GENERAL SUMMARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1518, 6 October 1868, Page 5

GENERAL SUMMARY.

London, Angustß. The Queen is in good health. The Emperor Alexander of Russia signed a ukase, to be in force for ■ five years, abolishing in a great measure compulsory military service. A terrible accident occurred in the Music Hall, at Manchester, during a performance. The gas escaped, a cry of fire was raised which caused a rush to the doors, the staircase gave way, and twenty-five persons were killed, and eleven injured. A public meeting has been held at Vienna, condemning the exclusion of Austria from Germany, and protesting against the solution of the German question. • An insurrection it is feared will take place at Cadiz, for the purpose of placing Don Juan, the eldest son of General Cabrera, on the throne of Spain. • Six Cardinals were appointed at the Consistory at Rome: Merode, Cliizi, Talbot, Randij-' Ferrano, and Sagreth.

Tho number of French soldiers arriving at Civita Vecchia, exceeds those recontly removed, The Pope's health is good. Dr. John Elliotson, the mesmerist, is dead.

(By Atlantic Telegraph.) August 20. The Queen has reached Lucerne (?) Sixty-one persons have, been killed through a colliery accident. Idah Isaacs Menken, the actress and equestrienne, died at Paris on the 11th August. Don Pablo Castro was elected Governor of Lower California.

The whole district of Vera Cruz was in a state of rebellion.

Captain Bridges, of the British war steamer, has raised the blockade of Mazatlan. The Czar of Russia and the King of Prussia have had an interview at Wiesbaden. A large fire occurred at Lisbon, when cotton and other property were destroyed, valued at £100,000 sterling. _ Armed insurgents have again mads their appearance in Arragon, Spain, and troops were sent to disperse them. Tho first private execution under the amended criminal law of Jingland took place at London on the 13th. At Maidstone, Wells was hanged for the murder of tho station-master of the Dover Kailway ; only the prison officials, a few reporters, and three private citizens, witnessed the execution. , _ . . Lord Stanley and the French Foreign Minister have had a conference in Paris. It is considered that while the present relations exist between England and France, tho peace of Europe is guaranteed. Napoleon has gone to Fontainebleau. It was a cousin of Judge Lushington, and not the Judge himself, who died recently. A concession for laying a submarine telegraph cable from the Spanish Antilles to Mexico, has been granted to Senor Jose Caceres. The weekly statement of the Bank of England shows a decrease in bullion £571,000. The weekly statement of the Bank of France shows an increase of 34,000,000 francs. A Convention of anti-unionist in Nova ocotia have adopted a resolution, " that it_ is necessary to use every means to extricate the people of Nova Scotia from the confederation that hasbeen forced upon them without their consent, and against their will." m . , Mr/ Scully, a landlord near Tipperary, while serving notices upon his tenants, was shot and killed. He was accompanied by a guard of policemen ; two of the latter were shot dead and four badly wounded. _ The Paris"Moniteur says, in relation to the new French loan, that thirty-four times the amount asked for has already been subscribed. The funeral rites of Thaddeus Stevens took place at Lancaster, on the 17th of August, and 15,000 persons were in attendance. The Hon. C. L. Yallandgham has been nominated to Congress. - ' V• T. Virginia University, at Flexmgton, ot which General Lee is President, has been damaged by An iron railroad has been completed at Burlington, lowa. .... . . , - •_ At a meeting of the Tory paTty m the Crystal Palace, resolutions were adopted expressing a determination to support the Church, Throne, and constitution.

The Hon. Eeverdy Johnson has arrived in London-;.'

. * The • American yacht Sappho has challenged the. English yachts. The challenge was accepted by the Aline, the Cambria, the Oiinaka, and the Condor. The race takes place on the 21st August. The sail will be round the Isle of Wight. ; V

Representatives of France, England, Prussia, 'Belgium, and Holland, are now assembled at the Hague, to consider the equalization of duties on sugar. .

SOUTH AMEBICA.

FRIGHTFUL EARTHQUAKE,

A fetghtfuXi earthquake occurred on the 13tli of August and following days, in Peru and Ecuador, thousands of lives lost- Many cities, villages, and towns in the interior and on the coast are in ruins. Three men-of-war and numerous mercantile ships were lost ; with enormous destruction of property. It wan the most fearful earthquake ever recorded. The town of Iquique is • completely swept, away, nothing but a mass of ruins remaining. The loss of life is very great and at present cannot be estimated.

The ports of Mexillones, Pisagua, Arica, 110, and Cliala, have shared the fate of Iquique. Ariquipa, the second city in the Republic, is levelled to the ground, and not one house left standing except a few wooden erections in the outskirts of the city. Moquegua, in the neighbourhood of Arequipa, is likewise overthrown.

Taena has escaped with only a loss of sis houses.

Tambo, just beyond the new port of Mezia (near to Islay), a small town, was swept away; and out of 500 inhabitants only twenty managed to escape.

