The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-28 00:00:00

EXPLOSION OF GAS IN LONDON WALL.

Yesterday afternoon, about twenty minutes before
5 o'clock, the inhabitants of London Wall and Finsbury-
circus were greatly alarmed by a tremendous report re-
sembling that of a heavy piece of ordnance, which was
soon ascertained to have proceeded from an explosion of
several hundred feet of gas at the corner of Circus-place
and London Wall. The Equitable Gee Company are
having new main pipes laid down on the north side of Lan-
din Wall, for which purpose a deep trench has been
excavated close to t►e kerbstones. Yesterday, • length of
pipe, exteadiog from Finabury.pavement to Circus-
place, was completed, and a tight plug, consisting of spun-
yarn, &e., inserted in the mouth of the last pipe, at the
gorier of Circus-place, in order that the main might be
filled with gas for the usual supply of the inhabitants and
the street lamps. After the pipe had been filled from the
works in the Curtain-road, three men, via., Redmond
Welch, Patrick Kilfye, and another whose name is not as-
certained, were sent into the trench to prove whether there
was any escape from the plug,by waving a piece of lighted tow
round the month of the pipe. Unfortunately, in this In-
stance, there had been a considerable escape; for no sooner
was the light applied than a terrific explosion took place,
knocking down and scorching in • dreadful manner those
Who were in the trench. Simultaneously the ping was
blown from the pipe to • considerable distance. The vio-
lence of the concussion broke the windows of Maus.
Pritchard Brothers, tobacco manufacturers, London Wall.
On the smoke clearing off, it was found that Welch and
Kilfye were so severely injured, that they, as well as their
mate, were instantly removed to St. Bartholomew's 11asei.
tal, where they were promptly attended to by the surgical
Fair, one being placed in Kenton's and two in Darker's
Ward. On inquiry last night, it was stated that the inju-
ries were very estensire, and that two of the men were in •
precarious state.

TIIL SCOTCH BENCII.—It is rumoured at present
that previous to the commencement of the winter session of
the Court la November next, one of the Inner House
Jalges, who if in rather • delicate state of health, is to
tender his resignetion, and that in consequence the Lord
Advocate will be elevated tattle Beach.—Edinburgh Witness.

LORD PALSIERSTON AT PERTII.

The freedom of the burgh of Perth was conferred
by the Town Council of that city upon Viscount Palmer-
lion, on Monday last, in the City Ball there, in presence of
about 2,000 persons.
The Lord PILOTObr, in presenting the burgess ticket, dwelt
on some of the more prominent p iints in the career of the
noble lord, and concluded by saying —I will only add, that
it would have been very delightful, indeed, for this country
had you at this day, and in this trying crisis for Europe,
been in the office you so long and ably held. (Loud cheers.)
I do not insinuate any reflection on your successor in office ;
but I know that the whole world would have had great
confidence in your experience, your wisdom, your decision,
and in your liberal spirit. But my lord, there is one cum-
fort that, though you are not its the broreign•ottice, you are
in the cabinet, and I trust that the saute rule that was once
propounded by your lordship, that no business should be
transacted with foreign powers without, in the first place,
submitting the matter to the whole cabinet, shall now be
enforced, and that we will thus have the benefit of your
experience and your wisdom. (Cheers.)
Lord PALMBRATON, in acknowledgment of the honour,
said—l can assure you, thy Lord Provost and gentlemen of
the corporation, that I feel most deeply sensible of the great
honour which you have jut conferred upon me. It is a
matter of great pride end satisfaction to me to find myself
thus in some degree connected with this great and distin-
guished body—the city of Perth. I have viewed, with the
greatest admiration, the magnificent country which sur-
rounds what I may venture to call your capital—a country
which, when I compare it with the state in which I saw it,
I will not say how many years ago, when, as a young
tourist, I passed through it, excites my unbounded admi-
ration for the intelligence, the industry, and the skill of
the people who inhabit it. I may, indeed, say that your
country is a kind of emblem of your national character;
for while, en the one hand, it presents those bold eleva-
tions which are the gift of nature, on the other hand it
exhibits the highest cultivation which human skill can
confer. (Cheers.) My birth and my interests lie, in-
deed, in other parts of the United Kingdom ; but I may
claim, at lent, one kind of tie with Scotland. For what
signifies it if a man should be bora at any place, or of what
practical value are his interests, if he has not had the
benefit of that cultivation which education bestows? And
wherever any important part of a mares education has been
given him, to that place must his affections recur during
the whole portion of his subsequent life. Now, gentlemen,
it was my good thane to pus three years in Edinburgh,
under the roof and under the instruction of that great and
good man, Dugald Stewart—(cheers)--a man no less distin-
guished for the great capacity of his mind, for his powers to
rise to the highest summit of science, and to penetrate the
deepest mysteries of metaphysics, than for thou sterling
qualities of heart and of disposition which make talent
practically useful, and which add to the dignity of gehius.

