The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-08 00:00:00

HORRORS OF WAR.

Ile battles of Jena and Auerstadt had been fought.
Ceneral Blucher, who had followed the retreat with the
Prince of Hohenloe, on the left bank, was separated from
him, threw himself with his corps into the territory of
Mecklenburgh, and being pursued by Bernadotte, Soult,
and Murat, found himself more and more closely pressed.
lie, therefore, passed the Trove, and with '25,000 men en-
;tercel Lubeck, in spite of ell the remonstrances of the free
;vnperial city, which would- have most willingly maintained
7:4,9 ueutrality. The Freffeh followed him closely, and on
i;th of November 1896, a sanguinary conflict took place
bet.-reen the two armies, which was but too soon continued
withirr she walls. After an heroic resistance, Blucher was
obli.tetl to leave the city. The victors, perfectly ignorant
of the well circumstances, considered Lubeck as an hostile
cite, and urned all their fury upon the unfortunate inhabi-
tiiit ;. A dreadful scene of pillage ensued, which was net fuliy
checked till after the lapse of three days. The citizens
were ill treated by the French in every possible manner.
blucher capitulated at Rateltato on the 7th of November,
zol the nuhappy city had now to maintain 75,000 men. The
humanity of Bernadotte succeeded in putting an end to
these horrors, and, by a strict discipline, at least to dice!:
the progrets of such awful devastation. But Lubeck was
was wholly unable to recover itself ; from that time it was
depressed under intolerable burdens. Enormous contribu-
tions exhausted its treasury, its commerce was annihilated,
;:ind with that, its principal resources dried up, and even the
hcne of better times vanished, when, on the 10th of Decem-
ber, 1810, it was incorporated with the French empire, and
its eoostitution abolished by nn act of violence after it had
.existed 600 years. On the Sunday after this catastrophe,
the free corps of the French Colonel Amell, loaded with the
pilage of friends and foes in Mecktenburgh, &c. &c., and.
with the spoils of the unhappy Lubeck, arrived at a village
rear Hamburgio where they held a kind of fair for the sale
of their plunder. We ourselves saw soldiers eager to lighten
their burden, sell quantities of silver coin (a handkerchief
:full) for a lois d'or—silver table-spoons for a shilling,.
„Horses, many of there very good, but of course, dreadfully
rled, were sold from half-a-crown to thirty shillings each.
friend of ours bought a horse, which proved to be a very
line one, for four shillings English. It was reported that a
splendid diamond necklace was sold for two louis d'ors. At
Hamhurgh, under Davoust and Vandamme (1813), a con.
tribution of forty-eight millions of francs was imposed upon
it, its bank plundered, and, lastly, when the allied troops
,npproaced to its relief, it was declared in a state of siege.
From this moment the French laid aside all moderation,
burnt and devastated the environs with such precipitation,
that the poor inhabitants could save little or none of their
property—and 40,000 persons, who were too poor to fur-
nish themselves with a sufficient stock of provisions, were
expe'led from the city, exposed to the dreadful inclemency
of a most severe winter, to famine and the ravages of an.
epidemic nervous fever. The French proceeded with the
greatest cruelty. Thus Davoust caused a number of un-
fortunate citizens to be taken from their beds on the night
of Christmas Eve, 1813, to be shut up in St. Peter's
Church, and, at day-break, to be driven by his bloodhounds
like a flock of sheep out of the gates, The neighbouring
town of Altona received the fugitives with kindness, and,
though itself in great distress, did its utmost to relieve
them. It may be interesting to compare with this another
historical event. Just a hundred years before, the Swedish
General, Stenbock, reduced Altona to ashes ; and, during
the dreadful conflagration, the senate of Hamburgh closed
the gates of the city, to keep off the crowd of fugitives ;
gave ar, banquet to the ferocious conqueror, and accompanied
him to the ramparts, to view, in all its horrors, the spec-
tacle of' the burning town.—German Tourist.

On -Wednesday last the Bourn Ease bank burst,
laying the contiguous lands under water, and causing im-
mense damage. The cottagers in the neighbourhood were
obliged to run for their lives, leaving their cottages and pro-
perty under water. The accident was caused by the great
weight of water in the drain.

