The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-14 00:00:00

MONUMENT TO SIR SYDNEY SMITH.

Sir F: BURDETT gave notice of a motion for
this day week to address her Majesty, to erect a mo-
nument to the memory of Sir Sydney Smith.
THE TOBACCO BILL.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
moved that the Order of the Day for the second
reading.of the Tobacco Bill be read, for the purpose of
postponing it.
Mr. HUME wished the Right Hon. Gentleman to
state on what day he would proceed with the Bill, as
the delay had caused considerable anxiety to those
who were engaged in the tobacco trade.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
fixed Monday for the second reading.
ADMITTANCE TO NATIONAL MONU-

_THE_ SUN.,_ LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 1842.

unfortunate survivors, and murdering the wounded
they found among the ruins.
This is no exaggeration, no high wrought colour-
ing. I had- it from eye witnesses, who had to fight
their way through the town, and it would have been
the same here had we suffered to the same extent.
Mr. Theogene Dupuy offered 1,000 dollars to any
one to dig a grave for his wife, and could find no per-
son among the thousands of banditti, who would
undertake the sad office, such was their eagerness for
plunder.
Our friends found refuge on board the ships in the
harbour, but they are all ruined. Poor Mr. Thomson
was going home by this packet full of spirits. The
poor Cerf berrs lost their only child, she was about 16
or 17 years of age, and by such an awful death, it
makes me shudder to think of. All the other towns
in the north, of which we have yet heard, are de-
stroyed, as well as the Cape, Port de Paix, the Mole
Jean Rabel, Plaisance, Limbe, St. Mares, &c. At
Port de Paix they had buried by the last accounts, 110
bodies found. Mountains have been rent in two,
and even at Morne a Selle, the shock was severe !
After such calamities at other places, it may seem
trifling to dwell upon our anxieties here, but these sad
accounts make us very nervous when we feel a fresh
shock, which we do constantly up to this day. Last
night it was very severe, and the night before, during
the most awful storm I have ever seen in Hayti, when
the skies blazed with lightning, the thunder never
ceased, and the rain came down in torrents; one: vio-
lent shock drove every body out of their house, and
many passed the night in the streets. The person
just arrived from the Cape is astonished at any one
sleeping under a roof, so alarmed are they all in the
north.

Mr. M— appears still wild with the fright he
has sustained. He says the town was thrown down
in thirty seconds. The family of Mr. Bird, the Pro-
testant Minister, were at the time in their Belvedere
(or observatory), the house and Belvedere all came
down together, and not one of them was hurt; seve-
ral other escapes were miraculous. Mr. Roden was
in his salon VD stairs, and suddenly found himself in
the street unhurt, amidst the ruins of his own house.
Mr. M— states that no imagination can conceive
the horrors of the event at the Cape, or the subse-
quent excesses of the brigands, who are pillaging. He
thus describes his escape :
He was sitting in the balcony with Mr. T. Dupuy,
Mr. Theogene, &c., when they heard a noise like dis-
tant cannon, and on looking behind them, into the
salon, saw the whole house going down, except just
that portion supporting the gallery. They caught
hold of each other to save themselves from falling,
and waited till the first shock was over ; but such was
the cloud of dust, they could hardly see a few feet
from where they stood. Disengaging himself from
Mr. Theogene, who held him with a grasp of iron, he
jumped down into the street, with Mr. Daly and
others, Mr. Theogene springing into the ruins, all un-
hurt. They lost sight of the latter, and were running
off towards the place, when a man, recognizing the
doctor, ran up to them with a child, whose leg was
dreadfully- fractured. With pieces of shingle and a
handkerchief he set the limb. They then ran towards
the market, clambering over roofs of houses and
fallen walls, amidst the shrieks of the sufferers, and
and reached the place, where they found the church
one heap of ruins, with a few wretches crawling out
of it, poor creatures ! dreadfully wounded. They
then made their way out of the town, to an elevation
called the Fossette, where others had escaped ; and he
says their number was very small. The fire broke
out immediately (the subterraneous fire of the earth),
and many must have been burnt alive in the ruins.
Nevertheless, on . the fourth or fifth day after the
event, he saw people dug out alive.
The next day the ruins swarmed with canaille and
soldiers plundering. Whenever they went into the
town they had to go in bodies, armed to the teeth,
for the fighting in the streets for every article found
never ceased. He mentions having seen four men
fighting for a piece of linen ; two were killed by the
others ; and lie saw two officers ride up, and blow out
the brains of the survivors. He also saw two men fight-
ing for a trifling article ; the weakest being cut down,
he begged for mercy, but all he received was his ad-
versary's sword through his breast. Another coming
up, shot the first assassin. Mr. Alexis Dupuy, in
trying to save some of his property, shot three or four
of the savages, reloading his pistol after each dis-
charge with the utmost coolness.
Mdlle. Cora Cerfberr was found amongst the ruins,
poor thing, dead ! Mrs. John Blain also, from appa-
rently a slight wound on the back of her head. They
could bury them only by covering them with the rub-
bish. Poor Mr. Cerfberr' whose arm was broken,
escaped with his wife, and both are so heart-broken,
as they doated on their child, that they have left the
country. Mr. Thomson writes me a few hurried
lines, under great distress of mind. He is also going
home.

