The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-29 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

, On Friday afternoon his Royal Highness the
Commander-in. Chief unexpectedly paid a visit to.
Harwich for the purpose of inspecting the fortifi-
cations on that part of the eastern coast, which, it
is understood, will shortly be considerably
strengthened. The first intimation of the visit was
received in the course of the morning, when the
Black Eagle, Admiralty steamer, came into har-
bour for the purpose of conveying his Royal High-
ness to the opposite coast. By a rather singular
coincidence the Hon. Col. Gordon, C. 8., commandant
of the Colchester camp, and Col. Gibbons, R.A.,
Commandant of Royal Artillery for the eastern
district, had arranged to visit Harwich on Friday
morning for the purpose of witnessing the practice
with shot and shell by the Ist Essex Volunteer
Artillery Corps, and neither of them were aware
of the Duke of Cambridge being in the train till
their arrival at the Manningtree station, where the
Commander-in-Chief left the main line for Har-
wich. They were met at the railway station
at that port by Col. Haddon at the head of the
Royal Engineers, and also by Capt. Clarke, R.E.,
Capt. Fisher, of the Pembroke, and the officers of
the Black Eagle ; and the Commander-in-Chief im-
mediately embarked on board the Black Eagle,
and proceeded to Walton-le-Felixstow, on the Suf-
folk side of the harbour, where he minutely in-
spected the fortification, which has recently been
strengthened by the arrival of two 24 pounder guns
from Colchester camp, which will be placed in posi-
tion for the use of a Suffolk Artillery Corps. From
Watton he proceeded to Shotley, and thence to
Landguard Fort. On his return he inspected the
circular redoubt, on which the Volunteers, under
the command of Majorßowness, were at the time
assembled, and in the presence of his Royal High-
ness and the other officers the men of the corps
practised with 32-pound round shot and eight-inch
shells, which were thrown with such extraordinary
preefsion that the signal flag was three times shot
through. His Royal Highness was pleased to con-
vey to the officers of the corps his approval of the
efficient state of the men, and of the precision and
accuracy of firing, which could scarcely be exceeded
by the most experienced Artillery corps in the Bri-
tish army. He returned to London by the 515
p.m. train from Harwich. There was a large con-
course of spectators.
A circular has been issued from the War Depart-
ment, revising the whole of the existing arrange-
ments for the painting and repair of the gun car-
riages, waggons, and carte belonging to the Royal
Artillery and Military Train, as well as for the
painting and lacquering the various descriptions of
ordnance and carriages in position, together with
the platforms, shot, shell, and shot furnaces in
charge of the Royal Artillery. Gun-carriages,
waggons, and carts of the Royal Artillery and
Military Train are each to receive annually one
coat of paint. Guns in garrison and fortress are to
be painted every two years; shot, Sze., the same.
There are now upwards of 200 invalid soldiers in
the Military Hospital at Great Yarmouth. A large
proportion of the men served in India and the re-
cent war with China.
Lieut.-Col.S. D. Broughton,of the Ist Brigade Gar-
rison Artillery (now stationed at Gibraltar), whose
term of three months lease of absence from duty will

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

expire to-morrow, having declined to submit his
cow of the decision of a court-martial, as proposed
by the General commanding at head-quarters, has
accepted the alternative of retiring on half-pay, and
Captain and Brevet Lieut.-Col. H. F. Strange, C. 8.,
has been promoted to substantive rank on his removal.

TREMENDOUS FIRE AT OLD
BRODIPTON.

