The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-08 00:00:00

MARCH 8, 1856. upper tiers of boxes—in a moment the whole roof was on fire, and the doom of the building was sealed. No human effort could have saved it. In twenty minutes from its first discovery the fire burst through the roof, throwing dense columns of clear bright flame high into the air. The whole of London was illuminated with the red reflected light. St. Paul's looked as if encased in burnished gold, the river glistened with the broad glare, while in the extreme distance the dark lines of the Surrey hills could be seen in bold relief. The engines of the different fire brigades arrived rapidly on the spot, but against such a burning fiery furnace their puny efforts were of little avail. Quickly on the spot, and with ample supply of water, all they could do was to pre serve neighbouring buildings not yet ou fire. Never did the principle of putting out fire by water appear so thoroughly inefficacious as o i this occasion. The streams of water which were poured into the building were as effectual as those from sixpenny syringes would have been against a burning hay stack. This vast concentrated body of flame, sweeping round and round the building—roaring and revelling in its destruction—was beyond present control. '1 here was nothing left but to let it burn out, and take every precaution to prevent it ex tending beyond the limits of the four walls. The fall of the great chandelier was distinctly heard, and at half-past five the whole roof fell in with a tremen dous crash, throwing up showers of sparks and burn ing charcoal. For four hours the fire raged with more or less intensity, seizing upon each plank and platform, and every combustible material within the building, until it fairly burnt itself out, and was left nothing to do bat to smoulder over the ruin it had created. So great was the fervent beat of this vast furnace of living flame that the neigh bouring houses crackled and steamed as if in the " sweat of their great agony " at the sight before them. So rapid was the fire that little or no property could be saved. M. Costa's piano was saved, and Mr. Anderson was fortunate enough to get out his conjuring apparatus. A few of Mr. Gye's pictures and some of his personal property were saved, and also the cash-boxes and some important documents. All belonging to the estahlishment exerted them selves manfully, but there was little time left them for much success. One man, however, a humble bill-sti ,, ker named Burgess, is said to have stuck to the work with more than professional zeal, and to h ave personally secured at great risk much of the valuable property saved. The cause of the fire will probably be never ex, plainined. Many persons attribute it to the intense heat generated by the great chandelier having been kept lighted for nearly thirty-six consecutive hours. It is certain that the fire first broke out in the carpenter's shop just over the chandelier. This shop was filled with light combustible materials, and there appears some reason in the supposition. Mr. Gye arrived in London early on Thursday morning, and proceeded at once to visit the ruins and make arrangements. The walls of the theatre having been pronounced unsafe, are to be taken down, and an official inquiry will be held with a view to ascertain the cause of the fire. The ruins of course excite great interest. Her Majesty, Prince Albert, the Duke of Cambridge, and many members of the nobility, have visited them. The safest spot is through the former private en trance to the Queen's box in Prince's-court. Passing through the narrow passage, you come out on a level with the grand tier, a little to the right of where once stood the royal box, and there around you lie all that remains, the " disjeeta membra," of this famous house. The destruction is complete. Heaps of smouldering ashes mark the site of 1.1. e grand tier; a few pilasters in the angles of the wall distinituisli the tiers one above the other. In the centre, nothing remains of the pit or stage but the low, solid semicircular brick foundations, and the tall arched passages for the side scenes. The bare brick smoking walls, here and there broken or falling, mount high into the air and inclose the whole. Between the body of the theatre and the side offices the ruin is more detailed, and the spaces less clear. Huge broken beams, fallen walls, heaps of charred timber, ceilings half down, masses of char coal and dust, are all inextricably jammed together. The loss is immense : 800,0001. is stated as the value of the property destroyed. The building and property were only insured to a very trifling amount. Add to this the deprivation to all lovers of music, the chance that the house will never be rebuilt—for it is reported that the Duke of Bedford will not renew the lease, being desirous of t urn i ng th e groun d t o more pecuniary advantage by letting it out as a flower market —and the loss may well be characterised as a great national calamity. SIR G. GREY'S NEW POLICE BIT.L Wits discussed St a Special Court of Common Council held on Monday. The court was unusually crowded. The report of he consolidated committee appointed to consider the uppf on 1 No nlinl the flam ill or look ghat distt in 1 brig a bu litth sup' sery Nev appe The bull syrit stacl ERNE reve cont out, tend fall 4 at h! dour ing 4 mon and with and ruin of t 1 bour it SW then Sc coup Mr. cold