respect to religion. It may and does and always has passed laws in respect to those phases of religious conviction which have to do with the self-preservation of the republic. Whatever makes the best citizen, Congress has a right to prescribe. Whatever attacks the vitalities of citizenship, Congress has a right to prohibit."

"This is a Christian Nation."

It should be shown to them also, that while liberty allows no state church, and can compel no worship, "Christianity is a part of the common law of the land," as the highest courts have often decided. That Christianity is interwoven with the entire structure and history of the American Government is shown by the following facts, among others: The pilgrims founded the nation through a desire for freedom to worship God, and especially for freedom to keep the Sabbath holy. The Declaration of Independence recognizes the inalienable rights of citizens as proceeding from God.

The articles of confederation of the States and the charter of the Northwestern Territory contained in their provisions for education and for charitable and reformatory institutions a recognition of the laws of religion. The convention for framing the Constitution was opened with prayer. The President annually prclaims to the entire nation a Day of Thanksgiving to God for His mercies. Upon some of the coins of the nation is engraved an expression of our trust in God. Each branch of the General Government has its chaplain, and the Army and Navy are also supplied with chaplains as regularly commissioned officers. The President, members of Congress, and of the judiciary, governors of States, legislators, and other officials are sworn into office in the use of the Bible and by an appeal to the God of Christians. Witnesses before courts of law are required to make oath in the name of God that they will tell the truth. Churches and property used exclusively for places of worship are exempt from taxation. Ordained ministers of the Gospel are declared to be competent to solemnize marriage. The State provides religious instruction for the convicts in its prisons and for the youth in its reform schools. Wherever public schools have been established instruction in Christian morality has been enjoined. Nearly all the States prohibit secular labor, noise, and confusion on the Sabbath, and (with certain recent exceptions) have always held that all civil contracts made upon that day are void. The Federal laws of the United States also recognize the Sabbath by forbidding distilling on that day, and by intermitting the studies in the national academies, and by counting out the Sabbath from the ten days allowed the President for signing an act of Congress.

The Sabbath law, in the language of the Supreme Court of California "leaves a man's religious belief and practice as free as the air he breathes." Americans have already changed the plans of national houskeeping too much at the discourteous dictation of the most disorderly of foreign visitors. Let those who wish a Continental Sunday stay where it is. The United States want neither it nor its moral and political fruits. Monarchs can live, even though the masses are only animals and children, such as thoughtless Sabbaths make them, but in a republic the masses must be men, such as only quiet Sabbaths have ever been able to produce.

History proves that while "a holiday Sabbath," as Hallam has said, "is the ally of despotism," a Christian Sabbath is the holy day of freedom.

SUNDAY CLOSING OF COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

[From Congressional Record, July 11, 12, 18, 1892.]

Speeches of Senators Hawley and Colquit in United States Senate, July 11, 12 1892, and of Congressman Dinglev, in the House of Representatives July 18, 1892, on Sunday Closing of Chicago Fair.

SPEECH OF HON. J. R. HAWLEY.

A great local agitation arose demanding that the [Centennial] exhibition be opened, and all the arguments we hear now were made, all supposed to be in the interest of morality and purity and refinement, but culminating in the proposition, "We wish to run the exhibition on Sunday and take 50 cents at the gate. It was asked then, "What will the poor people do, cast away over Sunday in Philadelphia and left to all the attractions of vicious or doubtful places?"

We never heard of any trouble on that account. It was a peaceable and orderly city on Sunday; but if it had been opened on that day the trains would have run from Baltimore, Wilmington, Jersey City, New York, and Brooklyn and all the country around bringing from thirty to fifty thousand people, and every man here knows that they would have been largely composed of not the most orderly classes in society, and that city would have been, I do not say altogether a bedlam, but it would have been what it never was before that time, and never has been since, in the matter of order and general propriety.

