The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-09 00:00:00

TUE SUN, 1 ON DON, MONDAY MORNING, MAY 9, 1842.

INFANT ORPHAN ASYLUM-.

We have much pleasure in calling the attention of our;
readers to the merits of this interesting charity,- whose
advertisement appeared in The Sun of Saturday. His
Grace the Duke of Wellington has been induced, by its
urgent claims, to undertake to preside at the anniversary
dinner on Wednesday next, at Stationers'-hall, and we
sincerely trust the, exertions of the Stewards will be
crowned with the success which such a cause so eminently
deserves. The following extracts from a circular issued by
the Committee, in connexion with the erection of the
new Asylum at Wanstead, will not only exhibit the na-
ture and utility of the charity,. but,also, we hope, secure
that measure &'public sympathy arid support which is so
much required to sustain the managers in their important
charge :

The charity has been instituted, fourteen years. It
receives the infant orphan only, and there is none other
of its kind. Its purpose is to board, clothe, nurse' and
educate these children until after seven years of age,
when they are eligible for admission to other institutions.
One hundred and eighty-five of this class of orphans are
now on the establishment, among them are the children
of clergymen, of officers in the army and navy, of mer-
chants (once in affluence), and other respectable classes.
The elections are held half-yearly, and the admissions
are upwards of fifty annually. Not only does so young
a family, all under seven years of age, give much more
trouble, and bring greater expense than elder children ;
but, what at first may not be so evident, is an important
fact, that they require much more room for their healthy

accommodation. For this purpose the Committee have
been obliged to add house to house, till they find them-
selves in possession of not less than three, and still re-
quiring greater space."

And again—" We trust that the great importance of
the subject will not only be deemed an adequate apology
for this appeal, but that it may dispose you candidly and
generously to consider how you may best respond to it.
Let it still be remembered that the object is great, and
that it requires earnest and united effort. That we are
proposing. to raise an institution which, by its magnitude
and readiness to receive all, without regard to place, will
take a national character ; that it is for the orphan, de-
prived of his natural guardians ; that it is for the infant
orphan, the most needy and unhappy of his class, for
which public charity has done nothing ; that it is, there-
fore, not a rival, but a supplement to other excel-
lent charities ; and that it proposes to shed its
parent-like protection, for ages to come, over
thousands of fatherless and motherless diklren. Is
not ,this the highest walk of charity ? Does not the
Divine Providence seem to permit such occasions, that
we may imitate its own benignity ? Can religion find a
better expression, than thus to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction ? Can wealth find a better ser-
vice than to provide for their need, and -soothe their
sorrows ? Can the heart know a sweeter return, than is
found in the widow's blessing and the orphan's prayer ?
Can Christianity herself be more honoured and served,
than by showing that she provides for both worlds—that
where she erects the Church, she also raises the hospi-
tal—that she consults man's two-fold nature and total
happiness—and that she passes over our sad and sinful
world, like an angel from heaven, breathing hope and
promise for " the life that now is, and for that which
is to come ?"

MURDER OF MR. EWING, AT THE

MOBILE THEATRE.

Mr. Ewing was an actor of considerable talent in the
United States, and his wife, in conformity with a prac-
tice adopted by many married ladies ou the stage, per-
formed under her maiden name. She is the daughter of
Mr. Hamblin, the proprietor of the Bowery Theatre,
New York, who under the dynasty of Mr. Osbaldiston,
at Covent Garden Theatre, went through his range of
Shakspearian characters with great eclat.
We copy the following account of the murder from
the .A'ew Orleans Picayenne _

"This terrible event—the murder of a husband by the
wife—has of course caused great excitement at Mobile.
Up to Saturday night the murderess had not been ar-
rested. The Ledger gives full particulars. t appears
that Mr. Ewing and Miss Hamblin were ma'ried, and
for a long time lived very unhappy•together. Recently,
however, they agreed to separate, and it was the design
of the latter to leave Mobile on Sunday morning for St.
Louis. Whether a quarrel occurred on the Friday pre-
vious to the perpetration of this horrible act is not
known ; but during the first act of the play many of the
audience remarked a peculiarity of conduct in the par-
ties towards each other on the stage. After the falling
of the curtain the deceased proceeded to his dressing-
room, where he was.followed by his wife. Some dispu-
tation, it is said, occurred there relative to the wardrobe,
when the conflict ensued which terminated the life of the
deceased. There were three wounds inflicted, one of
which grazed the arm ; the others were in the body. The
most fatal one was a little on the side, just below the ribs.
The Ledger says, it is the opinion now that the wound
was not sufficient to cause death so rapidly, but
it is supposed that its fatality was aggravated by
the falling of the deceased. The manner of Miss Ham-
blin after the conflict was such as to lead to the supposi-
tion that the act, so far as death is concerned, was
unpremeditated. She inquired several times whether
the deceased was much hurt, and not until there was a
certainty of his death did she attempt an escape. The
doors were closed upon her, but she leaped from one of
the windows, about ten feet from the ground, and so
escaped. She was in her stage attire (the dress of a
page), but had thrown over it a coarse gown. This act,
taken in connexion with the time, place, &c., is certainly
one of the most solemn on record. The sudden transi-
tion of the dqeased from the miniie world of the stage
to the illimitable and unfathomable future ; its unex-
pectedness, and the meretricious attire in which the act
was committed, form altogether an appallingand dreadful
picture."

