The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-16 00:00:00

DEATH OF PLACIDO.

HAVANNAII, JULY 16.—The curtain has just fallen on
he execution of the chief conspirator, Placido, who met

is fate with heroic calmness.

Nothing was positively knoxn of the decision of the
Council concerning him, till it was rumoured a few days
since that he would proceed, along with others to the
"chapel" for the condemned. On the appointed day a great
crowd was assembled, and Placido was seen walking
along with singular composure under circumstances so
gloomy, smoking a cigar, and saluting with graceful
ease his numerous acquaintances. Are you aware what
the punishment of the " chapel " means ? It is worse
a thousand times than the death of which it is the sure
precursor. The unfortunate criminals are conducted
into a chapel hung in black, and dimly lighted. Priests
are there to chaunt in sepulchral voice the service of the
dead, and the coffins of the trembling victims are arrayed
in cruel relief before their eyes. Here they are
kept for twenty-four hours, and are led hence to
execution. Can anything be more awful ?—and
what a disgusting aggravation of the horror of
the common death ! Placido emerged from the chapel
cool and undismayed, whilst the others were nearly or
entirely overcome by the agonies they had already under-
gone. The chief conspirator held a crucifix in his hand,
and recited in a loud voice a beautiful prayer in verse,
which thrilled upon the hearts of the attentive masses
which lined the road he passed. On arriving at the fatal
spot he sat down on a bench, with his back turned, as
ordered, to the military, and rapid preparations were
made for his death. It was well known that in some
affecting poem written by Placido in prison, he had said
it would be useless to seek to kill him by shooting his
body—that they must strike his heart to make it cease
its throbbings. And now the dread hour had arrived—
at the last moment he arose, and said "adios monde"
(adieu world), and sat calmly down. The word was
given, and five balls entered his body. Amid the mur-
murs of the horror-struck spectators he got up, and
turned his head upon the shrinking soldiers, his face
wearing an expression of superhuman courage. " Will no
one have pity on me ?" he said. " Here (pointing to
his breast), fire here !" At that instant two balls pierced
his breast, and he fell dead, whilst his words still echoed
in our ears. Thus has perished the great leader of the
attempted revolt. Nineteen were shot at the same time
with Placido. They all dial miserably.

WHITECHAPEL IMPROVEMENTS.—Wednesday work-
men were employed in pulling down the mansion in
Essex-street, Whitechapel, which was in the occupation
of the Earl of Essex, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth,
shortly before his death. In a few days nothing will
remain of the building. It is situated on the east side
of Essex-street, and was at the rear of the houses form-
ing that street. It is three stories high. The attic
windows are latticed, and the rooms on the first and
second floor are about fourteen feet square. There is
a part of the spacious staircase remaining, and the joists
and girders are in as good preservation as when
originally placed in the brickwork. The property was
sold a few days ago by order of the Commissioners of
Woods and Forests, with twenty-five other houses, which
are to be taken down for the improvements in that
neighbourhood. At a short distance from this spot, be.
tween Elliston-street, Petticoat-lane, and Houndsditch,
is another large mansion, which will be demolished for
the purpose of having new buildings erected on its site.
This was the palace where Queen Elizabeth occasionally
resided. The building, the walls of which are very
strongly constructed, is four stories high, and some of
the windows are latticed. Tha ceilings of the ground
and first floors are ornamented with different devices,
coats of arms, figures, &c., among which may be distin-
guished roses, fleurs-de-lis, and the word "Britannia."
There are also several Latin inscriptions, scarcely legible.
There is a quantity of oak panuelling in various parts.
The premises were for some years latterly used as a
common lodging-house, were beds were let out at three-
pence a-night, and it was known as the " big house." The
rooms are now used as carpenters' workshops. This
property belongs to Mr. Hutchinson, who, at the last
general election, contested the borough of the Tower
Hamlets.

