The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-20 00:00:00

MURDER OF THE DUCHESS OF

PRASLIN.

Our Paris letter of Wednesday contains the follow-
ing :
Between five and six o'clock this morning the
Duchess of Praslin, daughter of Marshal Sebastiani,
was discovered murdered in her bed in her hotel in
the Faubourg St. Honore, eight doors from the Bri-
tish Embassy.
" It appears that the Duchess returned to Paris
yesterday evening only, in order to take with her to
a watering place some of her children, whose exami-
nations at their respective schools had just concluded.
This morning, between five and six o'clock, the
femme de chanzbre of the Duchess was awoke by her
lady's bell, and instantly proceeded to her apartment,
which she found secured within. After calling loudly
and making ineffectual attempts to open the door, she
called up other servants, who forced an entrance, and
found the Duchess expiring in her bed. She had re-
ceived seven wounds from a poniard. The assassin,
who is supposed to have known the house well, is be-
lieved to have escaped by leaping into the garden
from the window of the Duchess's sleeping room, and
which opens on the .Champs Elysees. The victim
was unable to utter a word before she expired.
" An alarm was instantly given, and in a very short
time the Procureur du Roi, the Prefect of Police, and
a considerable number of the most intelligent police-
officers were on the spot, and took active measures
for tracing the author of the crime. Every person
found in the house, and everybody who entered it
afterwards, were taken into custody. The efforts of
the police have not, up to this moment (three o'clock
p.m.), relaxed in the slightest degree. If human
sagacity and energy can insure success, it is impos •
sible that the assassin can escape. . .

~...._
" Several rumours are afloat, to which, of course, I
shall not give publicity. As no robbery was effected,
murder only is believed to have been the intention of
the perpetrator of this appalling crime. It is, among
other reports, stated that the murder is a ' Corsican
vengeance' (vendetta), but it is difficult to admit this
this rumour, for there did not exist a more excellent
woman, nor one more universally beloved than the
Duchess of Praslin. She was very handsome, the
mother of nine children, who live to deplore her.loss.
l'he Duke is, it is said, at Plombieres (a watering
place in the department of the Vosges).
" Marshal Sebastiani left Paris only three days
since for Corsica. A telegraphic dispatch has been
sent to Marseilles to recall him to Paris.
(From Galignani's 211essen,o.
currence of a lamentable event
, _t_hoi. 5
_,
5 the residence
Rue du Faubourg St. lionore,_.N
Yesterday evening the
of the Duke de Praslin.
the daughter of Mar-
Duchess de Praslin, who was the
of several children,
fiv\a'eriooucslock
nce from tbe country, and
arrived at the town residence e
murdered in her bed. There
found
in circulation as to the circumstances of this
ac-
counts
e affair, but in the confusion which necessarily
prevailshorrible
no details that can be relied upon have tran-
spired.
We are assured, however; that no robbery
shallt Sisebwaistthiadnie,eapndre
and
were e
of at theat e house
different early p
et
rhsi
os
nsmorning,iNii o
%%,as committed, and that the murder is attributed to
private vengeance. The Procureur du Roi and other
was this morning, bet%een four anadre
called, and
immediately commenced a rigid examination of the
none of whom were permitted to leave the house
until a perfect conviction had been obtained that they
could have no connexion with the affair. Several
persons have already been placed under arrest. We
understand that the deceased
household, authorities
Duchess, who was a
highly accomplished woman, was about 40 years
of age. tghreet.mdothat we
this
announcer°
eo
rn)ing
t ihne
the
e-

have FATAL
state OCCURRENCEthatf
our lives t THEwer
loste Ly
37,
- ----- - -
burgh Advertiser of Tuesday says—" We are sorry to
western metropolis. Two of them, both men,n w.
the
other edrowned by the upsetting of a boat in the river, d
were'a acci-
dentally two consisted of a man and boy,
neither case
Railway. We understand, however, that
Zion with the
was the misfortune to be taken in conne
. .
dentally killed by one of the trains ont w.nthhoe Greenock
I visit of the Queen."
k The slight rains we have had,
freely in the past wee •
otherwise, by causing
have been beneficial rather than
in the ear. Most of the corn
the grain to hang better
I which has been reaped is excellent, both for quantity and
I quality,—.V•rer Clirokifi
A
Harvest operations have been. carried on pretty
yesterday, Edin-
burgh

The want of rain is still much felt throughout the
West Indies, which renders the prospect of next
year's crop uncertain. At Jamaica, no reduction
whatever had taken place in the rates of freights
since the departure of the previous mail. The quan-
tity of produce on hand for which no conveyance
could be obtained, was exceedingly large, and
freights were expected to keep up for some time to
come. Throughout the Azores peace and quietness
prevailed. Her Majesty's steamer Sidon, and brig
Recruit, were to return from Fayal to Terceira, it
was supposed, to await the arrival of troops from
Portugal.
By this arrival we have our usual files of papers
which 'confirm to a considerable extent the foregoingaccount of the weather. There are, however, some ex-
ceptions ; the rainy season had set in at Trinidad, and
there was a prospect of its continuance, but a consider-
able quantity of produce was waiting for shipment. At
Barbadoes, a favourable change in the weather had
taken place, heavy rains had fallen, but the island
was suffering from great scarcity and dearness f
pt lions. At Jamaica, the exceedively dry 1 s
the weather is confirmed. The dispatch states, t t
444
both the north and south sides of the island were
alike in this respect. The grass fields in the neigh-
bourhood of Buff Bay present the yellow and parched
appearance of the southern penns, and the plant
canes are suffering severely. A heavy shower had
fallen, but was of short duration, though there was
the appearance of coming rain. Such dry weather
had not been experienced on the mountains of St.
the George e
trees look
m arneymar years.kab l y Itw well,
l, gratifyingand pr o
m isto e satna te
abun-
dant that
it has not had any sensible effect on the coffee as yet ;
blossom.

