The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

632

quarter of a million sterling, sailed from St. Helena
a few days before the last Cape steamer (the Calcutta)
arrived there. She was bound to St. Petersburg.
The governor was not aware at the time that war had
been declared. The captain of the Russian was a
German, and had furnished himself with double
sets of papers. A telegraphic despatch from Ham-
burg of the 3rd inst. contains some further account
of this vessel. It says:—
" Four English vessels were in pursuit of Russian mer-
chantmen. The Cesarowits, having a cargo of India goods
worth a million, has managed to escape them, and entered
Cuxhaven."
GREECE.

Advices from Athens, of the 30th ult., state that
the rebels have been defeated at Calambaca. Fuad
Effendi took that place by assault. Hadgi Petros's
band was dispersed. 1,000 were killed, and many
made prisoners. The Turks sent 000 heads of the
slain to Larissa.
Austrian, French, and English ships were still
cruising in the Greek waters.
M. Mavrocordato, the President of the Greek
Ministry, reached Marseilles on the 30th ult., and de-
parted immediately for Athens.

THE EARTHQUAKE AT SAN SALVADOR.
A BULLETIN extraordinary from the Governor of San
Salvador gives the following detailed account of the
catastrophe which overtook that town on the 10th of
April last. It states :
The night of the 10th of April, 1854, will ever be one of
sad and bitter memory for the people of Salvador. On
that unfortunate night our happy and beautiful capital was
made a heap of ruins. Movements of the earth were felt
ou the morning of Holy Thursday, preceded by sounds
like the rolling of heavy artillery over pavements, and like
distant thunder. The people were a little alarmed, but it
did not prevent them from meeting in the churches to
celebrate the solemnities of the day. On Saturday all was
quiet, as was also the whole of Sunday. The heat was con-
siderable, but the atmosphere was calm and serene. For
the first hours of the evening nothing unusual occurred,
but at half-past nine o'clock a severe shock of an earth-
quake, occurring without the usual preliminary noises,
alarmed the whole city. Many families left their houses
and made encampments iu the public squares, while others
prepared to pass the night in their respective courtyards.
Finally, at ten minutes to eleven, without premonition of
any kind, the earth began to heave and tremble with such
fearful force that in ten seconds the entire city was pros-
trated. The crashing of houses and churches stunned the
ears of the terrified inhabitants, while a cloud of dust
from the falling ruins enveloped them in a pall of impene-
trable darkness. Not a drop of water could be got to
relieve the half-choked and suffocating, for the wells and
fountains were filled up or made dry. The clock tower of
the cathedral carried a great part of the edifice with it in its
full. The towers of the church of Sun Francisco crushed the
episcopal oratory and part of the palace. The church of
Santo Domingo was buried beneath its towers, and the
College of the Assumption was entirely ruined. The new
and beautiful edifice of the university was demolished. The
church of the Merced separated in the centre, and its walls
fell outward to the ground. Of the private houses a few
were left standing, but all were rendered uninhabitable. It
is worthy of remark that the walls left standing are old
ones ; all those of modern construction have fallen. The
public edifices of the Government and city shared the same
common destruction. The devastation was effected, as we
have said, in the first ten seconds ; for, although the suc-
ceeding shocks were tremendous, and accompanied by
fearful rumblings beneath our feet, they had comparatively
trifling results, for the reason that the first had left but
little for their ravages. Solemn and terrible was the pic-
ture presented on that dark funereal night of a whole
people clustering in the plazas, and on their knees crying
with load voices to Heaven for mercy, or in agonising
accents calling for their children and friends, whom they
believed to be buried beneath the ruins! A heaven opaque
and ominous ; a movement of the earth rapid and unequal,
causing a terror indescribable ; an intense sulphurous
odour tilling the atmosphere, and indicating an approach.
ing eruption of the volcano : streets filled with ruins or
overhung by threatening walls; a suffocating cloud of dust
almost rendering respiration impossible. Such was the
spectacle presented by the unhappy city on that memo-
rable and awful night. It was believed that at least a
fourth part of the inhabitants had been buried beneath the
ruins. The members of the Government, however,
hastened to ascertain, as far as practicable, the extent of
the catastrophe, and to quiet the public mind. It was
found that the loss of life had been much less than was
supposed, and it now appears probable that the number
of the killed will not exceed 100, and of wounded 50.
Among the latter is the Bishop, who received a severe blow
on the head ; the late President, Senor Duenas ; a daughter
of the President, and the wife of the Secretary of the Legis-
lative Chambers—the latter severely. The movements of
the earth still continue, with strong shocks, and the people,
fearing a general swallowing up of the site of the city, or
that it may be buried under some sudden eruption of the
volcano, are hastening away.

THZ EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITION which has been for
some time in preparation under the superintendence
of the Society of Arts was opened on Tuesday even-
ing by a conversazione in St. Martin's-hall, which was
honoured by the presence of his Royal Highness
Prince Albert, and was attended by upwards of 1,200
gentlemen more or less connected with educational
literature in England, America, and the continent of
Europe.


, •

THE PRESS.

THE WAR.

THE ARMIES.
Some further progress in the advance movement
effecting by the combined forces in Turkey is re-
corded in our intelligence of the week. Prince
Napoleon and Marshal St. Arnaud left Constanti-
nople for Varna on the 26th of June. The total
force which has reached that place amounted to
50,000 English and French, of whom a first detach-
ment had marched for Schumla. On the 22nd ult.
a cannonade was heard at Varna in the direction of
Schumla, and General Canrobert sent a squadron of
dragoons to reconnoitre. The whole body of allied
troops were then, it is stated, immediately to advance
towards the seat of war.
At Adrianople 16,000 troops, all French, had
arrived on the 22nd ult. General Bosquet's division
had marched thence 13r Schumla.
One Turkish brigade has been placed under
French, another under English, command.
It is still believed that a joint attack by sea and
land on the Crimea is under consideration by the
allied chiefs.