The National Register. — London, England, 1817-04-14 00:00:00

Ili ORLIGN INTELLIGENCE. EARTHQUAKES AND REMARKABLE. PHENOMENA. The French papers which arrived yesterday supply the following particulars, in addi:ion to those which we have formerly published under this head : The earthquake which was felt at Barcelona on the 18th ult. at eleven o'clock in the morning, was likewise felt en the same day at Lerida, ut Saragossa, and at Madrid. At Seragossa it was experienced some minutes before, and at M:alrid some minutes after the shock at Barcelona ; but in the two latter cities much more strongly than in the fbrmer. At Saragossa the concus sion v: as so violent as to throw down a painting in the chapel of the Virgin of the Pillar, during the perform ance of mass : the people were frightened, and fled from church. At Madrid the commotion was still more alarming, and W :IS felt particularly at the royal manu fr.ctory of porcelain at the Retiro, an edifice almost Tuined during the war. There it overthrew a wall that killed two men. A violent shock was likewise felt at the Palace of Justice. The Judges, wl:o were s:ttirg. deserted the hall, which trembled around them. was believed to come from the west, and it is fearefl that Lisbon has suffered by this convulsion. News from that town are therefUre expected with impatience. The weather at Barcelona continued clear and serene, sand the air had recovered its usual temperature.—The journal of Barcelona publishes an article, dated Alcocir, in the province of Guadalaxara, the Bth of February, which details circumstances formerly noticed, but with such additions as induces us to present it to our readers:— e have just witnessed a phenomenon seldom ex , .eri• cured in regions from the coast. On the 2I Is of the month the weather wis raM, from the nio:.teng an 11" e warmth w-is greate than is o•eal at tit. season. At thri o'c'iick in the evening th. re was seine lightning, ac companied with thurdei, which soon ceased; lint at lialf-past six o'clock their silikleiny arose a violent wind, like those which commonly piers-de in slimmer violent storm , . There fell at de: same time hail and rein alone with the thimiler and lightning. The heaven was brielitened, and there ooh• re mained a black cloud, wh;rh increasing instantly, in an ex traordinary manner, discharged f-out its skirts, about a quar ter before 7 o'clock. arch a flash of lightning, and such a clap of thunder, that people who were in the streets, or in the country, fel! to the earth f iulvcned with the terrible noise; with the glare which *truck their sight, and the stil phiiroini smell which extended to the mast retired recesses of their thsellii.gs. _ " Some seconds afterwards, there was another clap of thunder, not so strong as the former, and the cloud opening, dischareed an immense globe of fire, which, fallimr on the tower of the convent of Francis( ans, overturned the iron cross on its summit, and set on five the woodwork, a portion of which, in a state ofermihnstion, having entered the church, destroyed a part of it; while the rest, tie.eendinz by the walls, kindled the different doors and windows of the con• vent, broke, tore up, and divided the cells, overturned and destroyed the furniture which they contained. and excited such terror in the monks, who were in the choir, flint they fell to the earth, and would perhaps have been elloaked by the sulphorous vaponr which surrounded them, had they not i m»ediately received assistance. This e xplosion was follow. ed by a heavy fall of hail, which lasted more than a minute; alter which the heavens recovered (Itch. serenity." By letters recently received from Pampelitna, we learn that not only some villages have suffered by the earth quake, but that the whole town of Arnedillo, in Old Castile, has been buried under the fall of a neighbour ing mquntain ; that the whole inhabitants have perished, a,ul that nothing but the top of the belfry is seen above the ruins. The intelligence that has arrived from the higher districts of the Grisons excites the most lively fears.— Never were the snows in greater quantity : the tops of the houses are no longer seen, and some of the roofs have Ulm in from the weight of the snow. Some vil lages, particularly in the valley of Taveseh, are entirely abandoned. A frightful avalanche has dcstrryed the village of Nueras in this valley. By reports from Dis sentis, a little distant from that village, eleven houses and mills, along with the inhabitants and stables, have been swallowed up. On the Bth, the rector anti twenty four other persons, wounded, were dug ont of the rub bish alive. Many dead bodies were bk.:wise found, and 28 persons are still mi'sing. Avalanches have likewise caused frightful disasters in the valley of Dischmah.— We learn likewise from th:.!cantoa of Uri, that at Mav en, an avalanche overwhelmed two men, and that ano ther threatened the village of llealp. The passage of Mont St. Gothard is shut up. • On the 10th, an avalanche destroy:Nl a house at Gadmenthal, in the province of Bern. The news from the Tyrol utt equally afflicting: fair avalanches have succeeded each other in one plqc,,, At Nanders, the ri off filled the whole valley to the height of a tower. A. Ischgcl, in the l'insgau, twenty one houses were destroyed. At six leagues from Inspruck, ten persons were killed. The course of the Inn is interrupted. PARTS, APIIM 7.—By intelli,:xnce from Carlsruhe, sf the 3ist of March, we learn that the Priactss of Wales has left that plac. , for Erlangen, where her Royal Diglow s pays a visit to the Dowager Margra vine of Myren' h, her aun•. Her coming to Paris soon is talked of. If she does arive, the Court will be maw-- raved how to receive her. Several of our journalis-: have given the addresses of the Cmwn Prince of Swed . 