The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-19 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE.

THE EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES.
The committee re-assembled yesterday morning.
The Right Hon. W. Cowper in the chair.
Mr. Phin said a clause was agreed to be prepared
with reference to land reclaimed from the river to
be appropriated to a pleasure ground for the use of

the public, and he therefore submitted a clause,
which would read as follows :—" All the land re-
claimed from the Thames which is not intended for
streets or roads, nor is otherwise specifically appro-
priated by the provisions of this act, and which lies
between the eastern side of Cecil-street on the east
and the Crown lands en the west, between Surrey-
street and Arundel-street, together with the land to
be reclaimed between the south side and the approach
to the embankment roadway, shall for ever hereafter
be vested in and maintained by the board for the
use of the public as places of recreation or orna-
mental ground ; and the expenses incident to such
maintenance shall be deemed to be expenses Of the
board in the execution of the act 18th and 19th Vic.,
c. 120, and all parts of the metropolis shall be
deemed to be equally benefited by all sums so ex-
pended by the board."
After a short discussion, the clause was agreed to.

Sir William Jolliffe wished for some information
as to what had been stated by Mr. Gore, the Chief
Commissioner of Woods and Forests, at a former
meeting of the committee_ He stated that, if that
roadway was not made in front of the Crown pro-
perty, lie was authorised to state that the Govern-
ment would be at the expense of making the em-
bankment, and he wanted to know if the Govern-
ment were ready to incur that expense.

The Chairman said that was on the condition that
the public should be shut out from the use of the
embankment, but the committee had decided that
there should be a footway upon it. Now he might
state that there had been a communication with the
Treasury in the interest of the Crown lessees, but
the Treasury had said that the matter must be left
to this committee, and he therefore now asked the
committee to decide upon it. •
Sir J. Shelley thought they were entitled to have
same official notification of the intentions of the
Treasury upon it.

Mr. Baxter said the Crown would attend to the
representations of this committee.

Lord H. Vane said that, without the consent of
the Crown, they could not have had the bill before
them. The consent of the Treasury, therefore, was
a matter of necessity, who could stop them in their
progress at any time.

Mr. Baxter said that certain clauses had been
sent to him by the solicitor to the Crown, which he
then submitted to the committee.

The clauses were read, but they merely carried
out some details requiring that any part of the fore-
shore to be filled up in front of Somerset House and
the Board of Control should be deemed to form
part of those establishments ; that it should not be
lawful to erect any building or structure on any
part of the embankment on the Crown lands with-
out the consent of the Commissioners of Works; and
in case it might be necessary to remove existing
stairs or landing-places, and to erect and maintain
other landing-places, it should not be necessary to
obtain the approval of the Thames Conservators.
A clause was proposed in reference to the rights
of the D achy of Lancaster, which recited that in the
valuation of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments
belonging to or enjoyed by her Majesty, or her
heirs or successors, in right of the Duchy of Lancas-
ter, required to be taken or interfered with for the
purposes of this act, the amount of valuation shall
be paid by the board to the receiver-general of the
revenues of the duchy before the board shall com-
mence any works within the manor or precinct of
the Savoy, or within any lands belonging to her
Majesty in right of the duchy, the valuation to be
made by two arbitrators, one arbitrator to be ap-
pointed by the board and the other by the Chancel-
lor of the duchy, and an umpire to be appointed by
them, or in default by the Lords Commissioners of
the Treasury. The award of the arbitrators or um-
pire to be final, and all costs and expenses to be paid
by the board.

THE FIRES IN ST. PETERSBURG.

We are now receiving detailed letters bearing on

the strange events which have been recently hap-
pening in St, Petersburg. The fires, writes a
correspondent on the 11th, are not the result of the
summer heats, nor of the proverbial imprudence of
the lower classes :

"If the slightest reliance can be placed upon
public opinion, fire has been systematically set to
the four quarters of St. Petersburg to overawe the
Government, and force the inhabitants on towards
the goal of revolution. Of the two parties the
Government is to frightened into concessions, and
the people into an attitude of attack. Should their
intrigues be favoured by circumstances, the mem-
bers of the conspiracy would not object to heading
active mutiny during the terrors of the next con-
flagration. Can it be true that their reformatory
attempts in sueh a case would oe materially assistea
by the firelocks and sabres of the troops ? Report
says they would. At any rate, they have already
shown that the dissatisfaction of the semi-liberated
serfs may be turned to advantage."
If any doubt could exist as to the cause of these
fires, it would bo removed by the fact that they have
always been predicted by flying sheets, distributed
no one knows how :

" Flying sheets have been found in the streets,
stating the locality to be next sacrificed, and fixing
a day for the grand spectacle. In each of these cases
the atrocious promise was faithfully kept, although
the fact of its being given did not transpire in any
instance beyond the circle of the police and other
authorities. The old weird love of fire as a means
of passive resistance has been re-awakened in the
Russian mind. Unable to fight the enemy in open
field, they are bent upon visiting his camp with
torches, though their own homes may be involved
in the destruction."

Here is an account of the scene which took place
on the 10th :

"But the grandest conflagration of all, and which
shows a more malicious intent than the others, oc-
curred the day before yesterday in one of those
magnificent quarters artificially called into life in
this city of hovels, and hardly to be equalled in any
of the capitals of the earth. At one and the same
time was the fearful spectacle of half•a-dozen gi-
gantic structures gaming to the heavens with fifty
or sixty other buildings of minor pretensions sur-
rounding the blazing nucleus, with a ring► of at-
tendant fires. The Bank, the Ministry of the In-
terior, the Ministry of Public Enlightenment (Edu-
cation), the Corps des Pages, a neighbouring palace
burnt; and with them dozens of private dwellings,
splendid mansions and shops, so thickly studding