The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-19 00:00:00

THE LATE

.ANZURGH.

._......,----
The following letter from a young lady in Ham-
burgh to her parents in this country, gives a most
vivid picture of the dreadful scenes that accompanied
and followed the late conflagration :
" Hamburgh, May 9, 184'2.
" I know not, my dearest mother, -whether my few
.hurried ,ill-written lines of Friday last, penned in
the midst of the most terrible anguish and trouble,
and confided to the care of a passer-by, who was
going to Altona, have ever reached you. At all
events, before you receive this, you will have heard
of what a dreadful misfortune, and of what a heart-
rending spectacle this poor city has been the theatre
and the prey. Before continuing, however, or rather
commencing, my sad recital, I must hasten to assure
my dear papa that his houses, in the Neuer Jungfern-
stieg, have remained untouched ; for though I know
i they are insured, this news will certainly be agree-
! able to him, after hearing of the disasters
which have reigned here—l may say, which
still reign, and will for a long time. Oi.
Thursday morning, Ascension Day, the sth inst.,
my sister, her husband, and I, walked ti
the French church. Frederick, on taking away the
breakfast, told us that since eight or nine o'clock ti
terrible fire had been raging in the Deich Strasse.
Papa, who knows the distance between the Neuer
Jungfernstieg and the Deich Strasse, will agree that
we had no cause for alarm. In coming out of church.
the servant said to Madame Parish (who you are
aware lives in the country, and had come thence this
morning direct) that she could not go to her town
house in the carriage ; that twenty-two houses had
been totally burnt; that, in fact, hers was in great
danger, and that the fire was becoming more and
more formidable. A few hours afterwards came the
news that the house of Mr. Parish was no more, and
that the flames were spreading every instant. To-
wards four • o'clock in the afternoon, from our attic
window, we witnessed the destruction of St. Nicholas's
Church. It was terrible to see this beautiful build-
ing become the prey of .the element, which was be-
coming more fearful the more ground it gained.
My sister and her husband were to have gone to the
opera in the evening, but it was announced that, in
consequence of the calamity, there would be no per-
formance. The spectacle became from hour to hour
more shocking. The whole city now began to show
the most lively alarm. The bells, the firing of can-
non, the cries and confusion in the streets, all pre-
saged a night of anguish and terror. Our apprehen-
sions, alas! were but too faithfully realised. It was
not, however, till night had spread her sad wings over
the scene that we could perceive the whole extent of
the destruction which menaced the whole city. The
heavens became as red as blood—the devouring flames,
increased more and more by an impetuous wind, rose
to a gigantic height. At seven o'clock Madame
came to us in a wretched state. She told us that her
sisters at Holzdamm (who were further from the
fire than we, - the flames having taken the direction
of Dreck Wall and Pleichen) had sent all their
valuables to her, so great was the fear they were
in. We could hardly avoid smiling ; for we thought
it incredible that the fire could possibly reach Holz-
denim. At ten Madame went home, and my sis-
ter retired to bed towards eleven, but afterwards we
received a visit from some gentleman, who came to
say that some serious measures were about to be
taken, by blowing up some houses which were likely
to - cause the fire to spread further. At half-past
twelve I went to bed myself ; but the noise of the
explosions, the rumbling of the carriages and carts,
the cries, the large flakes of fire which every instant
were driven impetuouslY by the wind across my win-
' dows, threatening to set fire to our house, the exces-
sive light of the conflagration the whistling of the
wind, and, as you will easily think, the idea that the
lives of persons in .whons we are interested, were in
continual danger, not to. mention the conviction of the
numberless misfortunes that were happening, pre-
vented all sleep. The windows trembled with the.re
doubled concussiong• of the explosions, and the whole
house seemed as if it would be annihilated. In such
a state I could not .. close an eye ; ' visions and
dreams, but above -all, still sadder realities, presented
themselves to my imagination, continually. Before
three o'clock had struck, I found myself again with
my sister, who, like me, had been kept awake by the
dreadful noise caused by the blowing up the Eathaus.
At this moment an order of the police was announced
to us to wet the roof of our house, and to cause the
water to flow in the gutters. Frederick had flown to
the assistance of his brothers. We were therefore
alone, and mounting on the roof, scarcely dressed,
were soon throwing over it pails of water, and our
neighbours were doing sthe same. We prepared
ourselves for the worsts—threw on our clothes—the
sionfusion increased—we could not remain. We
Packed up in sheets andin boxes some of our effects.
With the appearance of day our fears increased. It
was a spe'ctacle as sublime as it was fearful, to view
the sun, clear and brilliant, rising in all its.
splendour over the Lombards'-bridge, and on the city
