The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-26 00:00:00

MR. SEWARD.

The following letter, which has appeared in the
New York Times, is said to be from the pen of Mr.
Raymond, whose relations with Mr. Seward have
long been intimate:—

" Washington, Wednesday, May 10.
" You will be glad to know that the sanguine
reports of Surgeon-General Barnes concerning
Secretary Seward are fully justified by the facts.
He is recovering steadily and rapidly. indeed, his
general system is as sound and his general health as
good as ever. His wounds do n;:,'t pain him now, and the
gashes upon his face an' throat have healed. Owing
to the long delay ti setting the bones of his broken
jaw, which v; as caused by the subsequent assault,
the heali:agthere has been slow, and is still imperfect.
He worn the ingenious and serviceable steel frame
by which his jaw is kept in place, now for about a
week, and is getting used to it somewhat. At first
it prevented his sleeping, so that he gained little
strength, and grew nervous ; but he can now sleep
soundly with it, and only feels it as an inconvenience
and annoyance. As it includes two or three large
articles, kept in a fixed position in his mouth, it of
course interferes somewhat with his articulation ;
and as it prevents him taking any food except in a
liquid form, fed to him in a teaspoon, it is scarcely to
be expected that he should regain strength rapidly.
Nevertheless, he talks a great deal, walks about the
house, goes up and down stairs without assistance,
and takes long rides without much fatigue. I rode
with him over two hours on Monday, under the hot
sun of mid-day, across the Anacosta-bridge, and over
the rough roads of the Maryland side of the Poto-
mac, and I think I was more fatigued when we re-
turned than he was.

" Mr. Seward talks freely of -the assassination and
of all its circumstances and antecedents. Ido not
think he was in the least surprted at it. Indeed, he
has more than once within the lasttwo years told me
in conversation that we should never emerge from
this great war without political assassinations. They
might be fl_tiempted in the hope of aiding the rebel-
lion; ;,r for the purpose of revenging its defeat ; but
they were morally certain to come. For his own part,
I know that he had made his personal arrangements
with a view to the possibility of such a close of his
own career. He was never insensible of the extent to
which the great body of the slaveholding oligarchy
held him responsible for the political and moral
changes which prompted the rebellion. And I may
as well add, that they knew much better than some
of our own people the fact that from the very be-
ginning of this war to its end, his counsel and advice
have al7;ays been for the boldest and most vigorous
measures for its prosecution.
" Mr. Seward talks very freely of public affairs.
He has now, as he always has had since he knew him
in the Senate, the profoundest confidence in Andrew
Johnson. It was very easy, he said, to tell in the
Senate, by their tone and bearing, what men were
fitted for public service in a time of revolution, and
what men were not ; and he never had a moment's
doubt concerning Johnson.
" Mr. Seward as yet has taken no part, since the
assault upon him, in public affairs, though he has
supervised to a certain extent the action of the State
department ; but I think that, unless something
should retard the knitting together of the bones of
his jaw, he will at the end of two or three weeks
be fully competent for its highest duties. And I
am also confident that President Johnson has never
for a moment thought of placing those duties in any
other hands.

" Of Mr. Frederick Seward's prospective recovery
I cannot speak with so much confidence. He is not
yet considered by his surgeon .out of danger, though
there is a perceptible improvement in his condition.
It seems that one of the blows from the pistol in the
assassin's hand ruptured a blood vessel lying along
the upper surface of the brain, where it was impos-
sible to use the ordinary appliances of surgery. The
bleeding was stopped, therefore, with the finger un-
til a coagulation of the blood served the same pur-
pose ; and the aim of the surgeon now is to keep it
in this condition until the ruptured artery heals. It
has given way once or twice already, but success is
hoped for still. He is perfectly conscious and can
talk; but he is not allowed to speak at all nor to
move, and all visitors are rigidly excluded. It is
hoped that with this perfect quiet, and with nothing
whatever to accelerate the circulation, the requisite
healing may take place.
" It has already been stated that the person known

