ly one mile and a-half in
length, and was about three hours in its progress from Watling-street
to Abney Park Cemetery, where the solemn service of the dead was
conducted by the Rev. Dr. Cumming, of whose congregation the deceased
had long been a member. With the exception of the great bell of St.
Paul's, which tolls only on the occasion of the death of a member of
the royal family or of a lord-mayor in office, the bells of all the
churches in the city were booming slowly through the day, and so
evident was the general sorrow that it could be truly said that the
heart of the nation mourned.

On Thursday, July 4th, a public meeting was held at the Mansion House,
when resolutions were passed for the collection of subscriptions
towards a memorial to Mr. Braidwood's long and arduous public
services. This memorial, it was felt, should take the form of a
permanent provision for his family, for the post of Fire Brigade
Superintendent had never been a lucrative one. Before, however, the
collection of subscriptions had extended beyond a few hundred pounds,
it was made known that the insurance companies had promptly settled
upon Mrs. Braidwood the full "value"--speaking in an insurable
sense--of her husband's life. Mr. Braidwood had for many years
supported two maiden sisters, and the public subscription was applied,
therefore, to the purchase of small annuities for each of them.

It will be remembered that the London Fire-engine Establishment was
from the first controlled only by the insurance companies, upon whom
of course, fell the whole cost of its maintenance. Their interest in
the suppression of fires, although direct and unmistakeable, was not
the same as that of the public. Thus, it would be to the public
advantage that no fires should happen, whereas such a result would be
fatal to the insurance companies, since no one in that case would
insure. Although the protection of the Establishment was in practice
extended alike to both insured and uninsured property, the real object
for which it was formed and maintained was undoubtedly that of
protecting insured property only. It was the interest of the companies
to incur as little expense as would, on the whole, fairly effect this
purpose, and it was not their interest to effectually protect the
whole of the metropolis from fire. Thus it was that, with all the
excellence of the organization and discipline of the Fire-engine
Establishment, it was greatly inferior in extent to