of demonstration; probably in the floor, or near it, and that the heat observed by Mr. Babad in the small closet adjoining Comstock & Ardrews' flue in his loft, and which he remark By this awful visitation almost every Insurance office in the city was rendered bankrupt, and hundreds of men reduced in a day from affluence to poverty. Letters and resolutions of condolence were tendered from every quarter of the civilized world, and liberal donations to relieve the most distressed by the calamity, were made by many cities of the Union. In less than one year, the recuperative energies of our merchants and capitalists had re-covered the charred and desolate area with new and noble buildings, and the business affairs of the metropolis assumed their wonted activity. in both stoves during the day, but Mr. Hoyt, who shut the store, is positive as to having turned the damper in both stoves, on leaving it. "The testimony of Mr. Walton and his clerked on leaving his store about 8 o'clock, was is, that they are positive that a strong light the commencement of the combustion." was observable through the fan light over Comstock & Andrews' door in Merchant-street, and Mr. Benedict is equally certain, that when the fire was first observed, it burst simultaneously from the first and third or fourth stories; but as it is in proof that there were inside shutters to the second-story windows, its non-appearance there may be ascribed to that cause. It has been believed by many that the conflagration originated in the explosion of the gas pipes. On this point your committee examined many witnesses, among them Drs. Torrey and Gales, Mr. Peale and Mr. Dean, scientific and practical chemists, who have satisfied your committee that not only is combustion by gas impracticable, unless when coming in contact with flame, but in this case it was absolutely impossible so to have originated. The rumbling noise represented by some, and explosion by others, is to be ascribed to the extensive scuttle-way or rotunda, already described, acting like a cupola furnace on the flame, when once set in motion. "In conclusion, your committee give it as their decided opinion, that the origin of the fire is to be attributed to some defect in the insufficient thickness of the brick-work between the flue and the wood-work, nailed directly on the brick. Whether it originated in that part of the store occupied by Messrs. Comstock & Andrews, or by Mr. Babad, is not susceptible That magnificent building, the Merchants' Exchange, supposed to be fire-proof, the ruins of which appear in the view that we give of the conflagration, was crumbled by the intense heat; and the massive granite pillars were split and rent as though they had been constructed of glass. The building which now occupies the same site, in Wall-street, is larger and more elaborate than the one destroyed in 1835. It is worthy of remark that ten years after, viz., in 1845, another conflagration occurred, commencing where the first had ceased its ravages, on Broad-street, and extending westward to Broadway, and southward from Exchange-street to Stone-street, covering an area about half the size of the first, and destroying property of the same class. BENEVOLENCE. BY B WITH right-minded persons, benevolence | but that which will add to their personal inarises from conscientious motives, and in obedience to the Highest commands; but with those who exercise it for interest sake, the act becomes deprived of its sacredness, and is but a mockery of that generosity which is due by the fortunate to those who are in need. There are many persons, in every community, of a cold temperament, and without any religious fear or feeling. They favor nothing fluence or estate; and, being stern, selfish, and without the charities of life, or the sympathies and simplicity of a Christian character, lack also a sufficiency of honor, and would rather avoid than defend the innocent when maliciously assailed. An ancient proverb says, "There is no real use of riches, except in the distribution of them; the rest is all conceit. A wise man will desire no more than what he can get just ly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and live upon contentedly." Our natural experience should teach us to be benevolent. The enjoyment of health and of many privileges, and the bestowal of affection from kindred and friends, should do likewise. Our lives, we know, are limited; we have certain laws to obey, and much gratitude to evince: yet it is often quite difficult to account for the motives of men who are surrounded with affluence and luxury. Their acts are so much at variance with what is termed pure benevolence, as to deprive us, frequently, of declaring how generously they have behaved, or of what value their gifts may be to society at large. Possessing immense estates, many deem it prudent to enumerate the sums they will appropriate for this or that object, the amount of time they will devote to self-comforts, and the probable reward they will receive from worldly sources, for their patronage or condescension. They had better, by far, be actually employed in duties calculated to retrieve the wants and sufferings of the deformed, the lame, the blind, the sick, and the unfortunate, than place at defiance, from a lack of humility, the rules and precepts with which the Scriptures themselves so much abound. When suffering Virtue, saith the poet, Or