The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-18 00:00:00

THE LATE FIRE.--.-FURTHER PARTICULARS.

The fire still continues smouldering in several places, and
the engines are still playing in many parts, but all danger
has long since ceased. A strong barricade has been erected
all round. The walls are much in the same state as yes-
terday, but many parts of them are in a very dangerous
condition.

As some of our Morning Contemporaries still assert that
some of the libraries have been consumed, we again repeat

our statement of yesterday (derived from good authority),
that the whole loss will not amount to 50 volumes.

As was natural upon an occasion of so much importance,
a great variety of inferences have been drawn as to the
manner in which the conflagration took place. For the cor-
rectness of what follows we pledge ourselves :—One of the
door-keeper's of the House of Lords (Mr. Mulencramp)
resided in the rooms immediately above those in front of
the House of Lords. On Thursday morning a friend visited
him who expressed a desire to see the House ; they pro-
ceeded there in company with Mrs. Wright, who shows the
House to strangers, and while in it, Mr. Mulencramp
remarked to Mrs. Wright that there was a smell of some-
thing burning which he could not account for. She replied
that she had noticed it before, and was sure that some wood
about the place was on fire, adding that she would
immediately send for some of the parties belonging to
the Board of Works. Nothing passed at that time, but the
promised message was sent, and the answer returned was,
that there could be no danger, and some one would come in
the course of the day.
Mrs. Mulencramp had occasion to go out in the
afternoon, and was returning to her rooms exactly at
half-past six o'clock ; she had entered by the Chancellor's
door, so had to pass the door of the House of Lords
leading into the throne ; there she fancied the saw
light shining from the chinks all round it. She pro-
ceeded along the passage, and on arriving at the door below
the bar her fears were confirmed, for then she distinctly
smelt the smoke, and before she could get up to her room to
alarm her husband, she saw the flame burst from the fan-
light immediately above the Black Rod's box. She
alarmed her husband, who, on looking out, found the stairs,
(which are entirely of wood) in a complete blaze ; he and
his wife were obliged to escape as they were, he with his
slippers on, and without saving even the trinkets of
Mrs. M. They were placed instantaneously almost in
so dangerous a situation, that before reaching the
bottom of the stairs Mrs. M. received a severe contusion
on the arm, from the falling in of one of the small windows.
There is now not the slightest doubt but that the fire arose
from the burning of the old Exchequer Tallies, which was
done in the furnace used for heating the House of Lords,
for convenience sake.

By desire of Mrs. Wright, the boy who attends the house
opened two of the fanlights at five o'clock, for the purpose
of letting the smoke disperse—there is not a doubt in the
minds of those who saw the fire at first, but that the
smouldering fire was fanned into aflame by the opening of these
fanlights ; we think, however, it was a lucky circumstance,
otherwise the concealed flame might have burst forth in the
night, when loss of life would have been frightful. A gen-
tleman from the Board of Works, Mr. Wibley, arrived be-
fore seven oclock, and opened the large doors of the
House, when the flame instantly burst forth, and pro-
ceeded with great fury towards the Commons. After
the first notice of the flame the progress was irre-
sistible, and nothing could save the buildings. We be-
lieve that Miss Wright is a very severe sufferer by the
fire, as well as her mother, who officiated in her ab-
sence. They had not time to save a single piece
even of clothing. Mr. Mayes, also a door-keeper, could
save nothing ; and was himself, along with his family, very
nearly falling a prey to the flames.
The ruins now present only the usual appearance of a
large burned house.
A. minute inquiry was instituted yesterday before
the Cabinet Council, when the facts, as already stated,
were elicited. Mr. Mayes and Mrs. Wright were those
who gave the greater part of the evidence. Mr. Mullen-
cramp has received a summons to attend their Lordships
to-day.
A similar calaMity had this morning very nearly befallen
the Colonial-office. About eleven o'clock an alarm was
given that those offices were on fire : a party of police-
men and firemen instantly proceeded to the spot, when,
by taking down a large part of one of the walls,
they succeeded in putting it out. It seemed that
some parties had been brewing yesterday in the back
house, and the flue being foul, it had caught fire and com-
municated with a large beam, which continued to smoulder
till put out as above stated. All is now perfectly safe in
both places.

