were all to speak their minds, would demand the preservation of the Sabbath. They have the deepest interest in demanding it; for if all the restraints of religion were removed, our national prosperity and our political freedom would soon depart, to return no more. But what could not be done directly, and at once, may be done gradually, and too effectually, if the Sabbath should be secularized."

From Philadelphia.

"That the recognition of the Sabbath, in all the institutions of the country, as is shown in the usages of Congress and of our courts of justice, in the execution of the laws, &c., and the peculiar sanction with which it is guarded by our State laws, induce your memorialists to hope that the exception to the general observance of a day of rest, which is found in the Postoffice Department, and which is but of recent practice, will receive the attention of Congress."

From Bedford County, Tenn.

"We rejoice that the sacred institutions of religion are so generally respected by the laws of our highly favored country; yet we regret that the Sabbath, which is the holy of the Lord, and honorable, is, by the authority of the rulers of our nation, violated in one important case; we mean the mail and Postoffice Department.

"The laws of our happy country, (that is, the laws of the several States,) say, 'No work shall be done on the Sabbath, by persons of any class,'—yet the law to which we refer says, that 'carriers of mails, postmasters, and clerks, shall work on that holy day.'"

From John Cotton Smith and others, Conn.

"Your petitioners have long perceived, with the deepest regret, that the attempts of the State authorities to enforce the due observance of the Sabbath have been greatly obstructed, if not defeated, by persons acting under authority derived from the Postoffice Department. If the General Government actually possesses the right thus practically to annul a salutary law of

the several States, and one which is founded upon the DIVINE COMMAND, it is hoped, that at least a spirit of comity and conciliation will prevent its further exercise.

"But your petitioners presume, that no such right is claimed by the national legislature, believing, as they do, that no such right exists. Surely no express authority to contravene the injunction of the Supreme Lawgiver will be found in the national charter; and none is given by implication, unless we admit the preposterous conclusion, that the people of these States, so highly distinguished by the favor of the Almighty, have intentionally sanctioned the violation of his laws. Persuaded, as your petitioners are, that the regulations of the General Postoffice, requiring mails to be transported and opened on the Lord's day, is alike unnecessary and unauthorized, and confiding in the wisdom and piety of the Congress of the United States, they do most respectfully and earnestly entreat, that a prompt and effectual remedy may be provided for the evil of which they, in common with all the reflecting portion of our fellow citizens, have just reason to complain."

From Washington County, Pa.

**"If these things are true, have we not reason to deprecate the judgments of heaven upon our nation, because of the extent to which this offence is practiced, under the pretence of Postoffice regulations, which are repugnant to the laws of the Supreme Governor, and to the municipal enactments of every State in the Union.

"Your memorialists would respectfully inquire, upon what pretext is the law of God thus disregarded, and his sovereignty thus insulted ?"

From Bedford, West Chester County, N. Y.

"The religious freedom secured by the Constitution to every citizen, is infringed by a law that offends the consciences of multitudes, and exacts from Postmasters and others services forbidden by the religion which most of them profess."

From the City of Boston.

"We rejoice in the principles of universal religious toleration on which our General Government is founded; and we would by no means desire that Congress should ever have the constitutional power of interfering in matters of religion. All that we request is, that the powers of the Government, given for good and legitimate objects, should not be used to weaken the influence of religion, and thus deprive us of the valuable privileges transmitted to us by our ancestors."

From Bedford County, Tenn.

"We humbly conceive these things ought not so to be, and trust that while we as a nation feel ourselves so highly indebted to the Giver of all good, you, in your wisdom, will say, 'Henceforward there shall be, in the mail department, no infringement of the sacred claims of the day of God.'"

From Winnsboro, Fairfield District, S. C.

"It is admitted that virtue is essential to the existence of a free government, and civil institutions; that dissipation of morals, if it become general, would soon shake the foundation of our national edifice, and sweep away our civil privileges. As the Sabbath is the grand instrument of giving tone and direction to morals, its strict observance we regard as all-important to sustain the civil liberties of our country."

From the Postmaster at Otter Bridge, Bedford County, Va., ́and vicinity.

"Your memorialists would beg leave to suggest, that the stability and prosperity of our happy government depend, in a great measure, on the intelligence, morality, and virtue of the people; that religion exalteth a nation; that sin is a reproach to any people; and that it is the direct way to call down the vengeance of heaven, when human laws are made to violate the laws of God."

From Wm. E. Channing and others, Boston.

"We regard the institutions of religion as important means of promoting that piety and virtue, on which the security of our rights and liberties chiefly depends; and we cannot but hope, that the sanction of government will not be given to measures, which threaten to impair their salutary influence."

From the City of Boston.

"Your memorialists would respectfully remind your honorable bodies, that the whole current of history and observation is in favor of the influence of the Sabbath upon the temporal prosperity of communities; that wherever this day has been consecrated to religious instruction, and to the duties of public and private worship, the people have been distinguished for industry, peaceable habits, and especially for that intelligence and personal virtue, that sense of justice, of individual rights, and of the responsibility of rulers and private men to the Sovereign Ruler of all, which are essential to the existence of a free government."

From Perry County, Ohio.

"Your memorialists represent, that the proper observance of the Sabbath, is no less a matter of sound policy, than of true piety; that good and pious men are scandalized by the growing disregard of such wise observance; and that the transportation and opening of the mails on that day have a direct tendency to destroy, in the minds of men, that piety and morality, so necessary to be cherished by a REPUBLICAN PEOPLE.

From Atwater, Portage County, Ohio.

"The undersigned, deeply solicitous for the welfare of our beloved country, and for the continued enjoyment and higher possession of that liberty, which constitutes her most distinguished characteristic; and fully believing that an encouragement to the due observance of the Christian Sabbath, in all the laws of our land, is essential to the proper security of her liberties, beg leave to present the following memorial, respectfully and earnestly soliciting your attention, as the constituted guardians of our re

public, to what we consider an evil, tending to the subversion of her freedom, her interests, and her happiness; besides operating, in some measure at least, as a present infringement upon the liberties of a portion of our fellow citizens."

From Ira David, Postmaster, and others, Vt.

"The observance of the commandment of God to keep holy the Sabbath day, we consider as necessary to national as to individual prosperity."

From Huntington County, Penn.

"We believe these practices [transporting and opening the mail,] to be injurious to the morals of a free people, and dangerous in their influence on the civil institutions of our country; that, in a Christian land, where the government of God is recognized, the observance of this day should be held sacred; and that the extensive violation of it, involves the destruction of civil liberty, and is contrary to the laws of God, and detrimental to the physical, civil, and moral good of the people."

From Lisbon, Conn.

"We believe morality and religion to be essential to the welfare of our republic; and that neither of them can remain secure, without a due observance of the Christian Sabbath."

From Greensburgh, Beaver County, Penn.

"The good sense of nations has taught them, that the restraints imposed by religion are all necessary to curb the passions and regulate the morals of society. By the Sabbath an opportunity is afforded to ministers to preach-to the people generally to hear the precepts of religion-and all to worship God. The Sabbath and its institutions seem to be appointed for, and admirably adapted to, preparing the human family for a future state of being."

From Northumberland County, Penn.

"We deem the Christian Sabbath a blessing to mankind;— a most effectual purifier of the public morals, enlightener of the