EAPallettrA-Kg8J
1B1ATMENT. IT is calculated that'. Mere ...Pa 40,000, have lost their lives kingdom of A-epics. In sonte,, for example, the whole OfAtte", Others, ' Brienza and Traninttela, ,pteens, some reckon ' „oarthquakes in the Marro and Saponaro have perished; in ater part of all living beings were destroyed. In some 'lastio• 6-ala opened, swallow.- mg every creature on the face of it; : The details of this grand natural phenomenon are altogether, frig1itfo.1; we must go back to times "Ong past to parallel them. Exactly one thousand years ago, at the end of December 857, a similar catastrophe happened throughout Europe. At that time, however, the ravages of the earthquake extended much further North than at present ; even towns on the Rhine, Mayence among them, glared severely. This peeves that after all, these comMotions are losing in inten- sity, extent, and frequency ; for whereas in former times the whole of Europe was frequently disturbed by them, and millions lest their lives, they are at present more tare, they do not extend•beyond a sipgle kingdom, and the losses May be counted by thou- sands. In that ,long interval there have been many other visit- ations, but none perhaps so extensively felt as that of 1755, in, which the town of Catania was destroyed, a quay at Lisbon was submerged, and the commotion was felt even in this country, the water in Stonehouse Pool near Plymouth, with the boats upon, it, being awayed to and fro like water in a basin that is violently shaken. On the whole, however, observation of the past appears to prove a deeline, if not in the horrors of the indiction, still in the extensiveness, and in the frequency. Something perhaps may be due to the hyperbole with which ancient writers wrote; but about some of the greatest facts which happened in public, such as the destruction of the quay, there can scarcely be any doubt; and if we trust to the experiences of so short a time as a thousand years, we might accept the facts as evidence of a standing supposition that our old earth is gradually cooling down. But there is one great fact which comes heme nearer to us,— the total want of any progress in, the treatment of these great phenomena. They happen mostly in countries where there is little energy, and where invention is cramped by the artificial bonds of bad government. In Naples we have an intensity of horror and intensity tensity , of inertness. Travellers throughout the districts that have suffered in Naples see towns destroyed, with the in- habitants sitting upon the ruins, mourning, not acting. In Polls. the cries of the victims were heard under the ruins; but no a.s7 sistance could be had. The countrypeople fled in fear; the thou- sands of men in the pay of the Government were not permitted to come, perhaps did not wish. it; and there is reason to suppose that enormous numbers have perished through starvation or suffo7: cation, though they might have been, saved by the slightest exer- tion. It is the custom to leave everything to the Government, and. the Government affects to act, but does not. While these events areroceeding, the official journal of Naples spontaneously Ely the Ring 'as to a 'god upon ear pays wors • to earth, towards whom his be oved people look,—but look iii vain; and obeys its instructions to make as light as possible of the ruin and suffering endured: • In fact, Government is trying to hush up the earth- quake. This is a natural consequence of the rule in a country where the sole Object is to su-bserve the interest of the one man at the top, not of the body of the people; in a country where the jour- nals are under the control of the clergy, as we see now in the case of a journal at Bergamo, whose editor has just made submission. In our country we can 'scarcely enter into the mental condition of a people thus governed. If there still are restraints of preju- dice, or even of authority in some -few cages, we are in the habit of accepting every visitation as the stimulus to a new inquiry At the present moment, iii. spite of the material interests engaged, we have volunteers Or official investigators- exploring mischiefs arising from the influences, natural or artificial, which are in- jurious to life. Incorporated bodies are inquiring into the best mode of cleansing our towns. Science anticipates the suggestions of experience, and points to danger from the use of paper tinted with arsenical colouring matter: the hint is responded to, and fresh evidence is brough4. against the poison. The papermakers defend, their wares; and there is a thorough discussion, which will end, no doubt, in the acquittal or condemnation of the accused. The whole body of graziers is placed under judgment for a course of feeding which tends to results injurious to human health; and that is' done in a' country where the meat is the best in the world; the graziers themselves not scru- pling to assist and patronize the inquiry. The inquiry and experiments in electricity, cenduoted by Professor Faraday at the Royal Institution, before the Prince of Wales, might challenge suppression under a Neapolitan Government, for the freedom and familiarity with which the leeturer handled the element ascribed in ancient. times to Jupiter. But who does not feel, that if the Royal Iiiatitution were situated at the foot of Vesuvius, that same bold. and Searching inquiry would be conducted into the volcano and the: earthquake? Perhaps the boldest of us would never think of prerentiag the earthquake; but we know that We cola not study it without profit; and even if we were not able to counteract its . effect upon the globe, . we should hope at least tO adopt a style pf building perhaps niore light and elastic, and thus more suited to the neighliburhood. No man can ever tell on the thresheld of inquiry what in results will be; but inquiry itself-is impOssible in a land where the journald'are: instructed to hush up an eadliqualie„ and ,are only perinitte4: to exist so long as they Make 'Their news mere toot-not'at to tha gdt111,0118 of the priesthood..
Previous page
