The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-05 00:00:00

N 7 APRIL 5, 1847.

NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.
During the last week it has been very generall
stated, that the apartment in which the House ofy Lords has held its sittings since 1834 was in course of
demolition ; this, however, is not exactly the fact.
Nothing more than the furniture and fittings are being
removed; the walls, roof, and floor remain untouched;
and that chamber will not only throughout the re-
mainder of the present sessi ms, but, probably, for
seine time longer, be used as a passage from the en-
trance near A bisgslon- street to the new House 01
Lords, which building is now on the eve of com-
pletion. Respecting this portion of the Palace at
‘Vestininster the strongest interest and curiosity
are felt. It has been seen by a few who are judges
of art; by a few others who regard it as they would
any of the sights with which London abounds ; and
the united reports of both classes have sent forth
accounts of its graceful splendour, noble pro-
portions, artistic beauty, and admirable adapta-
tion to its purposes, which, certainly, have not
taken the world by surprise, for great re-
sults were universally expected ; but the occasion .
supplies a favourable opportunity to perform the
grateful task of giving to these vague rumours con-
firmation and consistency—of assuring the nation that
the hundreds of thousands already expended on this
vast undertaking, as well as the sums yet to be simi-
larly applied, will produce commensurate advantage,
while the liberality and taste of this country and of
the present generation must be largely acknow-
ledged by our immediate descendants, and rewarded
by the admiration of distant countries and future
ages. The more immediate purpose with which we
now notice the new Palace is to describe the House
of Lords, which of course constitutes the most dis-
tinguished and dignified portion of this magnificent
edifice. That it forms an appropriate and pre-emi-
nent feature in our great temple of legislation, is a pro-
position on which no judgment can be pronounced
without at least a cursory glance over the whole of
this splendid structure. The reader who has not
yet had the good fortune to survey its outlines I must be told that to the eastward it presents
a frontage of nearly one thousand feet—consider-
ably upwards of nine hundred; that when complete
it will cover an area of nine statute acres ; that
the great tower at the south-western extremity,
which has already been raised to the height of 90
feet, will ultimately reach the gigantic elevation of
tour hundred ; that towers of lesser magnitude will
crown other portions of the building; that fourteen
halls, galleries, vestibules, and other apartments of
great capacity and noble proportions are contained
within its limits ' • that it comprises eight official
residences, each first-rate mansions, fit to receive
families of distinction ; that twenty corridors and
lobbies are required to serve as the great roadways
through this aggregation of edifices ; that two and
thirty noble apartments facing the river will be used
as committee-rooms ; that libraries, waiting-rooms,
dining-rooms, and clerks' offices, exist in a super-
abundant measure; that eleven greater courts and a
score of minor open ings give light and air to the
interior of this superb fabric ; that its cubic content
exceeds fifteen millions of feet, being one-half greater
than St. Paul's ; and that it contains not less than
between five and six hundred distinct apartments,
amongst which will be a chapel for Divine worship,
formed out of the crypt of old St. Stephen's.
With such facts presented afresh to the minds of
some readers, and for the first time offere.l to the pe-
rusal of the great majority, we now proceed to de-
scribe the gorgeous apartment in which the Peers of
England are to deliberate from day to day, and in
which the three branches of the Legislature will at
stated times assemble. It is to be reached from the
new House of Commons by a long line of stately
halls, ante-rooms, and corridors ; but the immediate
vestibule of the Upper House is a great triumph of
art, a fine specimen of exquisite though subdued
beauty. By a gradual and agreeable progression,
the admiring stranger is led from one degree of ele-
gance and splendour to another, till he gains sight of
the throne. Folding doors of burnished brass, formed
of delicate tracery, in the style of the florid Gothic,
admit the llouse of Commons to the bar of the Peers;
and the spectator, proceeding by that route, enters a
room,- ninety feet by forty-five feet, and in height
forty feet. The ceiling first attracts attention. It
is not arched, but perfectly horizontal ; mas-
sive ribs, carved and gilt, divide it into eighteen
compartments, and each of these is subdivided into
five minor compartments or panels, the ground of
those panels being azure, enriched with heraldic de-
vices. The ribs are, of course, supported by corbels
and by spandrils, perforated. At each point in the
ceiling where the ribs intersect each other there are
pendants, which greatly enhance the beauty of that
portion of the building; but there are no depending
lights—no lustres, no chandeliers swinging from the
roof, to conceal elegance or cover deformity. The
length of the House of Lords extends from north to
south, and during the day it will be lighted by
twelve windows, six on either side—which nearly
reach to the ceiling, but do not approach within
twenty feet of the floor. These apertures are to be
double glazed, the inner portion being stained glass.
