The National Register. — London, England, 1823-03-31 00:00:00

in. Tips - of the poor creatures were shortly hol in iotunt 'snide calling for assistance, anti to be '. 4 0.4tt, hut the man with din hey wus not to be %round ; the alarm outside was tremendous, as tlin door could not bo opened; at ltmrtli a man who thought lus son was inside :shed tiirward unrl broke it open, when a drv..iirol ACClie :ented itself; a rest number these pool boys haying been suiroossted. Tho ennattrnation in the vi!y on this Using known wee indevri.,sfie. The bodies were taken nut, but there being 'au many, no one knew what to do with them.—Thenty were taken tsi 404 dnetor's shu and a great - imber to the • • . _ • ate.. boopital, Where I saw *none than 9.1 bodies of reef bah • frost 10 to 14, lying brzathless on the Sew. . 4 " Tie expressions of the ir.ob against the priests saiiiviara win very violent, as it was attribbted to them. The smelter lf dead, by a proclamation • • from Govenunent, who wish to bush the business, isolated to be about 100. At least 130 were killed, .1 • and the general number is stated to be 159. An investigation is to be made by Goventrnent into the affair." (TO AT In/ IPA RTICUL 4716.) MINUTE BY HIS HONOUR THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor having received a report from the Reverend Archbishop the Bishop of Malta, relative to the unfortunate catas trophe which took place on the evening of the 11th instant, in the Convent of the Minori Osserventi, and having also perused the evidence of the persona examined before the magistrates of police, some of them companions and survivors of the unfortunate sufferers, and others witnesses who were on the spot . at the moment, and the report of the medical men, he is enabled to publish f o r genera l information the fidlowing details of this truly melancholy accident. It has been usual, for many years past in this island, on the last days of the Carnival, to collect together, in Valetta and in the three cities on the other side of the harbour, as many boys of the lower classes, of from eight to fifteen years of age, as chose to attend—to form them into a procession, and to take them out to Florian or elsewhere, where, after attending service in the church, a collation of bread and fruit (provided from funds partly given by Go vernment and partly by beneficent individuals) was distributed to them; and -this with the view of keeping them out of the riot and confusion of the carnival in the streets of the cities. The arrangement of this procession is under the control of the ecclesiastical directors of the institu tion for teaching the catechism. It appears that this procession had taken place on the 10th instant—that the children went to Florian, just outside of Valetta, from thence returned to the church of the Minori Osservunti, in Valetta, and that the bread was on that day distributed in the convent of that order without any accident or con fusion. On the 11th the procession was formed as usual, pmceedcd to Florian, and returned to the church of the Minori Osservunti, and thAread was to be dis tributed, as on the preceding day, in the same con vent. Unfortunately, however, the ceremony had been protracted to a later hour than usual, and it appears (the carnival being over) a multitude of boys and full-grown people, passing by the church, and know - ing that bread was to be distributed, mixed with the children in the chinch, with a view of sharing it with them. The boys were to enter the corridor of the convent from the door of the vestry of the church, and were to be let out through the opposite door of the con vent into Strada d'Ursola, where the bread was to he distributed ; and it had been customary, when they were collected in the corridor, to lock the door of the vestry, for the purpose of preventing those boys „ho had received th...ir share of the bread, from entering a second time into the corridor. On the door of the vestry, however, being thrown open on the present occasion, which took place about sooset, after the entrance of the boys who originally attended the procession, and who could not have exceeded one hundred, the whole multitude of men and boys, who had subsequently entered the church, tiirced themselves into the corridor to an unknown extent, and pressed upon the foremost, pushing them gradually to the other end of the corridor, where the d,,or na. only half open with the view of letting 1.1. e out at a time. - shrieks of __ aby the persons employed in the distrilvd: , ai of the !maid, which they had just commeoced iesising t pel by the inhabitants of the n.iglihnurhondiiiii pears that every aid was ininsedietely given. 