The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-09 00:00:00

'Ube court.

OSBORNE, TUESDAY.—Mr. Nash had the honour
of laying before the Queen and Prince his views of Windsor
Castle, which were much admired by het Majesty and hia
Royal Highness.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn left
Osborne for London this morning.
The Duchess of Kent arrived at her residence,
Clarence-house, St. James's, at four o'clock yesterday after-
noon, from Frogmore-house, Windsor. The Royal Duchess
on her way to town visited the Duchess of Gloucesttr at her
residence in Richmond-park.
The Queen Dowager received a visit on Monday,
at her residence,Bushy-house,Bushy-park, from the Duchess
of Lett.

Prince Lowenstein had an interview with Sir 0.
Grey yesterday at the Home-office.
A deputation including the Hon. F. Scott, M.P.,
Mr. M. Boyd. and Mr. C. D Logan, had an interview with
Berl Grey yesterday at the Colonial-office.
Mr. I. Wood, Chairman of the Excise, had an inter-
view wit► the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday at his
official residence in Downing-street.
The Marquis of Lansdowne (Lord President of the
Coundl) arrived in town yesterday from his scat, Dowood-
park, Wilts.

PORTSMOUTH, TURSDAY.—Her Majesty arrived off
the mouth of the harbour this afternoon at 4 o'clock, for
the purpose of witnessing some of the matches at the re-
gatta, towards which her Majesty and Prince Albert
graciously presented 501. as prizes for the watermen and
boats in ordinary. The ships at Spithead were decorated
with flags, and fired royal salutes as the royal party passed
Spithead. The guns of the platform battery fired a royal
salute as the royal yacht neared the town. The scene on the
arrival of her Majesty off the starting vessel was s xceedingly
brilliant, there being upwards of 100 yachts lying-to to
greet her Majesty, while the Rolla brig-of.war, and
a number of yachts dressed in flags, with their
yards manned, loudly cheered, accompanied by the discharge
of their small guns, the water being completely covered
with a whole host of smaller sailing and rowing boats crowd-
ed with weltdressed visitors. The bands of the regiments
in garrison were afloat, and played God save the Queen"
and " Rule Britannia" while her m jesty was pigging the
starting steam.vesgel. The royal standard, admiralty flag,
and union, were flying on hoard the royal yacht.

(From lut night's Gaulle.)
DOWNING-STREET, AUG. s.—The Queen has been
pleased to appint John S. bounders, Esq., to be Clerk of
the Circuits and Clerk of the Crown on the Circuits, and
George Botmord, Esq., to be Clerk of the Legislative
Council for the province of New Brunswick.
FOREIGN-OFFICE, AUG. s.—The Queen has been
pleased to approve of Mr. Horatio J. Sprague, as Consul at
Gibraltar for the United States of America.

FoRLIGN-OFFICE, At'G. 7.—The Queen has been
pleased to approve of M. Hippolyte Flury, as Consul at
Malta for the French Republic.