One of this number has already been finished, it ex-
cites much and deserved approbation, but, the other
eleven windows let in at present more light than the
architect intends they should eventually supply, for it
is obvious that their effect will be much softened by
the influence of the intended staining of the glass;
the general result, therefore, now is more glare from
the unrestricted admission of light than will ulti-
mately be found to prevail. The completion of the
windows will, doubtless, add much to the elegance of
this apartment, though it will somewhat subdue the
magnificence which now dazzles every beholder.
Upon the same level with the windows, but on the
northern and southern walls, are six compart-
ments' three on each extremity of the House, five of
which are now temporarily covered with figured
damask. They are ultimately to be filled with fresco
paintings
One of these six which stands immediately over
the throne has been completed ; the subject is the
baptism of Ethelbert. It is to be hoped that at all
events the three frescoes at the south end will be en-
trusted to one artist, for the effect of dissimilar
styles upon one short wall could not fail to offend
even the most uncultivated taste. Such an appro-
priation of space would constitute no monopoly, for
the compartments throughout the new palace in-
tended for frescoes almost exceed calculation. With
these no progress can be made until the several apart-
ments in which they exist shall have been cleared of
the ordinary workmen, and resigned to the exclusive
possession of the artist. The spaces between the se-
veral windows and compartments are fourteen in
number, and they contain niches which are yet to
be filled with statues of the barons who obtained
Magna Charta.
Having now disposed of the upper portion of the
House, we descend to the galleries. That which is
intended for the admission of strangers bearing
Peers' orders occupies the north wall, and contains
accommodation for about one hundred and fifty per-
sons. The throne and the reporters' gallery fill
spaces of pretty nearly equal extent, but at opposite
ends of the House. With the exception of those
spaces there is carried round the entire apartment a
light gallery, consisting of only one line'of seats, and
capable of containing about one hundred and eighty persons. This portion of the building will, we un-
derstand, be appropriated to a few ladies, and to
Members of the House of Commons. The railing
which protects these seats is a very beautiful speci-
men of brass work and enamel. The only other gal-
lery is that intended for reporters, which is placed
in front of that for strangers, but considerably nearer
to the floor, and immediately over the bar. The
situation thus appropriated for reporting is certainly
in the most favourable position that could be as-
signed for that purpose, consistently with the accom-
modation of the Peers and the architectural arrange-
ments of the building.
The floor of the House presents to the eye of the
spectator three principal divisions, which extend
transversely, viz., from east to west, each occupying
the full breadth f the apartment, but unequal parts
of its length. In the upper or southern division are
the throne, together with the spaces assigned to dis-
tinguishecfforeigners and eldest sons of Peers. The
boundary of this division is fifteen or sixteen feet
from the south wall. Next comes the central region,
or " body of the House," which seems capable of
containing the four hundred and forty Lords spiritual
and temporal. The table and woolsacks will ofl
course occupy the middle portion of the floor. At
either side of these are placed, on ascending steps, five
lines of benches, covered with scarlet morocco leather,
which will be of course reserved for the exclusive use
of the Peers. The woolsacks have not yet been intro-
duced. It is to be hoped they will bear such a re-
semblance to that which they are intended to imitate
as similar pieces of furniture did in the old House of
Lords, and not be such mean looking squabs as cum-
bered the temporary building during the last 13 years.
The body of the House is about fifty feet in length,
by the full breadth of forty-five feet. The northern or
lower boundary of this division is called the bar,
where the Speaker, accompanied by the assembly over
which he presides, stands when summoned to attend
her Majesty or the Royal Commissioners. From that
place gentlemen of the long robe address the House
in its judicial capacity; witnesses are also there ex-
amined, and culprits are arraigned. The space below
the bar will afford standing room for two or three

hundred of those who are entitled to fill that locality,
and the House, if completely occupied in all its parts,
seems capable of accommodating at least eleven hun-
dred persons.