Open the Exposition on Sunday and the flood gates are opened. Hereafter it will be forever pointed to as a precedent of high authority for opening all exhibitions and places of amusement or alleged instruction, whereas up to this time there never has been a State exhibition, a State fair, a county fair, a city fair, or a circus, or a show of any description opened on Sunday; nor ever a legislative body that has not as a rule, except under stress of great necessity, adjourned over Sunday. There never has been a secular convention, social, political, scientific, literary, or commercial that has not adjourned over Sunday. Now, this is not a Christian nation in one sense. There is no union of church and state in our Constitution. In another sense it is profoundly a Christian State. From the time of the Continental Congress down to this day the overruling hand of a Creator, an Almighty Father, has been acknowledged in every great public proceeding. I do not ask you to do anything that will indicate an approval of any sect or any creed whatever. I ask you to regard that which is of immeasurable importance in the salvation of a nation, the profound sense of religious obligation. You will grieve tens of millions of people if you open the Exposition on Sunday.

It is proposed to compromise the question. For instance, it is suggested that the steam engine and the active mechanical exhibition be stopped and silenced, but that all exhibits shall be open to view. This and all other compromises mean an admission fee of 50 cents and a full working force on duty. When the people enter, with them must come all the official guards and all the owners or assistants of goods, who must attend to protect, to explain, and to sell. Your Sunday will be as any other day. It is a mere evasion.

The law of Illinois is adequate, is it not, they ask us. No; I do not think it is, for the law of Pennsylvania was not considered adequate, and would not have been but for the resolute vote of the supervising commission. Everybody knows what the foundation is. It is founded in religious belief; and yet a rightful observance of this seventh day can just as well be deduced from the physical snd economical necessities of mankind as from the Old Testament. You may say in a certain sense that the Ten Commandments are founded upon nature and upon common sense, for if they had not been discovered in the Old Testament wise men would undoubtedly have devised something very similar to them. The law of rest is in our nature.

Of

It is a mistake to say the laboring people want the Exposition open. the 40,000,000 people whom I class as in a general sense religious, a large portion, perhaps four-fifths, are these very laboring people. They no more want it opened than do the archbishops, and they will be the people to be offended. Nor is the demand for a day of rest presented only by religious people. The Socialists of Europe are credited with little regard for churches or creeds,

and certainly religious profession makes no figure in their platforms, but they demand not one day in the week, but a day and a half.

Twenty-thousand railroad workers were represented before the QuadroCentennial Committee by a member desiring that the Exposition should be closed on Sunday.

Archbishop Ireland, (Roman Catholic), known to everybody for eminent general sense in statesmanlike as well as ecclesiastical affairs, says:

I beg leave to say that I maintain very decided opinions as regards the opening of the World's Fair on Sunday. I believe the doors should be closed the entire day. The Sunday, the sacred symbol of our Christianity, the honor of our civil institutions, is already too seriously attacked, whether from the greed of capital or the aggressiveness of irreligion. To yield, even in a lesser degree, to its adversaries during solemn national occurrences is putting the seal of public national approval upon the war that is waged against it. Among other considerations I have in my mind the interests of labor. Sunday is the one oasis for the workingman along life's toilsome journey.

SPEECH OF HON. A H. COLQUITT.

The

Liberty is a sweet word; it is an enchanting word. Liberty, liberty, liberty; and yet in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred what is liberty is never analyzed or thought of. Is freedom from restraint liberty? Are the penalties of the law that bind men to the observance of that which is right and proper in their own behavior and in its relations to other people a violation of liberty? Yet we have here ejaculation and exclamation and rhetorical exaggeration about the liberty of the individual as though we were to infringe his very lifeblood, and it is all the liberty of the lawbreaker, it is the liberty of the immoral, it is the liberty of the debauchee that is claimed. But there ought to be some liberty to the 13,000,000 Christian people in this country. Let them Lave some liberty, the liberty to enjoy the Sabbath.

It is true that there is no union of church and state, but there has been from the foundation of the Government to the present in our laws, in our institutions, in our social organizations, in our political organizations, there has been a universal recognition of religion as the basis of our civilization. It is not church and state. You could not have church and state in this country. What church? The innumerable denominations here would prevent it, to begin with, and there is no possibility of it.

Yet with a view to frighten off men who have conscientious convictions upon this question in a moral way this scarecrow is held up, that it is a political affinity between the church and state.

