Pero, the foreign quarter of Constantinople, has been burnt down.
The fire broke out in the night of 5th June, and raged over a district a square mile in extent, and destroyed 20,000 houses, from 300 to 900 human beings, and the British Embassy, an immense pile which had cost 1200,000, and was always under repair. The English and American residents are the greatest sufferers. Sir H. Elliott lost all his personal effects, and the Government has been obliged to issue rations to keep the popula- tion alive. There will be a bitter Parliamentary discussion over the propriety of rebnildingthe Embassy; the economists objecting, and the Orientalists maintaining that power in the Emit to be reverenced must be visible. The discussion will probably end in an ugly building, intended to be cheap, but entailing endless extras.
