The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-15 00:00:00

RAILWAY OR CA a EI.

fr. o. fr. c.
Oslent .... 1,245 Western B7O
Northern o
935 Strasburg
F.ayons
aioditerranean 1,670 Grand Central ...... 602 to
I.3rons Genova 720 Testo ......... .. .......
Cette 630 Austrian Cem. . ..... 775

SPAIN.

The Madrid Gazette of the 10th contains an offi-
cial account of the reception of Count de °riveDi,
the; new Austrian Minister, by the Queen, which
ha 3 already been mentioned by telegraph. lie ad_
dmssed a brief complimentary speech to her Ma-
jesty, and the Queen replied to it in suitable terms.
Th e Gazette also contains the following u` The The Journal des Debats,in a paragraph which various
journals of this capital have reproduced and commented
upon, amongst other incorrect intelligence, affirms that
theßritish charg4 d'affaires in Madrid asked explanations
from tee Minister for Foreign Affairs with respect to the
cessation of the sequestration of the property of H.M.
the Queen Mother, and was replied to with considerable
vlirs.efty by Senor Pastor Diaz. We are completely au-
tharised to assert that the fact related by the Debats
has not the (slightest foundation, and that between Mr.
Otway and Senor Pastor Diaz not a single syllable was
ever interchanged upon this matter, and that the report
in question, like so many others, is an invention which
has not even the meritt, of being probable."
A letter has the following strange story •
"A serious incident, in whice Marshal Narvaez
figures, is a good deal talked of here. It is said that he
'went yesterday to pay a visit to Gen. Alesan, the new
Captain-General of the Phillipine isles, but not finding
Um at home went; to the drawing-room to wait for
hi re. There he found, in addition to Madame Alesau,
M. JoseGuel y Rente and his wife, who had also called
to pay a visit. (The latter is an Infanta of Spain,
beiz.g sister to the Ring and cousin to the Queen.) The
of
conversation was very animated between the
k d at the
the house and M. Guel y Rente, and in the coursee lady of
it
Mar shal Narvaez, on several occasions,
hloogentleman,
latte rin a peculiar manner. At length
tGeuel y Rente 1 '
annoyed at being so regarded, cried,
ged, and the
Marshal ex.
On this some sharp observations were'elxactmhhaen
lady of the house having intervened,
but taking
pros sed regret that he had given way to.anger;d tel after sent
his hat he left the house, and immediately
It% fighty him. Aa
frier d to challenge M.
Ythßee fact having become
consequence of
meecting was fixed on
,Guaenaidde to effect an arrangement,
known, attempts were m
Guel y Rente refusing for his
but without success, M.
this;
theto
province
fight, In canse
ravine(' has caused that
In u positionatehrisstanding o
ft the
iaffairtis nreei
th •-•- -,of ' •
. d what wol be it is not yet
gGivoevaerPnro°rmoi
ma) rts, an
tlei orm to be arrested.
lzno%;71). For the pr p•
fsethneot
lain that some time before the (I(>rture
ees..l.ry to explain,
from Spain, M. Guel y Ran '
Narvaez of ikiarshal Nary .
e, in - f e Cortet,, attacked him in very severe
a sitting o
he had concluded, the Marshal, rushing
terms ; and when
1
con, his sea`, placed his cane on the other's breast, tand threatened him.'

Letters from It ome of the 9th announce the
commencement of the works on the railway to
Civita Vecchia.

A despatch from Constantinople, of the Bth,
states that a firman has been published relative to
the national representation cf the Principalities.
There is no question in the finnan of the
the two provinces. union of

The Diet of the eft...,
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg
has been convoked for the 18th November.

THE TOTAL LOSS OP TFIE ROYAL MAIL

STEAMER TAY.

By the arrival of the Asia mail steamer, from
New York, atiLiverpool, confirmatory intelligence
has been received of the total loss of the Royal
Mail Company's steam ship Tay, off Lobos Island,
in the Gulf of Mexico. The details of the catas-
trophe will be best gathered from the subjoined
letter of Captain William Strutt, commander of
the Tay, to the Directors of the Company, re'
ceived yesterday at the offices, Moorgate-street

