The Columbian informer, or, Cheshire journal — Keene, N.H., 1793-12-11 00:00:00, page 2

parte were not yet overwhelmed; all 1^.4-।
ed deep y concerned. London might well
belaid to be all in tears, the mourners
did not go about the streets, for nobody
made a formal dress of mourning for their
nearest relations, but the voice of mourn
ing was indeed heard in the streets ; the
Shrieks of women and children at the win
dows aid doors of their ho uses where their
dearest relations were dying, were so fre
quent to be h^ard as we passed the streets,
that it was enough to pierce the stoutest
heart in the worid. Tears & lamentations
were seen almost in every house, especial
ly in the firft part of the visitation far to
wards the latter end people did not so
much concern themselves for the loss of
their friends, expecting that themselves
would be summoned the next hour.
The inns of court were row all foot
up, there were but few lawyers to be seen
in the city, indeed there was no need ,p£
them, for quarrels and divisions a ba©
interest had ceased, every body was
peace.
It was also worthy of observation, W
well as fruitful efinftrnainn. rfmflHil
^ € ^^ toe
had of aitendi% r or the , >?rftm
a d oher appointed times o d .Mion,^
humiliation, fadings, and public c nfef
6ms of fi.is, to implore the mercy o;
God, an avert the judgment which hung
over their heads. The churches were so
th r un, rd, ?h. t theie was often no coming
near, no not to the vm d or of the larg
cltchue es Foere was also daily pray
e^ d?,riccd morning aud evening, at
v dch M people attended with uncom
m>o d voron.
fie infection ftl 1 gradually iicretfed
t 1: the muld t of August, when ttere di
et a hoeland a day, by account of the
weekly bids, though they never gave a
fullaccount by many thousands ; many of
the pari(h officers were taken lick them
selves and died when their account was
to be given in. The parish of Stepney
alone had within the year, one hundred
and sixteen Sextons, grave diggers and
Carriers of the dead, &c. Indeed the
work was not of nature to allow them
leisure to take an exact tale of the dead
bodies, which were all thrown together i r
the dark in a pit, to which no man could
come near without the utmost peril.
1 had, fays the author, the care of m
brother's house, which obliged me some
times to go abroad. In these walks I ha<
djfmal Scenes before my eycs^ *<, ptrtß
ularly, of persons falling dead in th<
Greets, terrible Ihrieks of women, who ir
their agonies would throw op^n their cham
ber-windows, and cry out tn a dtfmal fu
prizing manner ; it ;s imp' ffiJe to defcr^bt
the variety of postures in which the pa
lions of the poor people would exprei
themselves. Faffing through Token houft
yard, of a sudden a element violent'
opened just over my head, and a woman
gave three frightful fireeches, and then
cry'd ; O ! Death, Death, Death, which
flruck me with h. rror and chillness in my
very blood. There was n>body to be seen
in the whole street, neither did any win
dow open for peope had now no curiosity
in any c.fe. I went on to pass into Bed-
Alley, where the e was a greater cry than
that ; I could hear women and children
run screaming about the rooms like dif
tra'led,when a garret window opened,nne
fomehody from a window on the other tidn
aftd, What is the matter ? Upon which
it was aniwered, OLosd ! my old master
hashing d himfelf. This person was a
Deputy Alderman and very rich. But
this is but one instance ; it is scarce cred
ihle what dreadful cases happened in par
ticular families every day. People in the
rage of the diffemper or in the torment of
the fuelling, which was indeed intolera
ble, becoming raving and diftraded,often
times laid violent hands upon themselves,
throwing themselves out of the windows,
or breaking out ofthe houfes,would dance
naked about the streets, not knowing one
extacy from another ; others, if not pre
vented, would run directly down to the
river, and plunge into the water. Some
dying of mere grief as a passion, and some
of fright and surprise, without having re
ceived the infection. It often pierced my
very foul, to hear the groans and cries of
those that were thus tormented ; but this
of the fwellinga was accounted the most
promising particular in the whole infec
tion ; for if these swellings could be
brought to break and run, the patient
generally recovered. Whereas those who
who were flruck with death at the begin
ning of the distemper, and had foots come
upon them, often went about indifferent
easy, til! a little before' they die^qind
fbme till the moment they dropt dree ;
such would be taken suddenly very Tick,
and would run to some convenient pace,
or to their own houses if poffiblc, and
there fit down, grow faint and dte. L.
