The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY FAVCNING,_ JULY 26, 1861.

trade in this immediate locality :'' they naturally

enough and reasonably enough decide " We,
therefore, think that it would not be expedient
to construct and maintain docks for the sake of

preserving the existing wharves between the points
we have mentioned ; whilst their removal will

simplify the formation of the embankment, and
add to the beauty of the river." Who is there—
in any way acquainted with the locality—who
will not at once, and without a single moment's
hesitation, recognise the perfect reasonableness of
all this in every syllable ? It must be added
forthwith, however—in token that the Com-

missioners are, notwithstanding the almost
ruthless boldness and distinctness of their de-
cision, eminently discriminative throughout—it
must be added, we say, in proof of their being thus
also eminently discriminative, that they go on at
once to acknowledge that " The wharf property,
however, between the Temple-gardens and Black-
friars-bridge cannot in our opinion bo so treated ;
and that eastward of Blaekfriars-bridge is so im-

portant in a commercial point of view, that we do
not recommend any interference with it." Where-

tore—and this is the gist of the whole repor
—within the passage we are here about to quote
from it being, in truth, the core or heart of the
proposition resulting from their investigations—the
Royal Commissioners observe as follows :
" Having regard to these and other considera-
tions, we are of opinion that we shall best fulfil
your MAJESTY'S instructions and provide for the
requirements of the public, by establishing a
spacious thoroughfare between Westminster-bridge
and Blackfriars-bridge, by means of an embank-
ment and roadway; and the new thoroughfare thus
created -should be continued on eastward from
Blackfriars-bridge by a new street, according to
the line formerly laid down by Mr. BUNNING, the
City's Architect, from the west end of Earl-street
across Cannon-street, to the Mansion House."
The Commissioners adding that, " without such a
street no relief whatever would be given to the
crowded thoroughfares of Ludgate-hill, St. Paul's-
Churchyard, and Cheapside."
According to this suggestion the Thames Em-
bankment would be in a line with the terrace of the
New Houses of Parliament. " The road," says the
report, " would commence at Westminster by an
easy descent opposite the Clock Tower, and be con-
tinued on, 100 feet in width, to the eastern boun-
dary of the Temple-gardens ; from this point the
road would be reduced to 70 feet in width, and carried
on a viaduct supported by piers of masonry, riding
to the level of Blackfriars-bridge, so constructed as
to leave a breadth of water for the convenience of
the City gasworks and the adjoining wharves of
about 70 or 80 feet. The spaces between the piers
under the ascending road would be left available
for barges to lie, and afford easy access to the water
between this structure and the wharves. From
Westminster-bridge to the eastern boundary of
the Temple-gardens the embankment—sustained
by a river wall—would be solid in its whole breadth
—which breadth opposite Richmond-terrace would
be 220 feet from the existing river wall.
At Hungerford it would be 320 feet
from the existing wharf ; at Somerset-house
about 120 feet ; and at the Temple about 220
feet." The Commissioners observing upon this
point in conclusion :—" The plan accompany-
ing this report sets forth the entire
scheme"—that is, the scheme suggested by Mr.
SHIELDS' designs, modified, or rather it should be
said, extended and developed by the discriminative
sagacity of the Royal Commissioners.
So that really and truly, after so much vague
talking and argumentation upon the subject, we at
length seem to be in a fair way to obtain a Thames
Embankment. The Commissioners entrusted by
the Crown with the conduct of this inquiry in re-
gard to the best plan discoverable for the em-
banking of the river Thames, have, at any rate, it
must be allowed, admirablyi,well acquitted them-
selves in the performance of the delicate and diffi
cult and eminently responsible duties entrusted to
them by their SOVEREIGN. The Lord Mayor, Sir
WILLIAM CUBITT, late M.P. for Andover, soon to
be, very probably (in spite of the energetic activity
of Mr. WOOD'S Liberal supporters), M.P. for the
City of London, and with the popular
Lord Mayor, Sir JOSHUA RBB, and
four other Commissioners, whose names are
affixed to this Report deserve what we
here very heartily accord to them, an earnest
tribute of applause for the precision, the prompti-
tude and perspicuity with which they have re-
duced thus to black and white the result of their
conscientious inquiry as to the most desirable plan
of carrying out this long-projected scheme of
ames Embankment.

It is difficult to express in a few words, as we
now simply propose to do, the profound satisfac-
tion with which we regard the conclusion arrived
at by the Coroner's Jury in respect to the late
extraordinary tragedy in our immediate neigh-
bourhood. Under the able direction of Mr.
BEDFORD, the Coroner for Westminster, this
extraordinary investigation has been conducted
to its close with an evidence of the very strictest
impartiality throughout. The murderous con-
test which took place at noonday or Friday, the
12th of this present month of July, 1861, in the
back drawing-room on the first floor of No. 16, Nor-
thumberland-street, Strand—the terrific struggle
which then and there took place between the de-
ceased, ROBERTS, and Major WILLIAM MURRAY
(happily still living), late of the 10th Hussars—
that desperate encounter which threatened
at one time to be utterly inexplicable—
has now, thanks to this investigation upon
the coroner's inquest, been completely ac-
counted for. So completely accounted for, so
conclusively explained in every one of its parti-
culars, that we believe it would be absolutely
impossible for the Jury to have found a more
admirably truthful Verdict than the one with
which the Coroner's Jury yesterday brought
the proceedings to a conclusion :

"JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE, COMMITTED BY MAJOR
MURRAY IN DEFENCE OF HIS OWN LIFE."

It is a masterly Verdict, a manly, resolute Ver-
dict, which iby its exceeding simplicity and dis-
tinctness reflects honour upon those twelve honest
Englishmen. No wonder there was an irre-
sponsible burst of applause at • the announce-
ment. No wonder that immediately that
applause had subsided the Coroner himself
took cceation to remark immediately the verdict
had been given in by the Foreman, that he (the
Coroner) could not but avow that he entirely
concurred with it !

