The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-09-22 00:00:00

DREAD UL FIRE IT SERAMPORE.

—...... .
r Ezfract of a Letter from Dr. Joobna Mantua/in. of seramporr.
Liu Dr. R 4 bond. isrimst. dated theMS of hilareb, mod
=Ted 'sego ,f S •Wmher, 181%
. " My MAR SIR,---Last night, about six o'clock,
WWI I was sitting in my study, some one exclaimed',
6 The Printing-office is on fire;' I ran instantly
thither, and beheld, at. the lower end of the office,
whie.h is a room WV feet long, a stage, containing
703,e0ar,s of English paper, sent out to ptrint the.,
?aril and Cingalese New "testament, enveloped in
flan*. V,vefy door and viindow but one wits fasten-
ed by a large flat bar of iron, whieh went across it,
aathvits secured by a Ott in the inside. .lii.live mi.
MOW the room wes 30-filled with smolt* that a can-
dle would not live. . •._ . ... ,
" Finding it impossible to open the windows, or
for any one to go in without danger of instant depth,
we fastened that door again, in the hope of smother-
ing the flame, and ascending the roof, pierced it over
the-fire, and by incessantly pouring down water, so
kept it under for three hnurs, that nothing but the
paperappeared to have kindled, and there the flame
was greatly abated. The alarm which we gave,
brought all the Europeans around us to our assist-
ance, be4des our own native servants, so that we
had,all the assistance we could desire. While, how-
ever, the flames were got under there, I looked in,
and suddenly saw a flame spread about twenty feet
higher up. The smoke and steam increased so as to
reader it death to get three feet within the wall. In
a few minutes the flames spread in every direction,
'and took away all hope of saving any thing from
thence, andilled us with terror for Mrs. Marsh-
man's school, about thirty.feet to the North-west, a
'bed-room for the boys, about sixteen feet full
Nerds, which communicated with Brother Carey's,_
'and the hall, library, and museum, within 12 feet :
of it, to the North-east. The wind, however, fell, 1
arid it. burned as straight upwards as fire on a'
hearth, and cbmmunicated to nothing besides. lt
remained burning for six hours, and consumed the
beams, five feet in circumference, the roof, the win-
dows, and every thing but the walls. Happily no
lives were lost, nor a bone broken. The loss we
cannot at present estimate. It has consumed all
but the six presses, which we rejoiced were saved,
being in a side room. Two th,usand reams of Eng-
lish paper wets Consumed, worth at *le”t 50001.
sterling. Founts of types, in 14 languages, be-
sides Eng!ish, namely, Nagree (twa founts, large
and small), Bengalee (two founts), Orissa, Mah-
ratta, Seek, Berman, Tanga, Tamul, Cingalese,
Chinese, Persian, Arabic, &brew, and Greek,
were burnt ; besides founts of English for carry-
lug on ten works, which we have now in the press ;
and the cases, stones, brass rules, iron chases,
&c. &c. correspondent with all these. We have
nt.; types left for the circular letter, nor even to
print a statement of the loss. Theeditions of the New
Testament, which are stopped, are nine, viz. the
Hindoretanhee, Persian, a- 1 Tamul, printing under
the pats ..nage of the Auxiliary Bible ''.ociety ; and
the Hendee (second edition), Telinga, Seek, Burmen,
Sungskrit (second edition), and Chinese. The edi-
tions of the Old Testament are fite, the Sougskritt,
Bengallez (second edition), Orissa, Mahratta, and
Ilindev. Among the English works suspended till
ve get types from you are, the " Sungskritt Gram-
mar" (second edition) ; Brother Ward's Work on
the 46 Manners of the Ilindoos" (second edition) ;
" Confucius" (second edition); the " Dissertation
on the Chinese" (second edition); enlarged to more
than two hundred pages ; 46 B:11;..;alee Dictionary,"
and a " Telinga Grammar," both by Brother Carey.
The loss cannot be less than 12,0001. sterling; and all
our labours are at one , stopped.
" I trembled for Ward, lest the roof should have
Mien in with him, or lest he should have entered too
far, and at once have extinguished the spark of life ;
bat we are all preservee, blessed be God. The flames
touched• nothing besides ; they might have consumed
every thing. The presses are preserved, and happily
the matrices of all the founts of types were deposited
in another place; had these been burnt, it must have
been years before they could have been replaced.—
We can now, however, be;in, casting types to-mor-
row, if we can find money; country paper can be
substituted for English, and thus two or three months
will put the versions of the Scriptures in motion again ;
but for English we shall be distressed till you send
vs a supply; we know net even how to sent} you a
circular letter. lam writing this at Calcutta to go
by the packet this evening, whither I am come to in-
form Brother Carey, and therefore cannot tell you
what types, nor how many. The Must, however,
be all the sizes, from the text 4' ru'cius to the
minion in the circular letter ;-alse • tau, and every;
s
printing utensil accompanying. Perhaps some friend
in London, iu the printing line, can tell what goes to
co:uplet . a printing office with PingliSh types. You
must also send a fount of Greek and Hebrew. lam
distressed to think where you will 'find • tneney, but
send, if yon incur a debt—the silver and the gold are
the Lord's. ' I
" The Christian sympathy of our frie.vls elmosfl
overwhelms me. Mr. Browne '(President of the
College), was confined by illness; but Mt. Bird, his
son-in-law, exerted himself for Us in the most Ore- .1
Pitons manner. .1 fear it affects Mi.:. Browne's Mind, )
even more than my own ; he sent off an expresi St'
mid:tight, to acquaint' Mr. Harrington, who is deeply
affected. Poor Mr. TheMpson (Chaplain-to fteGo:''
Ye/mar-General) .:•ept like a child to-day on Fettling'
of it. Ile begs us to make out a minute statement of
'
our loss, and says he will vie all Ms interest 6u our
behalf.. How it arose, we knot not; BrotheeWard
and others think it must have hem dime by design,'
and that some idolater among our servants, turning
pale with envy at the sight oPthe• Bible printing in
so many languages, contrived this mode of stopping
the work. This, however, is a mere conjecture:
• - ...

. /
Yesterday afternoon a Coroner's laqizeit was held
at the Rose and Grown public-h'onse, in st. Maetin's-:
lane, before Awritony CELL, Esq. on 11e body of .
a young woman named Yowl-, who, it appeaFedin :
evidettqp, • had, unkgbwis to beg rejlidwiss taken
qiinfltity of rittiol, which ociasinned'hei• death.'
Last week, gg scresof !ana belonging to the Ord,
na ace, 'heated pear Fos-line,,Gillingharn, was let by
&lb* action at Chatham SeViectfto ipe,conditions of ,
betng turn 4i up, tor theestraord uary annual tank t
of I, 11.55• an acre: •