The New York Herald Newspaper, October 16, 1871, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET, pepsatpniansnnnngiak JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPR vibe. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1871.—TRIPLE SHEET. The Financial Prospect—Revulsions and Their Causes. In financial affairs, as well as in other things, there is much truth in the remark that “there is nothing new under the sun.” The same Causes that have operated in tinms past to create panics or a financial crisis continue All business or news letter and telegraphic | and will continue to produce like results, The Wespatches must be addressed New Yorx | effect is more or less modified, it is true, by the Hzpaw. Letters and packages should be properly pealed, Rejected communications will not be re- turned. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day tn the seer, Four cents per copy. Annual gubscription Trice $12. Volume XAXVE..0......s0rsseeeeengegyeNOe 259 "AMUSEMENTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, pROMERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Hatp— Favorite NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway, betwith and Bouston erecle TER STReErs OF aor os i gman, onpRa HOUSE, corner ot 8th ay. Kna 73d BL— \p LINA EDWINs THEATRE, No. 720 Broadway.—FRENCH \Orema—La Pexicuo.s, \ irra. AVENUE THEATRE, Twenty-fourth street. uz New Dnama or Divonce, Matinee at lig UNION SQUARE THEATRE, Fourteenth st. And Broad Jway.—NEGRO AOTS—BUELESQUE, BALLET, &Cq OLYMPIC THEATRE. Broadway.—T1e BALLET Paw or Humpty Dumrry. Matinee at 2, STADT THEATRE, Nos, 45 and jowery'—OPERA Srason—Lvota, % Li ae a WALLAOR'S THEATRE. Broadway and 3th street.—< 1 CuRious Casz—A GAME OF SPECULATION. ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Fourteenth ~Exauts Drena—Don Giovannt. wp a Sahai WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway iances afternoon and evening— corner 30th $t.—Perform- ik OCTOROON, BOOTH'S THEATRE, 28a st., between 6th and 6th avs.-< Macsetu, MRS. F. B, NWAY'S BROOKLYN JHEATRSE.. Bue Lancers, 2 " oe ce THEATRE COMIQUE, 514 Broadway.—Comid Yo iQ ray. art OALe SAN FRANCISCO MINSTREL HAL! 5 te PPE San FRANCIBQO MINSTRELS, L, 685 Broadway. ee BRYANT’S NEW OPERA HOUSE, 23d st, between 6th Ape 7th ava—Buyani's MINSTRELS, tp TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, No. — ‘Nrauo Eocrnrmerugs, BuuLesguts, bee) Me™ _, STEINWA’ L rol CSTEINWAY HALL, Fourteenth atreet—Movz.tox PARIS PAVILION CIRCUS, Fourteenth street Wa and 3d avenucs.—EQUESTRIANISM, £0» s heoradane AMERICAN INSTITUTE EXHIBITION, Third Wend Sisty-third street.—Opeo day and evening. wi gi! TRIPLE SHEET. New York, Monday, October 16, 1871. —————————————————— CONTENTS OF TO-DAY'S HSRALD, PAGE, MESES areas ones 1—Aavertisementa, ‘2—Advertisements, 3—The Chicago Fire—A Ride Among the Ruins of the City: Scenes and incidents Along the Route; Statements of Victims of the Fire; Harrowing Details of the Disaster; Aid for the Suflerers. 4—Chicago and Christianity: The Tongue of Fire Etoquent in the Pulpits of the Land; Pathetic Talk ana Practical Giving; The Chicago Con- Generdsr, an Anachronism in History; Noble Hearts; The Ways or MWVekhy of Christian Practicalness of the Principles of Chrisyyetied: dom Shown in the National Contriputions; What the Catholic Church Has Lost; Organt- zation of the Churenes for Rellef; The Heart of the World Touched by Thankfulness Unto God and Love for Mankind; A Study for Men —— els; The Suver Lining on the Chicago S—Chicago and Christianity (Continned from Fourth Page)—Sermon by the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., on the Result of the Triennial Episcopal Convention at Baltimore—The Courts—Seduction and Suicide—The Knife in Hoboken—Marriages und Deaths, G—Editorials: Leading Article, “The Financlal Prospect—Revulsions and Their Causes"— Amusement Announcements. ‘Y—Editorial (continued from Sixth Page)—France and Germany—News from Austria, Spain, Sweden and scotland—China and Japan—The Forest Fires: Terrible Devastation in Wiscon- sin and Michigan; Over Fifteen Hundred Lives Lost: The Property Destroyed Beyond Esti- mate—Tne Coming of Alexis—Miscellaneous Telegrams—Personal Intelligence—Views of the Past—Business Notices, S=—The Western Fires: Terrible Loss of Life; Im- mense Destruction of Property; Cities, Vil- Jages and Towns Entirely Swept Away; Full Details of the Disasters at Green Bay; Great Suffering Among the Survivors; Tne’ Awful Story of Peshtigo; ‘the Fires Stili Raging; Aid for the Sufferers—Financia! and Commercial. 