Lynchburg Virginian

The committee appointed by Congress to inquire into the circumstances connected with the fire by which the Patent and Post Offices were consumed, will, it is said, report that the fire was accidental, or rather the result of negligence. The cellar which was under the building, where the fire was first discovered, is used as a store-room for the wood consumed in the different offices, and was nearly filled with hickory and oak wood at the time of the conflagration; and, strange to say, the live ashes which accumulate in the grates, are deposited in the same place! The inference is that the fire was thus communicated, though the fact that it took place immediately after the adoption of Mr. Wise's resolution proposing an enquiry into the condition of the several Departments had excited strong suspicion that some one interested in concealing certain facts had applied the torch.