The most extensive fire that has occurred near
the fashionable district now termed Belgravia hap-
pened yesterday morning, in the premises belong-
ing to Messrs. J, and C. W. Todd, builders and
sawmill proprietors, carrying on business at Milner- ,
street, Old Brompton. The premises were of con-
siderable extent, the sawmills being nearly 80 feet
in width, and over these was a range of workshops;
they formed two stories in height, and were filled
with goods of a most expensive character, including
work for large buildings, some of which was
finished, and some partially so.
The fire was discovered by a police-officer of the
B division, by noticing smoke issuing from the will
nearest the engine-house. He at once gave an t
alarm and sent bff for the engines. In the course
of a few minutes the escapes attended. as well as
the engines of the Chelsea parish brigade, under
Engineer Pigott, formerly of the London establish-
ment; and the engines of the brigade from Horse-
ferry-road, King-street, Golden-square. Chandos-
street, Baker-street, Farringdon-street. Waterloo-
road, Watling-street, and nearly a dozen others. ar-
rived in a remarkably brief peread considering the
distance they had to travel. These machines were
under the superintendence of Mr. Braidwood, Mr.
Staples (the foreman of the C district), and engi-
neers Helps, Hamlin, Flynn, Paul Jerrard, Wilkin-
son and others. Before an engine, however, had
time to reach the scene of conflagration a• pitiable
sight presented itself, for men and wornera were run-
fling about, bearing in their arms their children,
the whole, with two or three exceptions, being in
their night clothes ; and unfortunately for them, but
fortunately as far as the fire was concerned, a most
abundant supply of the Chelsea Company's water
was procured, which caused the poor creatures to
have to wade ankle deep through it until some
of the neighbours could be aroused to afford
them shelter. Fortunately, owing to the supply
of water, not a moment was lost in setting the
engines into full play, but by that time a range
of workshops, independent of the sawmills
and the timber-yard, nearly 200 feet long, filled with
lofty stacks of deals and other timbers, presented a
sheet of flame, and it would be no exaggeration to
say that a larger or fiercer body of fire has not been
seen in the same locality for many years. The mills
and timber-yard with the stores ran between
Princes-street and Halsey-street, and the flames
commenced attacking with full vigour the houses
in each street, and large pieces of wood in a
thorough state of ignition rose some hundred feet
dt ihnag
houses,te r positions,tthee
into the air, and being drifted by the high wind
which prevailed at the time, fell upon the tops of
houses a long distance off, firing almost simultane-
ously upwards of a dozen houses in the streets before
alluded to ; and the occupiers of many of a greater
distance, in order to save their premises, were com-
pelled to pour buckets of water upon their habita-
tions to keep them from becoming ignited.
Under the superintendence of Mr. Braidwood and
the other officials present: the engines were placed
butse t
so o workgr
egreat
t fromwa s
the the
round the immense area of fire, and were at once
force
most
waterman
engines had been used for a very brief period the
stand-pipes of the machines were placed in the
plugs, and sufficient water was obtained, that with-
out manual labour, although the flames were rising
probably 200 feet over the surrounding
pipes were enabled to throw some tons weight of
the antagonistic element upon the conflagration,
equal in quantity, according to what one of the fire-
men stated, to what could have been discharged by
the improved new steam land-engine. Notwith-
standing the work of devastation continued, and
although St. Paul's, the Monument on Fish-street-
hill, the Houses of Parliament, Lambeth Palace,
Chelsea Hospital, and other buildings in the
metropolis, were brought out in bold relief,
the sight failed in drawing—which is seldom the
case at a London fire—more than probably a
couple of hundred spectators to the spot : conse-
quently the police, who were under I‘l r. Superin-
tendent Gibbs, had for once a very light duty to
perform, and the firemen were not at all incon-
venienced by a crowd. By three o'clock the con-
flagration might be said to have been at its height,
and as the timbers fell in the yard, all placed
under wooden sheds, they made a noise like the
discharge of a volley of musketry or cannon, and
the crackling noise occasioned by the splitting
asunder of the windows of 12 or 14 houses added
greatly to the terror existing amongst the neigh-
bours, not only of Princes-street, Halsey-street, and-
Milner-street, bat of several streets a long dis-
tance off.
The firemen, although exposed to the greatest
danger, kept to their posts, but several hours elapsed
before the least impression could be made upon the
violence of the fire, and it was at least three hours
, before it showed any signs of succumbing beneath
the great body of water thrown upon it, and not
before the sawmills and workshops of Messrs. Todd,
together with two-thirds of the timber-yard, nearly
200 feet in length, were destroyed. The total loss
must amount to several thousand pounds sterling.