9—Financial and Commercial (Continued from Eighth Page)—Domescic Markets—The Armory Agitation in Newark—Advertisements, 10—Washington: The Programme of the House Commitee; Meeting of the Supreme Court To- Day—The Reform Party before and After the Rochester Convention—Stipping Intelligence —Advertisements, -41—Advertisements. A2—Advertisements. Tue Movntarns of California are reported to be on fire, Tue Amrricans IN Evrope prove by their action in aid of the people of Chicago—as is eet forth in our cable telegrams from the Old ‘World to-day—that distance does not diminish the love of patriotic hearts for the land of their birth, which becomes more dear “in ‘its sorrow and gloom” than is “‘the rest of the world in its suoniest hours.” Tae AvsrRiaN Carnet is agitated by the reception of official advices which report the | appearance of provincial disturbances in the ‘empire. The movements bave been crushed by military force, but it looks as if the Emperor and Premier Von Beust were not ex- actly in accord as to the propriety or expected healthy results of such a plan of treatment, Tue Recrprocitizs oF PracE AND Goop wit. —The Britisb people pour in their con- tributions for the relief of Chicago, and thank us for capturing General O'Neill. Thanks to the Washington Treaty, Great Britain and the United States are no longer enemies, but friends. The peoples who ought never to be divided in sentiment have entered upon an era of peace and good will. Tne Supreme Court or tHe UnitEp States commences an adjourned term in Washington to-day, when Chief Justice Chase will be pre- sent and preside. A number of important cases are to be decided, probably very early in the term, among them the questions relative to the constitutionality of the Clvil Rights bill andof the cotton tax, and relative to liabilities. for debts contracted in the purchase or hire of slaves, and the opinions of the majority and minority of the Court relative to the constitu- tionality of the Legal Tender act are also to be rendered, The decision in the latter case, it will be remembered, was rendered last term, but the individual opinions of the Justices were not then made public. Empress Avavsta or Germany gives one thousand thalers as ber personal subscription fo the Chicago Relief Fund, Her Majesty has ot forgotten the dark days of Prussia’s tribu- lation after the French ‘baptism by fire.” She also remembers the generous sympathy which America expressed for her devoted and Qallaat husband, her children and pubiecta | us yet, but remain stationary. peculiar and varying circumstances of different epochs, but the causes are similar, and the consequences in a lesser or greater degree the same. The progress of civilization, with all the blessings it brings, has not yet restrained the cupidity of mankind, Indeed, speculation and making haste to get rich seem to be stimulated more and more as civilization ad- vances and as wealth augments, While the world has continued to make progress from the earliest period to the present time, by succeeding generations using the knowledge of those that preceded them and by adding thereto the knowledge that science and art are constantly developing, the raling passions of men exist as formerly, The financial affairs of nations, hke those of the moral world and physical nature, move in cycles, Action and reaction succeed each other inevitably. Mer- cury in the barometer is scarcely more sensi. tive to the weather than the money market and business to speculation and current events, Expansion of credits, overtrading, fiscal bur- dens, general extravagance, wars, and great calamities, like the fire at Chicago or the failure of crops, must in the end create a re- vulsion, and the extent of such revulsion de- pends upon the influence of one or more of these causes or of all combined, In going back to the files of the Hmraxp for the year 1837, the graphic accounts of the great revulsion of that period seem to be descriptive in a measure of the state of things now existing and of the prospect before us, Inflation or expansion of paper credits, specu- lation on fictitious capital, and extravagance in everything, caused a financial collapse and suspension of specie payments, General bankruptcy and high prices brought the peo- ple to the point of starvation, though there was no lack of provisions, and though the country was full of resources, <A dollar would not purchase as much as twenty-five cents before the crisis, Distress was every- where and among all classes. Securities of all kinds and the extravagant inflated value of real estate fell greatly. The fact that every- thing had been forced up to a fictitious value by credit expansions and the mania of specu- lation was apparent to all, This state of things was like the high pressure of the steam engine when carried beyond the highest point, A fearful collapse followed, sending destruc- tion all round. The law of equilibrium which regulates trade and finance, as everything else in the universe, can no more be violated in financial or commercial