The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, ,TUNE 21. 1861.

TB'E GREAT FIRE.

The search for the remains of Mr. Scott was con-

nued with unwearied diligence till midday yes-

terday, and a considerable mass of brickwork re-
moved, but no trace of the unfortunate gentleman
discovered. It is now stated by some that he was
seen to rush in a contrary direction to that where

the body is supposed to be, and further up the yard
to a warehouse which instantly after was a mass of

flames. If this is true no vestige of the body is ever
likely to be recovered, as around that spot the fire
raged with such dreadful intensity that the very
ironwork has been melted, More reliable authori-

ties, however, are positive that the remains are still
under the brickwork near the burning cellar, which
has not yet been searched. The attempt to examine
this, however, had to be discontinued soon after
noon yesterday. The cellar in front of it, which
was burning so fiercely, has almost burnt out ; but,
strange to say, a fresh fire appears to have broken
out in the second story of the huge warehouse over
it, which we mentioned as having apparently been
broken at its foundations, and left the whole mass
leaning forward in the most dangerous manner. It
was thought certain that all that could burn in this
pile had been destroyed long ago, as all the roof
and upper floors had fallen in down to the second
floor. It is very probable that the mass of ruins
that fell in stifled the fire in the second floor, which
was stored entirely with casks of tallow. It only
smothered the flames, however, and did not extin-

guish them, for yesterday the flames broke out here
with great volumes of white smoke. There is oil on
this floor also, as was soon seen by the sharp explo-
sions which sent pieces of brickwork flying out at
the windows and doors, and some of which, in the
tottering condition of the building, appeared to
shake it visibly. Under these circumstances, as the
men would have to remove the brickwork
immediately under the mass of leaning walls, the
search for Mr. Scott's body was at once discon-
tinued, and was not likely to be resumed again
before this morning. The deceased gentleman was
known to have had with bim upwards of £5OO in
notes and bills. In the rear, on the east side of
this warehouse, a very large vault, filled entirely
with bacon, is now on fire, and burning fiercely, and
the cellars in the centre of the ruins, which contain
oil and tallow, show no diminution in the volumes
of fire they pour forth. Our readers will recollect
we stated that the heap of ruins which mark the
spot where Hay's wharf stood were being fast
cooled, and that therefore no danger was to be ap-
prehended from the immense vaults stored with oil,
and beneath the wharf, taking fire. We are very
sorry now to say that the anticipations in this re-
spect were found yesterday morning to be incorrect.
The vaults beneath were filled entirely with castor,
linseed, sperm and olive oil, to the value of nearly
£30,000, and no little satisfaction was expressed
that property to that extent had been saved. Yes-
terday morning, however, the firemen were surprised
at finding dense jets of steam, smoke, and hot air
issuing from amid the ruins over the end of the vaults
next the river. Suspecting the cause, a portion of
the ruins near the entrance to one of the vaults was
after some hours cooled, the ruins cleared away, and
the door reached, when the heat and noise within
showed that the whole range of cellars, with all
their valuable stores of oil was on fire from end to
end. The most astounding fact of all is that there
was no explosion when the first ignition took place,
and nothing but the hot air and steam finding a
vent where we have stated at the river end of these
vaults averted a most tremendous catastrophe of this
kind. Even now it is feared by many that an ex-
plosion will yet occur, though the firemen are confi-
dent that the hot air, having forced its own egress,
the aperture thus made will act as a safety-valve as
long as the vaults continue burning. It was every-
where stated yesterday that there was a subterranean
passage beneath Humphrey's dock leading into the
extensive vaults beneath Beale's splendid range of
wharfs at the other side of the creek, and that there-
fore there was a serious risk of the fire finding its
way across, and beginning fresh ravages on the
other side. We have been assured, however, that
this is not the case. There was such a tunnel
of communication under the dock, but it has
long since been closed by party walls of the
most massive kind. The extraordinary agglomer-
ations to be found among the ruins are wonderfully
curious ; slates, glass, and iron are fused into rough
and picturesque masses, with all sorts of nondescript
materials. The fire at the Tower of London filled
all the curiosity shops with numbers of such relics,
but those to be found among the ruins of the great
fire are still more wonderful and fantastic beyond
description. Beneath some warehouses the charred
rice lays in piles like coke, except that the indi-
vidual formation of each grain is perfectly repre-
sented by the charred cinder. Yesterday men
were busily engaged in making salvage from the
remains of Hay's wharfs. One lower floor was
stored with a large quantity of raw hides, than
which, when packed together, it is impossible to
imagine anything more incombustible. To outward
appearance very many of these have not suffered
much, yet the intense heat, though it failed to burn
has spoilt all. The very best of them, which seem
to have escaped altogether, may be torn between
the fingerand thumb with as much ease as sheets
of paper. Of the immense stores of sugar in this
wharf, of course, nothing whatever remains save
the sort of glaze it has imparted to the ruins
beneath. Yesterday Mr. Henderson, the Super-
intendent of the South Brigade, received a compli-
mentary and very gratifying letter from Lloyds,
enclosing him a check for 50 guineas. We have
not yet heard of it, though, as a matter of course,
we presume a still more liberal donation has
been made to the widow of the late Mr. Braidwood.
We should be wanting in our duty if we did not
bear our highest testimony to the forbearance,
energy, and great good sense with which the police,
under Mr. Superintendent Branford, have dis-
charged their arduous duties from the commence-
ment of this disaster. Under circumstances of most
uncommon difficulty, they have continued to keep
the immenss concourse of idle spectators out of
danger, and though, as the police reports show,
they have received some rough handling from the
mob in the discharge of this most necessary duty,
they appear never once to have exceeded the limits
of the strictest forbearance, and we have heard
nothing but the highest commendation of their con
duct from all quarters. Having said this, we ma
now venture to intimate that we think it is their
bounden duty to allow no ladies, under any circum-
stances whatever, to inspect the ruins in their pre-
sent dangerous condition. It may be very ungal-
lant to say so, but if there is any portion of the
community particularly likely to get into danger on
these occasions, and certain to be helpless when the
peril comes, it is the ladies. Yesterday there were
very many ladies, and groups of ladies standing in
various parts of the partially cooled ruins, or walk-
ing about near walls which are expected to fall at
any
ymshoomueid bent. Fpourt a the sake
to.
keof the lddies themselves
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OUR INDIAN TERRITORY.

