The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-07 00:00:00

energy of which we have not for a long period seen an
example, the indignation with which all honourable
men are filled at the sight of existing scandal, and of
the degradation of the Government. It is particularly
the system of corruption, of which the fruits are every-
where beginning to show themselves, that excites the
organs of the press throughout the departments."
The following article on the relations subsisting-
between Great Britain and China appears in the
Dibats. It is stated that the writer has resided in
China for some time :

" It is not yet five years since peace was signed with
England, and it is notorious how it has been observed by
the Chinese. Blood has been shed several times, and
whenever the execution of a new clause was to be en-
sured a recourse to arms was found to be necessary, and
each time the inexpressible weakness of the Imperial
Government has appeared in a light more menacing for
them. Besides this military weakness, this incurable
malady of disloyalty and blind pride, which incessantly
brings on them the cannon of the Europeans, will not
perhaps be as yet the most active cause of their ruin. In-
ternal anarchy, roused into existence by the effect of so
many humiliations, prepares the way for perils of a far
more direct character. No doubt, when it is recollected
that scarcely 150 years back some bands of shepherds—a
mere handful of men—undertook the conquest of this vast
empire, and after having succeeded in getting their au-
thority accepted by so many millions ofinen, added in the
west new territories to that country, already so immense,
it is impossible not to feel a certain admiration for the
genius and political talents of the Mantchoux. Unfor-
tunately, it is also true that their rule has always been
exceedingly contested in the south of the empire—Ciat
it was never admitted by certain populations of the
Yunnan—that it was never much more than nominal in
the Fukien—that except in the large cities it has always
been exceedingly uncertain in the province of Canton—
and that in all these districts it has been incessantly
opposed by local insurrections, by armed bands, and
secret societies plotting the expulsion of the foreign dy-
nasty. But if this was the case when that Government
had in its favour the prestige of force and success, what
has it not to fear afters° manydisasters and humiliations ?
It must also be declared wherever the Europeans pene-
trate they discover all around only symptoms of
decadency and approaching dissolution, and in a
tour which we (eays the writer in the Debats) made
through about one-half of the Chinese coast, from
the mouth of Yang-tze-kiang to that of the Choo-
kiang, from Ning-po to Canton, we beheld
nothing but insurgent populations—but smuggling and
piracy carried to an extraordinary extent. But if the
authority of the Government should fall to pieces—if
anarchy becomes definitively mistress of the country—if
foreigners behold themselves delivered up without gua-
rantee to the cruel passions of a stupid populace—will
they carry their disinterestedness and their respect for
.Chinese nationality to the extent of purely and simply
withdrawing? Or, even supposing that their ambition
does not impel them to it, is it not to be supposed that
the foreign powers, forced to provide for the safety of
their subjects, will at last establish on these ruins a
regular government? Recent facts, indeed, show that
England has begun to enter on this course. In conse-
quence of innumerable acts of piracy, and of robberies
committed by armed bands even on the territory
of He:rig-Kong, where the very habitation of
the Governor was attacked twice, Sir J. Davis
has pis.; given orders to the English vessels
stationed in the river of Canton to visit all the Chinese
junks and search them minutely; to arrest and destroy
all whose fitting-out causes their destination to be sus-
pected, and to hand over the crews to the tribunals of
Hong-Kong. Nay more, the Chinese Government, in
its weakness, favours this tendency, notwithstanding its
being so dangerous for itself. Thus we learn from the
journals brought by last mail, the tao-tai, the first magis-
trate of the army in the province of Fukien, not knowing
how to get rid of the pirates who were committing their
depredations even in the port of the town, at last prayed
the captain of the English corvette, the Scout, to act in
the matter for the Chinese Government. The deference
of the English captain had already, at the last departure,
led to the arrest and destruction of several junks.
There are still many things to be said on this important
subject, but we look to time to justify our predictions."
In the Chamber of Deputies the Bill authorising
the city of Paris to contract a loan of 25,000,000 f.
was passed by a majority of 197 to 36, and in the
Chamber of Peers the Greek Loan Bill was passed by
82 to 25.

The Paris Bourse wore an appearance of firmness and
ease on Monday to which it had long been a stranger,
and for which no obvious cause existed except the mag-
nificence of the weather, and the high state of the tem-
perature (83 degrees of Fahrenheit). Stock and shares
—the latter especially—improved in a rather sensible
degree.
The Three per Cents. closed at 77f. 90c.; the Five per
Cents., 118 f 90c. ; the Orleans Railroad Shares, 1,2631. The.
ex div.; Rouen, 957 f. 50c.; Havre, 640 f. ; Great Northern,
570 f.; Avignon, 670 f. ex div.; Visrzon, 592 f. 50c. ex div. ;
Bordeaux, 505 f. ex div. ; Boulogne, 400 f. ; Troyes and
Montereau, 272 f. 50c.; Basle, 185 f.; Paris and Strasburg,
4231. 75c. ; Tours and Nantes, 402 f. 50c.; Paris and Lyons,
431 f 25c. ; Lyons and Avignon, 4381. 75c.; Bordeaux and
Cette, 456 . 25c. ; Spanish Actives, 29/ ; ditto, Domestic
Debt, 27i.
MARSEILLES, JULY 1.-Marseilles and Avignon, 685 f.;
Northern, 567 f. 50c. _

LYONS, .313 L, 3.—Paris and Rouen, 957 f. 50e.; Avignon
and Marseilles, 6701. ; Vierzon, 5881. 75c. ; Northern, 565 f. ;
Paris and Lyons, 427 f. 50c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, JULY 6.
Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Cette (Constituted), 2%—Cey-
ion, I,—Namur and Liege, -11/ —Paris and Lyons, 5%$—
Rouen and Havre, 25—Sambre and Meuse, ;A.

