The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-12 00:00:00

THE LA_TE FIRE IN MONTREAL.
PUBLIC MEETING IN THE CITY.
A public meeting, c ravened by the Lord Mayor, at
the request of several of the merchants in the city of
London, was held yesterday at the Man4on.house,
for the purpose of contributing, to the relief of those
who have suffered by the lilt& fearful conflagration in
Montreal—the Ri,;Yht Hon. the Lord M,..,3.,0r presid-
ing. Although there was not a large attendance, yet
amongst those present were several gentlemen whose
names stand very high in the commercial world.
...A.rnongst them we observed—Alexander Gillespie,
Vq'y Charles Mills, Esq., R. C. L. Bevan, 1'4:1,
l ron Lionel Rothschild, M.P., Edmund Gurney,
EN, the Governor of the Bank of England, P. Rolt,
M•Po B Oliveira, Esq., M.P., John Dillon,
Bradberrv,, Esq., Wm. Leaf, Esq., N..„atha-
, It. Carter, Esq , W. Chapman,
l-
treal, itev.
lesnie . lug, Lsq., G. Peabody, Esq ,
r 'Jun , Rbert-6G9)
the Rt-v. A. D. Campbell of Mon-
T. Barney, Robert Harrison, Esq., Mr.
Under SLleriff Hopwood, Sampson Copellake, Esq.,
ecc.,
h', LOAD MAYOR., in opening the proceedings,
Baid he felt confident that the great city of London,
and incited the country generally, syinpathied with
those who had suffered by that calamity which had
lately befallen the people of Montreal. The British
Public he knew would heartily respond to the appeal
which would be that day made to them on behalf of
suffering humanity in one of our distant colonies.
Re begged to remind those of his fellow countrymen
who felt for the sufferings of the inhabitants of Mon-
treal, that their aid should be extended to them at
once, in order that the poor sufferers might be pre-
Pared against the approach of the severe weather with
Which Montreal was visited towards the close of the
Year. He had received letters from Mr. Masterman,
M.P., Mr. P. S. Butler, M.P., and Mr. Baring, ex
pressive of their sympathy with the object for which
the meeting had been called, and apologising for their
absence.

Mr. GILLESPIE, of the firm of Gillespie, Moffatt,
and Co., moved the first resolution, which expressed
the deep regret of those present at the late fire in
Montreal. He thanked the Lord Mayor for the kind
manner in which he had granted the use of the hall
in which they were assembled for the promotion of
this most humane object. His Lordship's kinds
tress would tend much to confirm that feeling
towards the mother country which he was happy to
say at present existed in the colony of Canada. Some
idea of the fearful extent of the misfortune which had
befallen Montreal might be formed when he stated
that 10,000, or one-fifth of the inhabitants of the
city, had been thrown out of employment by the late
are. Surely that fact of itself would be sufficient to
induce'tbe people of this country to contribute largely
towards the relief of the unfortunate sufferers in Mon-
!real- As the meeting might expect him to enter
Leto some details, he begged to say that the fire broke
out on the morning of Thursday, the Bth of July, in
the district of St. Lawrence, which was a suburb of
Montreal, in which district the houses were, for the
most part composed of wood. The weather for some
days previously had been excessively hot, and the
Wooden houses had consequently become very dry and
Innumerable. At the time that the fire broke out there
Was a strong breeze, which fanned the flames to such
a height that it became impossible to suppress them.
The
rl a fire broke out in the neighbourhood of the Ge-
e Hospital, one of the most important and hand-
some buildings in Montreal. The richest as well as
the poorest inhabitants of the city laboured together,
and successfully for the oreservalion of that building.
An eye-witness said that' the flames had the appear-
lace of a ca'aract, and that all attempts to resist their
progress were unavailing. The fire commenced at nine
°ll Thursday morning and continued till five or six
that... evening, when it was hoped that it had ceased.
any of the inhabitants, however, were apprehensive
that the flames would burst forth with renewed vi-
gour that night ; and unfortunately their apprehen-
aajetla were well founded, for about eight o'clock the
lire broke forth again in a wooden building in Dale
ho •
usie s-square, in which resided some of the most
tespectable inhabitants of Montreal, and in a short
time entered the suburb of Quebec. It continued its
foliages
sin
that extensive suburb until 11 o'clock the
morning, when it might be said to have
burnt itself out. The Montreal Patriot newspaper es-
timated the number of tenements destroyed by fire at
1,200. and the pecuniary loss at 500,0001. The great
lle Weight of that loss would unfortunately fall upon
poorer portion of the inhabitants. Thousands of
them had to pass the night in the fields. The Mon-
treal herald corroborated that statement. Some
People said why did not the sufferers insure ? whilst
Otherss said that the insurance offices were very heavy
itifferers. The latter statement was quite correct;
1118 it was not so much from the late fire as from
that which occurred in the month of June last that
theyu insurance offices had suffered. The fire of
13_ tre. took place in the mercantile part of the city ;
garetattaeer fire in question occurred in that district the
part of which was actually uninsurable, in
"nsecinence of the erections being chiefly wooden.
