EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON.
During these transactions, the public was overwhelmed with consternation by the tidings of a dreadful earthquake, which, on the first November, shook all Spain and Portugal, and many other places in Europe, and laid the city of Lisbon in ruins. When the news of this great calamity first reached England, it was feared the consequences of it might affect our public credit, considering the vast interest which the English merchants had in the Portuguese trade; but fortunately, it afterwards proved inconsiderable, in comparison of what had been apprehended; the quarter in which the English chiefly lived, and where they had their warehouses, having suffered the least of any part of the city; and most of the English merchants then residing there, together with their families, being at their country houses, to avoid the insults to which they might have been exposed from the Portuguese populace, during the celebration of their auto-da-fe, which was kept that very day. The two first shocks of this dreadful visitation continued near a quarter of an hour, after which the water of the river Tagus rose perpendicularly above twenty feet, and subsided to its natural bed in less than a minute. Great numbers of houses, of which this city then contained about thirty-six thousand, extending in length near six miles, in form of a crescent, on the ascent of a hill upon the north shore of the mouth of the river Tagus, within nine miles from the ocean, were thrown down by the repeated commotions of the earth, together with several magnificent churches, monasteries, and public buildings. But what entirely completed the ruin of this then most opulent capital of the Portuguese dominions, was a devouring conflagration, partly fortuitous or natural, but chiefly occasioned by a set of impious villains, who, unawed by the tremendous scene at that very instant passing before their eyes, with a wickedness scarcely to be credited, set fire even to the falling edifices in different parts of the city, to increase the general confusion, that they might have the better opportunity to rob and plunder their already desolated fellow-citizens. Out of three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, which Lisbon was then supposed to contain, about ten thousand perished by this calamity; and the survivors, deprived of their habitations, and destitute even of the necessaries of life, were forced to seek for shelter in the open fields.
RELIEF VOTED TO THE PORTUGUESE.
As soon as his majesty received an account of this deplorable event, from his ambassador at the court of Madrid, he sent a message to both houses of parliament, on the twenty-eighth of November, acquainting them therewith, and desiring their concurrence and assistance towards speedily relieving the unhappy sufferers; and the parliament thereupon, to the honour of British humanity, unanimously voted, on the eighth of December, a gift of an hundred thousand pounds for the distressed people of Portugal. A circumstance which enhances the merit of this action is, that though the English themselves were, at that very time, in great want of grain, a considerable part of the sum was sent in corn, flour, rice, and a large quantity of beef from Ireland; supplies which came very seasonably for the poor Portuguese, who were in actual want of the necessaries of life. Their king was so affected by this instance of British generosity, that, to show his gratitude for the timely relief, he ordered Mr. Castres, the British resident at his court, to give the preference, in the distribution of these supplies, to the British subjects who had suffered by the earthquake; accordingly, about a thirtieth part of the provisions, and two thousand pounds in money, were set apart for that purpose; and his Portuguese majesty returned his thanks, in very warm terms, to the British crown and nation.
The report of an intended invasion of these kingdoms by the French increasing daily, on the twenty-second day of January lord Barrington, as secretary at war, laid before the house an estimate for defraying the charge of ten new regiments of foot, over and above the thirty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-three land soldiers before ordered to be raised; and a sum of ninety-one thousand nine hundred and nineteen pounds, ten shillings, was voted for these additional forces; upon another estimate presented a little after by the same lord, and founded upon the same reasons, for raising, for the further defence of the kingdom, eleven troops of light dragoons, forty-nine thousand six hundred and twenty-eight pounds, eleven shillings and threepence, were voted for the ensuing year; together with eighty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, for a regiment of foot to be raised in North America; two hundred and ninety-eight thousand five hundred and thirty-four pounds, seventeen shillings and tenpence halfpenny, for the maintenance of our forces already established in our American colonies; and seventy-nine thousand nine hundred and fifteen pounds, six shillings, for six regiments of foot from Ireland, to serve in North America and the East Indies. Besides all these supplies, Mr. Fox, on the twenty-eighth of January, presented to the house a message from the king, desiring them to take into consideration the faithful services of the people of New England, and of some other parts of North America; upon which one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds more were voted, and five thousand pounds as a reward to sir William Johnson in particular. In short, including several other sums, as well as for defraying the expense of the army and navy, as for a subsidy of twenty thousand pounds to the king of Prussia, and one hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and forty-seven pounds, two shillings and sixpence, for Hanoverian troops, of which two last articles further notice will be taken hereafter, the whole of the supplies granted by parliament in this session, amounted to seven millions two hundred and twenty-nine thousand one hundred and seventeen pounds, four shillings and sixpence three farthings. For raising this sum, besides the malt tax, and the land tax of four shillings in the pound, the whole produce of the sinking fund, from the fifth of January one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, till it should amount to one million five hundred and fifty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-five pounds, eleven shillings and elevenpence halfpenny, was ordered to be applied thereunto; together with a million to be raised by loans or exchequer bills, at three per cent, interest; one million five hundred thousand pounds, to be raised by the sale of redeemable annuities at three and a half per cent., and five hundred thousand pounds to be raised by a lottery, at three per cent. All which sums, with eighty-three thousand four hundred and twelve pounds, two shillings, and five-pence halfpenny, then remaining in the exchequer, amounted to seven millions four hundred and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-one pounds, five shillings and sevenpence.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760