The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-17 00:00:00

THE CATASTROPHE AT THE CRYSTAL

(From the Daily News.)
Well : Lord John Russell, as we announced yester.
day, has said his say about the Eastern question.
There are few by whom his statement will be
read, as
there were few (if any) by whom it was heard, without
disappointment and regret. Not a single fact of great
or small importance was added to the stock of informa-
tion which we already possessed on a subject which
and
has
engrossed for months the generous sympathy
thoughtful solicitude of the country ; and the effects of
which have already made themselves felt in every mart
of industry and in every sphere of productive labour.
The Government leader in the House of Commons ex-
cuses himself for the perfunctory manner in which he
must have been conscious that he performed his task by
a reference to one or two precedents of doubtful ap-
plicability, and by the reiteration of the vague and
evasive stock phrase that as negotiations were still
pending, it would be injurious to afford Parliament any
accurate information as to their progress. But almost
every subsequent speaker who addressed the House
during the discussion took care to remind the noble
lord that for every precedent of the kind he had quoted
there were many more the other way ; and all concur-
red in specifically or inferentially expressing their belief
that, in a country governed like ours by public opinion,
this system of mystification and silence could produce no
other result than that of damaging the national influence
abroad and respect for Government at home.
We gather from the meagre statement of Lord John
s Russell but one fact of any importance, and that is un-
happily one of gloomy and grave ignificancy. It is
now no longer doubtful that the note forwarded by the
Austrian Government to St. Petersburc, on the 2nd inst.,
—the adhesion to which on the part of Czar has been
greedily accepted by the partizans of despotism every-
where throughout Europe as the basis of an immediate
and satisfactory settlement—it is now, we say, unhappily
but too clear that this note makes no mention whatever
of the invasion of the Danubian Principalities, and no
demand for their evacuation. In point of farad no
note in question was framed, not at Vienna, but at
Paris ; not by M. Buol but by M. Drouyn de Lhuys
before the Russian columns had crossed the Pruth. As
a mode of accommodating by diplomatic forms the dif-
ferences which had diplomatically arisen between Russia
and Turkey, it may have been wisely and witsell contrive
and
d;
nor will any one object that, as far as scope
purport are concerned, it should have been adopted
by Austria and Prussia as well as by France and
England. But it is worse than trifling to protend
that the Porte can assent to such a note with no
greater sacrifice of dignity, honour, and safety, now
that its enemy is in open and insolent possession of
its fairest provinces, than she might have done two
months ago, when her frontier was still inviolate.'
What would have been friendly. and sagacious counsel
on the part of her allies early in June, and wise mode-
ration on her own part at the period and under the cir-
cumstances in question, assumes a very different aspect
when proposed in the altered condition of things we now
behold. The Sultan had not then been outraged by a

