The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-25 00:00:00

THE FIRE AT PERA.

A correspondent at Constantinople, writing on the 17th
inst., says :—" Although a considerable period has elapsed
since the Pera fire, no official report has yet been made,
and we are therefore only able in an approximate manner
to arrive at something near the extent of the fearful
affair. To state the loss of life at above
2,000 would certainly be no exaggeration, and the
destruction of property at the lowest estimate may be
taken at ten millions sterling. It is gratifying to be able
to notice the immense amount of private relief that
is being daily distributed. In the large camps formed
immediately. outside, our English ladies are leading the
van in showing a noble example in the cause of charity.
The requirements for clothing are enormous, and even with
the most enormous exertions that are being used, the
wants of the people are far in excess of anything that can
be done. Foreign aid is absolutely required, not merely
for pecuniary relief, but for clothing. The ruins of the
palace of the English Embassy present an aspect of solid.
stone walls uninjured, but the interior is almost com-
pletely gutted. It remains to be seen whether the walls
are sufficiently secure to admit of the edifice being rebuilt.
No English subject perished in the flames, but all other
nationalities lost more or less some persons. The excava-
tions now being made among the ruins daily bring out
more bodies. All the claims against the Sun Insurance
Office have been promptly settled. The Royal, Imperial,
and North Rritish Offices have sent out special agents to
arrange for the settlement of their claims, which doubt-
less will now be speedily adjusted. The extent of
robbery which has taken place is something without
parallel. It may almost be affirmed that there has been
more property stolen than fell in the flames, and there is
too much reason to believe that in many cases there has
been incendiarism to a large extent."

SAVAGE ASSAULT ON
POLICELORMAD LENNOX BY
ASSAULT
N.

At the Windsor Petty Sessions on Thursday, Thomas
White, a supernumerary policeman, was charged with
assaulting Lord Francis Charles Gordon Lennox, an
ensign and lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion
Scots Fusilier Guards, now stationed at the
Victoria-street Infantry Barracks. There was • a
cross summons against Lord Lennox, charging him with
assaulting White. Both cases were taken together. Mr.
H. Darvill, town clerk of Windsor, appeared on behalf
of Lord Lennox, and Mr. Brummell Smith for White.
Colonel Lord Abinger and several officers of the 2nd
Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards, and Colonel Marshall,
of the 2nd Life Guards, were present during the hearing
of the case, which appeared to excite great interest.
Mr. Darvill, in opening the case, said it appeared that
about twelve or half-past twelve o'clock on the morning
of the 19th of June Lord Francis Lennox had charge of
his brother's four-in-hand, which he had driven to the
gates of the infantry barracks for the purpose of taking in
some rugs, his intention being to drive from there back to
the Castle' Hotel, and whence his brother intended to take
it back to Maidenhead. When Lord Lennox had arrived
at the gates of the infantry barracks he pulled up the
herses, and saw one of the privates of his regiment
dragged by the policeman and a soldier into the barracks
or towards the gates, and the defendant kicking or striking
the soldier. His lordship, seeing that the man was ill
used, expostulated, and pointed out with his whip to
the sergeant of the guard the way in which the soldier
was being treated. Upon that the sergeant of the
guard came up and immediately restrained the defendant
from kicking and striking the soldier. The defendant
then got up on the box of the drag, took out some hand-
cuffs, and proceeded to handcuff Lord Lennox a
most' extraordinary proceeding. He did not, however,
succeed. When the sergeant of the guard and others saw
the violent conduct of the defendant, and that he was
seizing Lord Lennox by the throat, they came up and
pulled him down from off the drag. He was afterwards
taken to the police-station, and a charge was entered
against him for assault. He (Mr. Darvill) would be able
to establish, by the clearest possible evidence, that Lord
Lennox never struck the defendant with his whip at all,
and that the assault upon Lord Lennox was a violent one
and committed without the sligitest object. The case for
White was that Lord Lennox had first assaulted
him with his whip. After hearing a number of
witnesses on both sides, the bench came to the conclusion
that a most unprovoked assault had been committed
upon Lord Francis Lennox, and fined White £l, and
costs £1 4s. 6d. The case against Lord Lennox was
dismissed.

