the con- 
 cluding clause of the same section, which, of itself, nullifies every claim for Sunday 
 license on the score of religious freedom. One honorable exception to this rule we 
 find in the able leader of the Staats Zeitung of May 3 ; and this leader is worthy of 
 examination, both as a specimen of German logic, and because of its relation to the 
 conflict of the Sunday theatre gentry with a recent law of this State. 
 
 After scouting the Republican doctrine " of submission to the will of majorities," 
 the Staats Zeitung proceeds : 
 
 " Our Constitution contains a passage on which the contest against 'the Sunday 
 law, as an unconstitutional one, may be based. In Art. I, Sec. 3, religious liberty 
 is sanctioned, and the following clause added : ' But the liberty of conscience hereby 
 secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices in- 
 consistent icith the peace or safety of the Slate.' This clause shows in the first place, by 
 the mere fact of its existence, that liberty of conscience is not to be limited in any 
 other way than the one mentioned here ; for if other limitations were intended they 
 would have been stated. Furthermore, this clause, on which the ' Sabbatarians' 
 may rest, bears on its very face that the liberty of conscience, which it defines, 
 leaves every one perfectly free to recognize the religious obligations of the Sabbath 
 or not, just as he may choose. By ' acts of licentiousness' manifestly are meant 
 acts directly hostile to social order ; the practice of polygamy, for example. By 
 acts which endanger ' the peace and safety of the State,' political intrigues of relig- 
 ious sects are meant, in order that religious liberty may not be perverted to shelter 
 high treason, as, for instance, monarchical conspiracies. These things, which are 
 contrary to the general social order, as it exists every day, and not on Sunday alone, 
 cannot be permitted under the pretence of religious liberty. And this general social 
 order plainly refers only to political and civil institutions ; not at all to convention- 
 al usages. To work by day and sleep by night is such a conventional usage, and a 
 pretty common one. But has any Legislature the right to pass a law by whibh labor 
 at night shall be forbidden to adults ? Now the Sabbath is not a political n&r a 
 civil, but a religious institution. Its observance is a conventional usage of several 
 religious sects. To deviate from this usage falls, therefore, within the province of 
 religious libertj', and the Legislature has no right to decree anything in this matter. 
 For these reasons the constitutionality of this and every other Sunday law can be 
 contested, and may it be contested with all energy. Away with the Republican 
 theory of the absolute, uncontrolled will of the majority.'' 
 
 We have translated enough fairly to unfold the views of our German contemporary 
 — views clearly stated, and enforced with becoming arguments and in a dignified 
 temper. These views embrace a very novel theory of an American State Constitu- 
 tion — a theory, we venture to say, that would be just as novel to its framera and 
 'legal interpreters as it must be to all readers trained in a Christian Republic. But 
 this is not all. They involve also a radically mistaken idea of the institution itself, 
 
16 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 the relations of which are under discussion. " The Sabbath," we are told, " is not 
 a political, nor a civil, but a religious institution." So far is this from the truth, 
 that no Sunday law on our statute-book recognizes the religious designation of the 
 day as the " Sabbath ;" it is always described as " the first day of the week common- 
 ly called Sunday.'' It is solely as a ^' civil institution" that our laws relate to the 
 Sabbath, or attempt to guard it from invasion. Civilized society, acting under the 
 instinct of self-preservation, and hedged about by the necessities of our physical, 
 social, and moral being, must have rest from toil ; time for the repose of the body ; 
 opportunities of intellectual and moral recreation ; and it is the duty of society to 
 protect itself and its several members from disturbance and unusual temptation to 
 dissipation and vice on its day of rest. Society, enacting laws to this end, needs 
 and must have some moral basis o these and of all other laws. In America we 
 accept, not the Pagan, or the Mohammedan, or the Mormon, but the Christian code, 
 with its institution of marriage, its oath, and its peculiar day of rest and devotion — 
 less as religious rights than as civil necessities. Here, then, is furnished us an ade- 
 quate basis for our existing Sunday laws, without raising the question of religious 
 obligation and observance at all ; this particular question being left by the letter 
 and spirit of the statutes, and in accordance with the views of all religious sects, 
 solely to the domain of the individual conscience. 
 
 It is true, indeed, that this civil Sabbath is also regarded by the great body of 
 Christian citizens as a " religious institution,'' and observance cheerfully rendered 
 to it as a sacred day by millions of our population. But it is not in this aspect of 
 the season that legal protection has been asked for or given to it. Like marriage, 
 before whose sanctities our laws throw their protecting segis, by prescribing the 
 conditions of the civil contract and prohibiting infractions of the seventh command- 
 ment, while leaving its religious obligations to the conscience enlightened by the 
 Christian teacher, so the Sabbath lends its humanizing, elevating influences to 
 society, and asks from it in return only protection enough to secure its beneficent 
 existence and perpetuity. 
 
 But is either the Sabbath or marriage any the less a boon to the material and 
 temporal interests of mankind in civilized society, because the one is reverenced 
 by many Christians as a sacrament, and the other synchronizes with the season set 
 apart by the vast majority of Christians for worship? Would the Sabbath, as a 
 matter of fact, be more of a boon, if none of the restraints of law or custom pre- 
 vented capitalists and employers from compelling their workmen into seven days' 
 toil for six days' pay — a result which would inevitably flow from the repeal of such 
 laws in this age of competition ? or if the thousand temptations to vicious pleasures 
 were suffered to present their attractions unchecked before the eyes of the idle 
 throngs set free from weekly toil? or if no church-going bell made audible the 
 appeal of a hundred congregations to the conscience and self-respect of immortal 
 beings, and invited them away from the dens of guilty pleasure and the haunts of 
 vulgar folly ? 
 
 Those who hastily imagine that they are speaking for progress and liberty when 
 they urge with vehemence the principle, that all customs rooted in the Christian 
 element must henceforth receive no sanction of law, can have little notion of the 
 reach of their dogma. Its full application would send us back to the barbarism of 
 ancient Germany, and the Paganism of ancient Rome. The relations of the mod- 
 ern household ; our educational, humane and criminal institutions ; naj"-, our com- 
 mon and statute laws — the outgrowth and expression of our national life, — must all 
 be swept away, and of eighteen centuries of civilization scarce a wreck be left be- 
 hind. Jacobinical France tried the experiment only to renounce together, in 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 17 
 
 mingled rage and contempt, the Revolutionary Calendar and the Revolutionary 
 Guillotine. Observe, too, the partiality with which a society without a Sabbath 
 must needs be administered and ruled. Every Christian would necessarily, and on 
 conscientious grounds, be excluded from office; for Legislatures, courts, custom ■ 
 houses, public offices of all kinds, would have no warrant for the intermission of 
 their business on the Sabbath ; and, of course, therefore, no " Sabbatarian " could 
 accept a position of public responsibility. Halcyon days, those, for the handful of 
 anti-sectarian sectarians, who clamor now for " equal right-;, and no Sunday laws !" 
 All the official stations in the country would be in their possession ; the earth 
 would be theirs, and the fulness thereof. 
 
 The doctrine of the Staats Zeitung, that " the Sabbath is not a civil institution," 
 being dismissed as unsound, its propositions as to the application of Article I, sec- 
 tion 3, of the Constitution to this question disappear. But its exposition of tlic 
 Constitution itself requires a moment's attention, as illustrating the folly of reck- 
 less dealing with political instruments, drawn up in a strange land and in a foreign 
 language, without so much as resorting to a Dictionary. " Liberty of conscience 
 shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness," says the Constitution- 
 True, says the Zeitung; but "by acts of licentiousne.?s are manifestly meant cus- 
 toms in direct opposition to our social ovA^T—polyfjamy, for example." Such may 
 be the manifest meaning to a German mind: to one familiar with the language, 
 laws, or custom.s of this country, no interpretation could be more absurd. The 
 exegesis of our German commentator is as ingeniously superfluous as the most 
 elaborate escape of Dr. Paulus himself from the plain force of a Scripture text. 
 Polygamy was unknown in the State when the Constitution was formed ; as it is now 
 unless perhaps in some of the wilder Beer-Garden quarters. Any English diction- 
 ary would have turned the constitutional dreams of the Zeitung at once into day- 
 light. "Webster, for example, explodes the whole argument in a single definition, 
 to this effect: " Licentiousnes?. Excessive indulgence of liberty ; contempt of the 
 just restraints of law, morality, and decorum. The licentiousness of authors is justly 
 condemned ; the licentiousness of the Press is punishable by law. 
 
 'La-sv Is the god of wise men : 
 Licentiousness is the god of fools.' — Plat}." 
 
 According to this definition, the Zeitung will see that such perversions of the 
 organic law of the State as we have exposed would bring their author within the 
 scope of Dictionary and Constitutional thunder against practices more common, if 
 more decent, than " polygamy." 
 
 If the German organizations arrayed to test the constitutionality of the Sunday 
 Laws are guided by counsels like those of the Stoats Zeitung, and if funds are raised 
 and lawyers retained with the view of securing judicial decisions to the effect that 
 " the Sabbath is not a civil institution;'' that " licentiousness manifestly means 
 polygamy " alone ; and that therefore Sunday Theatres may be lawfully opened in 
 New York, in the face of law and in defiance of public opinion ; we opine the only 
 net result will probably be a fresh demonstration of Plato's neat theological defini- 
 tion, that ''Licentiousness is the god of fools." 
 
 From The Times, May 11. 
 
 A UNITED MAGISTRACY. 
 
 There are numerous combinations to resist or evade our laws, and to defend those 
 
 who do both. The Liquor interest, in its various ramifications, is thus protected. 
 
 There are "Liquor Dealers' Associations," and " Lager-beer Dealers' äocieties," 
 
 and "German Anti-Sunday Law Associations," &c. &c. Against such a power 
 
 2 
 
18 TUE PRESS OF NEV7 YOIIK ON THE 
 
 with ample funds unscrupulously employed, what protection have the wronged and 
 over-drugged public ? Our Laws? But what if their enforcement is forestalled by 
 able counsel, packed juries, venal courts, or a subservient magistracy ? What if 
 policemen have a blind side for unlicensed corner dram-shops ? Or, if they are 
 faithful in complaining of offenders, what if a District-Attorney should pile up 
 ;?0,000 complaints in his ofiSce — a monument of official neglect? Or, what if a few 
 convictions are had, an appeal taken, and the argument never should be reached ? 
 Or, if a decision is likely to be adverse, what if a little lobbying should secure just 
 legislation enough to put everything at loose ends again ? Or, if perfectly explicit 
 statutes are enacted, what if Judicial and Executive officers should be stimulated to 
 «quarrel just enough to nullify all efficient action, and let ofteiidcrs go on in their 
 iniquity ? 
 
 Now, is it not time that this game of fast and loose should cease ? It may not be 
 a very important matter that our City Treasury is robbed of half a million of dollars 
 annually by unlicensed liquor dealers. Possibly, we could stand the burden of 
 taxation for the support of the pauperism caused by intemperance. Tlie pocket is 
 chiefly affected by these matters — though there is a squinting of something else in 
 the impoverishment of some thousands of families ; but we will not plead that. 
 When we come, however, to the consideration of the fact, — patent to every Police- 
 man cr Police Justice, and to every citizen who reads a police report,— that fully 
 nine-tenths of the crime and vice of the city can be traced to the dram-shop, as cer- 
 tainly as a stream to its source, it seems the veriest folly and trifling to leave un- 
 checked the vast system of liquor-selling, and to deal in petty detail with crimi- 
 nals knov/n to be manufactured by it. 
 
 We would not claim that any policy can entirely arrest the curse of intemper- 
 ance and kindred vices. When all is done that man can do, there will be more than 
 enough of wrong-doing. But we do claim that the determined 2Hirpose to execute 
 the laws for the prevention of crime — and especially those which restrain and con- 
 trol the sale of intoxicating liquors — would speedily change the moral and social 
 condition of the city, and restore the ascendancy of law and virtue. 
 
 In order to this, it is needful that the various Departments of our City Govern- 
 ment should be united in aim and effort. Political and personal differences should 
 tind another arena than the battle-tield between the public and its most terrific foe. 
 Magistrates and police officers stand out as the sworn executors of law, and their 
 affiliation with law-breakers, or their neglect to deal with them as the result of 
 timidity, complicity or mutual misunderstanding, would be a betrayal of their 
 trust as indefensible as the treachery of a sentinel before a belcagured city. 
 
 The progress recently made in suppressing the Sunday Liquor traffic, and the in- 
 cipient movements of the Police to close the Sunday Theatres, would indicate a 
 decided advance in the right direction. The public arc in the mood to demand 
 thorough work in these reforms, on all days of the week. Any disposition to trifle 
 with public confidence in the matter, either on the part of the Police or the Justices, 
 would be visited by general reprobation. The claim for one day's exemption from 
 rum-selling and theatrical performances, is too just to be disputed ; and any class- 
 combinations to defeat that claim, whether German or American, should and will 
 be driven to the wall by a united magistracy, sustained by a united public. 
 
 From the Journal of Commerce, May 5. 
 
 CAUTION TO LANDLORDS. 
 The recent "act to preserve the public peace and order on Sunday" imposes 
 heavy penalties on the owners of real estate, as well as on the parties directly con- 
 cerned in Sunday theatricals. ' ' Every owner or lessee of any building, part of a build- 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 19 
 
 lug, ground, garden, or concert-room, or other room or place, who shall lease or let 
 out the same" to be used for the demoralizing purposes forbidden in the act, is de- 
 clared guilty of a misdemeanor, and, in addition to the legal penalty therefor, is 
 «ubjccted to a fine of S500, recoverable for the benefit of the House of Kefuge. 
 
 The well-known prudence of the Board of Managers of the House of Refuge is a 
 sufficient guarantee that this stringent provision will not be used oppressively ; but 
 the attitude assumed by the Sunday-theatre lessees of open resistance to the police, 
 and the half-and-half measures of the Police Commissioners, would seem to leave ho 
 alternative but to proceed with actions for the civil penalty. The owners of those 
 establishments may save themselves trouble and cost by vacating their leases, in 
 instances where a settled purpose is avowed to defy the laws on the part of their 
 tenants. And, if their rents are somewhat diminished, they may console themselves 
 with the improvement of neighboring property — now depressed by the nuisance 
 of a noisy Sunday resort. 
 
 From the same, May 9. 
 
 REBELLION ENCOURAGED. 
 The Sunday papers might find better employment than stimulating German 
 theatre-keepers to violate our laws. If they are sincere in their talk about testing 
 the constitutionality of the recent Sunday Law, it would be quite as well to en- 
 «sourage obedience to it while it is a law, as to counsel its open violation and a sub- 
 «eqiient resort to the Courts. Balderdash about the " victory of Sabbatarian bigotry 
 over the rights of man," and " compelling every man to go to church on Sunday^ 
 or mulcting him in a penalty for disobedience," is quite unworthy even the Sunday 
 Mercury. It savors of cant to talk of " constitutional Jiberty" and " compulsory 
 religion," whenever an attempt is made to stop newsboys from yelling in our streets, 
 or to shut up unlicensed dram-shops, or to suppress Sunday theatres and gambling 
 houses. The Mercury knows that the effort of "Sabbatarians" has had simple 
 reference to the restoration of a decent, quiet rest-day ; and that public morality 
 demands so much. It also knows that the first men in the community to resist to 
 the end, any attempt " to compel any man to go to church on Sunday,'' would be 
 the very "Sabbatarians" whom it reproaches. Why, then, does it persist in its 
 misrepresentation of facts ? 
 
 From the same^ May 18. 
 THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 A large majority of liquor-sellers and restaurant-keepers in this city and Brook- 
 lyn, regard the new Sunday Liquor-law and its rigid enforcement with much approv- 
 al. The more respectable of them have always had some conscientious scruple» 
 about keeping open-house on the Sabbath, but in doing so have permitted pecu- 
 niary interests to prevail over their inclinations. A seventh day's rest and cessa- 
 tion from business is required by this class of persons equally with all others, and 
 an interval of recreation is no less appreciated by them ; but while a portion per- 
 sisted in selling on the Sabbath, the remainder were compelled to do so or lose their 
 «ustomers. But now that a law strictly enforced compels all to close, without ex- 
 oeption, no objection of this sort can be raised, no discrimination can be made be- 
 tween houses, and the conscientious restaurant-keeper cannot be accused of refusing 
 accommodation to customers. As has been remarked, this change is received with 
 favor by a large portion of the dealers. Resting from labor, they begin the week 
 with renewed vigor, which is more than an equivalent for the loss of the profits of a 
 Sunday's business. The effect of the law is also seen in the strict order and pro- 
 priety with which the Sabbath is observed ; the temptation to drink is removed ; 
 
20 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 society is not outraged by rowdyism and street disturbances ; and if the question 
 were to be put to a public test, it would doubtless receive the approval of a large 
 majority, including a great proportion of those who do not class themselves as 
 church-goers or strict Sabbath-keepers. 
 
 . Comments of the Weekly Press. 
 
 Ft^om The Observer, May 3. 
 (;ftlSIS OF THE SABBATH REFORM. REBELLION OF GERMANS : DUTY 
 
 OF CITIZENS. 
 The new Sunday Law has stirred up the elements of selfishness and sin in the me- 
 tropolis. It strilies at the monstrous system of iniquity which has grown up with 
 European emigration, and extended thence among the more debased of our own 
 population. Its provisions and penalties are such as, if properly enforced, will 
 restore to the whole community the enjoyment of a quiet day of rest, free from the 
 annoyances and the temptations to vice and folly furnished by the Sunday theatre 
 and beer garden. The necessity for such legislation arose from the fact that th« 
 previous laws were enacted when the possibility, even, of such enormities was not 
 contemplated by our legislators ; so that the caterers for Sunday amusements have 
 to thank themselves that a new and stringent law for the protection of an Ameri- 
 can Sabbath appears on the Statute Book. 
 
 The issue is fairly joined, at last, between the friends and enemies of the cuil 
 Sabbath, — for no question of its religious obligation or observance is involved. It 
 is a question whether the day of rest secured to every citizen, and to all citiacns 
 alike, shall be preserved and perpetuated ; or whether it shall be yielded to saloon- 
 keepers, players, theatre proprietors and pleasure-makers, to be made the sport of 
 selfish indulgence, and the gala day of ungodliness. There will be, as there have 
 been, innumerable attempts, on the part of the Sunday press and other interested 
 parties, to impose false issues on the public: but the one question is between the 
 moral and immoral — between good and bad citizens — between a Sabbath and no 
 Sabbath. 
 
 On this issue there can be no neutrality. American citizens, without regard to 
 party, sect, or section, will range themselves with law and right ; and our authori- 
 ties. Judicial or E.^ecutive, we trust, will meet the exigency with firmness, yet 
 with forbearance. A large part of the German population, and a larger part of the 
 Irish, will cooperate with the authorities to secure the proper enforcement of the 
 laws. The enemies of the Sabbath, though violent and determined, are but a hand- 
 ful compared with the body of law-abiding citizens. 
 
 During the past week there have been several meetings of German theatre-pro- 
 prietors, brewers, &c. ; and on Saturday an organization was formed to reüxt the latcf, 
 and to protect offenders. Funds are to be raised for this purpose by a tax on brew- 
 ers, innkeepers, bar-tenders, and all concerned in lager beer interests. It was 
 agreed to defy the law, except the prohibition of dancing and gambling, foregoing 
 also the performances till 4 o'clock on Sunday P. M.— calling this a " compromise." 
 On the last Sunday, the theatrical and musical performances continued as usual, 
 attended by as large crowds as ever. Every person engaged in these performance» 
 kneio that the law of the land was violated, and that each was liable to arrest for 
 misdemeanor, and to a fine of $500. It remains to be seen whether this bold gam« 
 will succeed — whether there is sufficient power in a government of law to restrain 
 wholesale iniquity ; or whether our Police force and our Judiciary are a costly sham. 
 To doubt the issue would be to doubt whether our Republic was made for citisiens. 
 or for lager-beerdom. 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 21 
 
 Meanwhile, the friends of the civil Sabbath, and of a civil Sabbath, must give suf- 
 ficient attention to this question to understand it ; and devote enough of time and 
 influence to it to leave uo doubt in the minds of the Police, and the Police Justices, 
 and the Press, as to the depth and siacerity of their convictions in favor of an 
 orderly Sabbath, and of the enforcement of the laws against the Sunday liquor traf- 
 fic and Sunday theatricals. 
 
 From the same, 3Iay 10. 
 
 GERMAN ATHEISTS AND THEIR SUNDAY PERFORMANCES. 
 
 The progress of the Sunday movement is revealing more and more of the iniquity 
 and error of the disorderly classes. The real character of the German Sunday the- 
 atres, and the dangerous influence of their proprietors, are coming to be known ; 
 and, when known, the necessity for the passage and euforcement of the law against 
 this class of Sunday amusements will be obvious to every decent citizen. One of 
 the most influential of these proprietors has made a public avowal of his atheism — 
 at the same time adopting the ruse of giving his Sunday preformances under the 
 guise of a " Shaker Congregation ! '' Comedies, farces, boisterous music, drinking, 
 and all sorts of revelry, are interspersed with atheistic harangues, and denuncia- 
 tions of the Bible, the clergy» the laws of the State, and the authorities of the city. 
 
 Without counselling the molestation of such blasphemers on account of their 
 words, we may say that it is due to the majesty of law that their unlawful acts 
 should be restrained and punished. If German atheists have no better manners or 
 morals than to foist upon us their scandalous Sunday sports, in contempt of law and 
 custom and public sentiment, it is high time they learned that American freedom 
 and unrestrained licen.se are quite dift'erent and incompatible. 
 
 We rejoice to know that there is a large and an increasing class among the Ger- 
 mans who are disgusted with such proceedings, and who are giving their influence 
 in favor of a proper observance of the Lord's day. 
 
 From The Evangelist, May 12. 
 
 RESISTANCE TO THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 
 The defeat of the anti-Sunday movement in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and 
 the passage of the Sunday Amusement Bill in the Legislature of New York, are evi- 
 dent signs of an improved state of public sentiment on the Sabbath question. It is 
 plain that tiie respectable portion of our citizens were never less disposed than now 
 to yield to the demands of the immoral classes for the abandonment of our time- 
 honored customs as to Sabbath observance. Whatever may have been the case for- 
 merly, we are convinced that there are but few of the tax-jjayers of this city who 
 are not now fully convinced of the intimate and inseparable connection between a 
 holiday, beer-garden Sunday, and every kind of vice and crime, and that the toler- 
 ation of tlie former involves an immense expenditure of money to suppress the latter. 
 It was this conviction in part that led to the enactment of a law by the last 
 Legislature, which would place greater barriers in the way of selfishness and sin on 
 the day that furnishes the leisure for dissipation and folly, and which, consequently, 
 becomes a day of special temptation to the laboring classes. 
 
 As was to be expected, the proprietors of lager beer saloons and Sunday theatres 
 are preparing to resist the enforcement of the new law. in every possible way. The 
 beer sellers have already formed two associations for the avowed purpose of testing 
 the validity of the act whicli re [uires them to close their saloons on the Sabbath, 
 and to resist the efforts of the police in bringing offenders to speedy punishment. 
 A tax of ten cents has been levied on each barrel of lager sold, and the fund 
 thus raised is to be expended in feeing lawyers to defend those who violate the State 
 enactment. 
 
 But the height of brazen-faced impudence has been reached only by the proprie- 
 tors of Sunday theatres. Their last dodge is a shameful and impious pretence to 
 eatablish a new religious sect, and on the plea of religious liberty they claim the 
 right to hold such exercises as they may see fit. One of these proprietors has published 
 a programme in the German papers of the exercises to take place in his theatre on 
 the Sabbath, and announces that he has foimded "a new German church, which 
 has for its object the sanctification of the Sabbath, the instruction of the people, 
 and the improvement of criminals in this happy land ! " " If," says he, " I give 
 moral representations on Sunday, decent and instructive, I am a preacher, and my 
 actors are orators ; no church is anything but a diff"erent kind of theatre ! "_ 
 
22 THE PRESS OF NEW YORK ON THE 
 
 This wretched creature avows himself an atheist, and denounces the Bible, the 
 mini?trj% ami everything sacred. And these atheistic ravings, says one of our daily 
 papers, •' were listened to and applauded by nearly a thousand half-drunken Ger- 
 mans in a Sunday theatre, in the interval of comedies performed in open, avowed 
 defiance of a law of the State, passed within a fortnight." 
 
 The issue is thus fairly joined. There is no way for good citizens to escape the 
 respon,«ibility of settling the question. These lawless strangers must be taught to 
 respect our institations and obey our laws ; tliat they cannot resist and defy them 
 with impunity. We are glad to see that the new Police Commissioners, with their 
 enlarged power.s, have entered so promptly on the enforcement of the Sunday 
 Liquor and the Sunday Amusement Laws. In their efforts to enforce the law, they 
 may count on the hearty support of every good citizen, and we believe of every 
 tax-payer, whatever be his party or his political creed. 
 
 But why tlie order to arrest offenders is varied in the case of those who Tiolate 
 the Sunday Tiicatre Law, is not quite clear. Actors, proprietors, and all concerned 
 in the performances, are guilty of a misdemeanor, and are liable therefore, to arrest 
 without a warrant. A complaint on Monda,y may be a convenient way of not enforc- 
 ing tlie law : an arrest on Sunday would effectually carry out its intent. Why 
 should there be a discrimination? 
 
 Surely the attitude of defiance assumed by the Supday theatre jiroprietors does 
 not entitle them to any special grace on the part of the Police authorities. And 
 the fact that they are wholesale offenders, tempting thousands of people every Sun- 
 day to illegal acts, should induce the Police to make thorough work in their deal- 
 ing with these influential outlaws. 
 
 Our Police Justices and Criminal Judges have now the opportunity to impress the 
 lawless classes with a salutary lesson, that even-handed justice will be meeted out 
 to offenders, whether their name be legion, and their combination never so powerful 
 in ill-gained wealth, or whether they are brought singly before them. 
 
 And let tliera bear in mind, that the public are not in a mood to be trifled with, in 
 a matter involving the peace and order of a great city. After a distinct and avowed 
 determination is expressed, and that by the most dangerous class of foreigners 
 among us, to trample our laws under their feet, nothing less will satisfy the public 
 than vigilance and fidelity,on the part of those whose duty it is to restrain and 
 punish the lawless. 
 
 From The Intelligencer, May 3. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SABBATH PROTECTED. 
 
 Among the numerous acts of the Legislature — good, bad, and indiflferent — the 
 Sunday xVmuscmcnt Bill is accepted as a measure of unquestionable benefit to our 
 city. It strikes at the root of a system of evil-doing more monstrous than exists in 
 any capital of the Old World. It is a matter of amazement, indeed, that a civil- 
 ieed community should have tolerated so long the shameless wrong of Sunday the- 
 atricals, with their accompanying immoralities. And now that a law is enacted, 
 guarded but stringent in its provisions, it will be a disgrace to our city and its au- 
 thorities, if the cormorants of the beer-garden are allowed to defy or defeat its en- 
 forcement, according to their avowed purpose. 
 
 It is certainly as much as can be claimed of the order loving public, that they 
 shouUl tolerate the unlicensed, and often immoral performances of the lager-beer 
 theatres si.K days of the week. When they go farther, and make the Sabbath their 
 carnival and harvest day, they outrage every conviction of right and propriety of 
 the community ; and the attempt to do tliis in open violation of a law they did all 
 in their power to defeat, is a gross insult to the country of their adoption, which 
 rtvery good citizen will resent and resist to the bitter end. 
 
 The movements of the brewers and proprietors of theatres are narrowly watched 
 t)y the police and the public. They evidently intend to brave everything, with the 
 hope of frightening our authorities from the execution of the lav/. Last Sunday 
 most of the large theatres continued their performances as usual. One of them ad- 
 fled to the programme an oration by the proprietor, in which he avowed himself to 
 be an atheist, denouncing the Bible and the ministry, and everything sacred. 
 
 The time has come to settle the question once for all. whether emigrants toour 
 shores are to respect our institutions, and obey our laws ; or whether atheistic 
 refugees from Europe are to trample with itnpunity on both. Our magistracy owe 
 it to their own dignity, and to the community they arc bound to protect, to move 
 forward to the speedy solution of this problem. They may count on the support of 
 
LAW AGAINST SUNDAY THEATRES, ETC. 2S 
 
 every tax- payer, and of every good citizen of whatever party or creed. And if 
 there be those among us who cannot content themselves in a land where the Sab- 
 bath is protected from the invasion of the godless and the profane, let them go 
 back to the lands where their Sunday license has cost them their civil and religious 
 freedom. 
 
 From the same, May 10. 
 
 BEER-GARDEN FROTH. 
 
 One ceases to wonder at the failure of the Red Republican Germans in their out- 
 break of '48, when acquainted with their tactics in assailing the laws and institu- 
 tions of their adopted country. Their frothy manifestoes, their ignorance alike of 
 their own strength and of the strength of their antagonists, their want of familarity 
 with principles of government established here for generations, their incapacity for 
 effective organizatior , would argue little less than failure in political or social 
 combinations. 
 
 The efforts of the Sunday-theatre gentry to resi.«t the execution of the recent act 
 to suppress demoralizing amusements, are just formidable enough to reveal their 
 iininms — not vigorous enough, we should t^uppose, to do aught than to stimulate our 
 authorities to vigorous action. Their meetings are thinly attended, that on Satur- 
 day by only twenty. And, with the exception of a tariff on the sale of lager beer 
 on Sunday — amounting, it is said, to about $500 a week — money is slowly raised 
 for purposes of rebellion. 
 
 Our belief is that the magistracy of the city, sustained by the press and a nearly 
 unanimous public sentiment, will make short work of this impudent attempt of 
 German atheists and infidels to override the laws of God and man, for the sake of a 
 monopoly of Sunday folly. Surely, the power that has mastered some 5000 liquor 
 shops will not quail before a score or two of theatre keepers. 
 
 FroTQ, The Examinee, May 13. 
 
 A QUIET NEW YORK SUNDAY. 
 
 The change in the aspect of the city Sabbath is very grateful. With the excep- 
 tion of .Jewish clothing stores, and drug and segar shops, business of all kinds is 
 now suspended. The dram shops were almost universally closed. The only con- 
 siderable remaining nuisance is the Sunday Theatres and Beer Saloons among the 
 Germans. The proprietors of these establishments have adopted the desperate 
 policy of openly resisting the law, and have formed an association for mutual pro- 
 tection in its violation. They have thus made an issue involving the most serious 
 consequences ; for if they may resist the act just passed, to "preserve the public 
 peace and order on Sunday," they may resist any and all laws that conflict with their 
 pleasures or supposed interests, and we have anarchy at once. Thfre can be no 
 .alternative but the prompt and energetic suppression of this spirit of lawlessness. 
 too long unrebuked. The Police and the C^ourts can surely rely on the support of 
 the orderly community in dealing with the handful of Atheists who contemn our 
 laws, and put at defiance our authorities. 
 
 Comments of the Sunday Press. 
 
 From, The Sunday Mercury, April 29. 
 THE SUNDAY-LAW TYRANNY. 
 If liberty-loving men and women submit to the new outrage perpetrated upon 
 them in the Sunday law just enacted, they will submit to anything. If they will 
 ait quietly down and see an authority u:-urped to bind their consciences and their 
 opinions, they have only got what they deserve ; for they do not merit indepen- 
 dence. The Legislature has no constitutional right to proclaim a statutory Sabbath. 
 It has no power given it in the instrument of its creation to ordain a holy day in 
 the week, and make it a penal offence not to keep it. It committed an act of high- 
 handed tyranny well worthy of the morally rotten and corrupt assemblage of polit- 
 ical prostitutes that made money by such performances. But a law framed by 
 creatures so vile, and a law so violative of every man's inalienable and guaranteed 
 rights, is null and void of itself. No citizen owes it obedience. He who yields to 
 its arbitrary dictates is guilty himself of a solemn fraud upon the public ; for he 
 countenances by his concession the infamous oppression of which it is the represen- 
 tative. 
 
24 THE PRESS ON THE SUNDAY LAW. 
 
 We appeal, on this occasion. " from Pbilip drunk to Pliilip sober." We appeal 
 from tlie people's false-hearted repiesentatives at Albany, who were intoxicated 
 with an insane desire to grow rich, by selling at a great price their worthless souIp 
 to greedy .«peculators, to the people themselves. Let them decide. They are no 
 longer bigoted or priest-ridden. They have grown large-minded and liberal. They 
 will sustain no such law of Puritan sectari mism. They will repudiufe it as they have 
 th' Maine Liquor Law. Tliey trampled the latter under their feet, and they will 
 this. The Maine Law still remains uiiobliterated upon our Statut.* books. But it 
 is unenforced. It cannot be carried out. The honest sense of justice in the public 
 inind will not permit it. Neither will it permit the enforcement of this new Sun 
 day Law ; for this is a still more direct infringement of human rights. The former 
 aimed only at our independence of appetite, but this audncioud;/ aims at our indepen- 
 dence of soul and conacioice. Resist it. ICC say ! Reskl it,'lilce men and frcenica ! Bring 
 it to an issue at once. Carry it, by this means, before the highest tribunal of appeal, 
 and crush, at one legal blow, the encroaching iniquity of the Sabbatarians. 
 
 From the same, May 6. 
 TESTING THE NEW SUNDAY LAW. 
 
 The Anti-Sabbatarians are gathering their strength for a grand trial of strength 
 before the proper courts on the constitutionality of the Sunday Law. We are sorry 
 that our own countrymen do not move more energetically in an affair which so 
 nearly concerns the rights of conscience guaranteed to them by the great Magna 
 Charter of their liberties. Wo are sorry that they leave the bnuit of this impor- 
 tant battle for independence to our German adopted citizens, instead of moving in 
 it themselves ; for, however little they may feel affected at present, they may be 
 sure that their time will come. The Sabbatarians will never rest with one victory of 
 bigotry over the rights of men. They have openly boasted that they intend to 
 make the civil power subservient to the Church ; and they will do it. if not stopped. 
 They have now secured a law to prohibit all amusem^its on the first day of the 
 week. They will soon projMse one to compel every man to go. to church on that day, or 
 mulct him in a penalty for his disobedience ! 
 
 The Germans are taking the right co irse in this dilemma. They see to what this 
 kind of legislation leads. They refuse to obey the new law, suffer themselves to be 
 arrested, and then prepare to test the constitutional (juestion. The Dcmoknd news- 
 paper even objects to the use of the word " Sunday ' ' in announcements of concerts as 
 a recognition of the tyrannous Sunday La w. The Staats Zcitunrj rejoices at the oppor- 
 tunity thus given to bring the question to a distinct issue. This is the way to talk ; 
 for, if making a certain day of the week a legal Sabbath is not the legislation in 
 regard to an "establishment of religion,'' forbidden by the Federal Constitution, 
 then are we no judges of the nature of laws or the meaning of language. 
 
 Vocabulary of the Sunday No-Suiiday Press. 
 
 A selection from the characteristic epithets of the Sunday Newspapers, embody 
 ing substantially whatever of argument has been adduced against the suppression of 
 Sunday Dram-selling, and Theatrical exhibitions, must suffice instead of extended 
 extracts. This vocabulary might be greatly increased. No comment is necessary. 
 
 " Aminadab Sleeks,'' " Brandy-nosed Committee of Public Morals.'' " Blasphem- 
 ing Sectarians," "Brutal Fanatics," "Champagne piety and roast-turkey Christi- 
 anity," " Fanatical Sabbatariano," "Fanatics and Fools," " Fourth Commandment 
 wolves and bears,'' "Hollow-hearted, self-conceited, snuffling moral swindlers," 
 "Metropolitan Board of Popes," '"Parvenu Snobs," "Police Inquisitors," "Puri- 
 tanical Pharisees,'' " Praise-God-Bare-bones," " Pharisaic wine-bibbing Christians," ' • 
 " Self-satisfieil spiritual dictators," "Self-righteous Fanatics," "Self-appointed 
 Sunday Sabbath Committee," " Scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees and Hypocrites, ' " 
 "Snivelling Mawworms," " Sunday-snivellers." 
 
 A single sentence, published in a Sunday Daily, in immediate connection with the 
 names of the members of the Sabbath Committee, will show in what connections 
 the above epithets have been employed : " The practice of the Sabbatarians is to give .tir 
 days to the devil — to lying, and slandering, and cheating, and to nine-tenths of the vices and 
 crimes prohilnted hy the decalogue ; and then to give the seventh day to God, when they art 
 tired of sinning all the week. ' ' 
 
 Office of the Sabbath Commhtee, 21 Bible House, New York. 
 
OUE CENTEAL PAEK. 
 
 Document No. XIV. 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NEW YOEK SABBATH COMMFTTEE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PRINTED BY EDWARD 0. JENKINS, 
 
 No. 26 FRANKFORT STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
OÜE CENTRAL PAM. 
 
 As this noble Public Improvement approaches completion, it 
 must be a matter of anxious inquiry with the Commissioners and 
 the thoughtful public : What shall be its influence on the public 
 morals ? How shall its paramount objects as a means of health 
 and diversion be accomplished, consistently with the highest 
 moral benefits ? Besides the individual interest of the under- 
 signed in this subject, their public relation to a question of some 
 moment involved in the regulations of the Park, now under con- 
 sideration, would appear to justify the presentation of this paper 
 to your respected Board. 
 
 It must be presumed that the Commissioners, in shaping the 
 administration of such a trust, with no American precedent, 
 will adopt their measures with great deliberation, and innovate 
 but little, if at all, on the prevailing moral convictions of 
 the American public. In the art of landscape gardening and 
 kindred matters of taste, we yield the palm to Europe, and we 
 do well to avail ourselves of her older civilization. In politi- 
 cal, moral, and religious matters, we have intelligently discard- 
 ed the views prevailing on the Continent, especially as relates 
 to monarchical institutions, church establishments, and Sunday 
 observance. On all these points, the convictions of our people 
 are fixed ; and Europe is more likely to learn from us than 
 we from her. We need the more to discriminate here, inas- 
 much as a considerable element of our population of Euro- 
 pean birth may counsel and claim that the founding of a 
 great Park, after the style of the Bois de Boulogne or the 
 Prater, must carry with it the Sunday pastimes of Paris and 
 Vienna : as great an error as to insist that our church arch- 
 itecture, copied from the old world, must draw with it the 
 creed or the ritual of the cathedrals after which it is mod- 
 
4 OUR CENTRAL PARK. 
 
 eled. We are more likely to take our precedents in this, as in 
 other matters, from the European kingdom whose language and 
 institutions harmonize with our own — and where the intro- 
 duction into her public and ornamental grounds of the con- 
 tinental Sunday, in all its levity and organized frivolity, has been 
 sturdily resisted — than from France, where the English sport, 
 horse-racing, has been recently borrowed and added to her in- 
 numerable sources of Sunday diversion. We form a Park in the 
 principal city of a nation characteristically Christian, and in its 
 whole historic life Sabbath-observing. Its regulations should not 
 ignore this fundamental fact, nor admit of a doubt as to its present 
 and future conduct in harmony with this fact. 
 
 It is respectfully suggested — more as a caveat, than as im- 
 plying that any Commissioner entertains differing views — 
 that, while the privileges of the Park, under a vigilant" 
 Police, are accorded to the public on the Sabbath, it would be 
 neither competent nor wise for the Commissioners to provide 
 for or sanction the popular diversions common to and appro- 
 priate for the secular days of the week ; and that the entire 
 Sabbath arrangements should be such as ndllier to offend nor cor- 
 rupt the public conscience. 
 
 Such reasons as the following would seem to enfjrce this sug- 
 gestion : — 
 
 1. Unless some such principle controls the Sunday arrange- 
 ments of the Park, no limit can be fixed to the numbci- or va- 
 riety of popular amusements that will claim a place in the Peo- 
 ple's Pleasure-Ground. One class may be content with aquatic 
 sports ; another may want bands of music ; another will 
 demand target shooting; another will only be satisfied with 
 horse-racing ; another still would like the prize-ring or the bull- 
 fight. Why withhold from yet another class the gambling- 
 table, the fortune-teller, and the thimble- rigger ? i\ll these, 
 and many others, enter into the Sunday amusements of Euro- 
 pean pleasure-grounds. Where shall the line be drawn, if the 
 bars are once let down ? 
 
 2. It is the only principle consistent with the spirit and 
 letter of our laws and institutions. It need not be stated that 
 Christianity is a part of the law of the land ; nor that the 
 Christian Sabbath is guarded from invasion by the statutes of 
 
OUR CENTRAL PARK. 5 
 
 nearly all our States, and especially in this State, from the days 
 of Peter Stuyvesant down to the present day. While no specific 
 mode of Sabbath observance is prescribed, and no religious rites 
 imposed, ordinary servile labor and public sports are forbidden, 
 so as to secure to all a day of rest and worship, free from dis- 
 turbance and temptation to vice. Any system, then, of amuse- 
 ments or refreshments, involving the service of attendants, and in- 
 ducing to the enjoyment of secular pastimes, would tend to bring 
 contempt on our laws, and afford the warrant of a high example 
 for a general desecration of sacred time. It would throw back 
 indefinitely the Keforms, now successfully in progress, by which 
 crime and pauperism have been greatly checked, and the majesty 
 of law has been measurably restored. 
 
 3. Any other principle would be unjust to a very large and 
 influential portion of citizens and tax -payers; while, thus ad- 
 ministered, equal rights to all citizens would be secured. To 
 ask that Sunday bauds may fill the air of the Eamble with 
 strains of music ; that jolly parties may be traversing the 
 Lake in mimic squadrons ; or that kindred amusements may 
 monopolize the delightful resorts of the Park on the Lord's 
 Day, is to deny the rights of peaceful, conscientious, Christian 
 citizens, and their families, to the quiet enjoyment of an 
 enclosure they may have paid thousands to create. Ls this 
 courteous or just ? We think not. The Park was made for all 
 the people, as " the Sabbath was made for man." The one was 
 made for a Park — not for a race-course, nor for a camp-meeting — 
 not for Sunday sports, nor for religious services — not for one 
 class, but for all classes, with reasonable regulations, in accor. 
 dance with our laws and institutions. So of the Sabbath : it was 
 made for a SaUbath — not for a day of frivolity and dissipation ; 
 it was made to be " kept holy : " and to pervert the Sabbath 
 into a mere holiday, and the Central Park into the arena for holi- 
 day sports, besides being a gross departure from American and 
 Christian ideas, would be little less than an outrage on the rights 
 and feelings of the Christian community, 
 
 4. The Park, if conducted on the European principle, would 
 inevitably become the source of popular demoralization. Our 
 criminal records show that while the foreign-born population of 
 this city embraces less than one-third of the aggregate population. 
 
6 OUR CENTRAL PARK. 
 
 the arrests for crime and disorder from among this class have 
 averaged about 83 per cent, for the last three years, leaving but 
 17 per cent, for the comparatively Sabbath -keeping portion of 
 native-born citizens. Further official statistics show that the ar- 
 rests for drunkenness and crime, which for a long period were an 
 average of 25 per cent, more on Sunday than on week-days, were 
 so reduced by the partial closing of liquor-shops on the Sabbath 
 as that they averaged nearly 60 per cent, more on week-days 
 than on Sunday for a period of seven consecutive months, with a 
 falling off of total arrests of about 7,000 in a single quarter. These 
 statistics would seem to establish a certain connection between 
 Sunday license and crime. Now, while we would not press these 
 facts unduly as a vindication of the morality of the Sabbatli, and 
 would expressly disclaim all purpose to cite them invidiously, 
 and to the disparagement of our immigrant population, which 
 embraces very many orderly and most valuable citizens, their 
 significance cannot be overlooked in discussing the tendency of 
 Sunday regulations for our great Park. K a system is to be 
 advocated, the influence of which shall be to draw men away 
 from their homes and churches, and our juvenile population 
 from Sunday-schools and domestic culture, and to substitute for 
 all these humanizing and elevating moral and educational agen- 
 cies the contamination of indiscriminate crowds, and the diver- 
 sions that are suited to obliterate all thought of God, — it is 
 easy to see that it must stimulate the very elements of lawless- 
 ness and demoralization already so rife among us. Could 
 a community, that on the Sunday close their Courts of Justice, 
 and suspend the service of civil process, with any consistency 
 assume the prerogative of dispensing, on the public grounds and 
 at the common cost, all facilities and enticements for the dis- 
 crediting of that same day, in whose honor they bade Justice 
 shut her gates and still her oracles ? We would submit that with 
 a view to the preservation of the public property of the Park 
 itself, as well as with reference to infinitely higher claims of pub- 
 lic duty, the Commissioners should scrupulously and persistently 
 aim to strengthen those moral and legal restraints which form 
 the only security for free institutions, and to discourage and 
 rebuke the spirit of lawlessness which would evade or defy both 
 human and Divine enactments. 
 
OUR CENTRAL PARK. 7 
 
 5. The previous considerations, relating solely to the civil Sab- 
 bath, and to the rights of Christian citizens, and the interests of the 
 community under our constitution and laws, may be expected, 
 perhaps, to claim the assent of the great body of good citizens. 
 There are otlier and higher views of this question which we 
 would not obtrude, and which we need not withhold — views 
 which no public body can ignore or fail to respect. We allude 
 to the fact that nearly the entire Christian community, Protes- 
 tant and Catholic, believe the Lord's Day to be a sacred day. 
 They maj^ and do differ as to their theories of this institution. 
 Some trace the obligation for its sacred observance to the 
 Bible — some to church appointment. With these theories pub- 
 lic men or bodies have nothing to do ; but they have to do with 
 the yac^. And the right, if it were claimed — as it has not been in 
 this country — to pervert public grounds and public funds to the 
 inauguration and support of a system in direct and open hostil- 
 ity to the most sacred convictions of the religious community, 
 could not be conceded. Christian men are reluctant to urge a 
 question of right like this. They have borne long and patiently 
 with the invasion of usages and rights dear to them as their 
 faith, and essential to the vitality and perpetuity of that faith. 
 But they have rights: they know what they are; and they 
 are not prepared to relinquish them. Among them is the 
 unquestionable claim, that they shall not be robbed of their 
 Sacred day, and that no public regulations shall be made for 
 promoting its desecration, or that will wantonly offend their 
 well-known convictions as to its moral and religious uses and 
 benefits. An infidel press, whose pecuniary interests conspire 
 with its opposition to Christianity to prompt the overthrow of 
 the Sabbath, may laud the Central Park converted into the cen- 
 tral source of Sunday profanations, as "the Great Civilizer," in 
 contrast with, and to the disparagement of, the Christian church 
 and its institutions. The men whose names and money and 
 influence are rarely found in connection with our great humane 
 and eleemosynary enterprises, may boast a superior wisdom and 
 philanthropy in dealing with pauperism, vice, and crime, to the 
 body of Christian citizens who work and give without grudging 
 and without boasting. But we submit, that it is not for the man- 
 agers of one of the grandest and most beneficent of our public 
 
8 OUR CENTRAL PARK. 
 
 works to lend either their corporate example or influence in sup- 
 port of such views, nor to grieve the whole of the very class in 
 society whose religion itself is the basis and support of law and 
 good government, and whose influence forms the grand bulwark 
 against the vices and evils which afflict society and threaten to 
 undermine or overthrow our social and political fabric. 
 
 Inasmuch, then, as the introduction of a system of Sunday 
 diversions in the Central Park, after the European model, would 
 be a dangerous innovation on the immemorial usages and the 
 ineradicable convictions of our country, and one that it would 
 be difficult to limit or control ; as it would contravene the gen- 
 ius of our laws and institutions ; as it would be partial and un- 
 just toward a large class of citizens ; as it would result in popu- 
 lar demoralization ; and as it would offend the convictions and 
 invade the rights of the entire Christian community, it is claimed 
 that the regulations of the Commissioners in this behalf shall be 
 such as neither to offend nor corrupt the public conscience. Thus 
 administered — in strict consistency with American and Chris- 
 tian convictions — it will be an untold blessing to the city, and 
 an abiding monument of the liberality and fidelity of its foun- 
 ders and managers. 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 
 NATHAN BISHOP, GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, WM. A. SMITH, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 
 WARREN CARTER, W. F. VAN WAGBNEN, 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, WILLIAM WALKER. 
 
 E. L. FANCHER, F. S. WINSTON. 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 0. E. WOOD, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Cashier of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
 53 
 
 D 
 
 SABBATH COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, 21 BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK 
 
THE CIVIL SABBATH UESTOEED. 
 
 1. Suppression of Sunday Theatres. 
 
 2. Restraint of the Sunday Liquor 
 
 Traffic. 
 
 3. Our Central Park. 
 
 4. Mission Among the G-ermans. 
 
 5. Aid of the Ne^^rspaper Press. 
 
 6. The Sabbath in Other Cities and 
 
 States. 
 
 7. Concluding Suggestions. 
 
 MEETING AT IRVING HALL.-Addresses of Messrs. 
 "White, Cook, Beekman, the Rev, Mr. Ganse, and thel Rev. 
 Dr. Hitchcock, and the Letter of the Rev. Dr. Spring. 
 
 Presentment of Liquor Dealers' Association? for Conspir- 
 acy: .Judge Hoffman's Opinion: Constitution of German 
 Shaker Congregation. 
 
 \ 
 DOCUMETS^T Xu. XV. 
 
 TIJE NEW ^()Klv SABBATH COMAri'iTEE. 
 
 
 EnWAUn O. JBKKIN«, PniNTKK, 20 NOinil WTI.I.IAM ST., Sew YORK. 
 
[Document No. XV. 
 
 THE CIVIL SABBATH RESTORED. 
 
 The outward observance of the Christian Sabbath is believed to be 
 more general in the city than at any previous period of its recent history. 
 The more offensive forms of desecration have been suppressed. Laws 
 for the preservation of the public peace and the restraint of temptation 
 to vice on the day of rest are well enforced. And the public sentiment 
 in favor of a quiet, orderly Sabbath is more unanimous and intelligent 
 than has been manifested within a generation. Brief as has been the 
 period within which so large a community has passed from a Sunday 
 characterized by traffic, noise, drunkenness, and vice, to a Sabbath 
 marked by refreshing stillness and general sobriety ; and rapid as has 
 been the change from the general disregard of Sunday laws as obsolete, 
 to their vigorous enforcement and to the enactment and execution of 
 new laws, it is a matter of special gratification that the reform has ad- 
 vanced to its present stage without the least reaction, notwithstanding 
 the persistent opposition and misrepresentation of interested parties. 
 We w'ould gratefully ascribe these results to the gracious Providence 
 by whose guidance and blessing this good woi'k has been achieved ; and 
 implicitly trust that Providence for the future of the Sabbath reform. 
 
 Suppression of Sunday Theatres. 
 
 The most prominent of the reforms attempted by the committee dur- 
 ing the past year, has been the suppression of the Sunday theatres ; and 
 the issues involved in this undertaking have been sufficiently important 
 to warrant a somewhat detailed record of its progress and results. 
 
 Perhaps no single circumstance illustrates the perilous lapse of Sab- 
 bath sentiment, from which we are happily delivered, than the fact that 
 a score of Sunday theatres should have existed — some of them for many 
 years — attended by thousands of our irreligious population, without the 
 knowledge of Christian citizens, and without remonstrance or restraint 
 on the part of our public authorities. Assuming the guise of " sacred 
 concerts," and mostly located in what has become the "■ foreign quarter " 
 of the city, they had attained a gigantic growth before their character 
 and influence arrested public attention. Then it was found that they 
 concentrated the multiform appliances of debasing pleasure — comedies, 
 farces, obscene songs, dances, gambling, drinking, and nameless vices 
 and temptations to vice — all in special activity on the Sabbath day.. 
 
Indeed, the receipts of Sunday were depended upon to make good the 
 losses of the week, and to afford sufficient profits to sustain large, ex- 
 pensive, and otherwise profitless establishments. Nor were these con- 
 cerns confined to the foreign population, or the " foreign quarter " of 
 the city. The bad example found worse imitators among our own de- 
 praved citizens. " Concert-rooms " and " saloons " began to multiply 
 hi various thoroughfares. Broadway glittered with transparencies, pro- 
 claiming the transparent falsehood that " sacred concerts " would be 
 given on Sunday nights : — such " concerts," with such accompaniments, 
 as would not be tolerated on any day in the corruptest capitols of 
 Europe ; — " sacred " to Bacchus and Venus ! One of the principal 
 features of this American adaptation of the Sunday theatre system, as 
 advertised and practiced, was the introduction of scores of abandoned 
 female attendants on the juvenile thieves and other youthful guests 
 comprising the bulk of patrons of these infamous dens. 
 
 The committee's document on '''Sunday theatres, sacred concerts, and 
 beer gardens,^'' (No. 11,) was intended to expose this system of evil, and 
 to concentrate upon it a righteous public sentiment that should render 
 its continuance impossible. It was obvious that no consistent progress 
 could be made in regaining popular respect for the Sabbath, so long as 
 a worse than Parisian desecration of it obtruded itself upon our prin- 
 cipal thoroughfares, and in the advertising columns of our widely cir- 
 culated journals. But it was found that our laws, enacted before such a 
 system had a l)eing in this country, provided no adequate specific remedy ; 
 and tliat the penalties for offenses of this class were too inconsiderable 
 to restrain men whose selfishness mocked at human and divine laws. 
 
 The attention of the Legislature having been directed to this state of 
 things, a law was passed, April 17, 1860," to " Preserve the public 
 peace and order on the first day of the week, commonly called Sun- 
 day," — the first Sunday act in this State, it is believed, since that of 
 1813, — forbidding public theatrical exhibitions, and kindred entertain- 
 inents on that day, under a penalty of 1^500, to be sued for and recov- 
 ered by the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents ; be- 
 sides the penalty provided by law for a misdemeanor. Performances 
 on Sunday also vacate any license for theatrical exhibitions on other 
 days. 
 
