The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-07 00:00:00

FEARFUL SCENE AT A FIRE.

On Saturday morning, a fire, nearly attended with
the loss of six or seven persons, was discovered by a
police•oflicer of the N division, in the premises belonging
to Mr. Chalton, a linen draper and silk mercer, carry-
ing on business in Andover Terrace, Hornsey-road.
At the time of the outbreak the whole of the inmates
were in their beds fast asleep, and it was a work of no
tittle difficulty to make them aware of their impending
danger. That was, however, at length accom-
plished ; but the flames by this time had not only taken
possession of the front shop and warehouse, but also the
staircase, and were approaching the doors of three other
rooms, in which Mr. Charlton, his children, and his ser-
vants were. To descend by the staircase was therefore
an impossibility, and as a dernier ressort the affrighted
persons make for the front windows, and there
being a sun-blind over the shop-windows, the same was
pulled out, and two of the children were thrown ont of
window on to the blind, and they rolled down and were
caught by the people below. The servants, with the pro-
prietor and his wife, next scrambled down in the same
manner, and, fortunately, not one of them received the
least injury.

Mr. Benjamin Whitworth, M.P. for Drogheda, nas
been peisonally served in Manchester with the petition of
Sir L. M'Clintock against his return.

Lord Strafford is reported to be very seriously ill.
In the event of his demise Lord Enfield would go to the
House of Peers, and we should thus have another election
for Middlesex.

There has been an affray at Macroom, county Cork,
between the military and the inhabitants. The soldiers
conceived themselves insulted, and fourteen of them—of the
C2nd Reinvent—took off their bolts and rushed at the crowd,
syho rejlied with stones. Ultimately the soldiers beat off
their opponents.

A FRAUDULENT PAYMASTER.—The result of the
court-martial on Paymaster Lawes H.1%1.'s 90th Regiment,
Is that he has been cashiered, sentenced to two years'
'mprisonment, and ordered to refund £723, for fraudulently
misapplying money belonging to her Majesty's army, and
caking false statements in reference to his accounts.

A petition against the return of Mr. Sergeant
Cox, the Conservative member for Taunton, has
been presented, on the ground of bribery, intimidation
treating, and other corrupt practices. A sub-committee of
the Taunton Liberal Working Men's ♦ssociation have been
engaged for the past fortnight in collecting evidence, and it
Is reported that they have obtained quite a volume.
The United Service Gazette intimates that the sud-
den resignation of Ministers has postponed—" perhaps in-
defiuitely"—a most comprehensive scheme of administra-
tive reform, which, it says, would have not only remodelled
the War-office, but would have placed the relations of
that department and the Horse Guards upon an entirely
new footing.

Counsel's opinion has been taken on the subject of
the Natal grant. A proposal for a grant of money without
the initiation of the Standing Committee is pronounced ille-
gal. The Standing Committee agree to recommend to the
special meeting on Dec. 8 that the sum of .£2,000 be granted
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in the colony
of Natal ; such sum to be expended by the Standing Com-
mittee.

The Nenagh Guardian reports " an incident among
he strangest in the history of the English police force."
Tne Earl of Rosse, accompanied by his brothers and some
friends, when returning from shooting, were arrested within
mile of Parsonstown Castle, by constables of the Annalt
police station ; and it was only when brought before the
sub-inspector that the mistake was discovered and a release
obtained. This " constabulary escapade" is to form the sub-
ject of an investigation.
RUMOURED ARMY REDUCTIONS.—The air is filled
with rumours as to the parsimonious intentions of the
incoming Ministry with respect to the army. This much is
certain, that whatever *eductions do take place, will be
their work, as not a single estimate had been prepared
when Mr. Disraeli resigned office. It is said that two
companies will be docked from the strength of each regi-
! tnent of the line, but that the cavalry, always favourites,
will not be touched. The money swing is expected to be
about half a million, an immense equivalent for the
national insecurity which is sure to be produced by this
decimation of our national defensive force.— United Service
Gazette.

A SAVAGE.—Another shocking tragedy has just
taken place in an adjoining district to that of Jarrow,
where a murder, arising from jealousy, was perpetrated
a few days ago. Two men named Dolan and Ward
lodged at Sunderland, in the house of a woman
named Keshan. Dolan and Keshan lived together
as man and wife, and the former, it would seem,
having read the events of the Jarrow murder, began to
entertain jealous suspicions as to Ward, and talked of
there being other cases before that of Jarrow could be
brought to trial. On Thursday night, however, the two
men were drinking together, apparently on friendly terms,
and on returning home sat down to finish their revels over
another quart of ale. A quarrel then arose, in which Ward
was deliberately stabbed in the abdomen and elsewhere by
Dolan. The injured man lies at the hospital in a hopeless
condition, and Dolan is in custody.
WONDERFUL CAPACITY OF THE RHINELANDERS
FOR. WINE.—The wonderful capacity for drink of the
hhmelanders is amusingly illustrated by Goethe in his
journals. " The Bishop of Mayence," he says, " once
delivered a sermon against drunkenness, and, after paint-
ing in the strongest colours the evils of overindulgence,
concluded as follows :—` But the abuse of wine does not
exclude its use, for it is written that wine rejoices the
heart of man. Probably there is no one in my congrega-
tion who cannot drink four bottles of wine without feeling
any disturbance of his senses; but if any man at the
seventh or eighth bottle so forgets himself as to abuse and
strike his wife and children and treat his best friends as
enemies, let him look into his c.,nscieace, and in future
always stop at the sixth bottle. Yet, if after drinking
eight, or even ten or twelve bottles, he can still take his
Christian neighbour lovingly by the hand, and obey the
milers of his spiritual and temporal superiors, let him
thankfully drink his modest (sic) draught. lie must be
careful, however, as to taking any more, for it is seldom
that Providence gives any one the special grace to drink
sixteen bottles at a sitting, as it has enabled me, its un-
worthy servant, to do without either neglecting my duties
or losing my temper.",