The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-30 00:00:00

THE CONFLAGRATION AT
HAMBURGH.
HAMHURGH, MAT 24.—The Hulfsverein, or Com-
mittee of Aid, established here as soon as the rava-
ges of the fire were stopped, are doing every thing in
their power to mitigate the misery which so exten-
sive a conflagration has produced. The poor have
been well provided for, not only by the benevolence
of their fellow-townsmen, but by the ready liberality
of all Europe. They are all sheltered, clothed, and
regularly feci, and their condition leaves them nothing
to repine at. Indeed, those who will most severely
feel the effects of this fire are the middling classes,
whose trade is suspended, and whose property has been
injured, or in many instances is entirely lost.
The property and furniture of a large
number of persons were insured in different local
insurance companies ; and it is feared that the vast
destruction of property which has taken place will
render it impossible for some of these companies to
meet their engagements, and thus parties, who a few
days ago were living in a state of comfort and re-
spectability, find themselves reduced in a moment
almost to beggary. The Hulfsverein, havingprovided
for the immediate wants of the destitute, are now at-
tempting, as far as their means will enable them, to
comfort and assist this class of sufferers. The Com-
mittee of Aid is divided into several sections, by which
arrangement cases where assistance is needed are more
easily discovered and investigated, and succour is offered
in different ways. To some a small advance ofmoney
is given, and others who, in the present state of
things, are exposed to great embarrassment, from the
difficulty of getting their bills discounted, obtain, I
have been told, value for them when they are not of
a large amount from the Hulfsverein ; and these
opportune loans and accommodations, by which
the funds in the hands of the Committee are
economised, render the most essential service to
those who are the objects of them. , Another
very useful object to which the attention of the Com-
mittee of Aid has been directed, is to diminish the
number of the destitute, by furnishing them with
employment. During the conflagration, many of the
citizens lost their implements of trade, and were thus
dispossessed of the only means by which they could
recover themselves, through their own exertions, from
the destitution to which they were reduced. These
tools are purchased fon them by the Committee of
Aid, and whenever it can be done, work is procured
to enable them to support themselves.
The following paper, placed in my hands by a gen-
tleman versed in the affairs of this city, will be found
interesting, on account of the information it contains.
It will be seen that in this paper the value of the
houses destroyed is estimated at 47,000,000 marks
currency. This is no doubt correct as far as regards
the houses exclusively, but as I have before stated, on
very good authority, the value of the houses destroyed,
together with the loss attaching to the land, is much
greater :
" The loss by the late fire is immense, and falls
particularly on the State, that is, the houseowners
and the higher and middle classes of the inhabitants.
" 1. All the houses are and must, by law, be in-
sured by the State—that is to say, by mutual insur-
rance of the houseowners (Feuer Casse).
" Now the whole value of the burned and remain-
ing houses is about 200,000,000 marks currency ; the
loss is calculated at 47,000,000 currency, which makes
a loss of 25:V per cent. on all the houses, burned as
well as standing. This is impossible to be paid by
the houseowners without their total ruin, as most
of the houses are mortgaged 90 to 95 per cent., and
the mortgagees are in a great part 'orphans and widows
and small renters. The property of the first must by
law he invested in this way.
" The State must therefore provide the greater
part. To do so by loan would make the taxes very
high. They are at present about 21. sterling a-head,*
which is more than Great Britain pays. Direct
taxes would drive the wealthier classes from Ham-
burgh; taxes on trade by heavier duties would banish
the trade from Hamburgli. (The duties on export
and import are at present -.I per cent., partly * per
cent., and partly duty free.)
" Without great assistance from all Europe, it is
difficult to say what will become of the once-
flourishing free town and trade of Hamburgh. The
present generation will be ruined; and certainly it is
the interest of the whole commercial world to keep up
the free institutions and the free trade of Harnburgh,
as the first commercial town of the whole continent.
" Every assistance to the State is a direct assistance
to the whole community, its middling, classes, and all
its inhabitants. For the poorer classes provision has
immediately been made by the inhabitants and our
neighbours, and now there is plenty of work for them.
" 2. All our fire-insurance companies, I think, are
ruined ; the shareowners must pay in the whole'
amount of their shares (80 per cent.). This loss
may be estimated at 5,000,000 marks banco ; and, be-
sides, the insured will probably not get more than
50 per cent. This loss falls principally on the
wealthier classes.
" 3. The loss by the Mutual Insurance Company
of Bieber falls on the wealthy and middling
classes. The Mutual Insurance amounts to about
80,000,000 marks. The insured are answerable 4
per cent., which amounts to about 3,000,000 marks
bane() ; and as the loss of the destroyed property, for
which this company alone is responsible, is estimated
at about 15,000,000 to 20,000,000, they will hardly
get 10 to 15 per cont. indemnity. Merchants, trades-
people, and private families have been principally in-
sured for their merchandise, furniture, &c., in this way.
" So the whole loss may be calculated
Marks Banco.
" 1. Houses, 47,000,000 currency, about 36,000,000
"2. Insurance Companies, and loss by
them, about
" 3..Bieber's Company, about 15,000,000

