The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-30 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)
(Per the City of New York.)
NEW YORK, March 19.

Despatches from the army of the Potomac report
all quiet at the front. It is rumoured that the rebel
General, Stuart, with 5,000 cavalry crossed the
Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, on the 17th, for
the purpose of making a raid in the rear of Gen.
Heade's army, or possibly to make a dash at Wash-
ington. No confirmation of this report has been
received ; the opinion, however, prevails in military
circles that Gen. Leo will soon make a formidable
demonstration, either against Ger. Meade, in force,
or against Washington by attempting to get in the
rear of Gen. Meade's army. Gen. Grant having
assumed command of all the armies of the United
States, has announced that his headquarters, for
the present, will be with the Army of the Potomac.
The 'Washington correspondent of the New York
World states that it is generally understood that
the first object of Gen. Grant, in the approaching
campaign, is a blow against the rebel capital.
It is positively asserted by most of the New
York and Washington papers that Gen. Meade will
soon be superseded in the command of the Army of
the Potomac by Gen. W. F. Smith.
A rumour is afloat that Ervill's entire corps is
moving into the Shenandoah Valley, but the reports
of Federal scouting parties announce no such
movement.

A despatch from Charlestown, West Virginia,
reports that on the 16th inst. a rebel force 1,500
strong was within 15 miles of Gnyandotte,
threatening Barbourville. A strong Union force
was sent to oppose them.
Chattanooga despatches of the 15th instant an-
nounce that the rebels were moving their artillery
from Dalton towards Ringgold, and their cavalry
had picketed Taylor's Gap. They have a heavy
force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and their
present movements indicate that they will assume
the offensive. A concentration of their forces for
this purpose is believed to be in progress.
An officer of the army at Chattanooga writes
that the Federal army cannot remain in that posi-
tion when the hot weather begins, on account of
the stench arising from an immense number of dead
horses and males, which have died of starvation
during the winter. The country around Chatta-
nooga, for miles, is strewed with decaying cars
cases, estimated to number at least 50,000.

Richmond papers assert that the recent advance
of the Federal forces under General Palmer against
Dalton, was made in supposition that the Confede-
rate army at that point had been greatly depleted
to reinforce General Polk.

Tne rebel cavalry force under Forrest, Lee, and
Chalmers, after repulsing the expedition of Generals
Smith and Grierson, are said to have concentrated,
and moved rapidly to join the main army of General
Polk.

A mutiny is reported to have occurred among the
garrison at Fort Morgan, Mobile. The mutineerb
proposed surrendering the fort to the Federal fleet,
but their plot was discovered, and 30 of them were
shot, after trial by court-martial.
Admiral Farragut has withdrawn his fleet from
before Mobile.

The _Richmond Examiner of the 14th inst., states
that firing was still kept up against Charleston, bus
no more casualties were reported. Unusual activity
in the Federal fleet at Folly inlet, on the 13th.
It is reported that General Gilmore's chief of
Staff stated before the committee on the conduct of
the war at Washington on the 17th, that the lower
portion of Charleston has been nearly destroyed by
the Federal fire, and that only the upper portion of
the city was occupied by rebel troops. Southern
accounts make no mention of such results.

Another ironclad is said to have'been completed
by the rebels at Charleston, and a naval attack ou
the Federal fleet was by no means thought im-
probable.

The rebels are reported to be concentrating a
heavy force under General Pickett in North Caro-
lina, either with a view of attacking Norfolk or
Newburn, or to oppose any Federal force that might
be sent from either of those points up the south side
of the James River against Richmond.
Guerilla bands aro forming in several counties in
Kentucky, for the purpose of obstructing the navi-
gation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ; and a
number of arrests were made at Hickman of men
who were organising themselves into companies to
join the rebel army.
Great excitement prevails, and it is feared that
there exists a formidable conspiracy against the
Federal Government.

Despatches from the south-west announce that
a desperate fight had taken place near Yazoo City,
and it was reported that three Federal regiments
had been captured, the 11th Illinois and two
Louisiana negro regimets. This force, under com-
mand of Colonel Coates, was sent up the Yazoo
River on steamboats, with instructions to menace
the rebels in the neighbourhood of Yazoo City, in
order to effect a diversion in favour of the Sherman
expedition. Colonel Coates captured and occupied
Yazoo City. The transports were then loaded with
cotton and sent to Vicksburg, with instructions to
return in ten days with a supply of provisions and
forage. After the boats were fairly beyond recall,
the rebels, i❑ overwhelming numbers, bore down
upon Colonel Coates, who, after a severe but briet
fight, was forced to surrender his entire command,
escape bEing impossible. This report lacks confir-
mation, but is generally believed. Another report
of the same affair states that during the fight some
Federal gunboats came up and drove the rebels off.
Admiral Porter's fleet is said to have captured
the town of Harrisonville, on Red River ; also a
rebel fort on the Wachita. A portion of the marine
brigade surprised a rebel camp near Port Gibson,
and captured 47 prisoners:
The rebels are said to be preparing to attack the
contraband camp opposite Vicksburg. The negro
troops at Waterproof are reported to have commit-
ted many outrages, and it was feared that any of
them who fell into the hands of the rebels would be
very severely dealt wish.

