The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-04-11 00:00:00

' Out of fourteen parish churc

eighty-two are rent from top to bottom, or otherwise se-
verely, and, it is to be feared, irreparably damaged; fifty-
five are partially injured, but almost all of then:require ea -
tensive repairs to render them serviceable in saving the pre-
sent crop. The works, dwelling-houses, and labourers' cot-
tages attached to these mills, have shared their fate in equal
proportion. The numerous free villages are heaps of ruins,
and many a head, which rose from its pillow that morning,
elated by hope and the expectation of future prosperity, at
night was either houseless and homeless, or obliged to take
such temporary shelter as could be erected at the moment
from the fragments of the shattered buildings ; and it is
much to be feared that more than one respectable family still
remains in the same destitutetdondition and without the
means of repairing their dwellingjso utter and overwhelming
has been the ruin with which they have been so unexpect-
edly overtaken."

Nor is this fearful devastation all which the unfortu-
nate proprietors and labourers of Antigua have to
mourn over, for years of uninterrupted prosperity
will not suffice to repair the damage; and how much
of it must to the unfortunate sufferers be altogether
irreparable ! The luxuriant crops of the island gill
stand, we are told, in the midst of the ruin, " unscathed
and vigourous, as if smiling in derision at the perish-
able works of man's hands ;" and the bulk of that
valuable crop, reared with such pains, both planter and
labourer are doomed to see rot upon the soil " for want
of the means to convert it to the use of man."

Surely, a calamity, so widely.spread in its effects—
so irremediable by the unaided energies of the popula-
tion of Antigua—should call forth the active sympa-
thies of a commercial community such as Liverpool,
and especially of a community enjoying with that
island, as we do, a large and valuable commerce. To
every interest—to the merchant as well as the humblest
trader--such an instance of the visiting of an inscru-
table Providence appeals. To men of every religious
persuasion—to the churchman as well as to the dis-
senter—it appeals ; for the cathedral and churches of
the former are equally in ruins with the chapels of the
latter. To the friends of emancipation, too, it addresses
itself powerfully; for " the numerous free villages are
heaps of ruins," and their dispossessed population are
driven houseless by the fate which has converted into
desolation thKir lately smiling cottages and provision"
grounds. The calamity, like death, has presented itself
alike at the doors of the wealthy and of the poor; has
prostrated equally the mansion and the hovel, the tem-
ple and the humble edifice " where•two or three are
met together" in God"s name.

We do hope, then, to see in this town an effort
made, worthy of the occasion, to relieve, and promptly
too, the distress which is rife at present in Antigua.
Already the legislatures of the neighbouring West
Indian islands have come forward with all the aid to
be expected from colonies far from being in that posi-
tion of prosperity which would permit their hands to
be as liberal as their wishes. The Colonial Office at
home has consented to aid the planters with tempo-
rary loans to meet their instant emergencies. The
means accruing from these sources, however,:we ob-
serve with regret, are so fearfully deficient that aid can
only be granted to " those persons who are in the most
destitute condition." They are utterly unequal to ena-
ble a single individual in the island to provide for more
than his daily and pressing wants of food or temporary
shelter. From the private benevolence of the British
people—so abundantly manifested when the sufferers
from any calamity inforeign countries have appealed to
us—we can alone look for any efficient measure of aid;
and to that benevolence, so far as Liverpool at least is
concerned—we trust that the prostrated people of
Antigua—a people sharing our own liberty, and wor-
shipping the same God in the same language with our-
selves—will not appeal in vain. Let the effort be
promptly and energetically made; and it cannot fail
here to be as promptly and abundantly responded to,
unless the people of our good old town have become
more selfish and forgetful of that gratitude which they
owe to the all-wise Disposer of human events—for the
protecting care with which he has hitherto withheld
from this land such awful visitings of his anger—than
we have ever believed them to be !

Since the above was writteu we have received an
advertisement, which appears elsewhere in our publi-
cation this day, by which it will be seen that all who
have an inclination to come forward and lend a helping
hand, can do so—a subscription having been com-
menced, and to which the public of Liverpool are
invited to contribute.

LOCAL NEWS.

Commission signed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County
Palatine of Lancaster—Henry Lawrence, Esq., to be De-
puty Lieutenant. Gazelle.
THE MAGISTRACY.—At the sessions held at Lancaster on
Monday week. George Edward Wilson, Esq., of Heversham,
Manthorpe, Westmorland, qualified as a magistrate for this
county.

