The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-15 00:00:00

The Richmond Whig of the 28th ult says :

" The telegram from New Orleans on the 16th mentioned
by us yesterday, that Davis had reached the Mississippi
River at Tunica Bend, and crossed without attracting the
observation of the United States' navy, meets with more
credit at the North than it deserves. Davis certainly was
not near the Mississippi on the 16th inst. He, as we have
before stated upon positive authority, set out from Greens-
borough on the 14th inst., but in what exact direction we
have been unable to learn. Some of his followers declared
their route to be to the trans-Mississippi, and this would
seem to be the only one promising him a chance of escape,
unless by previous agreement he had a blockade-runner
waiting for him somewhere on the Atlantic coast. If he set
out for the trans-Mississippi he probably went direct to
Abbeville, South Carolina, and thence struck out for the
Mississippi river, through the northern portions of Georgia,

Alabama, and Mississippi. By adopting this line of march
ho might hope to avoid Gen. Wilson's forces, now resting
on their arms at Macon, Georgia, though he could not with-
out relays of horses, which the exhausted country is not
likely to afford, hope to reach the Mississippi in less than
three weeks. Were we to hazard a guess as to his where-
abouts, we should say he was somewhere in North-Western
Georgia, though of course it would be the merest guess,
based upon the solitary fact that he was at Groensborough
on the 14th, and that his people said they were going to
Texas."

Referring to the reports that Jefferson Davis has
converted the specie of the Richmond banks to his
personal use the New York Daily News says :

" It is a very un-American meanness to insult a fallen
foe. Mrs. Davis was obliged to sell her household plate in
order to raise the sum necessary to defray the expenses of
her family on their departure from Richmond. We know
this to be a fact ; we have it from the lips of a gentleman
whose truth we will vouch for, who knew the purchaser
and saw the purchase money paid. Whatever may be the
political errors of Mr. Davis it is contemptible to impeach
his honesty in pecuniary matters."

The surrender of General Dick Taylor was ex-
pected. General Kirby Smith is also stated to have
proposed surrender. The Confederate ram Webb,
said to be the last in America, has been destroyed
after passing New Orleans. The following details
are given :

At 9 o'clock this evening tho famous rebel ram Webb
ran out of tho Red River, passing all our gunboats and iron-
clads here, and descended the Mississippi with lightning
speed. When first discovered she had no light, emitted no
smoke, and looked like a huge mass moving on the water.
She was fired on by the Manhattan, when she immediately
showed signs of life and shot past the Manhattan, who
signalled to the fleet. The La Fayette then started in
pursuit of her. The officers of the Manhattan estimate the
speed of the Webb at 25 miles an hour when passing them.
The steamer Saratoga, from New Orleans, met the Webb
at Tunica Bend at 945 o'clock. She then attempted
to run down the Saratoga, but was unsuccessful. The
steamer Dolphin met her 50 miles above New Orleans, at
half-past 6 o'clock on the morning of the 24th ult. She was
then going along without doing any damage to boats of any
kind. The Webb passed New Orleans at broad day at a
rapid rate, displaying the stars and stripes, but after passing
hoisted the rebel flag; when a few miles above Fort St.
Philip, her condensers got out of order, and she was de-
serted and blown up. As far as known she had inflicted
no damage, saving cutting the telegraph line. A. portion
of her crew arrived in New Orleans. The remainder left
for parts unknown."

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer gives
the following estimate of the Confederate sick and
wounded in the Richmond hospitals for a space of
25 months :

"From files of the Confederate States' Medical and Surgi-
cal Journal, published here, some few statistics can be
gathered, and as they were in every instance collated in the
Surgeon-General's office, the information is official as far as
it goes, the only drawback being that it is neither very re-
cent nor very new to the North. First is a paragraph
covering the whole area of the rebellion for the years 1861
and 1862. The whole number of cases exhibited in the field
reports during 1861 and 1862 was 848,555; of which 16,220
died and 90,455 were discharged from service. There were
admitted in hospitals for the same period 447,689 cases ; of
which 19,359 died and 6,485 were discharged. The brunt of
the war having always been in Virginia, official informa-
tion of the rebel armies operating in the State is not only
interesting but invaluable. It makes but little difference
that the subjoined statistics cover a period so far back
as from September, 1862, to December, 1863. We
have not had in the North accurate information on
on any of these points. It is proper to remark that these
statistics cover all hospital cases as well as from disease
as wounds, and do not include casualties fatal on the field.
Synopsis of the consolidated reports of the hospitals in
the Department of Virginia from September, 1862, to
December, 1863, inclusive, by Surgeon W. A. Carrington,
medical director :—Total number admitted, 293,163 ; total
number transferred, 127,530; total number returned to
duty, 98,340 (from the total returned to duty must be de-
ducted 2,465 prisoners returned to quarters, leaving 95,875) ;
total number furloughed, 39,665 ; total number discharged,
4,441; total number deserted, 4,416 (from the total dis-
charged the service must be deducted 1,364 prisoners dis-
charged and sent home on parole, leaving 2,807) ; total
number died, 10,248 ; total number in hospital January 1,
1864, 8,495. Adding up the number accounted for (re-
turned to duty, furloughed, died, deserted, discharged, and
on hand), and adding 9,134, the number transferred to
hospitals out of the state, we have the true number of cases
treated in the Virginia hospitals from September.lB62, to
December, 1863 inclusive, 174,767, giving the grand ratio
of mortality 5.36 per centum. The largest number under
treatment at any one time was in January, 1863, 18,876.
The smallest population occurred in October, 1863, 7,811."

