EARTHQUAKES IN SYRIA.

Except the countries that were actually the scenes of war, no political revolution or disturbance disquieted the general tranquillity. Syria, indeed, felt all the horrors and wreck of a dreadful earthquake, protracted in repeated shocks, which began on the thirteenth day of October, in the neighbourhood of Tripoli. A great number of houses were overthrown at Seyde, and many people buried under the ruins. It was felt through a space of ten thousand square leagues, comprehending the mountains of Libanus and Antilibanus, with an infinite number of villages, that were reduced to heaps of rubbish. At Acra, or Ptolemais, the sea overflowed its banks, and poured into the streets, though eight feet above the level of the water. The city of Saphet was entirely destroyed, and the greatest part of its inhabitants perished. At Damascus, all the minarets were overthrown, and six thousand people lost their lives. The shocks diminished gradually till the twenty-fifth day of November, when they were renewed with redoubled havoc; the earth trembled with the most dreadful convulsions, and the greater part of Tripoli was destroyed. Balbeck was entirely ruined, and this was the fate of many other towns and castles; so that the people who escaped the ruins were obliged to sojourn in the open fields, and all Syria was threatened with the vengeance of heaven. Such a dangerous ferment arose at Constantinople, that a revolution was apprehended. Mustapha, the present emperor, had no sons; but his brother Bajazet, whose life he had spared, contrary to the maxims of Turkish policy, produced a son by one of the women with whom he was indulged in his confinement; a circumstance which aroused the jealousy of the emperor to such a degree, that he resolved to despatch his brother. The great officers of the Porte opposed this design, which was so disagreeable to the people, that an insurrection ensued. Several Turks and Armenians, taking it for granted that a revolution was at hand, bought up great quantities of grain; and a dreadful dearth was the consequence of this monopoly. The sultan assembled the troops, quieted the insurgents, ordered the engrossers of corn to be executed, and in a little time the repose of the city was reestablished.

Notwithstanding the prospect of a rupture in Italy, no new incident interrupted the tranquillity which the southern parts of Europe enjoyed. The king of Spain, howsoever solicited by the other branch of the house of Bourbon to engage in the war as its ally, refused to interpose in any other way than as a mediator between the courts of London and Versailles. He sent the condé de Fuentes, a nobleman of high rank and character, in quality of ambassador-extraordinary to the king of Great Britain, in order to offer his good offices for effecting a peace; and the condé, after having conferred with the English minister, made an excursion to Paris: but his proposal with respect to a cessation of hostilities, if in reality such a proposal was ever made, did not meet with a cordial reception. Other differences subsisting between the crowns of Great Britain and Spain, he found no difficulty in compromising. His catholic majesty persisted in the execution of a plan truly worthy of a patriot king. In the first place, he spared no pains and application to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the state of his kingdom. He remitted to his people all they owed the crown, amounting to threescore millions of reals: he demanded an exact account of his father’s debts, that they might be discharged with the utmost punctuality: an order was sent to the treasury, that ten millions of reals should be annually appropriated for this purpose, until the whole should be liquidated; and to the first year’s payment be added fifty millions, to be divided equally among the legal claimants. He took measures for the vigorous execution of the laws against offenders; encouraged industry; protected commerce; and felt the exquisite pleasure in being beloved as the father of his people. To give importance to his crown, and extend his influence among the powers of Europe, he equipped a powerful squadron of ships at Carthagena; and is said to have declared his intention to employ them against Algiers, should the dey refuse to release the slaves of the Spanish nation.