The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-24 00:00:00

the hearty concurrence of the Secretaries of State. All

the civil local authorities were in its favour.

The medi-

cal profession, and the Catholic priesthood (who are in
many cases the sole physicians and nurses of the suff,r7
ing immigrant,) concurred in its approval. Meetings
were called in New York and Philadelphia, and petitions

. .
presented from those cities, as well as from Baltimore,
Charleston, and New Orleans. A large majority in the
Senate
Sand in the House were heartily in favour of the
Bill, but the shipowners contrived to secure five votes
out of nine in the Committee of Commerce, and the Bill
was withdrawn to be tried in England. Here its fate

has been no better. I obtained an interview with the

Commissioners of Colonisation in London, and they
would cheerfully comply with the recommendation ; but
such is the overwhelming distress of the country, and so
great the necessity for relief by means of emigration,
that they are fearful of proposing any measure that could
by any possibility interfere with its progress, or increase
the expenses of the emigrants. The wishes of the Ame-
rican Government were frustrated by the avarice and
short-sightedness of the shipowner; and the wishes of
the English Commissioners by the difficulties attend-
ant upon the present awful visitations of Providence.
"But where Government fails the pestilence succeeds;
the scourge of God hits power where the efforts of man
are unavailing. The suffering crowds that rush into the
Atlantic cities of the United States reward the hospita-
lity they receive with infection. In the " between decks"
of the passenger vessel is fostered fever. No skilful
hand is there to minister to the sick ; no experienced
mind to adopt to preventive means by which alone
escape from universal death may be effected. Such
a state of things cannot continue ; and already many
vessels in the port of Liverpool are advertising
for surgeons, and recently several have sailed thus
provided. The captains generally are themselves in
favour of such a precaution ; it is the shipowners only
who have objected. Could the emigrant be informed
upon a subject so nearly connected with his dearest in-
terests he would himself accomplish this desirable pur-
pose, by selecting for his voyage such a vessel only as
may be provided with a " doctor," and rejecting all
others ; and this has now become his legitimate mode of
redress, for other means have failed.
" Among the various provisions of the Passenger Act.,
there exists one of so capricious and incomprehensible a
nature, one so inconsistent with all prudence, so utterly
at variance with all humanity, that it is impossible to
imagine on what grounds such a regulation should
have been suggested or adopted. The Act of Parlia-
ment provides that
" All vessels carrying one hundred passengers and
upwards, and going to all parts of the world (North
America excepted!) shall carry surgeons.'
" I, Sir, have seen the evils I allude to, and personally
have gone through the opposition I have related. With-
out presumption I trust that I may assert the imperative
necessity of employing medical officers on board of emi-
grant vessels, and the futility of all the objections
against the measure.
" It remains only to be stated, on the authority of Dr.
Sutherland, of Liverpool, and Dr. Carmichael, of Dub-
lin, that medical men having taken out their diplomas
could be procured in abundance in both these cities,
at a small salary, for emigrant vessels. This precludes
all difficulty.
" I remain, Sir, in the earnest hope that shortly this
most desirable object may be attained,

"Your obedient servant,
"SARAH MYTTON MAURY."
"Liverpool, June, 1847."
REPORT ON THE SHIP HOTTINGUER.

Captain Ira Bursley, which sailed from Liverpool on
6th May, 1845.
BY RICHARD FRASER, SUMEON.
" Having been requested by Mrs. Maury, of Liverpool
and the other cabin passengers, as well as Capt. Bursley
to draw up a statement of facts which occurred on board
the Hottinguer, during her voyage from Liverpool to New
York, and to subjoin therewith my own private opinions,
I now beg most respectfully to lay before them the fol