SAINT DAVID'S CHURCH, LIVERPOOL.—We understand
that the trustees will proceed to the election of a minister on
Wednesday, the 3d of May nxxt ; end that it is their inten-
tion to make every effort to procure assistance for one or
more of the services from the Pastoral Aid Society.
THE WEATHER.—Since our last the weather has been ex-
tremely variable. On Sunday morning rather a smart shower
of snow fell; and, early on Monday morning the ground was
slightly covered with snow. Yesterday the sun shone bril-
liantly at intervals, but the atmosphere was damp and cold.
The Manchester Guardian of Saturday announces the
deaths of two persons, one a boy aged 14 years, and the other
a domestic servant, in consegnence of having fallen whilst
engaged in the reprehensible practice of cleaning windows at
the outside of the premises.
FEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM.—On Sunday last a sermon
was preached in Christ Church, by the, Rev. Fielding Ould,
on behalf of that interesting institution—the Liverpool
Female Orphan Asylum. The children were present in their
neat dress, and a sum of £4-1 was collected for the Charity.
We hope this example will have many imitators.
SUDDEN DEATH.—On Saturday morning Stewart Slack.
a labourer, aged 30, left his home at five o'clock to proceed
to his work. Shortly afterwards, as he was passing the Mo-
nument, in London-road, he was observed to stagger and
fall. Ile was lifted up by four persons who went to his as-
sistance, and it was supposed that he was in a fit. 1-le,died
in a few minutes. lie had complained the day before of a '
palpitation of his heart.

LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.—It is announced,
that Mr. Williams will read a paper to this society this
evening, on "The Combustion of Coal Gas," in reply to one
lately read by Mr. Smith, on " The Combustion of Smoke."
The subject is an interesting one, the former gentleman ad-
vocating the prevention of smoke by the complete combus-
tion of the gases generated from coal, in furnaces ; the latter,
the combustion of the smoke after it has been formed.
Both gentlemen allege, that on the distinction between the
combustion of gas or smoke depends the correctness of the
means adopted for abating the nuisance.
ROBBERY FROM THE rEasom.—Yesterday, a woman of
depraved habits was charged before Mr. Rushton, at the
police-court, with having on the previous day stolen a purse
containing a five pound Bank of England note, several sove-
reigns, and a quantity of silver. From the evidence of the
prosecutor, a most respectably dressed young man, it ap-
peared that he met the prisoner in Russell-street, and after
some conversation left her, when feeling in his pocket lie
missed his purse. He went in search of the prisoner, and
found her with the purse in her possession, which she agreed
to give him for a sovereign. She was committed to take her
trial at the sessions.

belonging
lured: seven have been levelled to the ground, five are se-
verely shaken and damaged, the school houses have shared
the same fate. •

e cathedral of St. John, and chapels
lisped Church, only two remain unin-

" The Wesleyan chapel in St. John's is very seriously in-
jured : the two chapels belonging to that persuasion in the
country are totally in ruins : of the remaining six, one only

has escaped without extensive damage.
" With one exception, the Moravian churches, which are
principally built of wood, have been less injured.

" In the city of St. John, the destruction of property, both
in buildings and goods, has been general and extensive
One-third of the houses and stores, and those the most valu-
able, having been the most substantially built, are strewed
upon the ground. A large portion of the remaining houses
are ao shattered as to be uninhabitable ; and every building
has sustained more or less injury.

Not one public building has escaped. The Cathedral, the
Jail, the House of Correction, the Custom-house, the Luna-
tic Asylum, the Fort which protected the harbour, and the
Barracks, are masses of ruins. The walls of the Court-
house are so rent and shattered that it cannot, until re-
paired, be used for any public purpose. These were all
buildings of strong masonry, and most of them have resisted
the hurricanes and tempests of the last century. The Go-
vernment House alone (built of wood) has escaped, with
partial injury to its foundations and offices.

"To these may be added the Barracks and Cantonments
on Shirley Heights' and the Ridge, so much injured as to be
uninhabitable by the troops, who, like those near St. John's,
are obliged to be encamped. Dow's Hill, the property of
the Ordnance Department and the country residence of the
Governor-in-Chief, is nearly destroyed ; the dock-yard and
other buildings at English Harbour most seriously damaged,
and the village of English Harbour and the small town of
Falmouth almost entirely in ruins.
On the morning of the eventful day which witnessed this
great calamity, one hundred and seventy-two sugar mills

stood ready to grind the luxuriant crop then nearly ripe for
the harvest. Of these, thirty fide are entirely overthrown;