TERRIFIC STORM this MORNING.

THIRTEEN BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

between one and two
struck the roofing of the
This morning, during the raging of the terrific storm
opw'rhnilvi(lnhtke,pdatwsneel dl
i electric
ne
tri
rnitnil thee l'
metropolis,occupationnid
situate in Brewer's-lane, Greenwich, near to the Hospital,
and close by the Waterman's Pier at the bottom of
Church-street, and set fire to several other dwellings.
From inquiries made upon the spot by our reporter as
soon as it was possible to reach the scene of desolation
from town, it appears that one of the neighbours, being
alarmed by the vividness of the lightning and the extra-
ordinary peals of thunder which succeeded each flash,
the hemisphere,
went to one of her windows for the purpose of throwing
it open, when a stream of fire shot from the clouds, and
striking immediately
o
premises in Mr. Wiseman's oc-
cupation. t
ivt
eprat onceitohe o
n . roofing
illuminated
o f,rg
s of
ome few moments the female was so
alarmed that she scarcely knew where she was, but in a
short time she was awoke to consciousness by seeing
the roof of the building on fire. As soon as possible
she says she aroused her neighbours, and she describes
the scene which followed in the adjoining courts as being
of the most appalling character. Scores of poor people
who inhabit this densely crowded thoroughfare jumped
from their beds, and rushed from their dwellings almost
in a state of nudity, and several narrow escapes from
injury were experienced, the fire travelling with great
rapidity from the fact that the cottages of the more
humble were chiefly constructed of timber. The autho-
rities connected with the Hospital at Greenwich being
informed of the calamity, ordered the engine belonging
to that establishment to be got out without delay, and
upon information being sent to the dockyard at Dept-
ford, the powerful floating engine moored off the yard
was speedily manned and rowed to a most available posi-
t an
posi-
tion opposite the fire. So great was the light caused by
the conflagration that the policemen from Biackfriars
and Southwark
Mr. Henderson, the foreman of the southern section of
the brigade, the Farringdon•street engine, the West of
rtthe bridges
nearest
brigade-stations, and
gave intelligence of a dis-
tant
England engine, and the engine from the County esta-
blishment in Regent's
Quadrant, were very soon at the
fire. The hose of the float being led from the Thames,
and the land engines being well supplied from the water-
works of the Kent Company, vast bodies of water were
soon poured upon the burning materials, but the fire,
which had by this time necessarily obtained great hold,
progressed fearfully from house to house, until it en-
circled an area of great extent, feeding upon much va-
luable property. From Mr. Wiseman's private dwelling
it extended to the extensive lofts and store-rooms of
Messrs. W. and R. Fluntly, mast, block, and sail-makers,
in Brewer's-lane, thence to the warehouses belonging to
the same firm, which were chiefly stored with salt and
provisions, and to the private residence of one of the
Partners. Several cottages on the same side of the way
then became ignited, while those on the opposite side in
Coombe's-court caught fire. The excitement then became
extreme. The poor people were compelled to stand by
and see their little all of furniture and effects swallowed up
by the devouring element, all their efforts to save it being.
cut off by the fury of the flames. And here the use f o
the police, under the superintendence of Mr. Mallalieu
and his inspectors, was signally manifested in preventing
the anxious sufferers from rushing into danger. The
efforts of the firemen were directed for some little time
to removing some wood partitions, in order that they
might, if possible, save the ancient water-side house,
known by many of our readers who have visited Green-
wich by the sign of the Fubbs' Yacht ; but their
exertions proved fruitless—the whole of the building
and its contents are destroyed. At this period it was
apprehended that the entire cluster of buildings between
the Fubbs' Yacht and the Watern3en's Pier would fall
a prey to the fire; but happily, even when hope itself
appeared to give way, signs of a diminution of flame
became apparent. At this critical juncture much
judgment was displayed by the directors of the firemen.
—the water being Copiously distributed from points com-
manding the seat of the fire, while other men were sta-
tioned with their branches so as to keep cool the reeking
walls of the adjacent buildings.
By seven o'clock the fire was so far subdued that no
further danger of its extension appeared, and by nine
o'clock nothing remained but a
smouldering mass of
ruins. Some of the parties are insured, but to many of
the poor, renting or lodging in the small tenements,
the loss will be great indeed, their little all being taken
from them by the calamity. Several leading officers
from the Dockyard and Greenwich Hospital were pre-
sent, aiding the inhabitants and assisting the firemen in
the discharge of their duty.
Subjoined is the official report furnished this day to
the several fire-offices by the Superintendent of the
London Fire-engine Establishment:—
" July 7, I.B47.—}ire up on the premises undermen-
tioned, situate severally in Brewer's-lane and Coombe's-
court, near the Hospital, Greenwich.
" Broke out upon the premises in the occupation of
Mr. T. Wiseman (private); burned down; not at present
known if insured.
" Premises of Messrs. W. and R. Fluntly, mast, block,
and sail.makers, building and contents burned down ;
insurance unknown. 1

-‘:-Private house and warehouse belonging to the same