The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-25 00:00:00

7REMLNDOUS CONFLAGRATION.

This morning, between 2 and 3 o'clock, one of the most
extensive fires that has occurred in the county of Essex for
several years past broke out in the London India Rubber
Co.'s works at West Ham. The, building was about 360
feet long and over 60 wide, and was div ded into compart-
ments. The fire was first discovered by a police-constable,
who observed flames issuing from the eastern part of the
building, and in a very short space of time the fire had
reached the roof. The West Ham and Brigade engines
attended, and were soon set to work with a plentiful supply
of water, but by this time every part of the building was
burning, and it was said such a large body of flame had not
been seen since the great fire at London-bridge. After a
short time the roof fell in with a fearful crash, and it was
expected the falling material and the immense quantity of
water that was being poured in would have annihilated the
flames, but they soon rose again higher than before, and all
hope of saving this part of the works was given up. The
exertions of the firemen prevented the fire from taking hold
on the other buildings belonging to the company, but the
one in which the fire broke out was entirely destroyed.
It is not known bow the fire originated, nor can any esti
mate of the value of the loss be yet made.

The German journals are much amused at an
error lately committed by the Augsburg Gazette. That
journal, in publishing a despatch from Turin, which an-
nounced the amnesty granted to Garibaldi, concluded with
those words :—" It is on the intercession of the Pope that
King Victor Emmanuel decided on this act of clemency."
The abovenamed journal had mistaken the name of the
Princess Pia for that of the Head of the Church.
Mr. TRAIN IN AMERICA.—Another Boston man,
a son of Deacon T. Train, got will see by the papers, was
taken out of a public meeting inl3oston and locked up. He
is named George F. Train, and is the same person who
flourished in London. This poor fellow is insane. He
will probably be brought on to New York, and be placed on
Blackwall's Island, of at the Bloomingdale Asylum. It
will depend upon the fact whether he can pay 60 dollars a
quarter to pay his way at Bloomingdale. The asylum on
the island is free, being one of our public charities. At
that place, being tinder the charge of Dr. Rameay, T rain
may be cured and restored to his friends, unless his disease
should turn out to be a " softening of the brain." He was
always soft in that region, but never before regarded as
dangerous until after his imaginary interview with the Pre-
sident. —Correspondent of Iforning Herald.
LITERARY PLAGIARISM.--A warning to plagib.-
rists has just been given by the punishment inflicted on two
authors in Prussia, convicted of having sold as original a
play which was merely a copy of one existing already. They
were sentenced to two months' imprisonment and a fine of
£l5 each. We imagine this to be the first instance in which
literary theft has been viewed in the light of moral theft ;
and we fear that if the example were followedin England,
a protest would be raised. Of course, these two dramatic
authors were punished for imposing onthe manager to whom
they sold their piece, but is it not a greater crimuegtolimTpohsee
on the public P—Athenceum.
" LES MISERABLES." By Victor H
authorised English translation of this work, just published
by Messrs. Hurst and Blacket', has met with great success ;
a very large edition having been at once disposed of. The
new number of the " Quarterly Review " contains a long
and interesting article on "Los Miserables," in which the
I reviewer says, " We think it will be seen, on the whole, that
ithis work has something more than the beauties
o
beauti•
quisite style, or the word compelling power
distantfs ap of
passions,
tsi leiproaeonxrssy...
pos-
terity, tsy
,t o recommendthat in deal itin
dealing
o twhiethte naldie r
thecare
of a
emotions,
doubts, and fears which go to make up our common
humanity, M. Victor Hugo has stamped upon every page
[
Ithe hall-mark of genius, and the loving patience and con-
scientiousiiserabies l,adboounrotomf
earetrly coueanrstiitsst.
equaledl I, ,
i wealtuy." But the merits of ' Les
in the conception of it as
a whole; it abounds, page
after page, with details of un-

BERMUDA.

The British screw steamship Gladiator has ar-
rived at Liverpool with advices from Bermuda to
the 7th inst.

The captain of the Gladiator, having heard pre-
viously to his departure from Bermuda that Com-
modore Wilkes, of steamship Trent notoriety, in-
tended to capture the Gladiator, obtained the pro-