HORRIBLE DEATlL—During the visit of the United
States sloop of war Saratoga to the Island of St. Thomas,
off the coast of Africa, May 24th, the coxswain in charge
of the Captain's gig, straining too hard upon the tiller,
broke it and fell overboard. While in the act of swim-
ming towards the ship, he was seen suddenly to disap-
pear, and thereupon the fins and tail of a huge shark
emerged from th• water, and splashing for a few mo-
ments, sunk beneath the surface. I saw, says a spec-
tator, nothing but a crimson stain of blood and a hat
floating at a short distance. Not a cry was uttered, it
was so sudden. Again the splashing of the shark oc-
curred, another was seen to seize the hat—two boats
reached the spot, but too late—scores of fish were leap
ing about for the torn pieces of the poor sailor.—. New
York Republic.
THE ANCIENT HOUSES IN WEST-STREET, SMITH-
FIELD.—MORE SKELETONS DISCOVERED.—Yesterday
morning as the labourers employed to pull down the
houses for the Clerkenwell improvements, were digging
out the foundation of the house, No. 3, West-street,
known formerly as the Old Red Lion Tavern, they dis-
covered at the north-east corner of the building, about a
foot below the surface of the cell, two perfect skeletons
in a high state of preservation. Upon being removed to
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and carefully examined,
they were pronounced to be both males, of remarkably
tall stature, one measuring from head to foot above six
feet, and the other only a few inches shorter. The po-
sition in which they lay, and the particular part of the
premises where they were discovered, confirm the
opinion of many persons who viewed the house,
that they must have become the victims of the
lawless wretches who inhabited this den of infamy,
and after being waylaid, robbed, and murdered,
were thrown through a trap .door which stood imme-
liately over the spot, and thus accounting for their dis-
covery. Many reports have been in circulation as to the
(late of its first existence : we are enabled to give the
4ubjoined, which may be relied upon. The house, No.
,0, West-street, formerly called Chick-lane, was built in
-be year 1653-4, by a man named M'Willen, or INl`Wel-
land, chief of a tribe of gipsies, under the pretence of a
tavern, called the Red Lion, but for the more direct pur-
pose of concealing stolen property, and harbouring
convicted thieves. This practice was successfully car-
ried. on for a period of fifty or sixty years, when, for
some reason unknown, it was suddenly suppressed by
Government authority. From that period (about the
year 1740) no correct account can be given ; suffice it to
say, that it has been occupied from the first of its ex-
istence to some few weeks since, by the lowest and most
abandoned class of society. We can find no account
whatever of its ever being the residence of Jonathan
Wild ; his houses being in the Old Bailey, and Wych-
street, Drury-lane; there is not the slightest doubt,
however, that it might have been one of his principal
haunts, from its favourable position, and the fact of its
existing in his time. A most rigid search is still being
carried on by the labourers, under the superintendence
of Mr. Wakelin.

IMPROVEMENTS AT WINDSOR.—It has just been
determined by her Majesty's Commissioners of Woods
and Forests, to take down the old and dilapidated
houses in the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle, the resi-
d.ences of five of the military knights, and known as the
" Lower Foundation." It is in contemplation to form a
noble terrace on the site of these houses, to be open to
the public, affording extensive and highly picturesque
views over St. Leonard's, and the Great Park. It is
also in contemplation, we understand, to restore the Sa-
lisbury Tower, agreeably to the original plans of the
late Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, and as they were approved
of by George the Fonrth. When this has been accom-
plished it will afford a convenient residence for three of
the military knights on the Lower Foundation. The
remaining two knights on that foundation will have
apartments provided for them at the upper end of
Henry the Eight's gateway. No one unacquainted
with the locality of the Royal residence can form an
idea of the splendid view which will be thrown open
from the upper grounds of the Castle by these arrange-
ments being carried into effect. It is hoped that,
amongst other improvements, the unsightly and ruinous
Horse-shoe cloisters will be razed to the ground, so that
the terrace may be extended beyond the Bell-tower. It
will then only remain to restore the Garter-tower, in
order to effect one of the greatest improvements ever
produced in this portion of the erections connected with
the Castle. Several of the houses in Thames-street,
(portions of which are built over the old ditch of the
Castle) have been recently purchased by the Crown, and
the materials sold. The whole of the remainder of the
houses, on the Castle side of the street, will also be pur-
chased as soon as the necssary arrangements are made,
from time to time, with the owners of the property,
by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. The
northern and eastern. terraces will then be extended
round the Castle.
DEATH OF THE GRAND DUCHESS ALEXANDRA OF
RUSSIA.—We lament to announce the premature demise
of the Grand Duchess Alexandra, fourth daughter of
the Emperor of Russia, and consort of his Royal High-
ness Prince Frederick of Hesse, eldest son of the Land-
grave William of Hesse. The melancholy news reached
the Russian Embassy yesterday morning, from St. Pe-
tersburgh, by a special courier. The Imperial family
were prepared for the sad termination of the Grand
Duchess's illness, which, it is well known, was the prin-
cipal cause of the Emperor's hasty departure from this
country. The young princess, so prematurely cut off by
death in the prime of life, was born June 24, 1825, and
was married last September to the Prince Frederick of
,
Hesse. The Courts of the Hague, Saxe Weimar, Wur-
tembum and Hes e, are plaezd in mourning by the de-
-o,Laud