A gastronomic misadventure, of a curious descrip-
tion, recently took place at. Lille. A person of consequence
ordered at wild boar's head from the Ardennes for a grand
dinner, to which he had invited a number of guests. The
dainty was duly delivered, but the conductor of the dili-
gence, by mistake, also left for the Amphitryon a roebuck,
which came by the same conveyance, but which was de-
signed for the Mayor of Roubaix, who was likewise on the
point in giving a dinner in celebration of his daughter's
marriage. The owner of the boar's head, imagining that
the venison had been sent in addition to his order by his
currespondent of the Ardennes, lost no time in dividing it
into quarters, which were despatched as presents to some
friends. In the meantime the Mayor of Roubaix made in-
Tairies at the Diligence-office for the expected buck, and,
to his unutterable dismay, learnt what had become of it.
No alternative was left for the gastronome, by whom it.had
been so kindly divided amongst his friends, than to send to
the different parties, state the circumstances of the case,
and beg them to return each his portion. That step was
accordingly taken, but, to complete the chapter of accidents,
each of the parties, on receiving the present of venison, had
invited some friends to partake of it, and all of them were in
their turn obliged to send and make excuses.
LONGEVITY.--We have this week to record the
decease of the oldest inhabitant of Kent, who died at Ken-
nington, on Friday, at the age of 108 years. We allude to
a woman named Ann Parker, who was born on the 29th of
September, 1728, at Kennington, her parents being labour-
ing people, of the name of Burn, residing in that parish.
About the year 1750 she was married, and became the
mother of two children, the eldest of whom died about three
years ago, and the other is still living at Feversham, in her
84th year. Her faculties were unimpaired to the last ; she
could narrate events which happened as far back as 1747
with surprising accuracy ; and her eyesight was so good,
'that it never required the use of spectacles. During her
'whole life she
i abstained from taking spirituous liquors, in-
cralging only n tea. She has for some ycart past been
°rte of those beings ycleped living wonders, and few per-
so, IS visited the neighbourhood without paying a visit to
L 'Lime Parker." During the last 40 years she was re-
lieve ti by the parish, and that, united with the kindness
of box friends, enabled her to !vie and die in comfort.—
,ish Observer.
A coach proprietor, at Nottingham, named Wilmott,
has bad almost 200 horses die, in less than a year, of some
fatal disease.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Fazumutr 7.

Lord STRAFFORD presented a petition from the Dissen-
ters of the borough of Poole, praying for the Abolition of Church
rates. A Noble Lord (whose name was not known in the gallery)
presented a petition from the Mayor and Town Council of the
borough of Derby ; likewise petitions from several Dissenting
places of worship of the same place, praying for the total
abolition of Church-rates. In the prayers of the petitioners
the Noble Lord begged to say he entirely concurred.
Viscount DUNCANNON presented, in the absence of a
Noble Friend, a petition frem Chard, Bradford, and Morley,
praying for the abolition of Church-rates.
The House then adjourned till Thursday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBAVARY 7.

The SPEAKER took the chair this evening at fire minutes to
four o'clock.
Mr. R. Bowles, the new Member for Evesham, was intro-
duced by Sir 0. Mosley and Colonel Lygon, and took the
oaths and his scat.
Mr. Waller, from the Office of the Woods and Forests,
presented papers at the bar according to order.
MIDLAND COUNTIES RAILWAY.

Mr. GISBORNE presented a petition in favor of an exten-
sion of the Midland Counties Railway, which was ordered
to be referred to the Committee.

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TORQUAY ROAD.
On the motion of Sir .1. Y. BULLER the Torquay Road
Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed.

POOR LAWS.

Mr. B ROTHE RT 0 N presented a petition, agred to
at a public meeting of his constituents at Salford, pray-
ing for a repeal of the Poor Laws Amendment Bill.
The petition was unanimously agreed to, and it stated
an apprehension, that in the manufacturing districts
great hardship would be experienced by the operation
of the Act referred to, particularly that part of it authorising
the separation of husband and wife ; and it prayed that the
perpetrators of the Act might be brought to condign punish-
ment.—(A laugh.)
Mr. POTTER felt it right to state that most of the per-
sons who attended that meeting were not inhabitants of Sal-
ford, but came from a distance. He was informed also that
the most violent and unjustifiable language had been made
use of.