The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-02 00:00:00

JUNE 2, 1846.

H
tc
el oms d
Tt hFhe
ei Rr
qduEeel
eiNtb eeUrna is o
en
n.s (4,e
aonUrd
vAtei
:Reyi
rAgeroNe
nat
ipNoonrEst
at.ne
en
ed, to
and
a
The committee of the Academie de Midecine have
complete reform in the present French quarantine sys-
a revision of the quarantine laws has long been wanted
both in England and France.
The
following are the recommendations contained in
the report of the committee:..
PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN ON THE DE-
PARTURE OF VESSELS FROM A COUNTRY
DEEMED DANGEROUS, FOR FRANCE
" 1. The captain of every vessel leaving one of the
ports of Egypt, Syria, or Turkey, for France, must be
the bearer of a certificate given him by the French
Consul of the place on the day or on the eve of his de-
parture. To this certificate must be annexed a certifi
cate from the French medical man, especially appointed
for that purpose, stating the particulars regarding the
general health in the country, of the passengers and the
crew, as likewise the healthy state of the vessel at her
departure.
" 2. This bill of health is not to be regarded as clean
if, at the time of the departure of the vessel, a pestilence
existed or was imminent in the country.
" 3. 'The bill is likewise to be deemed unclean (crute)
if individual cases of plague (pates sporadiques) are of a
nature, either from their number or their intensity, to en-
gender fears for the propagation of the disease.
"4. In every other case the bill of health is to be re-
garded as clean.
" 5. Provisionally, and until experience, which we deem
indispensable, as well as regards the public safety as inter-
,national relations, having been resolved in a satisfactory
manner evident to all, the question of conveyance, the
trunks containing the linen, the clothes and goods of the
passengers and the crew, are to undergo fumigation dur-
ing the transit, or are *to be sealed at the place where
they are shipped, to be opened in a French lazaretto ; •
the passengers and sailors are only to be allowed to
retain such clothes as may be actually nettessary during+
the voyage."

PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN DURING THE VOYAGE AND
AT THE DIFFERENT PORTS STOPPED AT.

"6. Every vessel of the royal navy, each postal
steamer coming from the East must have a medical man
on board ; it were advisable that this medical man be
appointed by the French Board of Health.
" 7. The duty of these medical men on board would
be to see the necessary measures for the preservation of
health attended to, principally respecting the airing of
the vessels; they are to note down every evening the
state of the crew and passengers.
" 8. If duing the voyage the vessel puts in at any port,
the certificates given at the port of departure are to be
viewed by the medical man attached to the board of health
of the place, who is to add his remarks on the state of
health of the place and of the neighbourhood. This
certificate, if deemed requisite, is to be countersigned by
the consul. _ _

"9. The medical man on board is to keep an exact
memorandum of any communications he may hear on
board, as well as of any important circumstance relative
to the state of health.
" 10. As regards those vessels which have no medical
limn on hoard, the Minister of Commerce will draw out
special instructions for the masters, indicating the
symptoms of the pestilence, the remedies to be applied,
the measures to be taken to prevent, contagion, and the
spreading of the disease.
" 11. These masters are to note down any remarks or
communications they may receive during the passage, or
at the intermediate ports, as well as a statement of any
illness on board; these notes to be written day by day as
the occasion may require."
PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN ON THE
ARRIVAL IN PRINCE.

" 12. The commanders of vessels in the royal navy and
of the post•oflice steamers haring a medical man on board,
are to remit to the competent authorities :
" 1. The bill of health and annexed certificate receivei
at the port they started from.

"2. The journal kept by the medical man on board,
stating any case of illness which may have occurred dur-
ing th passage.
" The medical man on duty belonging to the Board of
Health of the port where the vessel arrives, to whom
the two above certificates are to be given, is to examine
them carefully, and to certify the actual state of health
of the crew and passengers, as well as the healthy state
of the vessel, and is to make known the result of his
investigations, in a report the form of which will be de-
noted by the administration

" 13. On receipt of the bill of health and certificate
given at the departure of the vessel, of the journal kept
on board, and of the report of the medical man of the
port arrived at, the competent authorities are to deter-
mine the duration of the quarantine, and if needs be,
the special measures to be taken to prevent infection.

