The Sun.
London, England, 1821-09-14 00:00:00

FIRE IN PRINCES-STREET, SOHO.

Wednesday night a Coroner's Inquest was held at the Three
Crowns., Richmond-street, Soho-square, before Thos. Iliggs,
Esq. Coroner, on the remains of Benjamin Myers, aged 21 years,
who was burnt to death in the conflagration on Monday morn-
ing last. The Jury viewed the remains, which were lying, in a
very mutilated state, in a. shell, at the Three Crowns.
T. Levy, a Jew, deposed that he assisted in taking the corpse
out of the rains of old Mr. Myers' house, yesterday morning, at
eleven o'clock. The legs were burnt off, and excepting a part
near the abdomen, over which a beam had rested, the whole
body was burnt to a mere cinder. Ile did not think it was pos-
sible for any one to identify it, as not a vestige of apparel re-
mained, or the trace of a feature.
Abraham Lawrence, a Jew, deposed, that he was convinced
that the remains viewed by the Jury, were part of the body of
Abraham Myers, jun.
One of the Jurors (a Mr. Freeman), who was one of the first
persons at the fire, stated, that at ten minutes before five o'clock
on Monday morning, he heard the alarm of fire, and ran to
Mr. Myers' house ; he assisted other persons in throwing stones
and brick-bats in at the windows, for the purpose of waking the
inhabitants. In a few minutes Mr. Myers, sen., one of his
sons, his wife, a daughter, and two other lodgers, came out at a
side-door, in a state of nudity. In a short time the whole-
building, from kitchen .to garret, was in flames.
Another Juror stated to the Coroner, that there were now
under the ruins four persons—a Mr. Barnet and his child, and
a Mrs. Pole and her daughter. There were 15 families burnt
out, and all their property destroyed ; but, he was happy to
state, that nearly 2001. had been subscribed towards relieving
the unfortunate sufferers.

The Jury returned a verdict of—'
Death."

•" Accidentally burnt to

A Gentleman of very fickle disposition made so many changes
in a mansion which he was erecting, and asked the advice of his
friends so frequently about the arrangements, that it seemed a
miracle that it was ever finished at ;ill. At length, however, it
was completed, and nothing but the giving it a name remained
to be done : this was a sore puzzle, till a wag told him if he
wanted an appropriate appellation he could give it him. What
is it ? " The House of Correction."

The late Rev.FRANCIS GISBORNE, who has be-
queathed the residue of his property, after pay-
ing some legacies, to the public Hospitals of
Sheffield, Derby, and Nottingham, which is es-
timated at 50001. each, it is now discovered was
the anonymous donor of three sums of 10,0001.
3 per Cent. Consols, to each of the above Insti-
tutions, about 15 years ago.
The very handsome new church erected at
Chatham is to be consecrated next week by the
Bishop of OXFORD, who will officiate fo'r the
Bishop of ROCHESTER, on account of his itairm
state of health.

The loyal town of Dudley has transmitted 201.
for the relief of the brave Life Guards who were
so brutally assailed by the seditious mob on the
14th of August last ; an example which we hope
will be followed by every town in the kingdom.
—(Birmingham Chronicle, Sept. 13.)
Mr. FLAXMAN, R.A. is returned from Edin-
burgh, after having fixed upon a proper spot on
which to erect his fine bronze statue to the me-
mory of BURNS.

The Lord Chief Justice ABBOT has instituted
two prizes, the one for a Latin Ode, the other
for an English Essay, which are to be contended
for by the Scholars of the King's School at Can-
terbury.

THE'LONDON JOURNAL,;.

DA-lET 'EXTRACTS FROM THE MORNING PAPERS;

Seplenzber 14.

