The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-18 00:00:00

DREADFUL EARTHQUAKES IN SYRIA,

OFFICIAL PARTICULARS OF THESE MOST DREADFUL

EVENTS.

" Near the Ruins of Antioch, Sept. 13, 1822.
" It has fallen to my lot to relate the parti-
culars of an event that has thrown most of the
families of this part of Syria into sorrow and
mourning, and all into the greatest difficulties
and distress.
46 On the 13th August, at half-past nine in the
evening, Aleppo, Antioch, Idlip, Riha, Gissor
S hogr, Darwash, Armenes, every village and every
detached, cottage in this pachalic, and some towns
in the adjoining ones, were, in ten or twelve
seconds, entirely ruined by an earthquake, and
are become heaps of stones and rubbish, in
which, at the lowest computation, 20,000 human
beings, about a tenth part of the population, were
destroyed, and an equal number maimed or
wounded. The extreme points, where this ter-
rible phenomenon was violent enough to destroy
the edifices, seem to, be Diabekir and Markab
(twelve leagues south of Latachin), Aleppo and
Scanderoon, Killis and Khan Shehoon. All within
these points have suffered so nearly equally, ex-
cept Orfa and Latachin, which had not suffered
much, that it is impossible to fix a central point.
he shock was sensibly felt at Damascus, Adina,
and Cyprus. To the East' of Diabekir and North
of Killis I am not well informed how far the
effect extended in these radii of the circle.—
The shock was felt so violently at sea, within
two leagues of Cyprus, that it was thought the
ship had grounded. Flashes of fire were per-
ceived at various times throughout the night, re-
sembling the light of the full moon ; but at no
place, to my knowledge, has it left a chasm to
any extent, although in the low grounds slight
crevices are every where to be seen, and out of
many of them water issued, but soon subsided.
There was nothing remarkable in the weather
or state of the atmosphere. Edifices on the sum-
mits of the highest mountains were not safer than
those on the banks of the rivers, or on the beach
of the sea. It is impossible to convey an ade-
quate idea of the scenes of horror that were
simultaneously passing on the dreadful night of
the 13th of August. The awful darkness, the
continuance of the most violent shocks at
short intervals, the crash of falling walls, the
shrieks, the groans, the accents of agony and
despair of that long night, cannot be described.
—When at length the morning dawned, and the
return of light permitted the people to quit the
spot on which they had been providentially saved,
a most affecting soene ensued.—You might have
seen many unaccustomed to pray, some prostrate,
some on their knees adoring their Maker—others
running into each other's arms, rejoicing in their
existence. An air of cheerfulness and brotherly
love animated every countenance.----In a public'
calamity in which the Turk, the Jew, the Chris-
tian, the Idolater were indiscriminate victims, or
objects of the care of an impartial Providence,
every one forgot, for a time, his religious animo-
sities—and what was a still more universal feel-
ing in that joyful moment, every one looked upon
the heaviest losses with the greatest indifference.
But as the sun's rays increased they .were gradually
reminded of the wants of shelter and of food, and
became at length alive to the full extent of the
dreary prospect before them, for a greater mass
of human misery has not been often produced by
any of the' awful convulsions of nature.—A
month has now elapsed, and the shocks continue
to be felt, and to strike terror into every breast
night and day. The fear that they may not cease
before the rainy season commences, has induced
those whose business cannot allow of theirquitting
the ruins of their town, instead'of rebuilding their
houses, to construct temporary hovels of wood
without the wails ; and many families who
thought themselves before this calamity straitly
lodged in a dozen of apartments, now exult in
the prospect of passing the winter in a single room
twenty feet square. The spacious mansion,lhat
has been the residence of the British Consul at
Aleppo for 230 years, is completely ruined. The
houses of all the other public agents and private
European inhabitants at Aleppo have been en-
tirely ruined. At Aleppo the Jews suffered
most, on account of their quartenbeing badly
built, with narrow lanes. Of a population of
less than 3,000 souls, 600 were lost. Of the
Europeans only one person of note, Signor Estra
di Picciotto, the Austrian Consul-General,
and ten or twelve women and children, pe-
rished. But the greater part are now suffering
from ophthalmia and dysentery, occasjoned by
exposure to the excessive heats by day, and to
the cold dews of night.—When it is considered
that two-thirds of the families in Aleppo have
neither the means of making a long journey, to
remove to a town out of the effect of the earth

quake, nor of building a slied to keep off the
rain, it Is impossible to conceive all the misery
to Wick they are doomed the ensuing winter,
or even to find more deserving objects of the com-
passion and charity of the opulent, whom it has
pleased God to place in happier regions of the
Globe.—Here planks and fuel are cheap, and the
people have the resource of tiles, which they
were taught to make by the crusaders, during
their long residence at Antioch ; but at Aleppo,
where wood is very dear, they had no contrivance
to keep out rain, but freestone walls and flat

roofs, made of a very expensive cement."
" September 20, 1822.-1 am sorry to say that
shocks of the earthquake continue to be felt to
this day, the 38th after the principal shock, and
no change has taken place in the state of deso-
lation .that that dreadful catastrophe has pro-
duced.'
" October 18, 1822.—Until the 9th instant,
slight shocks of earthquakes continued to be felt,
since that day they have entirely ceased ; but
confidence in a continuance of safety from that
dreadful calamity is not restored, and although
the rains and cold weather render our temporary
sheds very inconvenient habitations, nobody is
yet inclined to sleep under a coot' supported by
walls."

