The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-12 00:00:00

left, a fact which does not speak very well for the
vigilance of his guard. The intruders, however,
" failed to make any impression on the centre," and
returned to their own works, taking with them

400 prisoners. This is rather a strange story, and
seems to imply that the repulse of the 27th was
more serious than is stated. All that has been

gained by GRANT'S last movement is that "it has
been ascertained that the country round the South
side railway has been strongly fortified." We
apprehend that the knowledge has been dearly
bought. Meanwhile General PRICE is said to be
retreating to Arkansas " Niith the spoils of his late
occupation of Missouri." A somewhat singular
conclusion this to the grand defeat we had heard
of. A routed General does not usually make a
leisurely retreat with spoils, but the American war

- -
has set ni some new fashions. Affairs are compli

cating in Tennessee. HOOD is advancing to join
FORREST, who has large forces in that State, and
was afterwards said to have attacked Decatur, Ala•

hams, without success, and to be retreating along
the south side of the Tennessee, but we expect that
the first explanation of his movements was the cor-
rect one, and that the assault upon Decatur was
merely a passing effort, We shall probably hear
of further doings in this State before long. Mean•
while the state of civil affairs in the North is no
more satisfactory to the Cabinet at Washington.
Men are getting heartsick and weary of the
prolonged tyranny which crushes down every
attempt at free thought and free speech, and
are making efforts, if possible, to throw off the yoke
at this crisis. A mass meeting of merchants and
bankers has been held in their great emporium,
Wall-street, at which resolutions were passed, de-
claring that the financial and commercial interests
demanded a change in the Administration. When
the official October statement admits the public debt
to be 2,017 millions, such a movement is scarcely
premature. If this is all that Republicanism can
do for the country, it is time to see what Democracy
is capable of. The war party has, in its turn, held
a meeting at New York, at which General Dix
read an address refusing to support the Chicago
nominee or the platform, which was there adopted,
but his doings were censured in another quarter,
for the Commandant of the New York State Militia
denounced his attempt to supervise the elections as
dangerous to the public peace, and declares that
the militia will, if necessary, prevent interference
with the popular right. The National Democratic
Committee have issued an address denouncing the
violence and fraud of Mr LINCOLN'S supporters as
unknown in American history, while political riots
have taken place in Philadelphia, and Governor
SEYMOUR is again in collision with the Military
Commission. Affairs are certainly assuming a
threatening aspect, and from the determined atti'.
tude assumed by the Governors of States, the irri.
tation of the people and the unscrupulousness of
LINCOLN'S agents, we should not be surprised to
hear of serious disturbances at the time of the elec-
tion. What its result has been we shall know be-
fore long, but if Mr LINCOLN has been successful,
his success has certainly not been due to the Fedes
ral arms, for the whole tenour of the intelligence is
adverse to them. It is probably with a view to the
civil, as well as the military influence of their re-
cent good fortune, that President DAVIS has ordered
a Day of Thanksgiving for the late victories of the
Confederate arms.

The little town of Deal has just seen an engi-
neering task of no slight labour or difficulty brought
to a triumphant conclusion, and another is added

to the long list of our successes and achievements
in this line. Many years ago an attempt was made
to construct a pier on the Deal shore, but after the
work had been carried on for some time, it was

abandoned, and finally washed away. The project
of commencing another was therefore looked upon
with no great favour by the townspeople, altLough
the advantages to be derived from such a work

were alone apparent to the least interested. The

sea sweeps heavily along the coast at Deal, and
although the Dawns offer their friendly shelter in
the close vicinity, those who wish to land from
thence must undergo the martyrdom and run all the
risks attending a transit to the shore in small boats,

a feat which it is needless to say is altogether im

possible in stormy weather. In case of a war Des
would rise into a position of very great importance,
and therefore the question of a pier concern a wider
circle than its good citizens. It is therefore highly
satisfactory to find that Mr BIRCH, who has been
engaged in many works of the kind, and Messrs.
LAIDLAW and SON, of Glasgow, have succeeded, in
spite of all obstacles, and in defiance of all dis•
conragements, in achieving their undertaking, and
that a strong and beautiful pier now stretches its
sheltering length from Deal, so that vessels can be
moored in any weather and in any state of the tide.
It is constructed entirely of iron, being 1,100 feet
long and 25 feet wide. It is built in the form of a
T, with a head 120 feet long and 50 wide, and an
abutment 100 feet by 407. It is no less remark-
able for its elegance than for its utility
and is said to be of very great strength,
notwithstanding its slight and graceful appearance.
Those who looked m ith hesitation and misgiving
on its gradual progress gained hope and confidence
as time went on, and before its conclusion all classes
were loud in its praise. The day of its opening
I was a gala day for the town, and the interest of the
proceedings was increased by Mrs. HUQESSEN, the
wife of the member for the neighbouring town of
Sandwich kindly consenting to preside at the
ceremony of the opening. So graceful and kindly
a task was appropriately given to a feminine hand,
and any lady might well be gratified at being asso-
ciated with so valuable and important a work.
Mrs. HUGESSEN discharged her task with all be-
coming spirit, and the spectacle was a most ani-
mated one. In the evening a banquet was held, at
which Lord CLARENCE PAGET, Mr. HUGESSEN,
Mr. BIRCH, Mr. LAIDLAW, and the other gentle.
men chiefly concerned in the undertaking met the
principal inhabitants of the town, and mutual con-
gratulations were exchanged. Deal is likely to
profit largely by the increased facilities for landing,
while future passengers will have good cause to
bless Messrs. Bina and LAIDLAW for their
enterprise and perseverance,and indefatigable exer-
tion. Such qualities deserve to be crowned with
the success which does not always attend merit,
but which, in this case, has largely repaid the
efforts of the public spirited gentlemen who have
conferred so great boon upon Deal,

PETRIFICATION IN TIIE GRATE.—An American
paper, the Monongahela _Republican, states that,
in recently removirig the remains of the Mercer family
from an old graveyard to Monongahela city cemetery, the
body of one, drowned 21 years ago, which remained in the
river for 18 days before burial, was found in a state of petri-
fication in a grave filled with water. The feet had Allen off,
but the body had turned to stone; the head, which had
also fallen off, was petrified, and the hair well preserved.
The body was solid, and upon being struck gave out a
dead heavy sound. The petrification was so perfect that
the pores of the skin were distinct, and proportions of the
form were well preserved. The adjoining graves were dry,
and the bodies of them had returned to dust.
THE MURDER AT PLAISTOW.—No particulars
have been made public in reference to the murder. This
morning. at eleven o'clock, the prisoner will be placed before
the magistrates at Ilford. The police who searched the
marshes found a shovel and the wooden handle of a hatchet,
about 12 inches long. They were covered with water, but
there were still marks of blood upon them. These were
found within fifteen yards of the scene of the murder, and
about thirty from the spot where the head was found.