1 (Bernadotte) almost com l.) s )ppressing only (by ordcr of the ,public censure- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. ship) the two following passages:—" They have connect ed with these reports the name of a flintily which you have rejected. 1 had nothing to do with this family. You know that it was not I who influenced its tbrtune.”— " The annals of the world prove that no Prince ever occupied a throne, except by the consent of the people, or by conquest." The Prince's sr:exiles were read here with great avidity. The correspondence from Paris is of an interesting nature : it describes a kind of intrigue at head-quarters, of which the consequences may be important, if the movements are not stopped at their commencement. It seems that great pains have been taken to indispose the King to his Gardes du Corps, while no less studious efforts have been exerted to indispose the latter also, through insults and embarrassing persecutions, to his Majesty's service. We ate afraid that the Liberals, as they are sometimes called in Paris, are liberal to all but their own master. The depriving him of a body of men, of no great amount, and of honourable stations in society, seems to be a wonton act of provocation, not only to the King and his guard, but to the very feel ings of loyalty and affection by which the latter are actuated. The affair may be compromised at present : but, we confess, we do not like the spirit which has been evinced in it. A great number of half-pay of:iccrs continue to em bark both fin. the United States of America and for the Spanish colonies, to serve in the ranks of the insur gents. About forty of these officers are to set out in a short time. CHIN 1. We take precedence of all other Journals, says a weekly paper, in informing our readers, from high authority, of a truth known to a few in the higher cir cles in India, that a British invasion of the Chinese Empire is not looked at as a distant event, and that its path is across the mountains of Nepaul ! The jealousy which the Chinese feel of that achievement—the high tone which our Ambassador employs—the conduct of the Alceste, and the daily attendance of Lord Exmouth at the Admiralty, sufficiently illustrate our statement.— The Chinese Empire has, during a long series of ages, enjoyed a peace rarely interrupted by any war. The spirit of its inhabitants has never been roused : their energies have never been exerted. All has sunk into deathlike lassitude and indolent repose. Genius has been extinguished—morality perverted—humanity de graded. That infanticide which has been required to thin its population, has left behind only villains; war would have left only heroes. When nations fall so low, it is a law of Gc4 ald Nature, not less beneficial ' than it is wise, that they should speedily become a prey to some neighbouring power. Such soon will be the fate of China. To discern this, but little wisdom is required. In these soft and seductive regions, where gold, gems, and luxury, are more admired than steel and enduring valour—where men are the destined victims of native despotism or of colonial slavery, no - Asiatic Prince is likely to arise as their redeemer. The tide of conquest must, as heretofbre, flow from the North. The ocean route, however, is now a more facile one than that of the Scythian desert ; and the men of England, not the Tartar hordes of Russia, are destined to regenerate the East. The Eclipse, recently arrrived from India, has brought borne an account of an unfortunate AI& which hap pened to some of the officers belonging to the ship Elphinstonc. After that ship had taken her departure from Madras to proceed to China, she met with a gale of wind in her passage, which, carrying away her foremast, she was obliged to put into a port called Achin. Capt. Heaviside immediately apprised the Rajah of the surrounding territories of his helpless situa tion, and requested his permission to be allowed to cut (low. as much timber as he should want to repair the damage he had sustained. The Rajah readily gave his consent, and most of the officers and crew went on shore to hasten the work. What occurred afterwards to give offence to the Indians does not appear ; but it is so far unthrtimately ascertained, that the natives (Melahs or Melays), in great numbers, fell suddenly upon our peon ple, and killed and wounded several befbre they could reach the ship. Capt. Heaviside was severely wound ed, and vas obliged to have an arm amputated. The second mate and the surgeon, Mr. Macdonald, were • both killed on the spot. These were the principal par ticulars of this unfbrtunate affitir which had reached the Eclipse before she sailed ; but as the Buckingham shire, whose arrival at one of the out-ports we heard of on Friday, lett India some time subsequent, it is pro bable she is the bearer of farther details on the sub ject. Letters of the I,r;th ult. from Valencia mention, that the King had not consented to the wis!tes of the inhabi tants of that city, by the nomilciti in of Castamos. Gen. Elio, notwithstanding, his want of popularity, was still in the command. The Portuguese Government having transferred to Brazil some seeds of the tea-tree, have succeeded in na tonlizing this plant at Ili, daneirl. f is cultivated at this moment with success by sever.d CLinese, 'who have gone there for that purpos PROVINCIALS. AGRICULTURE. The Board of Agriculture have offered a gold medal or one hundred guineas, to any person who shall, before March, 181$, produce the best Essay on the Means of Employing the Poor, mid the gold medal, or fifty gui neas, to the person who shall, in the present spring, cause to be dug by the hand the greatest number of acres for the production of crops of corn, pulse, turnips, or cabbage, not less than ten acres, and !lir not less than five acres, 251. . . . Mr. Ctirwen, the great cultivator, is burning clay into ashes upon an extensive scale, for manure. The farming public will no doubt be glad to hear the result, although the practice be very old in this country, and we are already in possession of tuanY recorded and an tisfitctory experiments. In all parts of the kingdom, to much ploughed land was never knomii by the oldest person's, as for the next harm est. The funnels are busy in all parts of Cumberland %t , ‘‘ in; their oats. The crt 11111 l I was 111.