THE NAVIGATION of the THAMES.
Yesterday the Committee again assembled at
Guildhall for the purpose of hearing the objections to
suggested regulations for the government of
steam-vessels on the Thames. The Lord Mayor took
t'le chair. There were present Messrs. Aldermen
Lucas, John Johnson, Kelly, Farncomb, and Mus-
grove, several members of the Navigation Committee,
steam-vessel owners, and the Master and Wardens of
the Watermen and Lightermen's Company (for which
Company, Mr. Cooper, the honorary secretary, at-
tended).
Mr. SIIADBOLT, the solicitor to one of the steam-
vessel companies, objected to several of the bye-laws,
and said that he should call witnesses to prove that, if
carried into effect, they would greatly prejudice public
and private interests. He then argued against the
stringent regulations to check the speed of the steam-
ers, to limit the number of passengers, and in other
respects to interfere essentially with a traffic of such
immense importance.
Alderman Lucas said he wished to make a few
observations with reference to an attack which, ac-
cording to the report in the Times of what had taken
place on Saturday last before the Committee, Mr.
Cruden made upon the
Company of Watermen and
Lightermen, whom that gentleman designated as
wholly unfit to carry out the regulations. He consi-
dered that he was reprehensible for not having at-
tended on the day Mr. Cruden took the opportunity
histmo u ch!leale
t health
had
anxiety
tisweepingontsee interfered
rhaened accusation,Cvvoiutrhto hisf
Aldermen n be un tt o t
nh . e
right s
itia
et ef e
iol
ntf
the eyes of the public, if Mr. Cruden's remarks upon
the Watermen and Lightermen's Company had made
any impression to the disadvantage of the Court, re-
flecting as they did upon the capabilities of the body
to decide upon the subject of licenses. He was a
member of the Watermen and Lightermen's Com-
pany, to which some of the first shipowners in
the country belonged, and if the Committee
would look into its rules, they would find
that, in &awing up these code of laws, they had exer-
cised a judicious and discreet power in taking care of
the public. Everything, in fact, had been done to
give security to life and property. It was, in fact,
the only Company in which the freedom was attain-
able by servitude alone, for those who managed it
knew how dangerous it was to confer an authority of
such a nature upon one who had no knowledge of
the duties and labours of the calling. Other com-
panies admitted to their freedom by patrimony and
redemption, as well as by service ; but the Watermen
and Lightermen's Company were strictly restricted to
the regulation which made the knowledge of the
river, and a service of seven years, indispensable to
the candidate for the freedom. Now it happened
oddly enough that Mr. Cruden, the gentleman who
had objected that the Watermen's Company were
wholly ignorant, had himself endeavoured to obtain
his freedom in that very Company, and been disap-
pointed.—(A laugh.) The fact was, that Mr.
Cruden, although he had been bound apprentice to
a waterman, did not become qualified by service, and
upon his application to be made free, he was opposed
before the Master and Warden of the Company, and
rejected. Whether that refusal operated upon Mr.
Cruden's feelings towards the Watermen's Com-
pany, he did not know, but certainly the terms in
which Mr. Cruden spoke of them, appeared very
much to resemble the language in which it was usual
to designate a grudge.—(Laughter.) There is
another rather curious circumstance connected with
the accusation. It happened that there was not a
man on board any of the boats, either of the Star or
Diamond Steam Packet Company, with the exception
of the engineer and the stoker, who was not a freeman
of the Watermen and Lightermen's Company; and he
would ask those around him, whether men of
such experience and knowledge as those he had de-
scribed, were not qualified to judge of the competency
of applicants for licenses, and fit to to act under the
authority of the Court of Aldermen ? In his opinion,
the practical knowledge and experience of the mem-
bers of the Company placed them in a position which
of - the peculiar duties. After farsome surpassed the eligibility of any other body to the
performance
further observations in defence of the Watermen and
Lightermen's Company, Alderman Lucas spoke in
favour of the suggested regulations, and declared that
in comparison with the views and opinions of all
practical men the objections were mere moonshine ;
that the masters of the steam-vessels were freemen of
the Company, and two of the beadles of the Company
had been masters of steam-vessels, and that nearly all
the river pilots were freemen of the Company.
Mr. SUADBOLT then called Captain Mophet, who
stated, amongst other matters, that the plan of having
coloured lights on board the steam-vessels was liable
to objection, inasmuch as the usual light was much
more conspicuous, and that one light at the funnel
and another at the bows were better calculated to
prevent collision than the suggested alteration. He
was of opinion that such a restriction of the speed as
the regulation involved would be attended with evil,
and that danger was likely to result from it.
Mr. JOHN GRAVES, master of Waterman No. 11,
stated that he did not consider the plan of limiting
the number of passengers was advisable. He had
had 800 persons on board his vessel, and he was of
opinion that the closer the passengers were together
the safer they were. There was no necessity for re-
strictions at all as to speed below Cuckold's Point.
He had never had the misfortune to run over a man,
and he never passed a passenger yet, except in case of
necessity, and did everything in his power for the
accommodation of the public.
Captain 111outis, of the Trident, belonging to the
General Steam-boat Company, stated that sand-
barges and sometimes coal-barges in the river were
so much loaded that the water actua'ly washed the
decks. In fact, all barges were overloaded. The
regulation as to the speed of the steam-vessels ought
to be at the discretion of the captains, who could best
judge when it was necessary to check the rapidity of
the motion. He disapproved of the system
proposed.
James Bell, a pilot, and several other witnesses,
were called by Mr. Shadbolt, to testify to the probable
inefficacy of the regulations.
Lieutenant Rous, of the Royal Navy, stated that
he kept the boys' school at Greenwich, and he brought
to town 750 boys in two of the Greenwich steamers,
and returned to Greenwich with them in one, he be-
lieved, Waterman No. 11. He was sure there was
not the least danger.

