The Portland daily press., 1871-01-21
Iuundation of Rome,
lCoirespon6ence of the London Times. ]

ColresponCence of the London Timcsl
ROME, Dec. 20, 1871.
We are now suffering from one of the great
est foundations of the Tiber experienced in
modern times. The whole OF the Corso
which is the principal street in Rome, is now
covered with water several feet deep, from
the Porta del Popolo TO the Piazza Colopna
that is. about tLree-quarters of mie. The
Hooo hrst appeared in the Corso at O'Clock
yesterday morning. The evening previous n
small portion OF the city was 1ooded-the
Fi'zza of the Pantheon and several portions
OF the streets adjacent to the Tiber-and the
river showed symptoms of coming flood
The whole Of the five arches of the bridge of
St. Angelo seemed inadequate to give a pas
sage to lhe immense volume Of water tba,
sIided quietly and swiftly by. When the wa.
ter came to the bridge there was Slight
pause in its progress before it passed through
This indicated how great must have been the
strain upon the bridge, and but that il has
stood for above 1,7O0 years, having been built
by the Emperor Hadran in his third Consu.
late' one might have feared for its safety.-
There can be no doubt that it was the OBJ
struction offered by this bridge to the passage
of the water that caused the iuundation.
The Corso presents most picturesque and
striking appearance. AT st. Carlos Church
the Corso expands to double its usual width.
am in an apartment just at this point, and
as it was impossible to 60 out have been at
tne window all day, and shall describe just
what occurred. first saw the Corso at 8
O'Clock yesterday morning, there was then
about a foot of water in the street, carts and
cabs were carrying people TO and fro; a lew
shops were open, principally cafes, and the
people were standing in the doors of them.
and several people weIe imprisoned by the
water on the steps of st. Carlo Church. but
were gradually taken off by the carts. Soma
boys stripped themselves and waded through
the water and youths carried people from
shop TO shop on their backs. All this time
the water continued to How with a swift and
steady current into the Corso from a small
street Via degp otto Cantone) that lead
from tue harbor of the Tber, called Porta dr
kipetta, past the Mausoleum of Augustus TO
the CorsO, just above st. Gallo Church. s.,
strons was 'he current at this point that an
unfortunate mule, driven by a couple of men
had great difficulty il stemming it. To apy
one who saw this current and the BODY of
water tnat swept along, it must have been OBJ
vious that very serious lnundation was i'm
mlnent, yet bo effort was made to remove the
merchandise out OF the shops. One reason
OF this, no doubt, was that in the Corso most
of the shopkeepers live away from their Goods
tiey might have lost more in REMOVING .bs,,,
than they would have saved. But the t;,,a
was soon past when the removal of the oooaa e',a
was possible; one by one the stems of g. $50 C"n
10 church disappeared beneath the Aood .na
by 10 O'Clock it was no longer possible % 'to ~
drive or ride through the Corso, and % lhe boats ~
began to appear. anu 'i'e ooatS
Durlns all this time the windows of tho
f.uuses eo on each side of the Corso from tbe
ailsl 10 the fifth floors, were crowded with
spectators. 1t Is twenty tour wears AGO since
sucu an lnundatlon as this has occurred. 50
that iew OF the spectators had ever witnessed
,he ike before During the first three or tour
heurs OF the inundation it was amusing To
watch the strange collection OF articles the
roillnS Hood bore upon its surface as Vt bound
ed along the Corso towards the Capitol
linen cane the boats with the police, rescu-
Ing any unfortunate whom the unwelcome in
vasion OF Father Tiber might have placed in
danger or in difficulty. After them came
boats freishted by the. Government with
bread for those who had gone to sleep the