NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2727, 13 November 1871, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

• THE CHICAGO CATASTROPHE. The destruction of Chicago by lire is an appalling catastrophe. Several days may elapse before we get a correct statement of the losses of life and property, and the injury done to trade, but there is no 100 m to doubt that nearly all of one of the foremost cities of the is in ruins. No similar disaster of equal magnitude has occurred in Christendom—not even the London fire which in 1666 spread over 300 acres, and swept property valued at L 10,000,000 (when a pound sterling was worth much more than now), including 13,000 houses—five-sixths of the English metropolis at that time. In 1835 New York lost six hundred and forty - eight houses and 20,000,000 dollars by fire, which, until this year, was the greatest that had visited our continent. In 1842 a conflagration burned all the houses in sixty-one streets, and 120 courts in Hamburg, and left 19,000 people houseless. The rarity of these terrific disasters serves to indicate the magnitude of the loss that has befallen the City

of the Lakes. And yet, though Chicago could not, with all her rapidity of growth, be equal to her situation, she was still mag* nificent—the finest city, in proportion to her size, on the continent, tier clean, wide, straight streets, and her handsome, tall, substantial trading palaces of brick and Joliet stone, filled with the evidences of thrifty commerce, extending, with no alleys, hovels, or filth half a dozen blocks in every direction from the business centre, impressed every visitor with a feeling that she. was in some important respects superior even to New York, where one block from Broadway will usually bring him into a narrow, dark street, with shabby little - buildings and all the marks of poverty. And now all the business district, and a large area covered by residences, is in ashes. The fire probably extended over 800 acres and destroyed 600 blocks and 20,000 buildings, moat of them of wood, for Chicago, except in the business streets, was mainly a wooden city, and to that fact and the prevalence of higli winds, which are common there, the magnitude of the disaster is due. The heat from the wooden houses was so great that, iu many blocks, supposed to be fire-proof, the inside wood work caught fire, though nothing corabustile was exposed on the outside. The loss of money estimated at 150,000,000 dollars, and of lives at not less than fifty. The number of persons left without she ter is 100.000, and as Chicago baa a population of 300,000 only one-third of the dwellings are gone ; but much more than two-thirds of the property of the city was in the business districts which are swept away. Fortunately for Chicago, the loss does not fall on heir alone; the insurance companies of ail the laige cities iu the Union, besides many in Europe, wilt have to pay a considerable part of the damage, and the funds thus received will be used to rebuild this great centre of trade. f~ We fear that the above details only re* present a portion of the loss. The following telegram was published in the News of the World, a few hours before the departure of the mail :—Chicago, October 10th p,m.—Word is just brought that a tierce fire is raging on Thirty-first street. This street is two miles south of the Southern fire limit, on the south side, and a little less distance from its limit on the west side. This has been set fire fur the purpose evidently of destroying the remaining part of the city, occupied by wealthy residents. It is also known that two men caught in the act of firing buildings have been shot, and two others led off with ropes round their necks. As the wind is blowing a perfect gale, the end now cannot be foretold. THE QUBEN’s HEALTH. The Times remarks that the Queen's ill* ness will occasion deep and universal concern, and assurances of her restoration to better health will be anxiously watched for. Her subjects can never forget with what labor and self-control she has .devoted herself to their interests during the best years of her life, aud she will, it is to be hoped, reap some reward in the assurance of the affectionate anxiety with which she is followed in her moments of illness and deprei* sion. These feelings will, perhaps, on the resent occasion be mingled with some sen* timents of remorse for the reflections which were made during the last session upon tie comparative withdrawal of Her Majesty from ceremonial appearances in public. Her present illness gives reasons for believing that she may have been unequal of late to any such exertions; and it must be sincerity regretted that the accident of two applies* tions for dowries coming before Parliamei $ rendered a discussion of Royal functions in* evitable at the very time when it was most inopportune. With Her Majesty’s know* ledge of the feelings of her subjects, she cannot, however, have failed to perceive that any murmurs of discontent at her retirement were themselves the best witnesses to the loyal affection with which she is regarded, it was because the people cared to see her that they were disappointed at not seeing her. The moment she is known to be really suffering, the same sentiment will lead to ft complete reversal of feeling. The hearts of her people will be with her, whether she is seen or unseen by them. They will still hope that she may soon be restored to them; but tiie longer she finds it necessary to le absent, the greater only will be their pleasure at her return. AN ENGLISH BISHOP IN A HIGHLAND PARISH CHURCH. On Sunday, the 10th September, the Bishop of Winchester officiated in the parish church of Glengarry, Invernessshire, strickly following throughout the service the Presbyterian order of worship of the Church of Scotland. He preached a most moving sermon before a numerous congregation. The London Times of September 23d in an editorial iays : “ A portent is announced from Scotland. A Bishop and an Archbishop have appeared in a pulpit of the Scotch Kirk and conducted divine service there. The announcement has given a severe shock, as might have been expected, to sensitive ecclesiastical nerves this side of the Tweed. A well-known Archdeacon .declares that by conducting worship in a Prerbyterian chapel, these prelates have foifcited their own claim to exclusive privileges, eadownments and positions in the Church of England, and that they are henceforth morally disqualified from prosecuting any of the inferior clergy for breach of law. Men of another temper welcome the event as ap abandonment of sacerdotal claims, a public recognition of non-Episcopal churches, and the commencement of a system of reciprocity in pulpits.” Walter Montgomery’s death. A well-known member of the English stage, writing to Mr Henry Edward?, of California, says:—“ Tt appears to me absurd to suppose that either the comparatively small loss he incurred during his three week; at the 'Gaiety/ or overjoy at his marriage, could have produced either the excitement or despondency necessary to so rash an act. From the tone of the last conversation I had with him it was very apparent that he nursed an almost morbidly despondent view of fiig own personal prospects, as well as tho-e of the profession to which his whole heart and soul were so enthusiasticallyattached. Hewas naturally of an exceedingly warm and excitable temperament. There can be no doubt that long ago his imagination was fired with the desire to be esteemed a great Shakesperian actor, and to achieve that position he determined to do, or die in the attempt. For years his application to his profession was almost something marvellous. In his successes, among judges so good as you and I know those in the Colonies to be, he thought he read his way to greater triumphs which should place him at the very head of his profession. He saw his long-cherished hopes almost realised. Firm in that belief hejtbought he had nothing to do but to make