side to see nothingsbut a single mass of flames. II
was not, however, a moment for contemplation, but for
action ; for the worst was to come. We called for
the coachman to carry away the things we had packed;
but . how ridiculous to think we had any longer
servants at our disposal. The city, or the passengers,
had become masters of . the coachmen, of my brother-
in-law and his mother, and not a man was to be got
to carry away our effects for love or money ; our horses
were harnessed to the fire-engines, and the greatest
confusion prevailed.. . Now succeeded hours which 1
cannot describe to you. The old Jungfernstieg
began to be endangered. The Alster, before our
windows was covered with barges full of burning fur-
niture ; the old Jungfernstieg heaped also with goods
on fire. On the promenade even of the new Jung-
fernstieg, I do not speak too largely when I say there
were thousands of cars full of furnitnre and merchan-
dise, and of people who were saving themselves. Two
carts were burning before our house: With our
own hands we helped to extinguish the flames. A
woman was on fire before our eyes; fortunately I per-
ceived it in time to save her. The horses became
unmanageable, and fell down with fright almost into
the Alster. A tremendous shower of ashes and of
flakes of fire nearly suffocated us, and obstructed our
sight. The wind blew with great' violence, and the
dust was frightful. The fire had now gained St.
Peter's. The people. thought the Day of Judgment
was come. They wee, they screamed, they knew
not what to do at the sight of so much misery. The
horses, without drivers, were dragging the carts about
in disorder over the Esplanade. Soldiers escorted from
the city the dead and the dying, and prisoners who
had been plundering. At last, after the greatest
efforts, we obtained carts, and horses to transport our
goods, but the exhausted :horses, as well as men, re-
fused to work. With bread in our hands we oursevesled
them. Whole fainilies fell down and fainted before
our doors. Along all the walls and out of the Dainthor,
and other . gates, nothing was to be seen but one
spectacle of misery—a camp of unfortunates in bi-
vouac,,-groaning, exhausted, famishing. I saw some
who had become deranged ; mothers with infants at
breasts which had-.no nourishment for them. Fan-
teuilles of gold and satin adorned the ramparts, and
the poor exhausted firemen were reposing on them.
An Englishman, Air. Skinner, who acted as chief en-
gineer' came into Madame 's house, whither
we had retired on Friday evening ; he had eaten
nothing for nearly forty hours, and devoured what
we were able able to give him, for provisions were be-
ginning to be scarce, and 'we knew not where to pro-
cure more. He told us that if the wind should not
change in a few hours the Jungfemstieg and the Es-
planade would_ be swallowed up by the fire, and that
the whole city was ininiminent danger, for that half the
people were intoxicated. The Club-house would have
been blown up if the wind had not changed. My
brother-in-law would not quit his house till the last
moment. We were on : the Esplanade ; Madame
and her sisters had. gone to her country house.
Our house was nearly -empty ; we had ourselves
stripped it of everything that was most valuable, and
carried whatever we could carry. How we had the
strength to do it I know,pot. Our women servants
worked like horses ; but since some hours we have
not been permitted to remain at the Jungfernstieg.
Although, the direction of the wind having changed,
the flames and the gunpowder have spared the club-
house, they have revenged themselves on the poor
Holzdamm,_ the fire continuing to rage with vehe-
mence, and the city . becoming more and more
in revolt. One family has been hunted in this
manner from four different places. There being
no longer any certainty' of safety on the Espla-
nade, at ten o'clock in the evening we set off for the
country, but the next morning early we returned
to town. I believe Madame has at least 25
people in her house. She says the siege of Ham-
burgh . was nothing in comparison. The rights of
property have ceased. After raging nearly 100 hours
the fire stopped at the Steine Thor. Fears were en-
tertained for St. George. I enclose a plan of the city,
with the part marked which has been destroyed. The
1 new Exchange has been saved, though surrounded by
the conflagration. I cannot describe the confusion
that prevails everywhere. All the gentlemen are
patrolling like soldiers, for in no quarter is one in
safety. The S—'s were fortunately in thecountry.
Their house in town was saved by the efforts of the
firemen, but has been pillaged by the mob.
Almost all the furniture was saved, I have
seen Madame Swartz since these terrible occurrences,
and . she has ralated to me how touching it was to
see the firemen exert their last efforts to save
her house, saying, that, having been built by so wor-
. thy a man, that house at least should not be burned,
for they knew and loved the good senator, and hold
leis memory in great respect. Many of our friends'
houses are 'destroyed—all our tradespeople burnt out.
All the old Jungfernstieg is down. Streit's hotel was
blown up. Poor Mr. Streit was still in the house when
it was. done; he was behind a door, and has been
much injured, though still living. Frederick's
sister-in-law, during one of the terrible nights,