Litchfield enquirer., 1832-03-01
.wrrtr. DrsrRucTIoN AT BAgDAD.

Several weeks eIncS WC OttsAy "VuCco tuS srpat devastation of life and property In Dag dad and the vicinity by PcstiIence, InundatlOn nnd the sword. The judgments Of God have indeed fallen heavily upon this seat fthe an- cierSt Babylon. Out of a population Of 8O,- GOO souls which Bagdad contained only one veor since. less than 25, ,OOO now remain in inc land of the living! The following affect ing particulars Of the awful ravages of the plague and the inundation are from the jour nal of Mir. Groves, an English missionary, ,whO has resided for some years in the city under the protection of MT. Taylor, the British con- sul. ". Y. JOS.
 AprI 22.-Surely every principle of dsso- lution is operating in the midst of the Otto man and Persian empires, plaques. earth ouakes, and civil wars. Having had Occa- sion tO d ay to go out tO the Residency to en- deayor to save some things from the water which has come into all the cellars, in every way Twas overwhelmed with the awful state of inc city. It is difficult to obtain help of any kind, at any price. The servant of Mir. Taylor, who is left in charge of the house, told me he had applied in every direction, but could get no one :; one had wife dead, or dying; another mother; another was em- pIoyed in carrying water for the dead; and in our way we saw the yard of the Mashid
 
 there, they were burying the dead in the pub lie road. Amidst all, the Lord lets not his destroying angel enter our dwelling; though tens of thousands are failing around US, we are all, by his grace and holy keeping. well. The business of death is now come to that height, that people seem to take their nearest relatives and bring them for interment with as much indifference as they would transact the most ordinary business.
 '2S.-The plague not decreasing. Two more brought out from the passage opposite, making seventeen from eight houses. The mother of the Seyd, who owns our house, has been buried in her house. no one being to be got to bury her. Another most affecting instance has just occurred: little girl, 0f a. bout IF years old, was seen carrying an infant in her arms. .and being asked whose it was, she said she did not know, but had found it in the road, having heard that. both it's parents were dead. Water now is not to be had for mo- ney.
 .24.-They have just been digging graves consumed, so that persons are wandering all over the city to find some for burying their dead. Water not to be had at any price, not . water.carrier to be seen. Oh what heart- rending scenes sin hes introduced into this world! When will the Lord come to put an end to these scenes of disorder, moral and physical! In one short month, not less than SO,000 souls have passed from time to eterni- ty in this city, and yet even now there is no diminution, apparently, of death. Surely the judgement of the Lord is in this land !- One more taken from the little passage Oppo- site, making eighteen from the eight houses.
 26.-Thc accounts are heart-rendiDg of lt- tlo children left in the streets; five were left yesterday, a poor woman said, near the resi- dency, and in every other direction. If the wrath of God is pouring out on the mystical Babylon as it is in this province on the literal, the two antichrists are beginning to draw near their end.
 27.-To.day all thoughts are turned from the plague to the innndation the falling of portion 1.-the city wall on the north west side last night, let the water in full stream into the city. The Jews quarter is inundated. and. 200 houses fell there last night, we are hourly expecting to hear that every part of the city is overaown. A part also of the wall of the citadel is fallen. It must be ma ny, many years, if ever, before the city can recover. But it seems to me that this seat ofMahon'edan glory. and of it's proudest re- collections, has received its death warrant from the hand of the Lord. This inunda- ton has not only ruined an immense number of houses in the city, and been the cause of tens of thousands dying of the plague, but the whole harvest Is destroyed. The barley, which was just ready to be reaped, is utterly gone, and every other kind of corn must like wise be ruined, SO that for thirty miles all round Bagdad not grain of corn can be col lected this year; and, perhaps, if all was qui. ct, this might be of no consequence, for from Mosul and Kaurdistan, it might easily come, but here at present is nothing but line of en- ennies, with whom this Pashalic has no com munieation. The poor arc beginning to feel immense difficulty in the city for all shops being shut. they have no where to buy, and there being great scarcity of wood, they are unable to cook; and should the water now occasion general inundation of the whole city, the heart sickens at the contemplation of the scenes that must follow for if the hous- cs of the rich are but imperiectly built, the houses of the poor are nothing but mud, and scarcely one of them will be left standing.
 28.-Wc have taken one poor little Ma homedan child, about three or four years old, from the streets, and are supplying a poor Armenian woman with pap for another but what is this among so lnany We know pot what to do. It makes passing through the streets most painful and affecting thus to see little children from month or six weeks to two Or four years crying for home, hungry, and naked. and wretchcd, and knowing not what to do or where to go. Thank God. however, today the water is little; about span, lower. Oh may the Lords mercy