There is not an argument given to-day that would not have justified the opening of Barnum's circus on Sunday when it visited Washington City for its exhibition. He could have stood up before the people and talked about the hard toiler six days in the week, who could not go to the circus. Here are animals and exhibitions of athletics, and all kinds of display of the power of man, and exhibitions of curious objects in nature. All these would educate the people, the hard toiling people for six days in the week. Open Barnum's circus on Sunday and give a chance to the toiling people. There is no argument that is offered that would not justify the violation of the Sabbath in the case of any exhibition, and in opening the theatres of the country on that day.

There has been a great deal said about France, liberty, and the like. But let me give you a sentiment from a distinguished Frenchman, the Count Montalembert, one of the most eminent French statesmen. Mark this:

But

"Men are surprised sometimes by the ease with which the immense city of London is kept in order by a garrison of three small battalions and two sqadrons; while to control the capital of France, which is half the size, forty thousand troops of the line and sixty thousand national guards are necessary. the stranger who arrives in London on a Sunday morning, when he sees everything of commerce suspended in that gigantic capital in obedience to God; when, in the center of that colossal business, he finds silence and repose scarcely interrupted by the bells which call to prayer, and the immense crowd on their way to church, then his astonishment ceases. He understands that there is another curb for a Christian people besides that of bayonets, and that where the law of God is fulfilled with such a solemn submissiveness, God himself, if I dare use the words, charges himself with the police arrangements."

SPEECH OF HON. NELSON DINGLEY, M. C.

Have gentlemen considered what has been the attitude of this nation toward Sunday up to the present hour? Not so much as a religious question, as a question involving the best interests of the people. physically and morally. It has taken the ground that Sunday is a rest day, a day when public business is not to be transacted. The Federal Constitution even specifically excepts Sunday in the count of the days within which the President may retain a bill. Do gentlemen claim that the framers of the Constitution and every Congress from the beginning of the Government until to-day, which has legislated to make Sunday a rest day, has been meddling with religion? If we appropriate the people's money to aid in carrying on an Exposition which we know will open its gates to the public on Sunday if Congress imposes no condition otherwise, and refuse to impose such a condition, we do "meddle with a moral and religious question," and meddle with it to the extent of not only taking sides against it, but of appropriating public money to make our opposition effective. No Exposition in this country outside of the one at New Orleans, which was not a success, has ever been open to the public on Sundays. More than this: Not a single Exposition has been held in Europe, where on the Continent Sunday has become very much as other days, in which the American and British exhibits have not been covered.

As indicating the profound conviction of three-fourths, if not a larger proportion of our people, that the preservation of Sunday as a rest day is of inestimable importance to us as a nation, I call attention to the protests which have already reached this Capitol since it became known that the managers of the proposed Exposition are proposing to open it to the public on Sundays. There has never before been such a mighty protest.

There are in the first place about 12,000,000 members of Protestant churches in this country, and these have protested by convention, association, synod, conference, or individual churches, almost in a body. The dissidence has been so meager that it has only served to emphasize the unanimity. The evidence is conclusive that the great body of the attendants of these churches also are in sympathy with these protests. Three of the most distinguished Catholic Archbishops of the United States, Ireland, Gross, and Riordan, have united in the protest, and voice the feelings of a large proportion of the Catholic Church. Protests have come up to us from every quarter indicating an overwhelming judgment against any step that will lead to converting our Sunday into a Continental Sunday.

Why are they opposed? In the brief time allowed me I can only indicate some of the reasons without elaborating them:

I. Because they believe that if so conspicuous an example of the use of Sunday for carrying on a great national and international Exposition with an admission fee is set, it will break down the barrier which now prevents theaters and all forms of so-called amusements from opening on Sunday.

2. Because they believe that the opening of the day to public amusements will in due time lead to the use of the day for business and industrial pursuits, and thus destroy Sunday as the rest day of the people. I cannot conceive a greater calamity than the addition each week of another day of work and worry to the already overburdened people.

3. Because the opening of the Exposition on Sunday will make it necessary for the vast army of employes, attendants, watchmen and exhibitors of goods, and the employes of railroads, which will run excursion trains Sundays from all points within a hundred miles, to work on Sundays.

4. Because they believe that the preservation of a rest day-one day in seven -is essential to the physical health of man. All experience shows that the man who rests one day in seven maintains better health, lasts longer, and accomplishes more than those who disregard this law of health. The Divine command to remember the Sabbath day rests on the physical necessities of man.