The Cape in fact no longer exists. Mr. ----- states,
that the people at the Cape appeared stupified and
wild at the extent of the calamity. Every one you
met had lost more or less of their family, and yet not
a tear was shed. In some instances whole families
had disappeared. I conversed some time with him,
and was sickeued by his accounts, which would fill
pages, if transcribed.
Mr.Dupuy is not returned, hut we expect him daily.
We are more tranquil here at present, not having felt
a shock for the last two days. Ido not know how
long our present uneasiness of feeling may last. Mr.
. built of wood,
much Dupuy, however, leaves this house in a few months to
occupyih a building near it, which, being
safer than the present store. ;'or a fortnight
preceding
the earthquake, the heat of the atmosphere
was both excessive and unusual for the season, and
the day it happened the air was hot, calm, and, as the
French say, gras, or hazy.

- -
I have just seen. Mr. Bird, whose miraculous es-
cape I have alluded to, and I cannot resist giving yOu
his own account. lie was in his balcony when the
shock came, and before he could make out what it
was, thelwall of the house came down, and he foun d
himself on his face in the street; as soon as he re-
covered from the shock, and the dust had subsided, he
thought of his wife and children, who were in the
Belvedere, which had not fallen, but was still propped
up; to this he clambered as well as he was able, and
found his wife and children unhurt, supported by one
side of the Belvedere. The other side had fallen. He
brought them down in safety, and went to look for
another child in the kitchen; he found it uninjured
among heaps of rubbish, a door having fallen over it
,in • such a manner as to protect it entirely from the
fallen ruins. He says not a stone of Mr. Thomson's
house, next to his, remained on another. lle con-
siders the loss of life enormous, as after the town came
down he saw only a few stragglers here and there. lle
says there are no streets, all is blocked up with rubbish.
I have written you all these details, as I am sure
you will not consider them tedious, however clumsily,
without method, put together like a journal.
MAY 21.—A shipload of the sufferers has arrived
from the Cape. Amongst them are the Blain family.
Miss Margaret Blain appears with two blackened
eyes, and other bruises. She had an extraordinary
escape. She was sitting in the saloon, with her sister.
In a moment she found herself in the street ; her sis-
ter was crushed to death ! Mr. Boden, who was in
the second floor, found himself suddenly on a heap
of rubbish at the bottom of the house, the roof having
disappeared. I refrain giving you any more particu-
lars of the sufferings, as they are too harrowing to
dwell upon. Every day I hear of some fresh scene of
horror. Mr. Dupuy's child was found unhurt two
days after, among the ruins, with the nurse.