Major MURRAY now stands not only acquitted,
absolutely acquitted, from any blame whatever in
regard to this same murderous and appalling en-
counter--but, so far as the encounter itself is con-
cerned, he wins from us all the profoundest sym.
pathy.
Never seemingly
was man in more desperate plight
than he was on that Friday morning, when lured
into that den of infamy, he lay there on the hearth-
rug, with a pistol ball deeply imbedded in the
back of his neck, the bullet actually resting upon
the vertebrae (the surface of the bullet actually in-
dented,' according to Dr. CANTON'S evidence, with
the mark of the vertibra) against which it

was resting), another pistol shot having: been
afterwards fired into his right temple from
which he was bleeding "an immensity"—
his would-be assassin stoopieg or kneeling
close behind him as he lay there, so close, says
Major MURRAY, that "I could feel his breath upon
my neck and ears.'' Never, we say, was man in
more fearFul plight, in more desperated straights,
at a more appalii;ng disadvantage, than Major
MURRAY was t?P: that moment with there
bending over ha, untouched and scatheless,
his intended murderer Yet with his life
providentially spared to him —in spite of
that pistol wound upon the right temple, from
which ho was bleeding profusely, and of that
other and more dreadful pistol wound at the back
of his neck, where the bullet was lying against the
vertebrae—Major MURRAY contrived, nevertheless,
to extricate himself from a position so apparently
hopeless and altogether desperate, that it might
be most aptly designated as the very Jaws of Death
How to extricate himself, however ? By
Homicide, it is true—but by what this man-
ful Coroner's jury describe it to have been
—" Justable Homicide"—that is homicide
committed by Major MURRAY in obedience
to the simple instinct of self-preservation. Won-
derful as this singular tragedy is in every particu-
lar, it is perhaps most wonderful in the circum-
stance that it affords a literal verification of the
truth wittily expressed in that quaint old verse of
QUEYED 0 :

'Tis said a Justice of the Quorum,
Who was no fool
When theft or murder came before him,
Made it a rule
At once to stop the lawyer's chatter,
Saying, d'ye see,
Let's probe the bottom of this matter—
WHO IS SHE P

LATEST ,NEWS

PARIS, SIJLY 26.

A despatch received here from Constantinople,
dated the 25th instant, announces that the Sultan
continues to effect reforms. It is proposed to purify
the personnel of the Mudirs, and to diminish their
privileges and salaries.
The Council of Justice has been purged and re-

organised.
On the occasion of some religious ceremony which
the Sultan's son went through, Namik Pasha made
a speech, which produced a good effect.

The rations allowed to the civil functionaries
have been stopped.

In consequence of a complaint from the French
Embassy, the Levant Herald has been suspended
for two months.

General Ignatieff is expected to-morrow. He
comes to congratulate the Sultan on his accession
to the throne.

TURIN, JULY 26.

The Official Gazette of today says :

" Two individuals, named respectively Groeben
and Austeritz, have been arrested here on a charge
of enlisting recruits for the Pontifical army. They
had Papal and Austrian passports, lists of men
enrolled since 1860, and a quantity of Bourbon and
Papal portraits and decorations were also found on
them. They were about to enter the Italian army
in order to attempt to corrupt the soldiers."

FLORENCE, JULY 20,

A reactionary band has been formed at Tosco..
nella. Troops will be despatched in order to pre.
vent them from crossing the frontiers.

CADIZ, JULY 25.
The aftughter of the Duke de Montpeueier is
dead.

News received here from Havanna-1i to the 6th
inst. announces the death of the Archbishop.
The state of financial affairs was improving.
According to advices from Mexico Juarez had
been elected President.

His reactionary advisers were triumphant.
A state of siege had been proclaimed.
General Degoilado was dead.
The Spanish journals state that perfect trap.
quillity prevails in San Domingo.

VIENNA, JULY 25

An Imperial decree is published to-day dissolving
the Diet of Istria on account of its refusal to send
representatives to the Council of the Empire, not-
withstanding the repeated requests of the Govern-
ment.

Tho same decree orders new elections for the Die

TURIN, JULY 25,

The Italia asserts that the Minister of Finance
will receive no more subscriptions to the National
Loan after to-morrow evening.
The article relative to the loan which appeared
yesterday in the Opinion was not inspired by the
Government.

The news is confirmed that General Cialdini has
ordered the troops to shoot only those insurgents
who are taken with arms in their hands.

NAPLES, JULY 25,

A Bourbon committee, presided over by Mon-
signore Cienatempo, has been discovered at Posi-
lippo. Letters, registers containing the names of
the confederates, and a large sum of money have
been seized. The ➢lonsignore and five accomplices
have been arrested.

The Naples journals affirm that the news from
Calabria is serious.

I3ERNE, JULY 25.

Dr. Furrer, Vice-President of the Swiss Confe-
deration, died last night at Ragatz. He wa,9 Pre-
sident of the Confederation in 1848, 1852, 1855,
and 1858.

soon expected to be thrown out in some Paris

journal.

BOURSE, July 25.—The market has been rather
more buoyant, but business still remains confined
within narrow limits. Threes, for the Account, are
now at 67; 75c. Railway Shares have been quiet,
but some of the lines show a slight improvement.
The following are the last quotations:—
ft per per Cents ... 97 90 Credit Foncier llBO
Do end month.... 97 50' Belgian 41 nog
3 per Cents
Do. end month 67 75 Roman
Bank Shares 2910 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 667 50 , Spanish Threes 4B
Do. Account 668 75 Home Debt