" The weather at Tobago," says the Chronicle,
" continues as favourable as the planters could well
desire. The land is refreshed with heavy showers,
but not sufficiently heavy to obstruct outdoor work,
such as supplying and putting in plants—operations
so necessary at this season of the year, and for which
the present state of the weather is so propitious.
Sugar making is finished on many of the estates,
and on most would have been so had the weather
been good for planting. The canes left standing
to supply plants will now be cut down, aid the
crop for 1847 finished, which, we are happy in
stating, will show a considerable increase on that of
1846."

The House of Assembly, at Jamaica, was further
prorogued to the 24th of August.
The following is a list of the cabin passengers by
the Severn :—Mr. and Mrs. Price and family, Mr.
:end Mrs. P. Abrahams and family, Mrs. Hamilton,
Mr. Sympson, Mr. Schloss, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Moree,
Mr. A. C. Thomson, Mr. Crewe, Mr. Corinaldi,
Mrs. Saunders, Mr. Girard, Mr. Reobe, Mr. Grant
Mr. Lynch, Mrs. Corrie and family, Mr. and Mrs.
Darling and family, Mr. Lamont, Mr. Connor, Mr.
Hardy, Major Unett (19th Regiment), Mr. Snell,
Mr. Spence, Mr. Pidcentine, Mr. Clement, Mr.
Majesty'sDo übot CountshipE nddeymFiroen),
beaumx,r. Cso.ußntendesaCv,ci
h,a
Count de Bouthillier, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Jones, Mr.
Rogers ; nine distressed seamen, three invalids (her
E. Ben Sawde, Mrs. M. Ben Saboth and son, Mr. S.
Sebat, and Mr. Sampaio.

KINGSTON MARKETS.
(From De Cordova's Mercantile Intelligencer.)
Again we have to report our market as presenting a
cheerless and inactive appearance; indeed the difficulty
of effecting sales on speculation is every day beFysmainrief
increased, and that too at a time when our
tsuppl
p , therefore,ie
being added to to sonic extent. The
e which fear we
dispel the fear of a scarcity of foo
'it appeared but
when
expressed on a former
whichmight porcecsuenr,tsisitsaenl3f..tthoinoguarbvlyiew,adlthhPeorrifgsh
occasion, that a scarcity
too probable, from various circumstances,butcheering
to importers.
priceswe r
were
rather which onlym 0 r
e
lower the prices of every
from America on
Large supplies must inevitably
but
article of consumption;
the
banks,
business must dwin-
dle
sumptiou of discounts b
render remunerative. The expectation,
large sales could t
a certainty, of a good harvest in
amounting almost
_eoarn
England, has, We leareducedrn by
the rates of breadstuffs in the
20th instant,
the
United States, and will assuredly create a corresponding
reduction
• in this market. The money market remains
in the same position as when we last went to press; and
there is no immediate prospect of its becoming less
stringent, notwithstanding that the accounts brought
by the packet of the 15th June, relative to the state
favourable than they had been for some time of a teo
mpounree purely
market retail
an arrival
ad,
pre-
viously.
, Flour—The prices of this article are only nominal.
Some few parcels of the old stock were moved at 445.;
and about fifty barrels in lots, of a late arrival from
Baltimore, at 465. to 485.; but since those transactions
prices have receded, and the trade will not now notice
any demand approaching to 445. per barrel. The re-
ceipts since the ith instant have extended to upwards of
2,000 barrels, the greater portion of which came in on
the 18th and 19th.
barrel has
Meal--A decline of from 4s. to 6s. per
the past
taken Place in the price of this article
within2,ooo fortnight, created by the receipt of some
bar-
rels and the reduced demand.
this article on hand prevents
Rice—The small stock ofitssale
being
affected by the
any decline in its value, o
drtuffs• There is no Carolina
abundance of other brea s
on hand.
ithout change since our last issue.
m s w
Sugar—Re- ain dat 48 Id. to 4s. 2d, proof 21,
Bum—May be quote .
but the demand is dull.
Exchanges on London—Colonialßank, ninety days,
2 perEx cent. discount—sixty days, 11 per cent. discount;
Jamaica Bank, ninety days, 2 per cent, discount;
planters' Bank, ninety days, 2 per cent. discount—sixty
days, l i per cent, discount. in
the event
ofeccatillnaotend_re.to

REMOVAL OF CONVICTS TO WAKEFIELD GAOL.--
The Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart., Secretary of
State for the Home Department, has just completed an
arrangement with the Hon. Edward Lascelles,
Chairman of the West Riding Quarter Sessions, for the
reception of 400 convicts into that gaol from the Peni-
tentiary, at Millbata, London, now under sentence of,
transportation for various periods, and the first draug:at
of these unfortunate bc,ings, consisting of 100, will, be
sent down by railway, to occupy that part of the -prison
set apart for their reception, and which will bit, under
the management of a governor appointed by .be Home
Secretary.