tection of her Rlajesty's ship Desperate, which
vessel accompanied him a certain distance from the
port. The vessels had scarcely parted company
when the Gladiator was boarded by a boat's crew
from a Federal man-of-war, and the captain was
ordered to go on board and report himself. The
Desperate being within gunshot, he declined to obey
the order, and was then allowed to proceed. The
Desperate, on seeing the Gladiator boarded, imme-
diately ran out two guns ready for action.
It was currently reported at Bermuda that the
Governor had sent a requisition to Admiral Milne
for a protecting squadron.
The Bermuda Gazette of the 7th of October, under
the heading " The notorious Wilkes," publishes the
following extraordinary statements :
" The arrival of Admiral Wilkes and his squadron
was duly announced in our last, and as a great many
rumours of a highly conflicting, amusing, and in-
correct nature have been flying about the country,
and causing more or less excitement among our
usually phlegmatic people, we now subjoin, for the
information of our readers, a short account of the
proceedings of this well-known gentleman during
his stay in our waters.
"Admiral Wilkes, with his flagship and two gun-
boats, arrived off the Island on Friday, the 26th ult.,
and on the following morning entered the harbour
of St. George, with the Wachusett and the Tioga,
the Sonoma being left outside cruising in the
channel. The Admiral called on his Excellency
the Governor on Saturday afternoon, having, as
we are informed, received the usual official noti-
fication, as laid down in her Majesty's proclama-
tion (already published in our columns) that 24
hours only would be allowed for the stay of the
vessels in his command. We understand that the
object of this visit was to obtain coal, but as the
ships were only four days from Hampton Roads
his supplies could not have run out to any extent—
hardly, we think, to incapacitate his return to his
nearest port. The coaling, under some pretext, did.
not commence until Monday afternoon, when a few
tons were put on board the Wachusett. The Tioga
did not commence coaling until Tuesday. The coal-
ing of these vessels was completed on Tuesday night
and Wednesday, and then an accident occurring to
the machinery of the flag-ship again delayed the
departure of the squadron. In the meantime the
Sonoma was engaged in cruising about outside, and.
on Wednesday morning she came in to coal and re-
pair a mishap which occurred to her machinery,
how, when, or where we are not in a position to
state. On the Wednesday morning the Tioga went
out and relieved the Sonoma, following the same
course of proceeding as her consort, cruising about
in the channels, and anchoring near the chech ered
buoy at night, blocking up the entrance and pre-
venting the ingress and egress of all vessels. The
Wachusett left on Thursday morning, and in the
afternoon the Sonoma went out ; the Admiral bore
away to the eastward, and was out of sight at
night, the two gunboats being left cruising outside
—a piece of recreation which they have since been
indulging in up to the time of our going to press.
" The ostensible object of obtaining coal is, we
conceive, but a little scheme to see how far it might
be possible for American pluck to drive through
the rules of neutrality laid down by the British
Government. The delaying from Monday to Thurs-
day, the cruising within our waters, the anchoring
in our channels, the landing of armed sentries, the
boarding of British vessels, the taking on board of
unlimited coal, and the subsequent proceedings of
the gunboats evidently prove that there must have
been some peculiar and particularly private reasons
which have given us the honour of this influx of
United States' heroes.

" The mail steamer was boarded this morning,
and boats have been engaged in sounding the chan-
nels and reefs at the west end.

" We are not anxious for a row, nor do we wish
to come across the peculiarities of Americans in
their present excited and perhaps exasperated and
unreasoning condition ; but we do submit whether
these breaches committed in the very teeth of the
Royal instructions, in the face of justice, right, and
national law, ought not to receive such a check as
to put an end to the chance of that flag which is
supposed to have braved a thousand years the battle
and the breeze being deliberately and grossly in-
sulted.

" The Roy al mail steamer Merlin, Capt. Samp-
son, when within three miles of the land yesterday
morning, was fired at and brought to by one of
those gunboats, and though the officer in charge of
the boat, when he beame aware of the true cha-
racter of the vessel he had stopped, apologised, still
such frequent and unprovoked insults will not be
submitted to.

" Her Majesty's steamer Steady, Captain Grant,
arrived here from Halifax on Friday to have her
machinery perfected. She left Halifax on the 23d
ult., at which time there were in that port her
Majesty's ships Immortalite, Melpomene, Petrel,
Ariadne, and Spiteful.
" Her Majesty's steamer Melpomene, 51, Capt.
Ewart, arrived at Halifax from Nassau, New Pro-
vidence, on the 21st ult. She has had 16 cases of
yellow fever on board, five of which had proved
fatal. The convalescing had been removed to the
Pyramus receiving ship, lying off the Royal Naval
Hospital.

" Her Majesty's ship Spiteful arrived at Halifax
on the night of the 22d ult., also from New Provi-
dence. She has had 22 cases of yellow fever, of
which eight had proved fatal—viz., in the case of a
midshipman, a master's mate, and six seamen. The
Spitefal was placed in quarantine.
" Admiral Milne left Halifax on the 23d ult., in
the Nimble, accompanied by the Landrail, Plover,
Cygnet, Medea, and Nile and Hero, on an experi-
mental trip. All the vessels were to go to ShiP
Harbour, and the Admiral was to return to Hali-
fax on the 26th. He would afterwards go to St•
John, New Brunswick, in the Medea.
" The steamship Askelon, from Liverpool, Eng-
land, bound to the West Indies, arrived at Sydney►
Cape Breton, on the 20th ult., for coal, and was to
have proceeded on her voyage that night.
"The British steamer Ovachita got under way'
in St. George's Harbour on Sunday, and proceeded
to Grassy Bay, for the purpose of trying her en-
gines, when one of the American gunboats chased
her to the entrance of the north side of the channel'
"We understand that the Admiral, with a large
force, is expected ,here from Halifax about the
middle or end of next month. We are, however,
disposed to think that recent occurrences will ex"
pedite the arrival of his squadron."