Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
History
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 1 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
In his "Autobiography"[19] Mr Bradlaugh says: "I was very proud that
day at Westminster, when, at the conclusion of my testimony, the
Commissioner publicly thanked me, and the people who crowded the Court
of the Exchequer cheered me.... This was a first step in a course in
which I have never flinched or wavered."
[Footnote 19: The Autobiography of Charles Bradlaugh. A page from his
life, written in 1873 for the _National Reformer_.]
Before dismissing this Sunday Trading question altogether, I may as
well notice here that in the succeeding year my father made a short
humorous compilation of some of the more striking "English Sunday
laws" for the _Reasoner_. I am ignorant how many of these are still
in force, but I repeat part of the article here: as a trifle from
my father's pen, it will be welcome to some, and in others it may,
perhaps, provoke inquiry as to how many of these restrictions are
binding (in law) upon us to-day.
"Travelling in a stage or mail coach on a Sunday is lawful, and the
driver is lawfully employed. Contracts to carry passengers in a stage
coach on a Sunday are therefore binding, but the driver of a van
travelling to and from distant towns, such as London and York, is
unlawfully employed, and may be prosecuted and fined 20s. for each
offence; and presuming that the laws of God and England are in unison,
the driver of the van will be damned for Sabbath breaking and the
driver of the coach will go to heaven for the same offence.
"Mackerel may be sold on Sunday either before or after Divine service.
"There is no offence against the common law of England in trading
or working on a Sunday; therefore the statutes must be strictly
construed. If a butcher should shave on a Sunday, he would commit no
offence, because it would not be following his ordinary calling.
"Persons exercising their calling on a Sunday are only subject
to one penalty, for the whole is but one offence, or one act of
exercising, although continued the whole day. A baker, a pastrycook,
or confectioner, is liable to be prosecuted if selling bread or pastry
before nine or half-past one o'clock on the Sunday.
"If the Archbishop of Canterbury's cook, groom, footman, butler, and
all other his men servants and maid servants do not each of them
attend church every Sunday, they may be prosecuted and fined.
"If the Archbishop of Canterbury's coachman drive his master to church
on Sunday, if his footmen stand behind his carriage, these being their
ordinary callings and not works of charity or necessity, they may be
prosecuted and fined 5s. each.
"Tobacconists may be prosecuted for selling tobacco and cigars on a
Sunday.
"Railway officials may be punished for working on a Sunday; certainly
on excursion trains.
"The stokers and men employed on the steamboats plying to Gravesend,
etc., are also liable to prosecution, although a few watermen enjoy
the privilege of Sabbath-breaking by Act of Parliament.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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