Death did not now hover over every :
one's head only b but ;ti&dmW|&
houses and chambers, &flfyrfft ar^ in |
their very faces ; and tl&g, ther4 wail
some stupidity and duibneff of mind yet
there was a great deal tfbg &' m '^dl
in the foul : Many craffyfyfe wee a
v.ak.fcd ; many hard he^HmekCTiqffi
tears ; m..ny a pe&tent cotfUfon R,J
made < f criltiHoqhoncerfbd. feQw
might be heffQl&lhf streets atwe
passed alog&flFtroid for nifty,
though jeflfc, iff and faying : I have
becA3t&qW'have been an adulterer,
I n't bdfl.rorderer, and the like ; and
^o^fyfl flop to make enquiry into
Rhch things, or te administer comfort to
raptor creature, who in the am^ifh ^h
of foul and body thus cried co V&%
were the warnings that were the..,
nil'— -~:
tfidteh# umeof 'r., • ,e
I time for .;trance I ?.;:,
thor, 1 ccu'd repeat the ver, found of theft
groans and exclamations mat 1 heard from
^me poor dying creatures, when in the
fright of their agonies arid ciftrefs, & hat
I could make himohat reads this, hea* as
I imagine, I now hear th in; fr the
found seems still to run in my eats. 1
the beginning of September he numbered
burials inc e.fi g, ; e church wardens of
Aldga c parish ordered a large pit to be
dug, to hold all the dead watch might die
in a month, it frits about forty fe<t Ion;
and sixteen broad; some blamed the
church-wardens for fuffering such a fright
lul gulph to bedug; nevcrthelefs in two
weeks they had thrown more than eleven
hundred bodies into it, when they were
obliged to fit it up, as the bodies were
throwing earth, that nothing could be
seen. The cart had in it sixteen or seven
teen bodies. Some were wrapt in linen
Iheets, some in rugs, some in little other
than naked, or so loose, that what cover
ing they had fell from them, in the Ihoot
ing out of the cart, and they fell quite
come within fix feet ofthe furface. My
curiosity drove me to go and fee this pit,
when there had been near four hurcreC
people buried in it@ I got admittance
Tn 9 th church yard, by means of the
sexton, who was a sensible religious man
He would have persuaded me not to go,
faying, " That it was indeed their duty
to venture,and in it they might hope to be
preserved ; but that, as 1 had no apyar
^nt call he thought, my curiosity ckd ~?t
juftify my running that hazard," ' '-
aim, I nad been pressed in my min^
go, & that perhaps it m : ght be ar ir& c J
'g fight. Nay, fays the goedman, "i>
ou will venture upon that score, in the
r ame of God go in ; it will be a ferine
o you it may :ethe heft that you evr
heard in your life." His tifeourfes Ihock'
ny resolution, and I Rood wav.ring for
god white ; but ju% then I heard th
ill-man and he catt, loaded with der
bodies, appearing, I went in. There ,a
nobody, as I cou'd perceive, at firft wm
the cart but the buriers and the man tha
; led the cart ; but when they came to the
pit, I law a man muffled in a cloak
who appeared in great agony the buriei
immediately gathered about him, fuppd
in, he was one of those poor delirious o
desperate creatures, that would sometime
run to the pit, wrapt in blankets, and
throw themselves in, and as they laid,
jury themselves when the buriers came
o him, they soon found he was neither
desperate nor distempered in mind but one
oppressed to a dreadful weight of grief,
having his wife & several children all in
the cart, that was just come in with him,
and he followed in agony and excels of
sorrow. He calmly defied the buriers
to let him alone,laid he would only fee the
bodies thrown in, and go away ; so they,
left importuning him. But no sooner was
the cart turned round, and the bodies (hot
into the pit promifeuouffy, which was a
surprise to him-, for he at least expected,
they would have been decency laid in,
though he indeed was afterwards convin
ced that was impracticable. I fay no soon
er did he fee the light/ but he cried out
aloud, unable to contain himfelf, and fell
down in a swoon ; the buriers ran to him,
and took him up, and when he was come
to himfelf, led him to a place where he
was taken care of. He looked into the pit
again, as he went away, but the buriers
had covered the bodies so immediately with
naked among the rest; but the matter was
not math to them, or the indecency much
to any one else, feeing they were to be
huddled together in the common grave of
mankind ; for here was no difference made
but poor & rich went together ; there was
ne other way of burials, neither was it
puflible the e should be.