Of all the lessons which the war in the Crimea
and the mutiny in India taught us, there is not one
more emphatic than this, that henceforth the
moral superiority of nations must be upheld by the
knowledge and use of mechanical appliances. A
vague presentiment of this most fundamental revo-
lution had long existed, but it had to struggle against
apathy and deep-seated prejudice. It was necessary
that we should pass through a brief but sharp ordeal,
whereby the true secret of our continued supremacy
might be brought home with irresistible force to
the most reluctant mind, that all might brace them-
selves anew for a more determined progress in the
great and glorious career that is expanding before
us as a nation. In the Crimean war we saw, with

certainty, where the power of the Czar first gave

way.
The telegraph and rail were the missing links in
his armour. He had built fortresses of colossal
magnitude, collected resources astonishing from their
variety and abundance, his generals were selected
with consummate skill, while over the persons and
property of his subjects he exercised unlimited
control—but all these were as nought to the Czar
in his extremity, and the giant aggressor was, by
a handful of invaders, with telegraph and steam in
connection with the bases of their operations, de-
feated and humiliated on the soil of holy Russia
herself.

Could the ruler of all the Russias have whispered
his commands with lightning speed through the
length and breadth of his dominions, and transferred
his instruments to any point with that celerity
and certainty which science places at our disposal,
how changed might have been the course of
events !