There has been no death in Plymouth from small-
pox for more than fifteen months.
- - - -

SERIOUS ACCIDENT.—Mr. Hart, who has been the
proprietor of the Raglan Music-hall, Theobald's-road,
many years, is now in the Royal Military Hospital, Wool-
wich, to which institution he was recently conveyed in
consequence of a serious accident which occurred to him
in that town. It •appeared that he stopped to bait his
horse, when the animal became restive, and Mr. Hart, in
endeavouring to prevent his starting. off, was knocked
down, and the wheel of the vehicle going over one of his
legs, broke it in two places, It is stated that he is likely
to remain a long time in the institution, for, in addition
to the injury he has received, his system has received a
great shock.
THE SALE OF MACLISE'S PICTURES.—The large
collection of sketches unfinished pictures, and cartoons,
left by the distinguished painter, Daniel Maclise, R.A.,
whose death occurred just before the opening of the pre-
sent Academy Exhibition, was begun yesterday by the
Messrs. Christie and Manson. Of the pictures
to be disposed of, the most interesting is the
last work of the painter, " The Earls of Des-
mond and Ormond," which now hangs upon the walls of
the Academy, where the great artist intended to give
his work the last careful touches of finish. The sale of
this picture will take place to-day (Saturday). It will be
followed by the cartoons executed for some of the painter's
large works in fresco in the Houses of Parliament, though
there are none of his " Death of Nelson." One mag-
nificent cartoon of the full size for the fresco of the
Battle of Waterloo, or rather " The Meeting of Wel-
lington and Blucher," at La Belle Alliance, after the
battle, occupies the whole side of the gallery. The pic-
ture is, indeed, a monument of the painter, and an ex-
ample of English art which is worthy the most honour-
able place in the gallery of the Academy, or even the
National Gallery. The picture of " Duncan's
Last Sleep," with Lady Macbeth stealing in, shad-
ing the lamp with her hand, is a very striking work;
more remarkable,- however, for the figures of the
two sleeping soldiers than for the principal figures. The
portrait of Macready as Macbeth is an interesting
picture, and preserves the expression of the grest
actor. " Macbeth with the Witches over the
Cauldron " is another highly dramatic work, left
apparently unfinished. Many studies in oil from
the life, and several admirable copies of the old
masters, Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Watteau,
for whom Maclise seems to have had a great fancy, attest
the thoroughness of the eminent painter's study of
his art. After the sale of Maclise's own collection,
his large picture of the " Baron's Hall" is to be sold, by
order of the Court of Chancery. This important work
formerly belonged to Mr. Gibbons, of Athol House, near
Birmingham.

JUNE 25, 1870

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT.

FRIDAY.