Total _

" If, by the assistance of foreign Governments and
subscriptions of private individuals, half the amount
could be raised, the other half would fall still heavy
on llamburgh, but it would not
fiuin the present gene-
ration.

" The credit of the State and of the mercantile class
remains intact, and any loan the State wants would,
I should think, be easily made at reasonable terms,
and the interest regularly paid ; but, should no large
assistance come from foreign parts, the energy and
spirit of this free and mercantile State would be lamed
at least for a century, and the trade of the whole
world suffer by it.

" A FRIEND TO lIAMDURGII, NOT A
HAMBURGIIER."

"llamburgh, May, 1842."
The great question discussed here at present is the
probable extent to which the Local Insurance Om-
panies will be able to meet their obligations ; and as
so many persons are interested in the solution of this
question, it is not surprising that it absorbs general
interest. The insurance upon houses is effected,
not by private companies, but is a town con-
cern. When one house is burned down, the whole town
contributes to make up the loss, and hitherto the pay-
ment of this sort of insurance money has fallen lightly
on individuals ; but the case will be very different
after so extensive a conflagration as that which has
lately taken place. But, besides this system of insu-
rance, there exist here insurance companies for goods
and furniture, conducted upon the same principles as
the London esablishments, with the exception of one,
Biebees Company, which is a sort of mutual insurance
for moveable property. After such an immense sa-
crifice of properry, it is not to be wondered at that
doubts should arise as to the capability of all these
companies paying the demands on them in full. As
no such suspicion, of course, exists in reference to
the English companies, it is not unlikely that these,
though great losers at present, will ultimately benefit
by the eonfidence which is felt in their stability, and
that a much larger amount of insurances will iii
future be effected in English companies.
Subscriptions for the support of the sufferers from
the fire are daily collected in this city, and continue to
flow in from abroad. The total amount collected
up to Sunday last, I am informed, reached to nearly
1,000,000 marks banco. Accounts from Berlin state
that the King of Prussia had offered to lend the town
of llamburgh 1,000,000 dollars for three years with-
out interest. In Vienna the news of the calamity
which befel this town caused a deep sensation, and the
Emperor of Austria has directed, by a letter addressed
to the Grand Chancellor, Count Stittrowsky, on the
13th inst., collections to be made throughout the
whole of his dominions for the relief of the sufferers.
Similar letters have been addressed to the Chancellors
of the Royal Courts of llungary and Transylvania.
' In Frankfort the subscriptions already amount to
100,000 florins, and Rothschild has given 25,000
florins, instead of 5,000, as previous accounts incor-
rectly reported. At Carlsruhe there had been col-
lected, up to the 19th inst., 18,356 florins. At
Darmstadt sympathy for the misfortune which has
happened to Ilamburgh pervades all classes of society.
On the 17th inst. there had been collected in that city
11,497 florins. In Zurich subscriptions were also
being raised for the same benevolent purpose.
The appointment of a special commission, em-
powered to manage the affairs of the State, is spoken
of as a not unlikely measure to be adopted in the pre-
sent. state of things. It is said that the Constitution
contemplates the nomination of such a commission in
times of exiv.:ency. if formed, it will ct.nsist of a cer-
tain proportion of senators and bergerschaft, and be
endowed with extensive authority.