The Paris papers of Thursday which have been
received are as indefatigable as ever in their collection
of all kinds of rumours, reports, statements, assertions,
and opinions relative to the state of affairs in Spain
and Portugal. Every journal has its correspondents
in every place ; and every correspondent is endowed
with a prescience, which enables him to talk of future
events with as much certainty as if they were passing
before his eyes. But like the seers of old, many of
these sages prophecy under the influence of lying
spirits, and of course matters do not always happen,
nor occurrences come to pass in any thing resembling
the order in which they were foretold. This does not
greatly disconcert them. Like the female fortune-
teller, MORGAN, who figured at the Thames Police-
office on last Wednesday, they are always prepared
with a discovery that something was wanted to round
the planet ; consequently the previous error was merely
an unavoidable mistake. Thus the French journals of
Wednesday, on the authority of their correspondents,
stated that ZUMALACARREGUY, taking advantage of
the recal of RODI T, from the command of the army,
and the inability of MINA to assume his place at the
head of the QUEEN'S troops in the present state of his
health, had begun to act on the offensive. This ac-
count was followed by another which reported that he
had attacked and taken Bilboa, that the rebels were in
high spirits, and even meditated a march to Madrid.
These reports are contradicted in the same journals of
Thursday ; and we are now told that the whole was a
fabrication of the Carlists, who expected by that means
to be able to gull the public out of some money, to be
raised as a loan for the service of the Royal rebel and
his compeers in conspiracy. It is hardly possible to
conceive how any person could be deceived by false-
hoods so clumsily fabricated, more especially as most
of the correspondents of the French journals dated
their letters from the vicinity of Bilboa; and yet we find
that a mistatement so gross is passed over as a mis-
take into which an inhabitant of the town might have
fallen. For the other reports concerning the move-
ments and designs of the contending armies in the
disturbed provinces, we refer our readers to the extracts
from the French papers.

The French papers contain no local news of any
great importance. The Ministerial Ordonnance of
M. DUCHATEL, which appeared some time since in
the London papers, has had an effect the very reverse
of what was intended by that Minister. The trimming
policy of a partial system of free trade, which he
hoped would please all parties, has, as ought to have
been expected, disgusted all. Rouen, Lille, and St.
Quentin cry out against free trade altogether ; while
Havre, Bourdeaux, and most of the great influential
marts of French commerce, have laughed to scorn a
Ministerial project so far short of what that same
Minister had taught them to expect. Thus the plan
of M. DUCIIATEL, like all plans which are formed
to steer midway between two contending and opposite
principles, has brought down on him the vengeance of
both sides, and has only widened the gulph which he
vainly hoped to fill up with an ordonnance bearing his
signature. Whether he will go on with the law which
he has announced in preparation to be submitted to the
Deputies, relative to the commerce of France, the prin-
cipal features of which are detailed in this unlucky
circular, we of course cannot tell, but we presume he
will take more time to consider of it than he first pro-
posed to himself. The following are extracts from
French papers received this morning :

PARIS, Oc•r. 15.—We hear this moment that news of
the 9th has just arrived from Madrid. The Committee
of the Proceres, far from being resolved to modify the
project of law as the correspondent of the Debats says,
is reported to propose the adoption of it without altera-
tion, for fear of delaying the loan, the want of which is
felt by the Government. Only it will make some reser-
vations, nearly as our Chamber of Peers does when the
budget is prescribed to it at such a time that it is too
late to amend it.

Extract from the Sentinelle des Pyrenees of Oct. 12.
A letter addressed to us from the frontier, dated Oct.
0, says, " News has been spread that ten or twelve thou-

