THE SABBATH QUESTION IN LONDON.
The following is from the London correspondence of the Banner & Advocate:— The Infidels and Latitudinarians are greatly enraged at the stopping of the military bands of music in the Parks, and have been blaspheming, both by lip and pen in a shocking manner. They have attempted demonstrations, by hired hordes in the parks, with which the Government does not interfere, but the rain has twice helped to defeat their success, and to quench the flames of rebellion. Thanks to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the so-called “Puritans,” both in and out of the Establishment, on whom a torrent of abuse has been poured from the platform as well as by the press. The Times disgracefully led the way, and with two exceptions (the Morning Herald and Morning Advertiser) all the great morning papers followed its example. In addition to this, the Sunday papers, from an instinctive fear of the rising waters of “Puritanism” and “Sabbatarianism” have been hounding on the multitude; and to crown the whole, the penny papers recently started, and, who cater for the crowd, have been equally rabid. The practical issue of this controversy will be, that the Saturday Half-Holiday, will gain greater popularity and extension than before. The Courts of Law have adopted it; and Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, has ordered Military Bands to play on the afternoons of Wednesday and Saturday, in the Hyde Park and Victoria Park. An event rare and extraordinary, marked last week; the visit of the Queen in the State to the Turkish Ambassador’s house in Bryanstone Square. This was of great political significance. But this friendly squeezing of the hand of the Moslem is helping to change him, outwardly at least, from the bigot he once was; and the political reforms in Turkey, coupled with the freedom of conscience there enjoyed for the first time, as well as the spread of Christianity by the American missionaries, show how wonderfully in God’s providence, the scourge of war and the gospel of peace have conspired to aid the downfall of Mahommedanism, which as a system is fast ebbing away. The Queen’s thirty-seventh birth-day was the 29th of May, and for the evening of that day was reserved the grandest display of fire-works and illuminations ever seen in London. It was calculated that half a million of visitors were added to our ordinary population on the occasion.