(Cheers.) Gentleman The Lord ProaVet boa bean

kind enough to advert to some passages in my pub-
lic life. lie but rightly interpreted the sentiments
whin guided me, when he said that I embraced
heartily and cordially those principles of parlia-
mentary and municipal reform which, however much they
excited doubts in the minds of many men at the time when
they were broached, have, I think, now gained universal
concurrence by the practical experience of good which they
have conferred on all classes of this great empire—(chcen)
—for whatever opinions any man may have formed at the
time when that great battle was fought, there is not, I be-
lieve, an individual in the country who would now for an
instant contemplate any retrogression in regard to those
great measures. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Gentlemen, it
was, as the Lord Provost has been pleased to my, my anxious
desire while the charge of our foreign relations was corn.
emitted to my bands, in the first place, to maintain unim-
paired the interests, and untarnished the honour and dig-
nity of the country. Bat, beyond these interest' and
that honour there were certainly two objects which I held
constantly in view, and which, to a great degree, the
government of which I was • member succeeded in accom-
plishing. The one was to encourage the diffusion of the prin-
ciples of constitutional government throughout the coun-
tries of Europe. The Lord Provost has justly said that our
anti succeeded in establishing constitutional government
in Belgium, and that constitutional principle, of govern-
ment were established in Portugal and Spain. And we
may look now with eatiefsction to the map of Europe, and
we may see that there are—putting thou small unfortunate
totes of Middle and Southern Italy out of the question—
among the great states of Europe, there are but Austria
and Russia in which, in some form or other, representative
or constitutional government does not exist. (Cheers.)
I know well, I may be told that in many of these countries
it has for the moment been reduced to a mere form ; but,
depend upon it, forms are invaluable. As long as good
forms of government are maintained, no man need despair
that the time may not come when, without violence and
without revolution, these forms may become real substance.
(Loud cheering.) The next object was—l won't ley the
next, because it was the first object—the abolition of the
detestable crime of the slave trade. (Hear, hear.) It was
• difficult task ; there were many resisting influences.
These influences have been, I trust, almost entirely
overcome. We took a line which compelled that
great delinquent, Brazil, practically to abandon its crime ;
and although Spain still coatinuts, unfortunately, to •
great degree—as far as her limited means are concerned—
to perpetrate this crime, yet I trust that Cuba will soon
follow the example of Brasil, and that the much injured
race of Africa will be restored to the legitimate pur-
suits of agriculture and commerce, and that the native will
no longer tremble at the sight of a white man, feeling that
be sees in him the representative of all the miseries that
can afflict human nature. (Applause.) Gentlemen, it is,
it ought to be, satisfactory to every Englishman to know
that the conduct of our foreign relations is now in able
bands—that my Lord Clarendon—my noble friend, Lord
Clarendon—who is now at the head of that department,
has penetration to.seewhere the interests, and the honour,
and the safety of the country are to be sought, that he has
sagacity to discover the proper means for saving and main-
taining those interests, and that he has thinner, and energy,
and pennant's:so, to pursue the right course to arrive at
a successful and perfect result. (Cheers) If my noble
friend, Lord Clarendon, receives—as I am sure he win—
d's cordial, the generous support of the country, you may
depend upon it that he will not t isappoint the just expeo-
teflon' of his countrymen. (Loud cheering.) Gentlemen,
my duties now are of a different nature. The office which
I have the honour to held places me in more intimate and

close relation with my fellow-countrymen at home. I
trust that in the performance of these duties I shall re-
' coin their cordial and general support. A minister of
state, gentlemen, bas no better eyes, and can as. no fur-
' thee, than his neighbours. The probability is, that after a
very short time of reading bad hands and pals ink his
physical eyes will be rather worn than those of others.
His ears are not like those of Dionysius, the Sicilian,
and they can hear very little of what comes
from a distance ; but his countrymen have eyes to see,
and they have ears to hear, and they have tongues to
speak, and they have pens to write ; and if those who
see and hew things that are going wrong will have the
goodness to communicate to that officer who's duty it is,
and who may have the power of setting these things
right, I can assure you, gentlemen—l can assure my fel-
low-countrymen—that whoever does that, will be confer-
ring a great favour on the man ist office, and will be doing
a great benefit to the country at large. (Applause.) I
know that, among a great number of communications, there
may be many which are founded in error, in mistake of
facts, in misconception of powers to remedy them. There
may be a great deal of chaff in that which is sent, bat if in
• bushel of chaff he shall find a pint of good con, that
bushel of chaff will be worth the winnowing, and he caa
turn the pint of corn to good purpose. (Applause's)
Therefore, though many persons may thiak that communi-
cations from individuals give trouble to those who are in
office, never mind that—l care not for it—the more
trouble that is given, if it is for a good purpose, the better,
for it is only by the assistance of the public at large that
men in office can aiequately and satisfactorily perform
their duties. (Applause.) Gentlemen, I can assure you,
that the course which the Lord Provost aid Magistrates
of your city have this day pursued is that which of all
others is best calculated to promote the public
interest. (Hear, hear.) In my case I feel that
the approbation exceeds the merit which has called
it forth ; but wh public bodies, like the great
and respectable body of this city, see in the conduct of
public men that which they are pleased to approve, it is by
a public demonstration of that approval—it is by the en-
couragement which those civic honours offer to exertions in
the public service—it is by these means that cities can best
contribute to stimulate public melt to anxious and zealous
performance of their duty, and to ewourege those who
are entering into public life to devote themselves zealously
to the acquiring that knowledge and to the practising those
exertions by means of which the public service of this
country will always be supplied with men capable of fulfill-
ing their duties, and equal to any times and emergencies
in which they may be called upon to art. (Cheers.)