[MORNING POST.]
Letters were received in the City yesterday
from Constantinople to the 11th ult. and from
Smyrna to the 3d. They are evidently written
with a disposition to present, what their authors
conceive to be the most favourable aspect of
things ; that is to say, they endeavour to throw
a pacific character over every passing event,
however little it may suit its nature. Yet not-
withstanding this industrious, and in commercial
men, this not unnatural anxiety to prevent the be-
lief of approaching hostilities from gaining ground
and interrupting their operations, facts do come
out which they cannot suppress, and which
prove that little else than war is expected by
the Turks themselves. However desirous to
conciliate the favour of the European Powers,
the Porte is still unable entirely to repress the
excesses of the people. Murders and other out-
rages continue to be committed, and the fury of
the rabble increases with the disgrace of the
Turkish arms. The departure of the Baron
Strogonoff, it is admitted, had excited some
symptoms of fear in the Turkish Government,
more particularly as it was known that the
Ambassador had sent off instructions to
Count Wittgenstein, who was on the frontiers,
and to the Russian Admiral in the neighbour-
hood. The Porte has at length, after-a consi-
derable detention, allowed the numerous vessels
laden with grain to pass down, as they are not
wanted by the Government. Indeed so immense
have been the supplies of wheat since the com-
mencement of the differences between Turkey
and Russia, that the overflow into the Ports in
the Mediterranean will, it is said, have the effect
of considerably reducing the prices,. The Dar-
danelles are now open for vessels of all nations,
but on condition that they shall be accom-
panied by a ship of war of their respective
countries, and that they do not hold commu-
nication with any of the Creek Islands, thus
prohibiting the Greeks from receiving the as-
sistance of Foreign Powers. Two Austrian ves-
sels from Trieste were boarded by a Turkish ship
of war and carried into Scio, where their papers
were examined, and having been found correct,
they were ordered to be released. This, how-
ever, the crew of the Turkish ship would not
permit, and forthwith began to pillage the ves-
sels, in which they were opposed by the Aus-
trian crews, and in the rencontre four of the lat-
ter were killed. A violent outrage had also
Veen committed upon a British subject (an emi-
nent merchant), on the evening of the Bth ult.
at Constantinople. He was returning from on
board a vessel about seven o'clock, and had no
sooner stepped on shore, than he was shot at and
wounded iu the thigh by the sentinel. Lord
Strangford (to whom the affair was duly repre-
sented) applied instantly to the Turkish Govern-
ment, and the soldier was arrested.

• On Wednesday Sir Robert Baker resigned his
situation of Chief Magistrate of the Metropolitan
Police; and yesterday Lord Sidmouth sent for Mr.
Birnie, whose long and active services every way
deserve such a distinction, and immediately ap-
pointed him to the vacant situation of First Magis-
.trate of the Bow-street establishment. This state-
ment scarcely requires any comment. Had Sir
H. Baker's conduct on the day of the Queen's
Funeral met with the approbation of his Majesty's
Government, we should not have heard of his re-
sining a situation of such high trust and im-
portance. Sir-Robert was, commanded to convey
her Majesty's body by a particular road, and the
amplest means were afforded him to carry that
command into effect. The whole civil power of
the metropolis was under his authority, and the
military, to an unlimited number, were placed at
hiS disposal. Yet with all these elements of
strength, his first act was to give way to the
multitude. Because the legitimate authority was
daringly opposed and insulted in his person, he
suspended the execution of his orders, and con-
sented to follow a road in which he had •for
leaders a seditious. mob, wondering at the plia-
bility of his temper, intoxicated with unexpected
triumph, and growing •at every step more dis-
posed to consider themselves invincible and re.
sistless. To this disposition, which concession
alone could create, may be attributed in a great
measure the unfortunate scenes which ensued.
Had the first attack of the people been firmly re-
pelled, a second would not have been made.
Defeat would have precluded the hope of future
victory, and instead of actual battle being given
to the military, of gates being closed and walls
pulled down to supply the assailants With missiles,
the only artillery used would have been that of
groans and hisses, and the only result, the com-
plete execution of the.orders with which Sir Robert
Baker had been entrusted. A different course
was adopted, and though the error was momen-
tary, yet the mischief which 'it produced was
too" great to be afterwards repaired and re-
trieved ,by the utmost firmness and decision
on the part of the military, who were thus
forced into contact with the people, at a pe-
riod of unusual audacity and exasperation.
We do not therefore wonder, though we sin-
cerely regret, that so distingaished and generally
so useful a Magistrate as Sir Robert Baker,
should have had occasion to think it his duty to
resign a situation, ih which, at a moment of
particular- difficulty and 'danger, he had not en-
titled himself to. the thanks of thOse whose orders
he had been commanded to execute.---ibid.)