" 14. For vessels having a medical man on board,
coming from Egypt, Syria, or Turkey, with a clean'
bill of health, the quarantine is to be fixed at ten days,
dating from the departure of the vessel, if during the
passage no symptoms of pestilence have manifested
themselves.

" 15. The quarantine is to be fixed at fifteen days,
dating from the departure of the said vessels, if the bill
of health is unclean,' if before the departure and
during the passage no evil symptoms broke out.
" 16. For merchantmen, not having a medical man on
bard, a quarantine of ten days, dating from their ar-
rival, is to be prescribed if they have a clean' bill of
health.

" 17. The same vessels arriving with an ' unclean'
bill of health, but without having had any symptoms of
plague on board, are to undergo a quarantine of fifteen
days, dating from their arrival, and the goods are to be
disembarked.

" 18. Any vessel, no matter what her bill of health
may say, which, during the passage or on her arrival at a
French port, has on board a person attacked by the pesti-
lence or by a suspicious disease, is to be submitted to a
strict quarantine, the duration of which is to be deter-
mined by the sanitory authorities of the said port.
" The passengers and crew are to be sent to the laza-
retto, and to undergo a quarantine not less than fifteen
and not exceeding twenty days.
" The goods to be disembarked and ventilated ; the
vessel to be thoroughly ventilated, washed, cleaned, and
purified, and is to remain empty at least for one month;
persons are to be appointed to guard the vessel at a cer-
tain distance, but they are to be expressly prohibited,
under whatsoever pretext, as well as every other per-
son, from goinc, on board the vessel in quarantine.
" 19. The baggage and clothes sent to the lazaretto,
having been sealed at the port of departure, are to be
ventilated and purified in the manner deemed most ex
pedient for preventing infection.
" 20. Persons suffering from the pestilence are to re-
ceive at the lazaretto all that care and attention given
in the best organised hOspitals of the country."

The Presse-remarks as follows on the above conclu-
sions :

"It is evident that the committee of the Academie
de Meiecine go as far as we do in the proposed system
of reform, and they limit themselves to the adoption of
the conclusions, and to giving their support to the in-
ceseant appeals of MM. Auber, Roche, and Alexis de
Valon. We shall only remark upon two articles, which
we deem altogether inadmissible. Some practical know-
ledge was wanting to the Academie de Me keine. If a
merchant, or other person qualified, had formed part of
the committee, they would never have admitted Arti-
cles 5 and 19, relative to the sealing of the merchandise;
this would be a source of needless delay, embarrassment,
and trouble, and would be of the greatest prejudice to
our steamers.
"Article 17, which specifies a strict quarantine of fif-
teen days, and the disembarking of the merchandise, on
any vessel arriving with an unclean bill of health, is not
logic, in a scientific point of view. Besides which, it
would tend to suppress commerce with the east in all
those ports void of lazarettos. Would it be just to
oblige the vessels of Cette, of Port Vendres, &c., to
have first to undergo a ruinous quarantine at Marseilles,
before returning to the proprietor ? According to our
notion, the academy has not sufficiently weighed this
article, which deserves closer investigation. However,
the question of quarantine has made a rapid step in
advance, and we flatter ourselves not to have lent a
powerless hand."