% er in liner condition. Some barley has been also sowa We light lands. LEST ASSIZES. I.INC IsTER. THE RI N 6 (at the prosecution Of H. HoOTR) V. TIIE REV. HR. ill/ROMAN, CLERIC. This was an action brought by a gentleman of the annie of Booth, against the defendant, who is a clergyman, and master of tt grammar school, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, for an assault upon the son of the fat titer, namely, in inflicting severe and unmerited castigation. _ . Mr. Williams stated the ease to the Jury, and prodneed evidence to the following effect :—The boy Booth, it appeared, together with his brother, both under the age of tw else years, was in the habit of attending the school of the defendant daily, for a considerable time, which attendance, as well as it regarded them and the school genrraily, was enforced in the strictest manner. One of the Booths, however, having, at the instance of his father transgressed this rule, he was threat ened with the usual punishment of flogging, and, according to custom, his name was put upon a list kept for that pnrpasc. The boy upon that occasion pleaded the duty he owed his father, and the chastisement wa , deferred. Having ac quainted his father with the circ lance, the latter concei,.. ing that he haul a sovereign right to command bin own child, told him to inform his toaster, the defendant, upon a subse quent occasion, that he wished him to remain at home ou a particular day, advising the troy, however. if Mr. Bordonan, should resist, and offer to inflict punishment, to submit, as well as lie could, but as soon after as pos‘ible, to take his ha and quit the school. This and other circ tances naturally led to a ditfereoce and antipathy between the parties. In stating this part of the case, Mr. Williams submitted, that the determined severity of the defendant was the more unjust& able, as he conceived the duty of a son to be, by the law of Nature, originally due to a parent ; and the claim of the latter to such obedience, paramount to that of a teacher or mater. Mr. Justlce Bailey.—" i apprehend - not, in all eases, Mr. Williams. If a boy is placed under a teacher or tOr a scholastic or any other purpose. and such master or teacher lays down certain rules for the discipline and goveraint la f that boy, then is the claim of the master or teacher, to his duty, strictly paramount to that of the parent. Beside, it woald be highly indecorous and improper for a parent to interfere with the discipline of a school where his child might be placed." The evidence then went to prove, that on the day previous to that stated in the indictment, the son of the plaintiff was taken ill, and advised by a physician to take physic and remain at home. An excuse was in consequence sent to the school, that his absence on that day was unavoidable ; but the defendant refused to receive the apology, and upon the boy going to school on the following day, he was informed that he was on the hogging list !—ln pursuance of this, the lad upon the usnal day received a severe chastisement, the mature and effect of which was proved by a audit-al gentleman named Kenrick. This individual stated, that be was called in to examine the boy, and he f t his back and loins quite sca rified, and the blood front the wounds flossing copiously. He considered the flogging to have been dreadfully severe ; and he ordered spermaceti ointment to be applied. The witness being cross-examined by Mr. Scarlett, acknow ledged that lie was quite inexperienced in Hugging CUM'S he had never attended soldiers who had been Hogged, nor had he ever been flogged himself! The back of the boy, he ad• mined, might have healed iu about a fortnight without the applicat' of his (Dr. Kentick's) cataplasm, or spermaceti ointment. The Mother of Booth, another lad, and the boy binikelf, deposed to the dreadfully severe flogging which had been M.. Meted t but they each admitted, upon their cross-examina tion, that the last mentioned boy had been placed upon the flogging list, more particularly in consequence of his dulness ill grammar, and non attention to his Catechism. They also admitted that a boy placed upon the flogging list might, be fore the day fixed for its infliction, by good conduct, avert it ; and that not only on the same day, hut upon many former occasions, had other boys of the school been as severely flog. ged as young Booth. 11r. Scarlett, for the defendant, made a most ingenious re ply ; and Mr. Justice Bayley, having addressed the Jury, the latter, without hesitation, found the delendant--Not Guilt . The case excited much amusement in the Cunrt. W ILTS. At the Wilts Assizes, 11. Maidnient, aged I, was indicted for stealing tinlb. of tallow, the property of Francis Webb, of Mere. It was stated that Nle. Webb haul recently received a g►eat deal of tallow, from %Inch the vantity mentioned in the indictment had beeo taken. It being declared that the prisoner had no counsel, the Judge very cheerfully be came has advocate; Jhoge Abbot, for the prisoner—How do )ou know Webb, that )on lost joist St/lbs. of tallow i-1 trio auic of it, i.:y Lord. I want to be sure of it too ; do yon keep an account of ‘vlsat ,tati rem iye, or what yon 11111.?--NO Inc Mod. What, no hook, in which yon minute dune your goods ? Yes, my Lord, I keep a day-hook. Well, that is what I wa n ted; and did you in this honk wake may entry of the tallow received, or taken l'iom it, lur APRIL 14.