speaks expressive by a flood of tears, His griping hand, and learn to give. The truly benevolent may not always be endowed with great riches, yet they have ample substitutes in the many useful suggestions they may make to those who are able, but know not when or how to give. Sincere advice or friendly warnings also exhibit the shadows of benevolence; and gratifying are the effects of their introduction among those who have wandered from place to place in search of employment, encouragement, or the smallest offices of a friend. In our brief intercourse with the world, we have met with offsprings of respectability, forced by poverty or misfortunes, to reveal with firmness, desires at which the impassioned heart would truly shudder. In such moments the power-of benevolence may be fully tried; and while we grant to the sufferer the mite we can spare, let us remember that soft pity's kind and holy tear will not only heal the wound of mental pain, but lull to rest distrust and fear. Dedicated to Lady Perry Chapter, No. 6., U. D. of A., and recited on the occasion of the second Anniversary of the Chapter, April 21, 1851. FOR you I touch my harp's proud strings, Be yours the star whose sacred ray With heaven's own light illumes the soul! ISTITUTION FOR THE BLIND, April 21. 1851. Not on the field where fiercely clash The swords that tell the foeman near: Not where the war-steeds fiercely dash,Yours is a gentler, nobler sphere! 'Tis yours, with influence kind, to lead The erring to the path of peace; To soothe the aching hearts that bleed, And bid the orphan's sorrow cease; To gladden with a smile of love, THINGS WORTH KEEPING BY HEART. VENTILATION. It is known that a canary bird, suspended near the top of à curtained bedstead in which people have slept, will generally, owing to the impurity of the air, be found dead in the morning; and small close rooms, in the habitations of the poor, are as ill-ventilated as the curtained bedstead. RULES TO GOVERN PERSONS WHO HAVE FALLEN INTO DEEP WATER. 1. As soon as you find yourself at the surface whither you are raised by your buoyancy, let your body quickly take its level, when the water will reach a little above the chin. 2. Place one leg a little forward, and the other a little backward, and stretch out your arms on either side, under the water. By a slight paddling motion, you may regulate the position of the head, and keep the mouth and nose above the surface of the surrounding fluid. Make no farther efforts, but wait tranquilly until succor arrives. You cannot sink. 3. Do not lay hold of your companion or assistant, or you will infallibly sink him, without benefiting yourself. The best swimmer has no more natural buoyancy than you have, and would be sunk by the exertion of very little force. 4. Remain perfectly passive till your helper seize you by the hair. Upon this, endeavor to second his efforts, by throwing yourself on your back. Hold your neck stiff, and let the hinder part of your head sink into the water. Try to propel yourself, at this stage, by regularly and slowly kicking against the water. 5. Be careful to keep every part of your body, except your face, under the water. 6. If two or more persons are immersed together, let them keep near to each other. By this means, one boat may save the whole party at once, but if they are dispersed, one at a time only can be picked up. RULES TO GOVERN PERSONS WHO ATTEMPT TO RESCUE THE DROWNING. 1. In removing a body from the water, whether into a boat, or by drawing it along by your own efforts, always keep the face upwards. 2. Recollect that you have no more buoyancy than the person you are attempting to rescue; therefore do not attempt to raise him out of the water, or you will sink. By a gentle traction, you may draw him towards the boat or landing-place, without fatigue or danger. 3. Always aim at seizing the hair of the hind head, and keep the nape of the neck and your arm under water. Thus you will ensure his face and your own being above the surface. 4. Keep your most powerful arm disengaged for swimming, and maintain the other projected forward, having hold, as directed, by the hair of the hind head. In this way you may advance, side by side, he floating on his back, and you on your breast. 5. As you approach the person distressed, let him know by your voice. The prospect of speedy succour will add to his confidence and strength. 6. Let all your movements be deliberate, firm, and gentle. THE ATHEIST.--Mr. H. M. Bresslau, in an article on the sixth commandment, revives, in his own language, the following anecdote, related by Jean Paul: "We remember the description given by Jean Paul, of the atheist when he lost his all his wife, his children, and everything he possessed, by shipwreck, and saved his life by clinging to a rock. In this dreadful position he was, with several comrades, for two days; when, without food and nourishment, and frost bitten, they were more dead than alive, the atheist resolved to throw himself into the water. The comrades agree, but 'not without prayer,' they reply. They join in prayer with their weak and exhausted voices, and, before they conclude, a vessel passes by, receives them, and saves them. The poet describes the effect the prayer had on the atheist. He observed their haggard and dark faces at once lit up, as it were, by the flame of religion. He saw their mourning turned to joy, their sorrow unto gladness. He