Bombarding a Scotch Port on the Sabbath.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 336, 23 January 1889, Page 3

Bombarding a Scotch Port on the Sabbath.

During the maaceuveis by the British hostile squadrons last spring 1 , on the south coast of Ireland, a fast corvette managed to run the blockade, and sailing for the North of Scotland,' she, metaphorically speaking, proceeded to capture all the ports, especially on the eastern coast. It so happened thab the vessel entered a small pore on Sunday morning and commenced bombarding an old fort mounted with guns that would have burst from rust if they had been fired. All the worshippers rushed out in terror at the sound of the heavy ordnance, while the preacher was left alone with his ecclesiavStical thunder. The affair was brought up in Parliament, the captain got a wigging, and the First Lord of the Admiralty apologised, with a broad grin concealed within his muttonchop whiskers. Here is another story that is almost as good : Lord Fitzhardinge and his friends, who have been shooting in the neighbourhood of Lairg, have occasionally taken a quiet drive or sail on a Sunday afternoon. In public meeting, under the chairmanship of Rev. Mr Noble, the local free kirk minister, it was resolved that ' pleasure sailing ' and ' driving about in vehicles ' were ' a profanation of the Sabbath, an offence and grief of the religious population, an annoyance and distraction of church-going people on their way to and from the sanctuary, and a general lowering ot the moral tone of the community.' These resolutions were forwarded to the parties concerned.