The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-06 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

UNLICENSED THEATRICALS.—Richard Wilson, the
keeper of a beer-shop, designated the Victoria Slaoon,
in Church-street, Bethnal-green, was charged with hav-
ing permitted dramatic entertainments to be performed
in his house. William and Margaret Lobley, Diana
Boucher, Jemirna Ball, Elizabeth Nicholls, Frederick
Harris, Richard Barton, Mark Wilson, and George
Wynne, the theatrical corps, together with upwards of
a dozen miserable looking beings, who had formed a
portion of the audience, were also charged.
Mr. Pierce, the Superintendent of the H division of
police, stated that at half-past nine on the preceding
evening, he proceeded upon the authority of an order
from the Commissioners to the defendant's house with a
party of policemen, and after passing the bar and tra-
versing a passage, he entered a large apartment
styled the " Concert Room," in which he found
about 150 persons assembled. A stage was erected at
the end of the room, upon which two men and three
women were exhibiting themselves in fancy dresses,
who scampered off in different ways upon the entrance
of his party. The witness produced two bills contain-
ing a programme of the evening's entertainment.
Police constable Thorpe, 155 H, stated that ho vi-
sited the Saloon on Saturday night last, and witnessed
the performance of a piece called " The Murder of
young Henry." The witness repeated a portion of the
dialogue, which was too indecent for publication.
Mr. BROUGHTON said, the prisoner Wilson, as the
proprietor of the house, had rendered himself liable to
a penalty of twenty pounds, or at the option of the
Magistrate to two months' imprisonment, but as there
was no wish to deal harshly, he should mitigate the
fine to twenty shillings, or three weeks' imprisonment.
The several performers were fined five shillings, or be
committed for one week, excepting Jemima Ball, who
was discharged in consideration of her youth. The
persons charged as the audience were fined one shil-
ling each.
Notice of appeal was given, whereupon Mr. Brough-
ton said, that in that case the penalty must be increased
to the sum of four pounds, which was accordingly done.

DESTRUCTIV E FIRE AT STROUD

(From the Cheltenham Examiner.)

Considc‘rahle excitement prevailed here early on Thurs-
day last, in consequence of information that a part of
the Ham clothing manufactory had been destroyed by
fire during the preceding night ; and, on going thither,
we found the intelligence but too true : for that part
of the building where the devouring element had been
raging, presented nothing but a mere shell of smoking
ruins. From the information we gathered on the spot,
and from other sources, we are warranted in stating the
following to be the facts connected with this calamitous
event :

At about half-past 12 o'clock, two millwrights were
returning. from Chalford towards Stroud, and on corning
within sight of the building, they discovered it enveloped
in a mass of flame. An alarm was immediately given to
the neighbourhood, and assistance promptly rendered ;
the fire engine belonging to Messrs. Ferrabee, of the
Phoenix Foundry, being brought to the spot, and having
commenced playing on the fire, in about 20 minutes
after it was discovered. In the mean time a messenger
had been despatched to Sergeant Morris, for the Stroud
engine, which, without a moment's delay, was conveyed
to the scene of devastation, and, together with that of
the Messrs. Ferrabee, and the strenuous exertions of
the persons present, succeeded in subduing the fire b)
about five o'clock.

Had it not been for the skill and intrepidity of Ser-
geant Morris, and the Messrs. Ferrabees, in the ma-
nagement of the engines, by keeping a stream of water
constantly playing on that part. of the building destroyed,
which is connected with the whole establishment, as
well as with the dwelling-house of Mr. Samuel Mar-
ling, it is very probable that the whole of this valuable
property would have been entirely consumed. The
building was lately added to these extensive premises,
and the total loss occasioned by its destruction (in-
cluding that of machinery, unfinished cloth, and a large
quantity of wool, which were in it) is estimated at
6,000/. ; but we are happy to be able to state that the
whole is insured.

Conflicting opinions are entertained as to whether
this was the work of an incendiary or not ; but we
deem it best to refer our readers to the following facts,
and allow them to draw their own inferences from
them :—That just before the time appointed for the
commencement of the " Sacred Month," an anonymous
letter was sent to Messrs. Marling, desiring them to close
their mills, so as to allow their workpeople the opportu-
nity of keeping the appointed festival, and concluded
by telling them that if they did not comply with this
request. that they were marked men. The introduc-
tion of the power-looms into this neighbourhood
has given great offence to a portion of the working
classes, and that nearly the whole of these machines
used in the factory were consumed by the fire. That
the fire broke out in the third story, and that only
a few minutes elapsed before the devouring element
was raging with unusual violence over every part of
the building. That no person had access to that part
of the building for many hours prevrous to its destruc-
tion. That a large number of the persons assembled
were workpeople employed in the factory, and that
they exerted themselves to the utmost in endea-
vouring to preserve the property of their employers.
And that on the following day the solicitors of
Messrs. Marling instituted a strict inquiry into the pro-
bable cause of the conflagration, but none could be
found. It is but right, however, to state, that the so-
licitors of Messrs. Marling have addressed a letter to
the editor of the Gloucester Journal, stating that they
have discovered nothing in the course of a professional
investigation to lead them to believe that it was the
work of an incendiary ; and they add, that it is probable
the flames had smothered for soma time before they
broke out. To account for the absence of Miller, our
other police officer, we think it right to state, that he
was at Cheltenham, engaged on a case of felony at the
time.

AN AMERICAN'S PROPHECY OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION.-Dr. Cooper one day spoke to us of the
first declaration of independence ; we listened to him
with the most eager attention. When praising our
enthusiasm in the cause of liberty, he said to us, " Take
care, take care, young men, lest the triumph of the
cause on this virgin soil should too much inflame your
hopes. You will carry away with you the germs of
these generous sentiments ; but if ever you attempt to
propagate them on your native soil, after so many ages
of corruption, you will have to surmount far other ob-
stacles. It has cost us much blood to conquer liberty,
but you will have to shed it in torrents before you
can establish it in Europe. How many times since
then, during our political si'orm—our fatal days, have
I called to mind the prophe tic warnings of Dr. Cooper.
—Memoirs of His Own Time, by Count Dumas.
MELANCHOLY SHIPWRECK.—Late on the
evening of Friday, or early on Saturday morning last,
the Petrel, of Stockton, David Parry, master, from Dal-
housie, North America, laden with timber, drove on the
rocks lying between St. Andrew's and the Carr Rock,
when, melancholy to relate, the master, six men, and a
boy, met a watery grave ; a female, who had taken a
passage from Stromness to Stockton, also suffered. Six
bodies and the female have been found. One seaman
alone escaped to tell the sad tidings, he having got upon
a log and drifted to the beach. The cargo will be
mostly saved, it being landed under the superintendence
of the Coast Guard from St. Andrew's. Also pieces
of the wreck have been drifted upon the shore, from Crail
to Anstruther, supposed to have belonged to a vessel
laden with hemp or flax (some of these being found on
the timbers), that must have suffered in the same gale
with the Petrel. The other shipwreck must be recent,
from the circumstance' of a straw mattress coming on
shore scarcely wet thro ugh.—Edinburgh Observer.
The number of ships of all nations that passed
the Sound in October was—From the German Ocean
619, from the Baltic 937: total 1,556 ; of which there
was—English, from the German Ocean 142, from the
Baltic, 320 total 462.