A HISTORIC FIRE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 643, 21 October 1909, Page 5

A HISTORIC FIRE.

'-v— -» ■ ' SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. QUAINT NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS. _ Almost exactly seventy-fivo years ago,' that is ■to 'say on October 16, 1831, the Houses of -Parliament in London were destroyed by fire. The Hon. Captain Baillie, M.L.C., who Was a . rather small boy at the time, living with his parents in Edgeware Boad, remembers the: event, and he lias shown a Dominion representative a very interesting copy of the . or., James's Chronicle" in which the fire is.reported at. great length. - ' The details of the lire, which is now chiefly memorable as having occasioned the erection Of the present -splendid Parliament House, scarcely call for repetition to-day, but a few notes and reflections from' the old newspaper will -be readable. ■ * * .V.'.'Janrnalesej'; was evidently both perpetrated and satirised in those days. Thus the Chronicle's" editorial on- tho disaster: i-or the particulars we must refer to the reports to bo found in our subsequent columns) and to tho same fund of eloquence we must hand over the lovers of picturesque- description. We should, vainly, compete .with the gentlemen'' conversant in sketching such ' calamitous conflagrations' and deep in descrip. tions of the desolating progress of the devouring - element. Such 'pur'purei panni' would only mock the plainness of our homespun style; but m the reports they are quite homogeneous with the affecting diction of our penny-a-line auxiliaries, and completely suit with the assurance of what, we suppose, is very true, the obscuration of the lunar light by the flagrant column of ascending flame.' : But though m the part of description we can avail ourselves of such foreign - aids, the example of contemporaries • warns us that we must improve tho occasion by moral refleci tions of our 'own." '■ The "moral .reflections", may- be "cut"— seventy-five years afterwards—but - the last' paragraph of the. article is worth rescuing. Some, of it will remind some people of much more recent events nearer, at- hand:—"His Majesty, it is understood, has offered the New Palaco at Pimlico for the use of the two iionses. This is considerate and kind, like all of the Sovereign—but it would be exceedingly ungenerous to accept tho ofler, when it is notorious that the acceptance or it would leave the sovereign without any decent accommodation. Besides, it would be a slight upon the Crown, which ought not to be, endured, particularly at the present moment, to displace the King of England from his palace in order to accommodate Mr. Silk Buckingham and Lord Durham, Messrs. Gully pConnell, Hume, etc., etc. Something akm to the sam« objection seems to forbid the application of the great rooms in St. James's Palace to the meeting of the two Houses. The penitentiary at Millbank has been suggested. It is tho nearest public building of suitable capacity to tho. old site, and might be thought in' other respects a fit destination." And here is a taste of the penny-a-liner's quality:—"Wsi deeply regrot to say that if this dreadful event was the work of an incendiary, there were not . wanting thousands who were spectators of the terrific yet beautiful''spectacle, who, if they did not applaud, were far from condemning the heinousness of • tho crime. Instead <of regretting the'' dreadful event as a national calamity, many appeared . to consider it ,as a well-merited visitation, anil actually , openly expressed their regrot that the Lords and Commons were not- sitting at the time. We frequently' heard; such -as I 'There's ,a. bonfire for the Poor Laws' Bill,' and many other, similar expressions. A chim- ' hey-sweep who stood near to - Westminstei Bridge appeared in high glee,; and called out most lustily, 'Ah, they'll .let us cry sweep again, now, I'll bet a guinea.' This spirit, however, w« lament to-say,' and-we speak from personal knowledge, was not confined to tho lowest and most ignorant order, Many individuals. well dressed, and from whose . appearance lone wbuld_ suppose they moved in. at least' a'decent,-station in .society;' openly,'professed to-feel/but' little regret while witness- ' ing the progress of the flames.. They "seemed to; think that_ a', visitation sp awful 'would in- s duoe the Legislature to adopt.some! different, measures to those, that hav.e lately occupied their almost exclusive attention'; and any : event that would produco that effect they were inclined to consider as a special and favourable interposition of Providence." '' ' -; - Newspaper? 'did' not always agree- as\to'facts in thoso days. ,"Tho Times," as quoted by tho "Chronicle," found that the demeanour of the . people, great ..as well as small, .was proper -and peaceable.' H "They, /.betrayed ''nothing like a feeling of exultation at the frightful havop which was. going on around them— quite tho : reverso." v. ■■ Bosidcs .the-Hon. .Captain Bailliei -one'.other moinbev of the 'Netf Zealand; Legtslative Council—the Hon. ' H.' Scotland—remembers ; t the Parliamentary firo' of 18341 Mr. Scotland,, (hen. a ' boy ',"in'.; bis teens',: watohed' the blaze' from j one'of ,the bridges over the Thames., j