The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-28 00:00:00

TILE GREAT FIRE.

There is very little of interest to record to-day in
reference to this calamity: The outer cellars, which
the firemen have been able to reach, have been almost

washed out by the floods of water poured into
them, but those in the centre still burn as fiercely as

ever. The searchafter Mr. Scott's body was continued

during yesterday without success, and the opinion

that he turned into one of the warehouses and was

consumed seems now more than probable. If this has
been the case no trace of the body will ever be dis-

covered," and the money which he was known to
have had with him will, of course, be lost also.
During yesterday afternoon the suggestion which
we made that the crowds of merely curious visitors

should be excluded from the ruins was rigorously
carried into effect by the police, and the public per-
force protected against their own dangerous curi-

osity. The fire under the vaults of Hay's Wharf
still burns among the casks of oil. To guard against
the possibility of accident from its extension an ad-

ditional massive party wall was built up yesterday
across the passage leading from those vaults to those
under the warehouses which escaped. No attempt
can be made to put out the fire here. The vaults
are simply kept closed and allowed to burn them-
selves out. It is evident, however, that not the
least fear is entertained of further extension to the
uninj ure 3. warehouses, for yesterday 1,500 hogsheads
of sugar were consigned to them and were being
stored during the day. It is impossible to avoid
asking the question, is any practical goo:: in the
way of improved appliances forchecking fire to arise
from this great disaster? The great mass of the
public have really no idea of the enormous mischief
done by this fire, and only a very few know the '
gigantic magnitude of the danger that was provi-
dentially averted. Only a slight change of wind
saved the railway station and the last range of
wharfs on the other side of Humphrey's docks. The
destruction of the railway would have been of no
great moment, but if the last-named buildings had
taken fire the range of warehouses beyond must
have gone with them, stored entirely with spirits
of turpentine, which would have exploded in all
directions like gunpowder, and, floating out among
the shipping on the fiver, might have carried the
conflagration to both sides of the Thames: This is
no overdrawn picture, but what it is known must
have happened had the fire spread. It is very well
to say that this did not occur, but the only reason
why it did not was because the wind changed, for
the engines were utterly powerless to check the
spread of the flames. The efforts of the best
and most powerful engines seem utterly
inadequate to deal with a really large fire.
This fact has been virtually admitted by all the re-
ports of fires which have appeared for some years
past. When small fires have broken out in small
establishments, they have, of course, been quickly
subdued; but in nine cases out of ten the reports
inform the public how the firemen were unable to
check the flames, and had to confine their efforts to
saving the adjoining buildings, and even this they
often failed to do. In fact, the engines of the Fire
Brigade are not only not sufficiently powerful, but
they do not seem to have a sufficient number of
even these weak ones. The total number of engines
at the fire (and not only the London ones attended,
but it is said others were brought up from the
country) was only 17. Of these 13 were common
engines, two steam, and two floating. To cope
with such a fire, we have been told, would require
at least 40 to have had any effect. The little jets
poured by many on Saturday night last were
almost ridiculous. The men very truly say
that the
supply of water was at all times inadequate, but
no amount of water would have increased the
paltry diameter of the nozzles of some of the
water hose-
pipes, while most theunquestionabblyn
• an insufficient
com-
pany was not to blame for there.
e r bg egas dt
, e of course,
and worked
splendidly, but their means were almost ridicu-
louslynasunionbearl oof t ehne gr
ioncecsa. s i oTn hs
checkd
Fire rtehei r
of wind averted a
inadequate to the flames; 'and as we
have told, nothing but a change
it wise to rely on this almost Pro-
tremendous calamity: from the south side of the
metropolis. Is
vidential interposition, as if it were an habitual safe-
or the hour when a similar outbreak
yd
guar could always command ? None can fore-
see
edakye place in the warehouses of the Lon-
donthenottake or St. Katherine's Docks, when, after the ex-
perience of Saturday, it is very easy indeed to say
what must be the result of such a calamity. It is
evident that the means at the disposal of the metro-
politan Fire Brigade are inadequate to cope with
any great fire, such as might arise this very night.
This matter is one of the last importance, and
the late great fire will have done good service if it
only directs public opinion to the question, and.
leads to the extension and effective establishment
of our present brigade, with a much greater num-
ber of really powerful engines.

