

Colonial Intelligence

Some Canada papers to the 11th let. have arrived in town. Sir Peregrine Maitland had summoned the Parliament of Upper Canada to meet him at York, on the 22d of April. He had appointed Port Talbot in the town of Dunwich, a port of entry, in the same manner as those established between Canada and the United Statess.

Extract of a letter to a Gentleman in George-town, dated Tobago, Feb. 9. 1819.–' The heavy rains which continued during the months of December and January, almost inundated the country, which brought on a most rapid and fatal disease, which made its first appearance in the frost, at a short distance from the town, consisting of 212 men strong, and in 10 or 12 days, 45 of that number were numbered with the dead. The contagion was so rapid, that it soon spread into the town, shipping, and country, and proved equally fatal. The disorder was such, it baffled all medical aid. The alarming symptoms were such, that business was nearly suspended–the white population seeking safety in other islands, or in the remote and healthiest part of this. I assure you, that every thing had a most gloomy appearance ; and the disease was so contagious, one man would hardly venture to touch another. The William's crew, from their mutinous disposition, deserted her–some have since died ; and some remain sick. The weather has become good within these fifteen days, and the health of the island improving fast.'

A series of Sierra Leone Gazettes, to the 20th of February, have reached us. They contain no intelligence of particular interest, expect that the colony appears to have been healthy at that period. In one of them we find a contradiction of the reports which found their way into the English papers some months since of the dreadful mortality that prevailed in that settlement. It states that the "total number of Europeans who died in the Peninsula in 1818, was eight men, three women, and two children. We lost no civil, military or colonial officer, excepting one young Gentleman who died a month after his arrival, and is included in the number."

A letter from the Havannah, dated 27th February, mentions that the article of coffee is gradually rising in value, and that an agent from Messrs Baring is making purchases there to the amount of 1/3 a million sterling, in that single commodity.