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]

Sir Robert Baker resigned his situation as
Chief Magistrate of the Police on Wednesday
last ; and Mr. Birnie was yesterday appointed
by Lord Sidmouth to succeed him. It is said
that the friends of Sir Robert Baker complain
very much of the treatment he has received from
Government. As we have been every day
looking for this event, the news of it did not
surprise us. From the rancorous manner in
which Sir Robert was assailed by the tools of
corruption, it was pretty evident, that he had been

•
guilty of an unpardonable offence in the eyes of
Ministers. Sir Robert said, on his recent exa-
mination, " I allowed the intended line of the
procession to be altered, in obedience to a force
which, in my opinion, I could not resist, with-
out serious mischief to the soldiers, to the crowd,
and to the persons attending in the procession,
many of whom were females, who had been shut
up for hours in the carriages in a state of alarm."
But the' safety of either females or males, was
the last subject which, in the opinion of Minis-
ters, he ought then to have considered. The
ridicule cast on them by the defeat of their mag-
nanimous scheme to defraud the remains of her
late Majesty of the honours intended for them,
was, no doubt, of far more importance in their
eyes than the lives of the people, and the glory
of the triumph which they promised themselves
would have been deemed a cheap purchase
with the` lives of thousands. The transac-
tions of Manchester indicafed to all authorities,
' in a pretty unequivocal manner, that a regard
for the lives of the people was not the most in-
fallible course for obtaining their favour. It
required only the tteatment of Sir Robert Baker
to remove every shadow of difficulty with respect
to this point. On the 16th of August, 1819, a
peaceful assembly of men, women, and children,
were consigned over to military execution, and
five or six hundred persons became its.victims.—
The thanks of his Majesty's Ministers were in-
stantly and cheerfully given to the authors of
that dreadful day. On the 14th of August,lB2l,
a humane Magistrate took compassion on the
females and-Others in the funeral procession of
the Queen,- and hesitated to shed the blood of
his fellow-citizens. That Magistrate, so far
from receiving thanks, has been insulted in the
grossest manner by all their creatures, and has
at length been forced to relinquish his situation.
Further observation on this suPject is unnecessary.

[THE TIMESI
Our sentiments respecting the verdict of Wed-
nesday last we have already described. That
the Coroner should have closed his charge with
recommending a verdict of justifiable homicide,
would have surprised us considerably more, if, in
the course of that charge,he had ever entered fairly
upon the law of the question as it affected the
destroyer of Honey. But his premises and con-
clusion were worthy of each other ; for the Ist
being inapplicable,the2nd was of necessity absurd.
By whom was the first violence offered ? Say it was
by the people, in shutting the gates (which we
deny as a monstrous misrepresentation) that, we
assert, was an offence for which, had there been
a peace-officer present, he could only have or-
dered the Guards to take the offenders into cus-
tody,--not to strike at or ride them down. But
without the presence of such a civil functionary,
the Guardsmen had no right either to take men
prisoners or to strike them down. The right of
self-defence against personal violence is the only
one under which, by the law of England, a sol-
dier in arms is authorized to use those arms, ex-
cept in execution of the commands of a Magis-
trate, given to Mtn or to his officer on the pot ;
otherwise we live under military law, and at the
mercy of the King's forces.

[NEW TIMES.]