" TAMPICO, Sept. 5, 1856.
" Sir,—lt is my melancholy duty to report the total
loss of the Royal Mail steamer Tay, lately under mY
command. The following are briefly the particulars :---
The Tay left Vera Cruz at noon, on Friday, the :20th
of August. The wind was very light from the N. and
N.E., and calm. After having steered three rnilea
and by E., shaped the course N. and by W. the en'
gines being in the sixth grade of expansion, making 16.2
to 16.4 revolutions per minute, giving the speed of over
11 knots, running in this course, by calculation, ,about
125 miles. I altered the course, at midnight, to
N.W. by W., supposing that it would take me
twelve miles to the eastward of Lobos. I woes en
deck at 2 a.m., and remained there up to the nrament
that the ship struck. I was on the forecastle, lookiq
out with the chief officer, and suddenly observed, on the
port bow, what appeared to be a squall of wind owning
over the water. I drew the attention of the chief officer
to it, who thought the same. I immediately went aft,
in order to get my night-glass, but before I could get its,
the chief officer cried out, "Hard a-port : hard a-port
which was immediately done, and the engines stopped;
but the ship struck with much force, and after striking
heavily, her head came round to the north. Seeing the
perilous position of the ship, I immediately ordered all
the boats to be cleared away, and lowered down, which
were carried out without confusion. I then got the
mails from below, and placed them in the starboard life-
boat, which soon after left the ship in charge of the
Admiralty agent and second officer, with the intention
of proceeding to Tampico. All efforts were then made
to get the ship off. I got a 10-cwt. kedge anchor out
on the starboard bow, with an 8 inch hawser fast to it:
hove well taut, and steamed on ahead, engines going a"
full speed. During this time, the rollers were breaking
heavily over the afterpart of the ship, and sea increasing
momentarily, the hawser broke by the great strain, anl
the ship surged much further up on the beach. Sterilleu
the engines and eased down the steam, for fear of an ac'
cident in the engine-room. I then got a second 10-cwt'
kedge, with a 9-inch hawser out. I hove these taut, but
by this time the stern had been carried further up on the
beach. The stern-post and rudder were gone, and the
cabin was full of water—in fact, the sea was making 91
breach right over her ; and finding it impossible to do
anything more, resolved to abandon her to her fate, in order
to save life. I regret much to state that in this, the gig, after
being lowered, was swamped, and two men, Jchn Jeffs as
ordinary seaman, and Alfred Mills, pantryman, were inasc.
diately drowned. Another man, named Louis Blew'
chenay, scullion, who was with them, and thrown into
the water, succeeded in reaching the shore, and I have
reason to believe he is still alive, as we saw him Del",
day on the beach. I shipped off the men by the life-
boat a few at a time,, with such provisions as could be
saved. They were then transferred to the other ho3°s
which had previously been anchoredoutside of the roller!.
By 11.30 a.m., all hands had left the ship. The boats
were then steered for the island of Lobos, about 8 miles
distant, and were all safely landed there at 2.40 P-.lll'
Search was then made for fresh water, our store having
been exhausted, and, fortunately, the men were not nir
successful in finding a supply. Whilst writing, 14°u°
L'lanclienay has arrived from the coast; therefore the
two casualties I previously named were the only 00
that happened.
I visited the ship on Sunday, but was unable to app
proach nearer than a mile, on account of the very heavy
rollers. She had settled down on the starboard broad'
side, and had parted abaft the engine-room, and her
stern and quarter-deck were under water. On Mendel
the weather was the same, preventing all access to the
wreck, the sea making a clear breach over her. Pr be
next day, however, it moderated, and I succeeded 'll
aps.ting, on board, thus enabling us to save some pro-
visions
At noon the Mexican steamer Iturbide, which hal
been despatched to our assistance by the Governor 0
Tampico, arrived off the island. We were all taken o 0
board and landed at Tampico on Wednesday night'
where we were afterwards joined by those of the road.
boat. The stores saved have been handed over t°
Messrs. Jolly and Co., who will dispose of them to the
best advantage and benefit of the company. I forwarded
to the office a notice of the loss of her Majesty's ebiP
Aenphion, bound to Vera Cruz, in which I should hay°
been more explicit, but Captain Chads would not wait:,
" I am unable to account for the sad accident in any
other way than that we must have had an extraordinary
carrent setting to the southward, for which I had not
made sufficient allowance.

"I am happy to be able to speak of the cordial sup'
port I received from the officers, engineers, and warrant
officers, during the whole period.
"As there is no means of conveyance from this place'
I am apprehensive I shall have to wait the arrival of the
Company's next ship.
"I have the honour, &c.,
" WILLIAM STRUTT,
"Late Commander of the Tay."
" To Reep, Esq., Secretary,
"Royal Mail Steam Packet Company."
On referring to the Admiralty Chart we found that
there is from 15 to 50 fathoms of water i❑ the vicinity
of Lobos Island. The directors in the course of the dal
forwarded Captain Strutt's letter to Captain Halstead,
the secretary of Lloyd's, for the information of the un'
derwriters ; and it was remarked in the room that Cap'
tail) Strutt had made no allusion in his communication
to using the lead. The Tay was not insured, the cony
pany being their own insurers.
Tire Tay, which was 1,856 tons register, was built La
1841, and has since undergone great alteration, being
lengthened and other improvements done to her. Alto-
gether, including the original amount of constructioet
she has cost the company upwards of 100,0001.