THE LATE LORD CHANCELLOR.—The following
is the minute of the House of Lords on Monday recording
the death of the Lord Chancellor :—" The Lord President
acquainted the house that it was his painful duty to inform
their lordships that the Lord Chaneellor, after having pre-
sided at their last sitting on Friday, and while apparently
in the full enjoyment of health, had died yesterday ; be
trusted that their lordships, having regard to the extreme
suddenness of this event, to the high character of his lord-
ship the Speaker of this house, and as a mark of submission
to the will of God, would agree unanimously that no further
business should be proceeded with this day, and that all the
orders of the day should be put off, and the house ad.
jounied. Agreed to, nemin; tassentionte."

THE SUN.

LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1861.

In America, in England, in Hungary, in the
kingdom of Italy, leading public men have recently
been suddenly removed from the world of political
action by the stroke which so impartially visits
the rich and the poor, the high and the low—but
the deaths of DOUGLAS, of CAMPBELL, of TELEKY,
of CAVOUR, were not of a kind to affect seriously and
immediately the course of events. The death even
of a SULTAN is not likely to cause any direct change
in the political relations of Turkey.. It would seem,
however, hardly possible that it should be so with
the death which is now looked for from week to
week, if not from day to day, or from hour to hour.
Pius Ninth, who has for some time been appa-
rently yielding to the effects of age and anxiety,
appears now to be in such weakness that his re-
moval for medical reasons to his country house is
impracticable, Those who surround him seem to
do their best to conceal the real state of things ;
they wish to shape their plans as well as they may
while he yet lives, but it is understood that unless
a change little expected takes place, he will soon
be numbered with his predecessors. Indeed the
less public information points to the conclusion that
the Papal infallibility is now in the custody of a
Regency, owing to the melancholy weakness of the
pontifical mind.

Should the event be what is so confidently ex-
pected, it must surely be an element in the turn of
the present crisis. Louis NAPOLEON will be mas-
ter of the situation. He will be able almost to
nominate a Pope. At least, if Rome is to remain
the Holy See, he can say on what terms the Chief
Bishop of the Roman Catholic section of the Chris-
tian Church shall retain the palace:and Cathedral of
so many predecessors. He will be somewhat checked,
it may be, by the intimation that if he be too ex-
acting, net Avignon, but Vienna or Madrid may be
the dwelling place of a new Pope. But that would
not be liked by the Pope's spiritual subjects. They
are Roman Catholics, or they are nothing. Apart
from the Holy figment of the fisherman's chair, and
keys, and seal, there are half a score of Bishops with
equal pretensions to the Primacy of Latin Christen-
dom. The French EMPEROR knows well this
advantage, and will know how to use it. The only
thing against him is the waywardness of ecclesi-
astics. He may nominate a BECKET when he sup-
poses he has but nominated a tool. If he be crafty,
so are Italian cardinals: His best hope will lie in
carrying the election of a man of strong common
sense, if such men are to be found among ecclesi-
astics ; a man who will co-operate with him in re-
pressing Ultramontanism among Gallican Bishops,
and who will accept the facts of the case in regard
to the temporal power of the POPE.

That is now emphatically the point of difficulty
between France and the Kingdom of Italy. Venetia,
France is only indirectly to blame for. Even at
Villafranca it was certainly open to the EMPEROR
to say that he could afford no more French blood
'for Italian liberty. At Rome all depends upon his
mere will. At no cost, rather at a saving of ex-
pense, he could leave Italians the capital they must
soon have. The death of the present POPE will
certainly facilitate the settlement of the Roman
Question. No successor will derive any personal
sympathy from a reign of strangely mingled
amiableness, tyranny, send suffering. He will not
have inherited a patrimony which he can feel
pledged to maintain, for nearly all is vanished
before he will enter on his Bishopric, and the small
remainder of temporalities has long been in the trus-
teeship of the French army, with a life interest for
the poor old POPE. The definite terms on which
the ExPERon will surrender his trust are now
published. " The French troops will continue to.
occupy Rome so long as the interests which
brought France to Rome are not covered by

guarantees."
What aro those "interests," and what the
" guarantees ?" They are, of course, the subject of
the present earnest correspondence and diplomatic
conference between France and the King of Italy.
Baron RICASOLI seems to interpret the EMPEROR'S
meaning in his reply, when he says, "our wish is
to restore Rome to Italy Without depriving the