Lieutenant STONE, one of the harbour-masters,
was called by the Lord Mayor and asked his opi-
nion of the regulations. He spoke most strongly in
favour of dim, and said that about a month ago one
of the Greenwich steamers bore down upon him dan-
gerously while he was in his boat engaged in adjust-
ing the colliers, and when he remonstrated with the
for a harbour master."—
(A laugh.)
crew, one of them cried out c,D-- you, I wanted
to make avacancy
The captain of one of the boats of the Waterman's
Steam-packet Company declared, that if any one of
the persons employed by them made use of such
words, his suspension should take place, and, in all
probability, be followed up by his dismissal.
The LORD MAYOR presented a petition from 900
ticket porters praying that the Committee would
carry into effect regulations for the control of the
steam-vessels.

Mr. Newbon (for the Waterman's Steam-packet
Company) submitted that it was too hard upon the
s‘hvhoouldhafdallsuupcohnsereiomu.s responsibilities, that
upon the captains, there would be
th --
all to the public.
LORD MAYOR informedsr
captains,teT.
Ifihran e.tfines
cooper declared that if the penalties were not
inflicted s
protec-
tion
ee
t hos e who nno
were
in-
terested, that the Committee would immediately take
into consideration the objection which had been made,
and adopt a course which he had no doubt would be
favourably received by the public.
Mr. Cruden was not present during
the day. The
following observations, which he has expressed a great
anxiety to see published, were made by him in the
course of his address to the Committee,
at the meeting
on Saturday:.—" The rulers cannot claim any
authority to regulate steam packets under their
Act (7 and 8 Geo. IV., cap. 75), for the
subject was
designedly excluded from it, as I happen to know,
from being in communication with the law officers of
the Corporation of the City of London when they
framed the Act. Their assigned motive for this
omission being to avoid an opposition
which any
attempt to give the rulers such jurisdiction would
have excited at the time. After the deplorable loss of
the Rothsay steamer on the west coast of England,
a Committee of the House of Commons, in the year
1831, investigated the circumstances, with a view to
precautionary regulations, and, in the same year,
Alderman Matthew Wood introduced a Bill to regu-
late steam-vessels on the Thames, in which he failed,
as well as in several subsequent sessions, when he
repeated the attempt. In 1835 a meeting of directors
of several steam-packet companies was held at the
London Tavern for the purpose of urging the expe-
diency of making provision for regulating those
vessels. On the 17th of December in that year a de-
putation from the meeting obtained an interview with
Lord John Russell, then at the head of the Home
Department, when they suggested that the subject
should be taken up by Government, the individual
exertions of Alderman Wood having failed ; and it
was remarked that the proceedings of the Aldermen
were to be considered as an indication that there ex-
isted no legal authority for the City to interfere by
municipal regulations. Lord John Russell undertook
to communicate with the Vice-President of the Board
of Trade, and signified that Government would in-
troduce a measure for the regulation of steam-vessels.
In the year 1836, at the suggestion of the Vice-
President of the Board of Trade, a Select Committee
of the House of Commons was appointed to inves-
tigate the state of the port of London. The Lord
Mayor and Aldermen Matthew Wood and Thompson
were members of the Committee, and the following
is the concluding paragraph of the report, dated the
12th of August, 1836 [t further appears to your
Committee that, as a precaution, any measure, and

THE EIWSDON, FRIDAY EVENING. AUGUST 16, 1844.