The Marchioness of Hastings, and Captain Hastings,
R.N., have left town for Efford House, Lymington.
SHIPS' STORES.—The Customs authorities having had
under their consideration the regulations allowing spare spars
and other articles of wood goods, as specified in the printed
instructions furnished to the tide-surveyors for their informa-
tion and guidance, to be left on board foreign vessels when
cleared inwards for ships' stores, and deeming it expedient
that the same should be extended to British vessels, have
ordered that the officers at the port of London, and at the
several outports and places along the coasts of the kingdom,
do govern themselves in future accordingly, observing that if
such British vessels are from any port in the Baltic, the coast
of Norway, or any port to the eastward of Brest, one-third
less than the enumerated quantities should be allowed, as in
the case of foreign vessels returning to the Baltic, the tide-
surveyor taking care to record all articles left by them for
ship's use in the tide-waiter's book and the clearing journal,
and also in the certificate left with the master of the vessel.
MONSTER TRAINS.—On Monday morning, as early
as seven o'clock, the approach to the termini of the Brighton,
Dover, and Croydon Railway was the scene of much con-
fusion, owing to the immense number of persons waiting for
the early excursion trains. The eight o'clock Brighton train
consisted of forty-four carriages, and was propelled by three
powerful engines. It extended nearly half a mile in length,
and the carriages contained nearly four thousand persons.
The nine o'clock train took down an immense number also;
as did the trains from Dover, Ramsgate, and Croydon. Num-
bers of persons also availed themselves of the cheap excur-
sions on the South-Western, Northern and Eastern, and
Eastern Counties lines.
[An vEnTrsEsi ENT.] --THE EYES.-39, Albemarle-
street, Piccadilly. Optical Instruments to enable. persons at ad-
vanced age to read with ease and to discriminate objects with perfect
distinctness. Messrs. S. and B. Solontons, opticians, have invented
Spectacle Lenses, &c. of the greatest transparent power.which are
patronised by his Majesty the King of Hanover, her (trace the
Dowager Duchess of Bedford, their Graces the ArchbishozsofCan•
n
terbury, York, and Dublin, the Dukes of Devonshire, N rfor k,
Exeter Ar-
gyle, Marlborough and Manchester, Bishops of
andct vision is
Lincoln,
Cork, Elphin, and Kildare. By this invention, imperfect
preserved and strengthened, and very aged persons are enabled to
employ their sight at the most urinate occupation, and can see with
these lenses of a much less re-
quiremagnifying the frequent changes to further helps.
lescopes, Opera Glasses, Microscopes,l
n deafness. Caution—
v Also,
i power, and they do not
bl e, and all kinds of
Acoustic Instruments, for
Messrs. S. and B. Solomons, Opticians. reliefofi extremeare not in any way
con-
nected with a person of
nor in any parttohfetshae oumeen . name in their immediate neigh-
bourhood,try To prevent mistakes, ba
cautious and observe, only to be had at 39, Albemaile-street, Picca-
dilly, apposite the York Hotel.

PRICE SD.

MEXICO and the UNITED STATES.
The bombastic President Polk has at length had the
felicity of inditing a war message to Congress, craving
for " two regiments of volunteers, and other levies of an
equally formidable kind, to resist the hostile purposes of
the Mexicans." The President, however, makes out but
a poor case. The Mexicans, it seems, refused to re-
ceive an American envoy. This is surely no casus
The other grief is that the Mexicans keep up an army
on the banks of the Rio Bravo. Why, they have had
posts there for these number of years. And even sup-
posing the Americans had a rightful title to Texas, it is
not apparent how this should render it a crime for the
Mexicans to garrison Matamoras. The territory
intervening between the Rio Bravo and the
Nueces has been long a disputed territory
between Texas and the adjoining provinces.
Notwithstanding this dispute, the Mexican commander
did not occupy this territory, but kept on his own side
of the Rio del Norte. Had the American commander
done the same, and kept at the Corpus Christi, on the
Nueces, contented with protecting the territory from
on haveth e
defensive. a e
invasion, nore collisionn;iai ae d
strictlycou ldtaken e,Bfloitr the G-
eneral Taylor not only crossed the Nueces and seized
the whole of the disputed territory, but, under
n
idle plea, he proceeded also to blockade Matamoras,
and cut it off from the sea. In this, General Taylor
wantonly commenced hostilities ; as, indeed, the Whigs
and the Senate are prepared tio maintain, as they insist
that he should not have gone beyond Corpus Christi.
Collisions hiving taken place, it was impossible to re-
fuse the vote of levies and of money, although the
leading members of the Senate, Coltoun amongst others,
protested that the country could not consider itself at war.
The united bodies of Congress could, indeed, alone de-
clare that. War, however, it is, if President Polk chooses
to make it so. This he seems scarcely prepared to do upon
the land frontier of the Rio del Norte. lie may, h )w-
-ever, give orders to the fleet in the Gulf to operate on
, the coast, or to whatever vessels are on the Pacific, to
I seize Monterey or the forts of,California. And, as
compensation for that unlimited store of grievance,
which has been amassed on the supposed
wrongs done to American citizens by Mexico, Mr. Polk
may insist on retaining such provinces or possessions.
Federalist movements, too, may be got up at the same
time, under American influence, to paralyse the efforts
of the Mexican Government and facilitate the work of
spoliation. Is Europe prepared to see Mexico thus dis-
membered, and the autopsy made before her eyes ? It
is to be feared that such is the case. A serious means
of effective war would alone be likely to make the
Americans hesitate. And neither France nor England
is prepared to volunteer in such a struggle. We have
had little or no thanks from Spain for having fought
for and won its iadependence. We might risk still less
profit or gratitude from the Spanish race in Mexico.
The age of political, as well as of religious, crusades is
past.—Examiner.