( From the London Gazette of last night.)
INDIA-BOARD, AUGUST 15.
A dispatch has been this day received at the East India,
House, from the Governor-General of India in Council,
inclosing the Notification of which the following is a copy :
NOTIFICATION.
Fort William, June 30.
In the proclamation by which the province of Pegu was
annexed to the British dominions in the East, the Go-
vernor-General in Council declared that he desired no fur-
ther conquest in Burmah, and was willing to consent that
hostilities should cease.
Therefore, the Burman troops were everywhere with-
drawn • the King was dethroned by his brother, the Meng-
doon Prince ; and an envoy was sent from Ava to sue for
peace.
The Burman Envoy, confessing their inability to resist
the power of the British Government, and submissively
soliciting its forbearance, announced his willingness to
sign a treaty in accordance with the proclamation, object-
ing only to the frontier being placed at Meeaday.
Tho Government of India, while it maintained its un-
doubted right to fix the frontier where it has been placed,
at the same time gave signal proof of the sincerity of it s
desire for the renewal of friendly relations between the
States ; for, in the hope of at once concluding a Treaty of
Peace, the Governor-General in Council consented to with-
draw the frontier from .Meeaday, and place it, in strict
conformity to the most literal wording of the Proclamation,
immediately to the northward of Prome and Tounghoo,
cities which have been described, at all times, as within
the northern limits of Pegu, in the official records of trans-
actions between the States.
But, when this consession was offered, the Burman En-
voy, wholly receding from his previous declarations, re-
fused to assent to any treaty by which a cession of terri-
tory should be made.
Thereupon, the negotiations were at once broken off ;
the frontier of the British Territories was finally to the
north-west of Meeaday and Tounghoo ; and the Envoy was
directed to quit the camp.
The Envoy proceeded to tho capital, whence ho has now
conveyed to the Government of India the sentiments and
proposal of the Court of Ave.
The King expresses his desire for the cessation of
war.
The King announces, that " Orders have been issued to
the Governors of Districts not to allow the Burmese troops
to attack the territories of Meeaday and Tounghoo, in
which the British Government has placed its garrisons."
Furthermore the King has set at liberty the British sub-
jects who had been carried prisoners to Ava ; and he has
expressed his wish, that " the merchants and people of
both countries should bo allowed, in accordance with for-
mer friendship, to pass up and down the river, for the pur-
pose of trading."
Mindful of the assurance ho gave that hostilities would
not be resumed so long as the Court of Ave, refrained from
disputing our quiet possession of the province of Pegu, the
Governor-General in Council is willing acept
the pa-
cific declarations and acts of the King, as s
ons übstanipeace,al pro
go-
of his acquiescence in the proposed conditi of
though a formal treaty has not been concluded.
Wherefore, the Governor-General in Councilthe
the
of former intercourse with Ava ; and now proclaims
restoration of peace.
The Army of Ave. will no longer be maintained on a war
establishment. At the same time, a force will be perma-
nently retained in Pegu, amply adequate for its defence,
and fully prepared for the event of war.
The Governor-General in Council, while he announced
the successive events of the war, has gladly seized each
fitting occasion for bestowing promptly on the several offi-
cers whose services were mentioned with distinction, the
cordial thanks and approbation of the Government of
India.
His lordship in Council deems it unnecessary now to
repeat in detail acknowledgments of individual merit that
are still so recent ; but he cannot close the record of this
war without again conveying to the services generally an
assurance of the. admiration with which he has viewed
the combined exertions whereby, under God's good provi-
dence, the supremacy of our power in the East has once
more been asserted and upheld.
A full and fitting recognition of the services of her
Majesty's naval squadron, belongs to a higher authority
than his. But the Governor-General in Council begs leave
to offer to Commodore Lambert, to the officers, seamen,
and marines, who have been employed on the coast of
Burnish, and more especially to the officers and crow of
H.M.S. Fox, an acknowledgment of the deep obligation
which the Government of India owes to them, for the
gallantry, the good conduct, the unflinching endurance,
and ready cheerfulness, with which they have performed
the harassing duties, by which the Government of India
has profited so largely.
With sentiments of equal cordiality, the Governor-
Generea in Council once again renews to Major-General
Godwin, and, through him, to Brigadier-General Sir Johr
Cheape, to Brigadier-General Steel, and to all the officers
and non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the armies
of Bengal and Madras, who have been serving in Pegu, his
best and truest thanks for the courage, the fortitude, and
steady disciline, which they have exhibited on every
service in which they have been employed throughout the
war with Burmah.
To Captain Lynch and to the officers, seamen, and
marines of the Indian Navy, and, at the same time, to
the officers and men of the Bengal Marine, and to the
commanders and crews of the River Flotilla, the Governor-
General in Council desires to offer t
rehe assurance
of the of his full
l
approbation, and of his entire app cone
ex his
and privations they have undergone in the course of
the trying duties in which they have been engaged.
In testimony of the sense that is entertained of the ser-
vices and conduct of the combined force, the Governor-Ge-
neral in Council is pleased to direct that a donation of six
months' batta shall be issued to all officers, non-commis-
sioned officers, and men of the several Naval and Military
Forces that have been employed during the progress of the
war with Burmah.
And it shall he the further care of the Governor-General
in Council to bring these services and conduct under the
special notice, and recommend them to the most favour-
able consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and of
te Honourable Court of Directors.
By order, &c.,
J. P. GRANT,
Officiating Secretary to the Government
of India.