affairs without a reaction or revulsion than can the laws of the physical or moral world, The condition of the stock and money market generally, and particularly at New York, the great centre of wealth and com- “~~ few days ago, was calculated to create an Imp nan oe t reached the culminating pass relat i tion, overtrading and extravagance, and that it was about to pass through another of those periodical revulsions which occur at intervals, It did seem to portend a crisis something like that of 1837, The vast destruction of property by the Chi- cago fire, the devastating fires in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the stupendous frauds in this city, the fall of government securities and rise of gold, and the consequent embarrassment brought upon the Treasury Department and its Syndicate agency in hand- ling the new loan, with other circumstances | calculated to create apprehension and difficul- ties, appeared to combine to bring abouta general crash, The rapid fall of stocks gene- rally from ten to twenty-five per cent, some declining even more than that, was like the murmuring of a coming storm. So significant were the signs that we advised the people to | be prepared and to seek shelter, Happily there has been a lull. The clouds are over Are they rest- ing there for the next financial gale of dis- turbance, and, then, to hasten on the threat ened destruction? Is this suspense simply a temporary reaction? Do the elements of a | greater and more general revulsion exist as | before, to burst over usinthe end? It cannot | be said that the market has recovered. It is | only in a state of suspense, Let us see what | is the prospect before us, for that is what | every one is anxious to know, | We have no disposition to be alarmists. We are more disposed always to be hopeful and to inspire confidence when there are reason- able grounds for that. But it is necessary to understand the financial situation of the coun- try, so as to be prepared for the worst and to avert as far as possible any disaster that may come upon us. Our late war produced a revolution in the financial situation of the country as well as in political affairs, and in both brought demoralization, The people learned to look upon thousands of dollars as they used io think of hundreds, The enor- mous revenue and expenditures of the govern- ment and an inflated paper currency changed the value of money and everything else in the minds of the people, and this led to an ex- aggerated and fictitious estimate of real estate, bonds, stocks and property of all kinds. Though the assessed value of property is not very much higher relatively to the growth and improvement of the country the market or speculative value has been forced up extrav- agantly, The fall of gold from fifty per cent premium or upwards to twelve or fourteen per cent, and the contraction of tbe currency, both positively and comparatively, to the growth and wants of the nation, have had liitle or no effect upon prices or the speculative value of prop- erty. In fact, we have no real standard of value, for gold is an article of commerce, and there is such a limited quantity of it in the country that itis impossible to make it the measure of value, It is only a measure of value for gambling in Wall street and for cers tain fiscal operations of the government. How, indeed, can it be made a standard of value generally, with only three hundred mil- lions or so in the country and with a contin- nal drain of this comparatively small amount to pay our indebtedness abroad? The export of specie since the Ist of last January—a lit- Uo over nine months—was $56,717,239. This is probably the full amount of a year's pro- duction of all our mines, if not more than that, At this rate there must be at the end of the year a considerable reduction of the small and always diminishing quantity in the coun- try. But this is not all, We are continually sending abroad our securities to pay for our extravagance and the balance of trade against us in addition to the gold, and, therefore, the demand for more specie to pay the constantly augmenting interest increases from month to month and year to year. We need no prophet to tell us where this must end, Yet the Secretary of the Treasury and the sanguine specie-payment theorists view every- thing in couleur de rose, as if we were sailing along gloriously, without the least danger. Mr. Boutwell, in his contracted view of things, rejoices over the enormous revenue he re- ceives from excessive imports, high duties and from taxes wrung out of the industry of the people. He does not see that the pros- perity, if we may use such a term, of the Treasury is the ruin of the country and that in the end the Treasury itself must suffer, The whole financial policy of the government, to- gether with the