The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1834.

termined. Let us hope that accident, and net guilt, was
at the bottom of so great a calamity.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
How the fire commenced is as yet a mystery. Various
accounts were given by those connected with the Parlia-
ment Houses, some attributing it to a neglected kitchen
fire at Howard's Coffeehouse, others to an escape of gas,
and a third party laid it to the negligence of the numerous
workmen engaged about the House, repairing the Bishops'
entrance and apartments, the Lords' library, &c. The
truth is, that at present there is no certainty as to the ori-
gin of the fire ; but it is very curious that there was no
discovery or no alarm of fire until the flames were perceived
by passengers in Palace-yard, bursting forth, as already
mentioned, from the roof over Howard's Coffeehouse, and
the passage leading to Cotton-gardens, and the Guy Fawkes'
cellars under the House of Lords. Even one of the Par-
liamentary watchmen, who was standing close to Howard's
Coffeehouse, was unconscious of what had happened, for,
on perceiving the flame, he declared that it was an " ex-
plosion of gas." However, the rapidity with which the
flame proceeded, proved that not only had the fire got decided
hold of the premises, but that it threatened the whole of the
buildings, which, as may be remembered by all who know any
thing of the plan of the premises, are, or were, so connected
one with the other, as to endanger all, if the fire once got
the mastery, and so to afford no chance of intercepting its
progress. The facts, unfortunately, realized the truth of
this statement, for the fire spread in three directions. It
proceeded to the body of the House of Lords, taking within
its range the several official apartments that are over the
piazza, and which face Palace-yard, thence proceeding to
the Painted Chamber, and extending to the library, which
was originally most valuable, and has recently been much
enlarged. All these were eventually destroyed, but not till
about one o'clock, and even at that time the flames were
continuing. Considering how distant the library is from the
spot where the fire originated, the wonder is that it could
have approached so remote a building so rapidly ; and it is
only to be accounted for by the circumstance that the
flame had little impediment in this direction, although the
distance was so great, there being,the large Chamber, con-
stituting the old House of Lords, the robing-room, and a
large lobby. The front of the building was much longer in
being destroyed ; but by nine o'clock the- whole of the
apartments constituting such front were in flames ; and soon
afterwards the central or projecting portion of the build-
ing, where was stationed the staircase leading to the Lords'
entrance into the body of the House at the Throne end,
fell with a tremendous crash. The smoke afterwards was
so dense, as for many minutes to obscure the flames, and
darken the atmosphere ; but when they did burst forth
again, it was with its terrific splendour increased. The oc-
tagonal tower near the pier, and the Royal entrances,
and which, it will be remembered by all who know
the place, faces Abingdon-street, was a remarkable
object in the progress of the conflagration. The differ-
ent coloured flames that rushed from its several win-
dows, and through its roof, amidst so much ruin, ex-
cited the most painful astonishment and admiration :
and, no doubt, their variableness from the deep red, largely
mingled with thick smoke, to the brighter flame, and lastly
to a rich silvery hue, was considerably influenced by this
extremity of the building being affected conspicuously by
the fires on nearly all sides. The lower room of this tower,
and which is over the Peers' entrance is the Lord Chancel-
lor's retiring or robing room. Curiously enough, though
the fire raged on all sides and above, this room was spared
at least till one o'clock.
Another direction taken by the fire was the range of
buildings leading to the Commoners' entrance in St. Mar-
garet's-street, and facing St. Margaret's Church. It con-
sisted of Member's waiting-rooms on the ground floor ; above
were Committee-rooms Nos, 11, 12, &c., and the next floor
consisted of Committee-rooms, dining-rooms, and Bellamy's
kitchen, or Members' dining-room—a memorable place for
many a year. Those rooms formed the extensive point of
the building in this direction. From Bellamy's there was a
long passage leading to the " smoking-room," which directly
communicated with the House of Commons, originally St.
Stephen's Chapel. • The whole of this range of building
was consumed, nothing but the walls being left by about
eleven o'clock. The flames raged very furiously at the
corner constituting the Member's waiting-room, and above
Bellamy's ; and when the roof at last fell in, the fire
was so voluminous as apparently to threaten the conti-
guous buildings which form the Committee-rooms, and
entrances for the Judges and Counsel to the Courts ;
but we believe they escaped without much damage.
The fire so threatened and surrounded the Commons' end
of Westminster Hall, that the utmost anxiety prevailed for
its safety ;, and the alarm was increased by the fact that the
hall is occupied with a good deal of scaffolding, in promo-
tion of the work of the renovation of the interior. Every
effort was therefore made to preserve it. Engines were got
into the hall, and the flames that illuminated it through its
great windows, showed that the danger was most imminent.
The hall has never been so splendidly illuminated since the
banquet there on the occasion of George IV:s coronation.
The extraordinary efforts made, we believe proved success-
ful. If the windows were wholly or partially destroyed,
certainly more injury was not done to it.
The third direction taken by the fire was still more de-
structive and extensive than the course which led to the de-
struction of the House of Lords, its library, &e. It here
destroyed the immensely extensive offices connected with
the House of Commons, consisting -of scores of large
rooms, all occupied with books, papers, and precedents,
besides attacking Mr. Ley's house in Cotton-garden. It
also destroyed the commons' library, which consisted of
two floors, and was much larger than that of the Lords,
and contained an invaluable library. How many of the
books were preserved, or whether all were destroyed, we
could not learn. It next extended to that venerable build-
ing the House of Commons itself, and it was soon a shell,
the fire passing on to the Speaker's house, three-fourths of
which were burnt, when, at one o'clock, we left the scene
of these extraordinary devastations.
Here is a general detail of the progress and enormous
devastation in this immense range of buildings, narrated
from the observations and inquiries of upwards of six hours,
during nearly the whole of which time the fire raged with
terrific fury in the three several directions described. To
attempt to estimate the loss would be no easy task ; but,
from what we heard stated by competent judges, it may be
safely said that HALF A MILLION would not replace property
positively destroyed!
The mace was preserved by the Deputy Serjeant-at-
Arms soon after the breaking out of the fire. The clerks
and other officers got carts and waggons, and removed an
immense quantity of books and papers to divers large houses
in the neiehbourhood. Scores of loads were removed.
The police and soldiers were in great force, and generally
behaved well, and preserved quite as much order as could
well be expected under such circumstances. The crowds
were tremendous in the streets, on the roofs, on the bridges,
on the water, and on the opposite side of the water ; in_
deed the view from the water was one of immense and ap-
palling splendour. Crowds of boats remained there at one
o'clock, the streets remained thronged, and the fire conti-
nued burning as extensively but not so fiercely.
The Speaker is at Brighton, but his son was at home,
very fortunately. There was an immense deal of valuable
property in his house ; he has had three services of plate.
The Librarians of both Houses were in town, and most of
the Lords' Clerks, so that they afforded very prompt aid.
The most extraordinary exertions were made to save pro-
perty and books.

ONE O'CLOCK, A. M.

The front of the Speaker's garden now presents a most
extraordinary appearance, covered with furniture of every
description. From what we can glean at this late hour, it
is strongly suspected to be the work of some incendiaries :
the House of Lords appeared to have been fired at several
places at once.

The following is a short description of the two Houses
of Parliament before the calamitous event of last night had
reduced them to a heap of ruins.