HAMMERSIIITII CHURCII TOWER.—We are informed,
but can scarcely believe it, that the churchwardens are
covering the solid stone tower of Hammersmith Church
with " compo." Had this occurred twenty years ago we
should have suspected one of the churchwardens was a
plasterer, but of course we cannot venture to suppose
such a motive would operate . now. Some hundred of
pounds, we are told, have actually been spent in white-
washing it year after year, and now comes Roman ce-
ment to crown the absurdity. Surely, if not too late,
some of the inhabitants will interfere.—The Bnilder.

PALACE.

The details which we gave yesterday respecting the
deplorable accident at the Crystal Palace on the previ-
ous afternoon, although substantially correct as far as
they went, yet conveyed but an inadequate idea of the
terrible character of the event. It. was feared that the
number which we announced yesterday as having
perished was not the real extent of loss of life, and that
on the wreck of the scaffolding, which lay heaped upon
'the flooring of the transept, being removed, the remains
of other sufferers would be discovered. Happily, how-
, ever, such anticipation was not realised, the unfortunate
creatures who perished being confinel to the twelve
previously reported.
On visiting the building yesterday morning we found
Sir Joseph Paxton (who had been telegraphed for from
Chatsworth), Mr. F. Fuller, the managing director of
the company, and the contractors, Sir Charles Fox and
Mr. Henderson, engaged in surveying the works ; and
it was not until then that we could fully appreciate the
magnitude of the disaster. Avery large mass of frame-
work, apparently of great strength, which had been con-
structed for the formation of the more inside portion'of
the western division of the centre' and great transept,
had fallen from its position, some 180 feet high, carrying
with it a part of the girders and several columns on the
north side of the nave, the whole lying one heterogene-
ous mass of twisted iron and shattered timber upon the
flooring beneath. As previously arranged, the wreck
was not allowed to be disturbed until Sir Joseph Paxton,
Sir Charles Fox, and other. parties of high engineering
authority bad an opportunity of examining it and the
course it had taken in falling.
The centre transept, as 'ome of our readers may be
aware, will, when completed, be.the chef d'ceuvrc of the
building. It is intended to be no,less than 208 feet is
height (108 feet higher than the transept of the Exhibi-
tion in Hyde-park) and 100 feet in breadth. The prin-
ciple of fixing the ribs is different to that pursued in the
building of the old palace, where they were raised bodily.
Here, owing to the enormous elevation and span, a
framework was constructed of timber and iron of pee u-
liar strength and bearing. On a kind of stage which '
was thrown across the entire breadth of the transept
avenue, were erected several trusses, the ends of which
rested upon timber on the summit of the iron columns
of the side galleries. The trusses were of the form
generally employed in the construction of roofs of
railway stations. They were very firmly tied by
iron bands, and otherwise strongly secured. On the
top of the first tier of trusses another kind of staging
was to be formed, and upon this the upper trusses
were fixed, which would afford the workmen every faci-
lity in throwing over the ribs. Three tiers of upper and
lower trusses had been completed.at the front of the
transept ; the fourth, fifth, and sixth lower trusses were
fixed ; and the seventh, which was the last that part of
the works in the transept required, was standing close
to the sixth, and in readiness for the men to move it on
to its position, which they could accomplish by "pur-
chasing" it along on a sheet of timber upon which it
rested. It has been stated that they were in the act of
shifting this seventh truss when the catastrophe occurred,
but that has been questioned on the ground that it would
not be required in its appointed place for a day or
so. What particular work the unfortunate men were
engaged at at the time of the accident has not satisfac-
torily transpired, but it would seem that some failure
took place which led to the shifting and falling
of the seventh truss, and the carrying with it of the
sixth and fifth. The latter were most firmly fixed to-
gether, as they were to the fourth, which kept its posi-
tion, notwithstanding the strain of several tons of falling
woodwork. The great strength of this principle of truss
is also fully illustrated by the position of the wreck on
the flooring beneath. Instead of shooting out more to-
wards the centre of the building, which would have been
the case had it not been held by some strong power,
it has dropped close under the trusses in the face of the
transept, clearly indicating the strength with which it
bad been held to the other parts of the structure. Sir
Joseph Paxton and Sir Charles Fcx made very minute
inquiries of the heads of the building department, with
a view of eliciting anything that might throw a light