 The passage of this law was strenuously resisted by the jjroprietors 
 of Sunday theatres, brewers of lager, and a portion of the German 
 population. An association was formed to defeat its enactment, or to 
 resist its enf(,)rcement. Funds were raised by initiation fees for mem- 
 bership, and l)y a tax on each barrel of beer sold. Expensive delega- 
 tions were sent to the Legislature, and petitions were circulated for the 
 "" Repeal of the Sunday laws as unconstitutional, inasmuch as they de- 
 prive citizens of their civil and religious liberties ; " and remonstrating 
 
against the passage of the then pending act. When their petition and 
 remonstrance reached Albany, its signatures had been transferred, in 
 part, to a memorial to the Governor, purporting to come from " citizens 
 of the city of New York ; " and of the 317 names, 306 could not be 
 found in the Directory, and the remaining 11 were "saloon" keepers 
 and grocers ! The petitions for the law were signed by about 1,400 
 Germans — mostly of the Directory class. The Sunday newspapers, 
 German and English, gave their influence to defeat the passage of this 
 act, and some of them counselled forcible resistance to its execution. 
 One of them declares, that " a law framed by creatures so vile, and a 
 law so violative of every man's inalienable and guaranteed rights, is 
 null and void of itself. No citizen owes it obedience. Resist it, we 
 say ! Resist it like men and freemen ! " And factious counsels of 
 this character were eagerly copied into the German journals. 
 
 They did " Resist it," one and all, with the avowed purpose and ex- 
 pectation of overriding our authorities, and by the force of numbers 
 and money rendering the statute inoperative. Theatrical performances 
 continued as before — with superadded flings at the laws and institutions 
 of the country, and the utterance of seditious, atheistical, and blasphe- 
 mous sentiments from the stage. The reporters of the press were 
 hung in effigy, and the police authorities were reviled in advertise 
 ments and plays. The spirit of rebellion was too rampant for its own 
 ends, and exhausted itself by its own violence. 
 
 One of the most prominent German theatre proprietors resorted to 
 the expedient of announcing his Sunday theatre as a " Shaker congre- 
 gation," and his comedies and farces as part of their " religious wor- 
 ship ! " And this shallow device was gravely set up in his defence on 
 a civil suit, and was soberly urged before a jury on a criminal trial. 
 The " constitution " of this Shaker congregation is given in the appendix 
 as a part of the history of this contest. 
 
 Enforcement of the Laws. . 
 
 When it became obvious that the law was to be persistently defied, 
 the serious issue was accepted with pain, but without misgiving as to 
 the result. Step by step, the various remedies provided have been 
 applied, with uniform success, as a brief sketch of the proceedings will 
 show. 
 
 Besides the numerous arrests made by the police, and the subsequent 
 indictments by the grand jury for misdemeanor, the Board of the Ju- 
 venile Delinquent Asylum, charged with the civil prosecutions under 
 the law, — as they have been with the prosecutions against illegal theat- 
 rical performances for twenty years, — directed their counsel to enforce 
 its provisions against some of the more notorious offenders. Injunc- 
 tion orders were issued from the Supreme Court, either to restrain Sun- 
 
day performances, or performances without license, or to vacate licenses 
 already obtained, which were forfeited by violation of the law. In 
 two instances the parties were attached for contempt of court, and fined 
 respectively $2C0 and $250. It was on the hearing of one of these 
 cases before Judge Bonney, that Mr. Cram, the high-minded counsel, 
 indignant at the trickery and lawlessness of the prisoner, made the em- 
 phatic declaration, on which he has since acted with great moderation, 
 firmness, and energy : "This man, and the men of his class, sltnll obey 
 the laios. If I do nothing else the rest of my life, these men shall obey 
 the lau's of this land.'''' As the result of this trial, and of other legal 
 measures rendered necessary by the contumacy of the offenders, one of 
 the most dangerous and troublesome of our German beer garden gen- 
 try, previously bankrupt in fortune and character, transferred his estab- 
 lishment to other hands, and has sought another field for his enterprise. 
 In the other case, an appeal was taken to the General Term of the Su- 
 preme Court, where the decision of Judge Bonney in chambers was af- 
 firmed. 
 
 Other suits against the same and other proprietors of German 
 theatres are still pending. In the case of the Stadt theatre, the ques- 
 tion of the constitutionality of the law came up for argument on de- 
 murrer, before Justice Hoffman, of the Superior Court; and after a full 
 hearing, an elaborate affirmative decision of the Judge was rendered, 
 [See Appendix for abstract of opinion.] The Judges of the Supreme 
 and Superior Courts and of the Court of Oyer and Terminer have seve- 
 rally confirmed the constitutionality of the law. It may be presumed 
 that the Court of last resort will decide the question in accordance with 
 the uniform legislation and jurisprudence of the State from its foundation. 
 
 Proceedings were also commenced against the various concert halls 
 on Broadway and elsewhere, which were enjoined from theatrical exhi- 
 bitions without license, and to collect the penalty for Sunday perform- 
 ances. Some of them paid for licenses, and abandoned their exhibi- 
 tions ; others elt)sed their places altogether. None of them have since 
 given Sunday performances. 
 
 The trial of the indictments, before the criminal courts, was delayed 
 on various pretexts from term to term, until the November term of the 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer, Judge Gould presiding, when Gustav 
 Lindenmuller was arraigned. His defense, conducted by able counsel, 
 consisted of the " Shaker-congregation " plea. The prosecution was 
 conducted by Mr. Anthon, assistant District Attorney. The charge of 
 Judge Gould was a manly rebuke of lawlessness. The jury, after an 
 absence of twenty-four hours, — a single German juror standing out 
 against a verdict, — convicted the prisoner, and the Court imposed a fine 
 of 1250. An appeal was taken, on the ground of the unconstitution- 
 ality of the law, to the Supreme Court. Until this test case is finally 
 
adjudicated, it is supposed the other trials will be postponed, to abide 
 the result. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have made arrests of several 
 companies of actors, who occupied small halls, and attempted unlawful 
 exhibitions : the energetic Superintendent avowing his purpose to deal 
 thus summarily in all similar cases. 
 
 Tlie result of these various measures has been the entire cessation of 
 Sunday theatricals in this city, the abandonment of a considerable num- 
 ber of the largest and. vilest places of popular debasement, and. the 
 subjection to law of all the theatres in the city, with the general ap- 
 proval of citizens, and with untold advantage to public morals. The 
 incidental pecuniary loss to the proprietors — one of whom estimates his 
 share at $4,000 in six months — is a timely gain to the poor people from 
 whom their earnings would otherwise have been filched. And the im- 
 provement in health, thrift, and self-respect of the thousands who form- 
 erly sacrificed their manhood, and often their souls, at these- altars of 
 pleasure and vice, may be regarded as more than a compensation for 
 the individual losses of a few lawless saloon-keepers. 
 
 Notice has been given in both branches of the Legislature of bills for 
 the repeal of the law thus beneficent in its operation. But, inasmuch 
 as none but interested parties demand, it, and the united sentiment of 
 good citizens sustains the statute, little apprehension of success is enter- 
 tained. Certain it is that no law was ever passed more accordant with 
 the principles and wishes of the law-abiding classes, and none was ever 
 executed more efliciently, under the peculiar circumstances, or with 
 more manifest acceptance and benefit. 
 
 Before passing from this topic, it should be stated that some estab- 
 lishments, formerly conducted as theatres, still continue a modified 
 profanation of the Sabbath, by musical entertainments, beer-selling, and 
 Yarious sports ; and some of them still attract crowds. But, the grow- 
 ing respect for law and public sentiment among the Germans, and the 
 increasing energy and vigilance of the police and the courts, with waning 
 profits of Sunday immoralities, may be hoped to bring this whole sys- 
 tem to an end, without further legislative restraint. 
 
 Restraint of the Sunday Liquor Trafiic. 
 
 The reorganization of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan 
 Police, and the changes made in the office of General Superintendent, 
 caused a somewhat irregular enforcement of the Sunday Liquor law 
 during the year. Under all the circumstances, there is much ground 
 for encouragement in the attitude of the Police authorities, in the 
 aspects of the reform, and in the results already achieved. The annual 
 Report of the Commissioners to the Legislature and the annual Message 
 
of the Governor of the State concur in their recognition of the benefi- 
 cent influence of this movement, and in commending the efficiency of 
 the Police force in carrying it forward. But the most eloquent tribute 
 alike to the law and its agents, and to the Institution whose morality is 
 thus vindicated, is furnished by the statistical records of the Police 
 Department. 
 
 From the summary of daily returns of arrests for drunkenness, 
 disorder and crime — for vv^hich we would acknowledge our indebtedness 
 to the courtesy of General Superintendent Kennedy, and the pains- 
 taking politeness of Chief-Clerk Hawley — we are enabled to present the 
 following comparative statement of Sunday and week-day crime, em- 
 bracing a period of eighteen months. It appears that between August 
 1, 1859 — the date of Gen. Pilsbury's or(3er closing the Sunday liquor 
 shops — and February 1, 1861, the whole number of arrests on Tues- 
 days and Sundays was as follows : 
 
 Arrests by Police in 18 months : 
 
 On Tuesdays 15,503 
 
 On Sundays 10,483 
 
 Excess on Tuesdays .... 5,020 
 
 The excess of Tuesday arrests is equal to ßfty per cent. 
 
 Under the old regime, but after the establishment of the Metropolitan 
 Police, (he ratio of arrests on Sunday loas Iwenty-five 2ier cent, greater than 
 on Tuesday^ during a similar period of eighteen months. Had that 
 ratio been maintained — as it would have been but for the suppression 
 of the Sunday liquor traffic — the statistics of 
 
 Arrests for the last 18 mon^/is would have been: 
 
 On Sundays 19,379 
 
 Actual arrests on Sundays . . . 10,483 
 
 Total relative decrease of Sunday crime . 8,896 
 
 The arrests for violations of Sunday laws, 473 in all, are excluded 
 from these statistics, that the comparison may be just and accurate. 
 
 We would not exaggerate the value of these statements. We are 
 aw\are of the imperfection of such data. But, extending as they do 
 over a considerable period, embracing adequate elements of comparison, 
 furnished on request from official records, and affording the only known 
 means of ascertaining the practical results of an important reformatory 
 movement, they would seem to demonstrate beyond cavil the insepar- 
 able connection between Sunday liquor-selling and crime, and to vindi- 
 
cate the wisdom and necessity of the utter suppression of that demo- 
 ralizing traffic. 
 
 A careful examination of the weekly details which form the aggregate 
 returns cited above, in connection with the movements of the Police 
 authorities, shows a rising or falling scale of crime and disorder, as 
 regular and certain as the response of the thermometer to varying 
 degrees of temperature. Thus, the Sunday arrests have declined to 61 
 after a few weeks of earnest attention to this matter ; and have again 
 risen to 216, when comparative neglect gave impunity to selfish law- 
 lessness. 
 
 The vigorous action inaugurated by General Superintendent Kennedy, 
 two months since, in ordering the summary arrest and confinement in 
 the station-houses of open offenders, had an immediate influence on the 
 Sunday traffic and its results. Many dealers who counted on the 
 tolerance of their unlawful business, or on protection from punishment 
 by the intervention of the Liquor Dealers' Association, or the venality 
 of courts, succumbed in view of the direct and summary policy of 
 the Superintendent. As a consequence, the arrests for drunkenness and 
 crime for the last two months have been far less than the average for 
 the last eighteen months. 
 
 We have the highest legal authority for the opinion that the powers 
 entrusted to the Police, both by statutory and common-law, extend far 
 beyond the limit of their present exercise. Leaving out of view, as 
 beyond our province, the competency of the Police authorities to close 
 every unlicensed dram-shop, — and some 7,000 are unlicensed and so un- 
 lawful, — it is their unquestioned right and duty to prevent ingress and 
 egress for Sunday tipplers at any and all places where intoxicating 
 drinks are habitually sold. Whether it be by front doors or back 
 doors, if the public enter and depart on the single bad errand, the 
 police may enter and make arrests, or they may cause the doors to be 
 shut and kept shut. The attitude of lawlessness on the part of un- 
 licensed dram-sellers, and the apparent subjection of a portion of our 
 Judicial officers to their interests, warrants and requires the fullest 
 exercise of legal powers by the Police for the restraint or punishment 
 of the notorious authors of a principal part of the crime, disorder and 
 pauperism of the city. 
 
 It is not easy to reconcile the course of the Law Officers of the city 
 in relation to this class of offijnders with the duties assigned to them 
 by the Statute, and the interests entrusted to them by the people. It 
 certainly forms no part of the design of our criminal code that innu- 
 merable complaints against a class of offi?.nders whose daily avocation 
 is the palpable cause of nine-tenths of the crimes cognisant to our 
 courts, should be ignored, deferred, and never adjudicated, and justice 
 only have to do with the victims of an avowedly unlawful business : 
 
yet, such is its practical administration. Nearly two years ago, con- 
 victions were had in the court of Common Pleas against twelve 
 offenders of the Sunday Liquor hiw. The parties appealed on frivolous 
 grounds ; and the final ruling of the higher courts was to govern tens 
 of thousands of similar complaints. The status of an immense traffic, 
 pursued by thousands of our citizens, and important rights of the people 
 were to be determined by the issue. Repeated demands have beeu' 
 made by the press for the argument and decision of the questions in 
 dispute. But, for aught that appears, the case remains where it was in 
 June, 1859 — unargued and undecided! The counsel of the Liquor 
 Dealers' Association remains content Mith his $5,000 a year ; and the 
 Officers of Justice charged with this matter expose themselves to grave 
 suspicions as to their fidelity to public interests. 
 
 We cite in the Appendix a highly suggestive Presentment of the 
 Grand Jury, bearing on this matter. 
 
 An incidental effect of the agitation of the Sunday Liquor question, 
 and the enforcement of the law against Sunday dram-selling, has been 
 the somewhat increased efficiency of the Board of Excise. Instead of 
 extending the sixty days of their sessions over the entire year, as for- 
 merly, they were held consecutively, and public notice given that on 
 the expiration of the time no farther licenses could be procured within 
 the year, and that all unlicensed dealers would be prosecuted. Not- 
 withstanding the resistance of the Liquor Dealers' Associations, the 
 number of applications for license increased from 332 in 1859 to about 
 1,400 in 1860 ; and not far from $-40,000 were paid into the city treas- 
 ury on this account — 10 p. c. of which sum has been paid over to 
 the treasurer of the Inebriate's Asylum. How far the just claim of 
 parties who have thus obeyed the law — that they shall be protected 
 from unlawful competition — has been heeded by our authorities, we 
 are not informed. The liability, however, of the vigorous enforcement 
 of the Law against Intemperance of 1857, has led to an application to 
 the present Legislature for its modification or repeal. 
 
 Two important decisions have been made in the Court of Appeals — 
 one within the year — both of which have an incidental bearing on the 
 Sunday traffic. In the case of Behau, Plaintiff in Error, vs. the People, 
 it was decided that offenses against the Excise Law of 1857 are pun- 
 ishable as misdemeanors : so that the Sunday sales, by parties licensed 
 or unlicensed, may be dealt with as a criminal offense, and arrests may 
 be made without w'arrant. 
 
 In the case of the Excise Commissioners of Tompkins county against 
 Taylor & McWhorter, the Court decided that Ale and Beer come with- 
 in the provisions of chap. 628 of 1857, to suppress intemperance : 
 " any liquor being within the Statute, of w^hich the human stomach can 
 contain enough to produce intoxication." Under this decision the sale 
 
9 
 
 of Lager-beer is virtually placed on the same footing with other 
 liquors ; and the shameful Sunday traffic in that beverage may and 
 should be suppressed. 
 
 Sunday Gambling. 
 
 The General Superintendent of Police has entered on vigorous mea- 
 sures to put an end to the various forms of Sunday gambling which 
 have disgraced the city. Under his personal direction, numerous 
 arrests have been made, and parties engaged in the evil practice have 
 been fined by the magistrates. It is to be hoped that this measure 
 will be persevered in, until this form of immorality shall be extermin- 
 ated. 
 
 Our Central Park. 
 
 As this favorite public pleasure-ground became available for its im- 
 portant uses, the question of its Sunday regulations became a matter 
 of practical interest. It was seen by good citizens, and by property- 
 holders in its neighborhood, that if perverted into an arena for holiday- 
 sports on that day, after the manner of Continental Parks, the injury 
 to public morals would more than counterbalance its sanitary benefits, 
 and that millions of money would have been expended for the farther 
 demoralization of the masses. The Committee gave expression to 
 what they believed to be timely and temperate views as to the prin- 
 ciples that should control the Sunday arrangements of the Central 
 Park, in a communication addressed to the respected Commissioners. 
 Confessedly difficult as were the questions discussed, it is a matter of 
 satisfaction to know that the Press and the public — with exceptions 
 confined to anti-Sunday interests — accepted and concurred in the senti- 
 ments thus set forth ; and a majority at least of the Commissioners 
 are understood to cherish and act upon substantially similar views. It 
 is earnestly to be hoped that the beginnings of invasion of the well- 
 established laws and usages of this country as to Sabbath occupations, 
 will be resisted within the beautiful enclosure intended to illustrate the 
 civilization, refinement, and wealth of this metropolis of a christian 
 land. 
 
 The Harlem Sunday Railway Trains. 
 
 It was with regret that a departure was noticed from the general 
 policy of the Harlem Railroad Company, in the multiplication of Lo- 
 comotive trains on Sunday, for the accommodation of Central Park 
 travel. At one time not far from eighty trains a day were run, back 
 and forth, giving employment to scores of men and horses, and caus- 
 ing an incessant din and disturbance at the termini, or along the route 
 of communication. It was gratifying to learn that when the matter 
 came under the consideration of the respected Directors, the arrange- 
 
10 
 
 ments wore countermanded and the annoyance for the most part 
 ceased. 
 
 Mission among the Germans. 
 
 The control of the German popular Press l3eing exclusively in the 
 hands of the foes of the Sabbath, almost the only mode of access to the 
 people of that nationality has been through the agency of a missionary, 
 by whose visits from house to house with the distribution of German 
 documents and tracts, prejudices might be removed and truth be dis- 
 seminated. Such labors have been continued during the year. At the 
 same time, it was necessary to be informed of the doings at the thea- 
 tres and gardens, and to have timely intelligence of the action of Ger- 
 man anti-Sunday gatherings and associations for opposing or resisting 
 the laws. The most formidable conspiracies are rendered powerless 
 by the exposure of their objects and plans. 
 
 The monthly reports from the German quarter indicate a growing 
 feeling of self-respect, and a rising sympathy with the prevailing sen- 
 timent in this country regarding the Sabbath. There is a recoil from 
 the excesses of the beer-garden gentry. Honest minded Germans de- 
 nounce the hypocrisy of their countrymen who resort to the blind of 
 " Sacred Concerts " and " Shaker Congregations " as a cover for Sun- 
 day amusements ; so that the heartiest rejoicings over the suppression 
 of this scandalous system come from respectable Germans themselves. 
 Nor are the occurrences which have embarrassed so many of the me- 
 chanical and laboring classes likely to lessen their content with the 
 operation of laws by which temptations to wastefulness and vice have 
 been removed, and thousands of dollars of their hard earnings have 
 been saved to themselves and their families, instead of swelling the 
 receipts of atheistical ^Sabbath-breakers. 
 
 Sabbath Documents, 
 
 There have been printed during the year nineteen thousand copies of 
 Documents, embracing 344,000 octavo pages, viz : of German Doc. 
 No. 9 — 24 pages, " Proceedings of Cooper histitute Meeting of Ger- 
 mans," 4,000 copies ; of No. 12 — 24 pages, " Progress of the Sabbath 
 Keform," 5,000; of No. 13—24 pages, "The Press of New York on 
 the Law against Sunday Theatres," 3,000 ; of No. 14 — 8 pages, " Our 
 Central Park," 3,000 ; of " German Beer-Gardens and Sunday Thea- 
 tres," [4 pages — 2,000 ; and of " Sunday Vice and Crime," 4 pages — 
 1,000 copies. Of various minor publications, 2,600 copies have been 
 printed. 
 
 Besides the circulation of these documents among clergymen, edit- 
 ors, and citizens, English and German, several hundred copies of the 
 Committee's German Documents have been distributed in Germany. 
 
11 
 
 Aid of the Newspaper Press, 
 
 Not a little of the popular sympathy with the Sabbath reform is due 
 to the firm and moderate tone of the daily journals on all the issues 
 that have been presented. With all their differences on other ques- 
 tions of public concern, they have shown a united front against the im- 
 moralities with which the committee are contending ; and have uniform- 
 ly supported our public authorities, executive or judicial, in enforcing 
 the Sunday laws. The exception in a single instance is more credit- 
 able to the Sabbath enterprise than to the journal whose interests con- 
 flict with public morals ; and it is alluded to more for the sake of accu- 
 rate discrimination than on account of any hinderance effected by its 
 selfish and tactions policy. It has only harmed itself and those of its 
 readers who believe its falsehoods. 
 
 The Sunday Press has lent unwitting aid by its palpable misrepre- 
 sentations ; by its extravagant abuse of well-known citizens ; and by its 
 laudation and defence of convicted criminals and of unblushing immo- 
 ralities. The habitual tone of exatj^eration and caricature in all dis- 
 cussions of the Sunday question, renders the Sunday Press powerless 
 as the enemy of wise and necessary measures for the protection of the 
 civil Sabbath. 
 
 The German newspapers deal with this question in a more cautious 
 manner, as the evidences increase of the existence of a powerful body 
 of their readers whose sympathies are with the Sabbath and the laws, 
 rather than with beer-gardens and theatres ; and as the just and mode- 
 rate claims of the country of their adoption come to be understood. 
 Their utter foilure in the attempt to drag this question into the political 
 arena also tended to moderate their zeal. But they still lend them- 
 selves to the advocacy of Sunday views and practices as foreign as 
 their language from American usages and convictions ; and they thus 
 constitute a power dangerous enough to be watched and counteracted. 
 
 Notwithstanding the engrossment of the public press with political 
 questions during a considerable part of the year, the aggregate number 
 of copies of newspapers containing friendly articles bearing more or 
 less immediately on the Sunday question printed during the year — 
 chiefly the editorials of secular journals — has exceeded twenty -two mil- 
 lions, [22,855,500.] Added to the discussions of the two previous 
 years, it would make sixty-two millions of (62,119,000) copies of news- 
 paper articles friendly to the Sabbath, in the columns of the New York 
 Press. 
 
 Visit of the Great Eastern, 
 
 Some apprehension was felt lest the visit to our country last summer 
 of this marine wonder should be made the occasion of wholesale Sab- 
 bath desecration. Her launch, trial-trip and sailing day all having oc- 
 curred on Sunday, her officers and consignees were plied by the anti- 
 Sabbath Press of this city to exhibit her to the public on that day. 
 But better counsels prevailed. Divine worship was held on board on 
 each Sunday during her visit, and her excursions were arranged so as 
 to avoid the needless profanation of sacred hours. 
 
 An impudent attempt was made in September to invade the quiet of 
 the Sabbath — one Peter Bogart announcing his purpose to run a boat 
 
12 
 
 ai-ound Manhattan island on a wager of $50. The press protested, the 
 police interfered, and the effort was abandoned. 
 
 An item may be cited as significant of the growing respect for the 
 Sabbath in commercial circles. The custom having gradually declined 
 of hoisting ship's colors on Sundays and holidays, at a meeting of the 
 Chamber of Commerce in July, it was 
 
 " Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce recommend, that mas- 
 ters of vessels in the port of New York hoist their flags on Sundays 
 and holidays, as a mark of respect to the day and to the nation." 
 
 Meeting for the Sabbath at Saratoga. 
 
 A public meeting of considerable interest was held at Saratoga in 
 the month of August. Ex-President Fillmore presided and addressed 
 the meeting ; and the Secretary of the Sabbath Committee, with Wm. 
 E. Dodge, Esq., of New York, and Gov. Buckingham, of Connecticut 
 delivered addresses. A large audience of visitors from all parts of 
 the country gave interested attention to the statements and appeals in 
 behalf of the christian Sabbath. 
 
 The Sabbath in other Cities and States. 
 
 Increasing interest in the Sunday question is apparent in various por- 
 tions of the Union. We note some of the facts of the year. 
 
 In New Hamjjshire, "an act for the better observance of the Sabbath" 
 was passed July 3, 1860, which provides that " no person shall keep open 
 his shop, warehouse, cellar, restaurator, or workshop for the reception 
 of company, or shall sell, or expose for sale, any merchandise what- 
 ever," under a penalty of not more than ten dollars or imprison- 
 ment not exceeding thirty days ; the act to be enforced in such towns 
 as shall adopt the same by a majority vote. 
 
 In Connecficniy.a law was passed, at the last session of the legisla- 
 ture, prohil)iting the opening of lager-beer saloons on Sunday, under a 
 penalty of forty dollars for each offence. 
 
 In Pennsylvania, the attempt to modify or repeal the Sunday laws 
 elicited an able adverse report from the committee of the legislature on 
 vice and immorality, which was adopted by an overwhelming vote. 
 The report concludes as follows ; — 
 
 "Since the abrogation of the Sunday laws would be absolutely o\> 
 pressivc to a large mass of the laboring people, would tend directly to 
 the increase of vice, would be contrary to the known convictions of the 
 patriot worthies of the past and in contravention of all previous legis- 
 lation, would be repugnant to the moral sensibilities of the great mass 
 of the best citizens throughout the state, and directly in conflict with 
 the statutes of Revelation, therefore w^e submit that the prayer of the 
 petitioners should not be granted." And it was " Resolved, that the 
 abrogation of the existing Sunday laws would be unwise in itself, and 
 vicious ill its results, and the committee are herel)y discharged," etc. 
 
 In Baltimore, Md., a most remarkable reform has been effected in the 
 condition of public morals. It is thus sketched by the correspondent 
 of the Daily Times : — 
 
 " There was a time when lawlessness and rowdvism ran riot; when 
 
15 
 
 human life was insecure ; when the elective franchise had become a 
 mockery, and immorality of every kind stalked abroad. Idleness, 
 drunkenness, vagrancy, coupled with bloodshed, murder, rapine, and a 
 thousand other evils were common place. Now, thank Providence, the 
 scene is changed. We have sobriety, with most of its concomitants. 
 No murders are recorded ; robberies seldom occur. Grog-shojjs and 
 hotels, without distinction, are closed on Sundays. Those who tvoiild 
 madden their brains witli liquor on the Sabbath can not find places ivhere- 
 from to inocnre it. Lager-beer resorts are all closed, and the consequence 
 is, our sacred day of rest passes off devoutly, soberly, and free from vio- 
 lence. All places of business, excepting barber-shops and printing 
 offices, together with such other pursuits as may be deemed indispens- 
 able, are compelled to suspend operations. A regular crusade is being 
 waged by the chief marshal against gambling-houses. Baltimore may 
 now be set down as amongst the most orderly cities in America." 
 
 In Cincinnati, O., the Sabbath committee have initiated some im- 
 portant reforms, which they are prosecuting with great vigor. The 
 news-crying nuisance has been substantially abated, 
 
 "A Sunday Reform Association" w:as formed in St. Louis, Mo., in 
 June last; John J. Gill, Esq., president. 
 
 "The Narrative of the State of Religion," adopted' and published by 
 the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, (O. S.,) notices three 
 important particulars of the " influence of the church on the world ; " 
 as manifested, " 1. By an increased and increasing attendance upon the 
 preaching of the Word ; 2. In the better observance of the Lord's Day 
 as a day of sacred rest ; 3. In the improvement in the general morality 
 of the people." 
 
 Concluding Suggestions. 
 
 The fiicts of the year convey their own lesson. They are confidently 
 appealed to as a practical vindication of the principles of reform avowed 
 and acted upon from the outset of the Committee's labors. Without 
 the prestige of a great organization, without public agitation or con- 
 troversy, important practical reforms, affecting the peace and moi'als of 
 the city, have been effected, — every measure thus far undertaken having 
 been carried out with the approbation of good citizens, and with unques- 
 tionable public benefit. 
 
 One of the respects in which a marked advance in the Sabbath reform 
 ■may be noted has been in the clearer popular apprehension of the 
 claims and benefits of the civil Sabbath, Unceasing efforts have been 
 made to confound the civil with the religious obligations of the Sabbath, 
 so as to furnish a basis for opposition to Sunday laws in the constitu- 
 tional guaranties for religious liberty. This has been the burden of the 
 diatribes of the Sunday press. The policy of the Sunday theatres has 
 taken this direction, — their godless comedies assuming to be "sacred 
 concerts," or the ivorshij) of "Shaker congregations!" But, besides 
 the rebuke administered to this abuse of a precious right, in the very 
 article of the Constitution which secures to every citizen the rights of 
 conscience, there are relations of the Sabbath, as a civil institution in- 
 dispensable to the sanitary, social, and moral well-being of the com- 
 munity, which furnish adequate grounds for existing laws, without in- 
 
14 
 
 volving any religious questions. The absurdity of the'claim that, be- 
 cause the Sabbath is the recognized season of religious rest and worship, 
 it can not be protected by law as a day of freedom from traffic, toil, 
 and dissipation, is as great as to object to legal guards for the institution 
 of marriage, because it is also a Christian ordinance ; or as to oppose 
 statutory provision securing the rights of property, because the Deca- 
 logue declares " Thou shalt not steal." The utter failure of the attempt 
 to impose the faUacies on the people, and the steady enforcement of 
 laws which restrained offences of the most scandalous character, — with- 
 out invading any right^more sacred than that of selling rum and play- 
 ing comedies on the Lord's Day, — has served to settle the public mind 
 as to the policy and necessity of guarding the civil Sabbath by wise 
 and effective statutes. 
 
 Another palpable advance, worthy of note, has been in the successful 
 enforcement of the laws. Within a brief period, it had almost become 
 a proverb that "self-governing institutions were a failure in our large 
 cities." Whether or not this desponding view was wholly justified by 
 the fiicts, it is certain that the inattention of good citizens to great pub- 
 lic duties and interests, and consequent misrule and disorder, furnished 
 ground for the most serious apprehensions lest anarchy and lawlessness 
 should supervene and sweep away a government of law. It is believed 
 that the tide has turned; and that the signal and repeated triumphs of 
 law over interest, passion, and appetite, — though backed by powerful 
 combinations, supported by a corrupt press, and appealing to partisan 
 and national prejudices, — must have a decisive influence, taken in con- 
 nection with simultaneous tokens of good, on the safe working of our 
 institutions. 
 
 In two of the measures of the past year the issue has been distinctly 
 joined between the friends and foes of law — the suppression oi the 
 Sunday liquor traffic and of Sunday theatricals. Both were mainly in 
 the hands of aliens, — the former of the Irish and the latter of the Ger- 
 mans. Both had long enjoyed complete immunity in their demoraliz- 
 ing business. Both were banded together in " associations," powerful 
 in numbers and pecuniary resources. Both claimed and have exercised 
 large political influence. Both had the strength derived from class- 
 interest, and the sympathy of innumerable adherents whose habits and 
 morals they had helped to deprave. Both depended, in different degrees, 
 on the traditional hatred of their several nationalities of a Sabbath of 
 self-restraint. Both avowed their determination to contest and resist 
 the laws to the last, and to render their execution impracticable by the 
 very frequency and boldness of their violation of them. 
 
 We have recorded in previous pages the result of this protracted 
 contest. In every instance, whether in civil or criminal trials, before 
 courts or juries, on questions of law or fact, the side of law and morals 
 
15 
 
 has triumphed ; notorious offenders are punished, and the hosts of the 
 invaders of the public peace are discomfited. There may be still many- 
 secret violations of the Sunday liquor law, and some evasions of the 
 Sunday theatre law ; but this is true of all laws. As a whole, no laws 
 are better enforced than those so bitterly contested ; and the city reaps 
 the fruits in the marked diminution of drunkenness, disorder, and crime, 
 and in the recovered supremacy of law, extending through various de- 
 partments of criminal justice. 
 
 One feature of the ct)ntest with the Sunday theatres deserves sepa- 
 rate notice. It involved the question whether emigrants from other 
 lands may forego obedience to our laws, aiwi substitute for them the 
 vicious habits of their native countries. This claim has been boldly 
 advocated in our German and Sunda}^ journals, and was distinctly set 
 up as a defence on more than one of the trials of these cases in our 
 courts. It is a claim that strikes at the root of our institutions ; for if 
 the multiform customs and habits of the nations governed by bayonets 
 rather than- ballots are to sway the lives of men who pass quickly here 
 to the use of ballots without bayonets, it is easy to see that the only 
 adequate basis for a free government, — a virtuous, self-governing 
 people, — must be so far lost to us. If the emigrants from one country 
 may import and establish one vice, repugnant to our laws and abhor- 
 rent to our moral convictions, others must be free to bring their pet 
 immoralities. And we have the option of changing our laws to accom- 
 modate their depravity — of bartering our liberties for their pleasures — 
 or of resisting these unmannerly and ungrateful invasions, and vindicat- 
 ing our laws and institutions' in their integrity and supremacy. The 
 latter alternative has been the deliberate and almost unanimous choice 
 of the people of this city, and pronounced by our triljunals with an 
 emphasis which can not be mistaken and should not be unheeded. It is 
 due to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the law-abiding Germans 
 of the city to add, that they cheerfully accept this view of the condi- 
 tions of American citizenship, and that they rejoice with us in the result 
 of the contest with the lawless portion of their countrymen among us. 
 
 The nuanimltij and strength of a sound Sabbath sentiment has had 
 impressive illustration in the progress of this reform. It would be 
 easy, doubtless, to involve even the christian churches and ministry in 
 disputes as to many theological questions or matters of casuistry con- 
 nected with the Sabbath : but on the broad grounds of its divine ori- 
 gin and claims ; its beneficent physical, moral and spiritual influence ; 
 its sacred observance ; its fundamental connection with social order, 
 public morality, religious improvement, and individual and national 
 prosperity, there are but slight diflferences of opinion. Millions of men 
 in this land, who make no formal profession of religious belief, cor- 
 dially accept the teachings of the Bible and of the Pulpit in this be- 
 
16 
 
 half, as accordant with their own experience or observation. The in- 
 structed conscience always takes the side of the Sabbath. It is this 
 great flict that gives power to every prudent, manly effort for the con- 
 servation of the Lord's Day ; that furnishes an ample basis for all 
 needful legislation in support of the civil Sabbath ; that gives practical 
 energy to wise Sunday laws ; and that renders powerless the assaults 
 of the infidel Sunday Press. It is when ultra and untenable views are 
 thrust upon the public, in the spirit of self-righteousness, that christian 
 citizens recoil and stand aloof from a healthful reform. We have stu- 
 diously avoided such a tone of discussion, and thus are enabled to re- 
 joice in the support of the great body of right-minded citizens. 
 
 The Committee have deemed it inexpedient, while dealing with ques- 
 tions more immediately affeciing the protection of the civil Sabbath, 
 to invoke the direct aid of the Pulpit, or of distinctively christian 
 agencies. In procuring the enactment . and enforcement of laws to 
 secure the public peace and order, it seemed wise to rely on the moral 
 principle and sound sense so largely existing in the community, and 
 finding such a ready expression through the respectable press of the 
 city : holding in reserve for other and more meet issues, that ever re- 
 liable strength of religious principle embodied in our church organiza- 
 tions. It has not been the wont of the Committee to foreshadow their 
 policy, or to commit their action in advance. Much, very rriuch, re- 
 mains to be done to consummate the reforms already effected, and to 
 secure all that is feasible within the range of the civil Sabbath, — enough 
 to test the manly christian patriotism of the friends of morals and 
 religion. And no guards for the Sabbath as a civil institution can be 
 adequate or permanent that have not their ultimate basis in the intel. 
 ligent convictions of the christian churches and ministers that the Lord's 
 Day is a holy day, the sacred observance of which is a solemn and 
 imperative duty. 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., 
 NATHAN BISHOP, 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 WARREN CARTER, 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, 
 E. L. FANCHER, 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 
 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 WM. A. SMITH, 
 WILLIAM TRÜSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 F. S. WINSTON, 
 0. E. WOOD, 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recording Secretary. 
 BUSSELL S. COOK, Correspondmg Secretary. 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Presideut of Manhattau Bank,) Treasurer. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE SABBATH-MEETING AT IRVING HALL. 
 
 The friends of the Sabbath assembled in numbers greater than the 
 capacity of Irving Hall, on the evening of Feb. 17, 1861. Norman 
 White, Esq., presided, supported on the platform by the members 
 of the Committee, and by Messrs. Peter Cooper, Hugh Maxwell, C. R. 
 Robert, A. R. Wetmore, Shephard Knapp, and a large body of the 
 clerical, legal, and mercantile gentlemen of the city. After prayer by 
 the Rev, Dr. Lathrop, of the Baptist Tabernacle church, and the sing- 
 ing of the hymn, "Welcome, sweet day of rest," Mr. Norman White, 
 chairman of the Sabbath Committee, said : — 
 
 The friends of the Sabbath have been invited to meet the Committee and 
 hear a report of their proceedings for the past year. The efforts to shut up 
 the theatres and close the liquor shops have been attended with most encour- 
 aging success. We cannot overrate the demoralizing tendency of these 
 places — the one alluring young men into scenes most destructive of every 
 moral sensibility ; the other tempting the poor man to spend his hard-earned 
 pittance in drunkenness and shame, rather than to provide bread for a suffering 
 family. * The Committee feel great encouragement to go on with their work. 
 "When they began, many of the friends of the Sabbath had no confidence that 
 any effort to suppress Sabbath desecration would be successful. The results 
 of the efforts which have been made have wrought a great change in the 
 public mind ; doubt and despair have given place to confidence and hope. 
 There is a large class of our foreign population who conform to our cus- 
 toms and laws as they better understand the subject. But we regret to 
 say that there is still another class, numbered by thousands, who are wilfully 
 determined to defy all law and utterly disregard the rights of the Sabbath- 
 loving citizens. With this class our work is but just begun. Until the time 
 shall come when our property and our lives will be safe without the protec- 
 tion of locks and bolts ; until v/e shall be able to disband our police, shut up 
 our criminal courts, and throw open the doors of our prisons; until man shall 
 be so changed that every command in the Decalogue shall be regarded — 
 then, and not till then, can we cease in our efforts to arrest the aggressions 
 which wiU be made upon the peace and quiet of the Christian Sabbath. 
 
18 
 
 Friends of the Sabbath ! under Providence, the work is in your hands. . Most 
 grateliilly would -r-o acknowledge the blessing of God, which has attended 
 our labors. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in 
 vain. 
 
 The Rev. E. S. Cook, Secretary of the Committee, then presented a 
 statement of the fJicts of the Sabbath reform for the past year, as sub- 
 stantially recorded in the preceding pages of this document. 
 
 THE HON. JAMES W. BEEKMAK'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Bkekman said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : — The days of the forcible propagation of truth have 
 passed away. Error still seeks to govern men by other methods than self- 
 control. Believing that the observance of the Sabbath is one of the surest 
 promoters of social happiness and of political prosperity, it has been deemed 
 wise to bring again before the public mind an old but ever interesting topic. 
 The argument from scripture I leave to others. Let us examine the advan- 
 tages of the Sabbath by the light of history. 
 
 Beginning with the Reformation, those nations which have kept holy-time 
 on the seventh day of the week, have been and are the leaders, the strong, 
 the prosperous, because they have learned self-denial, self-control, conscien- 
 tiousness, and endurance. Those, on the contrary, who have made the Sun- 
 day a festival and day of pleasure, have usually been inferior and dependent. 
 
 The strange power of the sacred people of Israel, as the money-lenders of 
 the world, who preeminently have been Sabbath-keepers, is mightier than 
 the sword of conquering hosts. And so it will remain until the fulness of 
 time. Palestine shall be purchased, and the scattered exiles, by the develop- 
 ment of commercial wealth, shall build again the city of David. Other 
 nations have been born, and ruled, and decayed, as Assyrian, and Grecian, 
 and Persian, and Boman, have run the course of empire, but the eternal 
 race of Jewish wanderers exists yet, as distinct as nationality as when 
 crowding the teeming hive of Canaan. Their existence is the one perennial 
 miracle of our Scripture. 
 
 Far up, amid the valleys of the Alps, during the long darkness of tho 
 middle ages, in like manner, was the fire of truth kept unquenched by tho 
 Waldenses. They too, like the Jews, honored with peculiar strictness the 
 Sabbath day. In one of their writings (an exposition of their command- 
 ments) they enjoin those that will keep and observe the Sabbath of Chris- 
 tians to be careful of four things : first, to cease from all earthly and worldly 
 labors ; second, not to sin ; third, not to be idle in regard to good works ; 
 fourth, to do those things which are for the soul. At lengtli, and in our 
 days, we have seen these Vaudois churches spreading over Piedmont, and 
 religious liberty advancing southward upon all Italy, leaving the Word of 
 God in countless copies everywhere on her road. In a cold and humid 
 clime, just where the many outlets of the Rhine make their difficult way 
 through sandy levels into the Northern ocean, a hardy race, long defied, for 
 liberty and conscience' sake, fearful odds. They built themselves cities upon 
 piles, — as it were, on the tops of trees ; their fleets swept the ocean. They 
 
19 
 
 made good tLeir defence and their independence. These Netherlanders 
 loved the Sabbath, and only when French infidelity under the mask of 
 liberty had overrnn the country and forced upon Holland the decades, did 
 the glory of our Fatherland depart. 
 
 The monk of "Worms, seizing upen the popular indignation at the sale of 
 indulgences, proclaimed everywhere the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 and established the Eeformation. But Luther retained some of his convent- 
 ual education. He failed to enforce the obligation of the Sabbath, and 
 therefore he left a crippled church, which has stood still upon the continent 
 of Europe — nay, gone back from its original vigor, as in France and Bohe- 
 mia. The stern iconoclasts of Scotland saw in their Bible the clear beauty 
 of the sacred day, and established its honor throughout all her borders. And 
 what is Scotland and what are Scotchmen now ? Clyde-built steamers plow 
 the seas of every nation, and penetrate the rivers of the most distant Indies. 
 Livingstone, the Christian minister, has forced her sullen secrets from Africa. 
 Mackenzie and Frazer have left their names upon the map of the arctic 
 rivers. Scotch missionaries have preached the Gospel in every land. Scot- 
 land gave us John Knox, and all the noble army of martyrs of the Cove- 
 nant, and James "Watt, and "Walter Scott, and the Napiers, and Macaulay, 
 and Henry Lord Brougham, and how many others ? 
 
 Merle d'Aubigne, the historian of the Eeformation, in a recent book enti- 
 tled " Germany, England, and Scotland," says : " If the people of the United 
 States, notwithstanding their many elements of disorder and dissolution, are 
 not only still in existence, but increasing more and more in power and im- 
 portance, it is because they are the sons of the Puritans. Order and obe- 
 dience, morality and power, are all in Britain connected with the observance 
 of the Sabbath. The severity of England as to the Lord's Day, and other 
 institutions, is an imperative condition of the greatness and power of her 
 people." Such is the testimony of a continental Christian, whose ideas on 
 this point are not at all English. 
 
 In Mexico, and Chili, and A'enezuela, and all those South American repub- 
 lics v,-hose revolutions fill a paragraph of our newspapers as regularly as the 
 news of a freshet or a thunderstorm, the Sabbath is not regarded as sacred. 
 The individual man, freed from the restraint of conscience and self-denial 
 which Anglo-Saxons learn at Sunday-school, is impatient of control, and, in 
 the aggregate as a nation, rebels rather than votes, and decides by a pro- 
 clamation, backed by an armed force, what we determine by law. 
 
 Let us look at the effect of the Sabbath upon, health. Statesmen and 
 lawyers who have worked on Sunday, like Lord Londonderry and Romilly, 
 break down in body and mind. Insanity and suicide are the frequent penal- 
 ties. Eest and sleep arc necessities of all animal being. When Eousseau 
 marked on Saturday the height of a bean vine against a wall, and found on 
 Monday that it had grown, he inferred that Sabbath rest was not a law of 
 nature ; nor is it of the vegetable world. The interest of horse owners who 
 work their cattle seven days in the week, compels them to have for each 
 vehicle seven horses, that each horse may rest every seventh day in turn. 
 
 The statistics of insanity have been quoted against our cause. In Sab- 
 Lath-keepiug lands there are the most lunatics. In heathen countries the 
 fewest. In England and "Wales, one of every three hundred is of unsound 
 
20 
 
 mind. In Massachnsetts one of every three hundred and two, and in one 
 county, every one hundred and sixtieth person is returned as imbecile. In 
 China there are hardly any lunatics ; opinm is not as dangerous as rum. 
 Among the negroes madness is unknown. Eighteen per cent, of our Anglo- 
 Saxon insanity is directly referred to intemperance, and Dr. Geislain be- 
 lieves the grand cause of the malady to be the united action of drink and 
 study. Slavery does not disturb the mind of the negro, but the gold frets 
 away the heart of the restless Caucasian. Insanity is a bodily disease. The 
 mind cannot be sick any more than it can die. Malaria, stimulants, want 
 of sleep, the infatuated thirst for gain, and worst of all, the untimely urgency 
 of childish school study, make our people mad. The men of European civil- 
 ization and of North American civilization are, as it were, in a state of 
 continual intoxication, — intoxication of emotions, of personal dignity ; in- 
 toxication arising from constantly renewed impressions, to say nothing of 
 political agitation. "Without the Sabbath it would be far worse, and that 
 this is true a reference to the French reign of terror is enough to prove. 
 Tlien reason, having left the minds of men, took the form of a courtesan, 
 and was worshipped as an incarnation of folly and fickleness. In the reign 
 of terror there was no Sunday. Europe and America have produced the 
 steam engine and the telegraph, the printing-press, the railway, the sewing 
 machine, and the reaper. The names given to immortal fame fill the bio- 
 graphical dictionaries and encyclopedias. The fervid agitation of restless 
 workers, like the labor of bees, brings forth nations as the bees swarm ; 
 and we have seen in our time a prophecy almost literally fulfilled, in that 
 California was born in a day ; and a people, overrun with the outcasts of 
 every clime, adopted the Christian Sabbath, and crystallized into an orderly 
 and well-governed community. 
 
 The Christian education of woman has given to England, Florence Night- 
 ingale, and to America, Dorothy Dix — both missionaries of kindness to the 
 forlorn, and both names which posterity shall not willingly let die. Again, 
 v/e are told that Sabbath-keepers are weeping and dismal, refusing that 
 Christian liberty with which Christ has made us free. William Cowper 
 pined in helpless melancholy in the unwholesome malaria of ague-smitten 
 Olncy, and shall wo be told that Sabbath-keeping and religion brought no 
 consolation to him? The wonderful author of the "Testimony of the 
 Rocks," broke down under remorseless work, by night and day, such as 
 would have killed a hunter. Hugh Miller fell a victim to disease which 
 would have culminated long before but for the .«oothing relief of the Sab-^ 
 bath. Both these good men were sick because they disregarded the laws 
 of human health and life. The religion they loved consoled them living, 
 and redeemed them dead ; but health is a duty as well as piety ; for are 
 not our bodies temples of the Holy Ghost? 
 
 The Sabbath is a blessiug, because it makes men intelligent by giving time 
 to think, and topics to discuss, quite removed from the ordinary routine of 
 their lives. It makes a man conscientious, self-denying, humble. It teaches 
 him to check the sensual and lower, and to cherisli the higher tendencies of 
 his nature. The Sabbath brings families together, and gives to the toiling 
 father one day in seven to rule his little state, which is the foundation of all 
 government. There honesty is inculcated, and vice condemned ; dangers 
 
21 
 
 pointed out, and encouragement given to the faint-hearted. On the Sabbath 
 God is worshipped because it is the set time to do so. Labor stops and 
 comes refreshed to the Monday's task. " A well-spent Sabbath," says Dr. 
 Reid, " by upholding and difiusing religion, becomes a powerful barrier 
 against social convulsions. Hence it is that the enemies of peace and order 
 are profuners of the Sabbath. Their unhallowed discussions, their public 
 meetings and their private cabals, are all held on this holy day, and true to 
 their vocation, this section of the community are always found to be the 
 most clamorous for legalizing every species of Sabbath profanation. 
 
 Is not this true also in our country? We feel it to be so, and therefore 
 we strive, not to prosecute and pursue with all the pains and penalties of 
 law, those who think all days alike, and would make a festival and frolic of 
 what we deem sacred ; but we mean to spread our opinions before our neigh- 
 bors with what arguments we may. We want to give information — we 
 want discussion. "We believe with Dr. Humphrey that but for the moral 
 power of Sabbatical institutions, neither property nor reputation would be 
 safe, and that the American character and government will go down into 
 the same grave that entombs the Sabbath. We have seen and felt the 
 beauty of this holiness of the Day of days, and we earnestly seek to make 
 others partakers of our pleasure. " He keeps the Lord's Day best, who 
 keeps it with the most religion and the most charity." 
 
 THE REV. MR. GANSE'S ADDRESS. 
 The Rev. H. D. Ganse, Pastor of the Twenty-third Street R. D. 
 church, made the following admirable address : — 
 
 This community is now deciding a most momentous question. That ques- 
 tion is not this — whether the religious observance of the Sabbath can be 
 forced by law upon a reluctant portion of our population. There is no part 
 of this conmiunity that would resist such an attack upon our religious liberty 
 more promptly and resolutely than that which is represented here to-night. 
 But the question is this: Can a civil rest-day be sustained by law in the city 
 of New York ? Into the idea of such a civil rest-day three elements seem to 
 enter. It must relieve the laborer from his week of toil. It must secure to 
 those who are religiously inclined the opportunity to worship without disturb- 
 ance ; and it must so far close the most active fountains of popular vice as to 
 save the day of rest from being perverted into a social curse. Can such a day 
 be sustained by law in this city? The question would be full of interest, 
 whatever community it might regard. But there are few points where it 
 could approach solution under circumstances as interesting as those which 
 are to decide it here. 
 
 In the first place, it is a question for the people. No despotism or oli- 
 garchy is to make the law for us, and then to enforce it. We make it and 
 sustain it, or we reject it ourselves. And the verdict we give shall go forth 
 to the world as the decision of an intelligent and free people. That fact shall 
 give weight to it. We may notice, too, that the discussion of this great issue 
 is not complicated by the influence or even the presence of an established 
 church. No bench of bishops casts a vote upon it. No Christian minister 
 cau affect its decision, except by arguments which any man is free to accept 
 
22 
 
 or to 3esp!se. Besides, whatever verdict this commtinity shall render in this 
 cause, shall be a verdict upon full evidence. All the testimony of which the 
 case admits is before us. There is no sliade of opinion or feeling in regard to 
 the observance of the Sabbath, that is not represented and freely discussed in 
 this city. Among the friends of the day you may count those who exalt the 
 Christian Lord's day almost to the ceremonial sanctity of the Jewish Sab- 
 hath ; and those who, with no idea of its divine authority, yet maintain a day 
 of rest on the lowest principles of material economy. Between these ex- 
 tremes stand a host of men — Christians, philanthropists, patriots — who would 
 debate with each other interminably upon the ground of Sabbath obligation, 
 but who agree in one thing, that the Obligation is complete. On the other 
 side, you have the embodiment of every principle that sets itself against this 
 day. Passion, avarice, false education, a degraded Christianity, infidelity, 
 atheism, have gathered their army of Sabbath-breakci's and Sabbath-haters 
 in this city of New York. God has suffered these scores of creeds condemn- 
 ing this day to be formed in their different schools, and then has made this 
 city of ours the forum in which a decisive discussion is to be had. Here they 
 meet, the offspring of the Puritans and the Hollanders, the sons of French and 
 German Protestants, the men that first saw Sabbath-light in the glens of Scot- 
 land, and along the green lanes of England ; here they are to do battle for the 
 right. And arrayed against them are the representatives of every demoral- 
 ized nationality of Europe. The godless portion of our own population strike 
 hands with them, and perverts from Christianity take the lead of them. The 
 lists have been opened ; the combatants have taken their places ; the trum- 
 pet sounds. Now let the charge come. I do not regret this posture of af- 
 fairs. Let truth and error be fairly marshalled, ilay God defend the right, 
 and let the struggle decide it ! 
 
 "What shall the issue be ? There are some hopeful signs. 
 Pirst, it is God's cause. "We are not aiming to bind men's consciences to 
 a religious Sabbath. But the rest-day is his. And if we can witlihold men 
 from gross indulgences on the day, we may hope to lead them to worship. If 
 you take the turbid mountain torrent, and smite it into seven streams, every 
 one of them will flow turbid still. And the tide of worldly feeling that flows 
 for six days, will flow no purer on the seventh, if you only divert it into the 
 channels of lust. But gather up the mountains of law about it ; let it rest 
 and grow clear, like a sweet Swiss lake among its hills, and the stream will 
 still need to flow, but it will flow in praise. It would be no wonder if the 
 observance even of the civil rest-day in this city should be followed with the 
 opening of the windows of heaven, and with showers of grace. God is on 
 our side. 
 
 And men are on our side. "\Ye have \hG double advantage of all the orig- 
 inal Sabbath feeling of this community, and of our most successful experi- 
 ment. What good citizen can close his eyes to the most striking and cheer- 
 ing statistics of the diminution of crime, that were just now read by our 
 secretary ? They tell me that men are at Albany now, with their thousands of 
 signatures, for the repeal of our Sabbath laws. Let onr legislators remember 
 that we can command signatures too, wlien the emergency shall demand 
 them. And there miglit be among them a class not represented on that list 
 of thouäauds — the signatures of wives wlio are forgetting to weep, of chil- 
 
23 
 
 dren who are looking v/ithout shame on the faces of their fathers, of em- 
 ployers rejoicing to find steady workmen in those who eighteen months ago 
 carried the debauchery of the Sabbath half through the week. 
 
 The strength of the community is on our side. There is only this fear- 
 that good men will trust the good cause to care for itself. The wicked know 
 that God is against them, and so they combine. The friends of a good cause 
 are too ready to assume its success because God U for it. God fights for the 
 good when they fight for themselves. 
 
 But there is one element of encouragement very prominent in the minds of 
 all those who are interested for this enterprise. It is the signal and success- 
 ful prudence with which it has thus tar been conducted. I hazard nothing 
 in saying that no undertaking of equal moment, that has been begun in this 
 city within the memory even of the old among us, has so commanded the 
 hearty and unreserved admiration of the wise and good. God has blessed 
 you and your helpers, sir, with the wisdom that is profitable to direct. We 
 are sure, then, that the cause is in good hands, and so we liave hopes for the 
 issue. 
 
 Alas for us, if we fail I "We are standing on the water-shed. The stream 
 of popular feeling which bursts out at our feet Avill flow down this declivity 
 or down that. If those whom we have met and repulsed shall rally and re- 
 pulse us in turn, they will not reinstate the same evils which we have suc- 
 ceeded in diminishing. Flushed with their success, confident in the added 
 strength which shall have achieved it, they will sweep you dovv'n to the level 
 of a Sunday in Paris or Vienna. 
 