FOR THE SUN.

THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH'S EXAMINA-
TION QUESTIONS.
( Continued from yesterday's Su No
But even if it can be supposed that it was not
merely intended to restrain the Puritans from cu-
rious research, but also all the ministers of whatever
side, at a time when there were so many " alter-
cations that nourished factions both in the Church
and State," yet now that these leading doctrines
have been so long the subject matter of our ptil-
pits, and have been handled with so much skill
and good sense, and moderation by so many
among us, without the least spirit of faction, or an
allusion to the State ; this part of the declaration
may be considered to all such temperate preachers;
as a dead letter. The spirit is only still alive to
such as go about as in former days when it first
issued, to reduce the curious and carnate; against
such, however " small may be their proportion
to the sounder part of the church, who are known
to preach doctrines subversive of the Church it-
self, and actually calculated to lead men astray
from the way of life." Some of them may be
enthusiasts, some hypocrites, and others an un-
happy mixture of both : a very few may preach
immorality from design, but the greater part from
ignorance, not only on their own part, but on the
part of those who follow them with such blind
admiration. The common people to whom they
generally hold forth, must necessarily take their
sermons in the literal sense, while they perhaps are
meaning only to speak in figure ; and hence may
learn heresy; and while the preachers think they
are teaching the Bible ; their followers imbibe
the most copious draughts of vice and immorality
at the fountain which they would open to them
of Truth and Faith.
But even if this declaration is not a dead letter
to the temperate preachers of the present day.
It surely never can be supposed to restrain the
Bishops or those placed on high, and commanded
to examine candidates for orders, and from ques-
tions which are by necessity included in the very
idea of examination. If he is restrained from
these, he is hindered from doing what by the same
power he is commanded to do : upon this point
the. Bishop insisted with his usual energy and
strength of argument before the House of Peers;
and the highest authority of that House declared
in answer to an Evangelical Earl, who was indul-
ging in the same invective against these ques-
tions, with the Council, as " doubtful in point of
law, and clearly wrong in point of policy,"---that
it was wholly incomprehensible to him how a
Bishop could proceed without some such examina-
tion. If then there is a necessity for examination,
and there is no mode prescribed by, the canons
to require curates to be examined by those whose
duty it is—but it is left entirely to their discre-
tion ; they surely are at liberty to put any ques-
tions, in,whatever form seems most expedient to
the great purpose of " avoiding diversity of
opinion." Nor can it at all signify whether
the questions are viva voce, or in writing, or in
print, only so far as the latter may be more fa-
vourable to the feelings of the modest, or the fa-
culties of the slow, who may become by perse-
verance good and active servants, the more shin-
ing ammeters of the Church. Such worthy and
most serviceable Ministers of our Establishment,
so far from blaming, have to thank this Prelate
for the judicious plan which he has adopted, of
preparing them with the questions to which they
are bound to' answer ; as they may thus enjoy,
the advantage of previous reflection, and not la-
bour under those obstacles to modest merit,
wliich all who have been called. upon suddenly
and viva voce, to give their immediate answers,
must well remember, if they have the least trace
left either of modesty or of merit. If the Bi-
shop is appointed to examine, by what means can
he perform his duty but by questions ? or how
can the " candidate," as he strongly urges,
" yield an account of his faith according to the
articles," as the 34th canon requires, but by an
examination in them ; or how can he answer, as
the Statute still stronger commands, if he is" not
previously questioned? When it was alleged
that the title of the articles itself proves that it
is the articles, and not a Prelate's interpretation
of them, that constitute the only authorised pro-
vision against all diversity of opinion ; the pre-
late's answer was by the articles themselves, as
opposed to the interpretation of them can be
meant nothing more than the bare letter of the
articles. But the bare letter, without reference
to the sense of the articles, expresses no opinion
whatever, and therefore can never operate ac-
cording to the title, as a check on diversity of
opinion.". But not only does this title shew that
the object cannot be attained by the bare letter
without interpretation, but it is a bar likewise to
that latitude of interpretation for which many
contend, and among the rest this Council of Ten,
who seem to think it was " the essence and spirit
of the compilers, both in the articles anti in this
declaration, to merge certain differences of opi-
nion—in some superior and comprehensive bond
of union ; and to Form a peaceable coalition of
the disciples of Calvin with those of Arminius,"
delighted at the thought of seeing men of such
opposite tempers and opinions, go cheek by jowl
together, and from such a concordia discors—
peace and harmony to flow. " But if the articles
may be taken in any other than their literal
meaning, diversity of opinion will not be pre-
vented, but promoted." The church? rt?erefore,
says Heylin, bound men down to the plain literal
grammatical sense, because they could not other-
wise attain the end which they profess of " avoid-
ing diversity of opinion, and establishing consent
touching true religion," if men were left the
liberty of dissenting or putting their own sense
on the articles as they list themselves.
For where there is a purpose of permitting men
to their own opinions, there is no need of
determinations in
,a National Church, no more
than of making laws to bind subjects in an unset-
tled commonwealth, with the intent to leave them
in their former liberty either of keeping or not
keeping them as themselves best please." The
members of the Church are no more left at ran-

