Washington sentinel., 1854-05-03
NEW YORK CoRREsPoNDENCE.

i NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE
Some account of the Great Rain iStorm.--Th'
iSabbath-day Funeral of tie Lost FTemen.-
/ Painful Latelligence.-C City persus Country
Morals. Symptoms Of an approaching ~
aancial Rerulsion, dc.
New YORK, April 30, 1854.
1t is over at last. The great rain-storm has
at length held up, after one continuous drench-
ing of the earth from the afternoon of Thurs
day to the small hours of Sunday morning.
Till nearly five o'clock, Thursday, the day was
bright and warm, ominously sultry-indeed,
portending coming conflict with the elements.
On our way up to the splendid Astor library,
in Lafayette place, we observed that the sky
was suddenly darkened and, looking westward
down Bleecker street, it was evident that ff
teen minutes would suffice to bring the storm
over the river, for tremendous volume of
black clouds came boiling up over the Jersey
hills, and were expanding across the armament
with fearful rapidity. Above the din and tu-
multi Of the city, too, there could be distinguish
ed the distant roaring of the gathering hurri-
cane and the next instant it was down upon
us, black, fierce, and terrifc--a regular West
Indian, in the rush of the wind and the tor
rents of rain that descended.
Ordinarily, however, a tempest got up" on
such a short notice vanishes as suddenly as it
arises but, in this case, the longest, strongest
and most copious storm, perhaps, of the last
twenty years, in these latitudes, was ushered in
upon the summons of half an hour. The SUI
originating in the west, is equal, perhaps, to
half the United States east of the Mississippi,
exclusive of a broad margin of the British pro-
vinces. But it's over at length, and this Sab
bath day, Though still heavily overcast and
threatening more rain,) with its bracing breeze
from the northwest,
"Gives promise of goodly day tomorrow
But what mean these countless multitudes
which blockade Broadway at the intersecting
streets? What does that mass Of thirty thou
sand people in and around the Park signify,
particularly that dense congregation in front of
the City Hall? Look at the windows and the
lofty SUBMITS of the Astor House, the Irving,
Tammany Hall, Lovejoy's, and French's Hotel.
Why are all those people gathered there? Is
detachment of British troops from Canada,
en- route for Turkey, to enter the city to-day !?
Is Kossuth about to make his second triumphal
invasion of Gotham? or does Mitchelps Irish
legion, destined for the storming of Quebec,
take up its line of march this afternoon? No,
bark The bells are solemnly tolling. Pro-
cessions of fremen, in their Sunday citizens
dress, with bit Of white ribbon upon the
breast of their coats, denoting the company to
which they respectively belong, are filing into
the Park. One hearse after another passes
in, and carriages and omnibuses, in their
melancholy funeral trappings, and filed with
sad mourners, follow. All yes; this is the
day set apart for the general funeral of the
eleven fremen who lost their lives on Tuesday
evening, in the fall of that burning building
which fell upon them, shapeess mass Of
ruins. What a scenel From the top Of Astor,
can there be less than one hundred thousand
souls visible to the naked eye, or about one
eighth part of the entire population of the
city? But why dwell upon the saddening
spectacle? 1t is but for the passing hour.
Tomorrow, and the great tide of human affairs,
which ever surges through this narrow island,
will obliterate the pageant as the tides of the
sea wash out the footprints of solitary pas
senger or of an army which has passed along
the shore.
We are the less disposed to dwell upon this
calamity after reading in the Herald this morn
ing the report of the coroner's investigation
yesterday. There are certain facts in this tes.
timony which give an aspect so unpleasant to
the disaster, in connexion with the loss Of those
unfortunate men in the building, that we re-
frain from further discussion of the subject,
The mysteries of New York; are perfectly
astounding; but we have neither the desire to
darker shades. Let them pass. 1t is quite.
enough to know that human ingenuity here
finds thousand devices for employment un-
known and never dreamed of in smaller COM
munities.
Jefferson was right. Great cities are great
cancers upon the body polite and social.
The hopes of society, of our country, and of
mankind depend upon the healthy virtues and
simplicities of the "rural districts" Gold
smith appreciated the fact after he had been
to London See his compliment to "the bold
peasantry," in that sweet little poem, the
Deserted Village" Had we time to moralize
upon this point, we should say that the very
absence Of swarming cities and towns, in our
southern States, is blessing to the honest
integrity, in its largest sense, of our southern
society, especially in the preservation intact
of those endearing qualities of angelic inno-
cence and refined simplicity of feminine virtue
which should ever distinguish the gentler SEX
But this theme is too large for newspaper
correspondence. 1t belongs more properly to
the essayist, the preacher, or the pamphleteer.
The news by the last steamer from Europe
has not satisfied Wall street In fact Wall
street IL fat. all sorts of stocks ara beovv