011111* persons, after endeavouring in vain to get the boys out of the hall-zle,ed door, roshed into the churA and got theteys of the vestry door, winch was then opened; wade others uttered the corridor from the vestry, Fussed through dm crowd to the other end, and broke down the door at the bottom oldie steps; but unfortunately these exertions were not is time to save the unhappy sufferers. Many,however, were taken out fainting, and Peon recovered ; other', ap. patently lifeless, wens efteremeds brought to their names; but, we rent to add, that 110 hops, from eight to 15 years et age, perished on this occasion. front suffocation, by he'tig eriaiset. to,;ether in su small a apace, -or truriplcd upon. . On cefiorting upon thi. fatal occurrence, the Lieutenant-Governor is convinced that now hut persons of the most depraved or perverted minds can suppose for a moment that there has been the small est wilful or intentional auk on any part. That if t.l( :ue, however, Inc is above isetcrip lions in the island is but too evident, as reports of the most malignant nature have been raised and circulated on the occasion. it will be the first duty of Government to sift these reports to their founda tion, and the authors, if discovered, will meet with the punishment they deserve. That a fidelity of such an extensive nature, so unexpectedly and unaccountably produced, should excite at the moment a . trong sensation among the relations and friends of the unfortunate sufferers, cannot be wondered at ; hut the object of this an nual institution is so well known here, aril in itself is so praiseworthy and so beneficial to the younger classes of the community, that they ought to have been satisfied—and, indeed, it is but justice to say, that, generally speaking, they were satisfied—that accident alone could have caused such a disaster. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, in thus ac quitting the parties concerned in superintending the arrangement of this institution from all intentional blame, deems it to be his bounden duty, as the na tural protector of every individual in these islands, especially of the lower classes, to remark, that the regulations originally laid down on this head were on the present occasion so far deviated from, that the ceremony had been too long protracted, and that the children were brought back from Florian into the city for the purpose of having the bread and fruit distributed to them, thereby creating a delay, which, in the first place, caused the accession of a number of nearly full-grown persons, (not included in the procession) who had been engaged in the car nival, and who afterwards docked to the church to get a share of the bread, and thus increased to an extent unknown by the superintendents, the number shut up in the corridor of the convent, and which delay occasioned in the convent that darkness, which, if not the principal cause, must at all events have materially increased the mortality on the oc casion. In closing the account of this melancholy business it becomes the duty of Government to notice, in the highest terms of approbation, the gerienil good con duct of the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the Convent, and even of the miserable parents of the sufferers, who not only obeyed the prompt and salu tary directions given by the Deputy Inspector-Ge neral of Police on the spot, but who assisted the police-officers and the soldiers of the Malta Fcncibles in clearing a passag e through the crowd in the nar row street wh ere t he accident happened ; by which they were enabled to carry the bodies of the suffer ers, without loss of time, from the Convent to the Civil Hospital. The thanks of the Government are equally due to the medical officers, civil and military, who, in. shindy on hearing of the accident, proceeded to the hospital, and assisted in the most zealous manner the medical gentlemen attached to that establishment; a'io to the Malta Fencibles under the immediate command of captain the 'Marquis de Piro, and to the Deputy Inspector-General and the subordinate officers of the Police. By their general exertions the loss, great us it unfortunately is, was conzider ably diminished. _ _ By command of his Honour, Palace, Valetta, RICHARD PLASKET, Feb. 111,1423. Chief Secretary to the Government. By the late arrival of foreign papets we !ear* two important facts—first, that the Cortes hsd re solved on the removal cf do Xing, the govent• ment, and their owe sittings, to Seville—that the King was attatled by a polnicol indisposition, and thut tha Corte; consented to . postpone his journey from the 17th to the 20th instant, oa which day the whole mesh:ale left Madrii-:-the second im portant fact is, that a formidable conspiracy has been discovered in the French invading army, and that its ezkuit With ouch as to render it necessary to tlisystalt Mondial Victor from Paris, appointing sem: ease, eLse to officiate in his absence as Nliniiter at Was—we arc nut surprised it mach a movement in th:: French la my, and we rejoice at it—the pas sibility of the soldiers of France joining the consti tutional Spaniard.. appears stronger every day, and pp.huldity of tlac united armies beheading the LA.) Qom'? as, 