sees them ready to die, with the prospect of living elsewhere. But he, the unbeliever, has no prospect but death-death eternal. His whole life he himself compared to a slow death. When they were received on board the vessel, their first expression was-"Thank God!" Now, the word God has a thrilling effect upon man; now, for the first time, he felt that there was a Being whom humanity worships as the leader and guide of the earth, and enraptured he exclaims, "Yes, there is a God! thank him that he has saved me; thank him even for the affliction with which he has been pleased to chastise me. Yes, there is a God! there must be a God! and all my bones declare. Fod, who is like unto thee?" EDITORIAL. TO CORRESPONDENTS. "WARREN '-“Can you tell me what is the height of Bunker Hill Monument, and what was the cost of erecting it?" Bunker Hill Monument is 221 feet high, and cost $130,000 in its construction. It is 30 eet square at the base, and 15 1-2 feet at the top. "T. R."-John Hancock was born in the year 1787, at Quincy, Massachusetts. The precise day of his birth we have not been able to find, after searching three several bicgraphies. "WALTER."—" I have been told that Baron Steuben, who served in our Revolution, died in poverty. Did he so?" We think not. Baron Steuben, immediately after the war, retired to a farm a short distance from this city, and lived, for a time, in rather indigent circumstances; but the State of New-York afterwards gave him a tract of sixteen thousand acres of land in Oneida County, and Congress made him a grant or pension of two thousand five hundred dollars a year. When he died, at his own request, he was wrapped in his cloak, placed in a plain coffin, and hid in the earth without a stone to mark the spot. “FRANKLIN."--" Was there any male member of the family and name of Washington, living, after his death?" Bushrood Washington, a nephew of the President, and the immediate inheritor of Mount Vernon, by will, lived until the year 1829, at which time he was one of the associate judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. "THADDEUS," inquires "if any of the aboriginals of North America were cannibals?" Yes. The savages who occupied Florida at the time of its discovery, were of that class. The Florentine navigator, Verazzano, who discovered that coast, was, on a second voyage, killed and devoured by them. "D. E. S." says, "We have elected a P. S. to the office of S., who has never held any other first-class office in a Chapter. Our present bylaws require that a person must serve as one of the C.'s, before he can be eligible to the Sachem's chair. We are therefore in doubt as to the right of the Sachem elect, to take the seat." We answer: a P. S. is at all times eligible to the chair of the Sachem. He acquired that right before your laws were adopted, or under a different law, and it cannot be taken from him. Besides, he has already held an office higher than that required by your by-laws, to make him eligible. VOL I. 18 OUR FIRST VOLUME is completed with this number, and we cannot allow the occasion to pass without expressing our heartfelt thanks to those who have contributed, either by subscription or personal effort, to the success of the REPUBLIC. Since the issue of the first number, the list of subscribers has been trebled in num bers, and, in order to supply the demand, we have been compelled to print a third edition of the first, and a second edition of the second, third and fourth numbers. The effort to establish a magazine devoted to the true American home sentiment, independent in its tone and character, and free from the vicious dross and dregs of much of the foreign literature of the present day; inculcating a spirit of nationality and patriotism, and exposing the dangerous influences that are at work sapping the foundations of liberty, seems to be appreciated, and we cannot doubt that it will be sustained. The publication of a journal like the REPUBLIC, necessarily involves a great expenditure. Determined that, as an American production, it shall be second to none in the country, in point of quality, we pay the highest prices for every branch of industry and art employed upon it, from the manufacture of the paper and the setting of the types, to the distribution of the numbers to our friends and readers. The matter that fills its pages is mostly original, and entirely of domestic production; and, from the testimonials of the public press, far and near, we are enabled to say, without egotism, that, like the mechanical execution of the work, the matter is better than is usually found in the love-sick, namby-pamby magazines of the day We are satisfied that there is many a flower of literature in the prolific American field, “blushing unseen," and our aim is to draw them forth from their hiding places, and fling their fragrance upon the world. We solicit contributions, both in prose and poetry, therefore, from our friends, on all hands, reserving, of course, the prerogative of selecting the diamonds from the glass beads, and of publishing that alone which bears the stamp of merit, interest and originality. We can, with much satisfaction, assert that our Second Volume will begin under more encouraging and better auspices than the first; and if the American people will but give us their support, as they ought to do, instead of throwing away their money upon the meretricious and anti-republican reprints from the Old World, the REPUBLIC shall be made the brightest star in the galaxy of American periodic: 1 literature. THE PULPIT AND POLITICS.