Church of any of its grandeur, or the POPE of his
independence." These are the general terms on
both sides. The only difficulty will be in giving
practical effect to them. This ought not to be ,
difficult. If the Bishop of ROME be secured a per-
sonal independence of all civil control, in return
for surrendering the mock civil power which he
now possesses, he will be quite as independent
as he now is. To reign purely by the help
of the French, over subjects whom they alone
compel to obey him, may be independence of his
poor slaves ; but it is absolute dependence upon
those who rivet their fetters, and could knock them
off at once if they were displeased. As to guaran-
tces, except those of solemn treaty engagements in
regard to the person of the POPE and his ecclesias-
tical property in Rome, with the POPE himself, and
perhaps with all Catholic powers who wish to be
parties to them, there can be none. Any foreign
army in Rome would be, of course, intolerable ; a
Papal native army, unless an army of bandit mer-
cenaries, would be an Italian army with Italian
sympathies. The EMPEROR'S note and the Baron's
reply would seem to show that matters are in train
for adjustment, and the demise of Pius IX. could
hardly fail to render it more easy.

It would seem that Mr. SEWARD has taught
England and all Europe a lesson. He threatened,
and Europe succumbed. If any Powers of the old
world ventured to recognise the commissioners of
the Southern Confederacy, Mr. SEWARD had a rod
for them—the Government at Washington would
cease to hold diplomatic intercourse with them.
The Powers heard, bowed meekly, and forthwith
proclaimed that privateers would not be allowed to
sell their prizes in the ports of the old world and
its colonies. The bold tone of the American press
is also said to share with Mr. SEWARD the honour
of having brought the Powers of Europe to their
senses. Our readers may smile at such representa-
tions, yet there they are in the New York Herald,
a paper of very large circulation in America. We
may suppqse therefore that thousands of Americans
seriously think that Mr.SEwA RD, with theHera/dand
its like, have diplomatically "licked the Britishers "
and France too. It were probably vain to tell such
vanity that England and France only laughed at
the silly rudeness of Mr. SEWARD, barely glanced
at the rant of the Herald, and simply considered
what was wisest and best to do.

Having " licked" us diplomatically, our best wish
for them now is that they may " lick" the
Southerners as effectually in whatever way they
can. In a recent conflict we see that this proved
not to be quite such easy work as was hoped. Near
Fort Monroe the Secessionists compelled the
Federalists to run for it, with disastrous loss of life.
At Harper's Ferry, however, the Southerners more
discreetly withdrew without fighting at all, believ-
ing, doubtless, in the old rhyme which celebrates
the usefulness of those " another day" who have
the prudence to "run away." Besides the Harper's
Ferry men sent away the manufacturing machinery
of the arsenal, and setting fire to the buildings, left
the Washington Government possession only of
the charred and empty walls. What the real
prospects of each party are must be conjectured by
the light of such facts as we can verify, for
the representations are as opposite as they well
can be. That the South is congregating its
strength for the defence of Richmond and the
Manassas Railway junction seems pretty certain.
That they will fight seems likely, but when General
SCOTT will move forward upon those positions no
one knows. Probably not even the Cabinet itself.
If the northern and eastern part of Virginia can
be secured before the grand move southward in
November, it will be gaining a great start. But
General SCOTT seems very cautions. The report
from Washington is that he has engaged
to put down rebellion by next May, but
requires time to make his volunteers into
soldiers, and to arrange his commissariat.
The Government itself is said to be still of the
opinion that a short campaign, at whatever cost, is
the most economical plan ; that if 500,000 men be
necessary to settle the business in one season, they
had better be called forth; and that nothing, there-
fore, will be spared to make the demonstration in
November sufficient. Some go so far as to say that
the demonstration ought to be such as to compel
the seceders to make terms without fighting at all,
at least south of Virginia. Virginia is to be sub-
dued, and perhaps North and South Carolina, and
then the Gulf States may be starved into submis-
sion. Thus the Union, with Slavery, is to be re-
newed in all its vigour.

