The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-06 00:00:00

TBF, SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 6, 1863

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.---This Day.

OLD COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
STEALING SILK.

John Jones, 18, was charged with stealing a silk scarf,
and a quantity of property of the same description.
The prisoner was in the employ of Messrs. Morley, the
warehousemen in Cheapside, as porter, and while holding
that situation had availed himself of the opportunities which
presented themselves, and plundered the firm.
Some witnesses proved that for some time the prisoner
had been engaged dealing largely in silk handkerchiefs and
scarfs, and that he had also given a number of handker-
chiefs to a girl with whom he was intimate.
The jury found the prisoner guilty.
The counsel for the prosecution, Mr. Kemp, said the
prisoner had no doubt been carrying on the robbery for
some time.

The Recorder sentenced him to 12 months' imprisonment
with hard labour.

ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE.
George Day and. Susan Knight were indicted with
feloniously assaulting George Meyer, with intent to rob.
The prosecutor was a printer, carrying on business in
Chancery-lane, and on the night in question was returning
home, when the prisoners and another man came up to him
at the:corner of Carey. street, accosted him, and shortly afte
the men struck him and knocked him down. He managed to
get hold of one of the men, when the woman commenced
kicking him, and during the time the other man com-
mence•d rifling his pockets. The prosecutor raised a cry o
police, and while he was engaged with Day, the constable
came up, and the woman Knight was secured, the other
man making his escape.

The jury found both prisoners guilty.
The prisoners were well known to the police.
The Recorder sentenced each to four years' penal servi-
tude.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT PLYMOUTH.

PLYMOUTH, TUESDAY, 2 A.M.

The Royal Hotel and Theatre here is being cln-
sumed by a terrible fire. It commenced in the
theatre after the Christmas pantomime was closed.
The thick wall between the theatre and the hotel
does not rise higher than the exterior walls, so that
the fire soon communicated from the roof of one
building to that of the other.
That portion of the hotel next the theatre con-
sists of the card-room, connected with the ball-room.
The card-room contained the samples of Messrs.
Blumberg and Co., 55, Cannon-street West, valued
at .El,OOO, which are entirely lost.

From the card-room the fire went across the grand
staircase to the splendid ball-room, where it is now
raging furiously.

Mr. Pearse, the occupant of the hotel, is convey-
ing his moveable property across Lockyer-street to
Harvey's Hotel.
The entire property, which belongs to the Corpo-
ration of Plymouth, forme the noblest specimen of
architecture in the West of England.
The military, marines, and seamen of the Royal
Navy are in full attendance, aiding the civil
authorities.

2 30 A.M.

The fire, though partly kept under, is extending
to the eastern wing. The roof of the ball-room has
fallen in.

The Era, of last Sunday, in speaking of the
pantomime at the above theatre, which is now
destroyed by fire, says :—" Robinson Crusoe; or,
Harlequin Friday, and the Bing of the Caribbee
Islands," is the title of our Plymouth production.
The scenery in the burlesque is truly beautiful,
reflecting the greatest amount of credit on Messrs.
Marston and Hawes Craven. To close our notice
without especial words of praise to Mr. J. R.
Newcombe would be unjust, for under his inde-
fatigable direction has tip whole pantomime been
so successfully produced?'

LATEST PARTICULARS.

PLYMOUTH TIIESD&Y, 10 ex.

The fire commenced shortly after midnight in the
property-room of the theatre, and the interior of
the building is almost entirely consumed; the
flames communicated by the roof with the card and
club rooms of the Royal Hotel, both of which are
gutted. The ball-room staircase is burnt; the
handsome assembly-room, and the tea-room below
it, are also partially destroyed.
The eastern end of the quadrangle is uninjured
by the fire, and Mr. Pearse, the lessee of the hotel,
is replacing his furniture.
The Royal Hotel and Theatre were finished in
1813, at a cost of £60,000. The north front is 270
feet long.
The roof of the splendid lonic portico is con-
sumed.

The buildings are insured by the Corporation
with the Atlas-office. Mr. Pearse is insured in
the General. Mr. Newcombe, the manager of
the theatre, is uninsured. He recently expended
£3,000 on the fittings and.seenery. Some valuable
dresses were saved.

A fire occurred in the property-room on the 26th
December last, which was promptly extinguished.

Particulars of the Loss of the Colombo.