We were prepared for some expression of dis-
satisfaction on the part of The Times at the ver-
dict of Honey's case. That. verdict, given after
six hour's deliberation, recognises the provoca-
tion given to the soldiery, and tends powerful-
ly to counteract the impression which may
have been produced by the different result of
another Inquest. That The Times should be
angry, because a degree of guilt, sufficient to
answer its purpose, had not been charged upon
the soldiers, was natural enough, but we did not
expect that combined stupidity and malignity
could have put forth any thing so profligate and
absurd as the remarks in that paper of yesterday.
First we are told, that it was desirable " some
one " should be found guilty—that a victim
should be provided at all events. This was going
pretty far in defiance of justice, but as yet the
object to be gained was not avowed. Yesterday,
however, the mask was thrown off, and the pro-
ject proved to be 'more ingeniously monstrous,
than even the most diligent and constant reader
of The Times could have conjectured. It was
nothing less than to place his Majesty's Govern-
ment under the necessity of throwing the shield
of the Royal Prerogative between the infliction
of the sentence of the law and the convicted
offender. God forbid, that our whole national
character and political system should ever be so
changed as to enable this preacher of a new code
of expediency to inculcate his diabolical les-
sons with success ! God forbid that British
Juries should ever be so lost to every feeling of
virtue and of honour, should so far forget the ob-
ligations imposed on them, by their duty to their
Creator and to man, as to listen to those perni-
cious doctrines, the aim of, which is to substitute
a hatred of authority for a love of freedom. Of
freedom, indeed, the insidious inculcators of
those doctrines are the most constant and deadly
enemies, for they strive invariably to degrade
the sacred institutions on which its permanency
must depend. This is peculiarly shown in the
present instance. Can a more flagrant insult be
offered to Juries—can a more gross attempt be
made to bring them into contempt than by urging
the propriety of their being influenced by consi-
derations independent of evidence and of law ?
To what must this lead, but to the utter disgrace
of that invaluable bulwark of our liberties, and
the utter corruption of the very fountain of jus-
tice ? The purpose for which this sacrifice of
truth and equity is to be made is worthy of the
means proposed. British Jurors are to be urged
to charge on their oaths the crime of Wilful Mur-
der against some persons or other, whether they
believe them guilty or not, because it is thought
desirable to force the Executive to an invidious
exercise of the Prerogative of the Crown. Our
fellow-citizens, the soldiers, are to be put out
of the pale of the law, and forced to seek shelter
from the Government ! Oaths are to be despised,
and truth and justice set at nought—and all this
merely for the purpose of keeping up popular
. excitement, and affording to seditious writers and

mob-leaders an opportunity of endeavouring to
disturb the public tranquillity.

[BRITISH PRESS.]
A report prevailed yesterday in the City that
the Turkish Government has, by a public Pro-
clamation, offered a free pardon to all the Greeks
who will return to their allegiance within three
months from the date of the Proclamation. The
report, however, does not seem to have exer-
cised any favourable_ influence upon 'the state
of the Funds, and yet the intelligence is
of a nature which might be regarded as a
strong indication 'of a pacific disposition on
the part of the Turkish Government, and
consequently would, we think, if generally be-
lieved, have caused some improvement in. the
appearance of the market. The Russian 'ultimg-
turn is said, among other things, to have required
upon the part of Turkey some proceeding of this
nature, which might operate as an assurance to
the Greeks that their persons and property would
be respected by their barbarous masters ; if
therefore any such offer of a general pardon has
really been held out by the Turks, it would im-
ply a readiness to acquiesce in the terms of the
Russian requisition with respect to this particu-
lar, and proportionally diminish the probabilities
of war. The accounts which we have lately pub-
lished, and more especially those which appeared
in our Paper yesterday, exhibit the Greeks as
exulting loudly in the success of their arms. If
those statements give us a correct picture of the
present posture of their affairs, it is not likely
that they will readily accept the proffered mer-
cies of the Ottoman Government. We fear,
however, that the victories of the Greeks are for
the most part the glowing offspring of some warm
heads in Paris, and that a protracted war pre-
sents to the great body of the Greeks so little to
hope, especially when they shall be left to cope
single-handed with the whole force of the Otto-
man power in Europe, Asia, and Africa, that the
mass of the nation would, we apprehend, not un-
willingly exchange their dreams of conquest and
independence for the sober reality of protection
for life and fortune under the immediate gua-
rantee of the Russian Government.