"F. P., so-many Feet." It is a cabalistic inscrip-
tion familiar to us at almost every street corner.
Puzzling, doubtless, to many a foreigner. Signifi-
cant, only too significant, to ourselves. It is a sort
of übiquitous reminder that we are all more or less
trembling perpetually upon the verge of destruction.
It is an indirect advertisement for the Fire Insur-
ance Companies—an indirect, but, at the same time,
a very urgent, advertisement for them scattered
far and wide all over the metropolis. For, in
simple matter-of-fact words, the inscription me ans
in reality, nothing more or less than this :—At so
many Feet distance, upon any sudden emergency,
you may find, if you care to look for it, the Fire
Plug. But the chances are you will find no water, or
if any water, a most inadequate supply. So that in
nine cases out of every ten what might have been
extinguished in a few minutes is allowed (by the
time the water supply is really got at) to develops
itself into a destructive conflagration. All this—
observe—being entirely the fault of the various
Water Companies. •
The grievance, or rather the calamity, of which
we are here complaining of, is one of perpetual
recurrence it is true. But it has very recently
had so frightful a result—it has led up, within the
last few
it becomes incumbent upon every one who can raise
days, to so deplorable a catastrophe, that
a voice or wield a pen, to'
protest against its con-
tinuance henceforth with impunity. Had the
water supply down by London-bridge, within the
distance of a pebble's chuck from the river Thames
been (as it certainly ought to h
at abundant—the
have been) imme-
diately get-at-able, and when got
bundle of jute that was seen smoking and smoul-
dering in a corner of that first-ignited warehouse
might have been readily and rapidly extinguished.
And had it been thus, seven acres of land in the
heart of London need not have been devastated
by this late destructive conflagration ! Had
it been thus, £2,000,000 of property need not have
been destroyed ! Mr. BRAIDWOOD—whom every-
one regrets—would still have survived amongst us
as one of the most valuable and energetic of our
public servants. Mr. SCOTT, also, who is understood
to have perished with him, would still have been in
the land of the living; and with him several others
whose names are most of them unknown, would
not have perished miserably, some by burning,
some by drowning, some by suffocation. Be-
sides which hundreds upon hundreds would not
then have been, as they must necessarily be now,
thrown unexpectedly and most ruinously out of
employ ment.

It seems strange that nothing has yet been done
effectually in the way of constraining the Water
Companies to do in this matter what certainly they
ought long since to have done, what assuredly they