 But what if we succeed? A happy success shall that be for our congrega- 
 tions of Christian woi'shippers ; a happy success for those of us who have 
 children to rear in this great metropolis ; a happy success for those who send 
 forth their sons from the sacred calm of the Sabbath in their father's home and 
 in the village church, to this city of temptation and vice. Be sure, sir, that 
 warm hearts in many a country home, while they think of their dear ones 
 among us, are thanking God for your success, and entreating him to en- 
 large it. 
 
 But the results of our victory shall not be so limited. The battle that we 
 are fighting is preeminently a representative battle. This giant lias come 
 down from Gath, with his spear like a weaver's beam, and he stands and de- 
 fies the Christian sentiment and strength of this city, and of all this land. If 
 he shall win the battle, our whole Israel shall have lost it, and the Pliilistines 
 shall rule us. The Christian feeling of tliis community is the David that ac- 
 cepts the challenge, and the host looks on. If we win, then the cause of the 
 Sabbath has received strength and interest through all this land. And 
 already, indeed, are our chief cities imitating, with most encouraging results, 
 the eflbrts which we are making in New York. But you cannot limit the 
 results of your future successes to this land. All Christendom looks on, for 
 all Christendom has its representatives in this conflict. And there is not, 
 perhaps, another city on our globe in which a sustained civil Sabbath would 
 have such power to aflect the old nations of Europe, as this city of ours. 
 Their own cities are too near each other, and too much under the influence 
 of national jealousies, to make the spectacle as impressive in one of tliem as 
 it would be at this distance across an ocean. Let us lift up our broad canvas, 
 
24 
 
 and lay the brilliant colors upon it, and the nations shall see it with wonder 
 aud admiration. The light of our Christian rest-day should stream across the 
 waters like the warm radiance of a setting Sabbath sun. The campaniles and 
 domes of regenerated Italy should glow in it. The quaint old spires of France 
 and Germany should brighten in the ruddy light ; and even the ivied towers 
 of England should welcome the gilding western beams. 
 
 Shall such success crown our eflForts? We expect it. In this behalf, I 
 think, we now lead the world. Aud God leads us. Let us be united, and 
 earnest, and trustful, and prudent, and kind, aud so let us triumph. 
 
 THE REV. DR. SPRING'S LETTER. 
 The venerable pastor of the Brick Church, being unable to attend the 
 meeting, addressed the following letter to the chairman, which was lis- 
 tened to with profound interest : — 
 
 Me. Chairman : — It is but an act of courtesy to indicate to the gentlemen 
 constituting the Sabbath Committee, that we are not indifferent spectators to 
 what we have witnessed, and what they have done. If I mistake not, there 
 is in the hearts of all the friends of good order in this community a deep and 
 cordial aud joyous sympathy in this noble enterprise. It is a rough path the 
 Committee have travelled over ; and we wish them to understand that we 
 not only look upon them with the eye of brethren, but that there is a tone of 
 feeling in our minds that moves along with them, and that would fain cheer 
 and animate them in their arduous work. "VVe all have but one set of emo- 
 tions toward the sacrcdness, the loveliness, the high-born and heaven-im- 
 parted influences of the Lord's day. Not more inseparable is this day of holy 
 rest from the healthful exercise of the Christian graces, than it is insepara- 
 ble from that protecting morality which is the surest guardian of social 
 and national virtue, ri^-^^-^ 
 
 If we cannot banish vice from the midst of us, there is sometliing gained 
 when we can strip it of its gorgeous hues, and drive it into obscurity. 
 Daniel Webster once said, "Some persons lose their abhorrence of crime in 
 their admiration of its magnificent and pleasing exhibitions." It is not 
 always true that 
 
 " Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
 That to be hated, needs but to be seen." 
 
 It is usually conceived of in hideous colors ; and the more need is there 
 that we take good heed not to be deceived by it when it comes in an attrac- 
 tive form. Marvellous to tell, it has been reserved for the times in whicli we 
 live to advocate the sin of Sabbath-breaking by the plea of liberty of con- 
 science ! as though liberty of conscience is the liberty of bidding defiance to 
 the law of God ! Thanks to the effective police of our city for detecting and 
 exposing the glare of these Sabbath vices ; and thanks to an impartial and 
 upright court, that in the day of trial they gave no countenance to the plea 
 that liberty of conscience is the liberty of "sacrificing to devils and not to 
 God." Men never violate the law of God more flagrantly than when they do 
 it from a false principle of conscience ; and they never do so more impxulently 
 than when they profess honest and conscientious intentions for the mere pur- 
 
25 
 
 pose'of covering their vices. Napoleon remarks that " There is no class of 
 men so difficult to he managed in a state as those who impose upon their own 
 consciences." If your Committee had done no more than tear away this 
 gossamer pretext of crime, they would deserve well of all honest men. 
 
 You have often listened to luminous expositions of the truth that "the 
 Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." It so wisely 
 consults the demands of his physical, intellectual, social, moral, and immor- 
 tal nature, that I have long regarded it as among the beautiful proofs of the 
 divinity of the Scriptures, and that they were written by Him who perfectly 
 knew the wants of this wayward, wearied, and sin-impoverished world. The 
 Sabbath is its choicest inheritance. For what would the ministry of recon- 
 ciliation be, and what the Bible, and what its Saviour, without its Sabbaths? 
 Shorn of its Sabbaths, the din and urgency of time would be its ruin. Ex- 
 punge the Sabbath from the history of man, and you take down the symbolic 
 ladder on which the angels of God are descending from heaven to earth, and 
 frail, sinning man ascends from earth to heaven. 
 
 I know, Mr. Chairman, there are obstacles in the work you have under- 
 taken to perform. I have :^lt them. I have struggled with them, and found 
 " old Adam too hard for young Melanchthon." In the early days of my min- 
 istry, I was discouraged by them ; public opinion was slow to sustain the lit- 
 tle band who forty years ago ventured to "beard the lion in his den." But, 
 sir, the path of duty is a bright path, though it climbs over the " Hill Dif- 
 ficulty." When a young American officer was summoned to the assault of 
 one of the enemy's frowning outposts, he promptly replied to his superior, 
 ' I will try, sir." Your Committee have tried ; and they have shown that 
 there is great efficacy in combined and persevering action — all, notwithstand- 
 ing the variety of their views on matters of religious faith and polity, buck- 
 ling on their armor, and standing shoulder to shoulder in their wise and 
 patient onset upon this one strong entrenchment of the foe. They have been 
 steady to their purpose, and the Lord' God of the Sabbath has been with 
 them, and is with them still. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, he who addresses you can say, with one of other days, "I 
 have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous for- 
 saken ; " and though winter scatters liis snows thus plentifully on his head, 
 be is thankful that time spares him to utter these few words of encourage- 
 ment to the friends of the Sabbath. Allow him to say to you, in the lan- 
 guage of Jehoshaphat to the judges of Judah, " Deal courageously, and the 
 Lord be with the good ; " and, in the language of the prophet to a king, 
 " The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him." 
 
26 
 
 PROFESSOR- mXCHCOCK'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Tlie Rev. R. D. Hitchcock, D. D., Professor in Union Theological 
 Seminar}', made the closing address as follows : 
 
 After these addresses to •which we have now listened, and such addresses 
 representing so ably the counting-room, the bar, and the pulpit of our city, 
 there remain to me little time and less material for a speech. 1 cannot, 
 however, deny myself the luxury of expressing my personal respect, and 
 begging tlie audience to permit me to be their mouth-piece in expressing 
 their respect for this Sabbath Committee. Wellington once said that it 
 requires sometimes as much genius to feed an army as to lead it in battle. 
 This Committee have accomplished the rare achievement of providing for 
 their own expenses, by no means inconsiderable, without once appealing to the 
 general Christian public for pecuniary assistance. For this we owe them our 
 thanks. But still more do we owe them thanks for the singular Avisdom of 
 their measures. They have committed no mistakes ; they have taken no 
 extreme, untenable positions. This is a great matter, thus to have marched 
 straight forward without once beating a retreat ; to have managed an assault 
 which has known no repulse ; to have dealt a heavy shock which has been 
 followed by no recoil. 
 
 The practical presupposes the ideal. All prudent undertakings, whether 
 of conservation or of i-eform, must proceed upon the basis of clearly con- 
 ceived and sharply determined principles. This Coraraitlee, at whose call 
 "we are here to-night, have in charge a great enterprise both of conservation 
 and of reform ; the conservation of an institution very precious to our fathers, 
 and honored in the legislation of every Christian commonwealth from the 
 time of Constantine till now ; the reform of flagrant abuses which threaten 
 to sweep away this institution alike from our statute books and from our 
 streets. This Sabbath enterprise is of necessity inspired and sustained by a 
 Sabbath doctrine which it behooves us to put distinctly in the foreground. 
 
 What is this Sabbath doctrine ? I have not compared notes with the 
 Committee ; I am not the specially authorized expounder of their opinions : 
 but I think I shall run no risk of misrepresenting their position, if .1 say, 
 first, that the Sabbath, for whose defence they have pledged themselves, is 
 not the ecclesiastical Sunday of some of the European scholars and commun- 
 ions, a mere churcli-day, with no higher sanction than attaches to such 
 festivals as Easter, Epiphany, or Christmas. Nor is it merely the Lord's 
 Day, having no organic connection witli any earlier appointment. Nor, again, 
 is it merely the Jewish Sabbath, promulgated for the first time in the Deca- 
 logue, and, by simi)ly a change in the day, carried over into Christendom. It 
 is, indeed, a cliurch-day, cherished by the devout in every Christian generation 
 as "the queen of days." It is also the Lord's Day, specially commemora- 
 tive of his resuri-ection. And it has connection, moreover, witli the day 
 enjoined upon the Hebrews in the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. 
 But it is also more than each or than all of tliese. It is essentially the 
 original Sabbath of the race, hallowed in the beginning when the work of 
 creation was finished ; antedating Judaism, and consequently surviving it ; 
 
27 
 
 given tötnan as pian, and therefore binding upon' him in all ages 'and cli 
 mates, and under all dispensations. In confirmation of this original appoint- 
 ment, VTQ appeal to the hebdomadal division of time so widely diffused ; we 
 Appeal to the human constitution itself, Avhich in all its parts, physical, 
 mental, and moral, is so palpably preconfigured to just this proportionate 
 amount of holy rest. 
 
 The Sabbath, as thus defined, holds most important, nay, even vital rela- 
 tions to the three great organisms which condition the history of our race ; 
 I mean the family, the church, and the state. It supplies the atmosphere, 
 without which they cannot breathe. Here are great questions waiting to be 
 discussed, into some of which this Committee have not yet entered. They 
 have not yet taken up the Sabbath as related to the family. Doubtless they 
 feel, as I do, that the Sabbath has hardly as yet begun to be what it might 
 be to the househord ; a holy but joyous day, v/hich no gentle child shall 
 dread in its coming or speed in its going. Nor have they discussed the 
 Sabbath in its relation to the church. Doubtless they feel, as I do, that the 
 church has yet to learn how to make the most of its holy day ; by prayer, 
 by psalm, by service of whatever sort, turning its golden opportunities to 
 the best account. These branches and aspects of the question we may hope 
 will receive attention in due time. Thus far the Committee have had enough 
 to do in taking care of our civil Sabbath — the Sabbath as it stands related 
 to the state. 
 
 We hear a great deal of senseless declamation about the union of church 
 and state. The church, certainly, desires no such union. She remembers 
 too well the lessons of liistory. She knows that this union is most likely to 
 involve, sooner or later, the subjection, not of the state to the church, but 
 of the church to the state. Independence, even with a sharp antagonism, 
 has been proved to be better than friendship and patronage when purchased 
 by dependence. So was it during the first three Christian centuries, which 
 gave the church her noble army of martyrs. Fi"om the time of Constantine, 
 for more than seven hundred years, there was a union of church and state, 
 involving the supremacy of the state, worse for the church than sword and 
 fiame. Hildebraud reversed all this, compelling the state to bow to the 
 church as "moon to sun." But this priestly triumph was short-lived. The 
 Protestant reformation, which owed so much in its inception to the favor of 
 temporal princes, was soon fettered and crippled by that favor. It was not 
 till our ov/n continent took its place in history, that the true, normal condi- 
 tion of things was realized — independence without antagonism. On this 
 ground we plant our feet. Of the state we ask nothing but to be let alone as 
 Christians, while as citizens we receive that protection in the enjoyment of 
 our rights to which all citizens are entitled. For our principles we invoke 
 only that favor from the state which the state itself finds needful in order to its 
 own security. 
 
 Let us be understood. It is as good citizens, anxious for the weal of the state, 
 that we are here to-night. We speak not for the church, which will take care 
 of her own Sabbath, but for the state, which must have a Sabbath, or else curse 
 God, and die. To the state we say : This, for you, is simply a question of self- 
 preservation. Will you live, or will you die ? If you would live, you must give 
 your citizens a stated weekly season of sober, sacred rest. If you would die, you 
 
28 
 
 have only to surrender the Sabbath to profanation. Secularize it by permitting 
 servile toil, or making civil processes valid, or inviting revelry, and your work 
 is done. Your citizens will soon be subjects, and your subjects will soon be 
 slaves. 
 
 Sabbath legislation, such as this Committee favor, is sometimes denounced in 
 the name of civil freedom and democracy. Much to be pitied are the men who 
 ai-e imposed upon by such denunciation. A more humane, democratic institu- 
 tion than this of the Christian Sabbath, as recognized in our civil legislation, does 
 not exist. In every aspect of it, it is evidently made for man, and for none so 
 eminently as for the man of poverty and toil. Around him especially does the 
 state throw the arms of its protection. Labor Ls thus defended against the re- 
 morseless exactions of capital. Every seventh day, it is declared, shall be a day 
 of rest. And furthermore, this day of rest, it is decreed, shall not be made a day 
 of special moral danger by reason of greatly multiplied solicitations to sensual 
 indulgence. The privilege of rest shall not thus be poisoned and perverted by 
 those who offer the masses pleasure, not because they love the masses, but be- 
 cause they wish to fleece them of their hard-earned wages. They only are the 
 real friends of the people v*'ho are determined that this day of rest shall be sur- 
 rendered neitlier to Mammon nor to Belial. 
 
 But we take still higher ground. Our nationality, if it be anything, is a Chris- 
 tian nationality. This new theatre of history was entered under the banner of 
 the Cross, with lofty strains of Christian cheer. We are not a pagan, nor a 
 Mohammedan, nor a Jewish, but a Christian people. And those who cannot 
 accept this fact, and govern themselves accordingly, had better leave us to our- 
 selves, just as we should leave a pagan, a Mohammedan, or a Jewish country, 
 were its institutions offensive to us. Intelligence and virtue, even the infidels 
 among us admit, are essential to the perpetuity of cur free institutions. But 
 intelligence and virtue, we are well persuaded, are an idle dream unless they rest 
 upon the solid basis of a Christian morality. The nation must live, if it live at 
 all, by faith. 
 
 And if there was ever a time when men should seriously reckon with them- 
 selves, and with their God, and their fathers' God, it is at a time like this, when 
 these stately pillars of the state are trembling about us, and the grand dome 
 which these pillars bear up is swaying to and fro in the sky. These are hours 
 of apprehension and of peril, such as we have never known ; and nothing can 
 endure which is not founded upon the solid rock. Hence our zeal for the Sab- 
 bath. We contend for it, not merely as an institution of the church, not merely 
 as Christians : we contend for it as patriotic Americans, who are not willing that 
 our liberties shall perish. Give us holidays^ and you will give us presently a 
 military despotism. Give us this lioly-day, and you will keep us republican 
 freemen. 
 
 The Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. John Cotton Smith, 
 of the church of the Ascension, the Doxolgy was sung, and the throng 
 dispersed. 
 
29 
 
 PRESENTMENT OF LIQUOR DEALERS' ASSOCIATION 
 FOR CONSPIRACY. 
 
 "New York, Frida v, June 22, 1860. 
 
 " The Grand Jury would be blind to the circumstances attending most of the 
 cases of crime they have considered, did they not trace their origin to the indis- 
 criminate s.ale and use of intoxicating liquors, and to the prevalent spirit of lawless- 
 ness induced by classes and associations engaged in tlie liquor traffic, or conspiracy 
 to obstruct the enforcement of the statutes fijr restraining it. 
 
 " It is obvious that the efforts of judicial or executive authorities to punish crime 
 and to secure public peace and order must prove abortive, so long as the causes of 
 crime and disorder are not only unchecked, but are fortified and stimulated by 
 organizations, powerful in numbers and wealth, actively employed in embarrassing 
 the administration of justice in all cases affecting the interests of their members. 
 It is a notorious fact that thousands of dram-shops pursue tlieir business, and have 
 done it for years, in defiance of laws of the State declared to be constitutional by 
 the Court of Last Resort, and when every unlicensed sale of alcoholic or othier 
 intoxicants is pronounced by the law, as expounded by the Court of Appeals, to be 
 a misdemeanor. 
 
 " Indeed the penalties incurred, whether criminal or civil, by this traffic, if im- 
 posed and collected, would pay the entire amount of taxes of the city, enormous 
 as it is. That they are not impossed or collected, and this traffic brouglit under 
 legal control, is due chiefly to the unscrupulous meddling witli political and judi- 
 cial affairs of " Liquor and Lager Dealers' Associations." Thousands of men thus 
 combined, with an enei'getic Executive Committee, adroit and well-paid counsel, 
 and abimdant resources for tempting and coercing public officials and public 
 journals, leave but an indifferent chance for the protection of the rights or morals 
 of a community too busy to look after public interests, and too uuwieldiy to counter- 
 plot tl'.e mischiefs of a selfish conspiracy. 
 
 "It may be worthy of the consideration of tlie public whether it is consistent 
 with either the dignity or safety of the citj' longer to endure tb.e shameful 
 paralysis of law and justice affecting the chief cause of taxation, pauperism and 
 crime, and whether the statute intended to protect the comojunity frona illegal 
 conspiracies of this sort should not be brought into requisition. 
 
 "It is provided in part 4, chap. 1, title 6, section 8, of the Revised Statutes, 
 " If two or more persons shall conspire * * to commit any act injurious to public 
 health, to public morals, or to trade and commerce, or for the perversion or obstruc- 
 tion of justice, or the due administration of the laws, they shall be guilty of a 
 misdemeanor." It would seem that this law, applied to the matter ht-re presented, 
 and to like conspiracies for supporting illegal Sifnda}' performances, might restore 
 our machinery of government to its normal condition. 
 
 " It is further due to the public to direct attention to the demoralization and 
 lawlessness consequent upon the contempt of our statutes for protecting the weekly 
 day of rest and worship from unseemly and immoral public exhibitions by the 
 proprietors of Sunday Theatres and Beer Gardens. Not only have they defied tlie 
 law, but even the injunctions of Courts have been set at nought, and a combined 
 purpose has been avowed and acted on to override Jaw and auih<.rity, and in 
 spite of all to persist in practices offensive to the va^t majority of mir citizens, 
 foreign to our n-ational usages and convictions, and destructive to public morals. 
 
 ''It would appear to be essential to the very being of our institutions that this 
 6tate of thing should be brought to an end. VVe have no shield but a government 
 of law. If one class may take the law into their own hands, all classes may. and 
 society resolves itself into its original elements. At any cost, and at all hazards, 
 existing laws should be wisely and impartially enforced, and the men, or classes 
 of men, who choose to set them at defiance, declare themselves to be outlaws, and 
 need to be thus dealt with, without fear or favor. 
 
 '• HOMER FRANKLIN, Foreman. 
 " J, C. Kendall, Clei'k." 
 
THE SUNDAY TIIKATRE LAW CONSTITUTIONAL. 
 
 t 
 
 Abstract of Judge HoffmaiCs Opini'on. 
 
 TJie People vs. Hojim and Ilamann. — Tlie demurrer involving the constitution 
 ality of the act of 18ö0 against Sunday theatricals, was argued by Mr. Cram for 
 the people and Mr. Clinton for defendants. The opinion of the learned judge 
 recites the oU'ense charged in the complaint and tlie provisions of tlie act, and 
 refers to his views of the Divine authority of the Sabbatic institution as expressed 
 in the oase of Campbell vs. The International Insurance Co. (4 Bosworth's rep. 
 312), which he reaflirm3 in the language of Bishop '\^^l3on : "Tlie dedication of 
 one day in every seven to religious rest and the worsiiip of the Almighty God, is 
 of divine autliority and perpetual obligation, as a characteristic of revealed religion 
 during all its successive periods; having been enjoined upon man at the creation ; 
 recognized and confirmed in the most solemn manner in tlie Ten Commandments; 
 vindicated by our divine Lord from the unauthorized additions and impositions of 
 the Jewish teachers, and transferred upon the abrogation of the ceremonies of tlie 
 Mosaic law, to the first day of the week, in commemoration of tlie resurrection 
 of Christ, and on that account called the Lord's day." Though not essential to the 
 present case, the conclusion thus expressed is not deemed irrevaleut to it, and it 
 has not been lightly formed, nor without attention to the arguments of the emi- 
 nent men who have doubted or contested it. 
 
 The history of our state legislation connected with the Lord's day, is of great 
 importance and pertinence. He cites "The conditions of the burgomasters of 
 Amsterdam," of 1656; the laws of the duke of York, of 1664; the charter of 
 liberties, October, 1683 ; the colonial statute of 1695, " against the profanation of 
 Sunday," which was in force at the adoption of our state constitution, in 1*777, 
 and until the passage of the state statute of 1788, which latter was substantially 
 that of the Revised Statutes of 1813 and 1830. 
 
 The Constitution of 1777 lacks the provision of the subsequent constitutions of 
 1822 and 1846, that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, with- 
 out due process of law, and no member of this state shall be disfranchised or 
 deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless 
 by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers." But the Thirty-fifth article 
 declares the common and statute law of England and the acts of the Colony in 
 1775, to be the law of the state. The great charter of John, and that of Henry III. 
 confirmed by thirty-two successive acts, were as clearly a part of the law of 
 England as the right of the writ of habeas corpus. — (Kent's Comm., vol. II, p. 26.) 
 Soon after the Revolution (1787) a bill of rights was passed, with provisions nearly 
 identical with the charters of John and Henry; and the revisers of 1822 adopted 
 a similar bill. The clause in section 3 of the constitution of 18-16, as to the freedom 
 of religious profession, was in the constitution of 1777 and 1822 ; the only change 
 being the additional clause respecting the competency of witnesses. 
 
 This historical investigation establishes, as I think, beyond doubt, that there has 
 never been a period in our legislative history, since 1777 at least, when every 
 provision as to the enjoyment and right to property, and as to freedom in religious 
 profession now found in the constitution of 1846, was not as fully part of the fund- 
 amental law of this state as i^is now. (The exception as to witnesses does not 
 affect the present question.) And thus, if the legislature cannot prohibit, restrict 
 and modify the I'iglits of using property on Sunday, under the present constitution, 
 then the statute of 1788, and its renewal in 1813 and 1830, have been equally 
 illegal and void. The selling of merchandise has been forbidden in those statutes. 
 The whole coarse of legislation has then been against the organic law, and the 
 decisions of courts of justice liave been violations of tlic citizen's rights. I cannot 
 see a substantial distinction between the interdiction of the employment of cattle 
 in ordinary agricultural labor, or the ordinary sale of merchandise, and prohibi- 
 tion of the use of premises for certain specified purposes on Sunda3-. Each 
 instance rest upon the principle of good order and public morality and peace. In 
 each tiie full enjoj-ment of property is restrained. In the old statute?, no distinc- 
 tion is found between cases of property possessed at the passing of tlie statute and 
 that subsequently acquired ; nor is there a trace of it in the authorities. 
 
 The case of Hurchammer vs. The People (3 Kernan, 378) is relied upon by 
 
31 
 
 tlie defendants. But nil tlie leading opinions notice and enforce the distinction 
 between legislative acts -which operate the entire destruction of property, or 
 any right to use it, and restrictions, or qualifications upon tlie time, place, or 
 mode of enjoyment. Only when provisions pass the boundary of regulation 
 and police, and work fche essential loss or destruction of the property, are they 
 tinconstitutional. 
 
 This view answers every nrgnment deduced from the Constitution of the United 
 States as to tlie inviolability of contracts. If the act can be sustained as a 
 regulation, founded in public policy of tiie use of property existing or future, no 
 contract is illegally affected. The same consideration furnishes a reply to the 
 suggestion tliat the act is void in being confined to the city of New York. If the 
 evil was local, in the judgment of the legislature, tiie remedy may be so. 
 
 Several authorities are cited and commented on, as follows: 9 Cal. Reports, 
 p. 502 ; 2 Ken. Reports, 3 ; 34 Penns. Report, 398 ; same, 86, etc. 
 
 These views and authorities, adds the learned judge, lead me to the conclusion 
 that the statute in question is valid, and a lawful exercise of legislative authority. 
 Judgment for the plaintiff on the demurrer, with costs, -witli leave to answer 
 in twenty days. 
 
 [The following " Constitution " was presented in evidence on the trial 
 of Lindenmuller.] 
 
 "constitution ok tiie religious sect called the GERMAN 8HAKEE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 "The undersigned hereby form a Society for the purpose of passing the day of 
 the week called Sunday in a manner worthy of cultivated and thinking men ; to 
 rest from the labor of the preceding days, and to gather strength for the following. 
 They meet together to keep Sunday religiously with their families; to listen to 
 useful and serious addresses of single persons, and of several speaking together; to 
 represent occurrences from actual life, founded on morality; to counsel good; to 
 avoid evil, and with our might and strength keep every one from evil ; so to act 
 towards our fellow men as we wish to be treated by them, according to the words 
 in the Bible, " Love thy neighbor as thyself.' We believe in the immortality of 
 the soul, implanted in us by the Goddess " Nature." We believe in the Sacred 
 Beings, who, by the strength of their souls, have guided thousands to the paths 
 of mortality and nature. We believe that the Goddess, Nature, Morality and 
 Humanity, form a Triuitj' before which we bow down. We battle and work for 
 this, our religion, by moral representations, by delineations of the light and shady 
 sides of human life. We strive to elevate men to become noble citizens of the 
 Universe. We declare these, our Sunday acts, to be our religious mode of worship." 
 
1. The Sabbath as it was, and as it is. 8 pp. 
 
 2. Eailroads and the Sabbath. 16 pp. 
 
 3. Kews-crying and the Sabbath. 16 pp. 
 
 4. The Sabbath in Europe. 16 pp. 
 
 5. The Sunday Liquor Traffic. 24 pp. 
 
 6. A Year for the Sabbath. 16 pp. 
 
 7. Memorial Memoranda. 40 pp. 
 
 8. German Document on Sunday Liquor Traffic. 24 pp. 
 
 9. German Sabbath Meeting at Cooper Listitute. 
 
 10. The Broderic Sunday Pageant. 16 pp. 
 
 11. Sunday Theatres, Sacred Concerts, and Beer-Gardens. 24 pp. 
 
 12. Progress of the Sabbath Keform. 32 pp. 
 
 13. The Press of New York on Sunday Laws. 24 pp. 
 
 14. Our Central Park. 8 pp. 
 
 15. The Civil Sabbath Eestored. 
 
 Orders may be addressed to " The Sabbath Committee," 
 No. 21 Bible House, New York. 
 
3 w e i t e 
 
 Seiitfr^c ^erfamniluug 
 
 Sur 
 
 gehalten 
 am ©onntag ?l6ent, ten 10. «Bi.H-j 1561. 
 
 59c It bcii 9iebcn Don §crrii ®, ©^tonB, ^>aftor Dr. ©tofjlniöun. 
 
 Scfrctiir ^. 8» (?oot, ^^rof. 9?aufd)ciibiiftf), ^^rof. Dr, ^itdjcorf 
 
 uiit) ben 33cft^Iiif|cii bcr 3>erfantmlung. 
 
 .riciau? gegeben toon ber 9^elü = 3)or!er Sabbat]^ = 6ümmittPC, 
 
 (Doc. No. 16.) 
 
 ©ebrudt hti ,0- Subiüig, 39 6entre = Stra^e. 
 186 1. 
 
L SJcrnnloffung ber 25erfammlung» 
 
 Stm 17. StprU 1860 erlief bie gefe^geknbe SSetfamtnlung beg Staate Sf^em^Dotl 
 ein ©efe|;, ,,äur Grt)a[tung ber cffentlidjen 9iuf)e unb Orbnung am erften SBocfjentag 
 ober Scntitag." S^icg @efe^ »erfcietet öffentliche tl^eatralifd^e 2>ürfte(Iungen, foiüie 
 aüe äl}nUctien ^Vergnügungen am Sonntag, unter Slnbrotjung einer «Strafe i>on 500 
 S^oUarx^, unb emiädjtigt bie ,,®efeUfc^aft jur 33efferung jugenblid^er 33erbred^er/' in 
 Uebertretungi-fdüen Älage ju fvtf)ren unb jene ©umrne einäU3iet)en. 2(u^erbem tritt 
 in fclc(?cn ^-dllen ncc^ bie Strafe ein, meldte ba§ ©efe^ für alle berartigen $erge|)un= 
 gen (misdemeanors) ücrfc^reibt. Sind) üerliert ^eber, ber am Sonntag tl)eatra= 
 lifc^e Ssorftellungen üeranftaltet, bie ©rlaubni^ (license), fold^e an Sßerftagen ju 
 »eranftalten. 
 
 3ur 3eitf alio bie| @efe| erfd)ien, fanben in ber Stabt 9'Ieh)=2)orf am Sonntag 
 Slbcnb an atoanjig üerfcfiiebenen Orten tljeatralifcfje 33orftellungen ftatt. 2Reiften§ 
 »erftedtcn fie if)ren ungefefelicf^en ß^arafter baburd?, ta^ fie auf ben Stnfcfjlagjetteln 
 aliS "Sacred Concerts," ober "Concerts of Sacred Music," angefünbigt hjur 
 ben. 2lber h»df)renb biefer ?iame geiftlidje ober religiöfe SRufifftüd'e erirarten lie^ 
 befagte fd)on ber ttteitere Snl)alt be;? 2(nfd)lag3ettel», ta^ Suftfpiele unb ^offen, 2öal= 
 jer unb 93allette gegeben rt»iirben. S^aju famen nod^ ©lüd)?fpiele aller 2trt, nebft 
 fonftigen raufc^enben 93eluftigungen. ^n ben beutfd^en 5ll)eatem marb ben gan^ 
 gen Sonntag SRad)mittag unb 2lbenb 93ier in Strömen an bie, oft toeit über 1000 
 jidl)lenben, Sefud)er auc-gefd^cntt. Qint ncä) Xiid fd^limmere ©eftalt gemann bie 
 Sad}e in ben am Sonntag offenftefjenben amerif anifdjen 3;l^eatem bie, auf Stn^ 
 lafe ber beutfd)en entftanben, aber balb fie an Unfittlid^teit unb 3Serborbenl^eit hjeit 
 übertrafen, ©anje Sd^aaren gefallener, ober il)rem ^all entgegen eilenber SJtdbc^en 
 bemirtljeten I^ier bie jugenblic^en 35erbred}er, bie fic^ in SJienge jufammenfanben, unb 
 eg mürben S)inge getrieben, bie in ben nerberbteften großen Stdbten ber alten SBelt 
 an feinem 5lage ber 2Bcc^e gebulbet hjerben njürben. 
 
 Sie Urfad)e, mepalb fold}er Unfug fo lange fortgef)en fonnte, lag gro^ent^eiB 
 ill bem Umftanbe, ba^ fo etioa;? {)ier ju Sanbe big bal^in tJ^eilg gar nic^t, t^eife roe- 
 nigftenjo am Sonntag nid)t Dorgefommen n»ar. 2)ie alte gute Sitte f^attt c§ fem 
 gehalten: fomit toat feine 25eranlaffung ba, ©efe|e bagegen ju erlaffen. S)ie= 
 jenigen @efe^e, bie etma gegen 9>ergel)ungen biefer 2(rt geridjtet »raren, ttiaren tf)eilg 
 nid)t bcftimmt genug, tl)eil2! festen fie ju geringe Strafen feft. 
 
 2U» nun im grüljja^r 1860 ber (!ntlrurf beg oben ertüdl)nten ©efe^eg ber gefe^; 
 gebenben SSerfammlung üorlag, boten bie Siertlieater^Sefil^er juerft 2(lleg auf, um 
 ben ßrla^ beg ©efe^eg jU Ijinbern. 2}amac^ aber, alg eg benncc^ burdjgegangen 
 
 3 
 
roat, bef(i)Iof|en fie, bent ©e[e$e Slto^ ju bieten, fofte el, hjal e» njclle. Sie Sonn* 
 tag§=8(i)au[piele bauerten alfo fort, unb smar in Segteitimg ber giftigl'ten SlusfäUc 
 gegen ba» 6I)ri[tentfjum unb bie Sanbelgefel^e. 3)ie Sericfctcrftatter (reporters) 
 bcvjcnigen 3eitungen, bie am ent)d}ieben[ten gegen Sonntagö=23elultigungcn auftvaj 
 ten, mürben in effigie (ira 93ilbe) getjängt, bie ^^oli3ei gefd}mät)t unb bie frcd^ften 
 gotteiSiäfterlidjen Dteben Don ber S3ü^ne f)erab gefül;rt. Giner ber üorne^mftcn beut: 
 fd^en 3:f;eater:Se|'i|er l^atte bie Stirn, feine Sdjaufpiele alä ben ,,©ottesbicn[t ber 
 beutfcf)en S(i)ä!er=®emeinbe" anjufunbigen, tttetdje an bie ,,@öttin 3tatur" glaube 
 unb burcb bilblio^e 2)arftellung ber £i(^t= unb £d}attcnfeiten bei ntenfcblidjen Scbcnl 
 fittlic^e .^ebung erjiele. Sine fo eienbe ^offe biefe 93cl;auptung auc^ mar, bie ,,Con= 
 ftitution ber ^eligions[e!te, bie fic^ beutfd)c £d)cifer:@cmcinbe nennt," föurbe bei 
 bem gegen if)n antjängig gemad^ten ^rojej? allen Grnftcl bem @erid}t all gcnügenbe 
 9ie(^tfertigung wn Sänjen, ^Balletten, Suftfpielen unb 2;rin!gelagen ber milbeften 
 3lrt »orgetegt.* 
 
 :3nbef5, bie ,,beut[d)e Sd)äEer;©emeinbe" marb nicbt anerfannt. 6» bauerte 
 inax üolle üierunbämanjig Stunben, ebe bie ©efc^mcrnen fid) einigten. 3^ann aber 
 lautete iljr Spru(^ auf 33ermerfung biefel ni(j^tigen S^ormanbel unb auf ^Berurttjeis 
 lung beffen, ber fid) bal)inter ju bergen gemeint btitte. 
 
 3icö) fi^neller brad^ bie ^olisei ben STrc^ ber anbern SonntagltbeaterjQiefitser. 
 Ginige nerloren iljre Sicenj, anbere mürben megen 3?erad}tung be» ©eridit!i>l)ofel ju 
 einer betrdd^tlictien ©elbftrafe »erurtbeilt ; mebrmali imirbcn bie Sd^aufpieler fcgar 
 mitten in i^rem Spiel, mit ibrem 3;beater=,$lüftüm angetban, terbaftet. Sa f»crging 
 ibnen enblid) bie Suft, ein fo gefdbrlidjel Spiel nocb länger fcrtjufet^en. Giegcn= 
 mdrtig fpielt am Sonntag fein Sbeater mebr; mand}e, bie friiber am Sonntag fpicU 
 ten, finb ganjlid) eingegangen, meil fie an biefcnt 2:age ihre .r^auptcinnabme bat= 
 ten. 2Bie grofs biefelbe mar, ergibt fid) fcbon ani ber Eingabe cinel biefcr Sbeater: 
 Sefiljer, ba^ fein SSerluft in fedjl SJlonaten $4000 betrage. 2tn einigen Drten ift 
 allcrbingi am Sonntag nod) 2JlufiE, nebft 3(ulfd}cnfcn r>on 33ier unb fonftigen Sctu-- 
 ftigungen. 2)od) ift ju beffen, ba^, mie bal 3luefd}cnten beraufd}enber ©ctränte in 
 ben meiften S(^enflofalen am Sonntag aufgebort bat, ihm mit ber 3eit aucb an ben 
 ebengenannten Orten ein Gnbe gemad)t merbcn mirb. 
 
 Sie t»or balb ^mei ^labi^en burd^gefefite Sd)lieJ5ung ber Sd)en!lDlalc, fomie bie erft 
 in jüngerer 3eit unternommene Sd)lief;ung ber 2bcatcr am Sonntag bat in jeber 
 .^infid)t eine bi3d)ft erfreuliebe 25eränberung jum ikffern berbeigeffibrt. ^n ben adbt= 
 jebn SDlonaten Dom 1. Stuguft 1859 (an meldbem Jage ber Gbcf ber ^olisei, .f)err 
 $ilä.bur^, Sefebl gab, bie Sd)enfen ju fd)lief)en,) bil 3um 1. gebruar 1861, mürben 
 an allen Sienftagen jufammen 15,503 Sßerbaftungen tiorgcnommen, an allen Scnn^ 
 tagen jufammcn nur 10,483. Siefer Unterfd}ieb ift um fo beaditungimortber, all 
 früber gerabe bal umgefebrte SSerbältni^ ftattfanb, inbem am Sonntag um ein Srits 
 tbeil mebr 5>erbaftungen ftattfanben all am Sienftag. 2Bal biefe cntfd)eiben5 
 ben B^blen nur anbeuten, mirb ^fber nod} beutlidjer er!ennen, ber bie je^üge 
 
 * Z>\c "Shakers" Tin* cine »on ken „Jrcunkcn" ctcr Qurtfmi alvifijangcnt fllcIlflionJvartci, tic in 
 ©^eloriijtcit unb (Sütcrgcmcinfdfaft ein jurü<f^cjogenc« ficbcn ffil^t. 3l)vcn 9i\imcn l)'üien Tic t'U<oM, 
 las fic bei i^ren ilevfammlungeu ^äufig in eine fdjaufelntc uiil IjiU'fciitc Jiorvcrboucgunsj gevatfteit, 
 tie Tidf manchmal bi« gu ©pvingen nnt 3'anjcn fleigcvt, uiit nad) iftvev aUcinung ter 5liiatvmf tbciU 
 be« (Srjlttcrn« »er tern 3crne Octtcg, t(;elU t>ti 3ubct« über tic grlcfung burc^ ebriflum fein frit. 
 
8onntagsftil(e itn[ver Stabt mit bcm früt)CTen 2.ixm unb ©etiimmcl am Sonntag 
 oergleidjt. 
 
 9iid)t nur alle (!l}ri|ten, fcnbern alle ben ^rie^e'i un^ ^ie Orbnung liebenben Süvj 
 get betrad^tcn mit SRed^t biefe 3>eränberung al» eine f)5d^ft h30^(tf)uenbe unb erfreu = 
 Ii(f)e. ©anj anberiS aber fefjen bie g'l^eunbe raufc^enber S^ergniigungen am Sonntag, 
 unb adermeift biejenigen, bie [ic^ baburd} bereicbertcn, bie Sac^e an. SBie fd)on er= 
 ääljU, fu(i)ten [ie anfang» ju bemirfen, ba^ ba^c ©efe§ nom 17. 2(pri( gar nid}t erlaf: 
 fen lüerbe; barnod) magten fie e§ ifjm Ztol^ ju bieten, cber e§ ju umgef)en. 2tla 
 and) biefer lefetere S5erfud^ feb(fd)Iug, boten fte 2niei3 auf unb festen red)t eigentlich 
 Grbe unb .f)c(Ic in 53crt)egung, um bie SBieberabfd^affung bes ©efel^e» t»on Seiten ber 
 Segi^Iatur suirege 3U bringen, ©rofje Summen mürben 5U biefcm 3wede nermenbet, 
 Sittfd}riften mit fo üielen Unterfd}riften, aU fic^ irgenb auftreiben liefsen, an bie 2e- 
 gielatur gefanbt, baju 3)taffcn=2>erfammlungen teranftaltet, um Grflärungen gegen 
 bail fc öert^a^te Sonntagc^gefe^ 3u eriaffen. 
 
 3^ie bcbeutenbfte biefer 2Raffen=2Berfammhmgen murbe am Sonntag ben 3. Max^ 
 im beutfd^en ,,Stabt:3:l()eater" geljalten. Sie erüärte, iaä Scnntagegefel^ fei ,,ein 
 bunfter ^^eden in unfrcr aufgef (arten ^dt, ein ^emmfc^ul^ bc§ Jortfd^rittel, ein 
 Ueberbleibfel au§ bi'iftern fanatifcben Seiten^ ei" Siueftjuc^iS intoleranten engherzigen 
 ^^uritanismufi, meld^er auf efttig »on ben Stättern unfers Statut» ausgemerzt lüerben 
 foüte, 2C." Sie behauptete, ba^ ,,befagte§ @efe§ bie öffentlid^e SO^oral nid}t allein 
 nid)t förbere, fonbern et)er geneigt fei, ber .^eud^elei unb Unfittlicbteit 3?orfd}ub gu 
 leiften." diner ber ticrnef)mften 5iebner meinte, in ber 2tgitation gegen bas Scnn= 
 tagc-gefe^ fef)e man ben beutfd}en Seift gegenüber bem ©eift eine» intoleranten 
 ^faffentbumgi. Üurj, e^ hjurben 33ef)auptungen unb Grflärungen in SOIenge aufge- 
 ftedt, bie eine ©egenerflärung be^ beffergefinnten ^\)e\li ber beutfd^en 33eDcI 
 ferung bringenb erf)eif($ten.""' 
 
 * Sflad^fte^cnbciäi ünb t>ic öoUfiänii igen Sefdjlüffc jener 9hitt:Sabbatb:93cvfamm.- 
 lung vt>m 3. iUiäq. üJacbbcm ein langcö ,,3n Slnbetrad^t bev uiiücräii§evlid)cn Sflcd)te 
 eiiieö freien 33o(fcö, auf gefe^tidiem Sßcgc 9lb(;&tfe für jcbcn ungcfc^tid;cn 3lft ju fu: 
 c^en," K. — »or^ergcgangcn ifi, toirii »pn t>cr SSerfamnilung 
 
 58cfc6 lo ffen, tap rcir befagteJ ®efc^ für u nc o ii flitutlo n et l cvfUvcn, »ie ea bereits kurcö 
 tii-3 i^clf antever Staaten gcfd)e[;en ifl, intern ti bie Sleli^icngfrei^cit befc^ncitet unb unl bie Surrc= 
 matic einer SJeHgion auftröngt, rvtläie ben erften Stag ber SBcrfje geheiligt Vriffen »iU utife ftd^ 2lnberS= 
 glÄubtge untevcrbnet, luä^renb turc^ bie (Scnftituticn jeber Sctte gleiche 9{ec6te gefiebert fmb; 
 
 a?efd) (offen, ba» wir e^ auc^ in fo fern für unccnflitutionctl erf(ären, al6 ei bie aUgeinetiie ®c= 
 »erbefrci^cit beeinträdjtigt, fomit bem (Seifte ber (Sonflituticn gurolterliluft unb aU ein *)joUjeitefrct 
 bie grcgcn 3unbamenta(grunbfä^c »erJe^t, welche als @runbtage unfereS grcgen nutionaien @cfe^ 
 budieä bicnen ; 
 
 5Ü c fd) 1 c f f en, ba§- wir befagteS @efe^ für eine Seeinträcbtigiing unferer I;eiligfien JRec^te l^atten, 
 ali ein @cfe8, weiche« aui engherzigen Jlnfic^ten entfprungen, nic^t bie JBitligung ber aJiajorttilt bc« 
 53o(fe? Ijat, U'eli^e baburc^ gejrcungen reirb, fic^ unter baä Suc^ einer intoieranteu ffliincritfit ju beu« 
 
 gen; 
 
 S3 cf 16(0 ffen, bay tuir ba? ®cfeb für unvertragticö mit bem gcfunben SJJenfdien^jerflanbe Ratten, 
 ba ci, iras beute gcfe^licb, morgen für ungefc^Ud) unb übermorgen «lieber für gefebtirfi ertifirt; 
 
 33 cfd) ( of f cn, baß ivir befagtc« (Sefets für ungerecht tjalten, weit e« auf jloften einiger aSeniger, 
 bie ficbcn Tage jur ©rbotung Traten, buntcrttaufenben von fteipigen Ulrbeitern bie Glittet cntgief)t, ben 
 ciiijigen Jag ju ifiver grbolung benüfeen ju tonnen unb fid; baburcb neue geiftige Spannfraft ju fcd^«» 
 tilgiger barter 9lrbeit ju bolen ; tepbalb fei c? fd)lieplic6 
 
 iöefd) loffen, bap roir biermit ben ad)tbaren gefefegeberben Körper in 2ttbanl) acbtung^ooHfl, 
 aber bringen^ angeben, 6I;ap. 501 tcr-®efc^c von 1860, betitelt: Gin ®cfct^, ben öffentlichen Srieben 
 
2, S^rbffnuiif^ ber ^Bcrfantmlung. 
 
 Sonntag Stbenb, ben 10. 2)lärj, üerfammciten fxi) bie g^reunbc be§ Sonntag^, um 
 ifjre Ucbcvseugung augsiifpred^en, bajs nid^t nur bic amerifanifdjen, fonbern and) bie 
 beutfrfjen orbnungsiUebenben Siirger bie beftel^enben (Bonntagc^gefe^c nic^t befla^ 
 gen, fonbern fid) ifjrer freuen unb bringenb iriünfd)en, fie aufredbt erl;a(ten ju feben. 
 9hir inenige 2>eranftallungen »raren getroffen, nur furj juttor ir>ar bie 3?erfamm(ung 
 angctünbigt ; bennod} fanb fid} eine 3)lenfd}enmenge ein, irie man felbft in ber JBelt= 
 ftabt 9leiti=^Dr! fie nur feiten beifammen fiet)t. Ser " New-York Herald" fd}ä^t 
 if)re 3at)l auf 3 bi§ 4000. @eiüif5 ift, baf5 bie loeite ^alle be^ 6D0per=3nftitut^, 
 in föelc^er bie SSerfantmlung ftattfanb, an 2000 Sifee f)at, unb ba^ nic^t nur biefe 
 alle befe|5t iraren, fonbern üiele Ijunbert 2Renfd)en ftanben. 
 
 SBof)I ju bead^ten ift, ba^ bie ungef^eure 3Jlet)rbeit ber 35erfammelten auä 2)eut: 
 fd>en unb an§ greunben ber füllen ©onntag^Sfeier beftanb, tva§ \\ä) bei ber 2lbftim= 
 mung am Sdilujj auf'jg unjtiieibeutigfte beraueftellte. S)er Sorfi^er ober ^räfibent, 
 fomie fcimmtlicbe Ssiceprafibentcn traren S)eutfc^c. 2(uf ber platform befanben fid^ 
 bie meiftcn beutfc^ien ^rebiger JJetD^Tlor!'^, toon faft alien tird?lid}en Benennungen, 
 ncbft Dielen angcfel^enen bcutfc^en i^auf; unb ©efd^dftsleuten. (§ä tvaxen and) mcljrc 
 d}riftlid} geftnnte 2lmeri!aner jugegen, aber nid^t fel)r »iele, hjeil bie 3(bf)altung ber 
 S>erl)anblungen in einer il)nen uncerftänblic^en ©pradje bie meiften äurüdl)ielt. 
 
 9iad}bem bie it>o^)lbefet5ten 6änger($öre ber lutl)£rifd}en ©emeinbc in ber SBalfer^ 
 £traf5e unb ber reformirtcn ©emeinbe in ber ^§ouftcn = Strafte ju 2lnfang einige 
 l)errlicbe biblifd^e ©cfangftiide aufg.efiiM l^atten, fprad» Rafter Sufd^e , ^45rcbiger 
 an ber beutfd}=reformirtcn 6emeinbe in ber Suffclf;£traf5e, bie ß'rcffnungymorte. 
 2^ann erfc^oll in grofser ilraft unb '\suue, aiiS bcm SiRunbe ber ganjen 5>erfammlung 
 2utl}er'^ ^ampf= unb SicgeÄlieb ,,C5in' fefte 93urg ift unfer ®ott!" ^aftor Soft, 
 ^rcbiger an ber 9}letl)obiften=0emeinbe in ber jireiten Strafic, l)ielt je^t bai (Fin^ 
 gange^gebet, Jüorauf ber 2Sorfi|er, .^err ©uftat» 6c^»t» ab, folgenbe 2lnrebe f)icU. 
 
 3. S^cgriifung unb ^cridjt bc^ 3.^orfi$cr^» 
 
 ?!JJanc^e «ntcr cud), mciiic i5>^ci'"i'e, fiabcn wdjl vox ftcbcnjcf)ii ^Kouatcu einer SSers 
 fammlung in Ciefcm <Baai beigewof)!^, nub cviuncrn fic^ nod), ivic cinbrincjlic^ unö tnimalö 
 cine Sact)c an« .^erj gelegt »urbc, bie jcbem guten (5l)viftcu, ja jcbcm guten iBüvgcr tf;cucv 
 fein muf , — bic ^«kx bcö ©onntagö. 5lurf} fieutc bringt unö biefc dicier liu'cbcr jufanimcn, 
 wnb inbcni id) end) im Üuimcn ber 33evauftaltcr bicfct 93ci|"animlung X)crjlid) uiidfcmmen 
 f)ciJ5e, freue id) mid), ang cuvcm ja^trcid)en (Svfdjeincn fd)lic§cn ju biirfcn, ba^ bic XijciU 
 na()me fjicfiir bei unfcrcr bcutfrf^en 93cüölterung nid)t cvlrfd)cn ift. 
 
 3d) kite unfcre aSerfjanblungcn bamit «in, bap id; cud) 5ücrid)t über baiSjcnigc abflatte, 
 
 unb tie Ortmung am erftcn JTagc tcr SBoc^c, gcvi?ö()n(id6 Sonntag genannt, ju cv^aftcn; fowlc @cft(on 
 21, S(mv. 569; ®cct. 21 «on S^ap. 828 tcr Ocfe^c «en 1857 nnc Sect. 42 tcr mtlj. 259 tev fflofe^e 
 «on 1860, tic ficß auf ten iievfauf »on Siquov am crfien Sage tcv ai?od?c, gcwöfjnlicö genannt Sonn» 
 tag. tcjie^cn, weldjc ©cff^e unb 5;&eilc «on Ciicfe^en al* nn«evtri5glid) mit unfein JKcdjtcn betrachtet 
 Werten— im Saufe tiefer Si(}ung ju njiterrufen uiit baji »«ir unfere aSertrctev in befagttr ©cft^gcbung 
 l^ievmlt auffortcrn, allen Grnfteä einen folrfien aSiterruf ju betreiben. 
 
tea« in ben uerflfciTcncn ficbcnjefin SOionatcn in bcr <Sad}C üorgcfa((cn ti"i, nnb cud) if)vcn 
 gcgnuuävtigcn ©tanb flat ju niadjcn fudje, wovaiiö ii)t bann ben 3u>ccf nnferev3ufammens 
 tunft erfe^cn werbet. 
 
 3n ben legten fünfjc^n Sauren tear cine toefentlidje SSeränbcvung in bee bürgeriidicn 
 gcici- be« (Sonntng(J in unfcrcr ©tabt Borgcgangen. S)tc ge»ol)ntc Stiile, bie big baijin 
 tccnigcc bnrd) bie alten ®efc^e, al^ bnrd) bie feft im amerifanifdjen 93o(fc wuvjeliibe Sitte, 
 aufrecht crfjalten njoiben war, ntad)te mef)c unb mc()c einem Uumcnben treiben ^la^. 
 (Sin grofet Zi)<:'d bev <£tabt unirtie ti)iiU »on ben ©efdjaften bev 2Bc^e, tijcilö \jcn ge« 
 räufdjBoüen 53chiftigungen eingenommen, bie 93cvbred)en am (Sonntag nal)men in bcbenf= 
 lidjcm aJia^e jn, nnc bet ganjc (5()acaeter beö Xaqi bro^tc ein anbetet ju werben. 
 
 5DIand)e 5ßetfud)e waren beretti5 gcmodjt, bem 93erfaU ber Sitte (Sin^att ju t^mi, 
 waren abet gänjlid; gcfc^eitett, unb üiele j^veunbc beö Sonntag^ gaben iijtc @ad)C für 
 »erioten. 3)a trat im 3af)r 1857 cine 9lnjaf}l amcrifanifc^er üöiirger, au6[d^(ie§lid) Saicn, 
 JU einem SSetcin pfammen, ber unter bem ^flamen ber 9JcW:2)orfer Sabbatf):6ommittcc 
 eö ^lä) jur Slufgabc mad)te, bie burgertidje Scier beg !Eageg bnrd) jcbeö gefe|,tid}e a)Ut= 
 id wiebcr [jcrjuftcKen unb ju förbern. Sie jtcKten babei ben ©runbfa^ auf, ba^ bie 
 rcligiöfe ^eicr nidjt in i^ren 5ßcrcid) ge(;ijre, fonbern bem ©cwiffen beg (Sinjetnen ju 
 uberlajjcn fei. 
 
 5)er er|k SScrfud) i^rer !£f)ätigfett war gegen ben Strapen^SSetfauf unb bag SlnSrufen 
 ber 3eitungen geric^tet^ weldjcg offne >&ülfe ber ®efe|gebung abgcfd}aft würbe, ^icburd) 
 crniutbigt, wanbte bie Sommiltee if;re ^Semii^ungen gegen bie ftnd)tbarfte Duede beg 
 Ucbelg^ ben 93erfanf gcifiigcr ©ctranfe am Sonntag. 2)iefer war bnrd) bie Scgiglatur 
 unfercg Staatg in bem fcgeuanntcn Liquor Law furj juDcr »erboten Werben; bie ^Joltjei 
 war jcbod) ju fc^wad) unb ^attc nid)t ben 3ßi((cn, bag ®cfe^ augjufit^ren ; eg biieb ein 
 tobter 93ud)ftabe. @rft alg bie ^oligei im Sommer 1859 in bie ^änbc ber Police Com- 
 missioners überging unb ein tüchtiger Superintenbcnt ang Stuber fam, fing eg an, (Srnji 
 bamit jn werben. 
 
