The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-02 00:00:00

WEST INDIA MAIL.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, SATURDAY.
The steam-ship La Plata, with the usual West
Indian mails, arrived this morning at half-past
seven. She left Jamaica on the 13th March, and
St. Thomas's on the 20th.
The La Plata brings with her $914,569 in specie,
of which $10,566, are on account of the Mexican
dividends ; together with forty-nine passengers.
The Royal Mail steamer Trent arrived at St.
Thomas on the 17th of March, having on board
General Santa Anna and suite. A grand ball was
given in his honour at St. Thomas, and he was
about to proceed to Vera Cruz by the next British
mail steamer.
The La Plata's news from Mexico has been an-
ticipated by arrivals yid New York and Liverpool.
Accounts from Jamaica state that the House of
Assembly had sanctioned the abolition of tonnage
dues, with the exception of 3d. per ton, retained
as a light-house tax. The produce market was
quiet without being firm, especially as regards
sugar and rum. There was no pimento at market,
and coffee came in slowly. The import markets
were heavy. The island was healthy. In St.
Lucia the weather had been unsettled and a good
deal of rain had fallen. Two smart shocks of an
earthquake had been experienced. The island was
healthy. The sugar crop had fairly commenced,
but labour was scarce. Gold was reported to have
been discovered on the windward side of the Island
of St. Lucia.
The yellow fever had abated at St. Vincent ; at
Tobago also the scourge was disappearing.
Barbadoes papers contain no news. A gale of
wind had done some damage to several plantations
in the Christ Church district.
From British Guiana our accounts are to the
10th ult. The Combined Court had been in ses:
sion, and had progressed with public business with
a rapidity and unanimity lately unexampled. The
weather had been very dry, and was likely to con-
tinue so, but the crops do not appear to suffer
materially. An extraordinary plague has, how-
ever, made its appearance in the shape of swarms
of rats, which were doing an immense amount of
injury to the standing canes.
Provisions of every kind were scarce and dear.
The fever had disappeared on shore, but still lin-
gered amongst the shipping.

GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN THE INDIAN

ARCHIPELAGO.

The Singapore Free Press of the 4th of February last
quotes from the Java Bode the following account of a
terrible commotion of nature, which commenced on the
16th, or probably the 26th, of November, and lasted un-
til the 22d of December last :

" On the 16th of November, about 20 minutes to 8
o'clock in the morning, a heavy vertical oscillation of
the ground was felt at Banda Neira, which soon changed
into a rapidly increasing undulation from the N.E. to
the S. E., which lasted for more than five minutes. Every
one left his house ; to remain standing was impossible ;
people were obliged to take a firm hold of something, or
throw themselves on the ground. In the morning a
slight shower of rain fell, but otherwise the weather was
not unfavourable.
"At the first shock nearly all the houses were thrown
down or very much shattered. The Government build-
ings, the church, the officers' houses in the encampment,
and the warehouses, suffered the gfeatest injury ; the
Chinese quarter was a heap of ruins—the native village
on the Zonnegat was laid waste. The Papenberg fell
partly in, and two bamboo houses upon it disappeared,-
and on Great Banda the houses of the park-keepers,
their out-houses, and smoking-houses for the nutmegs,
underwent the same fate ; everything there was also

thrown down, or greatly injured. Nothing is visible o:
the village Lonthoir but a heap of ruing. Saru was ter
.ribly shattered, while detached pieces of rock lay every
where scattered around. There were no deaths, how.

ever, to lament, and only some persons were slightly

bruised or wounded.

" But the misfortune did not stop here. About eight
o'clock a disturbance of the sea (zee-beving) occurred,
which filled every heart with fear and dismay, and caused
every one to fly to the highest ground. In quick suc-
cession the bay filled and emptied, and at times appeared
to be only a little river.
" The ship Atiat-al-RaChman, laden with rice, lying
in the roads, twice touched the ground, after—like his
Majesty's brig De Haai, whtch had anchored the day
previous—having been backwards and forwards a num-
ber of times ; but this seaquake increased in a frightful
manner, and thrice overwhelmed Great Banda and
Neira with the largest rollers ; on the last place
they reached several feet high in the houses, and
burst the door open. These huge waves formed
in the Zonnegat, and in the channel of Lonthoir,
and ran so high that they beat over Fort Nassau,
and reached the foot of the hill on which Fort Bel-
.

gica is built, carrying everything with them in their
reflux, but at the same time leaving behind a quantity
of fishes. The prahus in the roads were driven amonc,
and against each other, and carried to and from the
shore. They foundered or drove in the Zonnegat, where
they struck on the shore ; only a few could save them-
selves by flight. These prahus belonged to the Saru and
Key Islands and Ceram, and a part of their crews, find-
ing themselves on shore, sought shelter in one of the
sheds on the old pier, but they could not withstand the
force of the rollers, and in a moment they were torn out
of their place of shelter and driven seawards, there
miserably to perish. It is estimated that 60 men lost
their lives in this way.