ought now to be compelled by legislative interposi-
tion to do. An opportunity there was for effecting
the object we have in view, a direct opportunity
for this there was about nine years ago. But—
as so often happens—the opportunity was missed.
This was in 1852, when the General Water Com-
panies Acts, 1-6 and 16 Viet., c. 84, was passing
through both Houses of Parliament. It was then
recognised by many that the system of what has
been termed " constant service," should have been
there and then substituted for the system at present
established—the system of intermittent service for
one hour's service in the twenty-four. That substitu-
tion might have, in some measure, obviated the diffi-
culty so plainly perceived—might have guarded to a
considerable extent against the danger so very fre-
quently recurring. But the proposition thus wisely
and, we may add, humanely made for constant
service instead of intermittent service, was cleverly
set aside by the strenuous opposition made to it by
the advocates of the various Water Companies.
Thedifficulties met with in the endeavour to get at
the water supply whenever a fire occurs in any part
of the metropolis are only too well known amongst
its inhabitants. All these obstacles, in the majo-
rity of instances, might be easily evaded, of course,
by the very simple arrangement securing to each
house an independent supply of its own. Supposing
there were such a supply always on hand in
each house—or let us here make, at any
rate, a strictly reasonable proposition—supposing
there were such a reserve supply as we are
speaking of (as so desirable) in each street—a hose
immediately connected with this might readily
enough pour a sufficient quantity of water upon the
commencement of a fire so as to extinguish it, in the
majority of instances, before ever a parish engine
could arrive! The possibility of any house or of
any street securing this adequate safeguard from
destruction by fire, the Water Companies deny to
all houses and to all streets, by the system at
present authorised (in their interests) by thesupreme
authority of the Legislature. The obstacles raised
to this end by the Water Companies, so that they
can thus effectually shut the public at large from
any such rational safeguard, have been thus
tersely epitomised by our able contemporary
the Daily News :—" Their total charge," says
our contemporary, while referring thus to the
Water Companies, "Their total charge on
a dwelling-house is made up of a variety of
items. There is first a rate of 4 per cent. on the
rental. Then there is a charge of 4s. to 12s. per
annum for each single watercloset, bath, or high
service, and of 2s. to 6s. per annum for each addi-
tional convenience of such nature. A high service
is a delivery of water into a cistern more than 10
feet above the pavement. Thus, every new cistern
on an upper floor involves a payment of 2s. to Os.
per annum, although not a drop of water may be
wanted from it or may flow into it during the whole
year. In like manner, every extra watercloset in-
volves a similar annual expense, though it is toler-
ably obvious that it involves no additional con-
sumption of water or other extra expense to the
companies." Here then are clustering together
what are generally nuts to our M.Ps.—grievances
upon grievances—public grievances sorely requir-
ing immediate removal, with a view to the preven-
tion henceforth of countless (otherwise inevitable)
catastrophes. We heartily commend this subject
for legislative interposition to the energy and to
the humanity of our metropolitan representatives.
Whoever may take the matter up at last in genuine
earnest, may now most effectively and (we are
sanguine) effectually point the moral and adorn the
tale of these same grievances by directing attention
anew to the insignificant origin and the gigantic
consequences of this last Great Bonfire, costing
£2,000,000 I

The address delivered to the London Scottish
Rifle Corps on Saturday by a veteran countryman,
no less distinguished as a soldier in the regular army
than COLIN CAMPBELL, Ist Lord CLYDE, was in
every syllable of it full of hearty encouragement.
It must have been singularly gratifying to the
gallant members of that distinguished corps of
Volunteers. And beyond their ranks its every
syllable cannot fail to be welcome among all classes
of their fellow-countrymen. Nothing in the way
of commendation could at one and the same time
have been more warmly, more cordially, more judi-
ciously discriminative, or more eminently soldierlike
throughout. " Gentlemen," said Lord CLYDE at
the very outset of his remarks—
" Gentlemen,—l feel gratified in expressing to you the
very great surprise and admiration with which I have seen
you go through your work. You have shown, in all that
you have done, a degree of steadiness that evidences the
excellence of your instruction ; and I should be very sorry
to be considered as flattering you when I tell you that from
what I have seen of you to-day I would just as willingly
lead you into action as I would any regiment in the regular
army." _ _

Surely the very higheAt kind of commendation
that could possibly fall from the lips of a dis-
tinguished soldier, who has himself occupied the
responsible position not merely of a General of
Brigade, but of Commander-in-Chief of a royal
army ! Lord CLYDE immediately went on to ob-
serve to the London Scottish Riflemen on Satur-
day-
-44 Gentlemen,—l say this as the candid opinion of an old
soldier, and one proud of our nationality. And when I say
that I am surprised at the steadiness and soldier-like way
in which you have manseuvred in every position, I may tell
you that, of course, I expected a good deal from Scotchmeni
and men who, in general, are drawn from classes starting.'
with greater advantages than those who mostly enter the
regular army. 'What has surprised me has been to observe
the perfect silence in the ranks, and the exactness of your
formations, which indicates obedience and attention to
orders ; and knowing that you have been only about 18
months in existence, I am sure that you must have
laboured very hard, and you must have shown a great
deal of devotion to have already (and that, too, in addition
to performing all your various duties in society) acquired
those very qualities which distinguish the old soldier, and
make him valuable—perfect quietness, obedience, and atten-
tion to orders. Gentlemen, an old soldier possesses these
qualities through long training, which enable his general
and his officers to rely upon him. And should you be called
upon (which God forbid), I may say, from the machine which
I have seen at work to-day, that you may be relied upon
in action as well as upon parade; and, indeed, after having
been once in action, you would go into action a second
time with confidence, and you would experience then for
yourselves the value of those qualities which I have spoken
of, and which it has gratified me so much to see you pos-
sess."