The interest in the education debate seemed, yesterday
afternoon, to have fallen with the temperature. Instead
of the densely crowded benches which there were on Thurs-
day week, Monday, and Tuesday, there were, at the re-
sumption of the debate, great gaps in the ranks of black
coats, white waistcoats, and white hats. May I be
pardoned for suggesting that the absence of so many
members was due to the foreknowledge of the
fact that Mr. Dixon was to take up his
parable ? One might have expected that he, the
life and the soul of the Birmingham League,
would be sure of a good audience. But Mr. Dixon is not
an orator, and as all the world knew the line that he
would take up, there was not even the anticipation of
curiosity as to what he would say. Hon. members who
absented themselves cannot be said to have lost very
much. He spoke for an hour and a quarter, and it
seemed a very long hour and a quarter. Radical mem-
bers cheered him, and loud above all others
was the " Hear, hear," of Professor Fawcett. The
Professor and Mr. Dixon usually sit upon the same bench
—the front row below the gangway—and near these two-
are usually to be found, except when the Irish members
muster in force, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Vernon Har-
court, Mr. Locke, and Mr. James White. The last-
named gentleman has not been seen much of late. No
doubt he shares in such weather as we have had the
fear which Hamlet felt as to the dissolving and melting of
" this too too solid flesh." His absence leaves
room for two other members, which is an ad-
vantage on occasions like the education debate.
Mr. Dixon complained-that the Government having first
of all introduced a bill framed with the idea of allowing
the denominational system to die out in course of time,
had so altered their measure that it rendered the system
permanent, a complaint enforced by emphatic cheers from
the Radicals. Then he went on to sundry other com-
plaints very wearisome to hear, and the reporters
laid down their pens and gossipped. At last
(the time was four minutes past six), the member
for Birmingham sat down, and simultaneously there
jumped up half a dozen members in various parts of the
house. That was a sorry sight to see, it seemed as though
there were no chance of the debate terminating that night,
though every one had supposed it would.
During Mr. Bruce's speech a certain magnificent rajah,
magnificent as to his costume, that is, for he himself
was not much to look at—rose and left the House.
His highness had sat there the observed of all observers,
just above the clock, the place assumed by royalty on the
few occasions when royalty cares to be present. He was
dressed in light grey muslin tunic, looking refreshingly
cool, and a scarlet turban, the one bit of bright colour in
the mass of black and white. Oriental, and, therefore,
scrupulously polite though he was, he could not resist
many a yawn as our enlightened legislators proved
with wearisome minuteness what peril there was in
teaching a child that he believed in God the Father
Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Mr. Bruce
is not a lively speaker ; but he was eloquence itself com-
pared with Mr. Dixon. He scouted at the outset the idea
that the Government ever meant to supersede the present
system ; they intended 'only to supplement it in those
districts—the verypoor agricultural parishes and the large
towns—where the voluntary system did not suf-
fice. Turning his back upon the Speaker, he
addressed himself to the Radicals, and his speech
was an answer to their various arguments,
especially to those raised by Mr. Richard, his old rival at
Merthyr. He told them that the jealousy of the parson
had a great deal to do with their opposition, and they
ought to remember that they were better off even in that
respect than they were before, since if the clergyman were
a man of extreme views, he would not be elected to the
school-board. He rebuked the Radicals for their want
of faith in their own pet principle, the Ballot,
as soon as it was applied. The strongest point
of his case was when he chewed that in Ireland
the model country of the Secularist, where religious and
secular education are kept distinct in the Government
schools, the system had altogether failed, and the result
was that three quarters of the children were
now in denominational schools, a pretty clear proof that
the growth of public opinion is not in favour of the secu-
lar system. Mr. Bruce was very much cheered when,
in reply to Mr. Miall's objection that the system would
not last 20 years, he said, give us but five, and
wo will cover the country with schools. He admitted
that he had little faith in compulsion, and then amid
much applause he expressed the mortification of the
Government at the fact that though Dr. Playfair had
endeavoured to carry his debate into the wide issues in-
volved by the bill, the great majority of the speakers had
altogether sunk its national character into a miserable
theological dispute, interesting enough to the
ministers of religion, but utterly without interest
to the parents of the children for whom Parliament
is endeavouring to legislate. Mr. Bruce also repeated,
with no little
_fervour, Mr. Hardy's question how the
children are to be taught religion if they are not taught
it in the school. He sat down after over an hour's
speech.
By this time the House was very thin, and con-
sequently the number of members who rose to
speak was not so large as before. There were
cries of Henley, and the Speaker attended to
them and called upon the highly respected M.P. for Ox-
fordshire, who is I believe now the Father of the House.
He bears his years well, and there is many a man several
years his junior who looks older. At first it was impos-
sible to hear anything that he said, but he soon
strengthened in voice, thanks to the kind aid of a
friendly M. P. who went out to fetch a glass of water.
Mr. Henley made a speech even more distinctively re-
ligious than those which had gone before. It was followed by
one from Mr. Charles Reed, the Dissenting M.P. for Hack-
ney, and one of the most regular attendants of the House. He,
too, paid no heed to Mr. Bruce's mortification, but argued
the measure solely from the ecclesiastical stand point. He
spoke of tyranny on the part of the clergy, but his charges
would have been more relevant if the clergy had not surren-
dered the power to be tyrannical by accepting a conscience
clause. Towards the close of his speech the division in
the camp of the Radical Opposition whereof rumour had
been talking for the last 24 hours, became apparent.
Mr. Reed was compelled to protest strongly, not only
against secular education, but against the speech of that
incarnation of the Liberation Society, Mr. Miall. It was
seen from this clearly enough that the Dissenters were by
no means at unity among themselves, and that while Mr.
Richard and Mr. Miall, animated by a common hostility
to the Church, could unite for the purpose
of obtaining a secular education, Mr. Morley
and Mr. Reed, whose love for religion is
stronger than their hatred of the Church, would not
accept secularism. With them, a little later in the even-
ing, Mr. Edward Baines joined himself. He, so far from
denouncing denominational education, declared that deno-
minations were the natural fruit of religious liberty in this
country, and he promised that he would support the
Government bill. He was preceded by Mr. Hibbert,
whom, though he sits on the benches behind the Govern-
ment, no one can accuse of any lack of religious
Liberalism. He made a good point by quoting
against Mr. Richard and Mr. Miall the reply
of Mr. Binney, when he refused to join the League on the
ground that to establish a secular system would be the
tyranny of a minority against the great mass of the Eng-
lish people. The member for Oldham then took the sub-
ject out of the religious category, and discussed the ques-
tion of compulsion, urging that it should be madeuniversal,
and not merely permissive. Mr. Gordon is a member not
often heard in the House, and as a Scotch university
member it was fitting that he should reply to Dr. Playfair,
After Mr. Baines came Lord Sandon. His father, the hand-
some Earl of Harrowby, had been in the Peers' Gallery
during the early part of the evening ; but seeing the large
number of members who rose every time that a member
sat down, he left the house, thinking probably that there
was little chance for his son. Lord Sandon, who repre-
sents the borough that Lord Harrowby represented after
the passing of the first Reform Bill, speaks well, and the
House is always ready to listen to him. No little merri-
ment was excited when he asked the Government to give
some security that their promise with regard to the increased
grants, in lieu of the building grants, would be fulfilled.
Lord Sandon was quite willing to trust Mr. Forster, but
how if Mr, Forster should be want seAmbaseador to Japan,