as Paine has confessed the attempt upon Mr. Se-
ward's life. He says that he had never seen him, that
he had nothing against him, and that he attempted to
kill him only because he had sworn to do it. The
whole affair, he said, was a gigantic failure,
only two (Booth and himself) of the whole
number concerned having kept their oaths. If it
had succeeded, he says, the actors in it would never
have been known. This seems at first sight inconsis-
tent with the open exposure made of himself by Booth
after the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. But I have
been told that it was part of the plan to turn off the
gas in the theatre the instant the pistol shot was heard,
and that the man was found at the controlling stop
cock to whom that duty had been assigned, but that
he failed to hear the signal. Paine is not at all com-
municative. He refuses to disclose the names of his
associates, or to say anything of his own antecedents.
It is not believed that he has given his real name, nor
is it known to what part of the country he belongs. He
looksyoung,not,over 21 or 22 ; has a square, hard face,
a clear firm eye, which returns even now unflinch-
ingly the sternest and steadiest gaze ; is very athletic
in his frame; has white, soft hands, evidently un-
used to work, and although utterly unmoved by
threats or by harshness, gives indications of sensi-
bility to acts and words of kindness. He is a man
of more than ordinary mark. He says that when
he fled from Mr. Seward's room he knew that he had
failed, and expected to find the hall below full of
men, summoned by the cries of " Murder ! " raised
by the coloured boy, who had rushed into the street,
which cries he himself had distinctly heard. But he
was prepared and determined to cut his way through
them all, and he was surprised to find himself un-
opposed."

ihe Accident at the Liverpool-street Rail-

way Station-.

--

DEATH OF ONE OF THE SUFFERERS.

Upon instituting more minut3 inquiries yesterday morn-
ing, the reporter has been able to gather the following par-
ticulars, the accuracy of which may be relied upon :
In order to fully understand the particular locality within
the spacious arena where the intended station is being
erected by Messrs. William Cubitt, it may be explained, in
the first instance, that the building itself forms a parallelo-
gram, the area of which occupies about 3i acres of ground.
The western elevation faces Liverpool-street, reaching from
Broad-street-buildings on the south to Bloomfield-street
on the north, abutting itself upon the Ophthalmic Infir-
mary at the corner of Eldon-street. The eastern elevation
is near to Sun-street, Bishopsgate, the lineal measurement
from which point to the back wall of the western offices
being several hundred feet. Between this large extent of
intermediate ground upon arches is the level of the new line
of railway, and here the roof is being spanned, of a semi-
circular construction, sustained upon intermediate pillars,
thus forming a vast expanse of double roofing overhead, the
fall of which has caused the fatal accident and disastrous
consequences already recorded. The exact manner in which
the occurrence was caused is ascertained to have been the
yielding of one of the lightly-tested wrought-iron suspen-
ders, technically called the rods, which, by giving way,
brought with it several of the girders and the major part of
the springing iron arches which were fixed in their places,
but which were simultaneously hurled upon the bodies of
the poor fellows at work below, and some of those upon the
roof, who were engaged at the time in uniting the massive
ironwork together. The solid substance of the brick-walls
gave not the slightest appearance of yielding either by the
wrench of the strain upon them or by any deflexion arising
from a subsidence of the foundation. Yesterday morning
a large body of men were engaged in removing the fallen
ironwork, and clearing away the broken scaffold poles
smashed into splinters by the downfall of the superincum-
bent mass. It may be here observed that none of the
general scaffolding has given way, and some little idea of
the magnitude of the whole of the works may bo afforded
when we state the fact, as presented to us by a gentleman
connected with them, that the timber used in scaffold sup-
ports alone throughout the extensive pile of building is of
the value of at least £12,000 sterling.

Upon inquiry yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, at
Bartholomew's Hospital, the reporter was informed by one
of the medical officers that one of the smiths, named John
Day, said to have been a fine muscular man, died immedi-
ately upon reaching the establishment ; and that the three
others taken there were, upon examination, considered not
to be so injured as to require medical assistance and atten-
tion within the wards, so that when they had had their
injuries attended to they were permitted to go to their
several homes.

It is said that there are other cases in Guy's and the Lon-
don Hospitals, but no authentic particulars as to whether
that be so or not have otherwise been gathered.

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, May 23.

The Queen drove out with Princess Helena in the
morning, and went out in the afternoon with the
princess, attended by. the Duchess Dowager of
Athole.

Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinstone,
arrived from a tour in the East.

The Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, with Prince
Albert Victor, left Marlborough House yesterday
afternoon for the White Lodge, Richmond-park.
The Countess of Morton and Lieutenant-Colonel
Keppel were in attendance.