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FOUR LETTERS
TO THE
DIRECTORS OF THE UNITED COMPANIES.
fiEBhELS
oot.ioadaa
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FOUR LETTERS
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TO THE
JOINT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE
DELAWARE AND RARITAN CANAL AND CAMDEN
AND AMBOY RAILROAD COMPANIES.
BY A STOCKHOLDER.
DECEMBER—1848.
I'TtiNTED
TRENTON:
CY oIIEHMAN AND
v ISIS.
1IA1UION
FOUR LETTERS
i
TO THE
DIRECTORS OF THE UNITED COMPANIES.
/
LETTER I.
Value of the Canal and Railroad to the people of New
. i
Jersey—Sabbath desecration an incubus upon the repu¬
tation and usefulness of the works—Duty of the Di¬
rectors—Appeals of conscientious men.
Gentlemen :—The writer takes this method of ad¬
dressing you on a subject of much interest to him, and
to a large class of the community in which he resides.
You are the Directors of the most conspicuous, the most
powerful, the most wealthy, and with one exception, the
most useful corporation in the state of New Jersey.
Your Canal and Railroad have probably done more to
dcvelope the resources, and augment the revenue of the
state, and to increase the value of private property, than
all things combined for half a century. These results,
4
in spite of the malevolent whisperings of some, and the
envious clamour of others, have become apparent to the
sober minded portion of the community. One thing
however, in the opinion of many good men, and of some
who hold stock in the united companies, hangs as an in¬
cubus upon their usefulness. It need scarcely be said
that we allude to the desecration of the Sabbath, along
the line of your works. This is an evil, so serious an
evil, in the opinion of not a few, as far to overbalance
every advantage' derived from them. Some have con¬
sidered it a grievance, that your rates of fare and of
freight were, what they have been pleased to call, exor¬
bitantly high; but this grievance, (and whether real or
otherwise we shall not stop to enquire) has been as noth¬
ing, compared with that of which we speak. The one
evil can at most reach the pockets of the people, while
the other reaches their morals. You gentlemen belong
to a state, whose laws require the citizens to rest from
their labors on the Sabbath. You are members of a
christian community, some of you members of chris¬
tian churches; how then can you feel clear in striking
or even seeming to strike at one of the pillars of Chris¬
tianity. It is a truth that will not be controverted, the
history of the world for eighteen centuries proves it, that
whenever and wheresoever there has been no christian
Sabbath, there has been no Christianity. You and all of
us have duties to perform, not only as the agents and
servants of men, but as the agents and servants of a high-
5
er Power. There are obligations which we owe to the
Divine law and to conscience, which no plea of expedi¬
ency, of accommodation, or of profit can impair. Besides,
the earnest desire, and the respectful appeal of some
thousands of conscientious, law-abiding citizens, is enti¬
tled to your attention, and should command it.
The writer is aware that the subject of these appeals
has been discussed at some of the meetings of the Di¬
rectors and Stockholders, and that it has met with the
favorable regard of a portion of them. He has not been
present himself at any of these meetings, though long a
holder of a few shares of the stock, neither time allowing,
nor inclination prompting him to attend ; but he has not1
on that account felt the less interest in your decision.
The truth is, the whole of that portion of your fellow
citizens engaged in promoting the cause of morals and
religion, and with whom he esteems it an honor to be
associated, have been looking long, and with deep anxie¬
ty, to the action of your board in this matter. You have
in your hands the power and the responsibility too, of
removing this very great hindrance to morals and to
every good work.
G
LETTER II.
Workmen on the Canal and Railroad—Relation of the Di¬
rectors to them—The Sabbath among the Jews—The
Sabbath in France.
In this letter, we first ask your attention to some re¬
marks relating to the workmen on the line of your Canal
and Railroad. These men, who are under your appoint¬
ment and your pay, are spending their lives in the week¬
ly violation of what we all believe to be a Divine law.
The plain and emphatic language of that law is—"In it
(the Sabbath) thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy
maid-servant.'' The men in your service, many of them
at least, are so situated that they cannot keep this com¬
mand of their Maker, without disobeying you, and losing
their places. This is deplorable, it is palpably wrong,
and no sophistry can make it right. You may say the
Sabbath services of these men are voluntary, and that
they labor on the Sabbath because they prefer to do so.
True, and they are therefore self-condemned, but it is
your money that induces them to make such a choice,
and that pays them for making it. If blame attaches to
them, how much greater blame lies at your own door?