dom than the subjects of the Government to tl
and act without any restraint, as if they 111
still in a state of nature, but are under the stn
est obligations to conform in the sense of Ii
Church to her articles, and have no legitU
right to infer a sense of their own, or to 11°
her creed bend to their pre-conceived opnid
" The Church is not so little of a dove of
much of a serpent as to make the articles like
upright shoe, to be worn on either foot, or like'
shoe of Theramenes, fit for the foot of every
who was pleased to wear it." To be shod
the preparation of the Gospel of peace, it must
ut calcuus aim, neither so tight-drawn as tog,
the wearer—nor so lax as to make him stufel
in the plainest ground. He must take the al
ticks not only in the letter but in the spirit
not in the 44 literal sense" alone, but in 4c t
plain and full meaning."

( To be continued. )

CANONICI.,IS'

INCE.-(CILESIHRE.)

In all the list of occurrences we have record
in relation to the late storm, we know of n°
more worthy of recital than one which took .pl 3
in the house of the Rev. Mr. PEEL, of the ahe
place, a near relative of the Secretary for tb
Home Department. While the storm was me
in its utmost violence at about half-past ten,
stack of chimnies fell upon the roof, whichto ,
into the garret with a tremendous crash ; fore
that floor into the room below, and, finally, 10
in the latter,—the whole mass of bricks, tile'
mortar, and two floorings, being precipitated in
the kitchen ! At this time, Miss Peel, a child
Mr. Peel's, and the nurse, were all in the kitcbe
and what is truly surprising, not one of them '
the least injured. It seems the mass of ruins 01'
scended towards the outward side of the hose'
where the spars and boarding of the second floe
shaken from their fastnesses in the wall, gave W9l
and fell in a body, while the opposite extrernitl
of the boarding, though entirely loosened °li
broken off from the inner wall, remained restin
against it, the floor now presenting an oblige
position,somewhat resembling the ridge of a house
Providentially the individuals named were site
ting in that part of the kitchen over which the
flooring stuck, and were thus preserved frog:,
being buried in the ruins.—At the time of this
extraordinary preservation, one not much less sill/
gular occurred in another part of the house. Tie
of Mr. Peel's children were in bed at the time°:
the crash, in a room adjoining the chamber whiC°
had fallen in, when a quantity of bricks and slateo
proceeding from the inner wall of the upPef
room, were precipitated upon the curtain cover'
ing the top of a camp-bed, in which the childree
lay. The weight of the rubbish was at least
sixty pounds, which, though it did not built
through the curtain, forced it downwards 0,
within half a yard of the children, and formed
the appearance of a bag, hanging immediate)/
over them. Of course, immediately after the
accident took place below, these innocents be'
came objects of solicitude, and on the servant'
reaching their room, they were found asleep, tor
hurt !An out-door servant man happening to b°
on the premises when the floors fell, alarmed the
neighbours, several of whom ran to the house,
when Miss Peel, four children, and all the sec'
cants, hastened from the scene of desolation, ana
took refuge for the night in the house of a neigh;
bouring farmer, Mr. Warburton.—Mr, Peel 110
his lady, we understand, happened to be on °
visit at Oxford when the accident occurred ;
but what their emotions would be, when the/
heard of the imminense of the danger, and the
entire safety of their numerous family, is a poine
which will admit of no description.—(Chester
Courant, Dec. 17.)

CoAcit-RACING..Sunday night a dreadful
accident, which is likely to prove fatal to a re'
spectable.individual, occurred in the Mile-Ea°
Road, near the Little Driver public house, origy
nating from the above too frequent and dangerous
practice. It seems that two of the Stratford or
position coaches were driving at a furious rate,
out of town. They crossed each other several,
times on the road. A light chaise, in which were
Mrs. Mayo, of 29, Jane-street Commercial Road,
two children, five more women, and a man, her
pened to be coming up to town at the time, whets
the chaise was run down by one of the stages, and
shivered to pieces. All the persons in it, forte'
nately, escaped with tripng injury except Will'
Mayo, who was so dreadfully hurt that little
hopes are entertained of her recovery.
A few days ago a gentleman called upon NIP
ROBERTSON, one of the Treasurers of the Canon°
gate Charity 'Workhouse, and presented him with
101. for the use of the establishment, saying It
was from a friend of his, who, when a poor bat,
had been brought up and educated in the house,
and as he had been successful in the world, he
presented this sum as a mark of gratitude and re'
spect to the establishment.—( The Scotsman.)