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SAVANNAH DAILY HEUALI). voxhume Jio» 1 / ||t ||ab»muijj j ife HT.i.iWi klv | EVERY EVENING, SUNDAYS EXCEPTED, j BY B. W. MASON «£r CO. At HI Bay Speket, Savasnah, Gb*»B6ia. ; terms: ?«r Copy Five Ccnte per Ilomlred -$3 s*. Per Year $lO 00, ABTEBTISIse: A limited number of Advertisements will be re eved at the rate of Twenty Cents per Line for first insert ion, and Fifteen Cents per Line for each *ubsequen insertion; invariably in advance. Ad vertisements should be handed in before noon of each day. JOB PRINTING i b every style, neatly and promptly done. Bwrniug of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. SEBHWB LOWS OF VAFFABLE DOCl sir-VO. RECORDS, kt.- The Library and Museum Saved. Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24. —This afternoon, about 13 o’clock, a fire broke out in the Smithsonian Institute build ing, in the loft above the picture gallery, between the ceiling and the roof, caused, it is believed, by a defective flue. The ceiling soon fell.in, and in a few moments the gallery was one sheet of flame. The tire, us it mounted the central tower and burst forth in full volume from the main roof was magnificently grand, • and a curious spectacle was presented by the steadiness of the revolutions of the anometer or wind register, surmounting the tower, while the fierce flame was ra venously mounting to its destruction. The windows of the picture-gallery soon burst out, disclosing only the shell of the room. There were two hundred of Stanley's pictures here. He negotia ted for their sale to the Michigan Uni versity. Only five or six of them were saved. The loss is very serious, includ ing the lecture- roo'm, the philosophical instrument apartment and most of the valuable instruments. The offices in the towers and the originals of the private records and archives of the institution were destroyed. The top of the princi pal tower and several of the battlements fell. The conflagration was nearly altogeth er confined to the main building and above the first story, the latter contain ing the museum,* which was damaged more by the water than by fire. The wings and corridors were not much in jured. The large library in the west wing was not damaged. * The furniture of Prof. Henry and other property was injured by hasty removal. The full ex tent of the loss is not yet ascertained. A strong military guard was in atten dance. Great difficulty was experienc ed at first in getting water. At no time could all the steam fire-engines have full play upon the flames, and it was late in the evening before they were under full control, Tn& r ' Siiithsonun Institute. —The fimithsonian Inst itute, which was yester day almost totally destroyed by fire, was organized by act of Congress in April, 1846, to carry into effect the provisions •f the will of Mr. James Smithson, an English Physicist, who died in Geneva in 1829. - Mr. Smithson was the natural son of the third Duke of Northumber land. He was educated at Oxford, where, in 178 t», he took an honorary degree un der tfcs name of James Lewis Made, but soon aiterward adopted the name ot Smithson, the family name of his father, by which he* was subsequently known. — Several years before his death Mr.Smith »on executed his will, in which, upon the SAVANNAH, GA., TUESDAY EVENING, JAN. 31, 1865. occurrence of certain contingencies, he bequeathed the whole of his property to the United States of America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian,lnstitute, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowl edge among men The condition on which the bequest was to take effect in favor of the United States having occur red in 1835 by the death of a nephew of the testator without issue, the Govern ment was officially notified of its rever sionary interest in the estate. The fact being communicated to Congress, a joint committee recommended the acceptance of the trust. It was accordingly accept ed, and Hon. Richard Rush was sent to England as commissioned to prosecute the claim. At the end of eighteen months he was able to report the success ful termination of his mission, and on Sept. 1, 1838, deposited in the United States mint the proceeds in .English So vereigns which yielded in recoinage #515,160. In April, 1846, an act in eleven sec tions was passed organizing the Smith sonian Institution. The fourth, fifth and sixth sections assigned the locations and gave power to erect a suitable build ing for the reception upon a liberal scale of objects of natural history, chemical laboratory, library, art gallery and lecture rooms. The entire cost of the building, improvements, -&C., was about S32SJRKv but by