The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-26 00:00:00

A TERRIBLE VOYAGE.

A painful story reaches us from New York of the die'
astrous voyage of an emigrant ship, which took three
months in completing the passage from Liverpool to New
York. Eighteen of the unfortunate passengers died on
the way, and many more narrowly escaped with life. The
vessel was considered to be thoroughly seaworthy at the
date of her clearance, and the emigration officers A
Liverpool found no fault with her accommodation
for passengers. However, the 146 emigrants were
huddled together in the hold, which had been
converted into a large square room, with tiers of bunk°
on each side. There was an almost total absence of light,
and no system of ventilation, so that in rough weather,
when the hatches were down, the atmosphere was stifling.
It is not suprising that under these circumstances ship•
fever broke out. Four deaths occurred in rapid
succession, and a panic spread among the passengers. One
man became distraught and leaped overboard. Three
more deaths soon took place from various causes, and the
emigrants became still more disheartened while fever
raged among them. Happily they reached the end of
their voyage at last, though in so miserable a condition
that the health officer at New York refused to permit
the vessel to leave quarantine. The passengers tell fearful
tales of cruelties practised by the captain and other
officers on the seamen of the ship, four of whom are said to
have died under their sufferings. But this is not authen-
ticated, though it is said the boatswain and carpenter
have been arrested on complaint of the seamen. It is net
surprising that the Commissioners of Emigration have
resolved upon instituting a thorough investigation into
the whole affair.

DISASTERS TO BRITISH SHIPS ON TO

FRENCH COAST.

The most afflicting accounts of disasters on the French
coast, during the storm of Friday and Saturday last, con
tinue to be received. At llavre the tug Grand Emperor bed
brought in the brig Margaret Cook, of Yarmouth ; the
latter had been picked up completely waterlogged, on ber
way from Nantes to Newcastle ; both her masts bad gone.
Among the vessels which had entered with the tnle,
more or less damaged were the brig Hannah,
Guernsey, schooner Defiance, of London ; the sinPA°
Hannibal, of Liverpool, and Worwaerts, German ; an
the brig Edmond, of Courseullos : the Amelia, of Guernsey'
had also sunk at the entrance to the port. The Grand
Emperor had gone out again with a lifeboat to 008'
the American ship Narragansett, which left lit'vre
.
three days before, and which was off the coast CIIFP.
masted. The ship Zanzibar, of Havre, in the same state
was anchored six miles from Arromanches. The brig
Fanny, of Whitby, has gone ashore at Senneville ; the
crow are, however, saved, and the vessel may be got 0
An English schooner, name not stated, has also
been lost between St. Valery-en-Caux and VenletteS
the master, his two children, and a seaman Were
drowned; a boat wish the name Rosa, Guernsey, painted on
her, has been washed ashore at the same place. In ad-
dition to the Eucharis-Paul, which we have already an-
nounced as having gone ashore at Cherbourg, d're,
other vessels are also in the same situation on that
part of the coast ; these are the Royal Adelaide, of
Llanelly, Leonie-Celine, of Bayonne, Saint-Louis, of Rouen'
Conflance, of Dionette, Saint-Jean, of Chausey ; no 'Pre!
wero however lost. A three-masted vessel has been lost c"
St. Vaast. The brigs Mogador, Jules, Flaneur, and Eugene
have also gone ashore near St. Servan. Twenty
fishing boats belonging to Granville have been wreckedy
their crews were saved, but their owners are quite ruined
•
Such a fearful storm had not been seen on the French coast
for the last 15 years.

General Yomini, the well-known writer on wilitari
tactics,. has died at Passy, aged 90.
The recent decree of the King of Portugal, reduc;
ing the number of Deputies in the National Assemblll au
caused great agitation in the country. Meetings of '

classes have been held to condemn the measure.
Two hundred masons in the employ of the Ddicel
of Portland, at Welbeck, have just struck work. A I,grj:
number of dependent labourers have, consequently', "'".l
thrown out of work. The masons seek an increase a wag'
On Tuesday it was found that the whole of tbto
fish in the River South Esk, from the Bridge at Brechin °.
Bridge of Dun, a distance of five miles, had been poisoue"f
Not only salmon, but flukes, and every other descripti°ll °J.
fish were picked up dead, so that the river is utterly ruin°
The cause is supposed to be some pernicious material fro
the public works on the river near Brechin.
A strange rumour, says the Pall Mall Ga:e1:::
comes from the River Plate, that Lopez has made a cosec
of Paraguay to the United States. The Banos AY
Stauclard says that the report was at first disbelieTeei
ttach:
in Montevideo, but that later some importance wa„
to it. What may help to accredit the rumour is thatjb
ith
United States Minister, M‘Mahon, has remained "" t.
Lopez, and is his companion in his present interior retre_3.
It is one thing, however, for Lopez and IPMahon to 00301%
such a cession, and another for the United States to accePs
It. The Paraguayans would probably at once ratify 11
pro-
plebiscite, if it were referred to them, any such cession
posed by Lopez.
18th
A correspondent at Florence, writing on the
inst., says :—" The arrival of Signor Nigra here from P'llis
has given rise to a great number of reports about a Fran
Italian alliance against Prussia, the appointment of a new A;11:0
bassador to France, &c. 1 have reason to believe that '."th
11% mission of Signor Nigra has nothing whatever to do
either of these subjects, and that, so far from there bel'..t
any prospect of a Franco-Italian alliance, there is at prestebe
a decided coldness between the Courts of Florence and

Tuileries.
Mr John M. Cook, writing to us from
the 19th inst., says:—"Seeing
by the English newspapers
that very exaggerated reports are in circulation respecting
allow roe
the state of the Alpine passes at the present trine,
to inform you that the railway • ' the Mont Cain
service via
has Naples OTh
for some time been restored, and that on the 6th Wet'
ers over
I conducted a special train with sixty Passel*
Mont Cenis with perfect safety." Ur. Cook adds that all
accident n°'
which happened to his father, who is in charg?
an excursion party in Egypt and Palestine, did
of

affect any of the excursion party.
y-
ASSASSINATION OF A UNITED STATES SENA.TOB,
the
—The Talhassie Sentinel has the following concerning
assassination of a State senator and a clerk of the
Court, ircut
in Marianna, Floid Florida:—":—" While we were just re;
juicing at the subsidence of all political excitement an "
the prospect of a peaceful future, the startling news,_f,,ag
fearful assassination at Marianna' reaches us to rnas'e,"-
shudder. On Friday evening, the 26th ult., about
o'clock, while Major Purman, ne of our State senators,
e
and J. L. Finlayson s
, clerk of the Circuit Court, wer
returning from a concert, and when within ,
fire:
few yards of their residence, they were
at by some ruffian concealed behind a tree s°llst
rods distant. The n was loaded with large buck eh°
'
one of which penetrated the brain of Dr. Finlayson.
causing his death in about an hour, while Major Purman'
was shot in the neck below the ear. No clue to the Per'
petrator of the infamous deed has been discovered. Dr.
Finlayson was a quiet inoffensive man, and one who
would not be likely to have any bitter political enenne°'
Major Purman, on the contrary, is a very outspoken
Radical in politics, and his political acts and apeechee af.:
doubtless made him many enemies. Some think the usl.:
had no political bearing whatever ; that it was the ref::
of some private grudge or fancied injury. Whatever
r•
cause or origin of the
_trouble, most
trouble, it is one of the dep
able that ha happened in our State, snitel
coupled withences the recent murders at Jacksonville, w.
do more to cast discredit upon our people than saYthing
that has transpired ill the history of Florida for lon%