1732
REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF SUICIDE.
The most remarkable incident that distinguished this year in England was a very uncommon instance of suicide; an act of despair so frequent among the English, that in other countries it is objected to them as a national reproach. Though it may be generally termed the effect of lunacy proceeding from natural causes operating on the human body, in some few instances it seems to have been the result of cool deliberation. Richard Smith, a bookbinder, and prisoner for debt within the liberties of the king’s bench, persuaded his wife to follow his example in making away with herself, after they had murdered their little infant. This wretched pair were, in the month of April, found hanging in their bed-chamber, at about a yard’s distance from each other; and in a separate apartment the child lay dead in a cradle. They left two papers enclosed in a short letter to their landlord, whose kindness they implored in favour of their dog and cat. They even left money to pay the porter who should carry the enclosed papers to the person for whom they were addressed. In one of these the husband thanked that person for the marks of friendship he had received at his hands; and complained of the ill offices he had undergone from a different quarter. The other paper, subscribed by the husband and wife, contained the reasons which induced them to act such a tragedy on themselves and their offspring. This letter was altogether surprising for the calm resolution, the good humour, and the propriety with which it was written. They declared, that they withdrew themselves from poverty and rags—evils that, through a train of unlucky accidents, were become inevitable. They appealed to their neighbours for the industry with which they had endeavoured to earn a livelihood. They justified the murder of their child, by saying, it was less cruelty to take her with them, than to leave her friendless in the world, exposed to ignorance and misery. They professed their belief and confidence in Almighty God, the fountain of goodness and beneficence, who could not possibly take delight in the misery of his creatures; they therefore resigned up their lives to him without any terrible apprehensions; submitting themselves to those ways which, in his goodness, he should appoint after death. These unfortunate suicides had been always industrious and frugal, invincibly honest, and remarkable for conjugal affection.
AFFAIRS OF THE CONTINENT.
Trustees having been appointed by charter to superintend a new settlement in Georgia, situated to the southward of Carolina in America, Mr. Oglethorpe, as general and governor of the province, embarked at Gravesend, with a number of poor families, to plant that colony. The king of Spain having equipped a very powerful armament, the fleet sailed on the fourth of June from the road of Alicant, under the command of the count de Montemar, and arrived on the coast of Barbary in the neighbourhood of Oran, where a considerable body of troops was landed without much opposition. Next day, however, they were attacked by a numerous army of Moors, over whom they obtained a complete victory. The bey or governor of Oran immediately retired with his garrison, and the Spaniards took possession of the place, from which they had been driven in the year one thousand seven hundred and eight. The strong fort of Mazalaquivir was likewise surrendered to the victors at the first summons; so that this expedition answered all the views with which it had been projected. Victor Amadasus, the abdicated king of Sardinia, having, at the instigation of his wife, engaged in some intrigues in order to reascend the throne, his son, the reigning king, ordered his person to be seized at Montcalier, and conveyed to Rivoli, under a strong escort. His wife, the marchioness de Spigno, was conducted to Seva. The old king’s confessor, his physician, and eight-and-forty persons of distinction, were imprisoned. The citadel of Turin was secured with a strong garrison; and new instructions were given to the governor and senate of Chamberri. The dispute which had long subsisted between the king of Prussia and the young prince of Orange, touching the succession to the estates possessed by king William III. as head of the house of Orange, was at last accommodated by a formal treaty signed at Berlin and Dieren. The Dutch were greatly alarmed about this time with an apprehension of being overwhelmed by an inundation, occasioned by worms, which were said to have consumed the piles and timber-work that supported their dykes. They prayed and fasted with uncommon zeal, in terror of this calamity, which they did not know how to avert in any other manner. At length they were delivered from their fears by a hard frost, which effectually destroyed those dangerous animals. About this time, Mr. Dieden, plenipotentiary from the elector of Hanover, received, in the name of his master, the investiture of Bremen and Verden from the hands of the emperor.
MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENT.
The history of England at this period cannot be very interesting, as it chiefly consists in an annual revolution of debates in parliament,—debates, in which the same arguments perpetually recur on the same subjects. When the session was opened on the sixteenth day of January, the king declared that the situation of affairs, both at home and abroad, rendered it unnecessary for him to lay before the two houses any other reasons for calling them together, but the ordinary dispatch of the public business, and his desire of receiving their advice in such affairs as should require the care and consideration of parliament. The motion made in the house of commons for an address of thanks, implied, that they should express their satisfaction at the present situation of affairs both at home and abroad. The motion was carried, notwithstanding the opposition of those who observed, that the nation had very little reason to be pleased with the present posture of affairs; that the French were employed in fortifying and restoring the harbour of Dunkirk, contrary to the faith of the most solemn treaties; that the British merchants had received no redress for the depredations committed by the Spaniards; that the commerce of England daily decreased; that no sort of trade throve but the traffic of Change-alley, where the most abominable frauds were practised; and that every session of parliament opened a new scene of villany and imposition.