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and that universal favourite, Mr. Ayrton, should become
Education Minister? That was not more improbable than
that the right hon. gentleman, while professing un-
bounded contempt fcr architects and market gardeners,
should become First Commissioner of Works. To Lord
Sandon succeeded that very rising young Chancery
barrister, Mr. Winterbotham, the only member who has
had the courage and the ingenuity to devise a non-sectarian
religious education, and which he says may be stated in
three lines. "Be honest, industrious, and true. Little
children love one another. Do unto others as you would
they should do unto you." Mr. Winterbotham declared
his allegiance to the Richard-Miall wing of the Non-
conformist party, chiefly because the Government intended
to perpetuate the denominational system. A reference to
education in Ireland, and the lateness of the hour
made members impatient. It had been hoped in
the early part of the evening that there would be a
division last night, and some members still cherishing the
hope gave Mr. Winterbotham a broad hint in the shape
of a chorus of "'vide." Such happiness was not in store for
the House. Stately Lord John Manners was the next
speaker, and he, while promising to support the Government
in going into Committee, indicated several amendments of a
decidedly Consirvative Character, such as the abandon-
ment of the ballot in electing the school-boards, which he
meant to propose. Black-bearded Mr. Mundella, who has
sprung from the lowest of the ranks which Lord John
Manners once bid perish,in order that our old nobility might
survive, then moved the adjournment of the debate. This
proposition did not much please the House. They would
sooner have Mr. Mundella's speech over at once than have
to go to bed and dream about it, and then awake and
endure it the next morning. Surely it was time to divide,
and a good many hon. members said so. Not those who
had not yet made their speeches, and the multitude of
these was still so great that, after some remarks from Sir
Ranald Knightley and Mr. Walter, Mr. Gladstone
assented to an adjournment on the understanding that the
vote should be taken to-day.
For those who were not tired out there was a lively
scene in store. In the small hours of the morning, when
daylight was filling the House, there was a fierce battle,
fortunately not with, but about, guns ; and the country
squires whose power of " staying " in every sense of the
word, sporting and literal, is always greater than that of
the commercial members, who have their businessto do by
day, divided and divided again until they won a victory,
in the glow of which all other defeats about the Irish
Church and the Irish land seemed pale and insignificant.
They carried an amendment to Mr. Lowe's Gun-tax Bill,
whereby a landowner carrying a gun on land in his own
occupation shall be exempted from paying the tax. The
tax was only ten shillings a year ; but it was not the
amount, but the principle--the principle that the landowner is
a privileged person—which the squirearchs prized ; and so,
shortly before three this morninga joyful shout rent the air
and aroused the sleepy reporters. Really the delight was so
keen and so pleasant to witness that no one would think
of grudging to the party who have few triumphs now-a-
days, the ten shillings which this one cost.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and 51 anageress, Mrs. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, at 7.30, A FISH OUT OF WATER. Mr.
Terry. A SCHOOL FOR COQUETTES. Messrs. Crouch, Tur-
ner, Joyce ; Mesdames Ada Swanborough, Bufton, Hughes. And
THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD. Mr. D. James.