The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-03 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OW THE SUN.

Sin,—Let the opponents of the measure for opening
the Crystal Palace on the Sunday read the following ex-
tract from one of Theodore Hook's works (Peregrine
Bunce, vol. ii., p. 83, 84, 85) :
" It may offend some readers to know that Mr. Nob-
batop's dinners—that is to say, meetings of friends at
dinner—were regularly fixed for Sundays ; the true and
just reason for that innovatim as some people call it,
upon Christian, or rather Protestant propriety, being
that upon n 3 day, excepting the day of rest set apart for
abstinence from labour, could the indefatigable Nobbatop
find time or opportu city to exhibit his hospitality or
welcome his acquaintance. Whether this notion was
really and truly less pious or less virtuous than in the
times when the squire uniformly entertained the parson
of his parish at dinner on the Sunday ; or whether all
the Roman Catholics in the world are to be condemned
for ever for keeping Sunday as a holiday, after the holy
pai tof the day is past, who shall say ? But this we will
say—that attempting to deprive the working classes of
their air, their exercise, their amusements, and their one
day's hot dinner in the week, by a rigid enforcement of
Puritanical regulations which would have disgraced the
Commonwealth, are at once indicative of hypocrisy,
tyranny, and cruelty, and exhibits a spirit excited by a
desire to drive those who are inclined to religion into a
reckless disregard of all its just laws and ordinances. A
poor man must not be shaved on a Sunday morning to go
to church ; his wife must not send their dinner to be
baked, because it is wrong for bakers to work, while if
she stays at home to cook it, she must abstain from
divine service herself. In the afternoon they must not
indulge themselves with a cake and a glass of ale after a
healthful walk with their poor children. All public
houses are to be clos2d, all merriment is to be stopped,
and the day set apart by the Divinity, as a day of re-
creation, is to be made a day of g!oom and confinement
for those who, as we have just have but that one
day in the week in which they can enjoy air, exercise,
the society of their families, and the harmless amuse-
ments to which n far better days than these the much
better English people were universally accustomed."—
I am, &c., ANTI-HUMBUG.
Norwich, Sept. 1853.

EXPORTATION OF BULLION.—It is expected that the
shipments of silver to China and India, and of gold to
Alexandria for wheat, by the Indus, on the 4th instant,
will amount to a total of about 350,0001.
MRS. BEECHER STOWE.—Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe,
the authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabl.t, returned from the
continent last week much benefitted in health by her
quiet residence in Switzerland. During the past week
she has been on a visit to the family of the Messrs. Low,
her London publishers, whom she has just left for Liver-
pool, where she will remain plior to her departure for
the nitceodmSmtjaE.stseiso,
NperotphelANQructlißoy, onlNWTOediuHeEsdayneXt.
THE
CORPORA-
TION OF LONDON.—The commissioners appointed to
conduct this inquiry—Sir John Pattison, Henry La-
bouchere, Esq., and G. Cornwall Lewis, Esq.—have
met and appointed their secretary, and have arranged to
commence their labours early in the ensuing month. The
precise day is not yet fixed, but it will be either Monday,
the 3d, or Monday, Oct. 10 ; and in the course of a few
days the requisite notices will be issued to the corporation.
The inquiry will be conducted at Guildhall, probably in the
court appropriated to the sitting of the Common Coun-
cil. It will be an open court ; and it is understood that
the commissioners have determined on hearing all the
evidence that may be tendered to them, either for or
against the corporation. Among the first witnesses ex-
amined will be Mr. Merewether, the Town Clerk, the Re-
corder, the City Solicitor, the Chamberlain, and such of
the Aldermen and Common Councillors as may choose
to tender their evidence.
SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT WIMBORNE - Two PRI-
SONERS SUFFOCATED.—A very melancholy occurrence
has just taken place at Wimborne, by which the lives of
two unfortunate men were lost in an attempt to escape
from the lock-up houses. They had been apprehended
by the officers of justice upon charges of vagrancy, hav-
ing been found begging, one of them upon the pretence
of selling lucifer matches. Their names wore Wilson
and Curtis. The constables locked them up in the usual
place of custody, and nothing particular occurred till six
o'clock in the morning, when smoke was observed issuing
from the lock-up, which was found to be on fire. The
doors were forced with all speed ; but the density of the
smoke fork time defeated all efforts to get out the pri-
soners. At length they were got out, and Wilson was
found to be dead, and his person very much burnt.
Curtis was alive, but very ill, and he expired shortly
afterwards. Previous to his death he made a statement,
from which it appeared that Wilson had fired the place
in the hope of burning down the door, and thus enabling
them to escape. He stated that Wilson piled straw
matchesescaped
notice which
hea
fi no sutntdh ei
nd o
ho
s, and
kignited
and it
withNV e some
d
most rapidly, and they then threw water upon it, in the
hope of extinguishing it ; but unhappily they so much
increased the smoke in their efforts that it overcame
them, and poor Wilson was very soon suffocated. Curtis
expressed his belief that the burns on the body occurred
after death. An inquest was held on Wilson's body,
before Mr. Castleman, coroner, and a verdict in accord-
ance with the facts returned. The jury appended to
their verdict a presentment respecting the state of the-
prison.

_
LIVERPOOL ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The attendance
has been excellent during the last month at this delight-
ful and popular place of recreation. A capital
comic
pantomime, in which the extraordinary talent of the
Leclercq family is displayed to great advantage, has
proved a most attractive feature of amusement. The
unequalled combination of rapidity, firmness, and light-
ness of execution exhibited in the dancing of Miss Louise
Leclercq would render her a first-rate metropolitan fa-
vourite, and a most valuable acquisition to the manage-
ment of any of the principal London theatres.

imMONIIMIImim