Hut that these workmen, some of them at least, would
be glad to rest on the Sabbath, is known to us. Some
of them have a desire to be at home with their families
on that day, to set before their children a good example,
and to go in company with them to the house of God;
but these things they cannot do, without incurring your
displeasure, losing their places, and losing their support.
Are you willing, gentlemen, to sustain such a relation to
your workmen ? Are you willing to appear at the bar
of public opinion, to say nothing of a higher tribunal,
as the apologists of a system of rules and regulations, by
which you virtually reward the guilty, and punish the
innocent ? Your workmen are required to do, and are
paid for doing, what God has forbidden to be done.
This is not insulting language, and is not designed so to
be, but it is a simple statement of a plain matter of fact.
Every body perceives that obedience to the Divine law,
and to the rules you have imposed, is an impossibility.
It cannot be a light thing to set at nought one of the
commands of Heaven, nor a guiltless thing to reward
men for living in its habitual violation.
The history of the Jews furnishes an impressive les¬
son. For the sin of which we speak, they were visited
with the sword, famine and pestilence ; for this sin they
were driven into captivity, and their land consigned to
desolation for seventy years. At a subsequent period
when they again relapsed into this sin, God's prophet
was commissioned to address them as follows:
" VVhat evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the
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Sabbath ? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our
God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city ? Yet
ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sab¬
bath."
In closing this letter, permit us to refer you to the
signs of the times, of the present times. God's judg¬
ments are abroad in the earth. There is an upheaving
and an overturning, not only of thrones, but of all rights
and franchises, civil and social. All restraints, human
and Divine, are snapped asunder. The masses are let
loose upon their rulers and upon one another. Will
they be able to govern themselves ? We doubt it, for the
simple reason that there does not appear to be virtue
enough among them for self-government. What do we
see at this time in France? We see an assembly de¬
liberating there, who came into power with the shout of
liberty upon their tongues, and the flag of liberty over
their heads, but with the law of God under their feet.
The election at which they were chosen (people and
priests consenting) was held on the Sabbath. We doubt
much whether such an assembly can make a constitution
and laws, by which such a people will long be governed.
The Almighty has said, and the history of nations, as
of individuals, has always in the long run proved the
saying true:
" Them that honor me, I will honor; and they that
despise me, shall be lightly esteemed."
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LETTER III.
Laws of the State relating to the Sabbath—Obligations of
the United Companies to obey these Laws.
The laws of the state of New Jersey fully recognize
the institution of the Christian Sabbath. The first section
of the "Act for suppressing vice and immorality," or so
much of it as it is needful to quote, is as follows:
"No travelling, ordinary or servile labor or work, on
land or water, (works of necessity and charity excepted)
shall be done or practiced by any person or persons,
within this state, on the Christian Sabbath, or first day
of the week, commonly called Sunday; every person of
v»
the age of fourteen years or upward, offending in the
premises shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay to
the use of the poor of the township in which such of¬
fence shall be committed, the sum of one dollar."
We have here a clear prohibition of travelling, and of
all ordinary business on the Sabbath in this state. Not¬
withstanding this, your business, on land and water, con¬
tinues on that day. Here we desire distinctly to say,
that we address ourselves to you, not only because you
are the Directors of the united companies, but because
you are the proprietors of a large majority of the stock,
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and by your votes can control and do control the entire
capital of the companies. As all the power, so all the
responsibility, is in your hands. What say you then of
your violation of the law which has been quoted ? Does
your charter allow you to annul that law ? It is binding
on all other men in the state—are you only exempt ?
Whence the exemption ? Where is the clause in your
charter conferring it ? No, gentlemen, you have no
grant, express or implied, and no right, legal or moral, to
run your boats and cars on the first day of the week.
The law is against you; and whether it reaches you in
your corporate capacity or not, (which is a question) it
reaches, without the shadow of doubt, every engineer,
conductor, and workingman on your lines, and makes
each one of them liable to a fine of one dollar, in every
township through which they pass on the Sabbath.
That these fines could be recovered by legal process is
also certain. You may reply that this would be a small
business. True, and yet it is just the business which the
law makes necessary for suppressing " vice and immorali¬
ty" But .if the collection of these fines from your
agents and servants would be contemptible in your eyes,
in what light must the conduct of a great and wealthy
corporation appear, who employ these agents and ser¬
vants to do, what by express enactment is declared to be
unlawful ? You cannot escape the odium of such pro¬
ceedings by pleading the public convenience. The claims
of law and moral rectitude are before and above those
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of convenience, and right ought to be, and in the end
will be above might.