. „
The Memphis Bulletin gives the following par-
ticulars of the loss of the Sultana :
"The steamer Sultana, Captain Mason, arrived from Now
Orleans last night, the 26th, with about 2,200 people on
board, 1,961 of whom were exchanged Federal prisoners
from Vicksburg, the balance being refugee and regular
passengers from various pointe along the river, proceeding
toward St. Louis. She left the coal pile about 1 o'clock
this morning, and had made some eight or ten miles, when
an explosion of one of her boilers occurred. The boat, with
its mass of living freight, took fire in the vicinity of the
engines, and in a short time she was burned to the water,
and now lies on a sandbank near Fogleman's Landing,
nothing visible but her charred remains and jackstaff
standing erect. The scene following the explosion was
heartrending and terrible in the extreme. Hundreds of
people were blown into the air, and descending into the
water, some dead, some with broken limbs, some scalded,
were borne under by the resistless current of the great river
never to rise again. The survivors represent the screams
as agonising beyond precedent. Some clung to frail pieces
of the wreck, as drowning men cling to straws, and sustained
themselves for a few moments, but finally became exhausted
and sunk. Only the best swimmers, aided by fragments of
the wreck, were enabled to reach the woods, and there take
refuge, until rescued by boats sent from the landing here to
their assistance. There were about 15 women and children
aboard, and as near as can be ascertained not more than two
or three had been found at the hour when this account was
written. Some of the wretched people were borne by the
current as far down as the levee at this city, and this was
the first intimation the officers of the boats in port received
of the terrible disaster. A yawl was immediately sent out
from the Marble City, and in a few minutes several persons
were picked out of the water and brought ashore. Two
were afterwards found clinging to the wheel, and they were
also saved. Upon being brought to a realisation of the
calamity, the officers of the boats in port, under notification
of Capt. Senior, of the River Guard, steamed up, and in a
short time were at the burning steamer, where hundreds of
people were picked up and brought to this landing, arriving
about daylight. They were met by a number of citizens
and ladies, who supplied them with abundance of dry
clothing from the Quartermaster's Department, and from
various stores. At this time it is impossible to give a cor-
rect statement of the cause of the accident and number or
names of the lost and saved. Everything is in the greatest
confusion. Mr. Rawberry, the first mate, was on the watch
and standing in the pilot-house with Capt. Geo. Cayton,
who was at the wheel at the time of the explosion. He only
remembers the shock, that he was blown into the air, and
was afterwards taken from the water. He saw the lower
deck in flames, and knows no more. He can give no idea
of the cause of the accident, and says the boat was going at
ordinary speed, and all seemed well at the moment the ex-
plosion occurred ; that the second engineer, a sober, reliable
man named Clemens, was at the engines, and that nothing
more than common was in progress. Capt. Cayton was also
hurled into the wreck among the broken boilers and rub-
bish, sustaining slight injuries. He immediately jumped
overboard with a door, by which he was enabled to reach
the Arkansas shore, three miles below, where, striking a
sapling, he seized and clung to it until saved. Clemens, the
engineer, was badly burnt and scalded, and can hardly re-
cover. Mr. John Fogleman, residing on the Arkansas side,
on being aroused by the noise, and seeing the burning
steamer, hastily constructed a rude raft, and in this way
was the means of saving 100 lives. In the woods, among
the drift of the wreck, the officers of the Rose Hambledon
found a family Bible, containing the records of a family
named Spike, of Assumption parish, Louisiana. The names
recorded are Samuel D. Spike and Elethia Spike, married
October 31, 1837. The record shows there were 12 in the
family. It was subsequently learned that the father, mother,
three daughters, two brothers, and a niece were lost. This
family had $17,000 in gold, all of which was lost. The
steamer Bostona, No. 2, Capt. Watson, was coming down
stream from Cincinnati when the explosion occurred, and
rendered valuable assistance, savingmanylives. The Poca-
hontas, Silver Spray, Marble City, thegunboat Essex, Rose
Hambleton, and others, also rendered much service. At the
time of the explosion Capt. Mason had retired from watch
and was in bed. He was afterwards seen throwing shutters
and doors to the assistance of people in the water, and here
all traces of him vanished. Clerks Gamble and Stratton
are also missing."

The following statement from Senator Snowe, of
Arkansas, a passenger in the Sultana, has been pub-
lished :

"On the morning of the 27th, about 3 o'clock, I was
awakened by a sensible tremor or shudder. Not anticipat-
ing such terrible consequences, I arose and deliberately
dressed. Just before finishing dressing I became aware of a
large volume of steam driven through the cabin by tho wind.
I opened the door of my stateroom, and in an instant realised
the horror of the fact that the boiler had exploded, killing
and scalding many ; that the pilot-house and at least one-
third of the cabin roof had fallen to the boiler deck, and
the boat was on fire, with a fresh breeze carrying the
flames with lightning-like rapidity through the balance of
the cabin toward the ladies' saloon. I stepped back to avoid
the heat, and denuded myself of my dress, except my vest
and pants, and rushed to the rear of the boat, which was in
the channel, and much nearer the Tennessee than the Ar-
kansas side. I looked over toward the Tennessee side with
the view of leaping, but found it a sea of heads so close to-
gether that it was impossible to leap without killing one or