The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-09 00:00:00

THE FRENCH INUNDATIONS

The Emperor, having taken but a single day's
rest after his rapid tour in the south of France,
started, at half-past eight on Friday morning, for
Orleans and the valley of the Loire, where it is to
be feared he will see spectacles still more harrowing
than those which met his eye along the course of
the Rhone. His Majesty took with him a travelling
carriage, four carriage horses and postillions, and
two hacks, it being his intention to quit the railway
at Blois, and visit the theatre of the inundations in
his carriage or on horseback. Successive telegra-
phic despatches announce that the Emperor ar-
rived at Orleans at eleven o'clock on Friday morning,
visited the inundated quarters of the town without
a moment's delay, distributed relief to sufferers,
gave orders to the engineers, and left at half•past
twelve for Blois, where he arrived at a quarter past
one• When the last despatch left, his Majesty,
attended by the Prefect of the department, had
just entered his carriage to proceed to the inundated
districts in the neighbourhood.
A letter from Vichy of the 3rd says :—" In con-
sequence of the great damage caused by the floods
to the country here and to the mineral waters, we
consider it useless to stay, and we leave for Paris
to-morrow." Another letter of the same date from
Avignon says :—" We are likely to be detained here
for some time, there being six feet of water in the
courtyard of our hotel from the inundation."
The news from the Lower Rhone is better. The
waters are sinking. The Basse Camargue has not
been flooded. _ .

But few details from the Loire have been
received, but the general tenor of the news come to
hand is most afflicting. At Blois, Sumur, Angers,
and Tours immense damage has been done. At
Saumur there has been a scarcity of bread. By
the last accounts from Tours there was ten feet of
water in the railway station. A gentleman just
arrived from Orleans states that at least 100 houses
have fallen there.
The Prefect of Police has published the first list
of subscriptions opened under his auspices ; it
amounts to 305,485 f. The first subscriptions at
the Bourse have amounted to 10,380 f. The
amount of the subscriptions opened at Lyons
amounted to 347,488 f. The Prefect of the Seine's
first list amounts to 42 888 f. Count d'Argout,
Governor of the Bank of France, has given I,ooof.
The pupils of the Polytechnic School promise
I,ooof on Sunday, till which day they say they
. „

" can't get out."
The administration of the Paris and Lyons
railway announce that all objects destined for the
relief of the inundated of Lyons will be conveyed
gratuitously on that line.
A letter from Nimes, of June 4, states that the
Pope's legate, Cardinal Partrizi, accompanied by
a suite of eleven persons, had arrived there in the
evening of the 3rd, by the latest train, from Mar-
seilles. It seems extaordinary, so accustomed are

we to receive news by .telegraph, that the arrival
in France of the Pope's proxy for the baptism of
the Imperial Prince should not be known in Paris
till three days after the event. But telegraphic
communication with Marseilles is broken off by
the floods.