The want of roads, railways, and steamboats in
India previous to the mutiny, was deplored by all
acquainted with the interior of that magnificent
region, and although the earliest and most constant
advocates for their extensive introduction were
officers in the service of the East India Company,
still that great corporation remained deaf as an
adder to the voice of those demanding the perform-
ance of a duty of pressing and paramount necessity.
The timely introduction into India of improved
means of communication by land and water would
not only have rendered us independent of America
for cotton, of Russia for hemp and flax, seeds, corn,
and other products, and of China for tea and silk,
but would have been our best security against ag-
gression from without, and rebellion within our
borders.
The great corporation—with kings for its subjects
and princes for its vassals, and which ruled over a
tenth portion of the human race only with too much
mildness—was blind to the great State necessity of
improving, on a scale commensurate with the vast
interests at stake, the means of communication—the
germ of decay was imprinted on the sceptre—lchabod
was written en the wall—Leadenhall-street ceased to
reign ; but we are glad to find that the far-seeing
wisdom of thepolicy ofancient Rome, which dictated
a vast expenditure of labour in making roads, by
which its widely-separated dependencies might be
connected, is universally acknowledged by modern
statesmen, and it is to be regretted that their appre-
ciation of it has not led to a more perfect imitation,
in this partichlar, of the model state of antiquity.
However, railways in India have been for some
time past pushed forward with vigour; and what
is to be done next is the establishment of a more
safe, certain, and rapid means of communication
with that country.
Looking with most friendly eyes on the move-
ments of France in Egypt and in Syria, the impor-
tance of having an independent route to India was
never more pressing. Militarily and governmen-
tally Napoleon has placed his foot on the empire of
the Soly mans. Whatever eventually becomes of
the Suez Canal,-there is no doubt that, while the
French Emperor is constructing it, he holds in his
hands our communications with India, and no one
doubts that he does so at this moment. He may
evacuate Syria, but the election of a Christian go-
vernor, the continuance of the old system of propa-
gandism, and the construction of a road by a French
company from Beyrout to Damascus, now ap-
proaching completion, will suffice to hold the Eas-
tern policy of England in check, and enable him to
menace at will the only other short route to India.
It is not to be forgotten that the eagle eye of the
first Napoleon selected in 1812 the Euphrates route,
when desirous of overthrowing our power in the
East, and that it was the Russian war alone that
turned him aside from following the steps of Trajan
and Julian, so that he might, in the words of Gene-
ral Chesney, " occupy and fortify Bussora, as the
pivot of combined operations against India."
If England is to hold her old place in the world,
she must establish a rail way by the Euphrates route.
If France will have the Suez Canal, and the road
from Beyrout to Damascus, it becomes doubly im-
perative upon us to secure from the Sultan a right
of way to our own dominions. Lord Palmerston,
years ago, said that he and his Cabinet were in
favour of the route, and would continue to support
it. Lord Stanley and others of the late Govern-
ment approved of it. The Earl of Shaftesbury was
its advocate both on political and philanthropic
grounds. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe lent his
powerful influence with the Turkish Government.
Major-Generals Chesney (the explorer of the route)
and Williams, of Kars, Sir Justin Sheil, and Sir
Bartle Frere, publicly gave their adhesion to a plan
which would, according to Mr. Andrew-
1. Save 1,000 miles in distance, and half the time
now occupied, between England and India.
2. Both its termini being on open seas would be
easily defensible by England.
3. The Euphrates railway, taken in conjunction
with the system of steam transit now being esta-
blished in the valley of the Indus, from Kurrachee
to Lahore and Delhi, the large force stationed in
the Punjaub and Upper India would be rendered of
incalculable importance, by steamers in the Persian
Gulf uniting the line of the Indus with that of the
Euphrates ; for, iu that case, any hostile force ad-
vancing towards the Indus would not only be met on
the line of that river, but would be threatened along
the seaboard of the Persian Gulf and the line of
the Euphrates and Tigris in the flank and rear.
4. The Indus and Euphrates thus united, the
dangerous isolation of Persia would be at an end,
and the invasion of India by Russia or any other
power would cease even to be speculated upon.
5. By the Euphrates railway Persia would be
afforded a short, cheap, and easy outlet on the Medi-
terranean for her trade with Europe, in place of the
existing long, expensive, and difficult route to the
Black Sea by the borders of Russia, and which is
entirely at the mercy of that power.
6. The resources of England being made promptly,
available on any emergency, Chatham and South-
ampton would become the bases of operations as
easily as Kurrachee or Bombay, and would enable
this country to anticipate or repel, whether in
Europe or Asia, any attack with the rapidity and
advantages of an irresistible force.
7. On an emergency in India, troops from Eng-
land could be landed at Kurrachee in two weeks,
and in little more than another week, at Lahore.
8. The route proposed is at once the shortest and
the easiest between England and India; the whole
length of the valley of the Euphrates is so free from
impediment, that it would seem as if Providence
had especially ordained it to be the great highway
of nations between the East and West.—Arrny and
Navy Gazette, of June 22.
Y