extravagance and expansion caused primarily by the war, are leading us inevitably to bankruptcy and are mortgaging the country to foreigners, If we go on in this way we shall be for ages to come merely the hewers of wood and drawers of water to the capitalists abroad, It is precisely this state of things which causes perturbations in the stock and money market when any such calamity as the Chicago fire falls upon the nation, Yet what is the loss of a few millions, or even seventy millions, to the stupendous resources and future of this country? The whole evil lies in the unnatural and artificial financial system we live under, But, to go back to the actual state of affairs now, it will bo well to inquire what is the ir mediate prospect. It is possible the banks an business establishments generally may keep afloat for a time, though some insurance com- panies and other inatitutions may go down, It is certain, however, that a great and immi- nent crisis can only be averted by extraordi- nary efforts, if averted at all, Then the ulcer willremain and keep eating deeper into the vitals of the nation, The evil day would only be put off, The banks may check their un- healthy expansion of credit for speculative purposes and business men may become more prudent, which would be useful, but until high prices and fictitious values are brought down to something like a normal condition a terrible crisis will hang over us, Perhaps there may be no way found of restoring the country to a healthy financial state but through a revul- sion and a readjustment of values and prices. The speculative value of real estate in the city of New York is probably double the real value, or more than that, and it is much the same in other cities and parts of the republic, Of course all business and prices are based upon this fictitious estimate, Mr. Boutwell and the other stupid financiers at Washington tell us the country is in the happiest financial condi- tion because the revenue is enormous and the debt is being paid at the rate of a bundred millions a year, Yeta plethoric Treasury and the rapid payment of the debt do not bring ~~ Anwn:_ do not put up the credit of the government abroaa w wav... a»eht to stand: do not bring down the premium on gold; do not prevent the constant drain of specie from the country and the augmentation of our indebtedness to foreigners ; do not prevent our shipping interests declining, and cannot pre- vent a great and general revulsion when the day of settlement arrives by the outbreak of war or some other catastrophe. If, happily, we get over the present financial difficulty the general causes will remain to operate another day, and the sooner our business men and the government understand this the better. Tyng After the Ritualists Again. If there bas lurked in any mind hitherto doubts of the Low Church orthodoxy of the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., we are certain they will be dispelled by a perasal of his sermon in to-day’s Hzratp. Mr, Tyng is not a man who combats error by denouncing it or its defend- ers, He believes in the power of truth and its leavening effects, and his plan is to place the truth and the lie side by side, and to present the salient points of each so clearly that the youngest and most ignorant of his congregation cannot make a mistake in choosing between them. The great distinction which marks the Church of St. Albans and St. Mary the Virgin and separates them from St. George’s, Ascension or the Church of the Holy Trinity was well set forth yesterday by Mr. Tyng. In the former Christ is located in the creed, the Church and the sacraments, and as a conse- quence is made inferior to these, The scaf- foldings of religion are deemed of greater im- portance than the building itself. Christ in the wafer becomes greater than Christ in the heart, and He is sought for on the table instead of at the table, The bare statement of these truths were enough to show both sides of the controversy which has begun in the Episcopal Church, but which, we believe, has received a partial settlement in the Epis- copal declaration at Baltimore, for which Mr. Tyng was willing to give thanks, though it was not all that he could have wished for, We commend his words to our readers, espe- cially to those of his own denomination, Tue Prestpent’s MoveMENTS IN Bostox.