[Th Remainder in our next.]
In all enterprises of wir, danger, more
or less, is to be expeCted, and must be fub
miitedo: But, imprelßd with the great
importance of taking peffeffion of Toulon,
the great fort of Malgue, and others on the
Main. ,in (hortening the war,! fully relied,
hat, in case my endeavors Ihould not firc
ceed, I ffiould be juft.fed in running some
•iqae, being conscious I aded, to the bell
,f my judgment, as a faithful Servant to
fay King and country ; therefore, at mid
ight on the 37th, I made the necessary ar--
angements for putting the troops cn shore,
s near as possible to the great fort, with
;out their being molested by those batteries
in the haids cf St. Julien's under the im
mediate pretention cf the Meleager and
Tartar, fupperted by the Egmont, Robust,
Cou-ageaux and Ccluffcs, which were all
in 'he fort by noon on the 28th. And 1
arborized Capt. Elphinftonc to land and
en er, at the he d of the troops, the fort cf
Malgue, and to t'ke upon him the charge
and command as Governor ; and direded
Capt. Dick on, on his anchoring, to fe^d
a flag, with preremptory n tice t> St. Ju
lien, that such (hips as did not immedi
tcly proceed into the Inner Harbour, and
out their powder on shore, should be treat
ed as enemies. All but (even, whole
crews ran cff wth St. Julien, removed in
the course of the day.
It is impossible for me to expreL my
obligation to Don Langara, adequate tu
my feelings of it, for the lingular honor
of his implicit confidence in, and good
opinion of me, in the promptitude his Ex
cellency manifefted to comply with
the wishes contained in my second
letter ; as his Excellency was not content
with fending Admiral Gravina, but came
with his whole squadron, except four
Mich he left to bring a body of troops
ftom the army at Rofedon, and made his
rretail %I^/ty^ce.
^lrticulars respecting STOU
•LON.
LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY.
Admiralty -Office, Sept. 15, 1795.
The following letter has just been re
ceived from Vice Admiral Lord Hood:
Vi&ory in the Outer Road of Toulon,
August 29. 1793.
Sir,
rN my letter cf the 25th (of which I
'herewith fend yoa^a duplicate, and
riu in JofiU tri#
•'•w.i 10^ h-'.he <na of to.
vuv uiuausuu vi LitlHgt 41 1 OUIOC alia iviif<
feilles: Since .that several messages have
puffed between me and the fedions of Tou
lon ; and, having assurances that they had
proclaimed Louis XVII. King, and had
sworn to acknowledge him, and no longer
fuffer the dtfootifm of the tyrants which
,t this rime ,overn France, and that they
von' + be zealous in their endeavours to
; reftore peace to thrir debated and cala
m'tnus country, I came to the resolution
of land ng 1500 m*n, and take p<ffeffior.
of the forts which comm nd the ships in
he read. St. Julien, a turbulent hot
headed Democrat (whom the feamerd
given the command of the fleet, in th
room of Trogeff#) had the command cf
he forts on the rest of die harbor, and de
clared refinance.
The corps of Cartau has been at Mar
seilles, and committed all manner of enor-|
mities, and is now on its march to Toulon,<
expecting to join the army near at hand
from Italy. The former consists of ten
thousand men ; the number of the latter t
is not afeertained ; but, be it more or left,'
appearance from the deck of the Victory
as the troops from his Majesty's squadron
under my command were in the all of
landing. Admiral Gravina came on
board; and, upon my explaining to him
the necessity of as many Spanish troops
being put on ffiore immediately as could
be fpated, he told me he was authorized
by his Admiral to pay attention to any re
quest I Ihould make, and undertook to
prepare 1000 at lead, to be landed this
morning, under the protection of the four
(hips I had ordered to anchor, and were
all in the Fort before twelve o'clock.