1.1.11, XVI It and Ferdinand VII.. is highly gratifying to every friend of liberality— would to Heaven they could add the laudable deca pitation of the three leading characters of The Holy Alliance! DEPARTURE OF THE KING OF SPAIN FROM qI MA MUM. The following important communication has been received from Paris, together with the journals of Thursday, and Madrid papers to the 21st inst. PA Rah MARCH courier arrived to-day from Madrid, bringing accounts from that capital to the 21st. The King left Madrid on the 20th, ac cording to the preconcerted arrangement. His Ma jesty was accompanied by nearly 6,000 men. who. will probably escort him as far as La Mancha. The hopes that were founded by the enemies of public order, on the resistance that his departure would en counter either from the inhabitants or the faction., have been entirely de:Clued. The King and his es cort left the capital as if to make a grand prome nade, amid the acclamations of the people. The Cortes have not left the capital, and theist departure is not yet fixed. Probably they will nos set out till the danger from the invasion beeomas imminent. Bertrun tie Lys writes to a friend in Paris, that before the Cortes leave the capital, they will proba bly take a resolution to make some changes in the Constitution, when the time fixed for its revision arrives. The English Ambassador had set out for Seville the evening before the King. The persons of his legation still remained. The journey of the Doke of Belluno, who left Paris so precipitately for the army, was retarded by an accident. His carriage broke down near Or leans, and was so much injured as to require half a flay to repair it. CONSPIRACY IN THE F1ir.,c1.;." ARMY. PARIS, MARCH 24.—A conviracy of the most formidable kind has been detectal in the Army of the Pyrenees. The conspirac) is of that nature, that the King dares not send the Doke of Angou leme to quell it; but Victor has been taken from his administrative functions, and despatched with all speed to the Pyrenees. The following are the particulars transmitted by a private letter:— ** PARIS, Alwacit 24, 3 o'cLoct P.Y. " f send you the Moniteur of this morning, which contains two Royal ordinances, the first ap pointing the Minister of War, Major-General of the Army of the Pyrenees; and the second, nominating General Digeon his interim successor. Marshal 13elluno, the Slinister, has set out for the army at an early hour this morning. This precipitate and unexpected measure was only decided upon in the Ns- RACY IN TIIE ARMY. Council of yesterday ; but perhaps is not m ore pre ' pt eipitate and unexpected than it was neces sar y. Th e o fi p rs e t ra duty loperations o u f Air l itst ExecikicY wil Spain, l o b QUELLe , noto co direct ...TO It \via be seen by the newspaper*, that on Friday night the Bourdeaux Diligence wits stopped i n the neighbourhood of' Paris, and that several officers, who occupied places in it, with false pass ports, had been arrested and carried to the police. WIIIIIIUIIIIIIMIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPEIMFWRIIINIIIIIIROIIIE i ---- 711PPIETririrsimywor.,-.... - :-.----.• --.: 100. _ • • ~- L . . • THE REGIS_ NATION ____. _ . _._ - A ' -- -•- -- e had all entered the core ;- PRICE OP SPOCiII. , s MONltlill CATIV72O — PIit: t l isielais-0. i As 'awn as the „ sol d l oc k e d, an d t h oug h 11 " k St•r l antesuarr OP Imam 1 dog the y 4.. 1 ra,htedal .i per Cent. Red. doit 127.3 per Cent. /1. • I.lltWrlla rum MALTA. Is 4TED TU. 21. ' ..,.. Veit .,: r j . _ r _ in the corridor, it 1 1 ). i , per cy ,,, ,,t.ciorols it. Lu d t 1 4 71 , L s 24 \ ' - ' r An accident took place here on Shrove Tuesday there ^-• ''''ritecadent, to hive ken early put oat, -t per —oi• of the ISOM fetal and appalling todole. It is the l ,,i e w er:...eis i t • Art Exclirquer dill. Ilk. Frees. P''ltrs, b y cotethis immens, crowd entirely in the tr, u.s. fur At. 711 *Sees on that day to attract the poor hp away thn t s . jea . , v 4;cec being uulortunately u flight of eight i,„„, Z a t a r ..'l 9 t tt ‘ Lt—tery Ticket. tell 19.. Atm the crowd and riot in the streets (it being the ro t o r, at the opposite end alr . ''in the lialf.clo.ed . last day or the Carnival), hy m a ki ne d tlpf‘ .4- 11" •irille corridor. the crowd behind, who pressed upon 10 one t( the churches, und aticrwa t pli''''" Wes tr a y. I the Nutmeg :limed the by down the steps, it lio TILE NATIONAL REGISTER. bread to them. Previous tot l e leee4il g """ fell tats upon the other, thus unfortunately choking - ----- • -- Ines& they were A!! elle , t .- . r about 700) tip the halfshot door at the bottom (which opened LONDON, MONDAY, MALCH St. co i n the miry ,: wile a nrcnt—a room where, inward.) and added to the distress. •„ siwe were on windows—and there locked t its. The - :frin of the mew creatures were shortly 1 shri eks of the cb 4 idwere leer. soon heard I The , . ._ ,L .. ar ,y I By the late arrival of foreign pipets we }earn