The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-27 00:00:00

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We are told that the prisoner Burke, aing" been in-
formed of what was said about him in connection with
this explosion, writes to his solicitors on the matter as
follows :—" I have been informed that one of the warders
of the House of Detention, in his evidence, stated that I
stopped and moved out of the ring while at exercise, and
pretended to take a stone out of my shoe. I have fre-
quently stepped out of the ring during the three weeks I
was confined there, nearly every day—for I suffered from
a corn between the toes, and still suffer from it, though in
a less degree, and while at the House of De,
tention I burnt it with some lunar caustic given
me by the doctor for the purpose. This the warders
know as well as I ; but it is only fact, and not sensational
enough perhaps to suit their purpose. What that is, of
course, anybody can see—to endeavour strongly to
establish some sort of an understanding between myself
and the authors of the deplorable occurrences alluded to."
In general and emphatic terms he denies all prior know-
ledge of the catastrophe. With reference to his experi-
ence of the explosion itself, he also says :—" Forty seconds
before it took place I was in a cell in that end of the prison
being identified. I bad barely left the cell and had got
back into my own one, which was on the other end of the
building, when the explosion took place. I was at City
Point when two vessels loaded with gunpowder blew up ;
I was three hundred yards from them. That was truly
terrific, but after the body of the explosion was gone
there was virtually an end of it. Here it was different,
for after the explosion came the falling of timber and the
shrieks of the prisoners—all blent in one wild painful
confusion. I was nearly suffocated in my cell
by smoke and dust that rushed up through the venti•
lator. When the confusion subsided somewhat, and
the position could be realised, I asked one of the
warders what it was. He made me no answer. In a few
minutes after he had passed I looked out of my cell
grating, and I saw a warder, armed with rifle and revolver,
standing sentry on my cell. I then thought that whatever
it was, or how caused, the governor of the prison believed
it must be in some way connected with me. Else how can
I explain the unusual proceeding of putting an armed
man as sentry over a prisoner who never violated the
slightest order, or in any way stepped aside from the
discipline of the prison ? Then I received the first faint
glimpses of light. I recollected the manner I was
changed from cell to cell during the day, especially
after anybody had seen me—' lawyer," identifyer,' or
friend. The guarded conduct in every case exercised
in relation to me ; the whisperings of the warders
and the governor and deputy-governor; 'the look-out
kept by the governor and a warder on the central tower,
which, at the time I noticed it, I did not think any
way strange ; all these things rushed on my mind, and
associating them with the explosion, and the man fully
armed as sentry on my cell, I could not help thinking on
the subject, in which I was apparently considered by the
governor as some way connected. When I saw the deputy-
governor I spoke to him, and asked him what did it all
mean. He answered me, ' You ask no silly questions ;
you know very well what it means.' A few hours after
the lamentable occurrence I was visited by one of the
visiting justices. At this time there were several police
and a body of troops in the prison. I did not sleep during
the night, my own thoughts, aided by the constant calling
all right' of the warder, kept me awake during the whole
night. In the morning, as I was going out to the van,
one of the warders said to me as I was passing him,
D—n you, I have a mind to blow out your brains.'
So that, taking everything into consideration, I feel that
this occurrence has undeservedly reflected upon me."—
Daily News.