y afrom
the
There is a valuable significance, by the way, in
every
o
ng
aa one of those simpleso
übnudt
jeuadrgnme setnwt otri
id
es,
bcroamv e-
hew, and the extended experience of a Veteran
like Lord CLYDE, ,famous in so many different
quarters of the globe,
,long before he gained his
peerage at the point of his keen sword, as the
valiant Sir CoLIN CAMPBELL. But, not con-
tented with encouraging his young compatriots
here enrolled and disciplined in the ranks
of the London Scottish Rifle Carps, not
satisfied with encouraging them thus with these
cordial and hitherto generalized words of mingled
approval and advice—Lord CLYDE gave proof posi-
tive to his hearers, on Saturday, that in uttering
these agreeable and thrice welcome words to them,
at once as an Old Soldier and as an Old Scotch-
man, he was by no means speaking with random
carelessness, or out of mere complaisance. He ob-

serves :-
0 I Kaye watched your ranks closelb outi have °Waved

not one single instance of unsteadiness; and that is ac-
counted for by your perfect quietness, which enables you
to comprehend the orders given to you, and to execute
these orders without confusion. And I may be ex-
cused, being an old soldier, and fond of my profession, for
mentioning that I have scrutinised the small details, and
with great satisfaction have observed how carefully you
have attended to everything which makes your devotion
valuable in its results. I observed the flank sub-divisions
in their skirmishing, and saw with pleasure how carefully
every rear rank man tapped his front rank man on the
shoulder when extended, and what the flank sub-divisions
do so carefully, I have no doubt, is done by the whole of
the regiment. This is a small matter, but it is these small
matters which indicate how hard you must have laboured
in your new vocation, and indicates also the possession of
an extraordinary amount of perseverance by your officers,
and a degree of temper and patience which I wish to God I
possessed."

Finally, appealing to the patriotic ardour of his
hearers, on Saturday, Lord CLYDE then closed his
remarks to the London Scottish Rifle Corps—some-
what in the spirit of that ringing verse in ROBIN
BURNS'S world-famous War Song—

" CALEE ONIAN ! ON Wl' ME !"

Quoth the gallant veteran on Saturday to his
young fellow-countrymen—
" Gentlemen,—Our country has always borne a high
military reputation, and having conversed with many mili-
tary authorities on the continent, their remarks on the mili-
tary qualities of your countrymen in the regular army
during our late wars were very pleasing, as showing that
we can maintain the renown of our country. Ido not
allude to India, where we were alone, but to the Crimea,
where we were continually under the observation of war-
like and gallant allies. Gentlemen,—l was proud to hear
the comments of those allies—and I was proud to learn
when this great and necessary movement took place that
a body of my countrymen in the capital of the United
Kingdom were particularly prominent."

It was only the other evening that we had occa-
sion to mention in these columns the presentation
to this very same Rifle Corps of half-a-dozen Bag-
pipes, as a characteristic gift from the Scotch lassies
resident in the English capital. And since then,
as we have here shown, the Scottish Riflemen of the
Metropolis have listened to warlike music more in-
spiriting even to their Scottish ears than the thril-
ling sound of the pibroch—they have listened,
namely, to those encouraging words addressed to
them by Lord CLYDE, words that, to them, must
have been as the verse of SPENSER was to Sir
PHILIP SYDNEY—stirring the heart like the sound
of a trumpet !