 53alb ;^eigte fi^ jcbod) ein anbereg Uebet, bag ben S^ag ber Sdufic in einen S^ag ber 
 flö-rcnbcn 2lugge(affent)cit ju Berfefjrcn anfing — ic^ meine bie 93icrgartcn:J'f)cater mit >§aä 
 javbfpieicn unb fdjlimmercn 3ugabcn, bie id) f)iet nidjt nennen will. 9lnc^ (jiegcgen wutbc 
 im 9lpril tj. 3. enblid) »on ber Scgiglatur ein firengeg ®cfe^ crtaJTen, unb baburd) ^olijci 
 unb ®crid)te in ben Stant) gefegt, mit ^ladjbrucf gegen bie Störcr ber i?ffentlid)cn ötu^e 
 einjufd}rciten. 3u iljrer (Sl^rc fei eg gefagt, baf fic bieg gctban tiabcn. 3n jebem bet 
 jal}lveic^cn ^rojcffc, bie anbäugig gemad)t würben, i)l ein Urtfjeil ju ©unften ber ftillen 
 Sonntaggfeier erfolgt, unb wer fid) nod) nid^t in fonfiiger äßeifc »on bem bcffer geworbenen 
 Suftanb überjeugt I)at, ber üergleid)e nur bie ie^ige3al)t ber aSer^aftnngen am Sonntag 
 mit bencn in früherer 3cit. 
 
 SSie aber ju erwarten war, finb bie geinbc beg ftillen Sonntagg nid)t gefcnncn, ftd^ in 
 ben je^igcn 3uftaub ju fügen. (Sin mäd)tiger 33erein, bem eg nid)t an (SJclb unb (Sinflug 
 fef)lt, bie bcfanntc Liquor Dealers' Association, arbeitet längfi an einer Slbfc^affung jcneg 
 crften (Scfe^eg, unb bie 5'()eatevfreunbe lajfen eg an Slntlrengungen gegen bag jweitc nid^t 
 festen. Sie :^aben eine jafilrcid) untevfdjricbenc ^petition bei bet Segiglatut eingercid)t, 
 worin um 9tbfd)affung jener ®efe^e gebeten wirb, unb bicfe fiat i^ncn bie (Sf)vc angetf)an, 
 bie Sad)e an cine Scmmittce ju oerweifen, wcld)e in Äurjem barüber jn bcrid)ten i}at. 
 3)ie (5tage wirb fomit in wenigen S;agen oor bie gefe^gebcnbe a^erfammlung nnfereg 
 Staatg fommen: follen bie ®efe|e, wcld^e ung einen Rillen Sonntag fid)ern, beliehen 
 bleiben ober nid)t? foil bie ^abfud^t einet üet()ältni^md^ig f feinen (Slaffc oon Seuten, 
 unb einige taufenb bentfc^e Stimmen bei bet nädjften ffiaf)t, mcfjr gcften afg bag mate= 
 riefle unb geiftige aBof)l ber gan;5en Stabt, afg bte ererbte Sitte ber ungef)cuern 5)Jcf)rjaf)( 
 unfcrcr ameriEanifd)en äUitbürger, unb, id) f)ofe fagen ju bürfcn, alg bie Stimme uon 
 5'aufenben bcutfd)er Sanbgfeute, benen biefc Sitte, wenn ntd)t ron früfier Äinb^cit an be= 
 fannt, bed) burd) ciefjäf)rige (Srfaf)rung if)rcg Segeng in Bfeifd) unb 53fut übergegangen iß? 
 9tuf ung, meine tf)encru Sanbglcute, ruf)t f)iebei eine grofje 33eranfwortnng. 2)ie ?hu 
 gen unfter amerifanifd)en 2)Jitbürger, bie Singen ber Scgiglatur fmb auf ung gerichtet. 
 
8 
 
 Sie Scutfdicn, f}cipt ti, \tjc»ncn feine ©oiintag3(icfc|e, fie iroftcn Tfjcater uub Sivt^iJ« 
 l)äufcv offen Ijvibcn. 3rf; fovbcre eud) batjer auf: »wenn end) baö 9Bof)l eurer ©tabt, curet 
 (familien, lueun end) euec eigencö ®o^l am ^evjcn liegt, fo er(;cbet euve «Stimme fi'ir euet 
 9ied}t, unb laffet eure Oefe^geber unb bie 9Belt wifTen, ba^ if)r oerlaumbct »vcvben feib, 
 icenn man eud) nad)fagt, \i)x wäret aöiflenS, bie größte aBü(}(tt)at, bie unfer Staat i'om 
 (£d;övfer ber üBelt unb ber (Staaten empfangen I;at, um gemeiner 8uft widen ju ücrfaufen ! 
 
 3d} würbe am tiebftcn f)icr fdjUepen, unb bie weitere S3ert()cibigung ber Scnntagö« 
 feicr gegen Slngriffc «crfd^iebener 5kt bcn 9)Jännern iiticrtaffen, bie beö ijffcntlid)cn 
 Sdebcnö gcwc()nt finb. Sülein e3 ill wo'^t mit 9led;t ber üBunfd) aucigefprod}cn worbcn, 
 ba^ in einer ^aä)c, bie nwi aH Si'trgcr. aU @tcuevja(}(er; ciU Oatten unb SSiitcr ebenfo 
 \vd)l ange()t, Wie als St)rif}en, and) bie (Stimme ber Saien (aut werben fcHc. 3rf) Witt 
 ba^er neri) auf bie «orne^mfien Sinwenbungen eingeben, weldje bie (Segner ber Sonntagijs 
 feier gegen bie (Sonntagögefc^e ert^eben. 
 
 ''Man wirft biefeu ®efe^eu junädjft »or, fie feien nneonflituticneU, weif fie S^eligionös 
 jwang auflegen, wäbreub bie (jonftitution beö (Staate»; 5iew:9)'-''tf fowo[)( als ber 93er5 
 einigten Staaten freie 9(uöi'ibnug jeber 9leligicu fidjere. Söcnn t)ierniit gemeint ift, ba^ 
 bie Sonj^itstion unö fein 9led)t gebe, bie mit ber 53ffc(gung ber Scinntagt^gcfelje »erbnn« 
 benen Opf*-")-' ''■^on jcbem 33i"irgcr ju »erlangen, fo antworten wir; a((erbtngi5 giebt fie itn3 
 baä 9led)t, wenn d nad) ber SiJeinung beä 55olfä jum a((gcmcineu 53cften bicnt! Sie 
 (Sonftitution nnfere« Staate^ ift barübcr burdjauö nid)t fo jweibeutig, wie unfere Ocgnec 
 glauben madjen woUeu. Sic füfircn immer nur be n (Sat^ am ber (Sonftitutiou an, bot 
 iinö ©ewiffeneifreifjeit garantirt, fie fagen aber nid)t>5 ba»on, baß gteid) Ijieranf berSa^ 
 folgt: „5lber bie ©ewiffenöfrei^eit, weld^e :^ientit geftdjcrt wirb, foK nid;t fo gebeutet 
 werben, al^ ob bamit Sittcntcfigfeit entfd;ulbigt ober (53cbräud)e gcred}tfertigt werben bürfs 
 ten, welche ftd; mit bcm ^rieben unb ber Sid)erf;cit biefesS Staats nid}t »ertragen." 
 
 Unfere Oegucr »ergeffen iiberl^aupt, bap bicfe« 8anb »on einem d)rifttid)en 33o(fe eos 
 lontfirt Werben ift. 2)ic Uierfaffer ber Sonflitution ber 33crein. Staaten unb aller Sonfti; 
 tutioneu beä Staate^ 9?eW;9)orf waren (5l}riftcn; fie lebten unter unangefod)tenen Sonus 
 tagSgcfe^en ; fie ertannten jWar feine einzelne d)riftlid)e Jlird)e, Wcl}l aber bie d}riftlid)e 
 Sdeligion iibcrbaupt aU bie ©runblagc ifjreö StaatiJgebäubeö an, inbem fie baij englifdjc 
 Common Law, bic d}rifltid)e (Sf)e, bcn d)rifilid)en 6'ib aboptirtcn unb bie (Eröffnung ifirer 
 SSerfammlnngen burc^ bag ®cbet d)rifilid;er ®ciitlid)er hii auf bcn Ijeutigen Xag forts 
 pfTanjten. ©iefc tfiatfäc^lidje (Srflärung iljrcr 9lbftd)t muß billiger SBeife fd}werer wics 
 gen, aU eine (Srttärung in 3Borten. 9Bcnn fie eine fotdjc, um jebe ®efal}r einer berrfdjen« 
 ben Äird)e ju »crmciben, nitr anbeutungäweife ju crfenueu gaben, fo \*i C6 bennod) flar, 
 baß fie nid)t 9lanm für bic SRcligion bcö bamalö ncd) ungeborenen freien 91Jenfd}engei)leä 
 laffen Wollten, fonbem einen (^rifilid^cn Staat ju griinben meinten. 9Bic fonnten fie 
 übcr'^aupt an einen religionölofcn Staat bcnfen, ba ein fold;e(5 Unbing in ber aBett 
 noc^ nie ba gewefcn ifl ! 
 
 35amit treffen wir nun aber bcn ^ern ber i^ragc. 9Benn bie 9lngriffe gegen bie bcs 
 fie'^cnben ®efe^e, wie unö bereite angefünbigt ift, aufö äußerfie getrieben werben, fo f;an: 
 belt c« ftd) nid)t me()r um ifire größere ober geringere Sd)iirfe, um ifire Sweifmäßigfeit 
 ober Unjwecfmäßigfcit: eö Ijanbelt fid) »ielmcfir ^^nlc^t barum, ob wir, auf ber ®rnnb« 
 läge ber Sonftitution ftc'^eub, ein djrtfilidje« 93 olf bleiben wollen ober nid^t. 
 
 Db biefe Svagc '^ier jemals praftifd) big auf biefe Spitze getrieben werben wirb, laffe 
 ic^ unentfd)ieben, villein wer etwa meint, eg ^anble fidj bei ben Sonntag-^gefc^cn um 
 9lcußerlid)feiten, um bic fid) ein (Sf)ri(i uic^t im fümmern braud)e, ber bebenfe bod) bic 
 SD'löglid)feit, baß eg fo weit fommen fann. @r finbe fic^ bal)er nid)t allein mit ber 9lb^ 
 [Raffung ber bürgerlichen Scnntaggfeier, fonbern and) mit ber 5lbfd)affnng ber (S^t-. unb 
 (Sigcntf)nmgr®efe^c unb ber ganzen jcl)n ®ebote üured)t, unb frage fid), wag für ®runb» 
 lagen ciueg georbnetcn Staateg alöbann nod) übrig bleiben. 
 
 (Sin anbcrcr (Sinwanb ift ber, baß bie Sonntagggcfe^e eine Ungcredjtigfeit gegen ben 
 fleißigen ?lrbeitcr feien, weil fte il)n an feinem ©rwcrb l^inbcru. ®er aber weifi nidjt, 
 baß l)ie.r in fcd)g ij^agen met)r gearbeitet unb mcl)r »erbicnt wirb, alg in (Suropa in fiebcn 
 
!£ageir? 2Beim vriv inui aber ntd)t aUc ®t\vexie iinb ^aubt^iennigcn am Soniitac; tvcb 
 ben, uiit» U11Ö bamit uiiber bic ®efc^e unfcrcv vil;i)fti"c{)cn OJatiic »evfiiiibifieii iinb in einen 
 \mi)xcn ®efd)äftöwaf;nftnn »evfadeu Woden, fo ift eö offenbar cine Ungered}tigfeit, »Dcnn 
 Unr aöirtfien nnb «Sdjanfpielem adcin ein *J>rivilegium geben, un3 am ©onntag ivie an 
 alien übrigen S!agcn auei^nbcufen. 
 
 ^d) wcnbe mid) noc^ ju einer ginftenbnng aubcrcr 5(rt, Wd^i oI;nc Swcifet fd)ou 
 mand)em I'on (Snd; unb in guter Sieinung gcmad)t Werben i|i, nämlid; ju ber *8ernfimg 
 auf euer bcut|'d)e3 ©cmiitf), bcm eine finfterc 9lnfd;auung ber fociaten SQer^ältnif|cburd)= 
 «U6 fremb fein miiffc, wc^balb and) bie bcutfd)cn Äird)en i^re Sit^ciptin nie in folcfiem 
 ^Ma^ auf bicfcn *l>unft auögebctjut I)aben, wie bie anicrifanifrfjen. ©arauf wid id) üorerfl 
 bcmerfen, ba§ id) Sebem einen (»eiteren unb frö()lid)eu ©onntag gönne unb wiinfd)e. 
 ^fann cr ben nid)t in ber Äird)e ftnbcn, fo f)at and) ber ?lermftc ()unbcrt anbcrc ^PHttel, 
 itm Äcvper unb Oeitl ju erquirfcn. 3d) leugne nur, bafi er baju 9öirt[)öl)äufcr unb Zi)cci' 
 ter pber fonfl ein ©littet niitfiig f)abe, \va3 Jlubcrc in if^rcr ?ü-t bcrSonntagöfeicr ftört unb 
 ®ewerbc oT)ne 9lctf) in 53cweguug fcljt. 
 
 3m Ucbrigcn gebe id) gerne ju, ba§ in ?(o(ge ber entwicfelung unb ®efd)id)te unfercä 
 93clf^, wie ber Srjie^ung jcbeiS cinjctncn Seutfdicu, unfcrc 9lnfd}auungcn unb 93egriffe 
 »on bürger[id)cn lNf(id)teu r>erfd)ieben ftnb unb r»erfdiicbcn fein mi'ijfen pon bcn 53egriffeu 
 anberer 33ölfer, wie ber (guglänber, ©djotten unb 5tmcrifaner. 3d) leugne ferner nic^t, 
 bag bic nac^ innen gerichtete ^rijmmigfeit eine«? beutfd)cn (5()rif}en vion ber nad) auf5en 
 ftrebenbcncineö Slmerifaner»? Ieid)t untcrfd)ä^t wirb. 9UIein id) bin and) überscugt, bag 
 äWifd)en beu Srtremen auf beibcn ©eiten bie grcge a)ic()r^af)l ftd) über ade berartigc 
 *Punftc verftänbigen fann. Unb gewig würbe eine foId)C aßerftäubigung, Woju eud) I)icr 
 bic amerifanifd'cn ©ruber bie >0änbe bieten, unb ein aufrid;tige6 3ufammenwirfen in fot^ 
 d)en j^ragcn nur jum ^eit unfercr bcutfd)en Jl'irriKu augfd)(agen. 
 
 Sffiir ftnb f)ter fpäter eingebogen, a(g bie 3lngfo Stmcritaner unb Tonnen unö nid)t me^t 
 l)erau'5ncf)mcn, beu 3»ftitutionen bcö Sanbcö ani?fd)licgnd) unfern (5f)araftcr aufjubrürfen. 
 35er Slnftanb fd)on erforbert, ba§ wir uni3 in befte()cnbc iDrbnungen fi'igen, unb nur Wenn 
 wir bie offenbar guten ©citen beä amcrifanifd)cn ®ci|le5 uuä aneignen, tonnen wir I)of= 
 fen, aud) unfcren beutfd)en ®cij! fein iri)eit bayt beitragen ju laffen, bag eine ju @ctte3 
 (Sf)re gere!d)enbe neue ©efiattung an& biefem aSölfcrgcmifd) bcryorgefie. 
 
 äöenn aber bie Sanbt^tente, beuen wir in biefem Äampft ats ®egner gegenübevflef)en, 
 «n^ vorwerfen, bag wir unfere beutfc^c Olatur r>er(eugnen, fo wibcrfpred)C id) bem ()ierniit 
 öffcntlid'. 3c^ leugne gan^ unb gar, bag ber ®eif}, bcm fie f)ulbigen, ber b eu t f c^ c ®cifi 
 fei. 3d) weig, e^ ij} ber ®eifl mand)cr 3!)eutfd)cn ; aber ber bcutfd)e @eifi, ber unfercö 
 JBoIfeö ®röge rinb (5f)re tfl, ber i)! er nic^t! 35 cn ®cift ()aben unfcrc SBorettcrn ^aifx- 
 I)unbcrtc (ang in 3ud^t unb ernftem ©inn gcfövbert unb gepflegt, unb ber Sduf beutfd)en 
 ^^tcige«, beutfc^er jtraft, beutfd)er S'reuc, bcutfd)er 'Jrömmigfeit, ber uni^, fo ®ott will, 
 ond) f)ier nicfet üertaffen fod, ifl älter al>5 ber ®cifl ber 3ud)tloftgfeit, ber ocrneincnbc 
 @eif}, ber erfi in biefem 3a[)r^unbert aufgertanbcn ift unb fid) an ber 2lrbcit auf ameri: 
 fantfd)cm SBoben, wie id) ficffc, bic 3äf)ne auiSbrcdjen unb cnblic^ jur ffieftnnung fommcn 
 wirb. 
 
 Sßd^renb ber öorfteljenben 'Sithe fuditen etlid}e ©egtier in allerlei SBeife Störung 
 JU erregen. 2)te ^clijei tftat ifinen jebcd) ßinfjalt, unb bie ungeheure 2ReI)r5üI)( ber 
 SSerfammlung gab irieberbolt ibre 3u[timnnmg ju ben Heuf^erungen bei? 2?crfi|erä 
 jU crfennen. Dbmcf)! er jebc 9teu^erung biefer Hrt auv 33efd)eibcnbeit ju uiiter= 
 brücfen fudbte, fonnte er bod^ am Sd^lu^, rtio feine 3Borte fo rec^t fc^Iagenb ben 
 6inn unb bie ©efüble ber Sßerfammelten au^fpradien, fie nid)t nerfjinbern, if)r Qin-- 
 »crftaiibcnfein mit il)m auf':^ beftimmteftc an ben Sag 5U legen. 
 
 (J--5 folgte je^t eine längere 3^ebe wn ^^aftcr Dr. G. ^. Q. Stoblmann, feit brei= 
 unbjnianjig 3;al)ren ^rcbiger an ber lutberifdien St. 3}tattbäuglird^e in ber SöBaUer^ 
 
10 
 
 StvaJ5C. Scr nad)ftef)cntic SluejU^ au^ bcvfclben ent[}ä(t jiuar nid^t allied, na° 
 barin SBid^ti^e^ imb 2Bertf)t)olIe^ gefagt luar, bod> finb bie ü o me ^mften fünfte 
 »riebcrgegeben. 
 
 L 91cbc uon $aftor Dr. Stofjimann, 
 
 ^cd^gefcf)ä^te fflcvfammdmg !— 9Btr finb ^kv uidit jufammcngefommcn, .Äinl;c 511 
 I)aUcn ; eö ifi cine 93crfamm(ung freier 53i:rgcr eines djrifilicijcn «Staates, ^üi fo(d;c 
 ncljmen uiir iinfer Dlcdjt in 9Infprud). ©er ®cgenftanb ift gro^, ja fo umfaffcnb, bag c3 
 fc^ivev ifl, baö aBirtitigcrc I)erau^äunef)men. <Düc^ bcr SBeg ifl fo eben burc^ bie Stnrebc 
 bed 35ovfil^ev(3 gcbafjut. 3d) nannte bercittJ unfcren ©taat einen d)rifilid)cn ; bcr .§erc 
 33orft^cr Ijat mit 9ved}t baffclbe f)eröorgcf;oben. !Da jcbocft auf bicfcn $unft Stdc« an- 
 fonunt, fo trete id) eigenbö mit bet Srage unter end): 3i^ unfer Sanb ein (i^rifls 
 I i d) e ober n i d) t ? 
 
 2)ie 9Bid)tigfcit bicfcr Swgc muf; jebcm cinteud)tcn. ©inb bie bereinigten Staaten 
 fein d)riftlid)e^ Sanb, bann ()aben unfere ®egner Sftcd}t, unb wir mögen ju ^auö ge()cn. 
 5)1 bagcgen unfcr Öanb ein djrif^Iidjeö, fo flet)t unfere <Sa(i)t in jcber ^infid)t auf einem 
 v^unbamentc, »c(d)C'5 uimmcrmetjr jufammenfturjen fann noc^ unrb. QSotten unfere 
 ©egner, bie S^inbe be(5 ©ornitagd, fid) nid)t fctb)t »ertoren geben, fo muffen ftc bie Slid): 
 tigfeit beffen, wa3 id) bef)aupte, leugnen. 25a3 t()un ftc bann freiU(5& fii^n unb fed. <Sic 
 l)abcn ben 2)tutf), bcr, U'äre er nic^t ein grauenf)aftcr, Diele ßfjrijien bcfd)ämte, unb fiefien 
 jid) fctbfl atö 9lt()eiflcu fiin. ©ie a(tc ()eibnifd)C ®ötter(ef)rc erjä:^(t »cn SJütanen, bie 
 ben ^Oimmcf fti'irmcn tvcKtcn. 9lud bcm (£d)cogc bcr fogcuanutcn Slufflärung fd)cineu 
 iif)nltd)C STitanen ()cniorgc()n JU tno((en. ©agen fie uid)t felbll, fie niofltcn ,,nid)t unter 
 bic C^rrfi-^aft einer befiimmten Sfletigion gcfned)tct fein;" fic »oflten mit einem ,,ameri: 
 fantfd)^d)vitKid)en ®ott" nid)t(3 ;^u t^un l)aben? Srflären ftc fid) nidjt für ^umanii^en, 
 bic nur bcn 5D{cnfd)cngciit jum ®ctt, unb fomit fid) fctbfl ju if)rcm etcnbcvs ftcinen ®c(^cn 
 mad)cn ? 5il unfer Sanb nun fein c^rifilidjci? Sanb, fo ftabcn biefc unfere (juma: 
 nirtifd)cu SiJitbiirgcr baö vof(c Stecht, fiicr bcr ?Utärc unb J!cmv»cl if)rer eben genannten 
 ©i.'t'Cn fo v»ie(c unb fo irunbcrlid)C aufjurid)tcn, »ric fie nur Sufl ^aben. 3fl unfcr Sanb 
 aber ein d)riftlid)cs, bann toirb ftd) fein 33o(f fold)' alberncö unb ücrberbtid)eä ©cbafircn 
 fo wenig gcfadcn laffcn, wie bad 3:reiben ber a}tormoncn,bic bcfanntlid) etwas §icf)nlidfcS 
 iicrfud)ten. 
 
 ■§anb in ^anb mit biefcr ©d)Wärmcrct einet i'crfinflerten 9?ernuuft ge!^t bie ©d)Wa«^s 
 I)cit oictcr IBcfcnncr (5()rifli, bie bcm Dbigen, o^ne cö ju woHen, fafl beiftimmcn. ffio 
 jene broTjen, ba fcnfjcn fte : ©oKtc unfcr Sanb ein d)riftlid)CS fein ? ©in Sanb 
 mit fo(d)er Sorru^tion, ein SSolf, baö in fold)cn üOJaffcn bcn SDJammon anbetet? Des 
 war ein d)rift(id)ei^, aber ber giuf)nt tfi baf)in!— 5ßir legen aber biefcn ©d)Wad)cn eine 
 ®cgcnfrage V'or, nämlid) bie: i|l unfer Sanb eine Slevnbtif ? ?Repubtifancr fofttcn ntd)t 
 5|}vaf|er unb 5?i,nfd)wcnbcr fein, fonbern mäfjig unb uüd>tcrn ; foHicn nid)t IJagcbicbc unb 
 ©d)c(me fein, fonbern rcb[id)C, treue 58itrger, bie baö 2Bof)l bci5 ®cmeinwefenS fud)cn wie 
 i()r eigene.?. Unfer Sanb aber birgt ^^raffcr unb S'agebicbc in Stenge, baju ©cmagcgen 
 unb gefteimc 9lbfotntiftcn in feinem ©d)i:ofi. Unb bennoc^ wcijj 3cbcr, baf; eci eine 
 :)lcpub!if ift, ein ^vciftaat, bcr ftd) fclbft ©cfct'.c gicbt, unb von fe(b|lgcwäl)[tcn Cbrig; 
 feiten regiert wirb. iWit g(cid)em Sfled)t bcfiauptcn wir nun: unfer Sanb, wenngteid) oiel 
 und)rif}lid)cs ÜBcfcn, ja fogar erf (artet 9Uf)eiSmuS, ftd) barin finbct, iß bennod^ ein d)tifi« 
 lid)e'^ Sanb! 
 
 Unfere ®cgncr frage id) : 2Baren bic crßen ®rünbcr unferC'^ SanbeS etwa dürfen, «6ci= 
 bcn, SiJormoncu— ober waren fie niriit (5f)riffen ? Unb unfere C>onßitution, iß fic nic^t 
 aus bcn 9(cftcn beS 93a>imeS bes Scbcns ficniorgewadifen, bcr ba iß bas Äreu} ? ^n bcn 
 Säubern, wo lu-r j5Weif)nnbcrt 3a()rcn baS 5B(ut unb bic STiriincn fo »ie(cv Sliärt^rer ßoffen, 
 in (Snglanb, ^ottanb, im ©aljbnrgifd)cn, ba fcimtcn ßc an's Sid)t, bic crßen jartcn j?eimc 
 
11 
 
 bc5 nun inni flatten boiiaoitcu 23aitme5 iinfiner '?5vci()cit. Unb bic 3)^änncv, btc ocv ad}t» 
 jivj 3;a()vcn unfcnu ^^aiibc ein fclbftänbigetJ Sl^afeiu erfäuipftcu, unb bic, iffiaö^ingtcK 
 I'oran, in iOicr ©cmiitl) gleid) iicvgcn auö bei ®cUgcfcl)id}te (jcrfcvvagen, waren ftc etwa 
 ^^lunianiften ? 3()vc äöcvfc bezeugen cä, ba§ (ic an feinen anbcvn ®ott, aliJ an ben @ott 
 ^er (il)i-iftcn glaubten. !Ji-cu unb lange ^at i()v ®eifl baö 5Bclf getragen. 9Icd) immer 
 ruft esJ in [einen SRepräfcntantcn, bet ber (Srciffnung jebec @i^ung, ben &ctt feiner iöätec 
 an— unb glaubt nur, eö wirb bag and) ferner tf)un ! 9]od) immer befennt ca buvd) feinen 
 ^'ibfdiwur auf bie Sibet, me^r aU irgcnb ciu anbercö d)riftlid)eö 9Solf, ben (Sott, ben eö 
 geeljrt ^abeu will. 
 
 (Si5 Ijdt ciu fd}ijueg 93annev, unfcr 93otf— Iciber ! iter »ci§, cb nid)t balb jcrviffen? 
 (Sine (^a^ne aber nenne id), bie wirb mit ©ott nimmer jervei^en. 2Ber fte nidit feljen wiU, 
 ber bort fie. Jp>unberttaufenb Oloifen geben »on SJieer ju ilTieer bag Seiden, ba§ bie 
 Scnntaggfatjue aufgejcgcn iti unb ba-J 9lab ber 2öettgcfd)äftc ftille jieljt. 3cbe biefcc 
 ©Iccfeu ift eine Snnge, U''eld)e laut Dcrfihibigt: Unfcr 8anb ifi bei all fciHcn SJlangeln 
 unb Sünben ein d)ri|llid!)et5 ?anb ! 
 
 2)arum, amerifanifdteö 33clf, baftc wa3 bu l^afi, beinen Sonntag! (Sr ifl ber uou 
 ©Ott bir gegebene Dtuljetag. (£d)on in ber (£d)ir.pfung bilbete ®ott t'ie üBcd^c ai. 9io(^ 
 tiefer aber feilte biefe (Eiutbeilung unb .^^eiligung ber 3cit ben 93ölfcrn beg (Srbh-cifeöeins 
 geprägt werben. 3" ben jeljn ©cboten wuvben ©ebanfeu ©otteä (jerniebcrgebradjt unb 
 effenbart. Uuc uon biefeu wirb webec bag biitte, nod) bag uieite, fünfte, ober fcd)|lc * 
 ®ebot burd^ jungamerifanifd)e «g>äubc auggetcfd)t werben. 
 
 S'nblid) offenbarte ftd) ber 3l(lgegcnwdrtigc in bem S^ftf^) geworbenen SBort. Sa 
 ging ber ©onntag auf iiber ber t)eibnifd)en 9BeU, ber !?iig ber 9tuferj^ef)ung, ber Jag ber 
 ■Jrenbc im 4perrn, bag Stbbilb beg Scbeng in ber (Swigfcit. 
 
 ©er grijßefte uub bemiit^igfte aller !l)eutfrf)en aber, ber 3erbrec^cr ber Letten alleg 
 Wirflid)en '!l>faffcutl)umü, SDiartin ßutljer, fc^rieb ber ganjen 2öelt bie fürjcflc unb heüi 
 (Irflärung bavou : ,,9Btr füllen ®ott fihd}tcn uub lieben, bafi wir bie 5?rebigt unb fein 
 2Sort uid)t ^eradjteu, fonbcrn baffelbe f)eilig balteu, gerne ^ören unb lernen." Unb 
 nnfre beutfc^e (Sprad)e gab bem !Iage bcu fd)önften 9iauicn. ©ic nannte ilin (Sonntag, 
 bag m, Sonnentag. 
 
 S)enn an bem Jage gebt ncd) ftds eine neue ©cnne auf, weit fterrlidbcr unb bauernbet 
 n(g bag majei^ätifdje ©eftirn, bag ben Jag mad)t. ÜBo fte aufgff)t, ba \)ti$t eg fort nnb 
 fort: (Sg werbe i!id)t ! SSor jweitaufcnb 3al)ven war !l)entfd)lanb mit unburd)bringlid)ert 
 i'öilceru unb ©ümpfeu bcPccft. Diocl) wilccr aber a(g in bem iante faf) eg in ben ^erjcn 
 feiner bcibnifd)en (äinwL'bner ang. 20er war eg, ber bag Opferblut t?on i()ren Rauben 
 wufd) unb il)rc ^erjen mit ber Siebe ®otteg erfüllte? Jt)atcn bag Srniben ober Static 
 naliften, ober gar atbeiftifd)C ^umaniften? ©eit wann fanbtcn bic wo^l SD^ijfionarc 
 ang ? — 2llg aber 93onifaciug nnb feine ®efäf)rtcn fid) aug Siebe ju @()rillo bem Jobc 
 weil)ten, ba ging ber ©ame neuen Sebeug auf. 
 
 Äann Semanb bie iffiirfungen beg t*id)teg befdirciben ? Sßon eben fold)er S(rt ftnb bie 
 erlcud)tenben, crwärmenben ©trablcn, bie pcm ©cnntag anggef)en in bie >§erjeu ber Uns 
 rut}igcn, Jroillofeu, ©terbenben, ober ber 93er,^weifetnbeji. 
 
 Si'eun fein ©onntag wäre.! — Sann würbe ber >§od)mut^ im .§erjcn bcg o^ner)in fd&on 
 fo ftoljen 2'ienfd)en big ^^ur ©elb|li?ergctterung wadjfen, wie einft bei ben f)umauif]ifdien 
 ülömern, ober fjeut^^utage bei ben Königen non ©abome^. ©er ©cnntag aber s^erbütet 
 bag, benn er beugt bie Äniec ber Ferren wie ber ©flauen vox bem Jfircne beg allein nuid)- 
 tigen ®otteg. 
 
 Uufer £<aub oI)ne ©onntag!— SBefd)' entfeKlic^er ©ebanfe ! (Sine Oiepublif feilte 
 baucrn o^ne ben Jag, ber im ©titlen ben ©tolj untergräbt nnb brid)t ! 
 
 Ser bie (ängel nid)t anerfeunt, bie au bem Jage ju S)iilltcncn augfTiegcn nub nngc= 
 f)örte ®cfpräd)e fül)reu in ben gei)eimften .ftammern ber Jper^en— wer bie ©cgengifte nidit 
 fpüren fanu,weld)e bag (Soangclium unaufljörlid) in bie ^jäuluif beg 3eitgeijicg auggießt, 
 ber ift ärmer alg orm ! ÜSenn aber gar unfre ©egner bcbaupten,— uub in ber J^at, fie 
 ^abcn cg gewagt!— ein ftillcr ©cnntag „bemcralifirc", fo mu^ if)r ffiort »erfjallen »oi 
 
12 
 
 bcin ®ef;euf ücravmcnber ^familien unb bcm ^(irven bcr Sietten in ©cfangniiTcn ; beim 
 fc(d;ev unb äf;ulid)cr ^i^nimei-, ana ber SoniitagtSeutf^etligung erivadjfcn, kgt fc(;avfe^ 
 ©egciijcugntf ab. 
 
 Spalte, UMt5 bii t)ail, 55ü[{ oon 9lmcrifa, beinen Sonntag ! (Sr ifl bic 2)Jaucr um ben 
 fdjönften ©avteu, ja, um bag *)3arabieö, fouiet eö fein fann, auf bem Scnienacfer biefct 
 SBelt ! Sagt bie iWaucv einreiben, unb if)v \uerbet fef)en, wie bie wilben SJfjierc ciubrcdjen 
 unb bic Q3Iumcu jevflampfen ! Sagt ben %hq ber (Srbauung jum S^agc ber ©inntnlufl 
 werben, unb ungU'icflictjc (Seeleute, wclfenbe Jünglinge unb Jungfrauen, ju (Sf(a\jcn et:= 
 niebvigte 9lrt)eitev tperben ju fpat ben uncrfe|Iid)en SSerhift beweinen. 
 
 ®euu waö ifi bcr fd)ijnfte Sd)inucf unfvcö großen Sßolfeö? ©cine SBätber, 5lc(fcr, 
 Söiefen, feine Sdjiffe unb ©d)ä|c, feine 93erfaffung ? 3Bcr woftte biefe ©egnungen ®ottce 
 uid)t ancvfenncn ? Unb benncd; gibt eä einen fö|l(id)cren ©c^mucf. Unfcv 95olf ijl'ö, 
 wenn ei am Sonntag ju 9)ti((icnen bcn lebcnbigen (Sott anbetet! 
 
 aBaö ni'i^en (Sonjlitutionen nub ©efe^e, unb wären fie uon Sngetn gemad)t, wenn ben 
 .^crjcn bcr ^Bürger bie ^raft beö ©e^orfamä fef;(t? !l5a glcid)en fie bcn ®ewebcn bcr 
 ©piitiif; SiOiücfeu werben barin gefangen, 2öe3pcn unb «^ornitfe brcd)en bnrdj. 2)aö 
 wußten bic Sßäter biefcö SBclfe»?, bie erfien 58aumcificr feiner Sfrfaffung, wof)I. 2)iefc 
 c(;crncn S'tänncr, bic atteii Puritaner— oft, weit ja aud) fie fe^lcubc 3){enfdjen waren, 
 Wül)[ JU c(;crn unb flari- — ücrj^anbcn ba« bcffcr al6 ganjc ©d)aarcn i[)rer in Süflc »erixus 
 fenbcn, feilen (Siifel. ©arum bauten fie bie 2Jiaucr um bic ^ßflanjung ©otte»«, um ben 
 ©onutag, fo ilarf unb fcfi ; benn ftc erfannten, bag Dcniutf), Sauterfcit, JEreuc, ^eufd)= 
 Itcit, Uubcftcd)lid)fcit uid}t auö bem ^rö()ncu bcr Süfte wäd)fi, ncd) au3 bcm tro|,igen 
 Jpcrjcn, fonbcvu nur auö bcm lebcnbigen ©(aubcn an bcn lebcnbigen ®ott. 
 
 ©0 gewig bie f)eibnifd)en Oicpublifcn ber 33orjeit ücifelen, fobalb bie ,,^urd)t bcr 
 ©Otter" ijevfd)wanb, fo gewig, unb ned) ftd)crcr unfcie d)rifind)c IRcvubtif, fobalb ftc ba3 
 Oil)rifientf)um uertägt. öifcvt bagcgen, foi'icl il}r woüt, cö bleibt bennori) eine unnnu 
 ftogtirtje gcfd)id)tlid)e JJf^atfadjc ; auö bcm ©d)oogc beä Sf^riflentf^umö traten nnfere 
 ©taatcu au'iS fiid)t ; ber (5(;ri|lcnglaube war il)vc ÜBiege, ifire ?Jat)rung unb i{}r -öatt. 
 Unb uufcr ©taatofd)iff wirb ,^evfd}citcvn, fobatb cä in gottei5[ä)lerIid)em 33rinfel bcn ©cnn- 
 tag, baö förtlid)ilc (Sibc bcr 53äter, über 33orb wirft. 
 
 ©0 rufe id) benu ganj gctroft : <§altct euren ©onntag, ben amcrifanifdjcn 
 ©onntag, grabe wie er ifi ! Sic ®cgncr fdjrcien : 2)ian wi'( unö jum 33cten jwiugen ; 
 bie ülluinncr beä 9f{iuffd)ritts3 mcd)ten un(5 beu alten jübifdjcn ©abbatf) aufbürbcn; ja, bcr 
 ®enng bcr freien 2uft \\i innboten k. ffiaä fagt i^r baju, Sreunbe? a)iand)e öon cuc^ 
 finb fd)L'n lange 3kil)ve im Saube, bic frage id) : I)abt if)r nur ein cinjigeä Slial gcljört, 
 bag 3emanb gc.^wungeu Würbe, ju beten ober in'ö ©cttcöfjauö ju gel)n ? S!rieb je bic 
 55olijei end) unb eure Äinber au-^ ®ottc(3 freier 9?atur in'ö enge ^auö ? Unb fafjet i()r je 
 (Sineu, ber bcn ©onntag enit)ciligte, mit bem Sl'obe b eft raft ? 9luf ber ©d)änbung bc3 
 aUtef^amentlid)cn ©abbatr)'^ aber jlanb ja Sobcöftrafc. (2 SOlofe 31, 14, 15.) 
 
 3u weld)en SBaffen bic ®cgner bed) greifen muffen ! SDian ficfjt, wie ft^wcr cä ifl, 
 eine fd)tcd)te Qadje ju »ertbcibigen. 2)ennod) barf id) bic »cn fold)en SBaffen S3cficgten, 
 Hid)t ofiuc ffieitcrcö »erbammen. 3cl) befenne frei, aud) id) war einf^ beftegt. ?(1(5 iä) 
 öor bcinal)e fiebenuubjwanyg 3al)ren mit beu 2)Jeinigcn in bcm bamala fernen üBcilcn 
 mid) nicberlieg, ba fiel aud) mir ber J!ag wie crfältcnb anf'^ ^crj. 6inft fa() id), bag ein 
 .ftnabc, bcr am ©onntag einige wilbcn ,^irfd)en ))fiiuttc, »ou einem alten ^htritaner bcg; 
 Iialb getabelt würbe, ©o freunblid) ber Tabel aud) war, bennod) frcfteltc mid) fold)' gcs 
 feg,lid)ed 2Bcfen an; id) fe[)nte mid), fajl l)eimwef)franf, naä) Wärmerer l'uft ! 5ll(ein — 
 ber alte Puritaner ift fiirjlid) jnr 9lut)c eingegangen, nad)bem er ein jngenblid) frol)e3 
 ^cr^ bis! i^nm 5'obe bcwal)rt batte. Unb ber .tnabe ? 6r merfte fid) bie Üebre, unb 
 gewig, fie f)at i()m wcbcr an feiner ®efnnbl)cit, noc^ feiner ■§abe, nod) foullwie gcfd)abct. 
 
 33or .turjem fagte ein armer Jlrbeit^manu : ©lauer 9)?ontng pagt uid)t für 2lmerihi. 
 9Bibcrlcgt ben iDiann, ifir ®cgucr! ®laubt nur, i()rer ftnb imcIc, bic fo bcnfen. Uufcr 
 Saub ifl, ba-5 t'inn uid)t genug gefagt Werben, eine gicpublif. •§errfd)t in einer fold)fu 
 ntd)t ein gewiffcr ©vartani^muö, fo gerät^ ftc in gänlnig. 3u ÜBien unb $ariö mag 
 
13 
 
 mau am Scniitag jingcn uiib f^ringcu unb Mingett. 3m imc()tt'nicu 9liiieiifa nimmt fid) 
 baö fd)fcd)t auö, unb bringt nocl) [d)tccf)tere ^vudjt. 3n einer a}{cnavc{)ie I}ält bcr S.[)rcu 
 baö Sd;iff iiber'm SBaffer; in einer Slepubtif mu^ jebcr Sürger mit barüOcr n?ad)cn, "taf, 
 ber Stnrm baö Sdjiff nid}t jerfc^eHe, nod) geucr plij^ti^ anöbredje unb es? rerficcre. 4ßc{)£ 
 bcm Sanbc mit unfcrer Setfaffung, wenn (eine ^Bürger anö ^Bummlern bcftcl)n cbcv auö 
 Seuten, bic feinen ^alt in ®ctt Ijaben ! SBenn bie Untcrtbanen cincii iDet^pcten am Tage 
 bes >Ocm; ben (£d}»ei| bcr SBcdjc »crgeuben, (o \xiirb ibrem J3errfd)cr baö 9icgtcren »cl)I 
 um fc leid)tev; tjicr, am ©timmfaflcn, iüirb eä unmögtidj ! 2)at3 teipt i[)r ®cgner fo 
 gut, unc wir. 
 
 <£e rufe id) bcnn enbtid) : tagt nnö ben Itag Ratten, grabe umc toir if)n l^abcn, unb tpic 
 2!5cntfd)e ooran! Dber warum foütcn tnir bat? niri}t ? SEiv !Deuti"d)e fxnb nid)t l'an= 
 bci5üerrätf)er ! 'JZetn, wir wcdcn bie aufcpfcrnbften grennbe unfvcg 8lbüVtio'33atcrlanbe3 
 fein unb bleiben. 9lid}t ein atfjeiftifdjeö Sßolf ift bag unfrige i Olein^ ba^ war e^ nims 
 mer, unb bas fo(t unb wirb eä nimmer Werben. S)ie Jtinber unfevä 93atcrlanbc^ ()abcu 
 tanfcnbfadjen gegen mit ()eri'ibec gcbrad}t. aSer^cfikn wir eö nnö jebcd) nid)t: in 
 biefem (Stiirfe l)aben ftc mandjetJ Slergcrnifi erregt. 2)aä fctltc in einer @ad)c, bie fo 
 Bjcfcntlid) jum -§eit bc^ l'anbe^ gercid)t, nimmer fo fortget^n. £)arum ta§t unö aud> 
 l^ierin i,H>ranfd)rciteu ! ÜSir !Deutfd)e wodcn nid)t jurücf in ^Barbarei ; wir woKen ^oxU 
 f<^ritt. Slber bringen wir jum watjren Üic^t! 
 
 ©arum iioran, im ®uteu voran ! Unb nid}t etwa nur bie ©iener bcr Äircije fcricit 
 »oran. 3^r beutfdjen Äauf: unb ®efd;äftöleute, f^elfet nnß, unfer gcliebteö -33oIf burd) 
 baö (SiiaHgclium ju tjebcn ! 3I)r Slerjte, wirfet mit unö ba()in, ba^ unfer SSolf liier nid)t 
 nad) icib unb Seele ju ©ruiibe qcljc, fonberu cvfiavfe ! 3f)r IKebaftorcn ber beutfc^cn 
 3eituugeu, ii}t bittet eine ü)iad)t, bic entwcbcr jur furdjtbarften Scrfiörung ober jnm 
 reid)ficn gegen wirft, äßarum fd}md^t i^r fo i^ft, c()ne ?(upnal)me, bie ©iencr bcö ß'Dans 
 gelium^, bai3 ja ber 2BcIt baö erfiaUcnbe (galj war— wie ii^x axid ber @efd)ic^tc gut genug 
 wi^t, beficr aiß bie, weldje i^r beletjrt! 
 
 5l}x Sätcr unb 9.1iütter aber, ^elft i^)r unö nidjt, feib i (} r tiifjig, fo werben eure 
 Jlinbec mit fdjwertn 3tnfcu für eure giniben gatjlen! 8ef)vt if)r füe I)tngegen burd) euer 
 SBort unb Sorbilb ben ©cnntag fo red)t aUi einen ©onnentag bctradjteu, fo wirb baä 
 &id}t, baä i^nen an bicfcm S^age aufging, i(;ncn an<i) bann (cudjten, wenn bie Ic^te 9Jad)t 
 bunfet vun- i^ncn liegt, ba^ fie freubig in baä l'icb bcö ®ercd)ten cinftimmen : „3d) weif, 
 ba^ mein (Srlöfer lebt !" 
 
 Tie 35etfammlung ftinimtc nunme()r bie folgenben fd^önen SSerfe an, nad) ber 
 
 ^IRcIobie: 3!Bad)et auf, ruft wü bie Stimme. 
 
 ®ctte« «Stabt f}e()t feil gegrüiibct 3ion'ö ijljore liebt vor allen 
 
 Slnf bc-il'gc" 53ergen ; eü »crbünbet Scr ^crr mit gnäb'gcm 3ßof)lgefa(lc«, 
 
 gicf) wiber fie bic ganjc fficlt; ''Madjt iljre 91iegcl ftarf unb fc'ft; 
 
 penned) ftebt fie unb wirb ftefien, (gegnet, bie bariiincn Wobncn, 
 
 a^ian wirb mit ©tarnten an il)r fe£icn, 2öci^ ii6erfd)wänglid) bcm \u lohnen, 
 
 3Bcr bier bie ^pnt unb *JBarf)e ()ält. 5)er il)n nur tl)nn unb Watten lä^t. 
 
 55cr ^ütcr ^fracl'e 9Bic grcg ift feine ^ulb ! 
 
 5}t ibreö ^eilcä 'Jet^. ^aftelnjab! ®ic trägt er mit ®ebulb 2111 bie ©einen! 
 
 gebfingt unb fpree^t: 2öcf)t bcm ®cfd)lcd)t, D @ctte^ ©tabt, ©u rcid)e ©tabt, 
 
 ©ag in il)r t)at baö ©ihgerrcdjt ! 35ie fold}en ^errn unb Jlönig l;at! 
 
 I^ierauf \)xdt ber Sefvetär ber 9Iett):?)orfer Sabbatf)=Committee, ^vebiger 9?. S. 
 6 c f , in cnglifdf)cr Bpxaäjc eine 2lnfpra(f)e, vm ber tok Ijicx nur ben |)an)3tinf)alt 
 lüiebergeben. 
 
 5» 5(n)>ra(^c bc^ Sefrctnrö bcr 8aI)batf)=(^ommittce. 
 
 (Sine innige Wreube erfüllte mid), alg id) eben bcm tanfcnbftimmigcn ®efangc (aufd)te, 
 in welrfiem biefe anfcl)ulid)e SSerfammluug— bie gvöRcfte, bic je ju ©unfieu beö ©abbatl)'« 
 ger;alten warb— iljrc ©cfiible funb gab. 2d^ wiiiifri)tc nur, bag alle amerifanifd)cn i^ljxu 
 
u 
 
 fien juf^ecjcn fein fcnutcn itnb fclbcr fä()Cii, wie (jrc§ bie 3a(;I ifjtcr t>cutfcl)cn Slitbünjcr 
 ill, bie bcii Sabbat!) jvevtl) unb U)cuci- ad^tcii iinb fcinc (Svl^altung fo ciitfcljicbeii bcgc()vcn! 
 Hub inecl)teii ftc and) alle bcii lu^'lleii bciitfd)cii (»(^cralgcfaiui crfd^allcu l)ören unb »on ben 
 ScutfdH'n, glcid'iric mand)Ci5 5lnbevc, fo iuöbcfcnberc baä lernen, vereint mit (Sincm 
 S.iiuiiPe ®ott yt lobfingen! 3d) fü[)le mid) bacnrd) nad) 1)entfd)lanb jnriufuerfe^t, wo id) 
 im -Oovbft 1853 beni Jlird)cntacj in 53evlin beiwo(;ntc. (Sincn tiefen nnt» er()ebcnben (Sin = 
 brnif mad>tc ci auf mid), al-J iri) bovt bie iierfammclte Sliengc »on *prebigcrn unb S.'aicn in 
 ber 3?onifird)e bie Ocrrlirf)cn beutfrf>cn (Sbovale fingen f)ijrte, unb bcr J^ijnig nnb bie .ftöni: 
 gin,ba5 ®efangbnc^ in ber -^anb, barin cinftimmten gleid> allen Ucbtigcn. 3a, fo folltc 
 c^ nller Drtcn fein! 
 
 3d) fiU)le mid) ber mit ?lnorbnnng bicfer Sßerfammlung betrauten (Sommittee für i^rc 
 ßinlabung, ()ier eine 3lnfpvad)e ju ()alten, ,yt I)erilid)cm ©anfe verbunben. ®a« id), ali 
 «gefrctär ber (£abbatt)--(5ommittee, vor 5tllem au5^ufpred)en nn'nifd)e, ifi, ba^ biefe (lonu 
 mittee biud)auv< uid)t baraiif aneigc[)t, wie man in gefiiffentiid)er unb bel)arrlid>cr ä)Jit5bcu= 
 tuiig il)r jnr Sali legt, bie reti giijfe ober f ird)lid)e ?5cier betJ Sonntage jii cr.^iringnu 
 Olein! bie mu§ bcm ©ewiffen eineiS 3cben, feiner eigenen Ueberjcngung unb freien ®al)l 
 iiberlaffen fein. 93lo^ bie biirgerlid)e "iseicr bei3 Sonntag-^, bie 9tul;e von 5lrbeit unb 
 ®efd)äft, trad?tcn wir wicbert)cr^nftcllcn unb ,yi bel)aupten. 
 
 Sccr unb nid)tig ifl bafjer all' ba5 ©cfc^rei in Seitungeii unP c'ffcntlid)en $)teben, alij 
 feien bie 9ieti9ionisfrci()eit unb bie fonfiigen 9lcd)te freier iBiirgcr beprol)t, ali5 weibe burd) 
 bie bcfte()enben Sonntagi^gefcgc ein jiibifci)er ober furitanifd)er ©abbatl) eingefi'il)rt! "Dajj 
 nnfre ®egner felbfi bieg nid)t glauben, ge()t cinj'S bentlic^fte cini il)ter gegenwihtignt *1)C: 
 tition an bie cjcfe^igebenbe ^-Öerfammlung unfrei Staatä ()ervcr. 3)enn was forrern fxe 
 barin? 93lo§ bie Jlbfdjaffung bcrjenigen ©efe^eebeftimmungen, Weld)C ben SonntagtJbaus 
 bei mit beraufd)enben ©etränfen nnb bieSonntagsJtbeoter »erbieten. Sa jeigt ftd)'i5 alfo, 
 bag fie nid)t if)r ©ewiffen, fonbcrn tl;ren ©elbbeutcl bcciutrad)tigt glauben! 2)enn ba^ 
 im Uebrigen ber Sonntag fortbei7el)e, ba|j alle fonftigen (bewerbe rul)en, itt if)nen fd)oii 
 ved)t : nur bajj if)nen ein iöionopot jugeftanben wirb, baii ®elb an^ bcn 2!af(^eu ber 31tbei: 
 tcr, bie gcrabe an bicfem Xciqi burdj bcn Sd)wciil ber 29crf}e gefiillt ftub, in il)rcn lücutel 
 I)erüberjufd)affen. 
 
 üllan ()at bie 3iif)t ^cv nntcrfd)riftcn, bie unter ber erivä()ntCH petition ftef)en, auf 
 25,000 auögcfc^rieen. 3lllcin bie 3a()t, welcl^e in ber petition felbfi ale angeblid)ei3 
 Otefultat ber Sumniirung ber einzelnen ^ogen ftef)t, itt 9,784. 9lod) niel)r fd):i>anb bie 
 3al)l jufammen, ale man fid) bie 9Jtü()e gab; bie nuterfd)riften forgfältig nad)y4äl)len : 
 berfelben fiii^ nämlid) nur 7,703. Unb and) von biefer 3iil)l fuib, wie id) mid) vcrfenlid) 
 iiberjengt l^abc, mef)rmale eine Slicnge von 9ianicn mit 6'iner <§anb nnb Giner 'Scbcc 
 gcfd)rieben. ©ei 881 biefer 9Janien gab id) mir bie iWiibe, fte im ^.Hbbrefjbnd) nad)5ufd)la; 
 neu: 61 bavon waren nnleebar, 601 waren im SlbDrcfjbud) nid)t ;^u finbcn, nnb von ben 
 übrigen 219 waren 94 bie DZamen von 2l3irif)eii, 5Branntwcin()änblcrn, (iigarrenl)änblern 
 IC. IC. alfo von i!euten, bie if)r pefuniärce Sutcrcife ju biefem Sri)rittc treibt. 
 
 3d) fann nhift glauben, bag bie Scgielatur eine '^sctition, bie einen fo fri)fcd)tcn 3wctf 
 burd) fo fd)led)te a}iittel ju eircid)en fud)t, berruffid)tigcn wirb. Hub bae um fo weniger, 
 nie bie gegenwärtige impofantc ®egenbcmoiiüration ben fc^Iagenben 33cweie liefert, 'ta$ 
 nid)t nur bie ganje anglo:amcrifanifd)C 93c»['lfernng (mit 2luenal;me einer unbePcntcnb 
 Keinen a)linorität), fcnbern anä) ein fefjt groger Xf)til iinfcrer beutfc^en 53ürger fi'ir bcn 
 Sonntag einfle()t. 
 
 '^er ^4]rebiger %. y)'f a u f rf) e n b u f cf) , früf)er Siebaftor bey ,,?(merifanifdf)en Sot= 
 fd)aftcv»," gci^cniüärtig '•^rcfeffor am t!)eo(cgifdf)en Seminar 311 j){ccf)cfter, %-'^., 
 hielt mmmchv folgcnbe ^)icbc, mektcv bie i'evfanunUmg mit großer 3lu{racrtfamfeit, 
 tei faft ununtcrbvcc^cucv Stille, laufdjte. 
 