and also Al salve for t bill- t he h ave value TI plair beat kept It is carp was appe M mon and bavi dowi to a! T M a i man The tran thro with once that bou! smo a fe the rem sem pass smo T 1101; Bet! the clea chat coal T valu prof Add chat reps. leas peer mar grea 31 Sp The he c( THE PRESS. provisions of the bill was first read. The committee briefly characterised the bill as an infringement of the rights and liberties of the people, and certain virtually to reduce the responsible local administra tion of free municipal constitutions to the condition of mere agents of the Crown. Several members of the council addressed the meeting at considerable length. Mr. W. H. Valiance thought that the Go vernment at present wanted to get both the sword and the constable's staff within their grasp ; but they had made so intolerable a mess in their manage ment of the one, that the people were not disposed to allow them to undertake the additional burden of the other. He regarded the measure as a great step towards centralisation, and was at a loss to conceive why on a question in which every Englishman had an interest derived from the free institutions of his Anglo Saxon ancestors, the corporation of London should stand by and mark unmoved the progress of centralisation : The centralisation of Liberalism was dangerous without being respectable, for it combined the vagaries of weakness with the spirit of meddling—it interfered with everybody else's business without having the capacity to manage its own. THE GERMAN HOSPITAL, DALSTON, held its eleventh anniversary festival on Wednesday, at the London Tavern. Lord Granville should have presided, but was absent from indisposition, and Mr. Meinertsha gen, one of the treasurers, ably filled the chair in his stead. The magnificent collection of 2,3001. was announced before the company separated. The diplomatic representatives of Prussia, Saxony, and the Hanse Towns, and Chevalier Hebeler; Revds. Dr. Kuper, L. Cappel, A. Walbaum ; J. F. Griining and A. Bach, Esqrs.; Mr. Walue, one of the con sulting surgeons; Drs. Sutro and Weber, physicians; and Mr. De Meric, the surgeon to the hospital, were among the company, which included many of the affluent and zealous friends of the institution, Eng lish as well as German. The Venerable Dr. Kuper, in an address full of kindly feeling for the poor and afflicted of his countrymen, perhaps, as be said, the last of the kind he might make, having attained the age of eighty-four, entreated those who would natur ally survive him to continue in future years their zealous support to the German Hospital. THE SOCIETY OF ARTS held a meeting on Wednes day evening, at which H.R.H. Prince Albert pre sided. Mr. C. W. Hoskyns read a paper on the pro gress of English agriculture during the last fifteen years. In his remarks upon the present system Mr. Hoskyns urged the necessity of good drainage, the use of guano, the encouragement of agricultural mechanics, and more perfect returns of agricul tural statistics. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in moving the vote of thanks to Mr. Hoskyns, said that the future progress of agriculture would mainly depend upon the close and intimate union and the hearty co-operation of science, art, manufacture, and commerce, and that the primary condition of a successful progress for the future would be the ob taining of accurate and complete agricultural statistics. THE NATIONAL REFORMATORY UNION held their first meeting last Saturday, in the rooms of the Law Amendment Society, Waterloo-place, for the purpose of formally organising an association. Among those present were—Viscount Ebrington, M.P., Lord Robert Cecil, M.P., Sir Stafford Northcote, M.P., Lord Dwaine, M.P., Sir Thomas Winnington, M.P., the Hon. Mr. Liddell, M.P., Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P., Mr. Adderley, M.P., Mr. Justice Coleridge, Mr. Baron Alderson, several managers of reformatories, and many other distinguished supporters of the movement. The following are declared to be the objects of the institution :—To collect and diffuse informaion bearing on the reformation of criminals; to promote the formation of reformatory institutions where needed, and generally to advance the further practical development of the reformatory movement; to consider and promote such legislative measures as are still required for the better care and reformation of youthful offenders ; to assist in the placing out and subsequent guardianship of young persons leav ing reformatories; to consider and promote means for the employment and restoration to society of discharged prisoners; to promote the practical train ing and preparation of efficient masters and teachers for reformatory institutions. After an explanatory report of the objects of the meeting was read, it was unanimously agreed to solicit H.R.H. Prince Albert to become president of the society. The vice presidents of the society elected were :—The Mar• quis of Westminster, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Brougham, Lord John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Bishop of Lichfield, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and Mr. Baron Alderson. The election of other officers also took place, and some other formal business having been transacted, the proceedings terminated. TIM REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S returns for the week show a mortality 221 below, and