The throne, an account of which has till now
been postponed, is not therefore the less deserving
of attention anti admiration. Hitherto this portion
of the Upper Chamber was an afiitir of velvet and
gold lace, with a canopy like a great window
curtain. It remained for the excellent taste of
Mr. Barry to dispense vc ith those cumbrt,tt
draperies that seemed to enshroud the Soveleig,ii
and though retaining abundant gurge,ousnes,
the new throne is distinguished by an airy, light
anti graceful character ‘shich harmonise. at once
with the building and with the monarch. The plat-
form, on which her Majesty's chair will stand, is
ascended by four steps, and constitutes a sort of
central compartment, on either side of which, forming
as it were two wings, are minor elevations, n here
chairs for Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales art-
to stand, the latter on the right of the Queen, the
former on the left. The frame work of her Majesty':. chair of state is of course carved and gilt, but it is
also, we understand, studded with crystals. In other
respects the structure of these seats is conformable
with the established fashion of such furniture, which,
for the enlightenment of those who luxuriate in mat-
ters of upholstery, we may state to be crimson velvet
and gold embroidery. The arms of her Majesty are
emblazoned on the central chair, those of the heir
apparent on the chair appropriated to that interesting
young personage, while Prince Albert's chair is
adorned with his own shield, surmounted by the
multitudinous crests which Germans of gentle blood
are usually entitled to display; and now that we are
on the subject of heraldy it may be as well to men-
tion that the arms of the successive chancellors,
placed in juxta-position with those of the monarchs
under whom they served, are emblazoned upon
shields in a line, formed on the wood ceilings, under
the side galleries.
It is impossible, finally, to conclude our description
of the throne without stating, than in its most ele-
vated and conspicuous parts there are five niches, in
which statuettes will be placed, fully armed, each
in the costume of one of the five British orders of
knighthood.
I Ventilation, illumination, and temperature yet
remain to be noticed. Ever since the destruction
of the old Houses of Parliament, the theory and
practical arts of giving air and warmth to large
public buildings have been exposed to an amount of
discussion and controversy which has exalted the
apparent importance of these subjects far above
the local, the structural, or the decorative diffi-
culties whereon an architect was wont to exhibit
the power of his professional resources and the
extent of his individual contrivance. Ventilation
and acoustics seem to have been regarded as the
approbria of modern architecture. While the tem-
porary Houses were resigned, like the unclaimed
bodies of paupers, to all the vicissitudes of scientific
experiment, the new palace, and its future inhabi-
tants, were apparently looked upon as instruments
for advancing the great cause of ventilating philo-
sophy—as creations subservient to the science by
which heat, cold, and moisture were tempered, dis-
tributed, or denied. When the force of public
opinion, however, eventually reduced ventilation to
its true level, and curtailed the eccentricities of its
practice, three portions of the new building—the
House of Lords, the Royal ante-chamber, and the
public lobby were withdrawn from Dr. Reid and
confided to Mr. Barry, for ventilation. As might na-
turally be expected, such a transfer imposed on Mr.
Barry the necessity of meeting the defects of Dr.
Reid's system as well as the older evils of having no
system. Accordingly there are to be no local
draughts ; no stains on walls or doors resulting
from these " ill winds ;" no movement or dispersion
of dust by the ingress of air ; no sudden changes of
temperature ; no necessary derangement of the %hole
system by the imperfection or failure of apparatus in
a distant part of this vast pile. These objects are
secured by an impervious floor, warmed from un-
derneath with hot air, like a Roman bath; by a
central foul air chamber and chimney which
carries off the vitiated atmosphere and assist in main-
taining an equable, imperceptible movement to the
extent of ten thousand cubic feet per minute. The
air by which the floor is warmed receives its heat in
tubes traversing a steam cockle supplied by one of
Lord Dundonald's boilers. Underneath the solid
floor of the public lobby, where that apparatus and
its furnace are placed, the heated air passes ; thence
it spreads over the under surface of the equally itn-
pervious floors of the House of Peers and the Royal
ante-chamber, and, by the same well-known pro-
perty of heated air to ascend, it eventually rises to
certain reservoir chambers above the ceiling. From
these reservoirs it enters the apartments, descending
almost imperceptibly by the walls, and becoming
cooled as it passes the windows. When arrived at
the level where respiration and animal heat de-
teriorate and again warm it, the air is drawn to-
wards the centre, and upwards, to be ejected through
a foul air chimney by the draught of a flue, and by
Bell's steam jet. The novel application of a jet of
steam to displace air is founded on the fact that
when the former is produced at a pressure of thirty-
two pounds to the square inch, it actually sets in
motion 217 times its bulk of air : so strong a
pressure as this, however, is not used in the House
of Lords. Precisely the same apparatus which gives
heat in winter will produce coldness in summer, by
substituting water from the artesian wells around the
tubes in the steam cockle. Thus it will be seen that
the manifest differences between Mr. Barry's and
Dr. Reid's plans—the solid impervious nature of the
floor—stands prominent, while the pure atmosphere,
instead of ascending through the dusty door from
below, descends through the ceiling from above, and
the current, unlike the ghost in Hamlet, brings with
it " airs from heaven," not " blasts from hell.