5. Because they believe that the separation of one day in seven from the other six, and the keeping of it as a day of freedom from worldly pursuits. tends to that thoughtfulness and introspection which elevates manhood and makes men better citizens. The great peril of our nation to-day is the increasing engrossment of our people in pursuit of selfish objects. Greed is overcoming manliness. Sunday is the one day that stands in the way of the triumph of greed and unscrupulousness.

6. Lastly, but first of all in the estimation of millions, the Divine injunction to "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" is regarded as a cominand of the Creator, to be obeyed as a religious duty, as well as an injunction which is

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based on the physical, moral, and spiritual necessities of our nature. And any action by the Government which should trample upon this religious conviction of so large a proportion of our people would be an unnecessary and inexcusable outrage.

So overwhelming are the reasons for preserving Sunday as a day set apart from other days, that the friends of Sunday opening have concluded not to antagonize the Senate Sunday closing amendment directly, but with what they call a compromise substitute. The engines that move the machinery are to be shut down and the men who run them relieved from Sunday duty, while the remainder of the Exposition is to be open to the public, and a religious flavor given to it by having a hall constructed and opened for preaching services alternatcly by representatives of all denominations. I am curious to know whether my friend from Alabama, who opposes the Senate proposition because it touches a rcligious question, will support a substitute which proposes to use public money to construct a place of worship and maintain religious exercises.

But seriously consider what the proposed substitute would do. It proposes to run the entire Exposition except the machinery. This will relieve but few of the vast army of superintendents, attendants, and employes from Sunday work. It will still impose upon all the exhibitors the necessity of looking after and explaining their exhibits. It will still invite the running of Sunday trains from points in every direction within 100 miles or more, and compel Sunday work by railroad employes. It would throw into Chicago an immense crowd of Sunday excursionists, composed usually of by no means the most orderly portions of the community.

But there would be religious services on the grounds to give a Sunday flavor to the opening! When it is remembered that sixteen years ago the daily attendance on the Centennial Exposition reached some days 270,000, and that the daily attendance may reach 400,000 or even 500,000 at Chicago, and when it is considered that the human voice cannot reach an audience of over 8,000, the absurdity of a proposition to give a religious flavor to a Sunday crowd of half a million by preaching to 8,000 becomes apparent. It would be like the effort to excuse a Sunday theater by designating a half dozen persons to hold a prayer meeting in one of the anterooms.

The most specious plea for Sunday opening is that unless the Exposition shall be opened the crowds in the city will be driven to frequent Sunday grogshops. The same argument would serve for opening a Sunday theater or circus. But my friend forgets that the programme is to have liquor sold on the Exposition grounds as well as in the city. Liquor sold on the grounds will do the same evil work as liquor sold outside.

There is still another excuse for Sunday opening of the Exposition, which presents the idea that the workingmen need it in order to obviate the necessity of losing a day's work.

A few labor organizations have petitioned for it, notwithstanding it is obvious that no workingman who resided a hundred miles from Chicago could avail himself of Sunday to visit the Exposition; but the great body of the laborers who have spoken have protested against it. The Glass Workers, and other labor organizations have formally protested against Sunday opening. And well they may; for if there is any class of our citizens who should unitedly condemn any scheme that would lead to an overthrow of Sunday as a day of rest and make it a day of toil, it is the workingman.

To my mind any settlement of this question which results in the Sunday opening of the Exposition at Chicago will be marked in the future as an evil day in the history of this country. Nothing could be done which would so deeply grieve the Christian men and women of the United States, the backbone of the nation, as this. And it would be all the more grievous because the national Congress, representing the nation, would be responsible for it.

You mistake popular sentiment if you suppose that only members of Christian churches would be grieved. Outside of the membership of Christian churches, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, in the South as well as in the North, in the West as well as in the East, there is a large and influential body of the solid men and true women of the land, who believe that to the influence of the Anglo-Saxon Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, is largely due the sterling character of our people, and that manliness, independence, self-restraint, and respect for law and order which has made" a government of the people, by the people, and for the people sible in this grand land of ours.

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