— General Grant and his party of United States officials from Washington arrived in Boston Saturday afternoon, where they were formally welcomed by the city authorities, In the evening the President and party attended the entertainment given by the Strakosch Italian opera troupe as a benefit for Chicago; yester- day the General attended church, and to-day he will lay the corner stone of the new post office they are going to build for Boston, somewhat on the plan of ours, though not so large, Senator Sumner, it is surmised, on account of his health, will not assist on the occasion, Present Turers Has Derixep the pro- visions and more immediate operation of the International Customs Treaty which has been concluded between France and Germany. Prussia has evidently made a pretty safe, and rather hard, bargain, It may have the effect of preserving both countries from unnecessary war panics in the future, but in the meantime France will have to pay pretty dearly for the late one, Chicago’s Fiery Trial—Eloquent Sermons and Noble Responses. Never before in the history of the world was there manifested so grandly and so glo- riously the oneness of the human family as it has been during the past few days. And never has Christianity loomed up so divine and so rich in its sympathies and in its consolations as just at this time, One sentiment alone animates every heart and one response alone is made to every appeal. There is no need to “dun” men for subscrip- tions for Chicago sufferers, for young and old, rich and poor alike are ready to give the moment they are apprised that some one will undertake to transmit* their gifts to those for whom they are intended. This outburst of Christian sympathy has no parallel save in that outburst of patriotism which this nation presented to the world in 1861. And the sympathy of the nation is even deeper and stronger than its patriotism. In other columns of the Hggatp to-day will be found the stirring appeals of a score or more of the pastors of this city and vicinity in be- half of those who have go recently come out of the burning, fiery furnace, heated, as it was, seven times hotter than it was wont to be. The noble response of the several congregations to those appeals will also be read with in- terest, Well, indeed, might the eloquent pastor of Plymouth church declare yesterday, to his three thousand hearerg, ‘‘that the’ sight of so much nobility and unselfishness would transcend in value all the loss.” ‘The lessons of wisdom and of trust, of sympathy and of unity which this terrible dis- aster teaches were pointedly revealed in Mr, Beecher's discourse. ‘‘No man stands alone, much less a community, This great disaster is a revelation of the structure and function of cities, Thoy are the heads of the great body ; they express the life of the nation, Chi- cago is blotted out, but every village in the Innd feels the flash of that flame. Its secret threads, its nerves, extend in multitudinons directions. There is scarcely a city on the globe but had some of the roots of Chicago in it, When men find themselves to-day poor and to-morrow~ xise up, elate pnd inspired, the manhood they exhibit makes the whole world rich, When a whole community in the midst of this rain of fire stand up brave and strong the exhibition is of incalculable benefit to the whole human race.” Never were truer words uttered, and the lesson of this noble manhood will not fall unheeded upon the ears of humanity. Tne ashes of Chicago to-day contain treasures richer than those which the banks and warehouses contained be- fore the fire, and those treasures are the com- mon property of all mankind. The Rey. Dr, Duryea struck the keynote of permanent relief to which we should all respond, The present necessity does not represent all that will be required, A long winter is approaching, and before even indif- ferent shelter can be obtained or sufficient clothing to keep away the pioching frost it will be upon those poor sufferers, The nation should ramember this and not flag in its noble efforts for their relief, We would call special attention to the organizations of Mr. Beecher’s and Dr, Durgea’s congregations for perma- nent relief to the Congregational churches of Chicago, Let our other churches systematize and Make permmucuy vv gey wa. aha present need is met the sufferers will not have to cry out again for further aid, Let the stream run on; the fountain is rich enough and deep enough to supply all the wants of Chicago, The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage made an eloquent appeal which was nobly responded to. In onr own city there was something beau- tiful in the encouraging and faithful view which the pastors took of the future of Chi- cago. Instead of having lost everything Dr. Hepworth believes the people of that city have everything left, They have their future, which will be more splendid than their past, and they have an undaunted spirit and an energy and enterprise which nothing can appall, It is, after all, a proud sight, Those lusty men are not Cast down. What has been done can be done again. And they have begunalready, Talk of the days of chivalry after this! Why, “Qose olden times were boys’ play by the side of these heroic years, And well, too, might Dr, Chapin remark that this fire had