Star.
London, England, 1823-01-09 00:00:00

EARTIIQUArES IN SYRIA.

• Neit to the afflictions of plague, pestilence, and
'tenth* ihete i# no visit4iun so Calamitous or so de-
Vatating as that,of an ear q: tiaie; and the histort
-of the timid presents tis with mait7 lamentable in-
stances of whole cities haring bees i destruylsd atom
" felt swoop." Happily . for us thin country* if not
totally exempt from, etsch-eOncuslions tlf .natu!.ll, is
not heavily visited with .them, and geoTogisti ass.fire
us that the metropolis will_never be thus se*6*ly
visited. While this ougfit to render us grateful to
PROVIDENCE, we should not be unmindful of 4rose
who are less favourably sitaated. The recent, earth-
quake in Syria is one of those calamitous events whiCh'
calls loudly for our sympathy and relief.
" On. the 13th August (says Mr. BARKER, the
English Coasul), at halfpast nine in the evening,
Aleppo, Antioch, Idlib, Atha, Gisser Shogr, Dar-
coush, Armenas, every village; and every detached
cottage id this Pachalic, and some towns in the ad-
joining 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 computa-
tion, twenty thousand human beings, about a tenth
of the population,
;were destroyed, and an equal
number maimed or wounded, The shock was felt;
at sea so violently, within two leagues of Cyprus,
that it was thought the ship had grounded. Flashes
of volcanic fire were perceived at various times
throughout the night, resembling the light of the
full moon ; but at no place, to my knowledge, has it
left a chasm of any extent ; although in the low
grounds slight crevices are everywhere to' he seen,
and out of many of them water issued, but 50,.0
after subsided.'

" It is impossible (continues this Gentleman) to.
convey an-adequate idea elthe scenes of horror that
were simultaneously passing in the dreadful night of
the 13th August. Here hundreds of decrepid pa-
rents, half buried. in the ruins, were,-imploring the
succour of their sons, not always willing to risk their
'own lives by giving their assistance. .There dis-
tracted mothers were franticly lifting heavy storms,
-from heaps that covered the bodies of their lifeless
"infants. ,The awful darkness of the night, the con-
tinuance of the most violent shocics,-at short inter-
vals, the crash of falling walls,, the shrieks, the
groans, the accents of agony and detpair 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
prbvidentially saved, a most affecting scene ensued.
Ton might have seen many, unaccustomed to *prays •
.soiritlitrostrate, some 'on :their knees, adoring their
MAIM& Others there were running into nneano-
thees arms, rejoicing in their existence ! An air of
cheerfulness and brotherly love animated' every
countenante.''' In a public calamity, in which the
Turk, the Jew, the Christian,' the Idolater, were, ilk.
discriminate victims, or
.Objects of-The tare of an
impartial PROVLDescx, every.onefkgorcfor a time,
its religious animosities, apes,, whet *is 'a still more
universal feeling, in thatloyfif rrobntint,• eveiYarnei
looked upon the heaviest losses' with thegretioatt*.
differenee. But as the sun's. rays iporeased,i,tifinokn-,
they were' gradually reminded crf the natural
wants of shelter and of, food,. and
,becalitle
alive to the full Meat of the' dreary prosptethelere
them, for a greater mass of huffiest assiiery.fres obt,
been often produced by- any of,- Prg twfpla
siorts Of nature': - , . • . .
Well then may -be • ezelairn, that, " When it s
considered, that twoabirds of Aleppo
has neither telie.iMeini of making, 'albfig •
to remove to a visits licit of the ea:et o Ali f t earth--
quake, nor of buildings shed to keep off the rain, it
Is impossible to conceive all• the misery to which they
are doomed the ensuing winter, or ever to find more
deserving objects of the compassion and charity of
the•opulent .v.tom it has pleased Gm) to place in
happier regions of the globe."
This apitti, iebitli is forcible and elegant, will not,
we trast, be thick fa vinifs
Extract of a letter from Aleppo, dated August 20,
1822 On the night of Tuesday, the 12th instant,
there were two or three shocks of an earthquake,
which did no injury; but on the night of the follow-
ing Wednesday, about three o'Cloclt, while I was in
the court-yard of my country-house, I perceived the
ground convulsed, and a pitchy darkness prevailed,
with a wind so violent as had never before been
.equalled, and we heard wailings and lamentations,
as if it was the day of judgment. This lasted till
four o'clock, and at five the earthquake ceased, having
in the meantime destroyed 'mat of the. houses and
the walls of the city, while the few that still remain
are in the very worst condition. There are buried
under the ruins about 50,000 persons, including
Turks, Christians, and Jews, among whom ate Sceik
Itazah, head of the Mahometan religion;
Esra Picciotto, Austrian Consul; and Musa •Derian,
Chief Officer of the Customs. The greater part of ,
the churches have been destroyed, and all the mosques
have shared the same fate. No one has the courage'
to approach the city. A Tartar has this 'moment ar-:
rived fi orn Constantinople, who announces that Dar-
kush has been overwhelmed by the adjacent moun-
tain, and that both the place and the population are
buried in the ruins."
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Wszcnr, the celebrated pedestrian, who was locked again for
60 sovereigns,: to walk 100 miles in 44 successive hours, started
from the Crown and Barley-Mow, Gray's Inn-lane, at four
o'clock yesterday afternoon, to walk on a mile of ground near'
. the Archway How. ilight ate-road. lie was accompanied by
his backer and time-keeper, who started him In good spirits
amidst hundreds of specrators.--Betts i►ere in. favour *Mime.

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