A correspondent of the Panama Herald, writes thus" Arica no longer exists. Tho walls of my house fell, or rather were blown out. At the same time the earth opened, probably two or three inches, and belched out dust, accompanied by a terrible stench as of powder ; the air was darkened, and I could not see my wife, although she and 1 and the children were within two feet of where I was. If this had lasted any length of time we must havo been ' suffocated, hut in a few minutes it cleared. I then collected my household goods together and started for the hills. How we passed amongst falling houses, were we saw men struck down, some stone dead, andothersmaimed is to me a mystery,but a merciful providence was over us. We wended our sad way as well as we could towards the hills, the earth shakingmadeus stagger as if drunken people, when a great cry went up to heaven 'the sea has retired/ I hurried on. I had barely- got to the outskirts of the town when X looked back and'saw all the vessels in- the bay carried out irresistibly to sea, probably with a speed.of ten miles an hour. In a few minutes the great outward current stopped; then rose' a mighty wave—l should judge about fifty feet high—and came in with a fearful rush, carrying everything before it in its awful majesty.- The whole of tne ihipping came back with it, sometimes turning in' circles, but all speeding on to an inevitable doom. Meanwhile the wave that had passed in struck the molt to atoms; swallowing up my office at a giant mouthful, and, roaring on,' swallowed up the Custom-house, and rushing down the same street, carried everything before it in its irresistible course. The remains of dwelling-houses disappeared faster than the change of scone in a Christmas pantomime. My launches had long since disappeared, and my rain was thus completed. I stood breathless, looking at the awful sight, but thanking God life had been spared to me and my loved ones. But each second was a lifetime. Looking seawards, I saw the ships still hurrying on to their doom", and in a few minutes all was completed; every vessel .was either ashore or bottom upwards. The Peruvian war steamer America lost about eighty-five hands; the United States steamer Wateru escaped with the loss of one life—with a small draft of water she was carried bodily on tho top of the sea, and landed inshore, a quarter of a mile on the railway track.. The Fredonia, United States storeship, was bottom upwards, and every soul on board perished; the captain, surgeon, and paymaster, who were on shore, Were saved."

The steamship Santiago, reported at Panama the almost total destruction of the port of Chala by the earthquake, which occurred on the 13th August, at five p.m., the havoc continuing for about forty-five minutes, At the moment the steamer was about to anchor, after a shock which was felt very sensibly on board, the sea receded, parting the chain of the Company's hulk at anchor in the roadstead, and then returned at a height of about fifty feet, covering the rocks about the anchorage and in t-lio harbour, and sweeping up into the town for the distance of over 1,000 feet. The Custom-house, Steamship Agency, mole, and everything within range were entirely swept away by three successive seas, preceded and followed by as many as twelve shocks of earthquake, each lasting from three seconds to two minutes in duration.

The arrieros report that the shock was felt very severely on tho Pampas. The Coralon of the Santa de la Toya, in the midst of the desert, is demolished.

The course of the earthquake was from south to north, varied with repeated shocks from west to east. The difference in time of the occurrence between Tslay and Chala, a distance of 145 miles, was about ten minutes. The destruction "of property and life there was caused similarly to that in Chala, by three successive seas.

At Mollendo, the depot of supplies for the Aremane railway, provisions, houses, and property of every sort were completely swept away. At Iso, not a vestige of a habitation of any kind is left, either at the port or in the town, which contained "a population of 500 or more inhabitants. What was not knocked down by the shock, was swept away 'by the flood, attended by a loss of twenty lives.

The Ninita, English sloop, belonging to Mr. Wellington, of Valparaiso, is a total wreck, the Gambeta, belonging to Messrs. Gambeta Brothers, is also a total wreck, as well as a schooner owned in Priadua, and the entire crews perished. _ From the mining Province of Juan Covelon, we learn that all the cities in that department have been destroyed, Cerrode Paseo is in ruins. The loss of property by the earthquake is estimated at 300 millions of dollars. Tho house of Gibbs alone is said to have lost one million. The. Unites States flag-ship Powhattan, with Admiral Turner on board, has sailed from Callao for Arica with supplies, and to render all assistance possible to the sufferers. We have to lament the death, at Arica, of Wt. Chas.L. Worm, manager of the Arica and Jacua railroad, and at Iquique, that of Mr. "William C. Burlinghurst, who with half his family perished in the ruins. Some members of Mr. Burlinghurst's family made their escape in a boat, which was carried through the ruins of his dwelling by the sea. Dr. Bokinham also lost his life at Iquique. At Psaigua, the captain of the British ship Kamaliamaha, was drowned trying to board his vessel during the eruption ; the British brigantine Dona Henrietta was wrecked on the rocks at Jernin, all hands saved; and the American barque Connowai was lost at Majorlones, all the hands saved.' " :

House [rents are so exorbitant in New Orloans that 'a "grasping landlord " advertises -to let"a splendid hogshead, just vacated by the'former occupant, who loaves it for no fault. The premises are a sweet location for a family with young children, arc in thorough repair, with bunghole centrally situated, and hoops in good repair."