BURIAL OF THE DEAD.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—May I crave the indulgence of the insertion
of this note in a corner of your valuable journal. I
feel confident that, after having perused the statement
therein contained, you will consider that the circum-
stances of the case (which have produced a powerful
sensation among the inhabitant's of Biompton and its
vicinity) fully warrant their being made public. A.
few days back, a private of the 2d Life Guards, wish-
ing to have his deceased child interred in Brompton
church-yard, and having paid the accustomed fees for
&c., at the time appointed,
opening the ground,
attended the remains of his child to the grave. The
coffin having been lowered, the father expressed a
desire to see the grave filled up, upon which a violent
altercation ensued betwixt him and the churchwarden,
who refused to comply with the father's request, on
the plea that he must wait till some more interments
had taken place in the same grave. Eventually, ,two
policemen were called, and they were ordered by the
churchwarden to take the soldier into custody, which
they refused to do, and, after some more disputing,
the gave was filled up; Not long after, the funeral of
a private soldier took place, when the same seene was
repeated with the same churchwarden ; but the cor-
poral, who was left behind by the officer in command,
having firmly insisted upon seeing the grave filled up,
it was at length done. • Now, Sir, it has come to my
knowledge since the- time above referred to, that in
many instances (although the regular fees have been
paid for interment) the coffins have been low-'
ered, a few planks placed over the top of the grave,
and, despite the noxious exhalation that must arise
from bodies so placed, the grave has been suffered to
remain in that open state till the churchwarden thinks
it is full enough, and then it is filled up. These facts,
disgraceful to the authors of them, and which, in my
opinion, concern.the,pliblic materially, hardly require
comment, but which your many readers can com-
ment upon as they think proper: Apologizing for
thus troubling you, I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
Knightsbridge, May 5; 1842. , P.

RECOLLECTIONS OF, PEKIN.
BY A RUSSIAN TRAVELLER.

(Abridged from the Allgemeine Zeitung.)
In the first few days of our residence at Pekin, we
experienced so much inconvenience from our Eu-
ropean clothing, that we' made all possible . haste to
exchange it for the costume of the Chinese.
PALACE .AND RESIDENCES or PEKIN.—We no
sooner found ourselves equipped as by law established,
than we sallied forth in a small hired chaise to gratify
our curiosity with a sight of Pekin. We drove past
the Palace of the Emperor, who, however, only passes
the winter here, but the spring, summer, and autumn
at a country residence twelve miles oft the capital.
The town palace occupies an immense space, and con-
sists of a vast assemblage of houses of one story high,
covered with tiles. Each of these is separate, and
has its particular destination. In one,
Emperor ;
lives ; in another, transacts business ; a third. is
the residence of the Empress ; a fourth, of the
widow of the deceased E the Emperor
- a fifth
surrounded with a
sixth, those of the departed one ; others are con-
tainsinha-
the concubines of the reigning. sovereign, a
and attendants in
bitecountlessd by
st
high wall, within which none may enter without
wh eairrmcsh. i l dEr ea thuonuuscehiss,
permission. These are again enclosed in one general
wall, the gates of which open only to the courtiers,
and the outer inclosure alone is free to be entered by
the public. The shining yellow tiles covering the
roof of the Palace were all we were destined to behold
of it; and turning away after this scanty gratification,
we drove through a street which, like all the principal
ones, was distinguished for breadth and‘regularity,
but none are paved. In the middle of every main street
the earth is thrown up to the height of about three feet,
for foot passengers and light carriages ; those heavily
laden, and drawn by from five to seven mules, must
pass along the narrow paths at the side next the
houses ; but when, after heavy rain, these become
filled ' with impassable mud, even heavy vehicles
are allowed the advantage of the raised-road, which,
being broad, would be convenient enough, were it not
hemmed in by tents and booths, encroaching so much
on the pathway as scarceto leave room for two car-
riages to drive abreast. When the Celestial Majesty
goes out to take a drive, which happens several times
during the year, these baths are all cleared away,
and the road smoothed and covered with yellow sand,
that the inconveniences of the streets of the capital
ma'y not be experienced by its ruler.
STREETS AND SHOPS OF PEKIN.—The immense po-
pulation of Pekin occasions the streets to be filled the
whole day with an uninterrupted succession of ve-
hicles, proceeding in two lines in opposite directions:
Although the principal streets are sufficiently. wide,
the by.bizeetk are 1,0 uarretvv, that two carriages eau.