The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-17 00:00:00

Willcocka, to consider the best measures for raising
funds. In opening the proceedings, the chair-
man defended Clerkenwell from what he con-
sidered the bad odour which it has recently
acquired on account of the meetings on
" The Green," and he called upon the audience to
show that meetings in Clerkenwell were not neces-
sarily Clerkenwell meetings. He also thanked the
government, on behalf of his brother ratepayers,
for the prompt assistance they had rendered. Mr.
Maguire, the incumbent, moved the first resolu-
tion, expressing sympathy with the sufferers, and
appointing a committee to take steps in relieving
them. The rev. gentleman, in the course of his
speech, detailed what had been done already by
local organisation, and gave some particulars as to
the actual distress existing. Every family, and
every house, have been visited. Many of the in-
, habitants in Corporation-lane were watchmakers,
who have suffered severely. They have lost gold
and silver watch-cases, and even precious stones,
that were buried in the ruins, in addition to which
their tools and benches have been destroyed, so
that they are like men without hands. " These
men," said the speaker, " must be set upon their
feet again," and the meeting loudly cheered
the utterance. A wonderful proof of the sym-
pathy excited by the sufferers he gave in the
statement that a letter which he had sent to one of
the public journals had &freely realised 4001. Amongst
the subscribers were the Marquis of Northampton,
who owns property in the district, and who sent
1001., and Sir W. Martins, who has contributed a
similar sum. During the afternoon Mr. Dlaguire
received an anonymous letter containing a fifty
pound note. The distribution of relief has been
actively carried on, and 351. and fifty blankets have
already been given away to the necessitous.

A letter from Mr. Montague Corry, Mr. Dis-
raeli's secretary, was read, amidst loud applause, to
the meeting. It said—" You are aware that as
soon as passible after the explosion on Friday
night her Majesty's government took measures to
relieve the immediate necessities of those who
were suffering so terribly from its consequences.
They have every reason to believe that to a certain
extent those measures have been sufficient and
effectual. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, how-
ever, thinks it possible that it may be imagined
that the relief thus given has been of a nature to
render further assistance unnecessary. He desires
me therefore to beg you to inform the meeting
which is to be held that the government, in the
course they adopted, only contemplated the mitiga-
tion of the more urgent and pressing distress of
those who have been injured in person or property.
Not only has experience shown that in cases like
the present private agency is the most efficient
channel of relief, but the government also feel
that they would not be justified in arresting the
sympathy of the public with the victims of the
atrocious act."

The resolution was seconded by Mr. M'Cullagh
Torrens, M.P., who told of the patience with
which the sufferers in the hospital bore their pain,
of the care with which they were tended by the
medical attendants and nurses, and also of the
prostration of mind which overcame them and
stood in the way of their recovery, in consequence
of the loss they had sustained by the outrage.
Seeing this he, upon visiting the hospital on Sun-
day, felt himself justified in promising them in the
name of his constituents relief out of their troubles.
The hon. member carried the meeting with him
when he warmly praised the Chancellor of the
Exchequer for proving himself superior to red-
tapeism, and referred to the feeling shown by the
Queen in the condition of the injured. While
thanking the government fur what they had done,
he urged, however, that private local benevolence
should take the lead in raising and dispensing assis-
tance. Other speakers supported the motion, one
of them (Mr. Holland) protesting with great warmth
against the use of the word " calamity" instead of
characterising it as a "murderous, traitorous
outrage." The meeting became exceedingly ex-
cited during the speech, and a disturbance was im-
minent, when, upon Mr. Holland moving an
amendment to expunge the word to which he ob-
jected, a gentleman named Paris protested against
the alteration. Mr. Maguire, with the view of
throwing oil upon the troubled waters, substituted
" atrocious crime" for " calamity," but this did
not satisfy Mr. Paris, who said he would
not subscribe if the original wording of the
motion was not adhered to. The rest of his
speech was made amidst hisses, groans, and recom-
mendations to the speaker to bring his remarks to
a speedy termination. The disturbance became
greater when a Mr. Orr recommended that they
should wait to see what the government would do
further before entering into local subscriptions,
his argument being that the outrage resulted from
a conspiracy against the nation, and that the prac-
tical object of the meeting was to encourage Fe-
nianism. An announcement of the chairman that
Mr. Pickburn, the proprietor of the ClerkeitiseU
News, had handed in a cheque for 1001. restored
immediate order and good humour, which was
increased by the reading of a subscription list,
announcing various sums from 1001. to a shilling,
"a policeman" and " a cabman" being each en-
tered for the latter sum. Messrs. Tommie and
Lusk, the borough members, each gave ten guineas.
The remainder of the meeting was occupied in the
formation of a committee, and the details of an
organization to carry out their purposes. A hearty
vote of thanks was passed to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer for his prompt kindness. Towards the
close of the meeting Mr. Maguire announced that
his friend the Rev. S. Herring had forwarded him over
390/. as the result of an appeal he had made through
the press. The subscriptions were, therefore, said
to have reached little short of 1,0001 During one
of the later speeches the Rev. J. E. Thoreaby called
for three cheers for the Queen, which were given
with much enthusiasm.

The amount of damage produced by the ex-
plosion appears to have been considerably under-
stated, and can be properly estimated only by those
familiar with the neighbourhood. The House of
Detention consists of five blocks of buildings,
which, with their respective yards, are enclosed by
a thick wall of brick, about 20 feet in height, over-
looked on the south by the fronts of the houses in
Short's-buildings, and another thoroughfare, which
also faces the entrance to the prison ; on the west
by part of those in Rosoman-street ; on the north
by Corporation-lane ; and on the east by the backs
of thu houses in Woodbridge-street. A great por-
tion of the wall surrounding the prison is of com-
paratively recent erection, but that in Corporation-
lime was very old, and evidently of no great
strength. A few pounds of gunpowder skilfully
applied certainly would have sufficed to lay the
whole wall in ruins. The largest portion of the
House of Detention runs parallel with Corporation-
lane, a wing running from the main build-
ing towards that part of the wall which was
blown down. The walls of this portion of
the prison are everywhere heavily indented with
the marks of the tremendous storm of bricks.
hurled against them by the force of the explosion,
which also dislodged a large number of slates from
the end of the roof, and smashed several of the
skylights. It seems as if it was the aim of the
conspirators to blow down part of the prison as
well as part of the wall. Hence, probably, the
large amount of explosive material ignited by
them. Of the damage done to the various houses
in Corporation-lane the public is but too well
aware. So unsafe is the condition of the different
habitations fronting the ruined wall, that they
will have to be immediately taken down. In St.
James's-place, a narrow lane running parallel with
Corporation-lane the houses were inhabited prin-
cipally by mechanics and their families. These
have suffered fearfully. The yards of the dwel-
lings on the southern side are tilled with broken
tiles, bricks, and other dEbris; the window frames