The means of illumination adopted are the well-
known and ingenious inventions of Mr. Faraday.
The air necessary for combustion is supplied from
without ; the vitiated atmosphere is removed by
means of its own high temperature ; and the whole
results of lighting the apartment are obtained by
having the burners at once inside the house as far as
illumination is concerned, but outside the building as
far as regards all the products of combustion—de-
creeing a practical divorce between light and heat.
The burners above described are twenty in number
on the side walls, two to each of the spaces between
the windows, a proportionate number on the walls
at either end of the house, besides several candelabra
springing from the floor. The transmission of sound
in the new building is a subject on which of course
there has been much unprofitable discussion. At
present there is no reverberation in the House of
Lords ; and we understand that every possible pre-
caution has been taken, and every imaginable expe-
dientthaeLrisneltvhees
eaddinopgtsedo,ftotehnaatblase
stehmosbelywhtoo tilkaek
ea
p o e
heard with facility and effect. It would be premature
to anticipate either failure or success ; but the latter
is by far the more probable result. Experience of
several nights' debating will be required to determine
the question, for the galleries, as well as the spaces
below the bar and about the throne will at first be
crowded with people who come rather to admire
architecture than to hear oratory.
Before bringing this article to a close, a few "more
last words" are necessary with reference to the
general state at present of this great national under-
taking--this magnificent domicile of a Legislature,
that comprises the statesmen, the warriors, the
judges, and the prelates of the most powerful
empire of the world. The exterior of the new
Palace at Westminster has been criticised suffi-
ciently, though with rather a premature anxiety to
pronounce a judgment, which the most skilful and
the most learned in architecture can scarcely yet
form with any degree of confidence. The three
great towers, upon which the general effect
of the external aspect of the building must
mainly depend, have not yet risen much above the
line of the roofing. The removal of Westminster-
bridge, er-
bridge, and the formation of the eastern terrace—
works not even commenced—must exercise a vast in-
fluence over the exterior character of the edifice; a
few years, however, will suffice to bring all contro-
versyects—if any should then exist—to
suc
h ao n
point, these subjects—if
sausthat the admirers of Mr. Barry's
genius may point to his great work, and affirm that
he was equally eminent in every department of his
noble profess on.
It is impossible to take a general
survey of new palace without a deep conviction
that the years already spent, and hereafter to be con-
sumed in rearing it up from its broad foundations,
hare not been misapplied. Yet much time must
elapse before the last of the artists and workmen can
be made to disappear from its precincts. The walls
and the roof of the douse of Commons are complete,
but the other portions of that important chamber have
not yet been brought into view; thougii for anything
that appears to the contrary the joiners' work may be
all ready on the builder's premises. The same may
be said of the Royal Gallery, the Central Hall, St.
Stephen's Hall, St. Stephen's Porch, and various other
portions of the building. The Royal ante-room, how-
ever, is nearly complete, and so are a large proportion
of the committee-rooms.—Times.

Dispatches were sent off on Saturday evening from the
Colonial•office, for the Governors of the North Ameri-
can Colonies.

PORTS3IOUTII DC CK Y.: RD PROMOTIONS.
Mr. Bennett, foreman, to bo Inspector of Timber ;
Messsrs. I larrison, James Chase, Ilelby, and G. Newton
Inspectors of Shipwrights, to be measurers. The fol-
lowing have been sup,rannuated:—Mr. J. Page, timber
converer ; Mess. Gison, liunt!ey, Wicker Johns,
and W.t Knight, Inirspectorbs of Shipwrights ; and, Messrs.
W. Barnard, Dawson, Scriggins, John Orley, and
Thomas Summers, leading men ; also Messrs. Singer
and Chase, Inspector of Joiners.
K.C.8., FSir a Charles i
r4std
aLmo eFAirsdtmNiraavlati, Auckla
Woor,wwir, APRIL 4.—The Earl of
nd,
oVrdice- -cAodinmniiroa!
dore Lord John Hay, C. 8., and the Hon. William Cow-
per, Lords Comrmssioners of the Admiralty, arrived at
Woolwich dockyat d on Saturday morning at the early
hour of eight o'clock, and immediately embarked on
board the Black Eagle, to proceed down the river, on
an official visit to Sheerness dockyard.