brought owt much of the good which is in man, and triumphantly ask, when and where have we seen such an example of Christian charity? For one he said he felt like kneeling and thanking God for so much good in humanity. Yes, indeed ; but the good in us is manifested in ite fulness only on such occasions as this, There will be always found preachers who look upon all such calamities as this as just judgments from God for the sins of the people, One of these—Rev. Dr. Duncan, of the Cen- tral Baptist church, Brooklya—took just such a view. We most affectionately invite his perusal of Rev. Dr. Ewer’s sermon on this very point, At such a suggestion Dr. Ewer thinks that every man endowed with the instincts of humanity should start back in horror, We think so too, And the minister of Jesus Christ who teaches any other Gospel, we are free to say, misinterprets the God whom we worship. The great moral lessons which Dr, Joseph P. Thompson drew from Chicago were, the government of God, the duties of man and the light of modern civilization in the nineteenth century, Chicago is the “hub” of this Continent, not Boston. The Doctor thanked God for this fire, The highest interest was awakened {n some of the Catholic churches by the presence of clergymen from the ruined city, The Rev. Father Gavin in St, Stephen’s church aroused and riveted the attention of the large audience to whom he recounted the losses in public buildings alone of his Charch, Seven Roman Catholic churches, six convents, eight schools and col- leges, two asylums, two hospitals, the Bishop's residence and six parsonages swept away, and at least thirty thousand persons of the Catholic faith—many of them inmates and attendants of the above-named institutions, aged and infirm, orphans and widows—left without shelter, clothing or bread to eat, The Rev. Father Martin, of St. Mary’s, church, Chicago, thrilled the assemblage in St. Francis Xavier's, also, with bis recital of these losses, In nearly all our city churches—Jew- ish and Christian, Protestant and Catholic alike—the appeals made have inet with appro- priate responses, And from Washington {he same magnanimous response comes by tele- graph, All these discourses and the sum of their practical fruits will be found in this Paper, and we cqammend both to our readers, with the single word to such of our ministerial friends as have not yet moved in this matter, if any such there are:—Go and do thon like- wise. And imitate with your congregations, if possible, the stirring appeal and munificent gift of Dr, Bellows and his church for their Chicago brethren, The Great Fires in the West—A Fearfal Visitation. ‘The terrible details of the Western fires are being gradually revealed to us, and they pre- sent a picture too fearful and agonizing to be readily realized by those who are living in ease and safety, far removed from the scene of suffering, To-day we publish a brief but graphic account of the ravages in and around the village of Peshtego, Wisconsin, and itis to be feared that the scenes there depicted have been but too frequently enacted in other localities during this season of extraordinary visitation, Our pres- ent account comes from Oconto county, in the northeast corner of Wisconsin, and from the southern part of Menomonee county, in Northern Michigao, bordering upon Green Bay. The Peshtego river runs into Green Bay from #® northwesterly direction, and about seven miles up from the harbor of Pesh- tego is the village of that name, The next township to that of Peshtego is Marinette, which is divided from Menomonee county, Michigan, by the Menomonee river, and on that river stands the village of Marinette. It appears that the first intimation the residents of the doomed village of Peshtego received of the ‘calamity that awaited them was on the evening of Sunday, the 8th instant, after the close of the services at the churches, when there wag suddenly heard a roaring, rushing sound, likened to the first distant mutterings of a storm, or the hoarse mirmur of an angry sea, As this strange ang terrify- ing noise increased the poor creatures seem to have been aroused to a presentiment of coming danger, at may have been listened to at first without serious apprehepgion, ay dhe supposed precursor of one of those fierce but comparatively harmless sweep- ings of the wind that so frequently pass over the broad prairie lands of the West. But soon it began to be realized that a deadly heat was in the breath-of that horrible tornado, and the warning reflection of a mighty confla- gration was cast over the scene. We are told that electric flames shot through the alr; that balls of fire fell like meteors in different parts of the village, igniting whatever they came in contact with, as though a mysterious and re- lentless army had been pouring ‘‘shot and shell, a