THE NEIV LINE OF THE METROPOLITAN

On Saturday afternoon the principal officials of the
Metropolitan Railway, including Mr. Myles Fenton, the
general manager, Mr. Johnson, one of the engineers,
Mr. Burnett, resident engineer, Messrs. Armstrong,
Saxby, &c., made an inspection of the new or widened
line between King's-cross and Farringdon-street stations
previous to the opening of the line. The works upon the
new line, consisting principally of covered way and
tunnel, are of a highly interesting character, much skill
and ingenuity having been exercised by the engineers,
chief of whom is Mr. J. Fowler, in the construction of the
railway, the contract for which was executed by Mr.
Kelk. The proceedings commenced with an examination
of the works at King's-cross station, where a communica-
tion is being made, by means of a tunnel, with the Midland
Railway. The Metropolitan Company are constructing
the tunnel to the Midland terminus at St. Pancras. Its
level is considerably below the station, so the Midland
Company will carry the line beneath its terminus, and
form a junction with its main line at Camden Town. All
traffic to and from the Midland will therefore pass on to
or from the Metropolitan line at King's-cross. For this
accommodation the Midland.Companyis to pay to the Me-
tropolitan £14,000 a year. The communication between
the King's-cross station of the Metropolitan line and the
Great Northern Railway terminus has also been improved
and perfected. At King's-cross the new or widened line
commences on the east of the station. A capacious plat-
form, 300 feet in length, with means of exit to the Penton-
ville-road, has been constructed on the north side of the line.
The platform is provided with signal-box and telegraphic
instruments by Spagnoletti, for communicating with the
different railways. From the side of the station next
Pentonville-road two lines of mixed gauge, with steel
rails, have been laid right away along the auxiliary line to
Farringdon-street, thus giving the Metropolitan Railway
four lines of rail between King's-cross and the above sta-
tion. The covered way of arched brickwork begins soon
after leaving King's-cross, and runs side by side with the
old line. The line is about 28 feet 6 inches wide, the
height of the covered way and tunnelling varying from 16
feet 6 inches to 19 feet. It passes beneath Britannia-
street, Charlotte-street, Swinton-street, Acton-street, and
Frederick-street, and is parellel with the Bagnigge-wells-
road. About 300 yards from the King's-cross box there is
one of Saxby's distance signals in the middle of the road-
way in the tunnel, and near Granville-square there is a
wide opening for another signal-box. The most peculiar
feature of the new line is that at no point is daylight lost
sight of—a fact which, together with the shafts of the roof
of the tunnel and covered way, will do much towards pro.
viding excellent ventilation. It is at the Clerkenwell end
of the auxiliary line that the greatest difficulties had to
be surmounted. The mouth of the new tunnel is much
deeper than the old one, the rails of the widened way
lying fifteen feet lower than the other. The new line had,
therefore, to be carried beneath the old one, in order
that the trains might enter the yard at Farringdon-street ;

and this was safely managed by under pinning the old
route, and completing the work without stopping the
enormous traffic for a single day. From the mouth of
the new tunnel to the Farringdon-street station there is,
of course, a great rise, the incline being about 1 in 40 to
the part of the station used by the Great Northern trains.
By the bridge near Clerkenwell Sessions-house there is
an engine which pumps the surface water from the line
into the drains above. The Great Western Railway
Company are to have the space occupied by the original
Farringdon-street terminus for a goods dep3t. The new
line from King's-cross to Farringdon-street is about a
mile in length, its construction having cost about 2200,000,
irrespective of what has been laid out in the purchase
of such property as was required for the passage of the
railway.

COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.—A dispute has arisen
between the Duke of Buckingham and the committee who
have the management of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund.
It appears that the latter nominated Archdeacon Harris
presentrefuses to ackno
to the bishopric of Gibraltar, and signified the same to the
noble duke. The Secretary for the Colonies resented this
agAteanbody
interference with
this)
si
bishoprics,
irresponsiblerr
co
sn.
tothe matter. is;
tniaal lappoint der.
gyml edgeenthteo right of this irresponsible body to appoint 01cr.
gymen to colo
abeyance.—Court Circular.

COMPENSATION FOR INJURIES ON RAILWAYS.—
In the County Sheriff's Court, at York, an action was
brought by Mr. Jonathan Crowther, wool and waste
dealer, of Elland, against the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway Company, for injuries sustained in the Bowling
Tunnel accident, in March last year. It was proved
that Mr. Crowther had been severely hurt in various
ways, and that among other injuries he had received
was impaired eyesight. The company was not indis-
posed to give compensation, and only asked that the
amount should be decided. The jury fixed the damages
at £l,lOO.

NATIONAL EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND.—A public
meeting has been held in Glasgow on the subject of
national education—the Lord Provost in the chair—at
which resolutions were adopted declaring that united and
general action is now called for on the part of all friends
of education ; that the existing means of instruction in
Scotland are inadequate to supply the wants of the com-
munity ; that any system of national education must be
defective which does not enforce the attendance of children
at school ; and that any new system should secure the
same kind of instruction, religious and secular, as had
hitherto been given in the parish schools of Scotland, "it
being expressly provided that any religious teaching shall
be given at a distinct hour, and that any child may be
withheld from such teaching to which his or her parents
may object." The meeting also approved of local rating
and local management, with a central board in Scotland ;
and appointed a committee to petition Parliament, and
take other steps for carryiw out the principles affirmed in
the resolutions