The Terrible steam-frigate, under the command of
Captain Hall, passed thri,ugh the Downs on Good Fri-
day, and in her course went betwixt the Gomer and
another French war steamer, lying in the Downs, with
flags half-mast high, and their yards crossed in com-
memoration of the day. The Terrible passed within
100 yards of these French war steamers, and the ap-
pearance of that noble frigate, as she passed them, was
very imposing. The French officers and men assembled
on the decks of their vessels to view the Terrible. As
the Terrible neared Dover to put her pilot on shore a
great number of the inhabitants of that town flocked to
every available place to have a sight of her. The
Terrible only used two boilers in passing through the
Downs, and although heavily laden with meal, made
speed of nine knots per hour.
The Monkey steam vessel when towing the Sphynx
steam-sloop to Woolwich, on Wednesday, was run
against by the Prince Metternich iron steam-vessel, built
for th 3 Austrian Government by Messrs. Ditchburn and
Mare, when the latter was coming down the river on an
experimental trip at a speed of about fifteen and three-
quarters knots per hour. The collision took place in conse-
quence of the great speed of the Prince
• Metternich. The
force with which the Prince Metternich struck the Mon-
key carried away the paddle-box of the former and left
a portion of it on the deck of the latter. The Prince
Metternich also came into collision with the Sphynx and
left a portion of her works on board that vessel. The
iron steamier sustained damage which it is estimated will
cost 250/. to repair, while the two Government vessels
scarcely sustained any injury.
The Lords of the Admiralty landed at Woolwich
Dockyard from the Black Eagle steam-vessel on yester-
day evening at ten minutes past eight o'clock, on their
return from Sheerness, and left for town.

ROYAL MARINES.--WOOLIVICH, APRIL 3.—An
express araived at Woolwich yesterday afternoon for the
undermentioned draught of the Woolwich division of
Royal Marines to proceed to Portsmouth with the least pos-
sible delay, where they are to embark for service.
Brevet-Major Stransham, whose orders to proceed to
Chatham, as recently announced, were countermanded,
with Lieutenant Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Barris, Lieute-
nant Taylor, three sergeants, three corporals, two drum-
mers, and 130 privates. The officers, non-commissioned
officers, and men, made themselves ready on the short
notice they received, and embarked at seven o'clock
A.M. this day at Woolwich, for conveyance to the ter-
minus of the Southampton Railway at Nine Elms, and
thence by that railway to Portsmouth.
THE WIFE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POI-
BONING
suffFolokst u.
,
er
BONING HER HUSBAND.—The case of Catherine
who was on Saturday week convicted
at
sizes, at Bury St. Edmunds, of poisoning John Foster,
three weeks after marriage, still excites very great in-
terest throughout the town and neighbourhood. On
Saturday the order for her execution was received by
the High Sheriff, but the day has not yet transpired on
wh.ch it will be carried into effect. She has been daily
visited since her conviction by the Rev. Mr. West, the
chaplain of the gaol, the Rev. C. J. P. Eyre, mbaister of
St. Mary's parish, and Rev. Mr. Ottley, of Acton, the
village in which she and her husband lived, and who
married them. She has not yet made any statement
either as to her guilt or innocence.
DEATH OF Two SAILORS FROM SUFFOCATION.—
On Sunday afternoon two young men lost their lives on
hoard the brig Bolton, North Shields, then lying in the
harbour, under the following circumstances:—The vessel,
it appeared, had been smoked with charcoal the previous
(lay to kill the vermin, and these young men, one of
whom was an apprentice just out of his time—the other
still a servant in the vessel, had forgotten something in
the forecastle which they required. They went on
board a little after one o'clock, and descended below in
order to procure what they wanted. A boy who was
in the vessel lying alongside, thinkieg they were long in
coming up, went over, and looking down the hatchway
discovered them lying on the floor, apparently motion-
less. He immediately gave an alarm, and some men
ventured down and brought them on deck, when it was
discovered that they were dead. It wsei evident the
their deaths had occurred from entering the vesse
before having allowed the poise nous gam from the char-
coal to escape. The river police came on board, and
t hneo t been
removed the bodies to their station.
able to ascertain the names of the
one is said to be a native of Shetland, the other a nativ
of Shields.—Durham Chroxick.
sufferers: We
7have