fire of hell,” over the devoted town. We must leave to science to decide, in calmer moments, whether the phenomena so vividly described by the excited sufferers had actually any existence, or whether they were only blazing particles from the burning forests and prairies, whirled along and fanned by the driving wind. The horror-stricken inhabi- tants appear then to have first awakened to the knowledge that a destroying fire was rash- ing towards their homes, borne upon the wings of the tornado, and instantly the peace- ful yillago, inst settling down to the re- pose of a Sabbath evening, was a scene of terror and confusion scarcely to be pictured in the imagination of those who were not eye-witnesses of the frightful calamity, Parents clasped their children in their arms and fled from their houses, knowing not in what direction to seek for safety, There was no time to think of more than life, and that, unfortunately, could not in many hundreds of cases be preserved. We are told that the poor creatures flying in terror were in many instances lapped up by the hungry flames and scorched and withered and burned in their tracks, But the details are too horrible for repetition, They will be read in the accounts we have now received, qnd shall, itis to be feared, continue to receive, Eats scenés of the disasters, Enough is already known to convince us that the burning of Chicago, sad as it was, can be reckoned asa light grie’ when com- pared with the devastation of these- prairie homes and quiet villages in the Far West. The one entails mainly destruction of prop- erty—pecuniary loss—which the great gene- rosity of the civilized world can do much to lighten if not altogether to reimburse, The latter carries in its desolating path the most harrible of deaths, and strikes thousands of hearts with a sorrow keener and more last- ing than any the loss of mere worldly goods can bring, Yet even the pecuniary suffering must be greater among these villages and prairie settlers than with the people of a large city, The former have no neighbors left in comparative affluence to relieve their im- mediate necessities, and no hope of a speedy rally from their sudden poverty by aid of the spirit of enterprise which always comes to the rescue of a young and vigorous city like Chi- cago, They must remain in their sor- row and want, brooding over their misery, unless the hand of sympathy is stretched forth for their comfort and relief, It is therefore to be sincerely hoped that the noble and wonderful impulse which has prompted all the world to extend such glorious assistance to the people of Chi- cago will be again awakened by the sufferings of these Western villagers, and that a por- tion of the grand stream of benevolence now flowing into the Western metropolis will be turned towards the forests and the prairies a there is so much need of sympathy and id, Ovr Crry's Hearrn.—Our death record of last week is 486, which shows that we are free from epidemics of all kinds, The births of the week were 566, which is very good, for generally our death record exceeds the births, The marriages were 282, which is also a good ‘report; and may the good work still go on, to the strengthening of society and our city and country and to the glory of God! How Mvon or Ir Is tae Work or Tar IN- CENDIARY?—TIncendiarism has been suspected in the case of Chicago, It has also been sus- pected in the case of the prairie fires. On Friday night last three separate attempts were made to fire London, Ontario, Have we the Paris Commune in the midst of us? It is matter for inquiry—how much of this des- traction ja (he work of (he incendiarvé Tee Rebuilding of Chicago—flinw for the Futare Security of the City Against Fire, In the rebuilding of Chicago the first a of the local authorities and of all parties c cerned is to respect the lesson and to avoid causes, as far as -possible, of this late dis trous fire. The city should be laid out o new plan, embracing a number of wide bov vards running through the city in vari directions, like those of Paris or like th broad avenues of Washington named after States, We like the plan of Washington safety against fire. The city is laid out, fi on the Philadelphia rectangular plan, and streets of moderate width. Then, from gardens of the President's house, the Capi and several other points those broad aveni radiate through the city in various direction and intersecting each other and the ri; angled streets at various points thoy form ; merous plazas or open squares, which, wi: the building lines shall be compactly built with elegant houses, will make Washing the most beautiful city and the safest agai: fires of any city in the world, from the prote« tion given to its different divisions by thos: broad avenues and those numerous 0} plazas, Baron Haussmann’s improvements