The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-14 00:00:00

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LOA DON, MONDAY, SEPT. 14, 1868.

It is not often that we have to chronicle such
terrible and startling intelligence as reaches us to-
day from South America. The calamity is so great
that it is difficult to realise it, and it seems to be-
long rather to the startling records of earlier ages
than to the ordinary events of our every-day life.
Fearful earthquakes, we are told, occurred on the
13th of August in Peru and Ecuador, in which
from twenty-five to thirty thousand lives were lost.
At first sight we might hope that the reality might
have been less disastrous than the report, and that
some degree of misapprehension or exaggeration
had prevailed. Some time since one of the
perio3ical convulsions of nature in tropical cli-
mates occasioned much distress. A report gained
ground that a whole ishtnd had been submerged,
and for some d:l\ s great uncertainty prevailed.
Happily it turned out that the truth was much less
terrible, and the lo .is was comparatively s nal'. In
the present case, howeve7., there is litt:e ground for
hop .. In the first plac2, the communication be-
twe:.m _North and South America is touch more
direct and certain than that wi:h any outlying
itd.tit,l:;, and the date of the news from Phila-
delphia is jast one month later than the first
day of the catastrophe, s) that it is
not a mere random rumour, but Dews
founded on advice received simultaneously from
many quarters. The destruction of eight cities,
whose names are mentioned, besides smaller towns
of Ecuador and Peru, leaves little ground for
hoping that the loss of life can have been much less

t wa3 reported. -1.1,,) earthquakes, Trnicia com-
menced on the 13th of August, last2l three days,
totally destroying the cities of Arequipa, chief tcwn
of the Peruvian coast, province of that name, Arica,
Iquique, Pisco, Ibarra, Tacunga, Tacna,
Juan-Cavelica, and many others. In Peru
the loss of life is estimated at 2,000, and
in Ecuador at 20,000. Most of the inhabi-
tants of Arica and Arequipa escaped with
their lives, but in other directions the loss of life
was immense. In presence of such wholesale
slaughter the destruction of property occupies a
very secondary place, but it has necess trily been
very extensive. It is roughly estimated at
£60,000,000, but of course so soon after the cala-
mity it must have been impossible accurately to
measure its extent. As is usually the case
in earthquakes much damage was done by
the tidal waves which followed, and many
vessels were wrecked, among them being the
American steamers Trenonia and Waterer, the
British ship Chancellor, and the Peruvian ship
America. We may form a faint conception of the
violence of these waves from the fact that the Wa-
terer was carried half a mile inland. Mr. BILLING-
HURST and his family perished at Iquique. This
gentleman is mentioned as the British Consul, but
this is a mistake, since he was the representative of
the Argentine Republic. It is scarcely necessary to
add that there is great suffering among the survi-
vors, since the whole of the beautiful and fertile
country which stretches between the Pacific and
the Andes is a scene of desolation. Ibarra, in
Ecuador, is within one degree of the equatorial line.
Iquique, an island in the south of Peru, is more than
a thousand miles distant from it, and while the
latter is, as we have said, an island and seaport,
I Ibarra stands high among the mountains. Pasco,
which is reckoned to be the most elevated city
of the world, stands or stood at an immense eleva-
tion, but whether on the coast or in the clouds,
whether situated among the glowing verdure of the
tropics or among the snowy peaks,
" Where Andes, giant of the western sphere,
Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world,"
One destruction appears to have been equally swift,
conclusive, and terrible. All alike were seated on
that beautiful but treacherous soil, which has so
often converted fair and prosperous cities
into desolate ruins, and changed a thriving popu-
lation into a few scattered groups of mourners.
To us accustomed to colder and safer climates it
appears marvellous that men should be found wil-
ling to risk their lives by dwelling in such plaices,
but the story of Ilerculanmum and Pompeii is no
new one. It woul t seem as though mrn grew as
reckless as Nature in such in regions, that he was
willing to enjoy her lavish gifts to-day with the
chance of her sudden powers to-morrow. Accus-
tomed to violent shocks, to extremes of tempera-
ture, to tempests of terrific violence, the denizens
in those volcanic regions would seem to hold life
more lightly than the inhabitants of a temperate
zone. Each, no doubt, has his advantages and his
compensations, though it is not often the history of
human suffering presents us with so startling and
terrible a record as that of these Peruvian earth-
quakes.

Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE has been addressing
the electors of North Devon at considerable length,
and the right hon. baronet spoke oat in his ttival
straightforward manner. He declared that the

position they were now in as a Government was
neither very satisfactory to themselves nor very
advantageous to the country, not being supported

by a majority of the House of Commons.
things are requisite in order that an Administration

T tiro

deserve the confidence and support of the country,

that its policy be popular, and that it performs the

business of the nation properly in the several de-
partmects of public business. We entirely agree

with Sir S. NORTTICOTE that there is nothing

for the Government to ba ashamed of for the
manner in which they have conducted the
public affairs of the country. Various circutn-

stances might more or less affect the position of
affairs, and as the right hon. baronet truly said,
no Administration, Whig or Tory as they chance to
be, ouglat to be blamed for what they cannot pre-

vent. They must be judged according as they
have done their best under the circumstances they
find themselves in. Fair allowance should certainly

be made for the present Government, for they
assumed the responsibilities of office in most ad-

verse times. The Fenian conspiracy was moat

alarming when they came to conduct the councils
of the country, and they were in no
ways responsible, directly or indirectly, for
it. It began some two or three years
before they took office, and yet they had the
awkward task of putting it down with a ne-
cessarily strong hand. The first winter during
which this Government was in power was most
painful, and the conspiracy may then be said to
have reached its height, and those in authority who
bad the most direct charge of preserving the public
peace were greatly to be pitied for the burden
ithat fell upon them. We are now happily free from
anxiety on this score, but it, is only just at a time
like a general election to look back and see what
bas been done for the benefit of the country, and
certainly no one has a right to deny that the Fenians
would not have been put down so effectually if it

had not been for the determined policy pur-
sued towards them. This, in connection with the
line taken by the American Government, succeeded,
and thus the mischievous effort was effectually
checked. So far as foreign affairs stand the Go-
vernment is in a better position than when it came
into office.

The expenditure of the present Administration
has been so sharply criticised that it is not sur-
prising a member of the same should speak on the
subject. At the same time Sir S. NORTIICOTE
spoke very moderately, and found no fault
with those who declaimed against the expen-
diture, only adding that a good answer
might be given to the charges preferred. The
expenditure has been increased during the last two
years. But why ? Because it was found absolutely
necessary for the good of the country that it should
be so. Nothing can be fairer than the way Sir S.
N ORTII COTE put it to his hearers. If the late Go-
vernment want to take the credit of the improvements
in the army, for which they issued a Commission
to inquire, let them also take the responsibility ;
but they wish to have the merit, and let others pay
the bills they left behind. "Let us have it one way
or the other," exclaims the Secretary for India, very
justly, and we think even his opponents will agree
that his demand is a fair one. We would direct
particular attention to the remarks here male on
the subject of the ray of our soldiers, because it is
one too apt to be neglected or overlooked. Our-
army differs from those on the Continent because
they are supported by conscriptions, while ours is
an army of volunteers ; it becomes, therefore, ,-)f
consequence that all that can be done should be
tried to improve the condition of the soldier.
General PEEL did a good deal of service to the
country by the spirited manner in which he took
up the conversion of the weapons. At one of the
Cabinet councils held at the time of the German
war, General PEEL came down and said,
" Here is a great war pu the Continent, a great