15 
 
 6. Diebe t)on ^rofcffor 51 ^auf^cnlinf^, 
 I. 
 
 ©eeljrte 2ln\Kfcntc! Süä id} Ijcute 2(benb mid) 6icf)cr Begab unb ju biefcm 3»cc!c bit 
 ©trafen euvec SBeltfiabt burci;wanberte, wax t6 mir f)cd)eqrciilicf}, bie (S.üUe tvatjrjuiie^: 
 men, bic ü&craU unaltete. 93ov ctUd)en ^JÖven teav ba^ anberö: ba fa(; mau jaf)((cfe 
 S'rir.fläben unb ©cl;enfen cffen flctien unb grc§e Siienfc^ienmatJcn auf unb uiebcvifcgen, 
 grcjjcntfteil'J auf bcm iSege ju biefcn (Stätten begriffen, ^d) übcrjcugte miel) alfc, bag 
 eine genjattige 93eränberung jum *-Bcffem bier fiattgefunben ^at, unb baju uninfdjc id) 
 6"ud} ücn »^lerjcn ©liicf unb rufe cud) ju: ©a<J i^r errungen f)abt, baä bel)aüet unb (apt 
 c6 eud) von Dlicmanben »iebcr nebmen ! 
 
 91(3 icb, auf beul 2Scge ^ic()er, an baö ©cräufd) unb ®etiirame( bad}te, baö a((e fed)ö 
 Sßcrftage binburd) in euren i£tra§cu bfrrfd)t, am (gcnntag aber biefer frieblid)en, feiere 
 lid)cn Stille u>eid)en muij, ba fpracl) id) bei mir felber : ffialjrlid), man braud)t nid^t ein: 
 ina( (S^rift, man braudit nur iDienfd) ju fein, um ()ieoou einen »c()[tbätigen (Sinbruit 
 gu empfangen ! ©of)( ift berUnterne()mung'5geift, ber für Jpanbel unb ©euunbe ftettJ neue 
 SBege furi)t unb bie bercitiS aufgefunbencn fcrgfam benu^t, ein uner(ä§lid}e3 (Srfcrbevnig 
 jum ®cbci()cn eine-J SSolfeö. 9lber tvenn ba'3 menfd}lid)e Seben nur @efd}äftdlebeu unc 
 nid)tt? 5lnberet5 wiuc, »ic trcft(oö iriube eö fid) bann gcfialten! Ser 2)tenfc^ Uiiivbebauu 
 JU einer Siafd)inc »erben, ber ungcbt(betc ju einer grabenben, bacfenben, bämmernben, 
 flcpfenben — ber gebilbctc ju einer fd)rcibenben, jäblcnben unb red)nenbcn ä'iafriiiue! 
 5llein, be^ aJJcnfdjen J^erj unb Sebcu ()at nod) anbcre Seiten aUi bie DJeigung ^ur ®e: 
 fd)äfte!t^ätigfeit. Um nur eine ju nennen, ba ift baö 53ebürfni|j beä j^^mi'licMtcben-J 
 unb bäu>?lid)en ®(ücfecs. Unb »ann fLMiute ^t'ber, aKermeift aber ber Slvbeiter, bic3 33e: 
 bürfniü jugleid) fo anbauerub unb fo fd)ön befriebigcu al'3 am Sonntag, »o er ungcftiirt 
 ©tuuben (ang im greife ber ©einigen jubringen, feine Äinbcr bilbcu unb erjic()ni uni) 
 jxd) an i()rer Siebe erfreuen fanu! <£old)e Sreuben fiub aüerbingS ftiüer unb ru()igeraliS 
 bie raufd)cnben ißcrgnügungen, burd) bic fo iDiand)e am (Sonntag bie ®cfctäftönnrul)e tet 
 äDcrftagc unterbred)en mcd)ten. Stbcr »äbrcnb raufd)enbe 93crgnügungen am (Sube b(ctj 
 aufregen unb anfirengen, fcmit nid)t (Sr^olung, fonbern cr^ö()te (Srfd)öpfung ()evbeifii(): 
 ren, geiräbren bic füllen greuben beö (^'intiiif^nlebens einen iiid)t nur reinen, fonbern aud) 
 tiad)ba(tigen ®cnuf, beffen w>o^ltbätigc SBirfung weit in bic fctgenben S^age ()inüber 
 reid)t. @e»ig, wenn ein |1i((er (Sonntag feine auberen guten Sclgen ()ätte, als bic, bcn 
 SOlenfdien fid) fclbfi unb bcn (Seinigen »icbcrjugcbcn, fo wäre fd)cu bag ctwa3 ©ropcsJ 
 unb SSid)tigei5. 
 
 Sluf biefe (Srfa'^ruiiggtl)atfa^c geftülpt, I)abc tc^ mit groger 3jerwunbcruug gclefen, bag 
 bic ®cgner einer fiid'en Sonutagöfeier in bicfcr (Stabt baö ©onutagiSgefe^ alß ein foldjcö 
 augreifen, tai ,,.6unbcrttaufeubcn von fleigigen 2lrbeitern bie a)iittel entjic^e, ben ein = 
 jigcn Tag ju i^rer (Srboluug bcnu^en ju fönncn unb fic^ baburc^ neue (Spannfraft ju 
 fed)ötägigcr r)arter Slrbeit ju boten." aBa^rlid), biefe Scute mfiJTen eine groge innere Sccre 
 unb einen näg(td)cn 93cgriff pon ber Üßürbc bcö 2}Jcnfd)cn babcu, wenn fte fonfl nid)tö 
 Wijfeni Woburd) ber 9Jicnfd) ficb neue (Spannfraft f)clen fann, alö 5:runf, j:anj unb (Spiel i 
 ©a ift einer ja in fietcr 9tbf)ängtgfeit uon fünjilid)cn S)titte(n, unb lernt nimmer fc[bft= 
 fiänbig ju werben unb in feinem eigenen ^erjcn unb ^aufc fid) einen greubengneli ju 
 fd)affcn, JU bcm i^m ber Sugang jeberjcit offen flebt! 
 
 9lid)t minber befremblid) finbe ic^ cä, bag- biefe ^errn be()aupten, in ber Slgitaticu 
 gegen bag (Sonntag»5gcfe| madjc ber beutfd)e ®ciji fid) geltenb, ber ®eift cincö ilaut, 
 gid)tc, €d)iaer, ®öt^e, Scfjtng, Berber, ffiörnc unb ^cinc. S« oerrätf) fd)cn eine 
 fc^leditc Jlenntnig ber beutfd)cn Sitcratur, wenn 5emanb ben ebeln Berber, ber fo warm 
 Pen 3cfu, bem^ei(anb ber 2)icnfcben, gcrebet ^at, mit bem Ieid)tfertigcn C">cinc jufammen= 
 fieden fann, wicwobl felbft ^eine in feinen legten Sebengjabren auöbvücflid) bem i'an: 
 t^cigmng unb JUbeigmug abgcfagt unb fid) ju bem ®lauben an einen perfönlidKu ®ott 
 befannt I)at. Sod), abgefe^en r)ieocn, etfläre id) ts für eine ganj falfd)e Sluffauung ber 
 
16 
 
 ©ciclDc, ten SüUHtag aU ctwaö bem beutfct;cn ©ci)iütf;e, bem bciitfc^cn SJolfsJlebcn imb 
 bcr bcutfd;eu iJitcvatuv Si-embcö anjufc(;cii. 3d; »cvwcife iiufeve ©cgnet auf bic [d)i?iic 
 ©tc((c in ®öt()e'ö '^Mft, wo in bcr Dftevnadjt ^au]!, am geben »cvjweifetub; fid) ben Zü'o 
 geben iviü, ^.i(i?^(td) aber üom Jtii-d)t()uvm I;evab ben Dficrgefaiig f^ovt, fid) auf bic friifjcrc 
 gliicf(id)C 3cit juvücfbcftnnt, ba er ncd) glauben unb fid) freuen fcnntc, unb (jicrauf üou 
 feinem S3or^aben ab|let)t. Söic crgrcifenb fagt (5aufi ca : 
 
 SBaä fudjt if^r, mäd)tig unb gcltnb, 
 
 3l)r ^immelstöne, niid) am Staube? 
 klingt bort nmf)cr, too iveid)C S)icnfd)cn fuib! 
 
 S)ie ^otfrf)aft I;ijr' id) n)of)(— allein mir fe^It in ©fauBc. 
 2)aö äBunber Ol beö ©[aubcnö lieb|leg.ftinb; 
 
 3u jenen ©pflären wag' id) r.id)t ju ftrcben, 
 Unb bod), an biefcn Jtlang inju ^ugcnb auf getvij^nt^ 
 
 Stuft er and) je^t gurücf mic^ in baö l'eben. 
 ©onft ilürjte fid) bcr ^tmmclöltebe JJuf 
 
 9luf mid) f)erab in crnfter ©abba t fjflil t c, 
 
 Sa flang fo af)nungt3v)of( bcö ©(ürfentoncö %üHe, 
 Unb ein ©ebet ivar brunftiger ©cnupj 
 6in unbcgrciftid) ()olbc3 <Se()ncn 
 
 !£rieb mid),bur(^ 2öa(b unb SBiefen l^iriiugei^n, 
 Unb unter taufenb ^ci^en !£f)ränen 
 
 giif}lt' ic^ mir eine 2Belt ent|lel)n. 
 
 (Sin ganjeö ®cbid)t über beu (Sonntag befigen wlx üon a)iar Von ©c^cnfenborf, bem 
 mit 9led)t gefeierten 93a(crlanb«: unb grci()eiti5:©änger, ber ben großen Jlam^jf bcr 3ai)re 
 1813 unb 1815 juglcid) mit @d)wert unb ©cfang mitfäm^Htc. !Daö ©cbic^t beginnt: 
 
 ©otteäßiKe, ©onntagöfrü^e, 
 
 Dlul^e, bie ber ^err gebot! 
 SJeine (Seete wad)' unb gtüf)c 
 
 Tlit im l)c((cn SJiorgenrotO ! 
 
 Äönnt' id) in bem 3immer bleiben, 
 
 SBenn ba^ Sßolf jur Äird'C wallt? 
 Jtönnt' id) 9llttagi5werfe treiben, 
 
 SBenn bcr ©locfenruf crfd)allt? 
 
 ©oll ic^ and) noäj beö ,,<£c^äfcr3 ©onntag^licb" öon Ul)(anb, bem größten je^t tebens 
 ben bcHtfd)en 2)id)ter, anfiiOren, baö aller Drtcn öon (S'injelnen, »te »on gaujen Ärcifeu 
 non ©ängcrn gefungen wirb ? (S3 tautet : 
 
 SJaö ift ber STag bcö ^errn ! 
 
 3d) bin allein auf weiter '^iux, 
 9io^ (Sine ©lorgenglocte nur, 
 
 Stun ©tillc nat) unb fern. > 
 
 Slnbetcnb fnie' id) ^ier— 
 
 D fit^cö ©raun, gc()cimc3 SBeV«/ 
 9ll6 {nieten 93ielc ungefe^'* 
 
 Unb beteten mit mir ! 
 
 JDcr Fimmel na^ unb fern, 
 
 (Sr ift fo flar unb feierlid», 
 ©0 ganj alö wollt' er öffnen Rd^- 
 
 2)aö ift ber Xac^ beä 'öerrn ! 
 
 Dlod^ einen !Did)tcr bcr 9leuicit nenne irt) euc^, ^^offmann »on gallcr^tcbcn! 3n fcts 
 
17 
 
 nem anmut^tgcu Siebe ,,'^n ©onntag ifi gcfommeH" bef^reibt n, tote bet «Sonntag 
 fegnenb unü;erge§t : 
 
 (Sr flciget auf bie 93erge, 
 
 ©r »anbcU burd) bag Xi)cil, 
 (Sr (abet juni ©ebcte 
 
 2)te SWenfcljen odjumal. 
 
 Unb tt)te cr 9i((en greubc 
 
 Hub gricbc bringt unb Dlu^', 
 @o ruf aud) bu nun jebeni 
 
 „®ütt grü^' bid)!" freunblid) ju. 
 
 ©0 jier^t ftd) bie Siebe jum ©onntag trie ein gotbncr ^abcn burc^ unfre h)ett[id)eu 
 Sid^ter. 9Sie vielmehr noc^ burd) bie g e i ft ( i d; e n Sieber unb burd) baä ganje Scben bes5 
 beutfdjen SSolfeö! Sa^ ba^ S^reibcn unfrer ©cgncr ein und)riillid}C5 ift, I)aben ftc fclbfi 
 fein -^e()(. 3d) bcf)auptc aber, es ill and) ein unbeutfd)eö S'rcibcn. 
 
 SKan »Lille il)nen mit bcni jtiftcn ©onntag ,, einen d)rittHd) anier if ant f d)cn ®oit" 
 aufjiringcn, behaupten nnfrc ®cgncr. 3öa()rlic^, id) ij^bc nid)t erfi in Stmerifa einen 
 fitÜen Sonntag fcnnen unb lieben gelernt, fcnbem fd}cn at^ Äinb in meinem ^ctmat^: 
 Zi)<xl im beutfd)cn 2}atcrlanbe ! Unb bed) bin id) nid)t etwa in einem abgelegenen ©crflein 
 geboren unb erjcgen, fonbern in jener gcwerb: unb oolfreid)en ©ebirg^gcgenb im füblid)cn 
 3Bef}pf)a(en, in ber (Sifenwaaven unb ®erät()C aller 2lrt gefertigt unb in Sienge fclbft bi3 
 ^icl)er t?crfanbt irerben. SBenn id) bcrt bie jat)llofen 6ifcnl)ämmer unb gabrifen, nn-rin 
 fonft cen ganjen !l!ag unb jum IJfieil bie ganje Stacht ^inburc^ fortnjäf)renb gefd)micbet 
 atnb gef)ämmert würbe, cm jebem ©onntag, ben @ott »erben tie§, ftill ftef)cn faf), fo 
 freute id) mic^ fd)cn aU Änabe mit bem fd)trer angeftrengtcn 5Ubeiter ber 9bil)e, bie il)m 
 biefer IJag gewährte. Unb wenn id) ©d)aaren feftlid) gcfleibeter^ frol)ev SJienfdjen am 
 ©onntag jur Äirc^e jieOcn fal), bie .^inbcr an ber .§anb ifjrer 93äter, »on benen fte eft bie 
 ganje aCcd)e ^inburd) getrennt ge»cfen n?arcn, fo burd)brang mid) eine tiefe (Smpfinbung 
 bar»on, ba^ ©otteä ©ebote and) unfer irbifdjes? Sebcn nid)t beengen, fonbern ernieitcrn unb 
 »erfd)öncrn, ja baß bicfe ©ebote nid)t'5 »cflen aii unfer eigenem SBo^l unb ©liicf, 
 
 5n berfclben 3Beife ^abe id) eine ftille ©onntagt^fcier fpater im fd)önen ©d)waben(anbe 
 «nb in anberen ©egenben ®cutfd)lanbi3 angetroffen. Unb blicfe ic^ in bie beutfd)e ©cs 
 fd^id)te ^incin, fo finbe id), ba§ nid}t nur bie ©itte unfered 93olfe^ ben Sag beö >§crrn 
 fo geeljrt ^at, fonbern baf and) ©on n tagög ef e^e jnm 2:f)ei[ mit fef)r firengcn 53es 
 fiimmungen in 35eutfd)[anb beftanben ^aben. ©inb biefelben je§t an oielen Orten »ers 
 f^rtunben, fo ift baS grogentlieiis eine ^I'l^t be^ (äinbringenä fr anjö fif d) en ©inne3 
 unb SBefeng, tt»obnrd) ber beutfc^en ©itteneinfalt, 9leblid)fcit unb SSaterlanböliebe ebcnfo 
 fc^werer Slbbrud) gefc^e^en ift wie ber beutfd)en ©otteöfurd)t unb ©onntaggfeier. 3n 
 biefer <&infid)t muffen wir ©entf^e unferm ftammcerwanbten 9lad)baröolf, ben (Sngläns 
 bem, jebenfallö be n 33or,^ug ^ngeftef)en, bag fie mit größerer Scft'gff it, ober wenn man 
 will, Säbigfeit, bag ©ute bewahren, wag fte einmal baben. 2Bie aber baö beutfd)e 33olf 
 bag itim abl)anbcn gefommcnc altgermanifd)C ^nftitut ber,©d)Wurgeri^te Wieber einge; 
 fiibrt tiat, bag in (Sngtanb fid) ftetö erf)aiten ^atte, warum füllten nid)t in ä^n(id)er SBeife 
 wir 2)cntfd)e »on ben (Snglaubern unb 2lnglo:9lmerifanern i()re ©onntagggefe^e I)erüber5 
 ncbmen? 3)en ©onntag felbft ^aben wir laugit gehabt unb f)abcn i^n nie uerlcren. 9Jnr 
 bie ©d)u^webr um ben ©onntag ber, weld)e biefe gijttlidie ®ahe gegen mcnfd)liri)e ©ut; 
 wei[)ung ftd)ert, 'i^at gefehlt. !Dag Sebiirfnifi, ftc ^u erneuern, füf)(t man gegenwärtig in 
 !Deutfd5lanb fe^r (ebfiaft. 9llg id) nad) «ieljä^riger 9tbwefenbeit im »origcn ©ommer 
 mein altcg ißaterlanb Wieberfa^, war eg mir eine grcge ^reube, uon allerlei @inriri)tungen 
 gn :^örcn unb t^eilweifc mid) burd) ben 9tugcnfd)ein baocn ju iiberjeugcn, bie bcl)ufg alU 
 gemeinerer unb ftrengerer ©cnntagg^eiltgung getroffen ftnb. 
 
 II. 
 
 Sod) id) wenbe mid) ju einer anbern ©eitc ber©onntaggfrage. Tlan i)at mic^ crfud^t, 
 »ornc^mtid) ben »on meincnt S5crrebner bercitg angebeutcten Untcrfc^icb jwif^en btm 
 2 
 
18 
 
 bürgerlidjcn imb bcm c(;rift ( icl)e ii Sabbatf» bavjulegen. Sliefcn Unterfdjieb qt-- 
 l)övig jU bey^riiiiDcn, cvfdjciut mit in bcv XijAt aU fcl)i- »id}tig. T)cmi uidjt nur wirb 
 beiden «on unfern ®cgncrn fLn-tn.iä(;rcnb «cnvcd^fclt unb in %c[qc bcffen bic Slnwcnbung 
 i'cn ®cu>iffcn^jwang unö jur l'aft gelegt; fcnbern c6 gicbt and; mandje (5^ri|lcn, bic, biC: 
 fen Untcrfd)icb oevfenncnt, alle gcnntagggefc^e aii bem (Süangelium njiberfireitcnb be-- 
 tradjtcn. (£c(jn wir ju, ob ticm wirfUc^ fo ift! 
 
 aßen icf)cr f)at man in ber (^viftlid;cn ®[aubcnölcf)rc jwifdjcn bem Slcic^ bcr 9Jatur unb 
 bcm gicid) ber @nabe untcrfd^ebcn. 53cibe tlcljn unter bcr f6niglid)cn ^errfdjaft ©cttcd 
 in 6(;vi)1o ; aber im 9leid) ber 91atur »altct [eine 5l(lmad)t, 2Bcief)cit unb ®ütc, nur im 
 9teid)e icr ®nabe offenbart fid) feine erlbfenbc l'iebc. 2)ic (S^riflcu get)örcn beibcn Sfleid;en 
 an, bem SJicid) ber DJatur in ®emcinfd)aft mit allen ällcnfrijen, bem JReid^e ber®nabe in 
 (^olge ber SBiebergcburt unb im 93ercin mit anbern SBicbergebornen. 
 
 ®tc Drbnungcn bicfcr beiben SJdeidje fmb ganj unglcidjer 2lrt. 3)ie bc3 Dlatuneidjeö 
 fiammen aug unfcr Silier uvfprünglidjer J^eimat^, auä (Seen ()cr. !Dcrt gab ber €d;5pfct 
 unfcrm @efd)led;t bie Slufgabe, bie (Svbe ju bauen nnb ju bc»af)ren tinb über bic Xijiin 
 hJclt ju t)errfd;en. Unb biö auf bcn (;eutigen 2:a3 i|t bieö beö Slenfc^cn Sooä unb 93c= 
 ftimmung, nur bag fic^ feit bcm Sünbenfall bic nrfprunglid) mit Sufi unb S«ube geübte 
 S^ätigfeit in Sirbeit unb 2)iüt;e, oft im Sd^ioeig bc« 5lngefidjtä »errichtet, i'crreanbelt Ijat. 
 Sbenfo warb bie @^e unb bag Familienleben fd)cn im Unfdjulbö: ober Urjuflanbc bet 
 2'Jenfd)en eingefe^t. 91od) je^t wie bajumal ift baä fficib bcö IfJanneö ®eljülfin, unb baö 
 alte ®cttcön)ert i|t unoeränbert in Jlraft geblieben : „"Darum Wirb ein SJJann Sater unb 
 S)hitter üetlaffen unb an feinem ÜBeibe Ijangen." 3n gleidjer QBeife gefiört nun aud) ber 
 ©abbat^ JU ben uranf änglidjen Orb nung cn ®ottc3. Sr ftammt nid}t »oni Sis 
 nai, fonbevn aui (Sben, unb warb nid;t für bai5 33oIf 3ärael allein, fcnbern für bic ganjc 
 SJeufdjfieit geftiftct, aU ®ott am ficbenten S!agc ruljete oon allen ®crfeu, bic (Srgcmadjt 
 ijattt. 
 
 Slnber« l)ingegen »erhält eö fid) mit ben Drbnnngenbcö ®nabenrcid;3. [I^idit 
 v^cm (Sdjijpfer, fonbern uom Svlöfer ber Ü)knfd)l}cit rül;ren fic f)er. 9Jid;t (Sbcn, fcnbern 
 ®olgatl)a ijl il;r Slnögang^punft unb if)r 3iel. 3m 53licf auf baä bort gcbradjte grogc 
 Dpfcr gebet 6[;ri)iuö feinen ^i'ingern, ©inneöänbcrung unb 9?ergebung bcr ©ünben jn prc; 
 bigcn unter allen 33ölfern, unb fe^te baö d;riftlidje *^>rebigtamt ein, ncbft ber ^eiligen 3:!anfc 
 nnci bcm l)ciligeu 5tbenbma(;l. 9htr für biejcnigcn, bic 3l)m alä i(;rcm «§errn unb >§ei« 
 lanb anl}angen wollen, finb bicfe Dibnungcn bcftimmt. 9hir on einem 53olf, baö 3f}m 
 willig bient, Ijat (St^riftuä SBo^lgcfalleu. Unb fo oft unb fo piel aud) unfre ®cgncr uni 
 befd)ulbigcn, atö wollten wir bic Scute jum >R'ird)cngcl)u unb jum ßtjriftcntfium überljaupt 
 mit ®cwalt jwingen, wir rufen if)ncn entgegen : @ö il"t nid)t wa(;r, wa3 i^r unö nadjfagt! 
 5tud) wenn wir eö föunten, wollten wir baä nid)t! 
 
 ©a« (5l}riftcntl)um f)at jebod) nidjt blog ganj neue, juüor nie bagchJCfenc Drbnungen 
 in'ö tiben gerufen : ctS l;at juglcid) jene alten, nranfanglidjen Drbnungcn ®ottc3 in ocrs 
 jüngter ®cftalt, in neuer ÜBeil^e unb "Büvbe wicbcrbergcitellt. 2)ie Qi)i j. fd. war bei bcn 
 mciften 2>öltern eutweber in 25iclweibcrei ausgeartet, ober in einem wilbcn, ungeorbnetcn, 
 nad) 53eltcben plö^lid) gelijftcn.Sufammcnlcbcn beibcr ®efd)led)ter untergegangen. Sl^ri; 
 jiuä aber fprad) baö grogeSBort: „9Bai5 ®ott jufammengefügt tjat, baö füll bcr 2)icnf(^ 
 nic^t fd)ciben!" ©eine 3tpoftel letjrten, bic djriftlidjc (Sl)C fei ein Slbbilb bc5 93unbeä jwi; 
 fd}en (St)viitu(5 unb ber ©emcinbc. 2)abnrd) warb bie (Sl)e aU bleibenbe 3>eibiubungSine3 
 2)lanneö mit (Sincm 2Beibc auf feflc ©runblagcn gefiellt, unb baiS fdjncll auffiammenbe, 
 über and) fd)nel( wicber evlöfdjenbe öJaturfeucr, ba^ fonft bic (S(;cgatten jufammcngefü(;rt, 
 Warb buvd) bie tcinc ®lut^ bcr d)rifilid;en Siebe geläutert unb geheiligt. Sbenfo war ber 
 Sabbatl)im Jpeibentl;um bcn 2)tcnfd)ctt abf)anbengefommen. 9Bä()renbbei bcn alten 3361= 
 fern beö ilUorgenlanbeS fxd) nod) beutlidjc ©puren ber SBcdjeneinttieilung finben, perfd;winben 
 biefclbcn in fpätcrev3eit mel)r unb mefir. ©ad ßljrittentl;um aber l)at bicfer alten DJatur: 
 Drbnung®ottei5 eine neue 33ebeutung, unb bamit^ugleid) neue Sebcndfraft gegeben. (Sl)ri|tuiS 
 ^at am ficbenten !fage im @rabe geruf)t unbitttiarauf am erjtcn ijagc aug bcm ®rabcwies 
 bcr auferf]anbcn. 3luf ®runb ^icocn betradjtcten bic erficn (5l)ri|icn, nad; 2lnleitung unb 
 
19 
 
 • - 
 
 SScrgang bcr ?lvci^''^ i'CU alttcilamcutticljcii sgabbatf) ciis in bcnncutcilamcnttidjcu aufgfs 
 gangen. Statt i'Ci legten 2Iiod)cntagc^, an bcm baö ÜBerf feev gd^c^fung »ollcnbet \t>ar, 
 feierten fie iiunnieljv ecu erfteii 2i!od)Ciitag al6 bcii SSoKenbungetag bc^ nod; grȤereu aScc: 
 fe^ bei- ISvlcfung. ©otteg alte6 ©ebot, oou jc fiebcn 3;ageii einen at« Slduljetag ;« 
 feiern, tritt l;teburd) lieber in Ära ft, bod) jo, t>a^ ber Sdntjetag nid}t b(cf jn (ciblid)cr 
 fUntje, fonbern aU ber !tag beö ^ecrn juglcid) jum genieinfamen d}riftlid;cn ©ctteä. 
 bte«i!e angewenbet roirb. 
 
 3iüifd)cn ben Crbnungen be3 ©nabenrcidjö nnb ben, burd) Sf^riflug wiebct^ergeflcflteti 
 uranfäng(id)en Drbnungcn ©otteö beftefft nun ber folgenbe, wdji ju beadjtcnbe Unterfri)ieb. 
 3n bag ©nabenreid; cinjugc^n, Sfiriftt SBort im ©lauben anjunc^men, SEaufe uub 2l^enb« 
 ma()I feiner Slbiid;t unb feinem «Sinne gcmiig ju feiern, baju cntfdjUe^en fid) bie iKens 
 fdieu nur fangfam unb nacfe «ielcm SBibcrflreben. Saufdjen ivir unö hierüber nidjt! 
 SBenn e^ fic^ am »uaftre 53ete^rung, um Eingebung beö -gierjenä an ben -§ei(anb Rubelt, 
 fü ()aben wir bie a)Jef)r()eit ntd)t auf unfrer (Seite. !Dagegcn aber, wenn eö fid) barnm 
 fianbelt, cb 3lrbeit unb Sigent(}um, cb @^e uub Samitieulcben, ob ber d)ri|lüd)C (Sabbat^ 
 unb ©üttcäbienft anerfannt werben uub gelten foK, fo begreift bie grofe -DZe^rjat)! ber 
 SKenfdjen balb, bag bicfe @inrid)tungeu t)öd)ft wo()lt(;ätig, ja ju einem gebei^lid)en 33e: 
 ftanbe ber menfc^lic^en ©cfcdfc^aft unentbe()rlid) finb. aßeuu baber bie ©egner be3 
 S^riilent^ums foweit gc^u, ba§ fie ba^ (Sigcntfjum in {ommuniftifdjer ober foeialiftifd}ct 
 23c(fe auff)cben, anfiatt ber @()e bie fogenaunte „freie Siebe" unb anftatt beö c^riftlic^en 
 Slu^ctagg einen in Wiijlem ©inucnraufd) uerlcbten *5ergnüguugätag cinfüf|rcn Wodcn, fo 
 ftnb bei fold^em ©treben nid}t wir, fcnbern [le in ber aJMnberfjeit, uub aüt i^re barauf 
 geriditctcn 5lufc^Iäge werben ftäglid) ju ©Chancen. 
 
 9Benn nun bie £)brigfcit, ftd) ftü^eub auf bie widige ?lnerfennuug ber iuxäj iaS S^ri« 
 fientf;um wieber^crgeftellten Olatnrcrbnungcn ©cttcö feiten« ber großen äRefirljcit bct 
 23rirger, ben Siuifdjen unb 93eftrebuugen ber entfd}iebenen %dn\>i bcö S^riftentr;umä 
 entgegentritt unb für bag (5'igentf)um, bie <Sf)C unb ben ©uuntag einfielet, fo t()ut fie bal 
 mit »of(em gutem Weditc. Uub wenn fie un^ in unfrer (äigcnfdjaft nid)t al« d)rif!lid)e ©c« 
 mcinbcgiicbcr, fonbern aU d}riftlic^ gefiunte Staatsbürger veranlagt, unfre SBitlen^mcinung 
 I)icrübcr augjufpred^en, fo beben wir nic^t nur tai ^cd)t, fcubern aud) bie *l>ji(td)t, ücn i(ir 
 j^n bcgcbren, bag nid)t mubammebauifdje ober mornionifdie Vielweiberei, fonbern bie rijrijls 
 Iid)e @[)e, nidit ein atljeiftifdjer ©iiubeutag, fonbern ber d)riftlid)e ©cnntag im Sanbe 
 aufrcd)t crbalten werbe unb gelte. 3Bie gcfagt, ben ©cnutag aid ben Sfag beö >§errn ju 
 feiern, am d)rirtlid)cn ©ottei^bienfi t^ciljuncl)meu unb baä 2Bort ©otte^J ,^u betrad;ten, baju 
 foil 9]icmaub ge,^wungen w>crbcn. 2lber bag am Sonntag Slrbeit unb (Scwcrb, kaufen unb 
 33erf.iufen, ©cräufd) unb ©ctiimmet aufl)öre unb 3cber, and) ber 9leimfte uub ©eplagtcfle, 
 ®elegcnl)eit i)aht, fid) ber SRube uub (Srl)olung ju freuen, fid) einmal wicber ali^ JJcenfd), 
 uub nid)t alä 2)lafd)inc ju füllen : bai^ fi-tl burd)gcfe|t werben, aud) wenn eö ©old)en, bie 
 il)rcö eignen Üßol)leä Seinbe finb, nid)t gefällt. 
 
 (Erläutern wir bie <Baä)C xnxxd) einen ual)e iierwanbten j^afl! Äein yerflänbigcr (5t)rifl 
 wirb fein Äinb jwingcn, im Stilleu im Kämmerlein ju beten ober fid^ öffentlich alg ^iins 
 ger (Stjrifii ju benennen, ©agegen ad)tct fic^ ein (S^rifi nac^ göttlidben unb menfcl^lid)eu 
 ©efe^en uid)t nur beredjtigt, fonbern aud) oevvtflid)tct, fein Äinb jum ©e^orfam unb jut 
 Grfüllnng feiner fonfiigen finblid)en $flid}tcu anju^alteu. 9Barum t-T-Y 2)ai? »^amis 
 liculebcn gcl)ört ju ben 5iaturerbnuugen ©ctteö, ©cbet unb d)riftlid)c3 93efenutuig aber 
 JU ben Drbnungen beö ®uabenretd)C!S. S)ic erftereu muffen nötl)igenfaflö burd) Slnwens 
 bung «on 3wang aufrcd)t erhalten werben, fcnft tonnte bie 2Belt nid)t befiet)n. öei ben 
 Ie|tcren bagegen mug ^reiwilligfcit walten — 3wang ifl bem innerfien 2ßefen bcg dfirifiens 
 t^umö juwiber! (Sbcu baffelbe gilt »on bem biirgcrtid)en uub d)rifltid)en ©abbatf). ©er 
 ©taat !ann feine QBürger anhalten, ben Sonntag aU bürgerlid)cn Sftuljetag ju feiern. 
 Db unb inwiefern fie il)u aber jum ©otteiJbienft anwenbcn wollen, bad fiaben fte nid)t mit 
 ber Dbrigfeit, nod) übertjaupt mit a)ienfd)en, fonbern allein mit ©ott auöjumac^en; ba3 
 mug bafjer bem ©cwiffen einc3 ^tben überlaffen werben. 
 
20 
 
 III. 
 
 3cf) wUi jc^t nod) einige Sefiaulptungen unfcrer ©cgnev be(eu(f)tcn, tie fxe in ifjrcn öor 
 aä)t Za^^ai gefaxten a3ci'd)lü(Ten aufgefteUt ^aben. (ii Ijcifjt barin nnter Slnberm: „9Bir 
 fialteu feil an bcm ©cunbfaß, bag, wa6 fcct)6 Sage in bcr äöcd^e gcfe^lid) i|l, am (Bonn- 
 tag nid;t nngefe^tid) fein fann." 9Beil baö ©onntagggcfcl biefem ©runbfa^ juroibcvs 
 läuft, fo ill eä „unüertväglid} mit bem gefunbcn 2)lcnfd)enöerftanbe!" S)aö f)cigt benn 
 fveilid) ben SiJunb red;t «oll gcnontmen. *DJan würbe jtr^ bcinaf;e fi'irc^ten, einem fD(d)cn 
 *l}iad)tfpvud) cntgegenjutrcten, «ji'igte man nidjt fc^on längtl, bag gerabe fo(d}e, bie fid} für 
 Snicinbcfi^er bcö gefunbcn a)ienfd;eniievftanbeö ausgeben, oft baö ungefunbefte unb unüevs 
 fiänbigfle 3eug ju S'age förbern. öefetjcn tinr nun jenen 2}tad)tfprud) ein bii5d;en nätjer, 
 fo läuft er auf ben @a^ (jinauö : ffia^ ju einer 3eit erlaubt ift, ifl allejeit erlaubt. 25aä 
 ift aber gerabeju falfd) ! (Sin frolieö a)iaf)l aufteilen, ift nidjtö llnrcdjteö; iocnn aber 
 beineö 93ater3, beineö Sßcibeö ober Jlinbeö 8eid)e über ber (Srbe ftef)t, fo ift c3 atlerbingö 
 unred)t. 3u ber (Sl^e ju leben, ift nic^tiS Unred)te3. Slber bem ©runbfat^e gemäg ju Ijans 
 bcln : „2Da(5 nad; ber ^od^jeit erlaubt ift, ift andj cor ber -^oc^jeit erlaubt,"— baä betrad) = 
 ten wir ßljriften al8 t}öd}ft üerwerftid). Db ^i)t ^errn es ebenfo bctrad;tet, ift mir nid;t 
 bcfannt! 
 
 ©od), unferc ©egner fjaben üielleidjt bei jener SBel^au^jtnng nid)t bag ©ittcngcfe^, \vn: 
 bcm ba^ bürgertid)e ®cfe^ im 5lnge, nnb meinen, tvag baö festere an fcd)ö STagen nid)t 
 »erbiete, bürfe cö and) am ©onntagc nid)t »erbieten. 5lllein and) bicfc 93ef)auvtnng ift 
 falfd) ! !Dag ber 5lrbeitgcbcr feine 9lrbeitcr, ber fflJcifter feine ®el)ülfen unb Sel)rlingc 
 fcrtiö Stage lang bcfd)äftige, foil »om ®efc^ nid)t »erboten nicrben.. 2lber tvo^in würben 
 wir fommen, wenn baä ®cfe^ ben Strbcitgcbern unb aKciftern geftattete, ifire Scute and) 
 am (Sonntage arbeiten jn laffen? Söafirlid), ba Würbe bie >§abfud)t ber 9teid)cn gar balb 
 ben Slrmcn ein Slrbcittijod) aufbürben, unter bcffen Saft fte nie mel)r frei aufat^mcu fönus 
 ten, unb am (änbe »odig erlägen! 
 
 £öaö aber bcm (äinen rcd)t ift, bag ift bem Slnbern billig. Sl^ono^ole bürfen, wie mein 
 aSorrebuer bereite bemertte, nid)t geftattet werben, am allerwenigften in einer Sflcpublif. 
 ©arf bcr 53eft^er einesJ Siergartenö am ©onntag fein ©ewerbe treiben, fo nimmt bcr 
 öranntweinbänbler, bcr (5igarrcnl)änbler, fo netjmen ()unbcrt anberc .^änbler baffelbc 
 fdilimmc QSorredit in 9lnf»rud), nnb bcr 9luf)etag mit all feinem (gegen ift bal)tn! 
 
 (Statt auf (Suren ,, gefunbcn" a)lenfd)cnücrftanb ju :pod)en, l)ättet 3f)c -^crrn wol)fge=! 
 ifjan, anß ber 33ibct ein wenig 5)3elcl)vung anäunel)men. 3)115.31 i()r fte nid)t »on (Sltriftuö 
 unb feinen 5l»oftcln tjolcu, fo fönnt il)r fd)on »om Weifen (Salomo lernen; „(5'in 3cglid)C3 
 :^at feine Seit— 2Öcincn, 8ad)en— ©d)Weigen, SHeben ijat feine 3cit." Itnb fo :^at and) 
 Slvbeiten feine Seit unb 3{nl)cn feine 3cit. Itnb wann es 3eit fei, einen ganjen J^ag ju 
 tul)cn, fagt baö »ierte ®cbot. 
 
 (£cl)n wir je|,t aud), wie unferc ®egner mit ber SEcItgcf d) id)te umgcfecs ! 3n 
 ifircn 95efd}lüiTen 00m »origcn ©onntag bef)auvtcn fie, bag ,,bic crleud}teteu ffiölfer aller 
 3citen bcu wol)ltl)ätigcn (Sinftug ber mimifd):plaftifd)cn .Knnft ju fd)äl}en Wugtcn, wegs 
 I)alb bie alten Dlcpublifen Sftom unb ®ried)enlanb fte and) »on ©taatöwegcn bcm aSolfc 
 gngängliri) machten." aiSabrlid), ba ()(?rcn wir etwa« y^cueö ! Sag erleud)tctc 93ijlfcr 
 bad Sübeatcr alg eine <Sd)ule beö fiaftcr 3 angefcl)en I)aben, ift mir wol)lbcfannt ; bag 
 il)m aber ein wof)ltl)ätiger, „ftttlid) ^cbcn^er" (Sinflug »on ben „crleud)tctcn 5Bölfcrn 
 aller Seiten" jngefdjricben fei, I)örc id) jc^t erft. aBol)lan, 3l)r Iterrn, wir bitten um 
 Slufflärung. 93clel)rt unö bod) gefälligft, in (Suren Seitungen ober in ben Sieben, bie 
 31)r näd)ftcnö wieber l)atten werbet, wer bicfe crleud)tetcn 93i.ilfer waren. «So uicl weig 
 id) wot)l, bie 33ürgcr ber alten niepubtif JRom gc^^örten nid)t mit baju. ®cfc|t audi. Wir 
 Wollten fie mit (Suc^ als ein crlcud)tcteg 93olf anerfennen, fo Ratten fte bod) feine »on 
 (Staat« wegen iljncn jugänglid) gcmad)te S^beatcr. 2Bol)l gab (S in JKlom eine Seit, ba 
 ber $Ruf: " Panem et Circenses!" (@ieb uu3 S3rob nnb (Spiele im ßircug!) bie cin,^igc 
 unb ftete (^orbcrung beg römifd)en ^l^öbelg an feine 5!'}Iad)tl)aber war. Slber ju ber Seit 
 war 9lom tängft nur noc^ bcm ?iamen nad) eine Ülcpublif unb cS bauerte nid)t lange mef)r, 
 
21 
 
 ba üctUu- Ci5 aud) ben 5tamcu. 55ic alten repub(ifanifd}en 9iömer l)ingcgcn, bcren SSiit: 
 gcitugcnben wix mit ?}tcd}t benjunbcvn, üerabfdjeutcn bai? .tfieater. 
 
 SBaiS ba5 a(tc ®ricd)cnlanb betrifft, fo iuurbcn bort cbenfaUö crft unter *^.^el•if(e(5, aid 
 bic (SittenücvbcvbniB anfini^ unb bei- ffliirgcvftnu a6naf)ni, bic Äiiftcn bct S^tjcatcu ani 
 Staatöuiitteln bejaf)lt. S)ec() tvar felb|l bamatö nod) fü oiet ®efüf;( für 3ud}t unb «Sitte 
 unter ben ®ried}en, bap fic jwarSdjaufpieter fjatteu, aber feine ©d) auf p icler i nn en. 
 ©üld)e Sf}cater, ivic l)ier in 9leW:ä)orf am ©onntag cffen ftanbcn, Worin f)albiuifftc 
 aiJeibcr tun- ben 2(ugen Der iPiänner alle 3nd)t unb Scfaani bti (Seite festen, luo Ströme 
 beraufd}cnbcr ©etranfe ncbtl iJabafiJbampf unb einer auf'ö äujjerfte werpefteten unb pers 
 gifteten Suft jugleid) ben Äorper unb ben ©eift entftäfteten — ()at feine, fei'ö ri)rifi= 
 Iid)e ober f)eibnifd}e Diepublif, ja fein 93olf, in bcm nod) ein ioenig gcfuuber Sinn icar, 
 für lr>ct)ltl)ätig erfannt) 
 
 Sd)lie^Ud) nod) ein 9Bort an unfre ©egner. 3d) i)dhc eud) Porl)iu gefagt, toaö i»ir 
 iü ollen, ndmlid) blog, bag il)r ben Sonntag at3 bitrgerlid)en 3iluf)ctag feiert; ju feiner 
 religiöfen ober fird)lid)en gcier inoKtcu wir eud) nid)t jtt5ingeu, felbft wenn wir eä fcnu; 
 ten. -äöaö Sfjr wo l It, will id) (Sud) je^t aud) fagen. 3f)c felbft fagt cg nid)t, bod) 
 beutet 3l)r es? an, inbem 3[)r riU)menb erwähnt, ba§ in SRom unb ®ried)enlanb bcr Staat 
 bic Soften bcr Sd)aufpiele bejat)lt t)abc. (Sin ®lcid)C!S möd)tet 3l)f gar gern and) t)ier 
 einfiil)ren. äDä^rcnb Wir nid)t barau benfen, Sud) jur (Srl)altnug unfcrer Äirdicn ju 
 nijtl)igen, wiirbct S()V, wenn 3l)r eö nur fönntet, unö jwingen, Sure !J'l)cater mitjubejal): 
 len unb wol)l gar am Sonntag, and) gegen unfern aBilleu, I)ineinjugebcn. 35en j^orts 
 fd)ritt fül)rt ^ijx: im Sliunbe, aber 9liicffd)ri tt ift euer Streben. 3a, bii3 iu'i? .&eibentl)unt 
 jurücf würbet 3f}r uns? fül)ren, wenn cä nad) (Snvem Sinne ginge, unb jwar nid)t in ba3 
 ^cibeutt)um ber alten @ried)cn unb Dlömer, fonbern in ein nod) Piel finflercrc^ unb fd)aucr: 
 lid)creö, in ein pantl)eiftifd}ei3 unb atf)eiftifd)Cö .gieibcutl)um. (Sincr eurer Diebner am 
 porigen (Sonntag l)at erflärt: ,,2Öir crfcnnen feinen anberu ®ott über unä an, aU ben 
 ®ott bcr ^srei^eit unb ben ewig fd)affenbcn a)tcnfd)cngeifl!" S)icfe (ärflärung ifi offenbar 
 glcid}bebentenb mit bcr Cofung, bie Wir fo oft au^ eurem Slhinbe iicrnommeu l)aben: 
 ,,3Bir crfenncu feinen anbcrn ®ott an, alä bcr in unfrer 93rufi WDt)nt!" SBurbe je bie« 
 fcr in Sud) Wof)ncnbe ®ott jur ■Oerrfd)aft fommcn, fo würbe eö fid) jcigcn, ba§ er ärger 
 unb blutbürftiger ift aliS bcr f)cibuifd)e ®ö^c *l)iolod)! ©cnu ein ru[;elofer, fricblofer, 
 licblofer, f)affcnber ®ei)l ift'^, ber Sud) erfüllt, ein ®eift, ber allein Sftcd)t l)abcn unb 
 ntd)ti3 bulbcn will, ba-J il)m wibcrfprid)t ! 9lllermcift aber ba^t biefer ®ott, ber in Snc^ 
 Wof)nt, baö Sf)riftcntl)um unb bic Sl)rij^en, unb wenn er fönute. Wie er Wollte, fo würbe 
 (5t)riftcublut l)icr im 8anbe in Strömen fliegen ! — 
 
 S)üd), @ott bat bieg 8anb Pou 3lnfang bcr ju einer fiebern 3itflnd^töjlätte ber in bcr 
 alten SBcU pcrfclgten unb unterbrüeftcn ßl)rifJen gewcil)t. !l)ie ^J^uritauer auö Suglaub 
 unb Sd)ottlanb, bic >&ugcnctten au»5 (^i'anfrcid), bie pfäl^ifrbcn 2)Jcnucniten unb bie 
 (Safjburgcr Sutbcrancr auö 2)eutfri)fanb famen fjieljicr, nid)t um ju glauben unb ju tl)nn, 
 waä fic gelüftete, fonbern um ®ott anjubeten nad) 93orfd)rift ibrcö ©cwiffcuö. 
 Staat unb ^ird)e finb allerbingg bei unä weielid) unb f)eilfam gefd)icbcn. 3lber <Btaat 
 unb Sfiriflcnt^nm finb nid)t gefc^ieben. 3ebe d)rifilid!e üleligionepartci, baju oud) bic 
 iübifd)e SHeligion, finbct ^ier Scfju^ unb Slncrfcnnung ; eure 3r religion aber wirb 
 böd)fleng gebutbet, unb and) bag nur, wenn fic fid) nid}t breit mad}t, fonbern bucft. 
 ©arnnt nebmt guten 9latf) an, unb alß pernünftigc Seute, bie fid) nid)t gern jwccflofc unb 
 rcrgcblid}e ä>lübe mad)cn, fd)icft Sud) ruf)ig in bic ycrf)aftcn ©ountagögcfct^c; bcunweg« 
 fd)affen werbet 3f)r fic bocl) nid)t! 
 
 Sucb aber, meine d)ri)tlid)cn ä)Zitbrüber, lege id) bt Sitte an'ö ^erj: inbem ibr bie 
 ändere (Sd)u§wcf)r um ben Sonntag wafirt unb Vffegt, trad)tct i?or9lllcm nad) bem wcfcnt^ 
 liri;en ®utc, baö in i()r i^crgung unb Sid)cr()eit finbet, nad) bcr 9inl)e bcr Seele in 
 @ott! !i)ic lagt nnö fud)cn an jcb cm Sonntage neu ju cmpfin^en unb jugcnicfjen; 
 mit ibr Wollen Wir faibjcitig unfcrc jlinbcr befannt unb pertraut mad)en; jn il)r woücn 
 wir aud) Slnbcrc, bic um uuc finb, burd; Scl)ve unb Scifpict l)iu^utciten trad)ten, 2)a,^u 
 f)clfc un^ ®ott ! 
 
22 
 
 7. ^ie ^cfc^Iiiffc. 
 
 S)er $Porfi^er legte jc^t bcr 2?erfaminlung folgenbe SSefc^lüffe jur 2(nnal;me »A: 
 
 53 e fd) I offen : SDag bie 9lcri)te too Slvbciterö auf einen »ödjentlic^en Siag bee Jflu^f, 
 tier(S(;ri)len auf einen !Jag t>ec (Sibauung, nnb aller 33iivgcv auf regelmäßig wicbevtel)renl>e 
 Sreiljcit »on ®cfd)äften, ©mge unb ©eräufct), wie fteburc^ bic ®efe$e unferc^ Saubeei ge« 
 ftci)ert finb, ju ben foftbarften unb uuüeväujjerlidjen 9ted)teu freier 43ürgcr gehören ; unb 
 ba§ jebcr Slngriff barauf, bcr ben Jag bcr 9iu()e in einen lag bci5 ®efd}äftiS, ber Scrftreuj 
 iing nnb 3ud)tlcfigfctt »erfeftren und, barauf I)inauöläuft, ben Slrbeitcr ju bcbrüctcn, bie 
 öffcnttid^e unb verföuUd^e (Bitte ju V'crbeiben, bic ©infüiiffe ber SUeügion ju fc^wädjen un^ 
 alle freien 3iiftituticncn ju untergraben. 
 
 ^efri)toffeu: SSaßwir bedlialb em)l(id) gegen bie 3lbfd)affung ber je^t befiefjenben 
 ©efcl^e i)rütcftircu; iveld;e ben bürgcrlid^en ©onntag gegen bie gefdl^rli^ften formen of« 
 fentlid;er (SutfittUd;ung, gegen ben SJerfauf geiiliget ©cttänfc unb bic 5öter9artcn52:i)eatct 
 fd;ii^en. 
 
 93efdjlef f en: ©ap bie 53eamten bicfer 93erfammlungl)iermit erfut^t werben, bie oor« 
 Pef)cnben 55efd;liif|e ber SegiiUatnr nnfercö Staatö, alo bie bellimmte äßiüenömeinungbcr 
 orbnungöliebenben bcutfd^en 53eüi?lferung unfrer @tabt, tjorjulcgcn. 
 
 Sa biefe Sefd^Uiffe oiic^ in bcm "ilJrcgramm ftanben, bay in al(et Slnmefenben .fiän= 
 kenirar, foljatte jeber {)inrei($ienbe ©elegcnl^eit gel;abt, fid} mit i[)nen befannt äumoi 
 (i)en* 2JII» balder ber 3>orfil^er biejenigen, bie mit ben $iefd}lüffen cinüerftanben feien, 
 cufforberte, fic^i^on it)ren Sihen gu ergeben, unb aU fid? tjierauf bie ganje 5>erfamm' 
 hing erfjob, Jt»u^te fie fel^r mofjl, iDa!§ fie tljat. 5)effen ungead)tet bcmfifjten 
 fid) bie wenigen anmefenbcn ©egner, bie iüäf)renb ber ganzen S>erl;anb(ungcn ftet» 
 Sinlafj nnb ®etegent)eit ^u Sti3r«ngen gefud)t l)atten, nud} jeljt am 8d;luffe ncd) fic^ 
 geltenb ju madden. 
 
 Sie begannen ein föcmurmel unb ©erebe, also feien feljr 3>iele mit ben 53ef(^tüffcn 
 nic^t einüerftanben, allein man wolle biefe nicbt ju SBorte fcmmcn laffen. ^nbefs — 
 ber SSorfi^er trat tpieber üor unb fcrberte rul^ig bie ben 95efc^lftffen mdjt 23eiftim= 
 mcnbcn auf, fid^ ju erl^eben. Unb fiel;e ! blo^ Gin 2Hann erl;cb fic^, unb auä) ber 
 fefete fid> fc^nctl nieber, al» er fid^i fo atleinftel^enb fanb. .^atte juöot ber SSorfi^er 
 Steu^erungen be^ ^Beifall», al^ in einer c^iriftlidien 2>crfammhmg ungeeignet, abgU; 
 hjeljren gefud^t, fo mar bic'g je^it nic^it meljr mü-glid}. ©in allgemeiner ^utel entftanb, 
 oly CiS fid> jeigte, bafj bie ungel;eure 2Reif?rt)eit bcr 9serfammlung mit ben 93efd}lüffen 
 einoerftanben war unb ba^ bie wenigen ©egncr, tro^ iljrer geriil^mten greil^eitcUiebe 
 unb Ueber3eugung!§treue, nid)t ben D}Iutl? I;atten, offen für iljre Ueberjeugung cinju^ 
 ftefjn.f 
 
 * 3n ben ajtrfnmmlunijtn ter Seinbe txi Sonntag« vflegt eS iimgcfc^vt ^erjugtJ^n. ©Ueiilangt 
 »efitlüffe werten kort t>rtlefcn, rocrin alle möglidje v^itofopl^ifdjc, foci-Ue unt potitifAe Srageu abge= 
 l^antelt werten, unb wenngleich nur 20enige, bie ganj In ber Ü/i.i^e fiften unb furgfättig aufmerfcn, 
 Älleä \)erftanben ^aben, wirb bo* c^ne SBeitereä bie 3»flimmung ber ganjen l'ikvfammlung begcfjtt. 2lud) 
 fin Sßröbc^en »on ber 9l(^fung, bie in biefeu Ärcifcn ber vcrfönlidjen freien Uevcrjeugung gejoHt wirb ! 
 
 t I>ie cnglift^e 3eitfc^rift "New- York Observer" fagt in i^vein 39erid>t über bie aScrfammtung : 
 „Die Scene bei Sluna^me bcr Sfefcfrlnjfe war •oon \)iM evgrcifenter Slrt. 9U« ber iBinfi^er bie bamit 
 ßinvcrfianbenen jum 5lufjte(;ii aufforberte, fianbcu bie vcrfamnieltcn ^laufenbe auf wießrin älfann. ?U» 
 er fic^ bann auc^ an tie Slic^teinuerfianbenen wantte, blicften ficf/ ?Ule um, begierig ju fef)en, wie »iel ®eg= 
 ner ba feien. Slber nur ©in 3Mti»ibuum ^inten im ©aal flanb auf, bereiinige Opponent! Diefe ©in= 
 Jiimmlgteit erfüllte bie aSerfammhing mit einem ®iegeeigefü(;l, weldfeeä fi* in fo an^attenbem S3elfatt= 
 tufen Suft ma^te, bap SJIiemanb keffen iStbeutung nÜBvcrftcl^en tonnte."— ßbcnfo tie rolltifc^e .W= 
 tung "The World" : „!Die 2lr.na^me ber Jöefi^lüffe »on Seiten bet aJerfammlung war eine elnjiim« 
 wije un> nad^brürfüc^e (em^mifdjt)." 
 
23 
 
 2ltl ttjieber StiHe eintrat, erl^cb fic^ ber ^rebiger 'iR. S. §it(i)co(!, 2)rctor ber 
 S:^eclcgte unb ^rofeffcr am ttjeolcgifdjen llnicn: Seminar 3U 3lm-f)cxt, urn eine 
 furje ©c^Iu^=2tnfpra(i;e ju {»alten. 6» gefc^a^ bie^ in fo freunblid^er 2ßei[e, anfangt 
 in beutfd^er, bann in englifc^er Spradje, ba^ bie SSerfammlung, obgleich fie fc^on üie( 
 Qc^bit l)atte, ibm nod) bereitnjiUig taä O^r liel;. 
 