THE SHAH'S JEWELS.—In such a show of gems
as seemed to realise the wonders of Aladdin's lamp, the
eye was too much dazzled and the memory too con•
fused for description to be possible. But I remember
that at the back of all was the Kaianian crown, and on
either side of it two Persian lambskin caps adorned with
splendid aigrettes of diamonds. The clown itself was
shaped like a flowerpot, with the small end open, and
the other closed. On the top of the crown was an uncut
ruby, apparently without flaw, as big as a hen's egg. In
front of the crown were dresses covered with diamonds and
pearls, trays with necklaces of pearls, rubies and emeralds,
and some hundreds of diamond, ruby, and torquoise rings.
In front of those again were gauntlets and belts covered
with pearls and diamonds, and conspicuous among them
the Kaianian belt, about a foot deep, weighing perhaps 181 b.,
and one complete mass of pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and
rubies. Still nearer to us stood a drinking bowel completely
studded with enormous jewels, a tray full of foreign orders
set in brilliants, and in front of all lay a dozen swords, one
or two of which are worth a quarter of a million each.
Along with these were epaulettes covered with diamonds,
and armlets so contrived that the brilliants revolved and
kept up a continual shimmer. It was difficult among so
many to single out particular gems. Perhaps, however,
the;fisrt place ought to be assigned to the famous Daryia
Nur, or "Sea of Light," the sister diamond to our Punjab
trophy, the Kah i Nor, or " Mountain of Light." It is an
inch and a half long, an inch broad, and 3-SLlas of an inch
thick. Ichas the name of Path Ali Shah on one side, and the
inscribing this name reduced the value of the diamond, so
"deux millions—mais deux mil.
at least says Yahya Khan,
lions de quoi—de piastres, do francs— quo sais-jc ?'' I was
not prodigiously impressed with this jewel, it is a mon-
strous diamond, but not very brilliant. I could pardon a
rustic who should mistake it for glass. Nevertheless it has
a wondrous history. The Persians say—and, to copy the
Jowettian expression, I partly agree with them—that the
Sea of Light and the Mountain of Light were jewels in the
sword of Afrasiab, who lived 3,000 years is.C. Etustam took
them from Afrasiab, and they continued in the crown of
Persia till they were carried away by Titular, from whom
they descended to Muhammad Shah, King of Delhi, and
Nadir brought them from India ; but when he was slain,
Ahmed Shah Abdalli carried off the Kuh i Nur, which de-
scended to Shah Shuja, and was taken from him by itan-
jit Singh. The Darya i Nur remained in Persia with the
greater part of the other gems that Nadir brought from
India.—Easttvick's Journal in Persia.

Ocurig to the death of Admiral Penaud, Rear
Admiral d'Herbinghem has assumed the provisional cont.
mad of the squadron of evolutions in the Itiediterranegni

The Late Trial for Attempted Murder in

France.

The acquittal of M. Armand at Aix, when tried
on the charge of attempting to murder his coach.
man, Maurice Roux, suggests to the France the
subjoined reflections :—" A man happened to exist
holding an honourable position ; he was wealthy,
beneficent, and honoured with the esteem and con-
sideration of his fellow-citizens. One day it came
to pa=.is that an evil report was circulated about ac-
cusing this man of an atrocious crime—namely,
that he had attempted to murder his servant,
and with a superabundance of cruelty which
aided to the horror of the deed. Who was
the accuser ? The servant himself, who pretended
to have been his master's victim. What
was the object of this cowardly attempt? No one
knows. Under what circumstances did it occur ?
"Vas there a quarrel with high words and blows on
both sides? NJ one can tell. Oa this denuncia-
tion M. Armand was arrested ; a protracted inves-
tigation followed ; and ever since the 7th July last,
the accused has u adergone all the sufferings of pre-
ventive imprisonment with the rigorous formalities
which examining magistrates have the right to
enforce. The passions of the public were roused,
and it was found indispensable to remove the trial
to a distant department in order that the accused
and his judges might be placed in a more impartial
medium. At last, after eight long months,
justice gives her award. He who was the object
of so much rigour, prejudice, and public passion,
is solemnly acquitted. It is no duty of ours to
search the consciences of the accused and his accusers
for the solution of mysteries which are known to
God alone; but public opinion has taken a deep
interest in the various incidents of this drama ; and
now that it has resulted in a verdict of not guilty,
we think that it offers a lesson which ought not to
be given in vain." The lesson in question is that
the Armand trial furnishes the strongest argu-
ments against the system of preventive imprison-
ment now acted on in France, since here is a
man solemnly declared innocent by a jury of
his countrymen, who for eight months had to
undergo all the bodily and mental torture in-
cidental to close confinement for so lengthened a
period. Hence, argues the France, nothing can be
more urgent than to reform the French penal code
in the part relative to preventive imprisonment.
But there is another portion of the trial which
perhaps will be even more commented on than M.
Armand's imprisonment—the decision of the Court
the day after his acquittal, whereby the man pro-
nounced not guilty the preceding day, has to pay
20,000 fr. to Roux as damages for having inadvert-
ently given him a blow. The Court declared that
it acted in virtue of Art. 1,382 of the Code Napo-
leon. On referring to that enactment, we find that
it runs thus :

" Any act whatever of a man that causes damage to
others, obliges him by whose fault it occurs to repair it."
In England, this supplementary sentence could not
be well comprehended, as the decision of the jury
would have terminated the case by affirming the
prisoner to be either innocent or guilty. In France
the practice is different, and the Constitutionnel
gives on the incident the following explanation,
which, however, reads very Eke an apology :
"It is proper to add, i❑ order to explain this result,
that, according to the law, the Court ii not bound by
the verdict of the jury ; in this sense, that, although
the latter has set aside the criminality, the former
may consider the fact as proved, and declare the
author responsible i❑ a civil point of view. More-
over, the negative verdict of the jury only bears on
the
,culpability, and does not pronounce on the
materiality, of the fact. A person accused may be
the author of the act with which he is charged, and
nevertheless not be guilty. According to the letter
of the law, public and civil action are entirely die.
tinct, without influence one on the other, apd may
even be brought before different different courts.
The decision come to by a Criminal Tribunal does
in any way bind that which may take place be-
tore the civil jurisdiction."