We observe that all the London papers quote
the extraordinary advance of 300 guineas in the
letting of the Leeds and Harrogate tolls. The
natural conclusion must be, that Harrogate has
an ever-increasing number of visitors. We are
glad that it is so ; and we shall be still more
glad if they have a better road to travel upon.
The hill at Sturdy-lane, near Harewood, which
might be avoided, by a diversion, some time since
projected, is a matter well deserving the atten-
tion of the trustees. We like to see improve-
ments in our own neighbourhood, but we would
not have them confined to it, and, under this im-
pression, we again venture to call the attention
of the parties concerned, to the Harewood and
Harrogate part of the road.—( Leeds lidelligen-
cer,Sept. 10.)

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.---Sunday afternoon
an accident which had like to have been attend-
ed with the loss of several lives occurred on the
river off Woolwich. Mr. LENTON, a respectable
tradesman at Poplar, left home that morning with
a party for pleasure, consisting of his wife and
two children, and three or four friends, all in a
sailing boat, which while steering along with a
fresh gale, happening to come suddenly in con-
tact with a ship's hawser, was upset, and the
whole of the party washed overboard. The,
surrounding watermen were soon alarmed by
their piercing shrieks, and instantly bent their
oars to their assistance, and soon rescued them
from a watery grave, with the exception of one of
the children, a fine girl, aged 11, who having
got among the shipping, sunk to rise no more.—
The poor little sufferer was picked up next day
floating on the water off Blackwall stairs, and
conveyed to the Globe Tavern, where an Inquest
was taken yesterday on the body, before Mr.
UNWIN, the Coroner, and a verdict of—" Acci-
dental Death" recorded by the gentlemen of the
Jury.
FlRE.—About half-past seven o'clock on
Wednesday evening, the house of Mr. Watkins,
No. 12, Windham-place, Crawford-street, Mon-
tague-square, was discovered to be on fire, by
the neighbours observing the flames issuing from
the first and second floor windows with great ra-
pidity. They instantly ran to the door, at which'
they kept constantly knocking, but receiving no
answer from within, they with great difficulty
broke it open. By the prompt exertions of the
firemen the flames were arrested, but not till
nearly all the furniture was destroyed, and the
house much damaged.
MURDER.—On the night of the IGth ultimo,
a set of wretches armed with pistols, assembled
at the house of Dennis Murray, Nicholastown,
the county of Kildare, Ireland, and demanded
the immediate surrender of his arms, and on
his refusing to give them, a shot was fired
through the street door, which passed through his
body. The unfortunate mau,lingered until the
following evening, and then expired in great
agony. A reward of 190/. has been subscribed
by the inhabitants of Nicholastown, for the ap-
prehension of any of the parties concerned in this
atrocious murder, and the most active measures
are resorted to which have any likelihood of
leading to discovery.
Mr. JOSEPH PHILIPSON, farmer, of Algarkirk
Fen, left Horncastle, on his return home, one
evening during the fair, in company with three
strangers, all on horseback. When they came to
a part of the road which is much overhung with
trees, in the parish of Scrivelsby, one of them
called out, ‘C Pull up, don't ride so fast ;" an-
other at the same moment struck Mr. P. a vio-
lent blow over the side of the head, which
brought him to the ground, where he remained
for some time senseless. When he recovered
himself he found that his late companions had
robbed him of his pocket-book, containing 341.
Mr. PlintesoN is the person who was robbed of
4001. on his return to Algarkirk from Boston
Fair.

Last week, the colliers round Glasgow struck
work for an advance of wages, and a meeting of
a great body of them took place,,on Thursday,
near Shettleston Kirk.