" Miserable was the condition of the inhabitants, who
saw the waves, 20 feet high, rolling so irresistibly to-
wards then% threatening to engulf them ; the ground
continually rocking under their feet ; the atmosphere
echoing with loud reports like cannon shots, filling their
harts with fear ; and this all-destructive, indescribable
state of things, lasted not merely for five minutes—an
hour--a day—hut for successive days ; for these fright-
ful natural phenomena only ceased on the 22d of Decem-
ber, while all that time scarcely an hour passed that the
ground did not heave and shake, now in the heaviest
manner, and then lighter, but always so that distrust
and fear remained imprinted in the hearts of the inha-
bitants, who, partly or wholly ruined, without habita-
tions, sheltering in little bamboo huts, looked forward
to the gloomiest future, and will perhaps never be able
to recover the blow which they have received.
"During these earth and sea quakes—which last,
however, did not extend beyond the north side of Neira
and to the south side of Great Banda— Gunong Api
was quiescent, and no alteration was observed in the
smoke proceeding from it.
"The accounts from the islands of Rossengein and Ai
were even more tragical, and the destruction there not
less great. The spice parks Kelie and Noorwegen, on
Great Banda, the last which remained standing, also at
length fell in, and at present there are not more than
two habitable houses in Neira. The residency house has
suffered much-. Rock and earth slips from the Papen-
berg occurred there for a length of time.
"The same diasastrous accounts had been received from
Ceram. An earth and sea quake had also occurred there
on the 26th of November, and caused great damage.
The heavy rollers of the sea bad swept away the houses
on the beach, and thrown more than 10 prahus on shore,
of which a number had been destroyed, while many
persons fell victims to this terrible commotion of nature.
"From Amboyna we also learn that on the morning
of the 26th of November, about half-past eight, the
earth was felt in a direction from N.E. to W.S.W.,
with a duration of about five minutes. This was pre-
ceded on the 10th by some slight shocks. The dis-
turbance of the sea also took place, but not to Eine D_L
a destructive and heavy extent as at Banda, althnsaegh
on the same day. Very little damage was caused.
ia
The accounts from the islands near Am
are not so unfavourable. Nearly
and land. The all expert
extraordinary commotion both of sea enced the
houses at Saparua and many native boats were seriously
injured, and very heavy loss has been
s caused.eavy
shocks of
"At Ternate as well as Bachian tw h
earthquake were felt on the 26th ofeNtheoevyemwbereer,
raetp eeai gt
ehdt
in the morning, and at the last toe
t doing any damage
for some days afterwards, but wit
at either place. The weather Avas
dugi
de nne2lgl v
sc aolumt,
morea
although the mountain Ternate
smoke than usual, a subterranean noise was heard in it,
but not very loud.
" The earthquake wofhi&heo2cocuthrreodf apt
eßcaetnaibviear and Balusia-
tenzorg on the night
felt in the residences of Krawang, Ma elan Bantam
1 and Pekalongan, and in the Lam-
Banyumaas, Tag
pong districts. gCall'olera had broken out at Padang, and
a number of persons had died."

GENERAL SANTA ANNA.—In a communication from
Embil and Co., of Havannah, dated the
12th
IVlessrosf . M. do
March,,
they mention the receipt of a letter from
General Santa Anna, announcing his intention to pro-
ceedto that place by the British steamer of the 24th of
March', and that he is about to accept the Presidency of
Mexico. They add, also, that he intends to adopt the
system of free trade, #nd that a proclamation to that
effect will shortly be issued, which will likewise state
that provision will be made from the revenue for the
payment of the principal and interest of the Converted
Debt. These professions must, of course, be taken
according to the value of promises from new rulers, but
it is probable that the intercourse of Santa Anna with
British merchants at Jamaica may have led him to com-
prehend the true principles of commercial progress, and
that he may thus redly have resolved upon the only
course by which the regeneration of his country can ever
be achieved.

HUDDERSFIELD ELECTION,—The Liberal electors of
Huddersfield have invited Lord Goderich, who was un-
seated for Hull, to stand for that borough. His lord-
ship has so far acceded as to visit Huddersfield, for the
purpose of ascertaining whether his standing would be
of any material service to the Liberal cause in that neigh-
bourhood,