THE EXPLOSION AND LOSS OF LIFE IN
ALBANY-STREET.
This disastrous occurrence, of which a hurried
notice appeared in our yesterday's impress•on, has been far
more destructive in its consequences than was at first antici-
pated. Happily the sacrifice of human life has been greatly
exaggerated, only one person being a,tually dead and three
others severely injured ; but the destruction of property oc-
casioned by the explosion is most serious. Of the house
itself, in which the accident or;ginated, not a vestige remains.
That portion of the building not immediately destroyed by
the explosion was wholly consumed by the tire which oc•
mimed subsequently, and not one brick remains upon
another. The two adjoining houses—the Windsor Castle
Tavern on the lett, and a hosier and glover's shop en the
right hand, are shattered to their foundations, and
the front wall of the latter was expected to fall during
the whole of yesterday. The surrounding property is
injured to an extent which would not be credible to any
except an eye witness, and how so much devasta-
tion could have been accomplished without a greater sacrifice
of human life is extraordinary. The surveyors who emanated
the district yesterday report that 100 houses have been more
or less injured by the explosion, and it is certain that up-
wards of 2,000 squares of glass have been broken. Thirty
houses on the opposite side of the street, and about a dozen
on each aide of the scene of the accident, are shattered : the
damage also extends over a number of bousesin Ernest-street
and Little Albany-street, and even so tar as Chester-terrace,
in the Regent's-park Thsre seems no reason to doubt that
gas and gas alone war the cause of the accident.
It appear, that Mr. Loten, the owner of the premises,
with his wife and child, had been spending the day in the
country, leavia g his brother and sister-in-law, a young
woman named Jane Bird, in charge of the premises. During
the past few days a strong smell et gas had been experienced
on toe premises, and workmen had made repeated examina-
tions of the maia pipes, but without being able to trace out
the cause. On Monday night about nine o'clock the house
was closed, and Mr. Loten and his sister retired up stein.
Whilst there they found the smell of gas gettirg stronger,
but as it was of such frequent occurrence very little rotten
was taken of it. At a few minutes before ten o'clock
Mary Bentley, the nurse maid (since dead), went to
the upper floor, and informed Mr. Loten that the supper
was ready ; at the same time another servant went out to
purchase some tire wood, leaving the nurse-maid at the door
whilst she went. The parties up stairs came down, and
having catered the back-parlour they found a candle burn-
ing on the table and everything appeared perfectly sate with
the exception of the strong smell of gas. They went to the
front shop, and the moment they opened the door the explo-
sion occurred, which blew Mr. Loten and his sister through
the back.parlour window into the garden. At the
same time the nurse-maid, who was standing at the
street-door, was blown completely over the road,
and forced with such violence against the iron railings
round one of the kitchen areas as to break the solid
metal into several pieces. A man, who was pas-
sing alnag with his cart, was forced out of
his vehicle, and severely injured; a lad, named James Stan-
lite, in the employ of Miss Warraker, the bookseller, of the
same street, was blown across the carriage-way and also
severely injured. He is still remaining in the hospital in a
very precarious condition. At the name moment the iron
gratings and window shutters of Mr. Loten's premises,
together with chairs, tables, and other articles of furniture,
were forced over the matt, and having carried away the shop
front of the premises opposite belonging to Mr. Ciihbonn, No.
P 3, sundry pieces of furniture were carried into the latter pre-
DliteP, and heel! g made their exit at the back ',truck the
houses in Cheater terrace, a distance of nearly 200 feet, where
&considerable quantity of window glass was also demolished.
The ft aoring*cf the adjoining house, belonging to Mr. Brown,
lineodmper, were lifted up, the walls were shattered, the
furniture hurled into the street, anal a female named Orrick
was thrown down and severely injured. The whole of the
windows and frames in the Windsor Castle Tavern were de-
stroyed, and the building in several places set on fire. Several
of the inhabitants residing opposite were struck by the bricks
and tu-riture entering their premises ; but fortunately none
of them were dangerously injured.
The motrent Mr. Loten's brother could extricate himself
fr.en the ruins in the yard, he succeeded, after considerable
trouble, in getting his sister from beneath the rubbish, and,
by scab' g a wall 10 feet high, he mansged to draw up his
relative. Both were very considerably burnt, and were re-
moved to the hospital. It has been ascertained that no other
parties except the three before alluded to were in the pre-
mises when the disaster o: tuned.
During yesterday afternoon,, Mr. Toplis, the suiveyor tG
the Sun } ire-office, and Mr. Hodgman, the sesessor of losses,
visited the ruins for the purpose of ascertaining the amount
of mischief done. They were of opinion that no explosion
of similar violence had ever taken place in the metropolis,
sad it wan a ma:ter of astonishment hoe no large a quantity
of gas as must have accumulated in the shop could have
occurred.
The moment at which the accident took place is accu-
rately marked by several clocks in the neighbourhood, and
especially by a large dial at the Windsor Castle Tavern,
which stands precisely at seven minutes par 10 o'clock.
The inquest upon the unfortunate deceased in all.
probability, be held this evening.

THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY
AND THEIR ENGINE DRIVERS. Last evening an
adjourned meeting of engine drivers on the London and
North Western Railway was held at the Railwry Tavern,
Hampstead•road, to consider the question pending between
them and the direetore.-24t. James Brown occupied the
chair, and about 150 drivers were present —The Chairman
read a speech, which recapitulated the grievance resulting
from the new classification of wages proposed by Mr.
:si'Connell, the superintendent of locomotives: " We an
perfectly satisfied, he said, with our wastes, but our move is
made because we see in the background the real object of
the new system—that of being subjected to the caprice of
the superintendent."—A variety of statements were made to
show that great danger resulted to the public from the
course being pursued by the company. 250 resignations had
been sent in, and the men intended to adhere to them.—
After thanks to the chairman the meeting separated.

THE FIRE IN AMEN-CORNER.—The origin of this
fire has been traced to the following cause :—The none who
had been attending Mn. Dale, on leaving one of the rooms
ill
with a lighted candle in her hand, accich.n4 i sited the
curtains of the bed, and in an instant the retie came en-
veloped in flames. Fortunately, Mn. Dale.= child
were got out in safety. Owing to tb.e storettga4 ilaheir
buildings the fire spread so furiously that at mee Hme *I.
)
neighbouring residences appeared doomed to destruct!
The firemen, however, by scaling the wife of the adjellik
ing premises, succeeded in cutting lof f Atte finhtt_epretbet qi ,
thirear
the destructive element ; but the Kadv..ll4lA—
prestirm ii nr7 maiusrstAti --•--,.., -- .'. .
4.)5, /,..::r.. c.
• .1 - 'N.
14'
..... :,

.11 \ 0

I

l
1