We hope to see the time, to see it soon, when the
placid stillness of the day of rest shall be no more bro¬
ken by the horns of boatmen and the rumbling of cars.
These noises are any thing but pleasant to the peaceable
church-going population, in the midst of whom your
works are situated. There ought to be, there must be a
change. For ourselves, we would a thousand times rath¬
er see it brought about-by your own voluntary purpose
than by any other means.
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LETTER IV.
Motives actuating those who seek the observance of the
Sabbath—Chartered rights—Sabbath kept on other Roads
and Canals—Letters previously published.
The motives which influence the men who oppose the
desecration of the Sabbath on the line of your works,
and the character which they sustain, are such as should
command your serious consideration. These men are
not political aspirants, nor are they interested rivals.
They seek to make no capital out of your errors to render
you odious, or to render themselves popular. * They envy
neither your large profits, nor your exclusive privileges.
The motives which impel them are as far above such
considerations as simple truth is above duplicity and hy-
pocrisy. These men, and yon will have the candor to
admit it, are actuated by an unconquerable attachment to
the institutions of religion. Hence their opposition to
the running of your boats and cars on the Sabbath is not
a transient feeling; it arises from the conviction that the
practice is wrong, and for this reason they can never cease
to oppose it. However great the reluctance which they
may feel in coming into conflict with a powerful corpora¬
tion, and however they may differ among themselves as
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to the best modes of effecting the reformation which they
seek, yet are they unanimous and united to a man in re¬
garding your business on the Sabbath as an offence against
the laws of God and man, and against the morals of the
people. Such, then, is the character, and such are the
motives of those who oppose you. They have remon¬
strated, they have petitioned, they have earnestly besought
you to stop your business on the Sabbath, but all to no
avail; your boats and cars run on as usual.
I have now, gentlemen, a simple question to ask, it is,
whether you are. so entirely independent of these men
that you can afford to despise their opposition ? Even if
you have no regard for the Sabbath yourselves, can you
regard it as quite safe to trample on the religious Feeling
of a large class of your fellow citizens ? Does your
mountain stand so strong and is your onward ca¬
reer so certain that you fear no reverse ? You have
not been unapprised of the current of popular feeling
towards the united companies. Suppose this feeling
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(which we hope may never be the case) should rise
higher than ever before, and should show itself in acts,
in votes, in the halls of legislation, to whom would you
look for common justice ? To whom appeal in defence
of the sacred obligation of contracts and of vested rights ?
In such a crisis, and in this change-loving age, this "age
of progress," you know not how soon it may come, on
whom would you rely? Would it be upon the Sabbath
breakers who now applaud you? Would it be upon the
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pleasure-loving multitude who are caught by your adver¬
tisements of Sabbath excursions, and Sabbath trains for
their special accommodations ? (alas, that there should
be such advertisements for such objects!) But would
these stand by you in the hour of need ? Have they
such a sense of their obligations to human and Divine
laws, that you could confide to their keeping your chart¬
ered rights ? We desire to make no invidious allusions,
neither have we the folly to suppose our object can be
accomplished by intimidation, yet we cannot but express
our sober conviction that it is hazardous to your interests
as it is to your reputation to force the religious portion
of this community into collision with the united com¬
panies. If it is a conceded truth, that moral and religious
principle is the only balance-wheel in human affairs, and
the only check to lawless innovation, it might be well to
ask yourselves, whether you may need, and above all,
whether you may deserve its aid. In conclusion, we
notice the gratifying fact, that on several of the neighbor¬
ing lines of transportation, some of which are tributary
to your own, all business on the Sabbath has been entirely
suspended during the past year. We refer especially to
the Lehigh Canal, the Delaware division of the Pennsyl¬
vania Canal, the Delaware and Hudson Canal, the Read¬
ing Railroad, and the Morris Canal. Thus the lines all
%
round your works, and nearest to your works, and most
of them furnishing freight for your works, are at rest on
the Sabbath, while yours are in motion.' Most surely this
15
ought not so to be. We appeal to your magnanimity, to
your regard for good example, and good morals, that you
suffer it to be so no longer.
It may be proper to remark that these Letters, or the
substance of them, were published about a year ago in
one of the newspapers of Trenton. They are now, with
some additions, published in this form. If they gain your
favorable notice, we shall be more than paid; if not,
there will remain the satisfaction of having sought to do,
and of having sought to persuade others to do right.
This itself is of no small value to your humble servant
the WRITER.