of Pr under the late empire, which have contribu much to make that city fireproof, as it been proved in the late vain attempts of \ Commune to burn it down, are simply adoption of the ground plan of Washingt: and the Baron, we are inclined to suspect, the idea of his system of boulevards fro: map of the plan of our national capital, all events, this is the plan for the reconstr tion of Chicago—these radiating, broad a: nues and the open plazas which they cre at the points of intersection with each oti and the regular streets, Thus, with th avenues, you will have broad barriers of pr tection against the spreading of a fire in « direction, and in these open squares g points for great reservoirs of water and cure places for the storage of joods and hor hold effects in the event of a hreatentog in the neighborhood. For purposes of ira too, and of peat the pe of these radia avel has itd advantagés, which should be overlooked in the rebuilding of Chicago. The other secarities suggested against f leaving the plan of the city as it is, houses of brick and stone, the prohibi of roofs of shingles, a plentiful supply of w. in reservoirs at various points, and an effic paid fire department, such as we have in | York, which is as good as that of Lon Since our paid Fire Department, with active men and powerful horses and st engines, has been in full operation wet bad namerous fires started here in per magazines of combustibles, such as Baro Museum, and surrounded by combust » buildings, and yet, such is the efficienc, our firemen, with their new engines, that ¥ seldom indeed is any building beyond : first attacked destroyed, Some sections » our city, such as that around the Five Poi are conglomerations of rookeries cf the r inflammable materials, and yet a fire in on these rookeries, at two o’clock in the morn is seldom permitted to reach the next sha even in a dry season and a high wind. Here, then, after all, in an efficient department, like that of New York, is best security for Chicago and all other ¢ against disastrous fires, Still, the impro ments we have hinted at in the plan of cago, considering not only the securities will furnish against fire, but their com fences to trade, their sanitary advant: and their ornamental effects, ought to adopted in the rebuilding of the city, Organizing the Committces of tho House of Representatives. Itis reported from Washington that Spe Blaine intends to reconstruct the Committ Ways and Means and has already made his slate, Dawes, of New Hampshire, ii be chairman, Garfield and Kelley are second and third places, and the general ¢ plexion of the aig “committee is to be prc tionist with a mild sub-stratum of free traé General Butler is to have no place up: whatever, and is even fo be ousted from present positions as Chairman of the Spe Reconstruction Committee and member of Judiciary, He is to be consigned to the end of the Committee on Revolutionary } sions, the post of honor which Mr, John 1] rissey so seductively coaxed out of Spe: Colfax for himself, because it had the mer | entailing no excessive labor and of bein no importance whatever. This is Speaker Blaine’s revenge upon ! ler for the heated discussion with which ° Essex champion regaled the last hours of session last summer, and the republi party’s revenge for his guerilla raid upon Governorship in Massachusetts, It is i mated that Butler knows of the new arrar ment, and has determined to organize one his effective crusades against the commi system, with the intention of overthrowing tirely the method of parcelling out legislat which he finds himself unable to control. are much mistaken in Butler if he does infuse some very exhilarating eentiment i the session that opens with so cruel a snul his services and such implied contempt of wrath, In the meantime, no better man co be named for Chairman of the Committee Ways and Means than Mr. Dawes, whose fective onslaught upon the extravagance his own party last year is freshly rem¢ bered. “ Tae Cusine or THE None INpran | been admirably exemplified in his dealit with Vincent Collyer, The Apaches, noi as the most venomous of the red “‘varmin persuaded that hopeful philanthropist tl they were peacefully inclined, very intellige and trustworthy, and, generally speaking, mild and innocent as so many babes in ( wood, and also, what is much more worthy. | belief, that they were perfectly willing to 1 ceive presents and'to be supported by t . government, Thereupon the warm-heart and sanguine philanthropist goes on his w rejoicing and writes that there will be no mo trouble, whereupon the shrewd and unscrap lous Indians before he had rounded the fir turn in the road commenced theit depredatior anew. Mr. Collyer ts a noble friend of # red men and sincerely desirous of their ci vi zation, and ne doubt be will fecl nerfect