 8. ©^(ujJ=Wnf|jra(^c Don ^^rof. Dr. §lt(^col 
 
 SDicinc grcunbe! *)Srcfeffot !J()clucf in ^af(c fcagte mi^ cinfi: „können ©ic mit 
 fagen, njc^l^alb ®ott fo oictc Sl^inefcn unb fo tvcnig *l5vcu§en gefcl^affcn (;at'?" SBcnn 
 *)3rcfcffüv 3:f)otu({ I)cut' Slbenb f)iet wave, fo tttihbe cr finben, baf ®ctt cine l;ü6frf)e Sins 
 •ja^l !Dcutfd)e t»ierf)er gcbvadjt ijat. 5ilö fold)e begrübe id) (Sud). 3f>t fcit) 2)eulfd)e, ein 
 $■1)611 Don (Sud) finb®ad)fen; wir finb 9tngelfad)fen. SBir ftnb von (Sincm ©tantm. 
 2)er Unteifd)icb ift blop, bag >t»ir ein biödjen frii()ei- ()ie()cr getommcn finb. 3f)r famct ge» 
 rabcircg'ji fibers iDJeer hierher. 9Bir {)ic(tcn un3 cine 3Bcilc i* (Sngtanb auf, nad) nnferet 
 SJJcinung ntd)t or)ne SSortfieil für nnö, inbcm wit bort ä)Jand)C(5 lernten. 
 
 !Der Seutfdje fouiol)l alö ber 9lngelfad)fe liebt bie ^veitjeit, wie ber Slbler feine %iU'- 
 tliVVe. Slbcr cä ifi nöt^ig tt?o^t ju,jufef)n, waö grei^eit fei. SBenn Semanb blof feine 
 9led)tc fennt unb nid)taud) feine ^flid)ten, fo ift baäein fläglid) ©ing. ^rcilieit unb 
 (Sefc§ miijfcn ^anb in ^anb gcl)en. SBenn bie (Sentrifugalfraft ber grei^eit unb bie 
 (Scntvipetalfraft be3 ©efe^eö gleid)niägig auf unö einwirfen, fo bctttegen wir unö, glei^ 
 nnfrer SJiuttcr @rbe, in einem lid)ten, wol)ltl)dtigcn .Rreiölauf. 
 
 ®ie Scute, bie ein grop ®efd)rei fon ber Sreil)cit mad)cn, ct)ne 2ld)tung ocr bem (55cfe| 
 gelernt ju l}aben, fcnnen bie angclfäd)fifd)e ?5reil)eit noc^ nic^t; benn iai ifl eine burc^ 
 @efc^ georbnete <5rcil)eit. 3Bir fagen ju benjenigcn, bie in unfer Sanb einwanbcrn : bie 
 greibeit, 53öfe^ ju ttjun, ifi nid)t ^lei^eit, fonbern Sflaiu'rci. 2)aö ift unfer amcrifani: 
 fe^er 93cgriff »on gret^eit, für ben wir nid)t burd) 3waug, fonbern burd) Ueberjeugung 
 Sllle gewinnen möd)ten. SBir wollen bie Srei^eit l)abcn, 9led)t ju tl)un, aber nid)t bie 
 grcibeit, Unred)t ju tl)un. 
 
 9Bir finb Ülcrniblifaner. 2öir l)aben bieg 8anb unb feine freien 5nfiitutionen ttcu uu; 
 fern SSitern überfommcn, unb wir finb SöilleuiJ, unfcrc ^rei^eit jn bewat)ren. Die ÜBelt= 
 gefd)id)te fagt unö, bag tjon allen 93erfafiunggformcn bie republifanifc^e am fd)werften ju 
 gewinnen unb am leid)teilcn ju tjerlicrcn if^. 9tevnblifen finb in ber Siegel nid)t alt ge: 
 werben, wäf^renb befpotifd)e unb fclbft tDraunifd)e Sftegierungen oft ein langeö S)afein 
 frifletcn. 9Botlen wir alfo giepublitaner bleiben, fo muffen wir wad)fam unb rül)rig fein. 
 ?lnf ben ©abbatf» gilt'^ ganj fonberlid) unfer 2tugenmer! ju rid)ten. 2öir bebaupten 
 jwar nir^t, bag, wenn wir iljn aufred)t tialten, baburd) unfere Sreil)eit gefiebert fei. SBo^l 
 aber bc^aujjten wir, bag, wenn wir ben ©abbat^ mit Sügen treten, unfere Sreil)eit un3 
 genommen werben wirb. 
 
 @iu gütiger (Sjott giebt un3 ien©onntag. 35er 2!eufel möd^tc barauö gern einen 
 ®ün bentag mad)en, ber in niebrer ©innenlujl, ©c^welgcrei unb ©etümmel jugebrad^t 
 wirb. SBürbe il)m bag je gelingen. Würbe biefer I)eilige !Jag »on !l^l)eater:iD?nftt wieber. 
 ballen unb in Lagerbier ertränft werben, fo würbe mit il)m unfere »^rcifieit ju (grabe ge^n. 
 
 2Bir wiffcn fe^r wo^l, Wa3 für •§errfd)cr eö waren, bie i^ren 93öltern 93ergnüguiig3- 
 tage unb ©djaufpiclc gaben. (Saligula, S^lcro unti i'^reö (S^leic^en traten baö. ©ie füt= 
 terten ilire ©flaoen mit äiergnügungcn, bamit fie il)re ©flaüerei »ergägen. ^Tljrannen, 
 wie (Saligula unb ölero, (gteic^oiel, ob fie S&iften -finb, ober ÜJeniagogen eine^ ^rcifiaatö, 
 bie gern 2)iftatoren werben möd^ten,) fönnen mit einfad)en, wal)ren, treuen Scannern i^ren 
 3»e(f nid)t crreid^en. ©ie l^aben lieber mit betäubten, verwirrten Seuten ju tliun, nnb 
 «m fold)e ju befommen, betäuben ftc fie iiixä} !Eage ber Suft. 
 
 ^i)x l)ört mand>e ©pottreben über bie Puritaner b'er ju 8anbe. ©0 fpotteten auä) bie 
 Äa»alierc in ßnglanb oor jwei^unbert 3al)ren ber ^Puritaner ober, wie fte fie nannten, ber 
 
24 
 
 Kunbfö^.-'fe. 5t6cr alä bie J^vUmlicve ir. bcu Srf)(ac()t i'oii [Oiavilon.-lUoor bicfen betcnbcn 
 ^puvitaucm entficgciitvatcii, ba mußten f(c lun- i()iicu in'^ ®raä beigen. 
 
 2l(g »or ivciiig iBüd}en bcv >!3clb, bcffcu OJame jd^t in 5l((cv äiJunbe i|i, feine fleine 
 ©djaav Don 'gort Sioultrie nact) 'i^oxt (Snmtcr fiU)rte itnb bort bag Sternenbanner auf« 
 Vfian^te, f'niccte er mit aW feineu ©otbatcn nicbcr unb betete ju ®ott. Sie Jlunbe baoon 
 crcjriff mit fflJad)t ade <&erjcn in iinfenn Sanbc unb fc^te bic 2Bclt in (Staunen. Sa« ift 
 ein ?JJanu, f)ieg cS, »or beni bie 'Jeiube jid; fd)cuen mögen! Siefe fdjrccflidjen Puritaner 
 beten cril, unb barnad; fämvtfen fie toie Söwcn. 
 
 Uufere Säter ()aben ebcnfadiS fnicenb uub Bctenb i()r Sännet t;ier im ganbe aufge« 
 ^jftau^t. Sie fjabcn C'^ in Scfi^ genommen aU Seute, bic @ott fürd)tcn unb 3f)m ju bics 
 Ken begefjren. SBir, il)re 9tad)fommen, fiub uidjt äßillen^, Slnberc (^iujuftojjen, bajj fic 
 mit UM fnieeu. Sie mi^gcn beten ober nid}t, wie ti iljmn gefällt. S'U" ii">5 fi-'l^'c»^ i^^" 
 forbcrn wir bag 91ed)t jum 53cten, unb lt*ir forbern ferner, baf tvir in biefcm 9tcd)t an 
 ©otteg 9lu()etag nid}t burd) Uirmcubc Spieler unb Sri}wclger gehäuft Jvcrbcn. Uufcr 
 Sabbatl) foil ein fricbiidjcr uub fetcvlid)er Sabbatf) fein. SBir ivcllcn in unfern .ßird;cn 
 Stille, in unfern Strafen 9iul)e ()abeu. 2öic gefagt, cg l)aubelt fid) l}ier nid)t barum, ob' 
 3()r beten follt. 3l)r nuigt bag t()uu ober laffen— wieincljl wir S'ud; cruillid) ratl)eu, eg ju 
 t^un. (äg fjanbelt ft d) nur barum, ob wi v , bic wir ju beten uninfdjen, babei ungeftört 
 fein foKcn. Sag ift'g, ivag wir forfcrn. 3« biefcm Sinne beten »ir: ®ütt, crl;alte 
 uufcr ©emcinliH'fcn! — 
 
 ecincit ^rofeffor .^itdjcod. 3Iad}bem !)ieraiif ncä) ber 2?er^i gefungen mar : ,,Scb, 
 6-(}i-' unb ^rei» fei ©ott!" unb juni £ct)hifie öcn ^^paftor Stol^lmattn ber Segen ge= 
 fproc^en itar, ging bie SSerfammlung befriebigt, erfreut unb erbaut auc>einanber. 
 
 9» gcrucrc^S 3?crfja(tcn ber gciubc bc*3 Souiitaj^^, 
 
 3öer Sl^nerifa fennt, iueif;, »oelc^ eine '^adjt bier bie ^^reffe ift. ©ctt Scb ! biefe 
 ^laäjt ift faft ungetl;ei(t auf 6eite ber Sonntagc^freunbe. S)ie!§ geigte fid) andj ba= 
 rin, baj3 alle engnfd)en politifdjen 3eitungen üon 9^en5=5>r! mit grof;er IHditung 
 ßon ber 33erfammhing am 10. ^Olärj fprad}en unb 'i>a^ meiere tocn iljnen bcn .Oaupt= 
 inbaltber gebaltcnen 9]eben auc^fül;rlic^ berid}teten ; bie beutfd^en Leitungen ba; 
 gegen, attermeift ber ,,9icm=3)Dr!er ®emo!rat/' lief5en fic^ in ibrem 53erid}t bariiber 
 bie gel)äffigften entfteUungen gu Sc^ulben fommen. S)al}in gehört aUermeift bie 
 58el)auptung, aU fei bie DJtebrbeit ber 25erfammlung mit bereu Senbeng unb $^e= 
 fd}lüffen nid)t lüirflid) einr>erftanben gciuefen— lua'3 bed) ber 3Babrbeit fd^nurftrad^S 
 juiriberlduft. Ueber bie gcbäffigcn 3lu:?fälle gegen bie einzelnen JRebner fdjmcigen 
 tt)ir. 3iur GiniS fei barüber bemerft! 2)er ,,2)emofrat" batte Jag:? juücr einen 
 2lrtifel mit ber Ueberfcbrift : ,,2Ber finb bie SRiiftseuge beä .gerrn?" »orin, auf 
 ©runb ber gebrudten 3(nfünbigung, fämmtlidje 9Iebner genannt )uurben, mit 33ci= 
 fügung folgenber, fcl}r bc3eid)nenber älufforberung : ,,Xlm 3(uc-funft über bicfe i^er= 
 fönlid^feiten erfud}t bie 9ieba!tion beä ,2)emofrat.' " 6-5 mar offenbar barauf ab- 
 gefebcn, etmag 9iad)tbeiligeg über ben einen ober anbern ^Jcbncr ju crfabrcn unb 
 mi}glid)ft aue^jubeuten. 2lllcin — bie Sitte ber 9iebaftion blieb ebne Gvfclg; ber 
 6d)mäbartifel, bcn fie am Jage nad}ber in ibr 93latt fetite, entbleit blofj 2)^if5bcutung 
 unb 2>erbrebung ber 91 e b e n , aber feine Stnflagen miber bie 9? e b n e r . 
 
 ©leid) am folgenben Sonntag, ben 17. 2Jlcirj, Ijielten bie geinbe beä Sonntag^ 
 eine jmeite ^Bcrfammlung im beutfdjcn ,,Stabt=3:bcatcr," lücrin eine M^lntiücrt" 
 
25 
 
 auf bie Grftäntngen ber 3?er[atiimhnuj t»cm 10. Tläx^ gegeben mürbe. Stefe ,,2lnt« 
 Irort" unternimiut e» gar md}t, bie üorgebrad^ten ©rünbe burd} ©egengrünbe gu töiä 
 berlegen, [onbern ergebt fid) blofj in (£d}mäf)reben, lüie bie fotgenben, burd) lüeld^e 
 natürlid} nid}t» betüicfen unb nid}t!o au^geri^tet irirb. 
 
 ,,1. 3Bir bcutfd}en Slbcptiübürger ber g e g e n tt> ä r t i g e n 33erfammlung finben 
 es fo unbcgrciüi(^ alä texädjüid) , ba^ e§ bier im freien 2(meri!a nod; SJIäuner, im 
 beutfcbcn isclfgebcren, geben fann, bie ftd} freiirillig ju ^Bert'jeugen ber 33igDtterie 
 unb Sii-^tins^-inpral beigeben unb fid) baburi^ ^u Sitjrannen ber ©einiffen lu machen 
 bereit finb. S)iefe 2(u'^artung bcy urfprünglid^en to(eranten beutfd}en Sinne'S unb 
 ©ciftcio ift fo ungeiüöbnlid}, fo einjig in ibrer 3irt, ino immer 9!Ucinner beutfcben 
 Stammet ein 2lft)l gefudjt unb gefunben, baf} man tion einer folcben @rfd}einung 
 notf^föcnbig ouf nerftimmte Seeton ober üermirrte Äöpfe, bie am menigften Sebenä = 
 normen für 5Inbere ju cntmerfen, ja faum üon ifjrem ^^etitiomärecbt vernünftigen ©e^ 
 hxauä) 3u nmdien fäbig finb, fd)lief;en mufj. 
 
 ,,2. 2öir finben i§ Ijodjit üerädjtlid), tnenn bie £eiter jener 35erfammlung tmä) 
 bie Semonftration ben ©tauben gu erregen fucbten, als ob ber ^uritaniiSmuö in im= 
 ferem 33euölferungobcftanbtf)ei( mebr benn eine Jinnjige DJlinoritdt reprdfentire ; lüir 
 finben es junefad} r)eräd}tlid}, toenngleicb djarafteriftifcb für bie fieiter ber S>erfamm= 
 lung, orbindrc ilniffe ansumenben, um ^ublitum fjerbeiäusiel^n, überl)aupt eine 33ers 
 fammhmg ju I)aben ; fotd^e %x\d§ nennt man im 3?Dlf eine gälfd^ung be§ tnafjren 
 Stanbs ber Singe, mit einem 2öorte: 33 e t r u g ! 
 
 ,,3. 2Bir finben c» grunbücrdd)tlid}, »t>enn jene Stusgeartetcn ibre finfteren ^ptdne 
 unttr bem 2}ec!mantel wen 9Jun-alitdt unb Sittlid}feit, bie befanntlid} am inenigften 
 tierteljt hjerben, ttio bem freien Ssolfsteben am menigften 3>i"i"g auferlegt mirb, üer^ 
 feigen — ein mcberne» ^barifdertbum, eine birefte ^ffanjftdtte für ^mmoralitdt unb 
 Unfittlicbtcit, luie bie ©efd}id}te ber Steifer auä taufenb Seifpieten lebrt" ic. k. 
 
 @eii^5, ba» I)ei^t gefd}impft tuie ein 9{of)rfperling ! @ut, ba^ e» 9Iiemanben toer^ 
 Ie|it aU biejenigen, von benen foldje Dteben au^gef^en! 
 
 10, S5crljaltcn ber ^cni^latiir. 
 
 2Bir Ü)c'ücn fdjHe^Iicb nod) mit, tvaä bie gefet^gebenbe S^erfammlung be§ Staate^ 
 9cem-9)crf mäbrenb ibrer Silmng im SBinter unb 5i'üf)ling 1861 in biefer 2tngele= 
 genbeit getban — ober üielmcbr nid^t get ban bat. 
 
 Q§ ging bamit fo ^u. 5)ie ßommittee ber 2(ffembi^, »t>eld)er bie petition ge^ 
 gen ba» £onntag<5gefet. gur 93erid)terftattimg übermiefen mürbe, ging auf bie 3«^«= 
 tbung, einen ®efet.cnttüurf jum 2Biben:uf te§ ©efet;e'J üom 17. Stpril 1860 unb ber 
 (Sefef.e, bie ben5?erEauf geiftiger ©etrdnfe am Sonntag »erbieten, einzubringen, nic^t 
 ein. $J)ccb gab eine geringe 5Kebrbeit ber Committee ben Unterjeicbnern jener ^4>etition 
 infolreit nad), ba^ fie einen ©efe^^entmurf einbrad^te, bermöge beffen Sagerbier, 3lle 
 unb anberc au» äRalj bereitete ©etrdnfe am Sonntag üerfauft merben bürften. Sie 
 501inberbeit ber ermäbnten (Committee aber fprad) fid) bei biefer Oklegenbeit auf eine 
 fo t(are unb beftimmte 3(rt über bicfe S^age au^, baf5mir uuiS nid)t entbaltcn tonnen, 
 einige .^auptpunfte ausibrem 33erid}t I:)erDor3ubeben. Sie SJIcbrbeit ber gefe^ge = 
 lenben 5.'erfamm(ung ift, mie mir genügenbe llrfad)e baben ju glauben, 
 
26 
 
 mit bemjenigen, toaä bie 2Rinber^eit ber 60 nt mit tee über bie Sonntaggfrage 
 fagt, einüerftanben. 2^er Seric^t beginnt : 
 
 ,,®er üon ber aJlebvbeit ber Committee eingebradjte ©efegentrtjurf betrifft bengan^ 
 gen Staat unb jielt babin, überall innerljalb beffen ©eridbtöbarfeit ben 5ßertauf »on 
 ,,£agerbier, 2lle unb anbern aus 2JIalä bereiteten ©etränfen" am Sonntag ju legali: 
 firen. Seine befonbere Hbfidbt ift febod^, bie Jbeater ttjieber 3U öffnen unb bie ©ier= 
 fallen ber Stabt3Retü=^ort für bie beutfdbe Senölferung ju legalifiren, um fi(^ ®e= 
 lüobnbeiten unb SSergnügungen binjugeben, bie mit einer rubigen unb nü|;ücben 
 Sonntagyfeier unüerträglicb finb, unb nur in ben fittenlofeften großen Stäbten beä 
 5eftlanbe!§ üon Europa gebulbet werben." 
 
 ,,®erUmftanb, ba^ gebrannte SBaff er nid^t mit einbegriffen finb, »eränbert meber 
 ben Gbarafter heä ©efeljientftiurfeg, nodb verringert er bie ßinmürfe gegen benfelben. 
 S)ie ©etüobnljeit, jebe» ©etrdn! mit f(i)äblicben Buf^feen 5" üerfälfcben, gehjäbrt bem= 
 jenigen, rtieldbet angeblid? blo^ Sier trin!t, bie SD^ittel, feinen nod? fo üerberbten ©e= 
 fdbmacf auf'jo »oUftänbigfte ju befriebigen. Slrunfcnbeit, ©ntfittticbung unb Softer 
 muffen gciüaltig junebmen unb ber cbriftlid^e Sabbatb ftiirb in einen beibnifdjen 
 SSergnügungstag ausarten, menn Tiergärten ju einer amerifanifcben 3i"ftitutiDtt 
 h)erben, unb ber SOerfauf aller Strien üon 33ier am Sonntag gefe^li^ erlaubt imb 
 befd}ü|t föirb " 
 
 ,,®ic neueren Sonntag^gefe^e gelten blo^ barauf au;?, allen C^laffen, befonberl 
 aber ben Slrbeitern, H)x unüeräu^erlid)e§ 9ted}t auf einen njöcbentlicben 9hibetag ju 
 fidlem. Sie geiüäb^en ben greunben ber Sieligion G5elegenl)eit ju ungeftörten 2ln: 
 baditsübungen, unb ber ganjen bürgerlicben ©efellfd^aft 33efreiung öon ber 2.serfu: 
 d)ung ju ßei^ft^euungen, Saftern unb SSerbre^en, auf ba^ ber 2!ag ber Grl;olung nicbt 
 3U einem Jlud) unb 2tergernif5 merbe." 
 
 ,,2)iefe ©efe^^e ^at ficb ba» 25ül! felbft gegeben. Sie fmb unparteilicb unb ftimmen 
 feljr mobl mit bem ©eift unfrer freien :3>iftitittionen überein. Sie finb nHnfd)en= 
 freunbli^ in ibrem 6influ^ auf bie Slrmen, gered)t in ibrer 33efcbränfung felbftifdjer 
 ©elüfte, unb unerlä^li(^ aU Scbufiiüebr ber öffentlid}en Sitte. Sie bienen jur 53e= 
 förberung ber ©efunbbeit, SBoblbabenbeit unb3:ugenb beySSoltes; fie beförbcrn 3lacb: 
 beulen, Selbftbeberrfdbung unb ©ert?iffenl;aftigteit, melcbe benSiürgern eine'5 5rei- 
 ftaatö jiemen: fie ftärlen fomit bie ©runblage unfrer auf Selbftregierung berechne; 
 ten ^nftitutionen. Sagtbodb ber ^tidjter 2)lcßean, t>on bem oberften ©erif^tebc'f ber 
 S3er. Staaten: ,,2ßo lein cbriftlidjer Sabbatb ift, ba ift leine d)riftlid}e Sitte, unb 
 obnc biefe lann ein e^'^eiftaat nicbt lange beftebn." ßbenbabin 5ielt SBafbington')^ 
 Slbfcbiebsruf an feine Sanbioleute, morin e» Ijei^t: ,,9fieligion unb Sittlid)leit finb bie 
 unerlä^licben Stufen aller geiftigen 2:riebe rmb ©etüoljnbeiten, tt?elcbe basS ©ebeiben 
 eine» Staate beförbern. 5?ergeben;§ njürbe berjenige auf ben stamen eines S>ater: 
 lanbsfreunbeg 2tnfprudb madben, ber babin ftreben mürbe, biefe ftarfen Säulen 
 menf(^lidben ©lüdle^, biefe fefteften Stü^punfte ber $flid}ten be!§ üJlenfdben unb be§ 
 Sürgerg, umjufturjen" 
 
 ,,SGBir miffen febr mobl, ba^ bie gefe^licben 93eftimmungen,über »neldbe man fid^ 
 bellagt, einem 2:beile unfrer 5Ritbürger, bie üom geftl^^n^e duropa'S fommen, al^ ben 
 Sonntagsbeluftigungen, an mekbe fie bort genjobnt maren, mibcrftreitenb erfdjeinen. 
 Dbne 3tt»eifel beftebt aud) unter einem Sljeite ber eingebornen Seüölferung eine ge^ 
 tüiffe Sieigung, ben Sonntag al§ einen Zaq t>eä SSergnügeni» anjufetjn. 2Rit ben 
 
27 
 
 »erf(^iebenen tljecretifchen 3lnfic^ten iifccr ben (Habbotl) ^aben tvxx \}kx md)t§ ju tl)im. 
 Qä genügt un§, ba^ feit unbentlidjen 3'eiten burd> ©efe^ unb Sitte, fonjie burdj bie 
 allgemeine Ueberjeugung be» 3>ül!e:^, unfer bürgerli4)er Sabbatf? aU eine ^nftitu: 
 ticn unferä Staate» unb ganjen ?anbe» fo fe[t gegrünbet ift, ba^ c§ jebem beobac^: 
 tenben Jreniben auffällt, ^ebe in Gurcpa erfc^einenbe amerifanifc^e 9Jeifebef(i)rei- 
 bung erfennt biefe 2l;atfad)e an. Gin berüfjmter gransofe, 2)uponceau, aufwerte bar^ 
 über, ,,t)on Sltlent, toaä lüir als c^ara!teriftifd;e ^ÜQt unferä Sßolfel nennen, fei 
 unfre Sabbatljfeier t>a§ ein5ige föaljrljaft Dktionale unb 2tmetifanifd)e, unb er ^cffe 
 unb münfc^e f(f)on be^^jalb, ta^ biefe ^eier unfernt ©efütjl unb ^atriüti»muio ftetä 
 h?evtl? bleibe." ©ine berartige Sluffaffung ber Sac^c nimmt ben gefe^lofen ätngrifj 
 fen auf unfre Sitten unb Ueberjeugungen jebe (!ntfd)ulbigung, bie il^nen fonft etttja 
 geiDäfjrt njerben möd^te. Ginmanberer auä anbern Säubern ttju^ten ober fonnten tve^ 
 nigftensi njiffen, ba^ unfer Sonntag ber9iul)e unb bem ©ottesbienft gemibmet ift, unb 
 baj} bie Seluftigungen »on ^^ari» oberSBien t)ier nidjt gebulbet twerben. 2Bir öffnen 
 bie ^^forten unfrei Sanbe» 2lllen, bie l)iel?er fomnien, unb geben il^nen »ollen 2tntt)eil 
 an ber Jreiljeit, n?eldt)e ber eingeborne Bürger geniest — fohjeit fold^eis mit ber Sicher: 
 l?cit unfrer freien ^"ftitutionen befte^n !ann. 2tber Safter unb ©enjo^nf^eiten, bie 
 njir unter unso felbft mijt bulben, lönnen tt>irebenfo ttjenig juounften Slnberer lega: 
 lifiren." 
 
 ,,@§ ift übrigeng unrid)tig ju bet)aupten, ba^ bie ganje beutfd^e Seoölferung in bie= 
 fer Srage ßine» Sinnen fei. 2aufenbe »on einmanbernben Seutfc^en bleiben il^rem 
 i'aterlanbe fortnjäljrenb mit Siebe juget^an unb gebenfen gern an beffen gloneidje 2>eri 
 gangenl^eit ; babei aber — jum bleibenben D^lu^m be;« beutfc^en ^kmenä fei eä gefagt 
 — ttjerfen fie bie fd^led^ten @en)ol)nl)eiten unb Seluftigungen t^inttjeg, bie in fpäteren 
 Seiten ber iöieberfeit unb 5Jreue, meldte bie ©runblage be» beutfdjen ßl)ara!terä 
 bilben, ßintrag getl)an'^aben." 
 
 ,,Siefe 9}länner begeben fid), menn fie l)ier anlangen unb bie ^flic^ten unb 23er: 
 antwortüd^feiten amerifanifc^er ^Bürger überneljmen, freinjillig foh?ol?l unter bie 
 S(^ranten al» unter 'an Sc^u^ unferer ©efe^e. Sie ftreben barnai^, f\d) felbft unb 
 ber gansen beutfd^en $Be»ölferung bie S55ol)ltf)aten einer l^ö^eren 6i»ilifation ju 
 fic^eni, inbem fie bie bürgerlichen Ginrio^tungen aufredet erl)alten Reifen, burd) hjelo^e 
 ba!o 2>olf miber baiä Ginbringen »on Sitten»erberbni^ unb Sßerbred)en gefd)irmt n)irb. 
 
 2!iefe DJiänner bilben gegenrt>ärtig einen anfe^nlic^en 58eftanbtl)eil ber beutfd)en 
 S8e»ölferung »on 3Reh3=3)orf unb gewinnen täglich neue 2lnl>änger für bie Sac^e ber 
 DJiä^igfeit, Sittlid^!eit unb ftrengen Seobac^tung eben ber SonntagsSgefege, hjelc^c 
 ber eingebrad)tc ©efe^entrourf tljeilmeife abfc^affen möchte." 
 
 ,,2)iefe Männer grünben S3ibliDtl)efen, Sd^ulen unb Äird^en unb tradjten naö) 
 Sefferung unb .^ebung ber 9}lenfct)l)eit mit einem Gmfte, ber feinen Sofjn bereitiä 
 gefunben l)at unb in ber 3u^unft auiJgejeic^nete Grfolge l^offen lä^t. S?er .^aupts 
 hjiberftanb aber gegen itjre menfdjenfreunblid^en 33eftrebungen geljt »on benjenigen 
 aue, bie in ben Soben ber ^^rei^eit Safter pflanzen mochten, toelc^e, tt>enn fie einmal 
 eingeiüurjelt hjören, nur burc^ ben ftarfen Sirm abfoluter ©ett)alt »erljinbert hjerben 
 tonnten, ba§ gan5e Sanb gu überrt>ud)ern." 
 
 ,,3}er Sßiberruf irgenb eineä l'i)dkä ber Sonntaglgefe^e ju bem S^Jed, SSiergärs 
 ten unb Sierljatlen am Sonntag ju legalifiren, n^ürbe eine Ungeredjtigfeit gegen jene 
 SUlönner fein, bie il;re Sanb^leute »on ben Sonntagsbeluftigungen, an njeld^e fic 
 
2ö 
 
 friifjer gelt)öf)nt iraren, ab3U3ie^en ftrcben, um fic für bie 21ufvcd}terl)altuiig fon reli= 
 giöfen unb 33ilbungä=2tn[ta(ten 5U geminncn/ iüelc^e baä S3olf I;cben unb bct Diiil^m 
 unfercio ^afirl^unbert» fmb." 
 
 • ,,Gin [cld^er 2Btbertuf njürbe ferner eineUngerec^tigfeit gegen ade biejenigen C)C^ 
 Inerbe fein, beren Söetrieb nac^ tok ncr burc^ bie Scnntagc-gefe^ic t>erbDten bleibt. 
 SBenn einige trenige ©efcbdfte, ober ein prioilegirter ^anbel, ütrn bem 9?uben aller 
 anbern am Sonntag iRu^en jiefjt, fo toertranbeln ficb ja eben bie Scbranfen, riermit= 
 telft beren 9ieligicn unb ©ittlidiEeit bie DJlaffen i:)on ber Arbeit abbält, in ein WVüUi 
 be» ©elbertnerb^ für ^ene. S^aburd} aber lt)irb ber großen SOIebr^abl guter 93ür= 
 ger, h)eld}e bem ©efe^e h)illig geborenen, ein offenbareä Unred}t jugefflgt. 5:ie 
 Goncurreuä toirb bann immer DKebrere ba^in treiben, am Sonntag if)r ©eroerbe 
 fortjufefeen, biiS ber Sabbatf) babin ift unb jeber Scbu^ für 'oa& 9icd}t bes 2lrbeiter5 
 
 auf einen 2:ag ber ^ube unb 2tnbad)t t)erni(^tet ift." 
 
 .§ierauf föirb nod} bargelegt, luie jener ©efehentmurf ein Unrecht gegen bie 
 Stäbte, gegen bie Sanbbeüölfcrung unb gegen bie d)riftlid)en 33ürger fei. 2"ann 
 fd}lief5t ber S3erid}t mit bem bringenben ilntrage, bafs ber üon ber 2)le]^rbett ber 
 Committee eingebrachte ©efe^entmurf nid}t burcbgeben möge, ^er non ber SD^inbcr^ 
 l}eit vorgelegte 33erid}t ift unterzeichnet üon ben .^emn £. 6^. 23 a I ( , ^. 21. 
 $ r e n b e r g a ft unb 2B. 21 n g e I . 
 
 2)ag ©ubrefultat xcax, ba§ t)k ^Iffembd) am 9» %pxii, ol;ne 
 tveitere Diöcuffton, mit 71 gegen 24 Stimmen befcl)(o^, beu 5hi- 
 tvacj bei- SD^ajorität auf beu 3:ifcl) jii legen,— eine 5ib|ümmnng, 
 iiu1d)e nic^t aMn \)a^ S^efte^en ber 6onntagögefe|ie auiljvenb ber 
 3)auer ber gegenanirtigeu Öegiötatur fiebert, fonbern anc^ ju ber 
 Hoffnung berechtigt, ba^ hk ©egner auf lange 3tnt an bem Er- 
 folg i^rer SBemü^ungen verzweifeln werben. 
 
— .-•-. — « 
 
 Sttmmcu bic ©onntagö.qcic^c mit ber ^oiiftitutlon iiBcrcm? 
 
 ^n Sadien »rn ©iiftao SinbenmiUler, ber tnegen t^eatralif(f)er SSovfteltungen, 
 hjeld)e ev am Sonntag gegeben, auf ©runb be» ©efel^e» toom 2tpril 1860 üerurt^eilt 
 iüorben irar, unb barauf an ben oberften ®eric^tsf)of (Supreme Court) be§ 
 Staats 9leto=^üv! appcUirte, erfolgte feiten^^ btefe^ ©eric^ts^ofe^, unter 3:f)ei(naf)me 
 ber SRicbter Gtevfe, Sutf^ertanb unb Men, am 29. dJlai 1861 folgenbe Gntfd^eibung :* 
 
 ,,'S^ai S()viRcntf)um i)l ein SJ^cit beö gefc^Hc^ güüigeh ßcrfonimcnö ober ©cwc^nl^eif^s 
 red;t3 (common l;uv) inifevcsS (Staates?. !Dieg ift nic()t fo jii »erliefen, ai& metbc eine cv: 
 jteungeuc Suftimmung evfoibert, fei eä 511 ben fivcf)lid)en Seiten unb 93oifc^vifteu einer 
 einzelnen .R:tvd}cnpartei, ober ju benjcnigen ®(aubcneifä§cn iinb gottceibicnftlicl)en Ucbiiuj 
 gen, wcxin alle 53cfctuier beä (5^riftent()nmö iibcveinftimmcn. ©onbetn eet ifi in bem be« 
 fd)ränften (Sinne ju iierftcf}en, ba^ ber diriftlid^en 9tcligion unb i^vcn öinridjtungen 
 Sichtung unb (Sd)ul) gcbiUjrt, weit ftc aucrfannt(id) bie Slcligion unferö SSolfcö i)l. ©cm 
 ©cwiffcn foil fein 3ir>ang angct()an ftcrben; aber Seute »on jcbroeber !Denf»eife unb 
 ®laubcu(5aufid)t finb »on fold;en ^anblungen abjufjatten, burc^ tocld)e bcm d}rift(i^en 
 ©ottc^bienfl (Sintvag gefd)iel;t, ober bie 3fleligion getaftert unb in SBerac^tung gebrad)t 
 irirb. Olicmaube»! @laube foft gcfjemmt tr»evben, unb auc^ eine in gejicmenber SBcifc 
 ftattftnbenbe><lunbgcbung fcincö retigiöfcn ©tauben« ift 5ebcm gcwä^rteiftet. 9l((cin bief 
 9ted)t nui§, glcid) jcbem anbern Stedjte, unter forgfaltigcr 5Berücfftc^tigung ber gleirfjen 
 9lcd;te 5lnbcrer gci'ibt werben. SBenn jc religiofer ©laube ober Unglaube ju ^anblungen 
 fii^rt, burd) wctd)e bem ©otteäbienft unb ben @ewiffenöre(^ten berer (Sintrag gefc^ie^t, 
 bic fid) jur Saubc^vcligion bc!cnnen, (»etdjc jttjar nid)t burd) ©efe^e, aber wo^t burc^ bie 
 adgemeine 3ufliinmung unb (Sitte ber 93ürger 8anbe6veligion geworben ifi, fdjon oor ber 
 ©riinbung cinei^ georbneten (Staat^toefcng,) fo fönncn fotd^e «^anblungcn burc^ bie gefe^s 
 gcbenbc ©ewalt verboten werben. 
 
 „aJlit anbern 3Borten : 2)a3 Sfjrificnt^um i)l bei una ni^t gefe^lid^c ©taatörcltgtoit, 
 ifi aber g(eid}Wol)l bie SSolf^rcligion. 2)iefe !t{)atfad;e tritt afleut^alben in ber ®efci)ic^te 
 unfcre« Sauber fieroor, unb ifi öon je^er »om 93o(fe, fowie »on Sßcrfaffung; gebenben (Son« 
 »entionen, gefcf.gebenben SSerfammlungen unb ©crid^tö^ijfen anexUnnt, unb c3 ijibemges 
 mä^ »erfafircn wovben. 
 
 „©ie a?crfaf|ung »on 1777, § 38, fe^t fefi, bap bie freie STugiibung rctigiöfcn 93ci 
 fenntniffes unb ©ctteöbicnfieö, otine llnterfc^icb ober SBorjug, :^infort auf immer gefiattet 
 fei, »crauogcfc^t, bap bie f)ieburd) gcwä^rteifiete ©ewiffcn^frei^cit nid)t mipoeutet werbe 
 jur Gnti'd)utbiguiig fittcntcfcr .^anblungen ober foldjer ©ewo^n^eiten, bie bcm ^rieben 
 
 *Die§ höd}^ roicfetige 5lftenftücf ifl nacfef}e^ent) mit mögttc^ftcr Zxeut ü6erfc|t loorbcn, jwar feiner 
 6cträc^tüd)cn ?äiigc we(\m nic^t »otlflänbig, tot^ fo, fcnp a((e überhaupt wieiergegcfcenen ©teilen »oE= 
 flautig tüictcrgcgeben finb. 
 
 ffiiv auäreärtigc Scfcr 6emer!en roir, bas @. Sinbenmitfla- ebeit bcvfetbc i)l, son bcm auf®. 4 bic« 
 fcr Scftvift crwäfint warb, baf er feine t^catralifcficn ffiurfteftungen ben „©ottcäbienfl ber bcutfc^en 
 @^ater=@cmeinbe" nannte unb fi* feieturrfi ju rcrfitfcvtigcn fncftte. 
 
uno bcr (2;id)cvl)cit bcö Staat«? juttiiicvlaufcn. !Dtcfc(be S3cfitmmung finbct ftd^ in bet 
 aerfaffung »on 1821, 3lvt. 7, ©cct. 3, fowic in bcr 93eifafi'ung »on 1846, 3lvt. 1, Sect. 3. 
 Sic ßcnücntion, ■ocn xoddjcx bic Sjcrfaffimg von 1777 (}criü()rt, betätigte jugleidj bie 
 Unab()ängigfeitöerflänuig («cm 4. 3uli 1776) unb fd)ifftc fie ber Scrfajfung aii Einleitung 
 vovauei. Sic Unabbänaigfeitä:öiflärnng abci entl;ä(t eine birefte, fcierlidje 53evnfung 
 auf ben ,,i)cü)iien Sdidjter bcr 9Bclt/' unb fvvid)t ,,feftcö 35evtranen auf ben Sdju^ bee 
 gijtttidjcn SBcrfc^ung" au^. fflei 5tnnaf}mc bcv SScifaffung »on 1821 ertannte bae 93clf 
 ,,nnt Santbavfeit bie ©uabe unb ®ütc ©ctteö" an, oermijge bcvcn t6 feine gtcgievungö« 
 fürni nad) fvcicv 3Ba()( fcftfcl^en fijnne. (äbeiifo cvflärt eö bei 93eftätigung ber SSevfaffung 
 Mon 1846 ,,für feine S«if)fit firi; jum Saufe gegen ben a(imäd}tigen ©ott üevvfiidjtet." 
 Sic jujci elften SBcvfaffungen nnfcieö Staate^ befugen, bag ,,*^vcbiger be6 (Soangclinm3 
 »cruiögc iijxcd Stniteö bem Sienfte @otte^ nub bcr Sorge für baö J&eit ber Seelen gcwibs 
 met finb unb ba()cr «on ben großen *^)filid)teu if)re«s 93crufci5 nid)t abgejogen werben" unb 
 t»ebcr ju biirgerlidjen nod) militärifdjcn 9lcmtern n\if)lbar fein foHen. 
 
 „Stile biefe ©cfc^cöbefiimmungen unb Srflärungcn crfennen beultid) mcljre ®runb(c^rcn 
 be6 S^riftcntbumö an unb finb tveit entfernt üon 3gnorirung ©otteö alö beö ^^iJdiftcn 
 Senferö unb Sflid;tcr^ be^ 9BeIta(('J, i-ber ber c^ri|llid}en Sdeligtcn aU ber aßotfiSrcligion. 
 iBiclmcbr betradjtcn fic bicfelbe mit if^ren *^rcbigevn unb (Siurid)tungen al3 ben gemeins 
 famen ®(anben ber ffliivgcr, aU dwai ol)ne 33ei()ülfc bcö Staate^ ober ^?ontifd)C 33crbin = 
 bungcn mit if}m 58eßcf)enbe^, aber glcidjniobl mit einer guten Dlcgierung innig 93evfnü^f« 
 ki, inbcm c^ bic einige fid)cre ©runblagc gefuuber Sitte bilbet. 
 
 ,,Sic »erfc^iebncn 93crfa|Tung:gebenbeu (Scn^cntioncu erfaunten bic c^rifitic^c SHeligion 
 auri) baburc^ alö bie 33olfiireligion an, ba§ fic i()rc täg(id;cu Si^ungen mit ®ebet crcffs 
 neten, ben djriftlic^en Sabbatl) feierten unb eigenbö bejlimmten, baf' an bicfcm SJage feine 
 «om ©ouücrncur jurfufgcfanbtcn ®efc|cnt»ürfc angenommen tcerbcn foHtcn. 
 
 „3n bem ^roceffe bccs 93olfcö gegen Dluggic^, 8 3. 91, 291, entfdjicb ber ®crtd)t«^of, 
 ba§ Säftcruug ®otte«i, fotnie befd)impfenbc Sd}mä()ung unb gemeine SBerfpottung (5()rifti 
 ober ber (^eiligen Sdjrift, in unferm Staate aiä öffeutlidje 93ergc^en firafwürbig feien. 
 Sf>. 3- Acut fagt, Sd)mäbung bcr Keligicn, j^u ber fid) faf^ a((e Q3ürgcr bcfcnncu, fei ein 
 Siifibraud) ber burd) bie 33crfaffung gewä{)rleiiletcn Slcligionö: unb 93efprcd)uugßfrci(}cit. 
 (Sr fagt ferner, bie 93erfaf|uug fidjre feine3u?egs ber Sdcligion 3)Jul)ameb'ö ober bCiS Salai: 
 gama bicfelbe 5td)tung mic bcr gictigion uufrci5 ^eilanbciS ju, unb jtvar and bem einfad)en 
 ®runbc, n3Ctl toir ein c^rtf^Ud)eö 93cl£ feien unb bie Sitte uufcrcä Sanbeö fi(^ ganj unb 
 gar auf baö (5briftcnt()um flü^c. 
 
 „Ser Sabbat^, aid cine bürgerliche 3nflitution, ift bei unö älter aU bic ®rünbung 
 cineß gccrbneten Staat?wefenö. Sie ®rünber ber erf^cn Sßcvfaffung faubcn iljn ala bc: 
 fieljcub »or. Sie fdjafften il)n n^cber ai, ncd) »eränbertcu fie il]n, nod) »crringevtcn fie 
 feine 9lnfprüd)e ober bie 93crpiüid)tung bcö 5Bolfd, il)n ju l^alfcn. Unb gefegt, fie bätten 
 i()n nid)t bereit« oorgcfunfen, fo ^tten fic mit gied)t ibn einführen bürfen. 6« ifi ein 
 ®cfc^ unfercr 5latur, bag (Sin 2:ag unter Ticben jur 9lul)e unb örbolung angcwenbet wer: 
 ben mug. Sic (Srfal)rung l)at gelel)rt, bag ein n3ijd)cuttid)er Sdufietag ,,bcm Staat erftann- 
 lidjcn Oiu^en bringt, fd)on aii rein burgcrlidje^nfiitution betrad)tet." (4 931. (5om.,63.) 
 2Biv fmb pt^^fifd) fo conflituirt, bag genau badjcnigc Scitmag, n^clc^ed ber Scfatog (bie 
 gcl)n ®cbcte) fefife^t, ber 5Ru^c unb (Sr^olung gcwibmct uicrbcn mug. ®efd)iel)t bic« 
 nid)t, fo rädjt Tid) bad, njic jebe Ucbertrctung ber [Raturgefclje fid) räc^t ; unb eben boburd^ 
 beftätigt bic Olatur bad »om Sinai »crfünbigtc pofitioe ®efe^. 
 
 „Ser fid)re ^ovtbef^aub ber gicgierung, bad aB?l)l ber Untcrtfianen unb bad 3ntereffc 
 bcr mcnfd)lid}en ®efe(lfd)aft crforbcui ferner bie gleidjfijrmigc freier ein nnb t«cffelben 
 Saged feitend bed ganjcn fflolfcd. 3u biefem önbc mug feine ?5eicr in ettt?a er^lrungen 
 n^erben, nid}t bcrgefialt, bag bem @cir>if|en 3wang ongetl)an n^crbe, fonbcrn blog j^um 
 Sd)n^c bcrjenigen, n5eld)e ben 9lluf)ctag begebren, tvoju fie bcrcd)tigt finb. 2Dcld)er ^aq 
 bcr aBcd)c aber aid ber ginljctag gelten foil, bad iuürbc, fcfern man ben Sabbatf) aid rein 
 bürgerlid)e 3nftitution anfielt, bic Segidlatur gu bcfiimmcn t)abcn. '^nx ein ci^rifilidjc« 
 93oif iH cd jebod^ »öllig angemeffen, bag ber djrifllidje Sabbat^ gefeiert »erbe. Sic fitt» 
 
lic^e unb gcfc^Iid^c UBiirte bc3 ©taatögcfe^eö wixi tt)aT)i-lid) iiidjt baburrf) gcfdjmäfert, baf 
 Co fid) beiu ©cfc^e ©ctteö aiivapt, iuelci)Cö ja lion ber gvopeu ä)Jc()r(;eit bcö iöütfeg ancrs 
 fannt wivb. 
 
 ,,3it uiiferm ©taate ic\id}t bcr (Eciintag alö bcv lrcd}cntlid)e Stuljctag frf)on »ermöge 
 bctS JpcvfümmensS (common law,) (S^ ifi bal;er iiiri;t ©adje bet Scgiölatiir, il)ii eiiijufu^: 
 ten, füubtnn blc^ biird; ifirc ,,@abf)at^gcfti^c" bic 2trt unb 3Bcifc ber (gonutagöfeicr ju 
 orbncii. Sc^oii bie iöei-faffung beflimmt, ba^ fontraft(id)c 5i3ervfliid)tiiugen, bic auf ben 
 ©cnntag fällig n?etbcn, am Samftag ober Slontag gekifiet iüevben fcUen -, ferner, bag 
 fein gcrid)tlid;et ?ift am (Eonutag oorgencmmen werben fann, unb »ielcö 2tnbere ber 9lrt. 
 3)cr ci[)riftliri}e Sabbatf) tfl fomit cine bcr biirgerlidjen Snilitutionen beä ©taateö, weldjcm 
 bie @cfd)äfte unb ^plidjten bcö ficbenö, bent ^erfommen gernag, jid) fügen unb anpaffeu 
 muffen. 
 
 ,,3n unferm ©taatc, hJtcinben mcif!en,]a in fafi afleu Staaten ber Union, ftnb balder 
 ©cfc^e, toeldje bie 9lrt unb QBeifc ber biirgcrlidK« ©onntaggfeier betreffen, beinahe gletd)s 
 jcitig mit ber ©riinbung cineö georbncten ©taat^wefenö crtaffen Werben. ©d;on 1788 
 iintrbc Sfteifen, 2lrbeitcn unb 9luöf^c(lung oon Saaren jum 33erfauf am Sonntag »erboten. 
 3m 3af)r 1789 würbe ber aScrfauf t^i^iger Octvänfe »erboten. Seitbem fmb beftänbig 
 ©cfe^ciSbeftimmungeu in Jliaft gewefen, weldje bie (Sntf^eitigung beö Sonntagö »erbieten 
 unb an biefem S^agc fotdje <&anblungen unterfagen, weldje an anbern 2Bod)entagcn gefe|: 
 lid) erlaubt finb. 
 
 ,,'5)aö ®cfe^, über wetc^cö in gegenwärtigem j^aflc Älage geführt wirb, nötfiigt Slie« 
 manben ju irgenb einer religictfcn Ucbung ; baf)er auc^ Uebertretungcn beffetbcu nid)t alö 
 Sünben gegen ®ott, fonbcrn nur alö ber ©efedfdjaft nadjtbeilig unb einen »erberblid^en 
 (ä'infiuf auf fie auöubenb ,^u beflrafen finb. 2)iefeö ®efeg rufjt auf bcr gleid;en ©runb: 
 läge, wie eiuc SJlenge anbrer 53efiimmungen unfre»5 ®cfe^bud)e5, j. ^. bic ©efe^e gcge« 
 ©lüifeifpielc, Sütterien, SBorbede, 93ielwctbcrei, $ferberennen, g(ud)cn «nb @d}Wörcn, 
 Störung religiöfer SSerfammlungcn, 93ertauf ()i^iger ©ctraufe an 9Ba()(tagcn, ic. Stile 
 bcrartigc ©cfe^e legen bcm öi'trgcr gewiffe Sdjranfen an «nb berauben i£)a mancher 
 9lcd)tc, bic er fonft befi^t. 9l(lein es fie()t nun einmal ber £cgiö(atur ju, gemein fd)äblid^c 
 <&anblungcn, wetrije bie öffentlid)cn Sitten »crberbcn unb beu Stieben unb bie gute Drb; 
 nung bcr ©cfcllfc^aft llören, ju »erbieten. SBeldjc >§anblungen aber alä foldje ju betrac^« 
 ten finb, baä ^at nur allein bie Segi^latur ju beftimmcn. 
 
 „3. ffioobwarb (im $roje§ »on ^ofinfion gegen (Sunn, 10 ^ar., 102) fagt: ,,'Da« 
 9led)t beä (^amilieuüatcrg, feine Äinbcr in gejiemeubcr (Sbrerbietung gegen bic iSinric^» 
 tungen bed Stjriftcntljumö ju crjieljen, ot^ne bap fte genöt^igt finb, Seugcn fleter lieber: 
 tretung cincö djrifttic^en ©runbgefet^c^ ju fein, baä 9led)r, beu ^rieben unb bie gute Orb» 
 nung bcr ®efcllfd)aft, fowie bic erl)öl)te Sid;er^eit »on geben unb (Sigent^um ju genießen, 
 wcld)e auä einer angemeffenen Sonntaggfeicr crwädjft; baä gtedjt be6 2lrmen, ol)nc 91b: 
 j,ug an feinem ?ot)nc »on feiner 9trbeit ju ruf)n, baö 3ted}t felbft beö j:i}icreö auf bie 
 9luf)e, welche feine 91atur erforbert— fiub wirtlidje unb wcfeutlid;e ülec^te, unb jinb 
 cbenfowobt ®egcniianb beö Sd)u|cö ber ülegicrung, wie irgenb ein anbrcö ^erfönlidjc^ 
 ober 'i'igcntl}um^red}t." 
 
 ,,'^oä^, man fd}ü|t ba3 Sfled)t beö SBi'trgerö »or, ben Sonntag »iclmel)r a(ö einen ffag 
 bcr ör()o(ung unb bcö 93ergnügent5 anjufel)en, benu aU einen !Jag ber 9luf)e unb bcö ®otj 
 tedbienjieö. gjlan fagt ferner, Seber, bcr bicfer 9lnitd}t jugetl;an fei, ifube a\iä) baö öicc^t, 
 if)r gemäfi ju Ijanbcln unb fomit fid) unfc^utbigen 93ergnüguugcn unb (Srbclungömittetn 
 l)injugeben. fSiefem Sa| finbcn wir nidjt für nöt^^ig gu wibcrfpredjen. 2lber wer fjat ju 
 entfd)citen, welche 93crgnügungcn unb Stiele unfd)ulbig fiub, bag ifi: feinen fd)äb(ic^cn 
 (Siufiug auf bie ©efellfc^aft üben, bie ijffentlid}C SRulje unb StiUc nid^t fiijrcn, unb beu 
 cbenfo geheiligten ®cwif|cn3rcd)ten 9lnbcrcr feinen (äintrag t^un ? 2)arf nidjt Pie Scgiöä 
 tatur erflären, wetdje (Srfjclungömittet gcfc|lid) erlaubt fiub, unb we(d)e nidjt? 2öenn 
 eine SDicngc SDlcnfc^en am Sonntag in einem itljcatcr unb bcn bamit »erbunbencu S^riuf; 
 fiuben jufammcnfirömt unb fid) bcn an folc^cn Orten gcwöl)nlid) »orfommenbcn ©clegen; 
 I;ettcn unb 9lnläffen jur Unfeufd)^eit unb anbern Saficrn flingibt, fo ^At bie Segiötatur 
 
guten ®nuit> ju cvftäi'cn, ta^ tie^ mit bcm Stieben, bcr guten Dcbuung uub bcv t2id)cv; 
 ^eit ber Stabt unuevtväiiliri} fei. ^a, fic würbe üijllig bcved;tigt fein ju bev 2lnftri)t, bag 
 ein fcld^ev Drt ,,cine ^^ilanjftättc be>5 fiaftevö fei, eine fficvfdjule, in ber junge 2)iänncr 
 für bcn ®a(gcn unb junge SBeiber für ba>J Sorbett J)ciangebitbct »erben." ©cd) \\\\s 
 immer bie ötnfidjt ber ScgifJlatnr fjierüber gewefen fein mag, ber ©egenjianb tag völlig im 
 S3ercid) if)rcö ISrmcJTenö unb Gntfdjeibenö, unb itjr SBittc nuip atö jureidjenber ®runb beö 
 von if)r crtaffeucn ©cfc^eö gctten. 
 
