Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-09-04

Sec. D. y
,-ns in defence Of himself and tue state. |
= Sec. 10. The military shall in all cases, |
md At al times. be in strict subUrdinaiion |
TO the civil power.
Soc 90. No soldier shall in time OF peace
he ausrtered in any house, without me con,
sent Of the owner: nor ~ time o. war DUE
in manncrio be prescribed ny law
Sec. 2l. No hereditary einoluments' pr
yileees, or honors shall ever re granted, or
conferred, in this State, -,
Sec. g. No citizen of this State shall be
exied, or prevented from emigra;ins on
any pretence whatever. -
Sec. 90. The right Of trial by. Jury shall
remain inviolate.
Extract OF letter to the Editor OF the
Boston Daily Advertiser, from a friend
now in Europe, dated 600
Loueche Baths, June FL, 1918.
Perhaos YOU will have seen some ac-
count of the inundation, which has just o.
verwhelned the fine village Of Martigny,
and NAV he curious to know more OF the
p,rticufars of this disaster. Coming now
from the scene of ruin, and being stopped
ON my way over the Gemmi, by ram
| Storm. have thought that a leisure hour
nigh, not be ill employed in giving you
short history of this devastation. Mar'igny
was village in the Canton OF the Na'als,
of about five hundred houses and three
thousand inhabitants, situa'ed upon the
Rhone. exactly in the point where it chan
ores lis course from w. ;. w. to \. \. w
and where it receives The Dranse, a small
but rapid river, arising in Inc Glaciers oi
I st. Bernard and Mount Combin. The
Glacier of the latter, called Chermontana
is remarkable for its height, anu for the
distance it extends from the summit ct the
mountain-the water, which comes from
il. trickles down from beneath, and soon
unites in The creyice OF an enormous mass
of rocks, and forms the eastern branch Of
the Dranse, which flowing thro' The valley
of Bagnes, is joined by the other branch al
st. Branchier, and then continues its
course through Martigny TO the Rhone, rs
before described. This Glacier has been
melting underneath for some time past
two years since considerable masses OF it
began to fall, but il was not till the begin
ming of the last month that any danger was
apprehended from them--a huge block
then fell and completely Fl led up the pas
sage, Ivy which lake fifteen thousand feet
long and eight hundred wide, was immedi-
ateiy formed, that rapidly increased in
depth, and soon had more than two hun
bred feet of water.-This, as may be well
supposed, excited great alarm, and the
more, when they recoIlected what terrible
destruction similar obstruction had caused
in 1915. Engineers were called TO exam
inc the Lake and devise some mode OF
gradually discharging it. They decided
that the mass of ice, which blocked up the
passage, must be perforated by a gallery,
and the water led into the usual course of
the Dranse-ths was accordingly done
an hundred workmen Immediately began
cutting the ice, and in the course of eight
or ten days gallery Of a dozen feet square
was finished, which promised to discharge
the lake without danger. The grand
Council of the Canton Immediately gave
notice, that nothing more was TO be feared
! but it was fatal security-the rapid
flow of the water soon enlarged the pas
sage, and at length, in the afternoon of
June 10th large piece of the glacier sud-
denly broke of, and the lake instantly
rushed down the valley carrying with il e.
very thing which impeded its course. In
one hour and half this immense volume of
water was at Marigny, a distance Of TWEEN
ty four miles from whence it started, and
a descent of six feet TO an hundred, upon
an average-you will judge from this OF
the velocity and violence with which it
moved and as the valley is not enlarged
but little, till the very entrance Of this vii
lage, the overwhelming mass poured IFS
full force upon il.
The rushing of the mighty waters was
heard and reached the unhappy fugitive,
before he could find a refuge from its fury
the feetest horse could not flee before it
several who trusted to this means of es.
cape, were overtaken and lost in fact,
most of those who were in the fields and
the streets were victims Of the overwhel-
ming food "a few escaped by springing
on some neighboring tree, or Selling hold
of some floating timber the greatest
part of those who remained quietly in
their houses escaped unhurt, for but a
small number of houses were swept away,
and those only which were built of wood
all the barns, stables, and such like light
buildings were overthrown almost without
an exception, and hence the number of
horses and cattle lost was prodigious. |
did not reach the spot until two days after
the calamity, but | was fully in season to
see how dreadful was the havoc which had
been made. The great road upon the leit
bank of the Rhone being still impossible,
was obliged 10 climb over one Of Rob
Roy's passes, upon the other side, which
brought me out TO hill upon the bank Iii
rectly opposite the vilage-such scene
of ruin as then lay before me, never be-
fore wtnessed-the whole of the delight
full valley around Martigny presented no.
! thing but devastation-wEen | passed O.
yer ii, found every thing destroyed--not a.
blade of corn or spire of grass remained