sand muskets were landed a few days ago on the coast of
Fontarabia,- where the insurgents, it is said, went by
night to receive them. Though this news seems to
be confirmed, we doubt its truth, but there cannot
be the same uncertainty respecting aid of another
description, which has beta received by the Car-
lists ; eye-witnesses entirely worthy of credit have
assured us, that the army of the Pretender had just been
paid, even the arrears ; accordingly, 20 franc-pieces are
now seen in the hands of soldiers who a week ago had not
a penny."
On the Ist of this month, the Christinos demolished or
burnt nine mills in the environs of Estella. The iron-works
of Aroqueita have had the same fate.
It should seem that Don Carlos has formed some new
plan of operations. Zumalacarreguy has just ordered all
the commanders immediately to repair, with their troops, to
the valley of Amezcoa. According to the general opinion,
Don Carlos himself, as well as the Junta of Navarre, will
go to that place to make an attempt to advance.
A letter from the Aldudes of the 7th, says—" It is re-
ported that Zumalacarreguy has discovered a plot contrived
by the members of the Junta, and that he has had five of
them shot ; it is certain that the sixth, the Cure of
Ugarte, Araquil, is gone over to the Christinos."
Yesterday morning the demolition of the expiatory mo-
nument, erected in the site of the old Opera-house, was
commenced.

The Echo of Niout says, that M. Naudin, a broker al
Rochelle, had issued there forged bills to the amount o
800,000 francs. He has absconded, but this act of swind•
ling plunges a whole city in distress.—illessager, Oct, 16.

The most important intelligence contained in the
German Papers, is an account from Munich of the 6th
inst., stating that the negociations for the marriage of
Queen DONNA MARIA of Portugal, with AUGUSTUS,
Duke of Leuchtenberg, are finally concluded. No time
is mentioned for the celebration of the Royal nuptials.
The Duke is at present staying at Eichstadt.

The latest advices from Greece are very favourable.
The insurrection has been completely extinguished.
King OTIIO left Napoli on a journey by land to
Athens, on the 4th of September, where it was ex-
pected he would reside for some time. The KING, it
was believed, would spend a great part of the winter
in travelling through the continental provinces of
Greece.

Papers and letters from Madrid, up to the 9th inst.,
have been received. The Journals contain a rather
interesting report of the debate in the Chamber of
Procuradores, on the project of the law for excluding
Don CARLOS and his descendants from the throne of
Spain. Many of the Deputies opposed the law in the
form in which it was drawn up, though they admitted
the soundness of the principle upon which it was based.
They contended that it was idle to quote precedents or
authorities drawn from barbarous or despotic periods
in their history, and that enough would be said in
stating that such was the will of the nation. Many of
the speeches are remarkable for the bold and manly
expressions they contain—altogether such as the
world is not prepared t 9 expect from the representa-
tives of the Spanish people. On that part of the
bill which related to the exclusion of Don CARLOS'
offspring, and which some were prepared to censure
as a visitation of the punishments of a father's guilt
on his innocent children, M. TRUEB A observed :

" The fate of the children of the Infante may affect the
minds of the scrupulous and timid—the idea of their being
disinherited may appear dishonourable to Spain. But their
rights are illusory, for they could never inherit what their
father has lost. The inheritance of a Crown cannot be
viewed in the same light as an inheritance to an estate.
The happiness of a whole nation depends upon the former,
and this we cannot suffer to be sacrificed. The latter in-
volves only the interest of a single family. A nation can-
not be transmitted from hand to hand like a field or a flock,
and the right-divine appealed to by the partisans of the
Pretender, is universally acknowledged to be an absurd and
obsolete notion. Peruse the history of Europe, and it will
be seen how far this right-divine has always been considered,
when it became necessary to change a dynasty. The only
true right is vested in nations ; it presides over the present
question, and cannot be invalidated."

This is language such as we believe was never
before uttered in a Spanish Chamber of Legislation ;
and cannot fail to create some alarm among the mem-
bers of the Aulic Council. This is attacking des-
potism in its strongest hold, and whatever may be the
effect of it now, we are very certain that it will yet
produce those results to the appearance of which es en
Spain begins to look forward. Such sentiments, so
uttered, are the seeds of liberty, and though the plant
will require to be carefully fostered for a season, its
branches will yet overshadow the land, and afford pro-
tection to every member of the social body.
The arguments of M. TRUEBA in favour of the
projected law for excluding the children of Don
CARLOS, were not more novel than his striking descrip-
tion of the war now waging in the provinces. We have
seldom read anything better calculated to rouse to ex-
ertion an ignorant, but chivalrous and imaginative
people, than the following vivid sketch :

