§ On the Order of the Day being read, that the Report of the Glasgow and Ayr Railway Bill be taken into further] consideration,
§ Dr. Bowringopposed the clause which the hon. Member for Wigtonshire had had inserted into the Bill, preventing the use of the railway on the Sabbath.
§ Mr. Dunlopsaid, that as an Act] of Parliament prevented canal boats and stage coaches from being worked on the Sabbath, he hoped the House would extend the same principle to railways.
§ Mr. Roebucksaid, the matter was merely an affair of pounds, shillings, and pence, 857 and that the Sabbath had really nothing to do with the question. He hated hypocrisy, and, above all, religious hypocrisy. The Canal Act contained no such clause as that mentioned by the hon. Member for Glasgow (Mr. Dunlop), and it was the will and feeling of the people only which prevented travelling on the Sunday in Scotland. It was his intention to oppose the Sabbath Bill of the hon. Member for Wigtonshire on going into Committee, on the ground that Christianity had nothing to do with it. That House had nothing to do with the religion of the people. He did not wish to charge the hon. Baronet with inconsistency, but maintained that the hon. Gentlemen opposite were no better observers of the Sabbath than any other persons.
Sir G. Clerksaid, the promoters of the Bill had no objection to the clause, and he congratulated hon. Gentlemen on his side of the House on their not having adopted the religion of the hon. and learned Member for Bath.
§ The Attorney-Generalopposed the clause. It was unnecessary, inasmuch as the present law of Scotland was sufficient to prevent any desecration of the Sabbath, and not only prohibited the carrying of goods on that day, but travelling also. It was injurious, inasmuch as it extended to the whole of the Sabbath, and might even have the effect of preventing persons who lived at a distance from their place of worship from going there, as such persons might choose to go by the railroad.
§ Mr. C. Bullersaid, that although he could not charge hon. Gentlemen opposite with much hypocrisy, yet he thought there was a pretty considerable deal of humbug among them. He begged to state, that if the Bill of the hon. Baronet opposite should ever get into Committee, he should move the insertion of a clause to shut up the Carlton Club on the Sabbath—as he had been very much shocked of late by observing, as he passed by on his way to church, several eminent Conservatives reading, not their Bibles or Prayer-books, but the John Bull or the Age.
§ Mr. Borthwicksaid, he would vote against the clause, as he did not consider it calculated to promote the object which the hon. Baronet had in view. He begged, however, to disclaim all participation in 858 the language of the opposite side of the House
§ The House divided on the original motion:—Ayes 1; Noes 47: Majority 4.
| List of the AYES. | |
| Alsager, Capt. | Hardy, J. |
| Arbuthnott, hon. H. | Hawkes, T, |
| Ashley, Viscount | Hope, hon. James |
| Balfour, T. | Inglis, Sir R. H. |
| Beckett, Sir J. | Johnstone, J. J. H. |
| Bonham, R. Francis | Law, hon. Charles E. |
| Campbell, W. F. | Lennox, Lord Arthur |
| Chapman, Aaron | Mackenzie, T. |
| Chisholm, A. | Mactaggart, J. |
| Clerk, Sir G. | Nicholl, Dr. |
| Conolly, E. M. | Palmer, George |
| Dillwyn, L. W. | Pelham, John C. |
| Dunlop, J. | Polhill, Captain F. |
| Estcourt, T. G. | Richards, Richard |
| Estcourt, T. | Ross, Charles |
| Fector, J. M. | Sandon, Viscount |
| Fielden, W. | Sinclair, Sir George |
| Ferguson, Sir R. | Somerset, Lord G. |
| Forester, hon. G. | Stanley, W. O. |
| Forster, Charles S. | Tooke, W. |
| Fox, Charles | Welby, G. E. |
| Gladstone, Wm. E. | Wilbraham, hon. B. |
| Gordon, hon. W. | Wodehouse, E. |
| Goulburn, Sergeant | Young, J. |
| Halse, James | TELLERS. |
| Hamilton, Lord C. | Agnew, Sir A. |
| Hanmer, Sir J. | Bruce, C. |
| List of the NOES. | |
| Angerstein, John | Lennox, Lord G. |
| Baines, E. | Lowther, J. H. |
| Belfast, Earl of | Lynch, A. H. |
| Bentinck, Lord W. | Marsland, Henry |
| Bewes, T. | Molesworth, Sir. W. |
| Blake, M. J. | O'Connell, J. |
| Blunt, Sir C. | O'Connell, M. J. |
| Brocklehurst, J. | O'Connell, Morgan |
| Brownrigg, S. | Oliphant, L. |
| Buller, Charles | Parrott, J. |
| Buller, E. | Pease, J. |
| Chalmers, P. | Roebuck, John A. |
| Clive, Edward Bolton | Thompson, C. P. |
| Denistoun, A. | Thomson, Colonel |
| Divett, E. | Tulk, C. A. |
| Donkin, Sir R. | Wason, R. |
| Dundas, hon. T. | White, Samuel |
| Ellice, E. | Wilbraham, G. |
| Elphinstone, H. | Williams, Sir J. |
| Evans, G. | Woulfe, Sergeant |
| Ferguson, G. | Wrottesley, Sir J. Bt. |
| Fort, John | Wynn, rt. hon. C. W. |
| Grote, G. | TELLERS |
| Hawes, B. | Borthwick, Peter |
| Jervis, John | Bowring, Dr. |