careful manage ment the Board of Regents, to whom the management of the institution is assigned, the original fund has increased by accruing inforesTto '#655*.000. A free library has been collected which is nn equaled in this country as a resource for scientific research,, and happily this use ful collection was saved. from destruc tion which yesterday threatened it— The Museum, which was also saved had attained a magnitude and completeness seldom surpassed in collections for the illustrations of natural science. Lec tures, chiefly on scientific subjects, have been delivered every season to large au diences from every part of the country. The contributions of the Institution to science and art in this country have been most important; and the destruction of so many of its line collections will be viewed as a national calamity. Arrival of the Remains of Gener al Louis Bell. —The remains of the late lamented General Louis Bell, who fell in the heroic assault of Sunday, the 15th tnst., on Fort Fisher, arrived in this city last evening in charge of lieuten ant H. S. Sandtord, of the Staff of the de ceased. Lieutenant Sanford will pro ceed with the gallant dead to New' Hampshire this afternoon, where im posing obsequies await the memory of this gifted soldier, fallen in defence of the republic —2V. Y. Herald , 25M. Russia and Poland. — A Paris letter writer says— ■ In Europe one item of intelligence has created some slight uneasiness, and which, should the fact alluded to be com pletely confirmed, might possibly light up a flame again which has been well nigh extinguiifced. I allude to the tele graphic despatch from St. Peterburg, in- Sti mating that the Emperor had directed de Berg to present to the Poles, for tb ir signature, a petition desiring com pete and final annexation to the Russian mpire. The measure and the mode of carrying it out seem both so extraord n. • ry that one can scarcely conceive either the one or the other to be correctly stat ed. Should the intelligence, however, prove true, it might re-arouse in this country the spirit which the Emperor has found it difficult to allay, and upon ■which he hoped, doubtless, that his re cent visit to the Emperor Alexander at Nice had put an extinguisher for a long time to come- jMOA „ __ Extracts from Rebel Papers. A Purgation of the Rebel Congress Absolutely Required. —The Examiner of Saturday has a long editorial on the peace movements. It says ; Once more it is time to have done w ith this peace imposture, which Congress persists in occupying itself about, Nay, if Congress do not stop it at once, and put down or brush away all who pre sume to take up the public time with any such trash, then that Congress itself will have to be put down or brushed away. Yes, superseded by a convention of the Confederate States, and its members sent to negotiate peace with one another in private life, and exhaust the arts of statesmanship in some sequestered spot. It argues at length that there is no use in talking about negotiations or terms, that there are but two courses possible to be pursued—one is a prosecution of the war to a successful termination, or an abandonment of the contest and un conditional surrender, and that requires no negotiation on either side. It de nounces the peace men in Congress" as being in fact in favor of surrendering everything, and “They talk about negotiation to secure our recognition and independence simply as the first step downward.” In conclusion it says:—“lt may be hoped that in Congress peace is now' played out or reduced all aham-dum. — Those who talk about it now really ex pose themselves to a grave susspieion.— It is that they design to make themselves an anxiety to destroy the confederacy,'anti to hereafter liaVC a claim on the iavor of the Yankees at the expense of tlieir country and their con stituents. If this surmise should be come ctu rent and accredited then, in deed, Congress would be ripe for a pride* purge or an eighteen boumaine” {From the Richmon Examiner, Jan. 20. J We find in our Southern exchanges some straggling accounts of the Array of Tennessee. It is stated that the ene my was reinforced heavily by Steele’s and Rosecrans’ forces on the night be fore the baltle of Nashville. They at tacked us next day in force, and a por tion of our left giving way, we retreated, the enemy pursuing, but w T e afterward turned upon them, and, it is said, whipped them badly, capturing some pieces of artillery and many prisoners. One of Hood’s officers informs a Mont gomery paper that when he left the army it was in fine spirits, on the way to Corinth, which he thinks it must have reached ere this without difficulty, being no serious obstructions in the