CHRONICLE. 



15 



most efiFectual assistance, and be- 

 fore three, all fear of the farther 

 extension of the flames had sub- 

 sided. 



Ten houses opposite the Cus- 

 tom-house were burnt down by 

 two o'clock. Among them were 

 Holland's CofFte-house, the Rose 

 and Crown, and Yorkshire Grey 

 public-houses, and the King's Arms 

 public-house much damaged. 



The gunpowder which ex- 

 ploded is said to have been depo- 

 sited in the Armoury of the Cus- 

 tom-bouse volunteers; there were 

 deposited there likewise 500 stand 

 of arms, 500 suits of clothing, &c. 



A female servant of Miss Kelly 

 jumped out of a two-pair of stairs 

 window : she was much hurt, and 

 carried to St. Thomas's Hospital 

 in a lifeless state. 



The East-India and Custom- 

 house corps of volunteers were on 

 the spot soon after the bursting 

 out of the flames, and by their un- 

 ceasing attention prevented much 

 of that plunder and confusion 

 which would have otherwise pre- 

 vailed. They formed lines across 

 the difiierent avenues which led to 

 the flames, and would on no pre- 

 tence whatever suffer the crowd to 

 approach. 



The books and papers of the 

 Searchers' office, on the quay, were 

 saved : they were conveyed out of 

 the windows, and put on board a 

 lighter lying alongside. In the 

 Surveyor's office some books were 

 preserved ; but in the Secretary's 

 office, from being so close to the 

 Storekeeper's apartments, few, if 

 any documents were saved, and 

 consequently the bonds in the 

 Coast Bond office were lost. In 

 the long room, the objects so im- 

 portant in a national point of view, 



the books and some of the docu- 

 ments of the collector outwards, 

 were saved ; but it is feared that 

 those belonging to the collector 

 inwards are lost. These docu- 

 ments were many of them of 

 great age. 



The actual loss to government 

 by the sudden destruction of the 

 Custom-house cannot be calcu- 

 lated ; books, bonds, debentures, 

 pearls, coral, valuable property of 

 every description, and securities 

 of all kinds have been consumed. 

 Business is and must remain quite 

 at a stand for some time; nu* 

 merous vessels ready to sail cannot 

 clear out, and consequently the 

 injury to the mercantile world will 

 be most severe and distressing. 

 The private property lost within 

 the buildings is very considerable : 

 several gentlemen had left large 

 sums of money in their desks^ 

 ready to make payments on the 

 following day. One individual 

 has lost upwards of six thousand 

 pounds in bank-notes, which will 

 be irrecoverable, as the memoran- 

 dum of the numbers was in the 

 desk with the notes, and met the 

 same fate. 



A very fine collection of pic- 

 tures was also lost, which the 

 Commissioners had permitted a 

 gentleman to leave in deposit till 

 it would be convenient for him to 

 pay the duties, amounting to 

 1,500/. A genteel young man, in 

 appearance, was stopped by some 

 Police officers, in Thames-street, 

 and on searching him, his pockets 

 and breeches were found to be 

 stuffed with coral beads, silk 

 handkerchiefs, and other valuables 

 of small bulk. It appeared that 

 his boldness in venturing nearer 

 than even the firemen dared to 



