twenty-one o'clock
Oliver Brand was seated at his desk , on the evening of the next day , reading the leading article of the _ New People _ , evening edition . * * * * * `` We have had time , '' he read , `` to recover ourselves a little from the intoxication of last night . Before embarking on prophecy , it will be as well to recall the facts . Up to yesterday evening our anxiety with regard to the Eastern crisis continued ; and when twenty-one o'clock struck there were not more than forty persons in London -- the English delegates , that is to say -- who knew positively that the danger was over . Between that moment and half-an-hour later the Government took a few discreet steps : a select number of persons were informed ; the police were called out , with half-a-dozen regiments , to preserve order ; Paul 's House was cleared ; the railroad companies were warned ; and at the half hour precisely the announcement was made by means of the electric placards in every quarter of London , as well as in all large provincial towns . We have not space now to adequately describe the admirable manner in which the public authorities did their duty ; it is enough to say that not more than seventy fatalities took place in the whole of London ; nor is it our business to criticise the action of the Government , in choosing this mode of making the announcement . `` By twenty-two o'clock Paul 's House was filled in every corner , the Old Choir was reserved for members of Parliament and public officials , the quarter-dome galleries were filled with ladies , and to the rest of the floor the public was freely admitted .