By the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
steamship Massilia we have received full particulars
of the loss of the Colombo. Owing to the thick-
ness of the weather, no observations could be taken
after leaving Galle, and on the morning of Nov. 19,
at 4 o'clock, the weather continuing very thick, no-
thing being visible at a ship's length, and the rain
coming down in torrents, speed was reduced to
"full slow." Two hours afterwards, breakers ahead
were reported a quarter of a mile off, and, before
the engines, which were immediately raversed,
could have any effect on the vessel, she forged
ahead, and the swell and a strong wind drove her
bodily on the coral beach. She touched so lightly
that no one on board felt the shock. There was a
strong current to the northward at the time of about
three miles an hour. After striking, she fell over
to windward, exposing her deck to the sea, which
poured down the hatchways and skylights in tor-
rents. As nothing could be done to save the ship,
the boats on the land side were cleared, and by 8
a.m. all the passengers and crew were safely landed.
A drenching rain continued all the time, which was
the more felt as most of the ladies and children were
very lightly clad. Awnings and spars were brought
on shore, and by 2 p.m. the passengers were com-
fortably housed until better accommodation could
be obtained at the village a short distance, where
they repaired the next day, and took up their abode
until the arrival of assistance. A native boat,with
an officer, was sent to the nearest land, 210 miles
distant, to telegraph the news of the disaster to
Bombay, Galle, and Calcutta. An abundance of
provisions was obtained from the wreck. On the
30th of November the Ottawa arrived from Bombay,
and brought the passengers to Suez. Eighteen
hours after striking, the ship parted in two pieces
midships. The disaster appears to have been occa-
sioned by insufficient allowance having been made
for the strength of the current, which, notwith-
standing a mile and a half an hour had been allowed
for it, drove the vessel some 32 miler out of her
course. The passengers speak in great praise of
the presence of mind shown by Captain Farquhar
under the trying circumstances, and his unwearied
exertions for their comfort and convenience. A
short time before the disaster Captain Farquhar
had succeeded in saving a vessel from shipwreck.

The Worsborough Colliery Catastrophe.

There is very little to report (says the She field
Independent of yesterday) in reference to the pro-
ceedings at Edmund's Main. The water is flowing
steadily into the mine from the trench connected
with the adjacent stream, and measures are being
taken to increase the volume of water very largely,
and so expedite the tedious operation of flooding
the workings. The water was conveyed in large
pipes, laid at a depth of fourteen or fifteen feet ; but
the quantity poured into the shaft by this means
has not been found sufficient speedily to accomplish
the object in view, and men have been set to work
to reopen the trench, and when this has been done,
as much water as can possibly be diverted into the
trench will be thrown into the mine. The cupola
shaft has been rendered perfectly tight, and there
are several feet of water upon the clay puddling
above the furnace drift. In one of the up cast
shafts an aperture, closed by a sort of wooden safety
valve, has been left, in order to test the air from
time to time. A test which was made a day or two
ago showed that a great quantity of gas has been
generated in the mine. The cap of the valve was
removed for our special edification, and the impri-
soned air and gas rushed forth with the force of a
furnace blast.

It is not expected that, even with the great
volume of water that will be poured in during next
week, the water will be " roofed" for ten or twelve
days yet, and the pumping out will be a still more
tedious process. Great difficulty will, no doubt, be
experienced in emptying the dip boardgates, which
are much below the level of the other parts of the

THIRD EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, SEVEN O'CLOCK.

Proposed Cession of the lonian Islands to

Greece.

(From the London Gazette of this Evening.)
FOREIGN OFFICE, JAN. 5.
Her Majesty's Government have received from the Hon.
Henry Elliot, a copy of the foilowing memorandum, which
he had delivered to the President of the Provisional Go-
vernment of Greece :
MEMORA.NDITM.

It is her Majesty's earnest desire to contribute to the
welfare and prosperity of Greece.
The treaties of 1827 and 1832 bear evidence of this desire
on the part of the British Crown.
The Provisional Government of Greece declared, upon
the withdrawal of King Otho from Greece, that their mis-
sion is to maintain for Greece constitutional monarchy and
the relations of peace with all other States.
If the new Assembly of the Representativas of the Greek
nation should prove faithful to this declaration, should
maiutain constitutional Monarchy, and should refrain from
all aggression against neighbouring States, and if they
should chooss a Sovereign against whom no well founded
objection could be raised, her Majesty would see in this
course of conduct a promise of future freedom and happi-
ness for Greece. In such a case, her Majesty, with a view
to strengthen the Greek monarchy, would be roady to an-
nounce to the Senate and Representatives of the lonian
Islands, her Majesty's wish to see them united to the mo-
narchy of Greece, and to form with Greece one united state;
and if this wish should be expressed also by the lonian Le-
gislature, her Majesty would then take steps for obtaining
the concurrence of the Powers who were parties to the treaty
by which the seven lonian Islands and their dependencies
were placed as a separate state under the protectorate of the
British Crown.

I am to take care, in my communications upon this sub-
ject, to make it understood that the election of a Prince,
who should be the symbol and precursor of revolutionary
disturbance, or of the adoption of an aggressive policy
towards Turkey, would prevent any relinquishment of her
Majesty's protectorate of the lonian Islands.
Her Majesty's Government trust that, in the selection of
a sovereign to rule over Greece, the Greek Assembly will
choose for their king a prince from whom they can expect a
regard far religious liberty, a respect for constitutional free-
dom, and a sincere love of peace. A prince possessing these
qualities will be fitted to promote the happiness of Greece,
and will be honoured with the friendship and confidence of
her Majesty the Queen.