The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-01

the community have borne up under the fire.
quent calamities bravely, and the belief is now
daily gaining ground that the worst is over. It is
estimated that more than three hundred million
Of property has been destroyed during the last
year by the numerous disasters alluded to. The
actual humiliation of property by fire and food
exceeds any thing ever before known in the same
length Of time. By the drought the injury is
beyond calculation. Two hundred million is
in our opinion small estimate. The depreci-
alton OF property in market value. by the va
rious frauds and defalcatiops which have from
time to time been developed amounts to scores
Of millions of dollars, A careful examination
Of the monthly quotations for stock securities
will show an enormous amount of losses lie
that class OF Investments. Fifty million wonn
be safe figure to put down for the decline in
the value Of stocks. 1t will, therefore, be seen
that our estimate OF three hundred million Is
not extravagant. Individual losses have been
immense, and many have been obliged to sus-
pend pay ment; but the community ut large can
bear up even under the enormous burden put
upon them. AL have suffered more OF less;
but we do not look for wide spread bankruptcy.
The financial and commercial systems of the
country are sound Ut the core, and AS soon as
the diseased part has been removed the whole
will come out sound and healthy. 1t is always
darkest jsst before day. One more season Of
good crops, with strict economy in the mean
time, will give q new start to every interest,
and put us ell on our feet again.
The Year lS54-Its Draw backs and Calami-
ues-Dark Side Of the Picture.
The whole civilized world will doubtless ex-
perience sensation Of relief that the year
1854 is eDded--that the book is closed-that it's
melancholy chapter Of accidents, drawbacks,
and Of general ard local calamities, IS among
the things of the past-that we are done with
it, and that with this day open new calendar,
gloomy enough under the surrounding circum-
stances, yet fun OF promises and expectations
Of better things Better times may he before
us, OF more merci:ul dispensations TO mankind,
Of more genial seasons and more suspicious
harvests. With anticipasions such as these, we
may recur TO the dark side Of the picture Of the
old year, and turn it back again to the wall,
and pass on with spirit Of hope into the
future.
Seldom, indeed, within our recollection has
there been year 20 dsrkly overshadowed by
general calamities, national mi3fOrtunes, and
local dieasteTs and suiierings as the eVeDtful
and gloomy year which has JUST expired. The
great financial and commercial Revision Of
1887 dia not bring TO ~, with all its
train Of bankruptcies, explosions aud gene
raj ruin, 70 much of positive suffering to
the working classes OF our great cities
as the combined causes which have brought
about Tho existing lamentabie financial and
commercial depression The year lSi7, OF
the Irish famine and che Mexican war; with
all its evils elsewhere, Tas to ne q year Of an
exampied prosperity, for while upon the one
hand our armies marched triumphantiy into the
Mexican capital and dictated peace and the
cession Of golden empire 20 the Unted States;
on the other daad the restitution Of ireland
was stayed by the voluntary contributions of
our people from their supefabundanee of bread.
There ere no such redseming contrasts in the
record of 1854, between our fortunes and those
Of other natious
Ii the cholera has decimated the Russian and
allied armies Of the East; il it has spread ter
Tor and desoiatlon along the shores OF the Ne
diterraneau il it has fearfully added to the
bitter cup OF misery of unhappy Mexico, it aas
not left Us exempt from its ravages, as the ce-
meteries from Long Island to the western
shores Of the Mississippi viii abundantly tell.
II the vineyards of Madeira and France have
been blighted il 'the isles of Greece and the
fertile fields Of the Holy Land have been vast
ed by drought we, too have shared and are
now realizing, the disastrous consequences Of
. suHpension Of our usual summer and autumn
nal rains Thousands and tens of thousands of
cultivated acres have failed u yield 1.-THE OF
their expected returns-and vast districts of
valuable forests and fields. rendered innamma-
ble 10y the continuous summer heats have been
Of bushels cover our loss in Indian coru
alone according to the estimates of az average
crop, In the great corn growing States, from
Virginia 10 Missouri We know not; but, in
connection with the vast accessioss to our 20
pniation from Europe, we feel the pressure in
the existing famine prices for breadstufs aud
provisions. All the country over there nav
he nearly an average crop as compared with
other years, from the larger quantities of land
cultivated; ha, there Ia 40 large excess for our
increased population, while Eudisu corn, as
an article Of export, commands price which
Is steadily diminishing our supplies.
II earthquakes have prossrated cities, and il
iocusts have laid waste whole provinces ap-
prOpriated TO mans subsistence in Central
America and Mexico, Tres, storms and iuua-
cations have been scarcely less destructive to
us. The bouDtitul rice crops of South Carolina
and Georgia, harvested, and ready for tue thresh-
or, were to- great extent destroy ed in u sing gle
equinocsial II the fleets and transports of the