 ,,2Benn UMr aud) tvctlten, fo fönnten wir bod) über bie (Sntfd)eibung ber Scgieitatur nid}t 
 ju ®erid}t fü^en, ncd) bie 3wecfmcigigfeit if}rer (5utfd)eibnng in 3weifei jiet)n SBir föu: 
 neu baö nid}t für unfdjnlbig erftärcn, waö fie für vcrberbliri) crad)tet unb bcgljatb verboten 
 l)at. 2)a3 fragtidje ®cfc|, crftärt im ®runbc blop, ba^ ein ©onntagöttjeater etwaiJ ^Jln= 
 ^öpigcö (a nuisance) fei, unb bet}anbelt eö bemgemäp. !Dic 9]ierfaffung l)at fold}e %\{k 
 »orgefe(}en, inbem ftc beftimmt, „bie ®eUMffenöfrcif)cit fotle nid)t fo gebeutet werben, aliJ 
 ob bamit ©ittentoftgfeit cntfd;utbigt ober ®ewoI)nt)eiten gered)tfertigt werben bürften, 
 Wctd^e fid) mit bcm ^rieben unb ber ©idjert^eit bcö Staate^ nid)t vertragen." 2Beuu nun 
 bieSegietatur erftärt, (gonntag^t(;eater get)iivten tu bie ebengenanntc Äatcgorie, fo fvrid)t 
 fte bamit ein Urttjeit au^, weld)CiJnnr iijx atleiu ju|^ef)t. S)aö ®efe^ i|l offenbar ber 93er= 
 faffung gemäf , inbem c^ fid) mit bem ©onntag nur infofern befdjiiftigt, alö er eine bür; 
 gerlid)C unb v>olitifd)e Snflitution ift, o^nc irgeubwic religiöfcn ®lauben unb ®ctteii5bienji 
 JU bcrü()ren. 
 
 „©er auf ®runb btcfeö ©cfe^eö gcfäftte Urtlicitt?fprud) iji fomit ein gercd}ter unb mu^ 
 bcptigt werben." 
 
Doc. No. XVII. 
 
 THE SABBATH IN WAR. 
 
 The recent Document of the Sabbath Committee was enti- 
 tled " The Civil Sabbath Restored.'''' The imanimity and strength 
 of public sentiment evinced in popular demonstrations of 
 different nationalities, by the Press, by Legislative votes, by 
 the decisions of Courts and Juries, and by the action of Police 
 autliorities, and the consequent suppression of the most offen- 
 sive forms of Sabbath desecration, seemed to justify the claim 
 that this great bulwark of morals and self-government liad 
 been reestablislied. But civil war, in its wide sweep of evils, 
 so involves this important interest as to constrain some pre- 
 caution, lest, in the patriotic struggle for the security and 
 perpetuity of our free institutions, there should be a fatal 
 weakening of their permanent moral foundations. If we 
 would save our country we must liold fast to our Sabbath. 
 
 No just interpretation of the law of the Sabbath would ap- 
 ply its provisions to the emergencies in individual or national 
 life which involve vital interests and necessitate a resort to 
 " the first law of nature." " The Lord of tlie Sabbath " has 
 placed this (piestion beyond a doubt, by miracle and by ex- 
 press instruction. All that is necessary to the public safety in 
 the gathering of troops and the movement of armies is inno- 
 cent because of the necessity. And among a Sabbath-loving and 
 a Sabbath-keeping people, there may well be a charitable judg- 
 ment of any seeming latitude in the use of sacred time for war- 
 like preparations in a season of unparalleled patriotic enthusi- 
 asm, aroused by the sudden apprehension of overwhelming 
 national dangers. 
 
 But war does not repeal the law of the Sabbath. It remains 
 written on the muscles and nerves that wield the weapons of 
 the battle-field. It is inscribed on the moral nature of every 
 competent volunteer. It flames from every scjldier's knapsack 
 which contains — as every knapsack should — the Book of 
 books. It influences the plans and the orders of every wise 
 General in the army of a Christian Republic. Beyond the 
 
2 ■ ' THE SAIUJATII IN WAll. 
 
 line of Jieeessity, mercy, and .self-defence, the blessings and 
 restraints of the Sabbath should visit and control the camp, 
 as they comfort and overshado\v the ])eacefnl abodes of un- 
 armed citizens. Thns Jiiay a citizen-soldiery escajje the [le- 
 culiar temptations of the tented-tield ; be nerved for lieroic 
 deeds; and return to tlieir liomes Avith such after record of 
 their history as is given of (Jromwell's army of Christian vete- 
 rans : "Fifty thousand men, accustomed to the profession of 
 arms, were at once thrown on tlie world. In a few months 
 tliere remained not a trace indicating that the most formidable 
 army in the world had been absorbed into tlie mass of com- 
 munity. Tlie i-oyalists themselves confessed that, in every 
 dei^irtment of honest industry, tlie discarded warrior prosper- 
 ed beyond other men, that none was charged with any theft 
 or robbery, that none was heard to ask an alms, and that, if 
 a baker, a mason, or a Avagoner, attracted notice by his dili- 
 gence and sobriety, he was in all probability one of Olivers 
 old soldiers.'' 
 
 An illustrious ])recedent for res]>ectiiig the sanctity of the 
 Sabbath in the camp, and for discountenancing the vices con- 
 nected with its desecration, is furnished in our Revolutionary 
 history. While the American army, about 20,000 strong, was 
 defending New York city against oO,000 British troo})s, 
 (■rKNKKAr, WAsniNcrroN issued the following "general order," 
 Aug. ;kl, 17T0: 
 
 " 7'liut tlic troopK iiniii haue an oiii>urlHn'iti/ of atUndbnj pnlilic irora/tip. c.« wefl 
 as to fake Kome rest after' the. f/rcot faiujue then ^"^ve gone throiiffh, the (hucral, in 
 future, excuses them ffom fatigue dutt/ on Sniidays, except at tlu' ship-j-ards, or 
 on spcfial occasions, until fiirthcr orders. The f-'eneral is sorry to be intbrmed, 
 that the foolish and wicked |(ractice of profane cursing- and swearing-, a vice 
 hitlierto little known iti an Anierieau army, is growing- into fasiiiori. lie hopes 
 the otKt-ers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it. and that 
 both tliey and the men will reflect that we can have little ho])e of the blessing- of 
 Heaven on our arms, if we iusidt it l)y our impiety aiul tbUy. Added to this, it 
 is a vice so mean ami low, without any temjttation. that every mau of sense and 
 character detests and despises it." — \SparkH U'ritiiu/.t of Wasliinqtov, Vol. iv., 
 p. 28. 
 
 But, whatever may be the i-ule for the camp, duty and safe- 
 ty alike require increased guards against Sabbath profanations 
 among civilians in the time of war. Never more than when 
 cxtraordinarv cares and excitements almost madden the brain 
 
THE SAUBATII IX WAR. 6 
 
 and the deepest passions of the soul surge like tlie ocean, are 
 the still Sabbath hours needed to restore exhausted natures, 
 cahn the fevered pulse, and conipose the perturbed spirit. 
 That patriotism will burn brightest and last longest whicl^i 
 kindles its tires and renews while it chastens its inspirations 
 at the altars of God. 
 
 And Society preeminently needs the protection of the civil 
 Sabbath during the struggle which is to decide our national 
 destiny. The tendencies of war are in the direction of de- 
 moralization and lawlessness. Intemperance, profanity, Sab- 
 bath-breaking and kindred vices follow in its train. Plots 
 against the public peace and safety multiply. Tlie day of 
 popiüar leisure becomes the day of popular danger, unless 
 laws guarding it from temptation and folly are discreetly but 
 firmly enforced, with the approbation and support of all law 
 abiding citizens. 
 
 It is to bespeak the cooperation (»f civil and military au- 
 thorities, and of good citizens generally, in support of the 
 orderly observance of the Lord's day, that this brief appeal 
 is respectfully issued. In our struggle for the preservation of 
 our Government, as in that for its Independence, we " can 
 have little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if 
 we insult it by our impiety and folly.'' But, whether the 
 war shall be brief or protracted, if the " Sign" of God's favor 
 and of our fidelity shall abide, the blessings associated with 
 it in promise, prophecy and providence shall be perpetuated 
 through coming generations of prosperity and peace. 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Cliairman. 
 
 HENRY J. RAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 1 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., JNO. E. PARSONS. } ^ 
 
 NATHAN BISHOP, GUSTAV SCHWAfJ. I .:§ 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, WM. A. SMITH, j I 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, OTIS D. SWAN, [ ^1 
 
 AVARREN CARTER. WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 E. L. FANCHER, WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, F. S. WINSTON, 
 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 0. E. WOOD, J 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recordinr/ Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Chrrexponding St^-retary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (Presideut of Manhattan Bank,) Treasurer: 
 OßtyoftheS»hh(iUi Cominittce, Xo. -21 Tilbh-Ihnii^e, NdvYorlc. 
 
Suggestive Facts from Military Experience. 
 
 From the Boston Pont. 
 " Sunday at Fort Warren. An order was issued by General Andrews forbid- 
 ding the admission of visitors to the fort on Sunday last. As a consequence, 
 according to the report of the officer of the day, ' the day passed off very quietly 
 and orderly, and seemed more like the Sabbath than any since I have been here,' 
 On Sunday evening Colonel Webster and the officers of the 12th Regiment sent 
 tlie following letter : 
 
 'Head Quarters 12th Regiment, Inkantrv. ) 
 Sunday Evening, June 9, 1861. \ 
 
 Brig.-Gen. Andrews : My Dear Sir, — It gives me sincere pleasure to join with 
 the officers of this regiment in offering you thanks for the pleasant, quiet, and 
 home-like Sunday which has just closed. 
 
 It has been a day of most welcome rest to us all ; it has remiuded us of those 
 scenes and associations, and those duties which in camp life are apt to be for- 
 gotten, and we have all felt that its influence has been most beneficial. 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Fletcher Webster, Col. 12th Regiment.' " 
 
 More and belter icork with iveeklt/ rest. William Wilbferforce states that " Dur- 
 ing the war, it was proposed to work all Sunday in one of the royal manufac- 
 tories, for continuance, not for occasional service ; and it was found that the 
 workmen who obtained Government's consent to abstain from working on Sun- 
 days executed more Work than the others." 
 
 Captain Stanbury, the leader of the United States Surveying expedition to the 
 region of the Salt Lake, in his official report to the Government, bears this tes- 
 timony to the value of the Sabbatli : " I here beg to record, as the result of my 
 experience derived not only from my present journey, but from the observation 
 of many years spent in the performance of similar duties, that as a mere matter 
 of pecuniary consideration, apart from all higher obligations, it is wise to keep 
 the Sabbath. More work can be obtained from both men and animals by its 
 observance, than where the whole seven daj-s are uninterruptedly devoted to 
 labor," 
 
 The commander of the forces on the Northern frontier, d\iring the last war 
 stated tliat, when building vessels, making roads, and performing other labori- 
 ous service, it was not profitable to employ the men on the Sabbatli, for it was 
 found that they could not, in the course of the week do as much work. 
 
 Tlie Minister of Marine, in France, has addressed a letter to all the Maritime 
 Prefects, directing that no workman, except in case of absolute necessity, be 
 employed in tlie government dock-yard on the Sabbatli, for the reason that men 
 Avho do not rest on the Sabbath do not perform as much labor during the week, 
 and that thus it is not profitable to the State to have labor performed on that day. 
 
 Good Morals and tue Sabbath. The late Justice McLean, of the United States 
 Supreme Court said : " Where there is no Christian Sabbatli, there is no Chris- 
 tian Morality : and without this, free government cannot long be sustained." 
 
 CiiiEK Justice Hale, of England, said at the close of his long career: " Of all 
 the persons who Avere convicted of capital crimes when I was on the bench, I 
 found few only who would not confess, on inquiry, that tliey began their wicked- 
 ness by a neglect of the duties of the Sabbath, and vicious Conducton that day." 
 
 The Police Records of the City of New York show that during eighteen 
 months previous to the closing of the Sunday Dram-shops the arrests for drunk- 
 enness and crime were 25 per cent more on the Sabbatli than on the average of 
 the other days of the week ; but when they were closed, Sunday arrests were 
 forty percent, /ess than other days, during a similar period of eigiiteen months, 
 — an absolute diminution of 5,020 in the Sunday arrests. 
 
Sab Com Doc XVIII. 
 
 Constitutional Basis of oiir Sunday Laws. 
 
 Decision of the Supreme Court, February Term, 186], Justices 
 Gierke. Siitherland and Allen. 
 
 Ill the case of Gustav Lindenmuller, Plaintiff in Error, vs. The 
 People, Defendants in Error, convicted under the Act of April, 1860, of 
 giving dramatic representations on Sunday ; the opinion of the Court was 
 given May 29, '61. As the test case, and as involving important principles, 
 the following abstract of the views of the Court will command deserved 
 attention and general approbation. The full opinion is very elaborate 
 and voluminous. Judge Allen is understood to be its author. 
 
 Allen J. — Christianity is part of the common law of this State, in the quali- 
 fied sense that it is entitled to respect and protection as the acknowledged 
 religion of the people. The right of unconstrained religious belief, and the 
 proper expression of it, is guaranteed to all ; but it must be exercised with strict 
 regard to the equal rights of others ; and when belief or unbelief leads to acts 
 which interfere with the rights of conscience of those who represent the religion 
 of the country as established — not by law, but by immemorial consent and 
 usage — their acts may be restrained by legislation. If Christianity were estab- 
 lished by law, it would be a civil or political institntion, which it is not. It is in 
 fact the religion of the people, and ever has been, and has been so recognized 
 from the first by constitutional conventions, legislatures, and courts of justice. 
 
 It is not disputed that Christianity is a part of the common law of England. 
 By the Constitution of 1V77, the common law as it was then in force, subject to 
 legislative changes, and with specified exceptions, was, and ever has been a part 
 of the law of this State. Tlie claim that the constitutional guarantees of reli- 
 gious liberty arc inconsistent with the recognition of Christianity as the religion 
 of the people, is repelled by the known character and history of the fi'amers of the 
 Constitution. They would not sacrifice their freedom or their religion. They 
 and their forefathers were the friends and champions of both. 
 
 In the several Constitutions of 1777, 1821, and 1846, and in the proceedings 
 of the constitutional conventions, there are abundant provisions and recitals very 
 clearly recognizing some of the fundamental principles of the Christian religion — 
 embodying the common fiiith of the community with its ministers and ordi- 
 nances, existing without the aid of or political connection with the State ; but 
 as intimately connected with a good government, and the only sure basis of 
 sound morals. These conventions also opened their meetings with prayer, ob- 
 served the Cliristian Sabbath, and excepted that day from the time allowed to 
 the Governor for returning bills to the Legislature. 
 
 The recognition of different denominations of Christians docs not detract from 
 the force of the recognition of Christianity as the religion of the people ; but was 
 intended to prevent the unnatural connection between Church and State. It 
 was believed that Christianity would bo purer and more prosperous by leaving 
 
2 
 
 the individual coascicnce Irt-c niid untrammelled; and "wisdom is justified of 
 her children " in the experiment; which could hardly be said if blaspliemy, 
 sabbath-breaking, and kindred vices were protected by the Constitution. They 
 prohibited a church establishment, and left every man free to worship God ac- 
 cording to the dictates of his own conscience, or not to v/orship, as he pleases. 
 But they did not suppose they Jiad abolished the Sabbath as a day of rest for all, 
 and of Christian wortfhip for those who were disposed to engage in it, or deprived 
 themselves of the power to i>rotect religious worshippers from unseemly inter- 
 ruptions. Compulsory worship is prohibited and religious opinion is beyond 
 the reach of law ; but this liberty of conscience is entirely consistent with the 
 existence in fact of the Christian religion, entitled to and enjoying the protection 
 of the law. The public peace and safety are greatly dependent upon the pro- 
 tection of the religion of the country, and the preventing and i)imishing of 
 offences against it, and acts subversive of it. The claim of the defense, carried 
 to its necessary sequence, is, that the Bible and religion with all its ordinances, 
 including llic Sabbath, are as effectually abolished as they were in the Revolu- 
 tion of France, and so effectually abolished that duties may not be enforced as 
 duties to the State, because thej'^ have been heretofore associated with acts of 
 religious worshij) or connected with religious duties. 
 
 The opinion proceeds to cite the decisions in our own and other State Courts 
 in support of the views expressed, and shows that in the constitutional conven- 
 tion of 1S21, the question was intelligently discussed and settled by our most 
 eminent jurists, so as to make the interpretation of Chancellor Kent, in the case 
 of The People vn. Ruggles — that the Christian religion was the law of the land, 
 in the sense that it was preferred over all other religions, and entitled to the re- 
 cognition and protection of the temporal courts as the common law of the State 
 — {jie fixed meaning of the Constitution. The Christian Sabbath, as one of the 
 institutions of that religion, may be protected from desecration by such laws as 
 the legislature may deem necessary to secure to the community the privilege of 
 undisturbed worship, and to the da}' itself that outward respect and observance 
 which may be deemed essential to the peace and good order of society ; and this 
 not as a duty to God, but as a dutj-^ to society and to the State. Upon this 
 ground the law in question could be sustained ; for the legislature are the sole 
 judges of the acts to be prohibited with a view to the public peace, and as olj- 
 stru^ting religious worship, or bringing into contempt the religious institutions 
 of the people. 
 
 CIVIL BASIS OF SUNDAY LAWS. . 
 
 As a civil and political institution, the esüiblishuient and regulation of a Sab- 
 bath is within the just i)Ower of the civil government. Older than our govern- 
 ment, the framers of the Constitution did not abolish, alter, or weaken its sanc- 
 tion, but recognized, as they might othervvisa have established it. It is a law 
 of our nature that one da}^ in seven should be observed as a time of relaxation, 
 and experience proves a day of weekly rest to be " of admirable service to a 
 State, considered merely as a civil institution." (-f- Bl. Com. (53.) Physical laws 
 accord with the decalogue. All interests reijuire national uniformity in the day 
 observed, and that its observance should be so far compulsory as to. protect those 
 who desire and are entitled to the day. 
 
 As a civil institution, the sanction of the day is at the option of the legislature ; 
 but it is fit that the Christian Sabbath should be observed by a Christian people, 
 and it does not detract from the moral or legal sanction of a Statute that it 
 
conforms tp the law of God, as recognizöd by the great majority of the people. 
 Existing here by common law, all that the legislatui-e attempts to do is to regu- 
 late its observance. The common law recognizes the day ; contracts, land re- 
 demption, etc., maturing on Sunday, must be performed on Saturday or 
 Monday. -Judicial acts on the Sabbath are mostly illegal. "Work done on 
 Sunday cannot be recovered for, etc. 
 
 The Christian Sabbath is, then, one of the civil institutions of the State, to 
 which the business and duties of life are by the common law made to conform 
 and adapt themselves. Nor is it a violation of the rights of conscience of any 
 that the Sabbath of the people, immemorially enjoyed, sanctioned by common 
 law, and recognized in the Constitution, should be respected and protected by 
 the law-making power. 
 
 The existence of the Sabbath as a civil institution being conceded, as it must 
 be, the right of the legislature to control and regulate it and its observance is a 
 neccssaiy seqvtcnce. Precedents are found in the statutes of every government 
 really or nominally Christian, from the peiiod of Athelstan to the present day. 
 Even the " Book of Spoi'ts " of James I., to which our attention has been called, 
 prohibited as unlawful certain games and sports on Sunday — " iiiterludes " 
 included : so that Lindenmuller's theatre would have been proscribed even by 
 tlie Royal " Book of Sports." 
 
 Nearly all the States of the Union have passed laws against sabbath-breaking 
 and prohibiting secular pursuits on that day ; and in none have they been held 
 repugnant to the Constitution, with the exception of California ; while in most 
 States the legislature has been upheld by the Courts and sustained by well- 
 reasoned opinions. 
 
 As tlie Sabbath is older than the government, and has been legislated upon 
 by colonial and early State authorities, if there were any doubt about the mean- 
 ing of the Constitution securing freedom in religion, the cotemporaneous and 
 continued acts of the legislature under it would be very good evidence of the 
 intent of its framers, and of the people Avho adopted it as their fundamental law. 
 From 17S8, downward, various statutes have been in force to prevent Sabbath 
 desecration, and prohibiting acts upon that day which would have been lawful 
 on other days. Early in the history of the State government, the objections 
 made to the act of 18G0 were taken before the .Council of Revision to an act 
 which undertook to regulate Sabbath observance. The Council overruled the 
 objections, and held them not well taken. The act now complained of compels 
 ho religious observance, and offences against it are punishable not as sins 
 against God, but as injurious to society. It rests upon the same foundation as 
 a multitude of other statutes — such as those against gambling, lotteries, horse- 
 racing, etc. — laws which do restrain the citizen and deprive him of some of his 
 rights ; but the legislature have the right to prohibit acts injurious to the ])ub- 
 lic, subversive of the government, and which tend to the destruction of the 
 morals of the people, and to disturb the peace and good order of society. It is 
 exclusively for the legislature to determine what acts should be prohibited as 
 dangerous to the community. Give every one what are claimed as natural 
 rights, and the list of mala prohihita of every civilized State would disappear, 
 and civil offences would be confined to those acts which are mala in sc ; and a 
 man may go naked through the etreets, establish houses of prostitution, and 
 keep a faro table on every street corner. This would be repugnant to every 
 idea of a civilized government. It is the right of the citizen to be protected 
 from offences against decency and against acts which tend to corrupt the morals 
 
and debase tfic moral sense of the community. It is the rij^ht of the citizen 
 that the Sabbath, as a civil institution, should be kept in a way not inconsistent 
 with its purpose and the necessity out ol' which it grew as a day of rest, rather 
 than as a day of riot and disorder, which would be to overthrow it and render 
 it a curse rather than a blessing. 
 
 But it is urged that it is the right of the citizen to i-egard the Sabbath as a 
 day of innocent recreation and amusement. Who, then, is to judge and decide 
 what amusements and pastimes are innocent, as having no direct or indirect 
 baneful iniluence upon community ; as not in any way disturbing the peace 
 and quiet of the public ; as not interfering with the equally sacred rights of 
 conscience of others ? May not the legislature, like James I. cited to us as a 
 precedent, declare what recreations are lawful and what arc not lawi'ul, as tend- 
 ing to a breach of the peace, or a corruption of the morals of the people ? That 
 is not innocent which may operate injuriously upon the morals of old or young, 
 which tends to interrupt the quiet worship of the Sabbath, and which griev- 
 ously oftends the moral sense of the community, and thus tends to a breach of 
 the peace. Tt may well be that the legislature thought that a Sunday 
 theatre, Mith its drinking saloons and its usual inducements to licentiousness 
 and other kindred vices, was not consistent with the peace, good order, and 
 safety of the city. They might well be of the ojjinion that such a place would 
 be "a nursery of vice, a school of preparation to qualify young men for the 
 gallows and young women for the brothel." IJut whatever the reason may have 
 been, it was a matter within the legislative discretion and power, and thcii- will 
 must stand as the reason of the law. 
 
 We could not, if we would, declare that innocent which they have adjudged 
 baneful, and have so prohibited. The act in substance declares a Sunday the- 
 atre to be a nuisance, and deals with it as such. The Constitution provides for 
 this case, by declaring that the liberty of conscience secured by it " shall not 
 be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices incon- 
 sistent with the peace and safety of the State." The legislature place Simday the- 
 atres in this category, and they ai'c the sole judges. The act is clearly consti- 
 tutional as dealing with and having respect to the Sabbath as a civil and i)oliti- 
 cal institution, and not affecting to interfere with religious belief or worship, 
 faith or practice. 
 
 It was conceded upon the argument that the legislature could entirely pro- 
 hibit theatrical exhibitions. This, I think, yields the whole argument ; lor, as 
 the whole includes all its parts, the power of total suppression includes the 
 power of regulation and partial suppression. 
 
 [Wc omit the discussion of minor cjuestions, for want of space.] 
 
 The conviction was right, and the judgment must be afifrmed. 
 
[DOC. No. XIX. 
 
 Plea for the Sabbath in War. 
 
 CHKiSTiAisr Patriots are solicitous that the existing war may be so 
 conducted as to secure the right of our citizen soldiers to their wont- 
 ed day of rest and worship, and so as to avoid all needless invasion 
 of public morals. A jealous care for the permanent moral founda- 
 tions of our free institutions should assuredly characterize the strug- 
 gle for their perpetuation. 
 
 The movements of our armies are familiarly known. For some 
 unexplained reason, they have too commonly trenched on the Chris- 
 tian Sabbath. The engagement at Great Bethel began on Sunday 
 night, June 9. The great battle at Bull Run was fought on Sunday, 
 July 21. The manoeuvres of the army of the Upper Potomac were 
 mostly on Sunday. Forts and Camps have been made the places of 
 holiday Sunday resort over the land ; and that seems to have been 
 the favorite day of departure from the army depots for the theatre 
 of war. Take the following itinerary from the army corresjiondence 
 of the Times: 
 
 " I presume this regiment will come home next Sunday. I judge 
 so from the fact that most of its movements have been on Sunday. 
 It left New York on Sunday — went into Virginia on Sunday — came 
 back on Sunday — moved to Hagerstown on Stcnday — moved to 
 Bunker Hill on Sunday — moved to Charlestown on Sunday — moved 
 out of Harper's Ferry on Sunday — and I presume next Sunday will 
 be borrowed to end the campaign on Sunday. Not in one single 
 instance has there seemed to be any public danger or necessity to call for 
 such a habitual and continuous disregard of the Sabbath day.''"' 
 
 The correspondent of the New York Tribune thus comments on 
 the same facts : " TTie Sabbath has been signalized throughout the cam- 
 paign as the day for making nearly all important movements of the 
 army ;" and he contrasts the Sunday opening and closing of the 
 campaign : " Then they (the soldiers) were impetuous and enthuas- 
 tic : now they are returning home after a fruitless campaign," etc. 
 
 We need not multiply the evidences of a painful disregard of the 
 Lord's Day in the marshalling and manoeuvring of our armies. It 
 does not become us to comment on the military results of these 
 movements. "We would gladly believe that military necessities more 
 
2 PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAR. 
 
 obvious than those that meet the public eye have constrained some 
 of " the important movements of the army," — in so far quaUfying 
 the testimony quoted above ; and Ave would have it borne in mind 
 that the statements before us mostly relate to but a single wing of 
 our extended forces. But, at the best, it is a sad, ineffacable record. 
 Military reverses maybe retrieved and turned into victories; Chris- 
 tian patriotism, however, can only deprecate and weep over the 
 inconsistency and the wrong of irreverent dealing with an institu- 
 tion hallowed by the most sacred associations, at the very outset of 
 a conflict in which the best sympathies and energies of the Chris- 
 tian community are enlisted. We do but echo the voice of Ameri- 
 can Christianity when we urge, that there may be a rcs-pectfvl oh- 
 servance of the Lorcfs Day in the fntvre conduct of the armies of 
 this Christian Mepublic. 
 
 The mischievous maxim — ler/es silent inter or ma: laws are silent 
 in war — is worthy of its heathenish Latin oiigin : it deserves no 
 place in the ethics of a Christian Republic ; certainly none in a war 
 " to restore the supremacy of the laAvs." War is enough of a 
 scourge, even when the wonted restraints of human and divine laws 
 continue to curb evil passions ; but under free, self-governing insti- 
 tutions, with no guarantee but law for individual or public security, 
 tlje assertion of the principle that war absolves from legal and moral 
 obligations is equivalent to the claim that war, anarchy, barbarism, 
 are synonymous terms. We know of no adequate authority for 
 singling out the Christian Sabbath from the moral code, or from the 
 civil statutes, as preeminently the victim of war. Is it because 
 European armies have made it their battle-day ? True, many of 
 the great battles of the Continent have been fought on Sunday, by 
 the standing armies of kings and emperors — often, as at Waterloo, 
 ending in the defeat of the assailing army. But it is also true, that 
 Sunday is the favorite day for military reviews, civic parades, and 
 holiday sports, in peace as in war ; and it is further notoriously true, 
 that the nations thus habitually trifling with sacred time furnish no 
 such example of moral or political advancement as to commend 
 their no-Sunday views or acts to our emulation, either in peace or 
 war. Until we are prepared to accept their despotic forms of gov- 
 ernment, and their vast standing armies, and their depraved condi- 
 tion of public morals — the necessary correlatives of their no-Sunday 
 regime — we see not that it is safe or wise to plead their Sunday 
 fighting as the precedent or justification of our needless Sunday war 
 movements and battles. It is certain that our own military annals 
 do not encourage aggressive warfare on the Lord's Day : for it Avas 
 on that day that Montgomery was defeated and slain at Quebec ; 
 that the battle of Monmouth was waged at least fruitlessly ; that 
 
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAR. 3 
 
 /. 
 
 the engagement on Lake Cliamplain resulted in victory to the 
 assailed American fleet ; and that the British forces were routed in 
 their attack on New Orleans, Great Bethel and Bull Run are of 
 to-day. 
 
 But we claim no warrant from these or other data for inter- 
 preting specific providences as divine judgments on specific ofiences. 
 Certain great principles of the divine economy are clearly revealed 
 in the Word, and illustrated by the Providence of God. The whole 
 scope of history is concurrent with the recorded design of Jehovah 
 that His Name and His Day and His Son should be known and 
 revered among men and nations. He reigns. He honors those 
 who honor Him. His frowns rest on those who despise His will. 
 "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any 
 people." Nations, communities, corporations experience an earthly 
 retribution alone — mdividuals meeting their several deserts at the 
 great day for unrepented complicity with associated wrong-doing. 
 We would not presume to judge of the sweep of such principles in 
 their application to specific wrongs, however promptly an apparent 
 disaster may follow apparent impiety and folly. " God is his own in- 
 terpreter." We dare not seek to penetrate His counsels, or inscribe 
 His thunderbolts. We do not feel authorised to associate Sunday bat- 
 tles with Sunday defeats, and "all important movements of the army 
 on Sunday" with a humiliating "fruitless campaign," as unquestion- 
 able judgments of Heaven: nor is there any ivarrant for denying that 
 they are. But we have an undoubted warrant for the claim that the 
 Lord's Day is in the keeping of a wise and holy Providence ; and 
 that men, armies, and nations trample on that day at their 
 peril. 
 
 We may further premise that we cherish no views of the sanctity 
 of the Sabbath that would restrain an ai-my from all necessary 
 arrangements for health or comfort, or for its own and the public 
 safety. It may defend itself when assailed, and march troops to 
 reinforce an imperilled position. All necessary and beneficent acts, 
 dictated by a prudent regard for the national security and the well- 
 being of the army, may have the sanction of a commanding oificer, 
 without contravening the law of the Sabbath. Nor will the thou- 
 sand details that enter into the administration of military affairs be 
 diflacult of adjustment, when subordinated to a wise and inflexible 
 purpose to " Remember the Sabbath-day." 
 
 These things being premised, we base our plea for the due observ- 
 ance of the Sabbath in the further conduct of our armies, on the 
 broad ground of the physical and moral needs of the army ; a just 
 respect for the rights and feelings of the Christian community, and, 
 
4 PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAR. 
 
 more than all, a becoming regard for the Divine Law and for the 
 favor and blessing of God. 
 
 Our soldiers need a Sabbath. The drill and discij^line of the camp, 
 the buUding of entrenchments, the marchings and coimtermarchings, 
 the picket, scout, and guai-d duties of an army in the field, are no 
 holiday pastimes. There is hard work and a plenty of it; and 
 where there is work there must be rest — periodical rest. It remains 
 to be proved that there is any other or better apportionment of time 
 for alternate labor and rest in an army than that defined by in- 
 finite wisdom "for man." And it has been proved, in military and 
 civil life, that men will do more and better work in six days of labor 
 and one of rest, than in the entire seven days of unintermitted toil. 
 So that the actual efficiency of troops is not only consistent with the 
 concession of their right to a weekly rest-day, biit would be enhanced 
 by it. Why, then, should not the whole army, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, have a whole day of rest every week ? 
 
 But an American army is composed of something besides "muscle." 
 Our bayonets think. There are moral natures to be moulded or re- 
 strained by influences siiited to them, or perverted and ruined by 
 the atmosphere of the camp. It was the recorded experience of 
 Washington : " The better the man the better the soldier." The 
 " Army Regulations " recognize this principle, and embrace many 
 wise provisions for the moral benefit of the army, including those 
 respecting chaplains, divine worship, reverent speech, sobriety, etc. 
 But it has been well said by an incumbent of the U. S. Supreme Court, 
 that "where there is no Christian Sabbath there is no Christian mo- 
 rality." And until the officers of the army seek by example and 
 regulation to bring their soldiers under the instructions and restraints 
 approjiriate to the sacred day, they have little right to expect a strict 
 regard for discipline, and cannot hope for that principled courage 
 which is ever invincible. Then, too, the peculiar structure of our 
 armies presents a plea for Sabbath privileges. They are largely 
 composed of the sons of moral and religious households. In a 
 greater degree than ever before, the soldiers themselves are Christian 
 men. Is it not due alike to them and their friends, that among the 
 many temptations and trials of the camp, this heaven-appointed safe- 
 guard of their home habits and of their faith shall not be taken from 
 them ? Nay, is it not due to the tens of thousands of communities 
 from which they have been garnered into the camp, that they shall 
 not be sent back at last a Sabbath-breaking, demoralized band, to 
 scatter broadcast the seeds of vice and iniquity over the land ? 
 What we need, and what the material of our forces largely provides 
 for, is a brave, orderly, well-disciplined, law-abiding, God-fearing 
 army — an army that neither breaks its lines nor breaks its Sabbaths. 
 
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAR. 
 
 It was such an army that the inspiring " general order " of Wash- 
 ington contemplated when he wrote, July 9, 1776 : 
 
 " The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will en- 
 deavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the 
 dearest rights and Uberties of his country." 
 
 But the honor of our country and the rights of Christian citizens 
 are concerned in this question. This is a Christian nation in its his- 
 tory, civilization, laws, and customs. Christianity, with its Sabbath, 
 is recognized and protected as the prevailing religion, and as a part 
 of the common law of the land. Sunday observance is so inwrought 
 into the very texture of our pohtical, social, and religious life as to 
 form the distinctive national feature, in the view of foreign immi- 
 grants and tourists. 
 
 Should not this great fact have its influence on our army of 
 American volunteers ? Why should the military arm of govern 
 ment set at naught legislative and judicial guards of public morals ; 
 disregard the common law ; and ignore the cherished rights of 
 Christian citizens ? The army is not an independent, irresponsible 
 body. It may not forget the character, antecedents, and institu- 
 tions of the country it defends. It embodies the power and upholds 
 the honor and rights of a Chi'istian people. But it is no more com- 
 petent to pollute and destroy its Sabbaths than to burn its churches, 
 or confiscate the property, or incarcerate the persons of good and 
 loyal citizens. 
 
 The impolicy of this careless dealing with sacred time would seem 
 to be obvious. Does it not directly tend to impair the confidence 
 and support of a vast body of citizens, whose means and favor the 
 army and the government have prodigally shared, and whose confi. 
 dence and aid they can ill afibrd to lose ? Does it not tend to 
 strengthen rebellion, by its apparent justification of the plea of 
 demagogues, that the " invasion " of the South is by " infidel 
 hordes," bringing with it " the withering influence of the infidelity 
 of New England and Germany combined ? " Is it good generalship 
 to weaken our friends and strengthen our enemies by a policy that 
 has no sanction of law, conscience, or common sense? 
 
 But it is as wrong as it is impolitic. It is wholly inconsistent 
 not only with our history, genius and habits as a people, but with 
 the avowed objects of the war. Our armies enter the field to put 
 down a gigantic rebellion, the ofi*spring of ambition and the precur- 
 sor of anarchy. They are ranged under a banner inscribed " The 
 Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the Laws." Never 
 had an army a higher, nobler mission. How shall it be executed ? 
 Is it right or expedient to begin and prosecute the work of restor- 
 ing " the supremacy of the Laws " by trifling with the Deca- 
 
6 PLEA FOR THE SABBATH . IN WAR. 
 
 logue '? To suppress rebellion by rebellion against the Most High ? 
 To quench the flames that threaten our poUtical edifice, by tearing 
 away the dykes that prevent the waves of vice and godlessness from 
 overwhelming society ? To put into conflict or competition loyalty 
 to the government and loyalty to the King of kings '? 
 
 It is wrong, moreover, in doing violence to the conscientious 
 Christian sentiment of the nation. Libertines may regard that 
 sentiment as " straight - laced," " Puritanical," " superstitious," or 
 what they will. But the government and all who tight under its 
 banner must know that it exists, and that it has existed for genera- 
 tions, in no indiscriminate or unintelligent form, and in such strength 
 as to have shaped our legislation and to have formed our national 
 character and habits. It is more potent and enlightened now than 
 ever before. It is j^atient under wrongs and charitable in its judg- 
 ments. But it comprehends the sweeping moral j^estilence of a vast 
 Sabbath-breaking army, in open defiance of its cherished principles 
 and its holiest convictions. True bravery Avill hesitate to array 
 itself against true religion. 
 
 It is further wrong, becaixse such repeated, public violations of 
 the Sabbath expose the country to the visitations of the divine dis- 
 pleasure. It has been conceded that specific disasters following 
 specific wrongs may not be necessarily interpreted as divine judg- 
 ments. But that public and national sins bring national calamities 
 is the teaching of revelation and of history. And we must blot out 
 the record of the divine dealing with ancient Israel, and with it the 
 history of all Christian nations ; and we must shut our eyes to the 
 existing condition of Christendom, before we can deny that the 
 Sabbath is a " Sign " between its Author and the nations, or 
 that He blesses the nations that keep and frowns on those that tram- 
 ple on the Lord's Day. How or when His judgments may fall is 
 among the " secret things " that belong unto God : that they will 
 fall is as certain as that God reigns. The artillery of Providence is 
 none the less terrible that its bolts come from invisible batteries. 
 To brave omnipotence is madness. 
 
 Our final plea for restraining further violations of the Sabbath is 
 based on the dependence of the nation ond its armies on the divine 
 favor and blessing. That dependence is absolute. No wisdom of 
 rulers, no strength of armies, no energy or devotion of the people, 
 will avail in the conflict before us, if our God, our father's God, be not 
 with us. It is not true that " Providence always favors the heaviest 
 battalions ;" else we were still subjects of the British crown. It is 
 true that " except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but 
 in vain." For, " We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers 
 have told us what woi-k Thou didst in their days, in the times of 
 
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAR. 7 
 
 old. . . . For they got not the land in possession by their own 
 sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand and 
 thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadsi a favor 
 unto theniP We cannot recover and save the land without " the 
 right hand" of the same Almighty Ally in whom our fathers 
 trusted. 
 
 But on what ground may we base our hope of the divine favor, 
 if we contemn the divine authority ? "We cax have little hope 
 
 OF THE BLESSIN'G OF HeAVEN ON OUR ARMS, IF WE INSULT IT BY 
 
 ouB iiMPiETY AND FOLLY," are the very words of Washington, in 
 a general order to the Revolutionary Army relative to the Sabbath 
 and to profane SA\'earing. They are words of wise admonition to 
 the officers and men of the Army of Restoration. Heaven is insulted 
 by no " impiety and folly " more daring than the needless, wanton 
 desecration of the Lord's Day; and "the blessing of Heaven on 
 our arms " can be alienated in no surer or speedier way than this. 
 Xow, as in olden time, promises and threatenings alike guard the 
 sacred day. " If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath 
 day, . . . then I will kindle a fire in the gates, and it shall not be 
 quenched." " If thou turn away thy foot from doing thy pleasure 
 on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, ... I will cause 
 thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the 
 heritage of thy father ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 Our plea is ended. We submit it, with profound respect, to the 
 Chief Magistrate of the United States, whose affecting appeal to the 
 Christian heart of the nation for prayer and sympathy in the great 
 crisis of his own and the nation's life still I'ings in the ears of mil- 
 lions. Is it too much to ask, in return, that the armies of Avhich he 
 is the commander-in-chief, may not be suffered needlessly to trample 
 on the very heart-strings that yet vibrate to his voice ? 
 
 We submit it to the venerable Lieutenant-General, whose brilliant 
 military career has been unstained by inhumanity or irreverence, 
 and whose regard for the Sabbath and for sacred things would add 
 the weight of example to such a general order as the emergency de- 
 mands — such an one as Washington issued* — restraining the profan- 
 ation of the Lord's Day and name, during the existing war. 
 
 * '■^Tliat the troops may have an opportvmAty of attending public rcorship, as icell as to take 
 some rest after the great fatigue they have gone through, the General, in future, excuses them 
 from fatigue duty on Sundays, except at the ship-yards, or on special occasions, until further 
 orders. The general is sorry to be informed, that the foolish and wicked practice of profane curs- 
 ing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in an American army, is growing into fashion. He 
 hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they 
 and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we 
 insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temp- 
 tation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it." — [Sparks'' Writings of 
 Washington, Vol. iv., p. 28. 
 
8 
 
 PLEA FOR THE SABBATH IN WAE. 
 
 We submit it to the young and gallant General, whose career be- 
 gins just when Sabbath desecration and consequent license has cul- 
 minated in disaster ; and whose character and history warrant the 
 hope, that there will be no more Sunday battles, unless inaugurated 
 by armed rebels, and no more needless war on the Sabbath. 
 
 We submit it to the several Commanders of Divisions, Brigades, 
 and Regiments, by Avhose orders the movements of troops are di- 
 rected, and on whom the responsibility of any organized invasion of 
 holy time must rest ; respectfully entreating them, and each of them, 
 to consider well whether the first element of efiicient command is not 
 a capacity and disposition to obey? 
 
 We submit it to the Armies of the Republic, as an humble plea 
 for their right to a weekly season of rest and worship ; and we ap- 
 peal to each soldier so to discharge the duties bound up with the 
 right that both may be a blessing and an honor. 
 
 We submit it to the Christian Patriots of the coimtry, as embody- 
 ing what we believe to be just and tenable views on a grave practi- 
 cal question of our times. While we wonld not be outdone in pa- 
 triotic devotion to our beneficent government and our glorious civil 
 institutions, we cannot sacrifice our Sabbath and our Gospel. With 
 these no nation can be long enslaved : without these no nation was 
 ever free. The grave that entombs our Sabbaths will cover our lib- 
 eral Institutions. Shall we not seek to avert the doom of godless 
 nations, and give earnest and timely heed to the voice of Infinite 
 Wisdom ? " I am the Lord your God ; walk in my statutes, and 
 keep my judgments, and do them ; and hallow my Sabbaths; and they 
 shall be a sign between me and yov, that ye may knoio that I am the Lord 
 your Gody 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 1 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., 
 
 NATHAN BISHOP, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 
 WARREN CARTER, 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, 
 
 E. L. FANCHER, 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER. 
 
 DAVID UOADLEY, 0. E. WOOD, J 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Recording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (President of Manhattan Bank,) Tremureir. 
 Office of the Sabbath ComniiUee, No. 21 Bible-House, Neiv Tori. 
 
 HORACE HOLDEN, 
 JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 WM. A. SMITH, 
 OTIS D. SWAN, 
 WILLIAM TRUSLOW, 
 W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 WILLIAM WALKER, 
 F. S. WINSTON, 
 0. E. WOOD, 
 
[DOC. No. XX. 
 
 THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 €xmxhx y^ttet at the Sabktlr Conimitke ta tlvc Clergy. 
 
 Np:w York, Nov. 20, 1861. 
 Rev. aio) Dear Sir : 
 
 If we interpret aright the providences of God and the currents of 
 public sentiment, we have reached a stage of the Sahhatli Reform 
 eminently favorable to the advocacy and general recognition of the 
 civil and religious claims of the sacred day. The cheering results 
 of recent efforts, under the divine blessing, in the recovery of our Sab- 
 bath from the hordes of newsboys, dram-sellers, and theatre-keepers ; 
 in the enactment, enforcement, and final establishment of adequate 
 Sunday laws ; and in the inauguration of a Sabbath-keeping regirtu 
 in our armies, under the auspices of the popular General-in-Chief, 
 would seem to furnish a vantage ground foi* the friends of the 
 Sabbath which they can ill afford to lose. It may be doubted, 
 indeed, whether the Sunday question ever stood before the coiuitry 
 in less prejudiced aspects, or in a light more favorable for its candid 
 consideration. It is certain that no previous period in our history 
 has made more imperative demands for the conservation of this and 
 kindred institutions which underlie and are vital to our system of 
 self-government. 
 
 It would iU become a committee of laymen to attempt to magnify 
 the relations of the Christian Sabbath, in a letter addressed to the 
 ministers of the gospel. We may assume that an interest divinely 
 associated with the very being and prosperity of the Church and the 
 Pulpit — the one, indeed, most prominently and persistently assailed 
 by the enemies of the gospel — holds a foremost place in the love 
 and labors of. the ambassadors of Christ. The most, then, that con- 
 sists with propriety, would seem to be the suggestion of such prac- 
 tical views as have grown out of protracted dealhig with this ques- 
 tion, in a most difficult field : presented solely as encouragements 
 and incentives to effort for the general sanctification of the Lord's 
 Day. 
 
 No cause suffers more, on the one hand by neglect, and on the 
 other by indiscretion, than that of the Sabbath. A community may 
 lapse into the grossest habits of Sabbath profanation through the 
 
S THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 timidity or indifference of the friends of the Lord's Day ; and ill- 
 digested, spasmodic efforts at reform only tend to increase the evil. 
 But, with the traditions, customs, and laws of the land as defences 
 of the rights of Christian citizens in this regard, and with a pro- 
 found reverence for its sacred character pervading the Chi'istian 
 community, no practical reform is more feasible, in our view, than 
 that for securing a jiroper observance of the Lord's Day, if Avisely 
 and patiently prosecuted. Every enlightened conscience takes the 
 side of the Sabbath. All men, miless wedded to vice and folly, con- 
 cede its social, sanitary, and humane benefits, and may be won 
 to the acceptance of the restraints necessary to its popular enjoy- 
 ment. It is only Avhen its civil and leligious chiims are confounded, 
 ■ and men are made to believe that the religions observance of the 
 Sabbath is to be constrained by law, that they oppose the requisite 
 legal protection of the rights of communities and of all Christian 
 citizens to their quiet Sabbaths. Let it be distinctly understood 
 that Sunday laws are enacted and enforced f^ulely in tlie interest of 
 good order and public morals, and for the protection of inalienable 
 rights^ while the religious observance of the day is left to the volun- 
 tary prompting of the conscience enlightened by the \\'nvd and 
 Spirit of God, and prejudice and error are disarmed. 
 
 A condensed statement of the ilicts and methods of the Sabbath 
 Keform in this city may furnish valuable hints for other localities. 
 It is not easy to exaggerate the deplorable and apparently hopeless 
 condition of things liere four years ago. The change already effected 
 seems scarcely credi1)le to ourselves. Then, Sunday laws were as 
 obsolete and inoperative in New York as in Vieima: nobody at- 
 tempted or expected their enforcement. Now, they are as effi- 
 ciently executed as other statutes, with the cordial approval of 
 our citizens generally. Then, hundreds of newsboys overran the 
 city every Sabbath, disturbing the peace of the whole population ; 
 now, the nuisance is abated, and most of our streets are as quiet as 
 those of a country village. Then, more than 5,000 dram-shops plied 
 their deadly traffic openly and without hinderance ; now, their doors 
 and shutters are generally closed, and if liquors are sold, it is by 
 stealth, and at the hazard of mstant arrest for the misdemeanor. 
 Then, a score of theatres made Simday their chief day of profit and 
 pleasure, with no adequate law to restrain them ; now, a stringent 
 law is on our statute book, its constitutionality affirmed, and its 
 penalties inflicted, in sjjite of the most i:)owerful combinations. 
 Then, the arrests for Sunday crime exceeded the average by 25 per 
 cent. ; noAV, the week-day arrests are 50 per cent, more tlian on Sun- 
 days. Then, the secular press ignored the Sunday question as foreign 
 to its objects ; since and now, the entire press of the city, uninterested 
 
THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 3 
 
 in Sunday issues — with perhaps a single exception — has been and is 
 earnestly enlisted in support of this reform. Then, the entire Ger- 
 man population was claimed to be wedded to Sunday pastimes and 
 opposed to American Sabbath restraints ; now, a large and influen- 
 tial body of Germans are avowedly friendly to the due observance 
 of the Lord's Day, and actively hostile to the demoralizmg views 
 and customs of the beer-garden classes. In a Avord, the more oflen- 
 sive forms of Sabbath desecration have been suppressed, in the face 
 of the most virulent opposition of interested parties, by the coopera- 
 tion of the. orderly classes with the public authorities. And a per- 
 manent foundation has been laid for all needed future action-^legis* 
 lative, judicial, or executive — for the protection of our civil Sabbath. 
 In eftecting these results, under the fiivor of God, certain well- 
 defined principles of action have been ^nirsued. (1.) Every measure 
 has been entered upon with extreme deliberation, and after the most 
 careful survey of the ground. (2.) Each issue has been chosen and 
 adhered to by the fj-iends of the Sabbath — the many attempts 
 at diversion or distraction on the part of its enemies having been 
 steadily ignored ; and each has been substantially finished before 
 another has been entered on. Many evils have been long en- 
 dured, and are still tolerated, till they might be assailed with 
 the reasonable hope of their suppression. Sometimes the con- 
 quest of a single fortress carries a whole line of defences, or one 
 battle decides a campaign. (3.) Our aim has been to make such 
 issues, and so to present them, as to constrain the support of 
 all right-minded citizens, whether professedly Christian or not, 
 and to leave the enemies of Sunday order with no other alHes 
 than palpable self-interest and vicious indulgence. It was believed, 
 and it has proven, that this policy might lead himdreds of thousands 
 to the support of the claims and restraints of the civil Sabbath, and 
 thus predispose them to a candid considei'ation of its religious obli- 
 gations ; when the obtrusion of its religious aspects, while 
 dealing with practical civil reforms, would only tend to alienate 
 and disgust. (4.) In view of the obvious fact that, under our form 
 of government, laws are oj^erative and reforms substantial only in 
 the measure m which they are sustained by public sentiment, it has 
 been a prime object to enlighten, quicken, and conciliate that senti- 
 ment. The series of Sabbath documents, now numbering twenty, 
 has been prepared and circulated gratuitously among thousands of 
 our citizens, with this end in view. They have furnished the basis 
 and the material for newspaper discussions. They have enabled our 
 authorities to imderstand the scope and motives of the reform. They 
 have scattered its seeds in other communities, in this and other lands. 
 They have rendered the efforts of the unscrupulous Sunday press to 
 
4 THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 misrepresent our objects or to change our issues quite abortive, 
 while they have furnished the only vindication necessary against 
 the libels of that press. Their candid and moderate tone, and 
 their freedom from personalities, have tended to disarm oppo- 
 sition and to conciliate the friendly feeling of all good citizens. 
 (5.) It has been our steady aim to encourage and support the public 
 authorities, constantly consulting with them, and seeking to aid them 
 by the assured cooperation of our influential citizens. They have 
 thus been stimulated to praiseworthy zeal, and have found their re- 
 ward of well-doing in augmented vigor and self-respect, in rapidly 
 diminished crime, and in the increasing regai'd of all classes of the 
 community. This cordial and active cooperation of leading citizens 
 with public authorities, solely for the public good, if it be unu- 
 sual — as it should not be — is far from being unwelcome. (6.) Need- 
 less publicity of the agency of the Committee in measures of reform 
 has been avoided. Unnecessary agitation, by public meetings, etc., 
 has been shunned. Quiet, imobtrusive, efficient action has been 
 aimed at. To do substantial good, by prudent Christian methods, 
 has l>een our sole ambition. (7.) The exjjenses of this movement, 
 which have not been inconsiderable, have been wholly defrayed by 
 a few private donations, it having been deemed inexpedient to com- 
 plicate and perhaps prejudice important public issues with pecuniary 
 appeals. 
 
 To this frank statement it should be added, that without the ex- 
 istence of that deep love for the Lord's Day for its religious uses 
 and benefits which pervades the ministry and the Churches, and 
 which formed all along the reserved strength of this reform, the at- 
 tempt to restore our civil Sabbath would have been hopeless. It is 
 so everywhere : civil rights glide away where they have not the 
 anchorage of religious principle. 
 
 It is, then, in behalf of the continued civil and social blessings of 
 the Christian Sabbath, as well as in the interest of its higher spiritual 
 benefits, that we venture to appeal to you and to the clergy through- 
 out the land^ to lend the full measure of your influence, in the 
 Pulpit, and in all suitable ways out of it, to the defense and sancti- 
 fication of the Lord's Day. Our experience encourages the belief 
 that a wise and manly resistance of Sabbath ]»)-ofanations in any 
 community will, with the })romised blessing from on High, result 
 in theii- suppression ; so that their continuance any where indicates 
 delinquency in duty of Christian men, as much as of civil authori- 
 ties. While in the great work of expounding the divine law of 
 the Sabbath and enforcing its claims on the intelligent, conscientious 
 convictions of the Church-gohig community, the ministry and the 
 religious Press have the chief responsibility. The Committee have 
 
THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 not deemed it Avise or necessary to discuss the topics coming within 
 the special province of the pulpit. They are entrusted to worthy 
 hands. "We only solicit that A'igorous and prudent cooperation of 
 the clergy which we are confident your sense of duty and love for 
 a sacred interest will prompt, and which will greatly strengthen the 
 hands of all who may apply themselves to practical reforms in Sab- 
 bath obserA ance. And we respectfully urge early attention to this 
 interest because of the apparently hopeful juncture for indoctrinat- 
 ing the public mind with just Scriptural views of the Sabbath, and 
 for effecting whatever reforms may be demanded in the connnunity 
 in which your public office is discharged. 
 
 May we be allowed to suggest that in cities and large communi- 
 ties concert of action among the clergy of various denominations 
 and their leading citizens is highly desirable ; and that in all commu- 
 nities practical action should be preceded by patient, pains-taking 
 investigation and preparation of the public mind. Instead of the 
 diffused, indefinite responsibility, which is the parent of inaction 
 and the warrant for license and disorder, there should be concen- 
 tration — method — perseverance — practical wisdom — applied to the 
 preservation and advancement of an interest vital to the being of 
 sound morals and true religion, and to the well-being of our pre- 
 cious civil and religious institutions. 
 
 Commending this whole subject to your prayerful consideration, 
 and proffering our documents, correspondence and cooperation, 
 
 We are, Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 Your humble fellow laborers in the Lord's 
 Vineyard for the Lord's Day, 
 
 NORMAN WHITE, Chairman. 
 
 HENRY J. BAKER, HORACE HOLDEN, 
 
 E. L. BEADLE, M. D., JNO. E. PARSONS, 
 
 NATHAN BISHOP, GUSTAV SCHWAB, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BOOTH, WM. A. SMITH, 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, OTIS D. SWAN, 
 
 WARREN CARTER, WILLIAM TRUSLOW, f 
 
 THOMAS C. DOREMUS, W. F. VAN WAGENEN, 
 E. L. FANCHER, WILLIAM WALKER, 
 
 FRED. G. FOSTER, F. S. "WINSTON, 
 
 DAVID HOADLEY, 0. E. WOOD, J 
 
 JAMES W. BEEKMAN, Eecording Secretary. 
 