lowing details:—
" The Hottinguer sailed from Liverpool on the 6th
May, 1845, having on board 397 steerage passengers, a
crew of `2 seniors, with four officers of the ship, and six
cabin passengers. Of the steerage passengers one-
eighth were infants; a very small proportion of these,
as of the adults, bad undergone vaccination. On the
eighth day after departure two children were seized with
the small-pox, which quickly developed itself in the
most virulent form. Of course this infection had
been imbibed previously to coming on b mrd. Their
respective ages were five and seven. Neither of these
children had been vaccinated. These cases both termi-
nated fatally. It is impossible to describe the dismay
which prevailed throughout the ship ; nor was this
dismay unfounded; because, notwithstanding every
precaution that might be taken, the probability was that
had the voyage been prolonged another week, many
would have fallen victims to the disease. In justice
to Captain Bursley, I wish to state that he most
cordially adopted every suggestion that I made to
him, both for the comfort of the patients and the safety
of the ship. The bodies were thrown overboard the
instant that life had ceased ; their beds, bed clothes, and
linen were also thrown into the sea, and their berths puri-
fied with burnt tar. But notwithstanding these precau-
tions, even tow (seven days after landing), seve❑ of the
passengers have been attacked with the small-pox, and
Mrs. Maury herself, the instigator of the present report,
has been a sufferer from varioloid. These cakes have

been under my own care since landing; how many more
may have broken out it would be impossible to state.
Mrs. Maury's son, a boy of fourteen, has also had a
slight attack of varioloid. _ _

I.‘ Were this a solitary case less importance would of
course attach to it; but I have made the subject a matter
of inquiry, and find that it is of constant and daily re-
currence in all the emigrant vessels upon the Atlantic.
I attribute the yearly visitation of this deplorable
malady, the small-pox, in the cities of New York, Bos
ton, Philadelphia, and other ports, in a great measure to
the landing of emigrants from vessels in which the dis-
ease has been raging. No quarantine examination can
be efficient in this case, because small-pox will lurk in
the system many days before it appears externally, or
before the patient even feels himself indisposed.
"It is customary for the American emigrant ships to
carry a full complement of passengers without a surgeon
on board, neither is the health of the passengers ever
inquired into ; still less is it considered requisite that
they should be vaccinated.
" From thew circumstances, I am led to the fol-
lowing suggestions :-Ist. That every emigrant ship be
compelled to carry a surgeon, who shall examine into
the supply of medicines necessary for the cure of the
most probable kinds of disease which may occur, 2nd.
That every passenger, immediately after coming on
board, be submitted to vaccination, although he may
have previously gone through this operation, because
vaccination produces no personal inconvenience, and
because it has been found that it invariably modifies,
though it does not always prevent the invioloid and small-
pox. Mrs. Maury and her son had each of them been
twice vaccinated. The patients under vaccination would
suffer no more at sea than they do on land. 3d. That a
small surgery be allotted to the use of the surgeon, where
he may receive his patients in private. This is urged
for manifest reasons of propriety. 4th. That no emi-
grant labouring under any infectious or contagious dis-
ease be allowed to sail in any vessel, because where so
large a number of persons is congregated together, and
confined for a length of time, it is probable that disease
of some description will break out, the risk and fatality
attending it depending on the malignity of its nature,
the means available for cure, and the length of the
voyage.
" There will be no difficulty in procuring surgeons for
these vessels at a trifling expense, because many young
practitioners would gladly avail themselves, for a very
small remuneration, of the opportunities thus offered to
improve their knowledge and experience, and thus also
they would be enabled to proceed to Europe for the pur-
pose of enlarging their acquaintance there with profes-
sional men and practice, while the vessel remained in
port. "RICHARD FRASER.
, "New York, Bth June, 1845."

EVELYN HARCOURT, A NOVEL. By MRS. GAS-
COIGNE, Authoress of " Temptation i or, a Wife's Pe-
rils." This story of fashionable life is equally remark-
able for the vigour and purity of the style in which it
is written, the ingenuity and completeness of the plot,
the interest of the denouement, and the excellence of
the moral which every reader must inevitably draw
from the narration. The fashionable world in no way
differs from the rest of mankind ; the lights and shades
which make up the picture of life, are often found
.
there in stronger contrast than in the more retiring
grades of society ; and while Mrs. Gftscoignhe bsetiist6h.
failed to portray, with an unsparing 11.and,ptenet in the
ness which is often engendered by a
ot inevitably re-
whirl of fashionable gaieties, she shows life
ethsat deteriora-
tion of the heart's best feelings
stilt from contact with the e
that "Evelyn Harcourt
Gaseuigne's numerous admire
does n
de We doubt not
wil.b*alubmesa.,n
Pat.favourite with Mrs.
ilk oaormieg