upon the probable cause, but nothing decisive was
arrived at. The galleries and staging had been
constructed under the direction of the most skilled
mechanics, and who had been similarly employed in
forming the transept of the Hyde-park Exhibition. Sir
C. Fox remarked that the only opinion he at present
could give as to the cause of the melancholy event was,
that the workmen had had left out some important part
in the trusses they put up.
Considering the alarming character of the accident,
and the great number of hands employed in the vicinity
of the transept when the destruction of the upper works
took place, it is a subject of much congratulation that
the loss of life was not greater. As far as our inquiries
went we could not hear of any one man who was on the
basement sustaining any material injury.
Mr. Chamberlaine, the medical gentleman of Wolver-
hampton, who rendered immediate assistance to the unfor-
tunate sufferers, thus describes the scene he witnessed :
A few minutes before the accident he was viewing the ex-
terior of the works from the lane which runs along the
Norwood side of the building, when a sharp noise like
the falling of a plank attracted his notice, and turning
to the centre transept observed something falling
' through the galleries. Seeing that no notice was taken
of the circumstance lie proceeded down the lane, and
then noticing that the workmen on the north transept
were looking eagerly at the centre one, he turned
round, and at that instant a loud crack took place, and
he perceived that a large portion of the staging or scaf-
folding was giving way. There was a great cry, fol-
lowed by a tremendous crash, and he noticed the
workmen dropping like partridges. Being satisfied
that some terrible accident had occurred, he hastened
to the entrance and got admission to the interior, where
a most shocking scene presented itself to his view.
The workpeople were rushing out in a state of the
greatest dismay and terror. Amidst the broken tim-
bers and mass that had partly buried itself in the floor-
ing he saw 10 or 17 workmen, dead and dying.
With the assistance of Mr. Belshaw, the superintendent
of the building, and other gentlemen whom he saw there,
a body of men were urged to render aid in extricating
the sufferers ; a work which occupied a considerable
time. Many were found to have met with an instanta-
neous death; some by pitching on their heads on to the
sharp edge of the iron ribs for the transept, which laid
on that part of the floor, and others by being crushed
beneath the ponderous mass. In one spot were seen
some ten or twelve feet below the surface, three men
whom it was thought were killed. Two of them, mar-
vellously enough, were found to be but slightly injured,
althoughthey had been precipitated from the very top of
the scaffolding ; the third was discovered to have sustained
a double fracture of the skull. He was recognised to be
John Perry, who now lies in Guy's Hospital without
hopes of recovery. Mr. Chamberlaine caused a tempo-
rary hospital to be formed in the south end of the build-
ing-, where the sufferers were conveyed, and where on
the arrival of other medical gentlemen their state was
promptly attended to. Mr. Chamberlaine accompanied
the survivors to Guy's Hospital, and saw them properly
housed and handed over to the care of the surgeons of
the institution.
The remains of the ten men who were picked out of
the wreck, dead, were deposited in one of the outhouses
of the building, and have since been identified. The
following are their names :—William Forman, James
Waller, George Topham, George Fielding, George
Copping, William James, William Middleton, William
Smith, John Neale, and Charles Hardy. The names of
those dead at Guy's Hospital are Henry Reading and
John Harris.
Respecting the condition of the injured survivors
lying in Guy's Hospital, the report of the medical officer
last night to the conductors, states that, with the ex-
ception of the man Perry, all were progressing favour-
ably.
During the excitement of Monday afternoon conse-
quent on the accident, Mr. Sergeant Lund, of the D divi-
sion, and a strong body of his force rendered most im-
portant services in assisting the wounded men, and pro-
tecting the building from the thousands who flocked to
the spot.
At present there is almost a cessation of labour at
the works. The inquest on the bodies lying in the
building is fixed for to-day.
With regard to the amount of damage which the mis-
I hap has occasioned, it is computed to exceed 6,000/.
in

NEVirFOUNDLAND.—The accounts of the fishery re.
ceived at St. John's, from the outports, were very con-
tradictory. From some places the reports are favour-
able, while others are the reverse. Fish were of very
superior quality. T. P. Little and N. J. Parsons,
Esq., the delegates appointed to seek in England the
concession of responsible government and free trade with
the States, sailed by the last trip of the Ospry, via, Hali-
fax, for England.
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