way. The report of Hood’s -supersedere by Dick Taylor is confirmed. Important from Brazil. — From the Paris Patrie the following item of news is derived : A United States despatch boat has been desirous to put into the port of Bahia, where there was a mercantile vessel, bearing the Confederate flag, lay ing. ’ The President of the Province re fused his assent, declaring that he did not wish to see a recurrence of an inci dent similar to that of the Florida. The United States vessel, after remaining five hours in the entrance of -All Saints Bay, put to sea again. The affair had no serious consequences, and it remains to be seen what the commander of the United States vessel will do. Horn Paul A. Chadboame, of Wil liamstown, Mass., in his eloquent tribute to Mr. Everett,remarked—“His eloqnent words remain, but his eloquent lips are closed forever in death. He has comple ted his warfare. We may place his stat ue in the vacant place in front of the Capitol, but his spear leans against the wall, and w T ho is there left mighty enough to wield it T TAie Mason’s Gbavk. —ln all ages the bodies ot the Masonic dead have bee* laid in graves dug due East and West w ith their faces toward the East. This practice has been borrowed, and adopt - ed by others, until it has become nearly universal. It implies that when the. Great Day shall come, and’ He who i.s Death s conqueror shall give the signal his ineffable light shall first be seen in the East; that from the Na6t be wßi make his glorious approach , will stand at the eastern margin of these graves, and with his mighty power—that grasp irresistibly strong which sha ’J prevail-- will raise the bodies which are slumber ing therein. We shall have been Jong buried, long decayod. Friends, reU tires, yea, our nearest and dearest, will cease to remember where they have foul us. The broad earth will have untUt gone- wondrous changes, mountains lev eled, valleys tilled. The seasons will have chased each other in many a fruit ful round. Oceans lashed into fury by the gales of to-day, will to-morrow base slunk like a spoiled child to their slum ber. Broad trees: with broader loots will have interlocked them, hard kuob-> bed as they are, above our ashes, as it to conceal the very fact of our having lived ; and then after centuries of life, they too will liave followed our example of mortality, and long struggling with decay, at last will have toppled down to join their remains with ours, thus oblit erating the last poor testimony that man has ever lain here. 8o shall we be lost to human sight. But the love of God nevertheless, will mark the spot, even witnthe everlasting verdure or faith, and when the trumpet’s blast shall shake the lulls to their bases, our astonished bodies will rise, impelled upward by au irresistible impulse, and we shall stand face to face with our Redeemer. i . _ . Bl< .'■■■ , An Or u Texian.— The Galveston News has a letter’ from “An Old Texian," who - writes from “Egypt.” He says : “I stopped at this place the Ith day of December, 1829. I foul a son-in-law, wfiio wanted to date ids letters Iron* seme place, and he proposed to call this place Egypt, to which I consented. He was subsequently made collector of Galves- . ton and postmaster here. When the Texas through which I fought, (and I know 1 killed some of our enemies) I said 1o my wife : ‘Wb have seen every thing but death, and 1 believe I would rathef die than see another war.’ But 1 have lived to see another. Well you may say ; ‘What are you doing lor this war ?’ lam doing about as much us one of my age can. for lam nearly 74 years old. lam feeding hundreds of soldiers and their horses free of charge, and when they leave, 1 say to them : ‘lf you should pass this way again, and want for self and horse, please call in and yon shall have the best I can give.’ This ‘is about the best I can now do.” We have only tt> remark that if idl would do as much our soldiers would , have les3 cause to complain, and would tight our battles with a much Letter spirit. We inay add that wc know one or two others in Egypt besides the writer who makes all soldiers welcome to the best they have, and evtrjrbody. that has ever passed through Egyj»t knows that we refer to Captain H.. for one whose hospitality knows no bound#. A.good lookiug Congressman, pushed past the soldier who was guarding the entrance to the iadies ear at Washing ton the other day. when the blue cost, stopped him saying, “ Ladies' car. sir -r*. You cannot go in there." “ But," our friend, “I am a member of Con gress.’’ ‘“Can’t help that, sir. If 1 let you in here they will put. me in tU guard-house ; and that ft a d—d sight worse than going to Congress." < PRICE tPive Cents,