The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-04-22

INSTANCE BY THE SrATE.-There has always
been expression Of insecurity the part of per-
sons Insured when any widespread calamity by 6re
has visited any fopusus district, because the insn
ravce, in all cases, nearly, springs FROM those Who
are Liable 70 suffer in common with the insured. II
viii be remembered that after the great FIRE Of 1886,
many Of the Insurance Offices of this city failed
frcsn Inability to meet the demands upon them, &C
that in fact, they proved they not of any use
10 the community, but nero delusion 1t is pre-
cisely SO at the present day. Were any great IRE
to sweep over the metropolis asain, we should have
the same delusiye scenes acted over again, aud
great variety of legal questions springag cut
of tie smoke and ashes Of the condagration.
The proposition. therefore, for complete over
throw Of the system Of insurance, and for estab.
shirg system of State insurance, is just and rea-
sonablc In the State there is probably of insura-
bic property, about five hundred millions Of dollars,
and the premium which the government would re-
cevc on this amount, would be equal probably to the
Losses of the insured, besides leaving handsome
balance towards defraying the expenses of the
State 1t is not necessary to intimate at present
what should be the rate Of Insurance, but may
suggest that with proper statistics to establish
system upon, very admirable method might be
to the state. The subject is Of very great in
terest, and when it is remembered that seventeen
millins of dollars in property destroyed in this
city, by fire, in December, 1895, ard over six mil
liens Of dollars in 1915, by the great fire of that
year, the necessity of some great reform in the sys
tenn of insurance is apparent. We shall notice
this subject very fully hereafter.
AMERICAN TRAVELLERS IN EuRorE-It is sell
dom that an American correspondent from Europe
describes scenes and events in the old world from
American points of view but in the 8" Letters from
Three Continents" by Mr.. Matthew Ward, of
Louisville, (ky.) we find correct first step taken
in this department of travels. Mr.. Ward, we be-
neve, was educated at Harvard College, and has
come from that popular seat Of learning improved,
and not made efeminate in character, by the asso-
Citations Of the place. He has retained his own
original spirit of thinking and expression, and has
none of that mock sentimentality and those philo-
sophical spasms which belong to the Carlyle and
Emerson transcendental cliques
We are preparing to give some extracts from his
work. to show how well Mr. Ward has escaped the
besetting sin Of American tourists, who usually fall
into foreign modes and habits of thought, either
from want Of moral courage, or from some sup
posed elevation that they derive from bending to
European ideas of government and society He
writes from his heart-as would imagine an
American citizen ought to write-with fresh
memory of the advantages which his own country
supplies for all Of her population native or foreign.
In viewing the operations of European govern
ments, and the condition CT mankind, particularly
in the East, he analyses the distinctions between
the liberal institutions of the United States and
the severer and closer governments of the old
world One cause, probably, Of the success of Mr..
Ward, is his knowledge of his own country, upon
which is based his knowledge of foreign lands, thus
enabling him to compare the various points Of
Europe with those of the United States He writes
strongly at times, when anything he dslikes
his pen, but always in plain, practical prose, which
readily understand. lie does not run
from his thought into fredericksburg the former,
in order to show his familiarity with the latter
but right on, clearly, emphatically, and, of
course, satisfactorily. Indeed, he is quite model
for foreign correspondents, ard we are quite sure,
when we have presented some specimens Of his
quality, that his work will be sought by a large
number of intelligent readers.