CANADIAN NEWS,
(From the Toronto Herald of May 7.)
LOWER PROVINCES.-Our latest advice* from- the
Lower Provinces inform us that, in New Brunswick, a
most destructive freshet had accompanied the breaking
up of the ice above Fredericton, on the river St. John
and its tributaries • almost erery. bridge .of any conse-
quence between, tliat city and Woodstock; has been de-
stroy:ed. The great crash is said to liaie commenced at
the French Village, twelve miles above Fredericton,
where dwelling houses, barns, horses, cattle, sheep, &c.,
were swept away ; and at Sugar Island, two miles
lower, the destruction was still more extensive and ap.
palling, elm trees, three feet in diameter, being snapt
' asunder, or bent like reeds by the irresistible force of the
ice and water, while houses, barns, haystacks, cattle,
&c., were borne down the current, or crushed
to fragments and piled among the ice upon the shore.
Upwards of one hundred buildings are said to have been
destroyed ; and such was the feelings of alarm, even in
Fredericton, that a greal amonnt of property was removed
from the immediate vicinity of the river, and several
families took up their abode on Maryland Hill, which
overlooks the city. No account of the amount of injury
sustained above Woodstock had been received, though it
was known that two lives had been lost. From Fredric-
ton, downwards, the ice still continued strong for several
miles.

The House of Assembly of the Province has placed
12,0001. at the disposal of the Executive, to meet any
emergency that may arise out of the dispute between
Great Britain and the United States, concerning the
Oregon question.
The Assembly closed its session on the 14th instant,
and was formally prorogued to the first Tuesday in June,
by the Lieutenant-Governor in person. The attention
of the Assembly throughout the session has been devotf d,
almost exclusively, to the ordinary business of the
country. A general election is expected to take place
early in July.
It seems now settled that the New Cathedral is to be
built at St. John, in perference to Fredericton.
Papers, from Sydney, Cape Breton, of the Ist April,
state the ice in the harbour was then impassable, and
was expected to disappear altogether in two or three
days ; " altogether precisely four weeks earlier than the
average of the last four years." So early a spring is
said to be without precedent in that region.
The accounts from Newfoundland represent the Seal
Fishery as hitherto not only unsuccessful but disastrous.
The St. John's Courier states, that upwards of eighty
vessels had been spoken which had caught no seals, nor
had they heard of one that had been fortunate enough
to take any ; and the Public Ledger gives the names of
seven vessels already known to have been lost in the ice.
The Governor of Prince Edward's Island has involved
himself in a controversy with the Assembly, by dis-
missing the Speaker from the Executive Council, in con-
sequence of opinions expressed by him in the Assembly.
The following resolution was carried by a vote of 14
to 3 :

"Resolved, as the opinion of this Committee, that the
House of Assembly has no confidence in Sir Henry Vere
Huntly, Lieutenant-Governor of this Colony."
It was resolved by the Assembly on Friday last, on the
motion of Mr. Baldwin—That this House are of opinion
that such en alteration should be made in the regula-
tions in the crown lands office, as will enable parties
buying land from the original purchasers of any quantity
not less than fifty acres, to have their purchases recog-
nised, and on production of the proper assignments, and
tender of the sums due on such portions of land, that
transfers to the assignees be made in the books of the
Department, and that deeds in due course of time be
issued to them.

ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HER MAJESTY'S
•SLOOP FANTOME AND A BARBARY PIRATE.

Extract of a letter from Gibraltar, dated May 19 :
In the greatest haste I write you a brief account of
a severe chastisement which has been inflicted by her
Alsjesty's ship Fantome, 16, Commander Sir F. W.
Nicholson, Bart., on the Moorish pirates, who have for
some time been committing depredations in these Straits;
but I am sorry to say not without casualties among the
ship's company of the Fantome, a midshipman having
been killed, and one of the lieutenants wounded, toge-
tber with a serjeant of marines and five seamen and
marines.

" You have already the intelligence communicated by
Lloyd's agent of the seizure of a small British merchant
brig, named the Ruth, by the pirates, off the coast of
Barbary, and the escape of the crew in the boats, and
that upon their representation the Fantome had left Gi-
braltar to endeavour to recover the vessel—a portion of
the crew proceeding in the sloop of war to point out
the locality of the miscreants.
" It appears that the Fantome had little difficulty in
finding the brig, and, seeing that they would have to
fight for her, Captain Nicholson made his dispositions
accordingly. He dispatched the master and one party
to get the vessel off, and, being fired upon by a large
force collected on the shore, he pushed off in the boats,
place,ot
the
lengthenedntil the
mastere n g aagneam
hisen t
pt haer nt y thoaoak g
under cover of the guns of the sloop, to occupy their
awthteicnhtiolans.
lasted
Ruth off, and had recovered some of her valuable cargo.
Captain Nicholson commanded in person, and he
and
his small party were opposed
by very considerable num-
bers of the Moors, who armed with I p stela, guns, and
cutlasses, obstinately disputed his landing, and after-
wards his advance on the strand, some of them fighting
with great bravery. A great many were killed by the
crew of the Fantome, and a large number must have
suffered from the guns of the sloop covering the launch-
ing of the ship, for I hear from an eye-witness that
nothing could exceed the precision and • exactness with
which the firing was conducted.
" From what I can learn the affair was a very gallant
one indeed, and was admirably conducted. The
pirates had a great advantage over the Fantome's
crew in point of arms • their muskets carried twice
as far as those of the seamen and marines. To
this circumstance is to be ascribed the loss of Mr.
Boys, the midshipman, who was a gallant and pro-
mising young officer, and lam informed is a son of a
captain in her Majesty's navy. lie was killed on the
return of the boats to the sloop when they had accom-
plished their task, and under the same circumstances the
first lieutenant, Mr. Saunderson, was severely wounded,
four or five of the
together with the colour-sergeant and
ship's company. The action took place on the 12th of
May, at a point of the north coast of Barbary called Tre-
forces, to the eastward of the Tetuan,
" The seizure of the brig was one of the most daring
acts
of piracy that has been committed in the Mediter-
ranean for several years, and when it is considered that
it was in the strait and narrow passage of the Mediter-
ranean by which merchant vessels pass, the importance
of the severe chastisement inflicted by Sir F. Nicholson
and his gallant officers and crew will be duly estimated,
not only in official, hut in mercantile quarters."

- -
THE MORNING MAILS.—In consequence of the many
changes recently made in the Post-office by the further open-
ing of the several railways and the branches in connexion
with them, the Postmaster-General yesterday caused to be
issued an amended list of towns, bags to and from which are
dispatched from and received at the General Post-office.
The following towns have been added to the list published in
March last in this journal :—Newcastle-on-Tyne, Queen.
borough, Sheerness, Tiverton, and Tunbridge. The sub-
joined towns have not now bags forwarded—Newcastle
(Staffordshire) and Accrington.
POTATOES FROM NORWAY.—A cargo of forty tons of
potatoes from Norway is announced for sale in the present
week, in Monument-yard, as applicable either for seed or for
consnu3ption.