Coe believed that the insurers and the insured in
Montr
-which cal had suffered much by the dreadful fires
The
broken out in Montreal during the present
Year.
~ he Majority of the people who had suffered
JY the laet fire
of were French labourers. A. large por-
tionthe sufferers were Roman Catholics. He did
not mention the latter circumstance from any desire
to lessen the sympathy of the, people of this country.
--(Hear, hear.) He stated that they were Roman
Catholics in order to induce Roman Catholics to alle-
viate their suffering; and he rejoiced that he and the
Other stanch Protestants of this country were now
afforded an opportunity of showing to the world that
they would not allow any difference of creed to come
between them and the sacred claims of charity, and
the cry of suffering humanity,—(Hear, hear.) He
Loped that by their conduct that day they would
prove that they were indeed followers of that Blessed
Lord who went about doing good, and were anxious,
on all occasions, to act in accordance with the apos-
tolic injunction to do good as they bad opportunity.
Mr. MILLS, of the firm of Glyn, Halifax, and Co.,
seconded the resolution. He felt that, under the
circumstances which had been detailed to the meet-
ing, it would be unnecessary to make any lengthened
appeal to London or to England in behalf of the suf-
ferers of Montreal. Ten thousand of our fellow-
aubieets had been rendered houseless. Of their pecu-
liar claim to our sympathies many in that meeting
must be aware. Ttee parents of many of those suf-
ferers resided in this kingdom, and they all looked
With affectionate interest to the mother country, from
Whom the great political convulsions of the last few
rears had happily not released them.—(Hear, hear.)
The rich bad insured themselves, but the poor could
r'e'sort to no such such remedy. All that the poor
Could do was to appeal to their rich'r brethren whom
God had blessed with more wealth Such appeals
had ever been responded to in this country. He was
Confident that England would on this occasion cheer-
fully maintain her proud character of being the fore-
most to relieve suffering humanity.— (Cheers.)
The resolution was unanimously carried.
The GOVERNOR of the BANK OF ENGLAND moved
the next resolution, the effect of which was, that any
aid which Montreal itself could afford to the sufferers
roust necessarily be but temporary, and that their
suffering loudly appealed to the sympathies of the
peopleof this country. He was sure that Englishmen
would ever be ready to sympathise with the calami-
ties of their fellow-count
the world they might happen
be.in
whatever part of
Though the pre-
sent meeting was but thinly attended,
yet f oarusuecvhera. -purpose as this there was no necessity
flowing attendance. All that was required
was to form
a committee to whom the public might forward their
subscriptions. The appeal now made, he felt confi-
dent, would be responded to in the same generous
manner in which similar appeals ever had been, and
be hoped ever would be, responded to in this co
u
43%—(Cheers.) He should indeed be ashamed ofll
fellow-countrymen if he found that, whilst the people
.1241 New York had forwarded aid to the sufferersof
Montreal, Englishmen allowed their fellow-subjects ;51 Canada to suffer without contributing to their 1-
'2l. lie was glad that a meeting had been called in
London for this object so soon after that fearful visi-
'attoo, which had destroyed a district double the
lak4th of Oxford -street.
Baron L. ROTHSCHILD, M.P
seconded the resolu-
-1,4,°n• T p
he British public, be wa.'s sure, would respond
410erallv and generouslyt to this appeal. We had con-
tributed liberally to they aid of those who had suffered
from conflagrations The Co, • in Hamburgh and other places on
talent ; end surely when the subjects of our
Queen
tie suffered by fire—when those with whom we
~,,,,mred to maintain a close cteontrefionneeded similar
appeal.—(Hear,
fearfula 1.
we would not be deaf
ear.) Every one must know
inewhatrf
tire metalled upon a population— suffering(e ar'
4°ll Wki% the most frightful calamit atr, a conflagra-
t‘riebat could befall
euettee.cheerfully
t 0 the
Let every one, then, cony
the relief of our suffering fellow-subjects.
The resolution was agreed to.
Ir. Bevara banker, moved that a subscription be
°Pened for the sufferers, and that all the bankers
40.
st.ropolis be requested to receive such subscripeti the
sS Were made upon her, he felt confident God's bless!
u would rest with her.— hear hear.) He believed
earls. s
nor du
He duty and our interest to respond to such
to take"" felt particularly happy in being
i permitted
eo pro Part in that meeting, convened as t had been
mote subscriptions to suffering people, the ma-
il_ ef whom were Roman Catholics.—(Hear, hear.)
which
Wes Ate
be
itieTics
lieetan Catholics
strongly opposed to the doctrines of the
; in fact, on the last occasion on
dstood. on that platform, he declaimed
tagainat thoseatilmselt if he alloocwtreidnehs,
but he should be ashamed of
towards is, Protestantism to prevent
town from performin
a Ramang tne Christian duty of charity
(Cheers) waen Catholic fellow-creature.—
teeian asty u People suffered from such a visi-
aa
peen
described
that day, we were bound