Hungary has suffered this week from a great calamity. Szegedin,
the second town in the kingdom, and the great entre- pit for wool, has been destroyed by a rising of the Theis& itu- ated in &marsh, with houses of wood or unburnt brick, Szegedin has always been in some danger, and of late years has been pro- tected by dykes, and by very strict laws for their maintenance. During the week preceding Wednesday these dykes were observed to be in danger, and 2,000 troops, and all the inhabit- ants, down to the children, were employed to strengthen them ; but at midnight on Tuesday, 11th inst., a violent gale drove the waters directly on the town, the dykes gave way, and by six a.m. on Wednesday the flood was fifteen feet deep in the town, the surrounding prairie a lake, and the houses crashing down in all directione. The post-office, the hospital, the synagogue, in fact, - all public buildings, and an immense majority of the houses, have perished, and the few which remain are pro- bably unsafe. From 70,000 to 80,000 persons are houseless, and in fact, as the town will not be rebuilt on its site, Szegedin has ceased to exist. The destruction of property is enormous, and as local produce cannot be brought up, except by steamer, there is danger of famine as well.