I trust the whole will make no impression
even upon the town cf Toulon ; upon th,
fort of Malgue, 1 am pretty confident,
they cannot do it.
information has just been feat me that
Cartau, has planned to fend from Mar
seilles all the money, as well as merchan
dize, i&the town. The former is said to
canGft cf four millions of livres; but 1
planned to prevent him, by having fentoff
to Ma-feilles. two ihips of the line, with
orders net to fuffer any vessel to fail ; and
l am now fending two frigates, which I
could not spare before.
After having taken pefftffion of Tculon,
and the forts, 1 judged it expedient to is
sue another prociam tian, which Capr.
E'phinftone tells me has had a very hppy
effed; a copy of which 1 also inclo'e.—• }
,Th:s Pro+lanatiM ivas inforted in cur laf,]
Ths knowledge of this event to the 1
King and his M i,efty's Ministers appears
tome of that magnitude, thit 1 tbit it
expedient to adopt two mode# of convey
ance, one by the way of Barcelona, and
the other Genoa.
:,, -^ ^.• -1, «• J^« ,fcJ # a-f ^"
inform his Majedy's Ministers, at thole
p aces they may pats, efihe Allied Pow
ers. I have the honor to be, fir, Your
mol l obedient humble servant.
(Signed) HOOD.
Philip Stephens Eq.
In confcquence cf the information I had
the honor to fend year Loidfhip yeftoday
forenoon, and the repeated application,
which 1 had received from the Committee
of War and Safety, I thought proper to
fend cut a patrolc towards OUouilcs, to
reconnoitre the enemy and toexamire their
forces : At the fsme time l ordercc 30c Bri
tish, & the fame number of Spanith troops
to be under 3rca , and 1 directed the
committee of war to furnilh a proportion
of their best troops, and fix pieces cf can
non, with ammunition and waggons, to be
in readiness, About three o'clock the pa
trole returned with some peasants who had
been wounded by the enemy's dragoons,
who informed me that certain troops of
Charteaux were pefted at Senary and 01-
louiles, about five miles from hence„to the
amount of 600 men, with ten pieces of'
cannon, and a few cavalrv : I inftantiy
marched out with the British and Spanish
troops, taking the road to Ollouiles, hav
ing four guides along with me (belonging
to that place,) and having left directions
thatthe FrenQ troops with the cannon,&c.
Ihould instantly follow. On the road I
met wounded peafants> who informed me
that their whole fcrce was now polled in
OHouiles. When we approached within
halfa mile of that place,! observed a par
ty of the enemy endeavouring to gain an
eminence on oar right. I detached Cap-
A letter hath this day been received
from Vice Admiral Lord H^od, com
mander in Chief of hi- M jefty's (hips
and vessels in the Mediterranean, to Mr.
Stephens, dated on b ard the victory, in
.he outer road cf Toulon, the iff. infant,
of which the following is an extract ;
Yefterda, afternoon a part cfChateaox's
army, corfiftingof 75) men approached
near Toulon, C pt, Elphinftone, wl ^,I
had appointed Governor ofthe great fort
of Maulgu, and its dependencies,marched
out at the head of 600 troops, and put it
to the route, tack four pieces cf canncn
their ammunition, &c.
Herewith 1 have the honor to fend you
Governour Elphinftone's letter ; and c oft
exceedingly lament the loss of a very ex
cellent officer, Major Douglas, whom I
had appointed fort Major. a-d whole atal
for going out with the troops could not be
teftrained. The ball entered his break,
and was extruded at the Ihoulder blade.
He died last night.
Upon the troops leaving the fm, the
appointed lignal was made lor a number of
teamen that were kept ready, 14© were on
(here immediately, to pct the tort cut of
Rear Admiral Gcodhall, has taken up
on him the charge ar.d command of Gov
ernor, cf I oufon, the Rear Admiral
Graving that of commandant cf the'
troops.
danger.
The signal is, this moment, for the con
voy being in fight, with a cantidefable
body of Spanish troops, fom the army io
Rouffllon.
My Lord,
Admiral, Office, S<pt. 21.
TOULON, August 31, 1793.