_ _
" The present war is not a war of succession, but of
principle—liberty and despotism are it issue. England,
France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, have ranged them-
selves under the banner of the former ; but it is not neces-
sary for me to name those Powers who follow the standard
of the latter. Two grand pictures are displayed before my
eyes. In one I see a people emerging from a dark and
gloomy forest, advancing towards a smiling and happy land,
rich with all the treasures of knowledge and industry, pro-
tecting the brilliant throne of a young Queen—herself more
lustrous ; all obstacles are overthrown, patriotism is
making rapid advances, and spreading its light over
the most powerful nations of Europe. This is the
people of Spain, formerly so great, and who burn
with the desire of recovering their ancient splen-
dour. In the other picture I see a nation loaded with
chains, and groaning under insupportable burdens, in the
midst of the most horrible desert—a throne decorated
with the most lugubrious emblems rises upon a foundation
reeking with newly-shed blood, while the Prince who is
seated upon it wields a sceptre of iron. Ignorance, hypo-
crisy, and fanaticism are his only councillors, whispering to
him new means of oppressing his people. Every thing
around is stamped with the marks of baseness and false-
hood, while in this infernal region desolation and death
reign triumphant. A sanguinary priesthood is sacrificing
human victims to the God of peace and love. The former
picture represents the kingdom of Isabella, in which reign
peace, abundance, and glory : the latter, that of men
who would bring us back to the dark ages ; it is the em-
blem of tyranny, ignorance, and death. Choose, then,
between them."

M. LOPEZ, who addressed the Chamber on-the 7th,
contended that the question ought to be viewed simply
as regarding a political right, not as resting on historical
precedents. The will and the power of the nation, he
maintained, were quite sufficient to give validity to any
act of the Chamber, and, therefore, he would cast aside
all that might be urged respecting the past conduct of
the country under similar emergencies. The Marquis
de los NA VA s was the only Ministerialist who opposed
that part of the law for excluding the children of
Don CARLOS, together with the continual recur-
rence to precedent. He began by stating that he
would not point ou'the necessity of the expulsion of
Don CARLOS, or dwell upon the crime which made
him deserving of the wrath of the nation, but would
insist upon the impossibility of judging his sons ; for,
if even the Procuradores were their judges, they could
not punish them for their father's faults." This opi-
nion was very ill received ; but the speaker, nothing
discouraged, proceeded to censure the form in which
the law was drawn up. In his opinion, he thought it
would have been much more worthy of the dignity of
the Committee to have drawn such a resolution as the
following :

In virtue of the power possessed by the nation, to have
itself governed by whomsoever seems good to it ; or, which
is the same thing, in virtue of the sovereignty of the people,

the branch of the Infante Don Carlos is excluded for ever
from the throne of Spain."

He concluded by moving an amendment, which
provided that the succession should revert to the chil-
dren of Don CARLOS, in case of the death of the
present QUEEN, and her sister, without issue. The
Marquis de FALCES followed, and spoke in defence of
the law, though he approved of many of the arguments
put forward by the speaker who preceded him. The
Chamber then adjourned, and the debate was resumed
in the next sitting, when the law was approved of by
a very large majority.

We have received New York, Philadelphia, Wash-
ington, and Montreal Papers up to the 23d of Sep-
tember. We are happy to observe that amidst the
conflicts of the " wordy war" which is now being
carried on between the adherents and opponents
of General JACKSON, banks, currency, and free
trade,—the American Journalists have not been
negligent in hailing the arrival among them,
of an old and valued acquaintance, SHERIDAN
KNOWLES, of whose health and prospects we are
enabled to announce the most satisfactory intelligence.
The tide of party runs very high just now in Ame-
rica. The Bank and General JACKSON are war-cries,
which may be heard in every street, and so violent
is the hostility with which the partizans of each view
the other, that it begins to wear the appearance of a per-
sonal struggle rather than the honest and rational advo-
cacy of a principle. The following report of the state of
the Bank is from the Philadelphia National Gazette
of September the 19th :

UNITED STATES BANK.
The following are the principal items from the Bank statement
of the Ist inst., viz.—

Loans on personal security 30,289,331 72
on Bank Stock
-on other securities

34,863,326 55
12,196,172 10

47,059,498 65