a tour through the States and England in order to gather in his well-earned laurels. There was, however, one result upon which he had not reckoned he had failed to realise that a love of the legitimate drama had ceased to be a living, vital power in the minds of all, save a very small minority. Whether the legitimate drama be really dead or not I will not undertake to say. It is sufficient that he believed it dead, and buried, beyond the power of mortal man to resurrect. He was long to accept the, to him, horribe truth. His experience in America ha f convinced him of it; still he was not thoroughly satisfied until he visited England, and went through his bitter three weeks’ experience at the ‘Gaiety.’ How great was the disappointment. At the very moment when he bad anticipated triumph he discovered— or thought he had— that the branch of the profession to which he had so long and so enthusiastically devoted himself, was no longer practised—that in fact it had vanished into nothingness ! Overwhelmingly impressed with his belief in this view of the case, he felt crushed by the utter failure of the hopes that had so long sustained him. MISCELLANEOUS. The total cost of boring the Mount Cenis Tunnel amounts to 13,000,000 dollars, of which France pays 9,000,000 dollars. The largest rope in the world was lately made in Birmingham, England. It is about six miles long, five and a quarter inches in circumference, and weighs over 60 tons. A Berlin paper says the triumphal column which is to be erected on the Kqnigsplatz will be finished, it is expected, within two years at the utmost. The armies aud navies of Europe are said to contain at present 5,164,300 men, 512,394 horses, 10,224 field guns, and 800 mitrailleuses. The population of Great Britain keeps on increasing at the rate of 1,173 per day, of which number it is calculated 468 emigrate and 705 remain in the land of their birth. The institution of < ivil Engineers, London, has more than doubled its members in less than nine years. In November, 1862, the number was exactly 1,000 ; at present it is 2,009. The Monde states that since the French revolution —that is, 80 years ago—there have been 180 laws regarding the press—one every six months on an average—and the series does not seem to have come to an end yet. That good quaker, John King, was the first teetotaller in Great Britain, is now seventy-four years old, and living with bis fourth wife. All the teetotallers in the British monarchy are about to put up a penny each for the venerable Friend with his fourth wife. The Princess Mary and the Prince of Teck have inaugurated in England a new scheme for saving young girls from a life of vice. The plan is to provide country homes for little girls—girls who can be taken in charge young enough to be brought up in a manner totally different from that which would have been their lot bad they been left uneared for. Sixteen cottages are to he erecteed, each to contain children, on three acres of ground given by the Hon. Miss Cavendish, at Addlestone, in a remote nook of Surrey. In honor of the founder it is proposed to name the new institution “The Princess Mary’s Village Homes for Little Girls.” The cottages will cost 1,500 dollars each, and the whole of the colony will be under the charge of a matron.