The Sun.
London, England, 1818-07-11 00:00:00

DREADFUL FLOOD AT MARFIGNY.

The only accouirs of the calamitous inundation
in the valley of Martigny which have bitherio
reached us, have been those contained in the
French Papers. The following interesting corn-
niunication has been received from a Gentleman
now at Geneva, vho visited the valley about the
end of last mouth.' The letter is dated—

" GENEVA„I use 30.
" As we approached Marrigny we observed the
first appearances of the flood ; but never did.l
witness so melancholy a picture of desolation as
the village of Martigny exhibited. This village
lies at the mouth of a valley ‘vhich is about half a
mile broad, and the houses occupying about 500
or (100 yards across it mm the !otter side. The
water rose in some houses to the height of three
feet, in others as high as fourteen. Timber,
wrecks of houses, &c. lay piled against any ob-
stacle that had been sufficient to stop them, and
against the walls of such houses as were not swept
away, up to the second story. Where the val-
ley is so broad, and at the di,tance of twenty-four
miles from the lake, I could never have con-
ceived that so much damege could have been
done ; but when I was told that the torrent
traversed this distance in one hour and a half, my
surprise was that every single house in the valley
was not swept away. Time inhabitants expected
that the signals which had been established with
the view of warning tin m in case such an accident
occurred, would have given them five hours time
to escape ;---juilge then of their horror and dis-
may, when, instead of five hours, they had scarce-
ly
a quarter of an hour to fly from the danger. Time
signals had been very negligently arranged, and
bad frequently on previous times given false
alarms. The steps taken to prevent the increase of
the lakel(which finally burst out upon them), and if
possible to drain it off, were more decisive, though
they did not avert the calamity. An immense
glacier had been formed last winter across the
valley, so as to prevent the passage of the Draftee,
which fails into the Rhone below Martigny. This
river thus stopped, accumulated so far as to I'orm
a lake a mile and a quarter in length, 230 yards
wide, and 3.; yards deep. The glacier, when 1 saw
was 2000 feet broad at the base, and 140
feet high. In the month of May, lam told, it
was much larger, and was 5000 feet broad. In
order to drain off the lake, or, at least, to pre-
vent its increase, a gallery was cut through this
mass of frozen snow, near time top. This gal-
lery was 608 feet long. Of course, when the wa-
ters of the lake ;cached so high, they flowed
through this gallery. But what occasioned the
mischief was, that the water undermined the,gla-
cier below the level of the lake, in consequence
of which, on the IGth of June, a great part of it
gave way, and then began the work of desola-
tion. One village, situated -about three quarters
ora mile below the lake, was totally swept away.
Not a vestige of it, now remains ; and its place
is filled by large masses of stone and sand,—
Warty of these masses of stone weigh several tons,
and have been forced at least a quarter of a .mile
from their beds. I measured one of . them. It
was 15 feet long, 12 broad, and eight in thick-
ness. This dreadful torrent did not last more
than andmour, anti within that short space of tithe
the havoek was completed. A great part of the
valley is irrecoverably lost, and the embankments
of the Drauce are yoke ruined. Several lin-
dreds of the inhabitants of the neighbouring vil-
lages ate now employed in maiiiog barri:rs against
the eaciusehments of the river, and in Mali-

.
ink -tuna l tind the 'lumber of lines-io.st
during the flood is about thirty, and the loss of
property is estimated at 100,000 t. which- falls
heariiy On these poor peoplt, who are all of very
slender fortune.

TIT E A-41' It 1C A E ISTE
Performed rtts't Night. ti
THEATRE ROYAL, e7ovr.NT-GARDE,:.—she Stoops to Conquer :
Young Marlow, Mr. (:. livrohle ; Miss Harcleastle, Miss
Brunton. After which, John of Faris.
THEATHF. RoTAL, ENGLIAII OPERA, STrtANn.—Fire and Wa-
hl-. After which, Free and Easy . Sir Frvemaii, Mr.
Wrench ; Gertrude, Miss Kelly. To which was added, La
Perouse.

*,* Of PoLITicAr, SOCIETY (Sect. 2), on Montiay.

Ni

ARatvEn--1 Dahlia, I Waterford, 1 Guernsey and Jersey,
1 Holland, l France, 2 liarohurgli. Du L-1 Alulta.

ritlcE OF STOCKS
TH DA V AT TWEINF: o'C;.ocic,

India 80nd5.....955. lons. pr.
Exch. Bills, 2d 19s. 0111. pr.
Ditto, 2id.. 20s. 21s. pr.
thuniuni. . dis. 14 dis.
Cons. fi,r Account.-- .78-:;1-

2 per Cent. B 771
3 per Cent. Cons 7-74A
per Cent 8711
4 prr Cents .. 9t;-;1 97 961
5 per Cent. N. Ann. iO5/M3
Bank L. Ann.... 20 5-I Labs ./4.
WATER Al LONDON BRIDGE TO•MOINOW.
:Morning, -28 minutes alter S. I Evening, 53 ininutes atter 8-

11111 E UN.

1101,EM qu I)ICERE AUDEAT

LON DONT,
SATURIMY, JULY 11, 1818.

We received last night the Paris Papers of
Tuesday last, and this morning those of Wednes-
day. Thty maintain the most cautious silence
with regard to the Cotispiracy.
Monday the Duke de IlicuELIEtT, the Austrian
Minister Plenipotentiary, and the Count de PAL-
MELLA, the Portuguese Ambassador to the Court
of London, had a conference with the Duke of
WELLINGTON. They all proceeded afterwards to
the hotel of the English Ambassador.

It is again said, that a marriage will take place
between Prince FREDERIC, Nephew of the King
of SAxoNY, and Heir Presumptive to the Throne,
and the Archduchess CAROLINE, daughter of the
Emperor of AUSTRIA, and that it will be solern,
nized in the course of the ensuing autumn.

The negociations between Prussia and Saxony
are, it is asserted, about to be definitively ar-

ranged.

According to a resolution adopted by the Diet
of Frankfort, the contingents furnished by the
principal States of Germany to the force of the
Confederation are to form separate corps under
their own Commanders.

The following are extracts from the Journals of

Wohlesday

" Jutr S.—The Sieur Pasquier, Master
of Requests, Prefect of La Sarthe, is appointed
Director-General 'of the Sicking Fund, in the
room of the Count Beugnot, resigned.
" The King will go on the 27th instant to
liambouillet, to a superb chace, and return the 29th
to Saint Cloud ; on the 30th his Majesty returns
to the Capital.

" It is thought that the Duke of Wellington,
after a short stay in the Capital, will proceed again
to England, and afterwards, at the period of the
meeting of Sovereigns, go to Aix-la-Chapelle.
" Uu the 30th ult. a young Englishman, aged
17, who had just embarked at Calais with his fa-
ther and brother to return to England, cut his
throat with a razor. Assistance was immediately
rendered, and he was re-handed. He is consi-
dered in great danger.

" The house of Joan d'Arc, at D►►mremy
(Vosges), was recently about to be sold to a fo-
reigner, tvl►o had otiered 6,000 francs, but the
proprietor (an old dragoon) hearing that the De-
partment wished to purchase it, he agreed to sell
the house to them fur the inlet ior price of 2,500

francs.
" New negotiations are spoken of between the
Netherlands and Prussia, respecting exchanges of

erritory.