-Holding, as we do, to the opinion that civil liberty can be enjoyed only through a total and unconditional alienation of Church and State--an utter severance of religion and politics--it was with pain that we heard one of our distinguished Protestant ministers declare, a few evenings since, that it was the right of the pulpit to discuss political matters; that he would at his pleasure make politics the theme of his discourse. History tells us, in tones not to be disregarded, that there is no influence more prolific of discord, more fierce and remorseless in its pursuits, more vindictive in hate, or more void of human sympathy, than that which is engendered from the combined clements of religion and politics; and, although we anticipate a politico-religious war upon this very soil, as a thing inevitable, growing out of Papal interference in the political affairs of this country, we still do, and will forever, while we have breath and life, deprecate the assumption, and deny the right, of the pulpit, whether Protestant or Papal, to enter the political arena, or employ its sectarian influence in the affairs of State. Every citizen, whether minister, layman, or infidel, entertains, and now enjoys, his political views without let or hindrance: his own calm judgment is his sole monitor; but once inflame that judgment with the bias of religious zeal, and he who is now a rational freeman, becomes a reckless fanatic, and the creature of bigots. That a universal union of the Protestants of the country, in defence of republican institutions against the rapid encroachments of Papal despotism, must, and will, take place at some period not very remote, we have no doubt; but that union will be entirely political in its character, and free from either pulpit or sectarian influences. It will be a union of freemen, as such, in the cause of freedom; not the combination of a sect, nor for the advancement of any creed or dogma. The pulpit has enough to do in the salvation of souls, and the conservation of morals; let it not be prostituted to a subordinate employment, lest, in the familiarity of worldly affairs, it should breed the contempt of mankind, become absorbed in the whirlpool of human contention, and finally disappear. THE SECESSIONISTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA have held their long-talked-of Convention, and adjourned without dissolving the Union. Of course, everybody breathes freer and deeper, and feels better, since South Carolina has not torn herself away. The fact is, the panic-makers of that State-the few demagogues, who, seizing upon a moment of excitement, in the hope of lifting themselves upon the topmost wave into power, did not find the anticipated response to their knavery in the hearts of the people of their own State. The patriotism of South Carolina rebuked the factionists, and they dared not pass a direct affirmative resolution on the subject of seces sion. The whole air of the Convention was that of men who had gotten themselves into a ridicu lous predicament, from which they would gladly sneak out by the shortest route. The Convention was an imbecile abortion; and those who figured in it will occupy an appropriate niche of infamy in the annals of their State, forever. CITY LIBRARY.--Perhaps there is no City in the world that makes the slightest pretension to intelligence, which is not supplied with a wellregulated and copious library in works of reference, except the city, the great city-the Empire city-the commercial metropolis-NewYork. Within her corporate limits there are numerous large and well-regulated libraries belonging to private societies, but a public, City library, she has none. It is true, that in the south wing of the City Hall is a corner dignified with the cognomen of" the library room," but the name holds out the promise only to the ear-there is no library there; but in its stead, a beggarly array of dusty cases, into which are thrown, in most admired disorder, a few odd volumes of proceedings of the Boards of Aldermen and Assistants, a law book or two, and a large concrete of dust. A confused mass of the same valuable compound is also found in heaps upon the floor, and a table, which occupies the middle of the room, is garnished in like manner, the whole being in confusion seemingly inextricable, and sufficient to dampen at a glance, the exploring propensities of the most eager searcher after knowledge and dates. Unless the "Governor of the City Hall" is to be considered a librarian, there is none of the tribe in that locality. The doors of the lumber room are closed, and he who ventures into its clammy recesses, finds himself in a labyrinth not easily threaded. Now, we hold this state of things to be a disgrace not only to the dignitaries, who claim to be the Fathers of the City, par excellence, but to the City of New-York itself. The City Hall, or some other suitable building, should contain a well-stocked, and well-arranged library of re ference, under the constant care of a competent librarian, where the public officer, and the private citizen alike, may at all times seek and find all official and reliable information relating to the public affairs of the city from the time of its creation, together with such other works of a |