MURDER AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

Yesterday a rumour spread in the neighbourhood
of King's-cross that a married woman residing at
15, Northampton-street, near the Old St. Pancras-
road, had murdered her three children by poison,
and had subsequently by the same means effected
self-destruction. It proves to have been so far well
founded. The unfortunate woman, Jane Palethorpe,
aged 37, occupied the first floor back room of the
house, 15, Northampton-street. She had three
children, Richard, aged 6, Thomas 4, and Harriet
2, whom she supported by slop work, for which at
the most she derived a miserable pittance of ss. a
week ; her husband had deserted her about twelve
months since. On Monday evening some one in-
formed her that her husband had a few days ago
sailed to America with another woman. This ap-
peared to have a depressing effect upon her mind,
as was observed by her fellow lodgers on Tuesday
morning. She went out and returned home shortly
before 11 o'clock, and nothing more was heard either
of her or her children during the day.
Shortly after 6 o'clock Mrs. Falkner, the lodger
in the front room, not having heard anything of
the mother or children for so long a period, made
her owing Mrs. Palethorpe a penny an excuse for
knocking at the door, which she did several times,
but, receiving no reply, she tried it and found
it locked on the inside. This made her knock the
louder, but still without effect. She called her hus-
band, and, after his repeating it some time, they
heard the faint voice of the elder child say his
mother and the other children were very ill. They
called to him to come and try and unlock the door,
as they found the key was in it; this he ultimately
succeeded in doing. On entering a piteous sight
presented itself. On the bed lay the unfortunate
mother perfectly insensible, although still alive,
with the youngest child, Harriet, clasped to her
breast in a similar condition, and the boy Thomas
lying by her side apparently lifeless. There were
evidences of some one having vomited on the floor,
and on being questioned the eldest boy said that
his mother gave them something out of a bottle, and
that when she went to sleep it made him sick. An
alarm was raised, and Mr. H. Sutherin, surgeon, of
Aldenham-terrace, as also the police, were sent for,
and arrived in a few minutes. The moment Mr.
Sutherin examined the mother and children he pro-
nounced them to be labouring under the effects of
some narcotic poison. The child Thomas was found
in a comatose state, and, notwithstanding all efforts
to rouse and restore him, expired in about three-
quarters of an hour. By dint of strong applications
the unfortunate mother and the female child were
brought to a state of consciousness. In the mean-
time Mr. Skinner, assistant-surgeon to St. Pancras
Infirmary, arrived with a stomach-pump and other
appliances. As soon as the mother was sufficiently
recovered some questions were put to her, and she
confessed that she had administered laudanum to
the children and taken it herself. On search being
made two bottles were found, one having thereon a
label on which was written " Laudanum' poison."
The other had the label scratched off, but both had
contained that poison. It was subsequently ascer-
tained that the unfortunate woman had purchased
some of the drug at the shop of Mr. Griffith's che-
mist, of Albion-place, King's cross, but it is believed
that she had purchased small quantities of it at
different chemists, and had then placed them alto-
gether in the two bottles discovered.
In consequence of the death of one of the children,
Inspector Stokes, of the S division of police, said he
should feel it his duty to place the mother in custody.
She was, however, as well as the little girl, in so
prostrate a condition that the removal of the family
to the Infirmary of St. Pancras Workhouse was
deemed by Mr. Sutherin indispensable. They were,
in the course of the evening, removed there, and a
constable was appointed to sit in the ward during
the night. The deceased child was removed to the
dead-house of the workhouse.
On making a search in the apaitments a letter was
found addressed to Mrs. Kent, of Northampton,
which stated that she (the unfortunate woman) was
in great distress ; that she wanted all her goods sold,
as she was about leaving this world, and the pro-
ceeds she wished to be applied towards paying her
bread bill and other little incidental expenses.
The unfortunate woman was yesterday in too
prostrate a condition to be taken before a police
magistrate, but she is gradually recovering, as is
also the female child and the elder boy, whose sick-
ness, no doubt, saved him.
Mr. Murray, the coroner's officer, has been com-
municated with, and although the poor woman will
not be able to attend for some days, the inquest
will, it is stated, be held to-morrow.