The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-26 00:00:00

Mr. Mills probably perishing in the flames, as he
has not been seen since. The infirmary building
near Lebanon, Ohio, has also been burned, all the
150 inmates escaping safely, and fires with smaller
loss than those mentioned have also been numerous.

During the year 1866 the number of permits
issued by the Building Inspectors of Philadelphia
far exceeded those of any previous year. The total
number of permits for new buildings was 2,752.
The number by month was—

January
February
March ...

... 76
... 63
... 267

July
August
September

... 313
... 293

April ...
May ...
Jima ...

... 253
181
... 399

Oelob€,T
November
December

... 228

The character of the new buildings erected were
as follows :—D w ell i ngs, 1,872 ; churches, 13 ;
school-houses, 17 ; factories, 65 ; stores, 97 ; shops,
154 ; stables, 182 ; breweries, 16 ; offices, 55 ;
store houses, 21 ; foundries, 9 ; hotels, 2 ; bank, 1.
There were also numerous permits issued for dye-
houses, sheds, bath-houses, coach-houses, saloons,
slaughter-houses, &c. The total permits for addi-
tions and alterations were 1,151. As one permit
sometimes covers several buildings, the probable
number of new structures erected was 5,000.
The $60,000 in securities recently stolen from the
Merchants' Insurance Company at Newark, New
Jersey, have all been recovered by negotiations with
the burglars at Montreal, and the securities stolen
from C. P. Bayard at Philadelphia have also all
been recovered except $ll,OOO.
A sharp and' very interesting letter in the New
York Evening Post, in reply to some harsh stric-
tures of that journal on the management of the
great New England mills, contains a good deal of
novel information about these establishments. The
most important fact revealed by it is that the
workers are now nearly all foreigners, the native
Americans having gone into higher and lighter oc-
cupations, and that their " manners and customs"
are, therefore, very perceptibly lower than those of
their predecessors. As might have been expected,
the French Canadians are the best cooks, and have
the most varied bills of fare in their boarding-
houses. Mr. Atkinson comments with deserved
severity on the ridiculous practice now so common,
both among Protectionists and Free-traders, of asso-
ciating particular opinions on the tariff with moral de-
pravity. Some of the best and purest men and deepest
thinkers in the world are Free- traders, and have
reached through deductions both from the prin-
ciples of human nature, and from the facts of
history, the conclusion that free trade is the
best thing for all the nations of the earth,
one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of sivilisers
and enrichers ; and, nevertheless, it is the fashion
with the 2 ribune and a certain set in Congress to
treat all Free-traders as " scoundrels," " knaves,"
" cheats," " designing fellows," and, if Americans,
they are denounced as hired with " British gold."
In like manner, some of the free-trade organs insist
upon it that all attempts to raise the tariff are the
result of a deep-laid scheme on the part of manu-
facturers, to live on the public and escape hard work
and competition and grind the faces of the poor.
It would, however, be impossible to show that there
is one whit more selfishness at the bottom of Pro-
tectionist arguments than at the bottom of Free-
trade ones. Of the millions in this country who
believe in protection only an infinitesimal fraction
have any direct interest in keeping out foreign pro-
ducts. But in the months of December, January,
and February, the debates in the newspapers
on this point are apt to be more amusing than in-
structive.

Now that th 3 B)wery Theatre is burned down,
we find that it was always considered so unsafe
that it could not be insured. This fact will make
the public more anxious concerning the actual facts
with the Academy of Music, which has also been
reported as in the same condition.

According to a report just issued by a select
committee of the Canadian House of Assembly the
copper-bearing series on the north shore of Lake
Huron extends over a surface of 2,000 square miles,
ana nearly the same extent of country on Lake
Superior is endowed in the same manner. Iron is
also found in considerable quantities.
The Nation says that " summaries of Mr. David
A. Wells' report on the Tariff are finding their way
into the newspapers, and from them it appears that
he takes very much the same ground as Mr. George
\\Talker in his recent letter : namely, that relief for
the troubles from which manufacturers are now
suffering is to be found not in higher duties, but in
the reform of the currency and the lowering of the
internal revenue taxes. In other words, he thinks
the true remedy for our present ills is to increase
the purchasing power of the community, while an
increase of duties would only cause a general rise of
prices, leaving everybody just as he is at present,
and leaving manufacturers just the same arguments
for more protection that they use now. There is a
point at which protective duties, on any theory
about them, cease to be a tonic, and become simply
an unhealthy stimulant. You give the patient a
dram to stiffen him up against the foreigners ; its
effects pass, and he feels weaker than before, and
calls for another ; and so he goes on, his craving
increasing as his strength and endurance decline."