 RUSSELL S. COOK, Correspondbig Secretary. 
 
 J. M. MORRISON, (♦'resident of Manhattan Bank,) Treamn 
 
 Office of the Sabbath Committee, Jl Biule House. New York, where nil letters 
 should be addressed. 
 
THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 Action of Clerical Bodies on the Sunday Question. 
 
 Resolutions of more than 100 Clergymen, New York, Jan. 25, 1858. 
 
 Resolved, That the day of holj' rest, to a land bearing a Christian name, and to 
 a republic based on equal rights, has the highest Civil Worth. Man needs it, 
 physically, as a season when Labor niaj' Avipe off its grime, and breathe more freely 
 after the week's exhaustion, and when Care shall slacken its hold upon the frame 
 and the heart. Man needs it, morally, to rise b\' its aid out of engrossing seculari- 
 ties and materialism to the remembrance of his spiritual interests, his final account, 
 and his eternal destiny. Toil needs it to rescue its share of rest, and its season of 
 devotion from the absorbing despotism of Capital ; and Capital needs it, to shield 
 its own accumulations from the recklessness and anarchj- of an imbruted and des- 
 perate proletariate, and to keep its own humanity and conscientiousness alive. 
 The State needs it, as a safeguard of the |)ublic order, quiet, and virtue ; human 
 laws becoming, however wise iu form, effete in practice, except as tliey are based 
 upon conscience and upon the sanctions of Eternity, as recognized voluntarily by 
 an intelligent people ; and God's day cultivating the one, and reminding us of the 
 other. And in a RejyubUc more especially, whose liberties, under Cod, inhere in 
 its virtues, the recognition — freelj' and devoutlj', hy an instructed nation — of God's 
 paramount rights, is the moral underpinning requisite to sustain the superstruc- 
 ture of man's rights; and without such support from religion — not as nationally 
 established, but as personally and freely accepted — all human freedom finally 
 moulders and topples into irretrievable ruin. 
 
 That, as to its RELiorous Value, this day of sacred rest has the strongest claims 
 upon all Chi'istians, however differing as to its true origin, and whether they trace 
 it back to Eden, to Sinai, or to the Saviour's tomb, as finding there its real com- 
 mencement. They need the observance of the day, as the season of their assemblies 
 and ordinances, and as furnishing one great bond of their fraternal communion. In 
 its relations to this world, the Church requires it to conserve and to extend its re- 
 ligious influence, and as the channel of a yet wider evangelization. In its relations 
 to the heavenly world, the Church needs it for its collective prayers, intercessions, 
 and thanksgivings; and that thus it may embody the image and enjoy the antepast 
 of the endless rest to which it aspires in right of Christ's victory, on this day con- 
 summated, over Sin, Death, and Hell. And the God, who is the Giver of all time, 
 never having surrendered to ordinarj* uses this His own reserved season, the infrac- 
 tion by man of God's claims here is ingratitude, attempting robbery and perpetrat- 
 ing sacrilege, as against a Bounteous and Sovereign Creator. 
 
 That, as Remedial Measures against the evils invading us — apart from all present 
 appeal to the civil statutes which guard the quiet enjoyment of the day b}' a Cliris- 
 tian people — Christians, generally-, are called, in the way of conference, cooperation, 
 and personal example, to pi'otest with patient and earnest consistency against the 
 varied and widely diffused encroachments which threaten the demolition of the 
 Christian Sabbath ; and to diffuse, in tracts and volumes, their best testimony for the 
 institution : And that pastors are especially summoned, by the times, to present from 
 the pulpit the rights of the Sabbath, and its bearings not only upon the cause of 
 truth and piety, but as well also upon the interests of order, thrift, health, morality, 
 and freedom : And that the faith which hails in the Giver and Guardian of this 
 day, the Legislator and Owner of the Universe, may well expect His ultimate and 
 unfailing benediction upon all prudent and kindlj' endeavors to assert the interests 
 of man and the claims of God in this great question. 
 
THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. / 
 
 The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church [0. S.] adopted the follow- 
 ing minute, Philadelphia, May 25, 1861 : 
 
 "The Assembly having listened with pleasure to the secretary of the 'Sabbath 
 Committee ' of New York city, congratulates that committee upon the success which, 
 under the prospering and guiding hand of God, has attended its efforts to restore to 
 that city the ' civil Sabbath,' and rescue that day from desecration and criminal per- 
 version, by the enforcement of proper Sabbath laws, enacted not to coerce the con- 
 science of any, but to protect all in the enjoyment of precious civil rights. As a 
 Christian people, the Sabbath belongs to us as of right, and as a part of our heritage, 
 and of our institutions, and is as real and substantial a right as any known to the 
 laws. ^ 
 
 " The observance of the Christian Sabbath as a day of religious rest ordained of 
 God, is enjoined upon all as a Christian duty ; and the observance of one day in 
 seven as a day of rest from labor and secular employments, Is a physical necessity 
 imposed by a law of our nature, which thus adds its sanction to the express com- 
 mand of God. As a civil institution the Sabbath is deeply interwoven with the 
 foundations of civil government, and its sanctions are indispensable to the stability 
 and prosperity of a nation. God honors that nation that honors his Sabbath. And 
 may it not be that one reason of the eontrt)versy which he now manifestly has with 
 ns, is that, although professedly a Chi'istian nation, we have not honored his day as 
 did our forefathers '! 
 
 " Every practice, therefore, which tends to disturb the peace, good order, and 
 quiet of that day — which tends to dishonor and bring reproach upon it, deprives 
 the laborer of it as a day of rest, or interferes with or hinders the due religious ob- 
 servance of it by Christian people— is not only a sin against God, but an offence 
 against government, and a crime against man, to be prevented or punished by the 
 civil authority. 
 
 " The duty of the government to protect the Sabbath, and secure it to all as a 
 civil right, has ever been acknowledged and acted upon by every Christian nation. 
 The Cliurch needs tlie Sabbath as a day of worship, and in the preservation and 
 extension of its religious influence, as well as a means of grace, and a channel of com- 
 municating blessings to tiie world. 
 
 " Encouraged, therefore, by what has been accomplished by this local Committee, 
 this Assembly i-ecommends to the churches under its care, and to its ministers and 
 ruling elders, increased watchfulness and zeal in securing the proper observance of 
 the Sabbath, and the enforcement of all laws for its protection and preservation." 
 
 The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Cuuucii [N. S.] adopted the follow 
 ing minute, Syracuse, May 27, 1861 : 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That the Assembly have heard, with deep interest, the statements 
 of the secretary of the New York Sabbath Committee, in regard to its plans and 
 operations; and that they rejoice in the favor of Divine Providence which has so 
 evidently attended its well-devised and energetic movements. 
 
 "■Reaohed, 2. Tliat we connnend anew the cause of the Sabbath to the churches 
 under our care, as at all times worthy of a most hearty and earnest support, and as 
 calling, in the present circumstances of the country, for special vigilance and fidelity. 
 We would particularly urge it upon them that fervent prayer be offered, and all 
 possible care be taken, that, even in troublous times, the precious day of the Lord 
 be honored. 
 
 "Resolved, 3. That it be recommende(l to our churches to cooperate with the New 
 
8 THE SABBATH AND THE PULPIT. 
 
 York Sabbath Committee in their praiseworthy designs, by any such expressions o1 
 sympathy or forms of effort as, in Iheir several localities, may seem to them appro 
 priate." 
 
 The Generaf, Synod of the KEFOKMF.n Dutch Chukch, Brooklyn, June 12, 1861. 
 
 "Resolved, That tlie General Synod lias heard with great pleasure and deep in 
 terest the statement of Rev. Mr. Cook on the suliject of the efforts which have been 
 made by the Sabbath Couimittce to rescue the holy Sabbath from desecration, and 
 place it in its right position as a day which the God of this nation requires should 
 be kept holy ; and that we rejoice in the blessed results of those efforts, and that 
 the Reformed Dutch Church stands pledged and covenanted wi;h God and man in 
 favor of this work." 
 
 Tw<( Thousand Germans in Cooren Institute, 
 
 "Resolved, That we, as Germans, do solemnly protest against the perversion of 
 Sunday from a day of rest and devotion into a day of noisy excitement and dis- 
 sipation, which is onlj- too frequent among some of our German countrymen, and 
 brings dishonor on the German name ; and that we request our fellow-citizens by 
 no means to charge the fault of nianj^ upon the wliole people and upon Germany, 
 where for many j'cars past noble efforts are successfully making towards the pro- 
 motion of the better observance of Sunday. 
 
 "Resolved, That we regard the strict observance of Sunday which was introduced 
 into this country with the very first settlements of Euiopcan immigrants, and has 
 ever since been the common custom of the land, bj' no means as a defect, but on 
 the contrary as a great advantage and blessing to America, and we will cheer- 
 fully assist in keeping it up and handing it down to future generations. 
 
 "Resolved, That in the Sabbatli Laws of this country, as they obtain in nearly 
 every State of our great republican confederacy, we see nothing that conflicts with 
 the cherished principles of civil and religious liberty ; on the contrary, we regard 
 them as one of the strongest guarantees of our free institutions; as a wholesome 
 check upon licentiousness and dissipation, and as a preventative of the pauperism 
 and crime which must necessarily undermine and ultimately destroj' the liberty of 
 any people." 
 
 DOCUMENTS OF THE SABBATH COMMITTEE. 
 
 No. 1. T/ie Sabbath as it was and as it is, 8 pp. ; 2. Railroads and the Sabbath, 
 16 pp. ; 3. Neivs-crying and the Sabbath, 16 pp.; 4. The Sabbath in Europe, 16 pp. ; 
 o. The Sunday Liquor Traffic, 24 pp.; 6. .^4 Year for the Sabbath, 16 pp.; 7. Memo- 
 rial Memora7ida, 40 pp. ; 8. German Document on the Sunday Liquor Traffic, 24 pp. ; 
 9. German Sabbath Meeting at the Cooper Institute, 24 pp. ; 10. The Broderic Sun- 
 day Pageant, 16 pp.; 11. Sunday Theatres and Beer Gardens, 24 pp.; 12. Progress 
 of the Sabbath Reform, 32 pp. ; 13. The Press of New York on the Tjow against 
 Sunday Theatres, 'lA: pp.; li. Sunday at the Central Park, 8 pp.; 15. The Civil 
 Sabbath Restored, 32 pp.; 16. Second German Meeting at Cooper histitute, 32 pp.; 
 IV. 77/0 Sabbath in War, 4 pp. ; 18. Constitutional Basis of our Sunday Laws, 4 pp. >' 
 19. Plea for the Sabbath in War, 8 pp. ; 20. The Sabbath and the Ptdpit, 8 pp. — 
 Nos. 8, 9, and 16 are in the German language. ([1;^°Address Orders to No. 21 
 Bible House, New York. 
 
[Sabbath Leaflets, No. 1.] 
 
 / 
 
 THE SABBATH 
 
 GERMAN BEER-GARDENS. 
 
 Feom "The Examinek," Jan. 26, 1860. 
 
 Hume, with all his infidelity, allowed the indebtedness of British 
 freedom to the Puritans. He must he strangely reckless or biased, 
 who overlooks the services of that same class in shaping the liberties 
 of our own country. And how great the stress Avhich this godly 
 body of men laid ujDon the Sabbath, in its connection with national 
 prosperity, is seen, when we find one of their eminent preachers, 
 Arthur Hildersham, in 1628, tracing out the origin of the calamities 
 which were then visiting the Protestants of Germany and France. 
 When the Thirty Years' War v/as ravaging the Palatinate, and brings 
 ing about the sack of Heidelberg; and those reverses were come 
 upon French Protestantism which led to the fall of Rochelle, he found 
 amongst the chief causes of these inflictions, the Continental profana- 
 tion of the Sabbath. The ferocity of a Tilly, and the craft of a 
 Richelieu, Avere thus, in his judgment, the scourges used by the 
 Providence of God, to avenge the quarrel of his own desecrated day. 
 And the Most High has, by Isaiah, promised to the people v/lio revere 
 His Sabbath, that they shall " kide ox the high places of the 
 EARTH ;" or, in other words, that He will elevate them to influence, 
 and speed them in the path of national advancement. Their victori- 
 ous car shall climb safely, and traverse swiftly, *thc world's loftier 
 eminences. 
 
 We hold, that not the churches only, but our community at large, 
 owe much to the Sabbath Comn.iittee of this city for the cahnness, 
 firmness, and wisdom, with which they have pursued, amid difiiculty 
 and misrepresentation, their measures for the defense of the Christian 
 Sabbath. They have happily united great moderation and courtesy 
 of tone with singular resolvedness of purpose. The Eleventh of their 
 documents is before us, bearing the title " Sunday Theatres, ' Sa- 
 cred Concerts,' and Beer-Gardens." It appears from it, as an 
 illustration of tlie close connection between Vice and the Sunday 
 Liquor trade, that since the Sunday Liquor shops have been generally 
 closed, the arrests on that day, (once tnore numerous, by twenty-five 
 per cent.^ than those on Tuesdays) have become, by thirty-three per 
 cent.^ less numerous than the Tuesday commitments ; and that the 
 relative proportion of arrests, on both Sundays and Tuesdays, is one 
 of steady dimitiution. 
 
 The pamphlet, then addressing itself next to the sources of remain- 
 
2 THE SABBATH AND GERMAN BEER-GARDENS. 
 
 ing Sunday disorder, talces up the Sunday Theatres, the misnamed 
 " Sacred Concerts," and Beer-Gardens of our German immigrant pop- 
 ulation. The statistics of these seem to have been carefully obtained, 
 and though presented M^ith the sobriety of tone that happily marks 
 the documents of our Committee, they are ominous and startling. 
 The language of the Germans, "who in October last convened in the 
 Cooper Institute t8 protest against these Sabbath desecrations on the 
 part of their countrymen, assures the American, that neither the old 
 Fatherland, nor the Avhole body of its colonists to our shores, are in 
 justice responsible for these abuses, now so diftusive and so rampant 
 within our municipal borders. 
 
 Our existing enactments, and our ancestral, national usages, are 
 alike in direct and grinding collision Avith tliese perversions of the 
 Sunday's rest. It remains to be seen whether our laws, or theigreed 
 and riot that defy them, shall triumph. It is contended by the pa- 
 trons and victims of these profanations, that all common and statute 
 laws in defense of the Christian Sabbath are unconstitutional, and are 
 equivalent to a National Establishment of Religion, Avhich last we 
 have, as a people, repudiated. 
 
 The objection will not hold. Our government, like every other, 
 requires to its very existence a Morality, whether it do, or do not, 
 accept the ritual and doctrinal creed of a Religion. The Ought is 
 what lies, in the very constitution of government, at the base of the 
 Must. Moral obligation is the assumed foundation of Law. By in- 
 heritance and history, the overwhelming majority of our inhabitants, 
 it will be found, receive, as the standard of their Morality, the Chris- 
 tian religion. The Jew, the Mohammedan, and Deist even, recognize 
 also the need of a Morality ; though adopting another standard of it 
 than ours. Government, and Ave may say. Society itself, are imjiossi- 
 ble without this Morality. The vast mass of the nation accept the 
 definitions and sanctions of the Gos])e], as settling their views of what 
 constitutes Morality. So fai-, the Christian Religion is a part of our 
 Common LaAV. That part of morality Avhich makes up the laAv of 
 marriage, is not, with us, either HebrcAv, or Pagan, or Mohammedan, 
 or Mormon ; it is distinctively Christian. So our courts of laAV sus- 
 pend their action on the Christian Sabb.ath ; and the great mass of 
 the judicial oaths that are taken, are so taken on the Christian Scrip- 
 tures, and by appeal to the Cln-istian's God. The nation finds itself 
 unable to manage the visible and diurnal affairs of earth, Avithout 
 takhig hold upon the Invisible and the Eternal. The oath appeals, 
 for the truth and sincerity of its utteier, to the Unseen and Everlast- 
 ing One, the Hater of lalsehood. The Sabbath rest takes repose from 
 the cares and toils of the Earthly, in the consolations and antepasts 
 of the Heavenly. The Marriage presents before the Lord and Giver 
 of Life, the choice made by man ofthat companionship, in Avhich, and. 
 by Avhich, Life is to be solaced and perpetuated in our Avorld. They 
 are all — Oath, Sabbath, and Man-iage — confessions of the dependence 
 of man and man's government, upon something Higher — something 
 beyond Time and above Man. They are like the loops that fitted 
 the taches of the Hebrew tabernacle. Into these confessions of 
 Human dependence, as into loops, are adapted and buttoned— so to 
 speak — the sanctions and influences of a Divine Sovereignty. The 
 
THE SABBATH AND GERMAN BEER-GARDENS. 8 
 
 religious man takes both ; the Morality, and the Religion supplement- 
 ing the Morality, Government needs the Morality and takes it ; 
 but Avith the indistinct perception at the time, that Morality is some- 
 thing incomiDlete. It does not establish the Religion ; but it must 
 not, on the other hand, contravene and outrage and persecute the 
 Religion. It is, as a government, not only entitled, but required to 
 secure, by enactment and magistracy, the peaceful worship of its 
 religious citizens from infringement and molestation by its turbulent 
 and lawless members. This is a sufficient basis for Sabbath laws. 
 
 But, again. Society is entitled to recognize the human bearings of 
 the Sabbath rest, on bodily health, and family order, and temperance, 
 and civil virtue; and to foster, by explicit statutes, such Sabbath 
 repose and Sabbath worship, heedless of the clamor of those, mani- 
 festly and notoriously disregarding all these personal and social boons. 
 
 And, again, Society is entitled, on any day, to inhibit practices prej- 
 udicial to health, morals or life. She may, from a regard to its pe- 
 cuniary burdens, or its tendency to foster disease and crime, curb the 
 liquor trade ; and this, on any day of the seven. She may, if a certain 
 class of amusements — be they betting, gambling, lotteries, cock-fight- 
 ing, pugilism, or theatrical spectacles — are found of immoral and 
 ruinous tendency, restrict, or, in her judgment of the expediency of 
 it, may even abolish them. And this for certain days only, or for all 
 days. And if these demoralizing recreations are, on one certain day, 
 because of the larger numbers then at leisure, likely to have more 
 than common scope for their baleful influence, and sweep into their 
 nets a greater crowd of victims ; then, it seems to us undeniable that 
 Society is, on these seasons of especial exposure and temptation, 
 bound to guard, with especial stringency, the throng of dupes from 
 their remorseless spoilers. Now, the Christian Sabbath, from its sus- 
 pension of the week's long toils, does thus make the harvest of 
 Rai^acity and Debauchery — if these last be left uncurbed — one of 
 especial plentifulness. Society is, then, as the guardian of morality 
 and thrift, bound to hedge up the way of Fraud and Riot on that day 
 with a double strictness. And when that is — in addition to all these 
 considerations for its defense — also, to multitudes of the nation, the 
 day of devout communings with God, she is bound to see not only 
 that ♦Vice be foiled of its j^rey, but that Piety be shielded in its wor- 
 ship. And this she does, without adopting the Church, or giving 
 Civil Endowment to the Religion. 
 
 The Church of the Living God, in her own voluntary membership 
 and spiritual vitality, asks not — and would even shun — the patronage 
 and livery and hire of the State. Permeating and interpenetrating 
 the membership and citizenship of the State, she is yet, in her laws, 
 spirit, and constituency, distinct. She is, in some sense, alien to all 
 civil rule. She has "another King — one Jesus," But, on the other 
 hand, the State needs a Morahty. She cannot, as a Republic, with 
 any consistency, refuse to recognize the Morality which the majority 
 of her citizens receive as the true and the Divine. That Morality, in 
 the Christian system, is a portion — a vital portion indeed — but i^ot 
 the entirety of the Christian Religion. The State, as a State, takes 
 for its secular uses the Morality ; but is compelled also, in the oath, 
 the rest-day, and the marrige-contract, to give a distant nod of 
 
4 THE SABBATH AND GERMAN BEER-GARDENS. 
 
 recognition to Religion, as furnishing the requisite sanctions of this 
 Morality. But whilst the State, in mass, stops short with the Morality, 
 the several citizens of the State, in their individual immortality, and 
 in their accountability beyond the bounds of this world, have larger 
 and more lasting wants than the collective State : they need person- 
 ally, and of free conviction, to adopt the Religion. And without a 
 large, active, prayerful and resolute body of such citizens, so holding 
 individually the Religion, we think the Morality of the State will not 
 be kept in working order. The State may indeed have no conscience 
 of her own ; but unless her citizens, many of them, keep a conscience, 
 she is lost. Christ does not need the Republic. But the Republic 
 needs Christ, as the base and bond of her Morality, without which 
 she cannot shape or keep her political life. And every man, woman 
 and child in the Republic needs the Christ, as the Ruler, Owner and 
 Redeemer of the soul, for both worlds, and for all days, here and 
 beyond. And He, the Thrice Blessed, invites them to His Salvation. 
 As those holding in high regard the memory of Luther, and the 
 many worthies who have succeeded to his Avork — as using and revering 
 the profound scholarship of German Universities — and as those who 
 value the heartiness, frugality, and industry of our German immi- 
 grants, we must, yet in all earnestness, contend against the ruinous 
 delusions to which many of these recent accessions to our population 
 have yielded themselves as respecting the Christian Sabbath. What 
 they denounce, as an undemocratic usurpation, we cherish, as an 
 ancestral freedom — one of the corner-stones of Order, Liberty, and 
 Morality. We Avelcome the new-comers, but it is not Material- 
 ism or Pantheism or Anarchy that we shall consent to include in the 
 Avelcome. Baffled, many of them in their own land, why should they, 
 the defeated revolutionists of that country, insist on recasting the 
 successful revolution effected here by our forefathers ? We have 
 tested Liberty for well nigh a century, as a nation, and our British 
 forefathers have known it long before. And the Christian Church 
 has enjoyed the Sabbath for eighteen full centuries. Every year of 
 our national existence has only deepened to the Christian patriots of 
 these shores, their conviction that the disappearance of the Christian 
 Sabbath would carry down into the common gulf our national liber- 
 ties, our prosperity, and our peace. We do not, therefore, disguise 
 the sorrow with which we behold, in any of our guests from the Old 
 World, this reckless endeavor to hack the Ark of our political salva- 
 tion into the kindling-wood of a holiday bonfire. And is this to be, 
 only that by the light of it, men may guzzle lager-beer, gaze on frivo- 
 lous or profligate spectacles, and listen to strains, sensuous at best, if 
 not basely sensual ? American Freedom was not so won : and Ave 
 cannot affect indifference in seeing it so lost. 
 
 ■ We Avill not believe that our magistracy Avill, to purchase votes, 
 league themselves Avith this desecration. If they do, hoAvevcr, Ave 
 shall not despair ; for the God of Providence Avill still remain Aviser 
 than all tluiir schemings, and mightier than all their alliances. And 
 Ave trust that, under His potent benediction, the Sabbath Committee 
 will serenely, strongly, and persistently, urge forward their holy work. 
 
Sunday Vice and Crime. 
 
 The morality of the Sabbath is vindicated "by the records of 
 crime in all civilized lands. Justice McLean, of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, expressed a truth that is Illustrated in the 
 experience of all nations, when he said, " Where there is no Chris- 
 tian Sabbath, there is no Christian morality : and without this, 
 free government cannot long be sustained." A kindred sentiment 
 has just been uttered by one of our profound thinkers : " Every 
 year of our national existence has only deepened to the Chris- 
 tian patriots of these shores their conviction that the disappear- 
 ance of the Christian Sabbath v,^ould carry down into the common 
 gulf our national liberties, our prosperity, and our peace. We do 
 not, therefore, disguise the sorrow with which we behold, in any 
 of our guests from the Old World, this reckless endeavor to hack 
 the Ark of our political salvation into the kindling-wood of a 
 holiday bonfire." 
 
 The condition of public morals in Sabbath-breaking countries 
 may serve as a warning for us. Thus, the fact stated by the Regis- 
 trar-General of Scotland that the of&cial records of Births give 
 but -i per cent, of illegitimate children in London ; while they are 
 82 per cent, in Milan; 83 per cent, in Paris; 85 in Brussells; 48 
 in Munich ; and 51 in Yienna; — or an average of almost a thou- 
 sand -pex cent, greater in Sabbathless than in Sabbath-keeping 
 Capitals — would seem to demonstrate the unquestionable connec- 
 tion of two of the vices prohibited in the moral law. 
 
 That the whole catalogue of vices and crimes which infest 
 society are similarly associated, though in various degrees, may 
 be inferred from the statistics of crime, and the observation of 
 Grand Juries and Magistrates. The Police returns of New York 
 
2 SUNDAY VICE AND CRIME. 
 
 City show tliat 87 per cent, of the arrests for drunkenness and 
 crime in 1858, were of foreign-born citizens — mostly, it is believed, 
 of the Sabbath- despising classes ; whereas, our native-born popula- 
 tion exceeds two-thirds of the whole. 
 
 It also appears that for a period of eighteen months, when the 
 Sunday Liquor traffic was unrestricted, the arrests for drunken- 
 ness and crime on Sundays exceeded those on Tuesdays by twenty- 
 five per cent. : but since the first of August, (a period of seven 
 montlis) when the General Superintendent of Police ordered the 
 Sunday Liquor shops to be closed, the average arrests for crime 
 on Tuesdays have exceeded those on Sundays by sixty per cent. 
 — or as 6,243 arrests on Tuesday, to 3,961 on Sunday — with a 
 rapidly decreasing average on all other days. [The total falling 
 off of arrests for the quarter ending Feb. 1, 1860, is stated by the 
 General Superintendent to be 7,028, as compared with the previous 
 declining quarter !] 
 
 But some of the princij)al sources of demoralization are still 
 unchecked. The immense Beer-Gardens and Theatres, with their 
 multiplied means of dissipation, folly and vice, are yet in fall 
 blast on every Sunday — with thousands, if not tens of thousands, 
 of guests. The thin disguise of " Sacred Concerts " is thrown 
 over much of this iniquity : but it is only the more offensive to 
 good citizens and seductive to bad ones by the suj)eradded hypo- 
 crisy of a "Sacred" name for an utterly secular and profane sys- 
 tem of Sunday sports. 
 
 Till recently, this system was supposed to be peculiar to a part 
 of our German population ; but its immunity from interruption of 
 Police authorities, and its profitableness, have prompted its intro- 
 duction among the pastimes of our native population. Many large 
 establishments have adopted its principal features, adding others 
 more gross and corrupting than the German taste would tolerate. 
 Besides "a double orchestra on Sunday Evening," and every va- 
 riety of stage performances extending from 7 to 12 o'clock — with 
 the unconcealed and unrestricted flow of all kinds of liquors — 
 ^''Pretty Waiter- Girls'^ in large numbers mingle with the guests, who 
 are mostly apprentices and homeless lads, to drug their bodies and 
 . souls, and to stimulate passions that the Sabbath and the Law of 
 God were made to curb and control. 
 
 A single advertisement of one of these establishments — by no 
 means the largest or most seductive — will show the unblushing 
 
SUNDAY VICE AND CRIME. 
 
 iniquity of the American Sunday Rum- Garden System ; and may 
 foreshadow the utter overthrow of all the barriers of morality and 
 religion when a continental holiday-Sunday shall have become 
 naturalized, instead of our American Sabbath. 
 
 SUNDAY "GAIETIES" ON BROADWAY. 
 
 IFac simile of Advertisement in the Sunday Herald, Feb. 26, I860.] 
 
 600 
 
 AMUSEMEIVTS. 
 
 BKOADWAT. 600 BROADWAY. 
 
 THE GAIETIES. 
 
 The 
 
 GAIETIES, 
 
 GAIETIES, 
 
 No. 600 Broadway, 
 
 No. 600 Broadway, 
 
 THE MODEL CONCERT ROOM 
 
 THE MODEL CONCERT ROOM 
 
 OP THE WORLD, 
 
 OP THE WORLD, 
 
 IS OPEN EVERY EVENING, 
 
 IS OPEN EVERY EVENING, 
 
 ■with a first class Company. 
 
 OBSERVE. 
 The ladies and gentlemen attached to the 
 GAIETIES, 
 are engaged on the score of ability alone, 
 
 without regard to expense, 
 and form, numerically, individually and artisti- 
 cally, 
 
 THE EXCELSIOR COMPANY 
 OP THE WORLD. 
 
 SEE THE NAMES. 
 JSIiss CECILIA MORLEY, 
 
 the only really artistic Vocalist in the 
 
 profession. 
 Miss L. LEONORA, 
 
 the beautiful and accomplished Danseusa. 
 Miss ADA JOHNSON, 
 
 the pretty Danseuse and Comedienne. 
 Mr. EDWARD BERRY, 
 the acknowledged best comic singer in America. 
 Mr. W. SMITH, 
 
 .the best bone player in the world and Ethiopian 
 
 comedian. 
 DICK WATKINS, 
 the best delineator of Dutch eccentricity ever 
 
 seen. 
 Mr. R. HART, 
 
 the popular comedian and vocalist. 
 Mons. GREGOIRE, 
 Mons. GREGOIRE, 
 
 the modern Hercules, whose astounding 
 feats of strength excite the wonder of all 
 beholders. 
 Messrs. PRANK WYANT, 
 G. WILSON, 
 P. LUSK, 
 G. A. KELLY, 
 H. WOOD, 
 T. BAILEY, 
 rand others, the entire company numbering over 
 
 FORTY PERP0RMER3. 
 Who appear every night in a grand miscellaneous 
 ■entertainment. Also a select and appropriate 
 Concert everv 
 
 SUNDAY EVENING. 
 
 SUNDAY EVENING. 
 
 On which occasion a Double Orchestra is engag- 
 
 •^ed, under the able direction of Prof. Guseman. 
 
 THE YOUNG LADIES 
 
 THE YOUNG LADIES 
 
 «who attend to the wants of visitors, are another 
 
 attractive feature at this establishment; their 
 prepossessing appearance and polite and affable 
 behavior is acknowledged by all visitors. 
 Admission only 13 cents. 
 Miss MORLEY will sing the "Dashing White 
 Sergeant," in appropriate costume, every even- 
 ing this week, at the Gaities, 6U0 Broadway ; ad- 
 mis.sion 12 cents. 
 
 Misses LEONORA and ADA JOHNSON will 
 appear in beautiful double dances e^ery evening 
 at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway, a few dooi« above 
 Niblo's. 
 
 EDWARD BERRY, the best Irish comic 
 singer living, will sing every night at the 
 Gaities, 600 Broadway, a few doors below Laura 
 Keene"s theatre. Admission only 13 cents. 
 
 The Gaities, 600 Broadway, is the only place of 
 amusement in the city where visitors are ac- 
 commodated with cushioned sofa seats, ease and 
 elegance combined, at the Gaieties, 600 Broad- 
 way. . 
 
 W. Smith will play his celebrated " Bone 
 
 Fantasia." 
 
 Gaieties Concert Room, 6no Broadway. 
 
 PRETTY WAITl-P. GIKLS. 
 
 E. Berry, E. Berry, E. Berry, E. Berry, E. Berry. 
 
 Unparalleled attraction at tlie Gaieties. 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 Dick Watkins, Dick Watkins, Dick Watkins 
 
 Best concert hall in the world. 
 
 PRETTY WAITKR GIRLS. 
 
 W. N. Smith, W. N. Smith, W. N. Smith, 
 
 The champion bone player of America. 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 He can be seen every night at the Gaieties. 
 
 R. Hart, R. Hart, R. Hart, R. Hart, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 the eccentric Ethiopian comedian. 
 
 Miss Morley, MissMorley, Miss Morley, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 justly styled the American nightingale. 
 
 Addie Johnson, Addic Johnson, Addle Johnson, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 the beautiful and accomplished danseuse. 
 
 Mile. Leonora, Mile Leonora, Mile. Leonora, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 the charming danseuse, the charming danseuse. 
 
 All of the above stars and others 
 
 PRETTY WAITKR GIRLS. 
 
 appear at the Gaieties every night. 
 
 This is the only place in New York 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 where you can enjoy a nice sofa seat 
 
 and see one of the best performances 
 
 FRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 ever presented to a New York audience. 
 
 Good music, good singing, good dancing 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 by a good company, every night, at the Gaieties. 
 
 New novelties produced in rapid succession 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway, every night. 
 
 Fun without vulgarity. Wit and Humor 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 characterize the performances at the Gaieties. 
 
 Dick Watkins will unroll his budget of 
 
SUNDAY VICE AND CRIME. 
 
 comicalities. 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaieties, 600 Droadway, every night. 
 
 Bill S-mith will give you the original Rob Ridley 
 
 PRETTV "WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 every night at the Gaieties, 60i) Broadway. 
 
 Ed. Berry will tell you about Alonzo & Imogenc 
 
 PRETTY WA.ITER GIRLS. 
 
 Every night at the Gaieties, 60!' Broadway. 
 
 R. Hart, the mirth-provoker and side-splitter, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 will give j'ou his new songand dance everynight. 
 
 Gaieties Concert Room. 600 Broadway. 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS, 
 
 Polite and attentive to the wants of visitors. 
 
 In active rehearsal and will soon be produced 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 an entirely new and original Burlesque, 
 
 written bv Mr. Edward I'erry, expressly for 
 
 PRETTY WAITER'GIRLS. 
 
 the Gaieties Concert Room, 600 Broadway. 
 
 England, Ireland, Germany, Scotland and Africa, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 every night at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway. 
 
 The Dutch Duet, with Organ accompaniment, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 every night at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway. 
 
 .Miss Morley will sing the song of the Seventh, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 every night at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway. 
 
 The trials and misfortunes of Hans Dookrich, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaieties Concert Room, 60(i Broadway. 
 
 The Original McDlll Darrall Brothers, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 by the two Dromios, W. N. Smith and R. Hart. 
 
 He lo.st his pocket-book. He Did, , 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 full of Gold One Dollar Bills. 
 
 The Dutch DriU-The Dutch Drill, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaities Concert Room, every nit'lit. 
 
 ril Sing You a Song Vat You All would Like to 
 
 Hear, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway, every night. 
 
 Mv Song is of .1 Nice Youns Man, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 whose name was I'oter Gray. 
 
 St. Anthonv Sat on a Lowly Stool, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 A Large Black Book He Held in His Hand. 
 
 Dick Darling, the Merry Cobbler, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaities, 600 Broadway, every night. 
 
 In Dixi«"s Land I'll Take mv Standi 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 I'll Live and Die in Dixie. 
 
 Double orchestra, double orchestra, double 
 
 orchestra, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 at the Gaieties Concert Room, GiO Broadway. 
 
 Prof. Guseman. Leader: Prof. Gnsetnan, Lcadc» 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 Of the double overture, of the double overttire. 
 Admission, admission, admission, admission, 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 Admission, admission, admission. 
 13 cts. 13 cts. 13 cts. 13 cts. 13 CENTS. 
 PRETTY AVAITER GIRLS. 
 
 13 cts. 13 cts. 13 cts. 18cta.r 
 To SCO the immense entertainment 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 At the Gaieties Concert Room. 600 Broadway. 
 Come, come, come. come, coirie, come, 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 Come, come, come, come, come, come- 
 To to to to to to to to to to to to 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 The the the the tlie the the the- 
 Gaieties. Gaieties, Gaieties, Gaieties, Gaieties, 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 Gaieties, Gaieties, Gaieties, Gaieties, 
 
 600 lOO 600 600 600 600 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 600 600 600 600 600 600 6ü0 
 
 Broadway, Broad^va}^ Broadway, Broadway,. 
 PRETTY WAITER GIR"LS. 
 Broadway, Broadway, Broadway, Broadway. 
 The elite an! bon ton of societv 
 
 PRETTY AVAITER GIRLS. 
 visit the GAIETIES, 600 Broadway, 
 
 and all say it is the best place- 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 of amusement in the city. 
 None but the be.st talent 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 are engaged at the Gaieties. 
 Our motto is. We fear no Competitors, 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS, 
 and defy all imitators. 
 Song and Chorus — Our Union, Rislit or Wrong,. 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 is sung nightly at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway. 
 Let those lanch who never laughe<l before, 
 PRETTY AVAITER GIRLS 
 and those th.it have, now laugh the more. 
 Irrepressible conflict of lanehter, 
 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS, 
 for which there is no help. 
 
 If you come once j-ouwill come acais, 
 PRETTY WAITER GIRLS, 
 for the perfonnance is never twica tlic samA 
 A varied entt-rtainment nishtly. 
 
 BRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 At the Gaieties things are conducted riglitly. 
 
 An cthcient officer always in attendance. 
 
 PRETl'Y WAITER GIRLS 
 
 at the Gaieties, 600 Broadway. 
 
 Sacred Concert. Sacre«! Concert. S.acred Concert, 
 
 BRETTY WAITER GIRLS. 
 
 Sunday evening, .'-"unday evening. 
 
 Sunday evening. 
 
 Admission 18 cents- 
 
Defeat of the Anti-Sunday Law Movement. 
 
 Notices of Bills for the repeal of laws restraining Sunday Liquor 
 selling and Sunday theatricals, were given in both Houses, as soon 
 as the Legislature of ISGl was organized. Petitions were pre- 
 sented with 6,603 signatures from New York, and 1,160 from Kings 
 Count}' — about half as many as there are of dealers in liquor and 
 lager in those cities. But a comparison of 881 names on the New 
 York Petitions with the City Directory (which contains 150,803 names) 
 showed that only 219 of the signers were registered as citizens, of 
 whom 94 were dealers in liquor, segars, and kindred occupations, in- 
 terested in Sunday profits. More than 100 names were written by the 
 same hand in blue ink. 
 
 These bills and memorials were inferred to the Committee on Cities 
 and Villages, a majority of the committee representing New York and 
 Brooklyn. After several hearings, the specific action pra_yed for failed 
 to receive the sanction of the committee : but a majority reported a bill 
 exempting "lager beer, ale, and other malt liquors" from the operation of 
 Excise and Sunday Laws; and declaring that '"'• the sale of lager })ee)\ ale ^ 
 and all other malt liquors shall henceforth he lawful upon any day of the 
 weekP The minority of the Committee thereupon presented the following 
 able and conclusive Peport. ILappily, Mr. Webster, of the Sixth As- 
 sembly District, N. Y., brought forward his pet measure, April 9, and 
 gave the House an opportunity to record its vote in reprobation of the 
 Sunday Beer Garden system. Mr. Webster's Bill was laid on the 
 taUe. Ayes 70, nays 23. Of the negative votes, 18 were given by 
 members from New York and vicinity. 
 
STATE OF NEW YORK, 
 No. 114. 
 
 IN ASSEMBLY, 
 
 March 25, 1861 
 
 MINORITY REPORT 
 
 Of the Committee on the incorporation of cities and villages 
 relative to the Sunday liquor law. 
 
 The undersigned, a minority of the committee on the incorpo^ 
 ration of cities and villages, to which was referred the bill enti- 
 tled " An act to repeal an act to preserve the public peace and 
 order on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday," and 
 parts of other acts referring to the sale of intoxicating liquors on 
 that day, and the several petitions accompanying the same, have 
 not been able to reach the conclusions arrived at by the majority 
 of the said committee, in reporting the bill entitled "An act to 
 amend the laws of this State in relation to the sale of liquors," 
 and ask leave to present the following 
 
 REPORT : 
 
 That the bill introduced by the majority of the committee, 
 while it applies to the whole State, and is intended to legalize 
 everywhere within its jurisdiction the sale of " lager beer, ale, 
 and all other malt liquors" on Sunday, is specially designed to re- 
 open the theaters, and legalize the beer gardens, and lager saloons 
 of New York city to the German population, for the purpose of 
 engaging in practices and amusements incompatible with a quiet 
 and profitable observance of the day, and only known or tolerated 
 in the most immoral cities of Continental Europe. 
 
 The fact that distilled liquors are not included, does not change 
 the character of the bill, nor les.sen the objections to its passage. 
 The practice of adulterating the commonest drinks with stimulating 
 and deadly compounds, gives to the beer drinker the means of grati- 
 
 ( Assembly, No. 114. J 1 " 
 
2 [Assembly 
 
 fying, to tlic fullest extent, his depraved tastes; the flood-gates 
 of intoxication, immorality and vice -will be opened, and the 
 Christian Sabbath be degraded to a Pagan holiday if the beer 
 garden shall become an American institution, and the sale of 
 malt liquors therein on Sunday, be authorized and protected by 
 law. 
 
 Besides, the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Board of Com- 
 missioners of Excise of Tompkins county, against James B. Tay- 
 lor and John C. McWhorter, submitted Jan, 11, 18G0, at Albany, 
 decided that strong beer is within the meaning of the terms " strong 
 and spiritous liquors," in statute, chap. 628, of 1857, to suppress 
 intemperance. , 
 
 The following extract from the opinion of Welles, J., shows the 
 light in which the sale of strong beer upon any day is regarded by 
 that court : 
 
 " Now, that ale, strong beer, porter, and most of the fermented 
 drinks known in this country, and Avhich are sold at public houses 
 and groceries by the drink, can and do produce intoxication to a 
 greater or less extent, and that such is the ordinary eifect of their 
 use as a beverage, no man of mature years, who is not stiangely 
 oblivious to surrounding and passing events, can have failed to 
 observe. The fact is so patent that it is impossible to close our 
 eyes against it. There is, in my opinion, one aspect in which the 
 unrestiained sale of such liquors by the drink is far more injuri- 
 ous than that of distilled liquors. I allude to the temptation it 
 presents to the reformed or reforming inebriate, who will much 
 more readily yield to a draught of the former than of the latter, 
 and thus fall a hopeless victim to the appetite which he had Avell- 
 nigh conquered." 
 
 Any conversion of Sunday to the purposes of traflSc, or to 
 amusements that interfere Avith the rest and worship to Avhich 
 the day has been devoted throughout most of the civilized world, 
 is especially distasteful to the people of this State, and opposed to 
 the spirit of American institutions and laws. 
 
 The history of our legislation for the protection of the civil 
 Sabbath dates back to the earliest period of the Dutch colony of 
 New Amsterdam. The decrees of Peter Stuyvesant in 1647 '48; 
 "the conditions of the Burgomasters of Amsterdam in 1656; the 
 laws of the Duke of York in. 1664; the charter of liberties in 
 1683; the colonial statute of 1695, in force Avhen our State con- 
 stitution was adopted in 1777; the State law of 1788, and the 
 Revised Statutes of 1813 and 1836, are all concurrent in their 
 provisions for the conservjjtion of a day of rest 9.nd worship, and 
 
No. 114.J 3 
 
 their prohibition of demoralizing traffic and pastimes. Some of 
 the colonial acts fail to discriminate as to the just limitations of 
 the civil Sabbath, but those of recent enactment aim solely to 
 secure to all classes, and especially to laboring men, their inaliena- 
 ble right to a weekly season of repose ; to the religiously inclined 
 an opportunity for undisturbed devotions, and to the whole com- 
 munity the withdrawal of temptation to dissipation, vice and 
 crime, so that the period of recreation may not be perverted from 
 its beneficent design into a scandal and a curse. 
 
 These laws have been self-imposed, impartial, and consistent 
 with the genius of our free institutions. They are humane in 
 their bearing on the poor, just in their constraint of self-cupidity, 
 and indispensable as a guard for public morals. They tend to 
 promote the health, wealth and virtue of the people; they foster 
 the spirit of reflection, self-control, and conscientiousness which 
 befit republican freemen : and they strengthen the basis of our self- 
 governing institutions, for, says Justice McLean, of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, "where there is no Christian Sabbath, 
 there is no Christian morality, and without this, free government 
 cannot long be sustained." To the same effect is Washington's 
 farewell counsel to his countrymen ; " of all dispositions and habits 
 which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
 pensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of 
 patriotism -who should labor to subvert these great pillars of hu- 
 man happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and 
 citizens." 
 
 Tlie present Sunday laws are i-epresented by those who petition 
 for their repeal "■ as a source of great grievance," though it is not 
 stated on whom the "grievance" falls, nor what its nature is. If 
 it affects the pocket, it is a "grievance " common to all traffic and 
 professions, and forms a part of the self-imposed contributions 
 made by good citizens to public and social order and the general 
 good. If it falls alone upon the dealers in liquors, and the keep- 
 ers of concert halls and theatres, their complaint would be en- 
 titled to more consideration Avere it not notorious that most of 
 these parties have been in the attitude of open and combined re- 
 sistance against all the laws of the State affecting their interests, 
 on all days of the week] and that their avocation stands in the 
 unhappy relation of the demonstrated cause of a sad proportion 
 of the pauperism, taxation and crime of the State. 
 
 But it is from the city of New York that the demand is made 
 
4 [Assembly 
 
 for abrogating the whole or any part of the Sunday laws. The 
 histor}^ and results of the operation of these laws will throw some 
 light on the question of repealing them. 
 
 Owing to various causes, the safeguards of the Sabbath became 
 inoperative, and a rapid declension in public order and morals on 
 that, as on other days, took place. From the period, thirty years 
 since, when no police was needed or kept on Sunday, the degen- 
 eracy became so considerable as to involve a large excess of 
 drunkenness and crime on that day above the other days of the 
 week; thousands of dram shops disobeying by common consent 
 the law requiring a license for their trallic on all days, took 
 8peci0.1 license to drng the people on the Lord's day. Scores of 
 theatres and beer gardens, scarcely self-supporting on week days, 
 were crowded and profitable on Sunday. "Concert halls-' and 
 saloons in the most prominent thorfughfares of the city, attracted 
 thoughtless youths by scandalous songs, dances and plays, and by 
 flaring advertisements of "Pretty waiter girls" — women of the 
 town, publicly kept and advertised. The system was a disgrace 
 to civilization and a mockery to virtue and religion. 
 
 The moral sense of the community was justly shocked, and 
 the apprehensions of right-minded citizens found varied expres- 
 sion. Successive grand juries exposed and reprobated these 
 shameless evils. The public press, of every shade of political 
 sentiment, with great ability and firmness discussed its enormity. 
 Public sentiment evidently demanded its suppression. Two years 
 ago a memorial was addressed to the Metropolitan Police Com- 
 missioners, signed by about six hundred of the best known and 
 most influential of the tax-payers of New York, demanding pro- 
 tection and relief from the demoralizing influence of the Sunday 
 liquor traffic, setting forth, among other things, the alarming fact 
 that by the record of their own department, the arrests for drunk- 
 enness and crime during the preceding eighteen months had been 
 twenty-five per cent, greater on Sunday than on other days of the 
 week, and charging this excess to the traffic in question. The 
 Commissioners unanimously resolved : " That present abuses in 
 disregarding the Sunday law, particularly in public exhibitions 
 on Sunday, and trafficing in liquors and other things, should, as 
 far as the law allows, be prevented by the whole power of the 
 police force and of the magistracy." A month later (August, 
 1859,) the general superintendent issued a general order to the 
 above effect, and the attention of the department has since been 
 
No. 104.J 5 
 
 directed to the suppression of that evil. The open traffic has 
 nearly ceased, and sufficient time has now elapsed to test the 
 extent of the "grievance" to tlie community at large, and to the 
 interests of public morals. 
 
 The result, so far as the statistical records of the police de- 
 partment are concerned, may be given in few words : During the 
 eighteen months from August 1, 1859, to February 1, 1860, the 
 total number of arrests on Tuesdays — taken as the average of the 
 week days — has been 15,503, and for the Sundays of the same 
 period 10,483, showing an excess of arrests on Tuesdays over 
 Sundays of 5,020, or nearly fifty per cent. But had the ratio 
 continued the same as during the period of uninterrupted liquor 
 sales on Sunday, the arrests on Sunday would have been 19,137, 
 showing a relative gain by the enforcement of the Sunday liquor 
 law of nearly ninety 'per cent., or as 19,137 to 10,483. Is that a 
 " great grievance "? To whom? Not to the police or the ma- 
 gistracy, or the tax-payers, or the home circle, or the public ? 
 To whom then ? 
 
 If it be a " grievance" that the hard earnings of poor Germans 
 and others are retained in their pockets to support their house- 
 holds during a'winter of want, instead of passing through their 
 eyes or their throats into the purses of theatre keepers and lager 
 bier brewers, it is one of which they, much less their wives and 
 children, do not complain; and it is not apparent that complaints 
 from their tempters to folly and drunkenness should affect the 
 legislation of the -State. 
 
 We are not unaware that the laws complained of seem to a 
 portion of our citizens who have come to us from continental 
 Europe as interfering with the Sunday pastime to which they 
 have been accustomed, and some sympathy undoubtedly exists 
 among a part of our people with the idea of a holiday observance 
 of Sunday. We have nothing to do with differing views as to 
 the theory of the Sabbath. It is enough that by immemorial law 
 and usage, and general popular conviction, our civil Sabbath is 
 so fixed as an institution of the State and of tJie countr}^, as to 
 impress every observant foreigner. Every European book of 
 American travels recognizes the fact. An eminent French resi- 
 dent (Duponceau) once asserted, that " of all we claimed as char- 
 acteristic, our observance of the Sabbath is the only one truly 
 national and American, and for this cause if for no other, he 
 trusted it would never lose its hold on our affections and patriot- 
 
6 [Assembly 
 
 ism." This view strips lawless invasions of our customs and con- 
 victions in this behalf of all apology or defence. Emigrants from 
 other lands knew, or might have known, that our Sunday is kept 
 as a day of rest and worship, and that the pastimes of Paris or 
 Vienna are not tolerated here. We open our doors to all comers 
 to the fullest enjoyment of all the liberties enjoyed by our own 
 citizens — all that consist with the safe working of a free govern- 
 ment. But vices and habits which we have found necessaiy to 
 restrain in ourselves, we cannot consent to legalize for others. 
 
 It is not true, however, that the German population is a unit 
 on this question. To the lasting exaltation of the German char- 
 acter, thousands and thousands of emigrants, while their hearts 
 swell with loyalty and love as they recall the memories and 
 recount the history of their fatherland, have left behind them the 
 habits and the amusements which another age engrafted upon 
 the sturdy virtues which form the basis of the German charac- 
 ter. 
 
 These men, upon reaching our shores, and assuming the duties 
 and responsibilities of American citizens, place themselves volun- 
 tarily under the restraints and within the protection of our laws, 
 and seek to secure to themselves and the whole German popula- 
 tion the blessings of a higher civilization, by sustaining those civil 
 institutions which protect the people from the assaults of licen- 
 tiousness and crime. 
 
 These men constitute to-day a large portion of the German popu- 
 lation of New York, and they are daily making converts to the 
 cause of temperance and morality, and the strict observance of 
 the Sunday laws; a portion of which the bill reported proposes to 
 
 repeal. 
 
 These men are establishing libraries, founding schools, building 
 churches, and have entered into the work of human reformation 
 and improvement with an earnestness which has already met its 
 reward, and which promises the most distinguishing success. The 
 principal opposition to their benevolent efforts is made by those 
 who wish to plant in the soil of freedom, and in the sunshine of 
 public favor, vices which once rooted, only the strong arm of 
 absolute power can prevent from overrunning the land. 
 
 The repeal of any portion of the Sunday laws, whereby beer 
 gardens and lagw saloons may be legalized on that day, would be 
 an act of injustice to the men who are endeavoring to win their 
 countrymen from the Sunday pastimes to which they have been 
 
No. 114.J 7 
 
 accustomed, and enlist them in the support of those institutions 
 of learning and religion which exalt the race, and constitute the 
 glory of the present century. 
 
 It would be unjust to all those branches of trade which remain 
 under the restriction of Sunday laws. " If a few establishments, 
 or a privileged traffic, may profit by the general suspension of 
 business, — perverting the very restraints by which morality and 
 religion hold back the masses from labor into a source of pecuni- 
 ary advantage to themselv^es — it is easy to see that injustice is 
 d'one to the mass of good citizens who yield obedience to law. 
 Competition may drive others to engage in Sunday trading, until 
 the Sabbath itself is obliterated, and all protection of the rights of 
 the laboring classes to a season of rest and devotion shall be swept 
 away. 
 
 •' On what ground then shall the traffic in beer, with noisy and 
 immoral accompaniments, claim a practical and recognized ex- 
 emption from the operation of these laws, and a virtual monopoly 
 of Sunday trade? Was it in the interest of lager-beer dealers 
 that the laws of the Republic caused the wheels of commerce to 
 cease rolling, and all branches of human industry to suspend their 
 activities, one-seventh part of each week?" 
 
 It would be unjust to all those cities in which the presence of 
 policemen are necessary to keep the peace, preserve order, and 
 prevent the violation of city laws and ordinances; because an 
 extra force and greater vigilance are found to be necessary on 
 those days when the people, released from the restraints of labor, 
 are more prone to indulge in immoral pastimes and guilty plea- 
 sures. On those days, therefore, if on no other, the temptation 
 to evil should be withdrawn, and the steps of the thoughtless and 
 unwary be protected by all the safeguards which law can throw 
 around them. 
 
 It would be unjust to the people of the rural districts, none of 
 Avhom desire this change in the Sunday laws, and all of whom are 
 in favor of devoting the civil Sabbath to rest and worship. 
 
 It would be unjust to the Christian members of the community 
 whose worship would be disturbed and feelings outraged if this 
 demoralizing trafiic shall be permitted on a day consecrated to 
 the service of their Lord and Master. 
 
 In view, then, of the fact that the repeal of any portion of the 
 laws in question would involve a departure from the legislative 
 policy of this commonwealth for more than two centuries ; that it 
 
8 [Assembly 
 
 would contravene the known convictions of the great body of good 
 
 citizens in all parts of the State, as it would be abhorrent to the 
 
 moral sense of the entire Christian community; that it would 
 
 encourage a spirit of lawlessness, immorality and vice ; that it 
 
 would remove the barriers protecting the laboring poor from their 
 
 tempters to drunkenness and folly, and that it would arrest the 
 
 progress of reform in manners and morals which has inspired hope 
 
 for the metropolis throughout the civilized world — we submit 
 
 that the bill reported by the majority of the committee ought not 
 
 to pass. 
 
 L. CHANDLER BALL, 
 
 H. A. PRENDERGAST, 
 
 WILKES ANGEL.