of births 401 above the average. The total numbers being . , deaths 1,029 births 4.976. Vrairinclal. COLONEL WYNNE'S REPORT upon the state of the Eastern Counties Railway between Norwich, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft has this week been pub lished. That branch of the line appears to be in the most insecure condition. The timbers of the bridges and the piles of the viaducts are reported as being generally in a dangerous state of decay, the perma nent ways imminently insecure from deficiency of ballast and rotten sleepers, and anything short of a thorough and complete repair strongly objected to ; for the progress of decay is so rapid, says the report, that by the time any temporary xepairs on the five hundred miles of railway were completed it would be time to commence and go over them again. The Board of Trade have communicated the report to the directors. THE MARCHIONESS OF LONDONDERRY entertained on Saturday last, at Chilton-moor, four thousand of the colliers employed on her ladyship's property near Durham. THE QUESTION OF OPENING THE MANCHESTER BOTANICAL-GARDENS on Sundays, was tried at the annual meeting last week. A poll was held, and resulted in 36 votes against the motion, to 293 in favour of the same. The question was tried last year and lost, though by a greater majurity, about a hundred more members this year having voted in favour of opening the gardens. A MUSEUM, entitled the Queen's College Museum, is about to be formed at Birmingham. Promises of support from all quarters have been given, and it is hoped that a museum worthy of the midland coun ties will be founded. A HANDSOME MARBLE TABLET has just teen erected at St. James's, Taunton, to the memory o the late Colonel Yea, commanding the 7:h Fusiliers and who was killed at the head of the assaulting column in the attack on the Redan on the 18th June, 1855. The tablet, erected by his sister, bears an appropriate inscription. _ _ . - - AN ACCIDENT occurred at the Woodhouse Junction of the Manchester and Stafford Railway, on Saturday, through an empty passenger-train running into a luggage-train. Several carriages were smashed, much damage done, and one man, Thomas Wilson, a plate layer, run over and seriously injured. ADMIRAL Sul. THOMAS PASLEY, on his return home last week from the Black Sea, met with an enthusi astic reception at Windermere from the inhabitants. The peasants of mere and fell took the horFes from the gallant admirals carriage, and dragged him in triumph to his house. A triumphal arch had been erected, and flags waved for some distance down the road. The gallant admiral expressed his hearty thanks for the kind reception, and entertained his warmhearted friends at an hotel for the evening. THE DIVERS employed on the Josephine Willis are gradually clearing away the wreck. Much personal property has been rescued this week, and it is hoped that the greater part of the cargo may be saved. ONE OF THE COLLIERS in the pits at Dowlais, Gla morgan, on Friday week, on coming out of the pit, accidently put out hts light. The poor fellow groped about, lost his way, and ultimately got into a deserted part of the pit, where he lay for seven days undis covered, in spite of the most vigorous search. When found he was at the point of death from starvation, but is now slowly recovering. Mn. SHIRLEY BROOKS, in the course of his speech at Boston on Monday, made the following reference to his brother, the late Mr. David Brooks : Yon will all remember that, some twenty-two months ago, one of the noblest armies ever despatched from Eng land went forth to the strife in the Crimea. A few months la_er, and 12,500 of those gallant soldiers were lying corpses—victims, not to the sward of the enemy, but mar tyrs to an atrocious system of maladministration—mart3rs to the grossest and wickedest folly that ever was permitted to deal with the lives of men. (Cheers.) Forgive me if I speak more warmly and earnestly than our brief acquain tance might seem to warrant. I have good right to raise my voice against the system. It robbed me of a young brother. When the excitement of approaching war began to be felt, be, a bold and energetic young man, was in. spired with a resolution to join the army, and without waiting for advice or assistance, he volunteered into the Rile Brigade, from which he resisted all attempts to re move him, and sailed with his comrades for the East. He shared in the glories of the Alma, where be did a soldier's duty, but shortly afterwards he was seized with the epide mic of the climate. Had the most ordinary common sense arrangements been made for the sick soldiery, he would in all human probability have survived to serve his country, to witness the brilliant madness of Balaklava, to share in the undying glories of the soldiers battle--Inkermann. But the accursed system of mismanagement was then in full play—there was as yet no Miss Nightingale to shame our authorities into sense and humanity—and my lin ther's young life, like the lives of thousands of your brothers' lives, was cast away : he sleeps by the great hospital of Scutari. Against that abominable system the British press bas, to its everlasting honour, made unceasing war. ON SUNDAY last, the 2nd inst., the house of the Rev. P. Fosbrooke, Lockington, near Derby, watt broken into while all the family were at church. All the communion plate, and some belonging to the rev. gentleman, was CATTiltcl of: 227