The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-31 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, Aug. 29.
The Royal mail steamship Arabia has arrived
with the Ne Pr York mails of the 18th, Boston of
the 19th, and Halifax of the 21st.
Gen. Canby had issued the following circular in
reference to the duties of his troops during the eu-
forcement of the draught in New York:—
"'['heir duties are limited to the defence of forts
and the protection of public property and officers of
the general Government in the performance of their
legal duties. The duty of maintaining order and
protecting the property and rights of private indi-
viduals devolves upon the municipal and State
authorities, but the troops of the United States will
be held in readiness to render any assistance that
may be called for by the proper authority or be
rendered necessary by the inability of the civil
authorities to accomplish these ends. lithe officers
of the general Government and any county of the
State and municipal Government are assailed by
lawless violence, it will be the duty of the troops to
protect them. If they are charged with the protec-
tion of public property, public buildings, or other
valuable interests, it will be their duty to defend
them to the last extremity. If called upon by the
civil authorities to aid in the maintenance of order
or the enforcement of the laws, the aid will be ren-
dered promptly, cheerfully, and efficiently. The
troops that have been brought to the city, and who
may be called upon to aid in the maintenance of
order and the enforcement of the laws, must
themselves set the example of orderly and
soldierly conduct, and the attention of all
officers and men is specially directed to this point.
The movement of troops to distant parts of the city,
or to points in its neighbourhood, will be made as
far as practicable by water, and for this the quar
termaster's department will keep a sufficient num-
ber of steamers in constant readiness to move to any
point. The steamers, if not armed, will be con-
veyed by armed steamers. All the militia in this
city and Brooklyn are under arms, and will be until
the draught is completed."
Governor Seymour, in his address, says
" I .hereby admonish all judicial and executive
officers whose duty it is to enforce law and preserve
public order, that they take vigorous and effective
measures to put down any riotous or unlawful assera•
blages, and if they find their power insufficient for
that purpose, to call on the military in tho manner
pointed out by the statutes of the State. If these
means should prove insufficient, I shall then exert
the full power of the State in order that public
order may be preserved, and the persons and pro-
perty of citizens be fully protected."
The Washington correspondent of the New York
Herald says that the following conversation had oc-
curred between General Butler and Mr. Stanton :
" General Butler dropped in at the War Depart-
ment a few days after his return, and while there
the following authentic conversation transpired—
" General Butler—' I have called, Mr. Stanton,
to know why I was removed from the Department
of the Gulf.'
"Secretary Stanton—' I assure you, General, that
it was frem no lack of confidence in your patriotism,
capacity, or integrity.
" General Butler—' I did not ask you, Mr. Secre-
tary, why I was not removed, but why I was.'
" Secretary Stanton—' You are a lawyer, General,
and so am I, and you are aware that it is not always
polite to tell all we know.'
" General Butler—' Well, what are you going to
do with me now ?'
" Secretary Stanton—' How would you like to
take the Army of the Potomac ? '
" General Butler---' Did you ever know a mer-
chant, Mr. Secretary, to invest largely in an old
stock of goods ?'
" This was the responsive and suggestive poser
to the Secretary. Whereupon Gen. Butler made
his exit from the War Department, confident of
being even with the Pennsylvania pleader.
A despatch from New York of the 18th says, that
the British Government has made an appeal to the
Supreme Court in the case of the Peterhoff.
"Ai the interim the Secretary of the Navy has
directed that application be made for an order for
the sale of the ship's cargo and tackle to the United
States. The vessel will be a valuable addition to

he navy."
The Army of the Potomac remained inactive. A
correspondent writing from Gen. Meade's head-
quarters on the 10th inst. describes briefly the
manner in which the soldiers passed their time :
" Were it not for the great scarcity of water the
troops would fare very well. They are all fatigued
after their long marches, and in want of rest. Even
were they not tired they could not do much in the
way of marching or fighting while this fearfully hot
`spell' continues. Every morning about half-past
five o'clock the fierce red sun rises over the woods,
and pours down his scorching rays on man and
beast. As he follows his course to the West the
heat is intensified, and by noon it is intolerable.
The men, with the exception of those on guard,
seek the grateful shade of the woods. Some may
be found a mile from camp, picking blackberries,
others visiting the few miserable farmhouses in the
vicinity in search of good water or fresh milk—for
the latter they always pay—and others may be
seen slumbering off the sultry hours under their
little shelter tents. We have not even the poor re-
lief of passing clouds to break the force of the
shooting fire, but must bear it all until the sun goes
down behind the woods elfin the West. The even-
ings are cool, and we can pass the night in comfort.
Mosquitoes have not yet made their appearance
here, and while we remain on high ground we are
not likely to be much troubled with them."
A letter dated Baltimore of the 13th inst. says :
" Your despatches from the head-quarters of the
armrof the Potomac contain accounts of the arrival
at Gordonsville of reinforcements for General Lee's
army from the South. My information, never al
fault hitherto, places the number of these reinforce •
ments at 30,000, which makes General Lee's pre-
sent strength 125,000 troops. General Lee is be•
sides receiving some conscripts, which will soon
swell his numbers to 150,000. The main body of
this vast army is massed on the line of the Rapidan,
with General Lee's headquarters at Gordonsville,
but the new cavalry squadrons are being drilled and
exercised in the Shenandoah valley. It would
seem also that General Lee is organising some new
batteries of artillery, for artillery drills with target
practice take place daily, at the same points where
these ne w cavalry squadrons are exercised. The
guns are brass pieces, and if not new, are so bright
that they look new. There are twelve of these bat-
teries at one point of the Shenandoah valley. Gene-
ral Meade conceives, and with reason, that the
administration is putting him and keeping him in a
false position, and one in which he can reap no
laurels. He wishes to take Richmond, and believes
ho can do so. But he wishes to make the campaign
by the proper route, and. to be furnished with ade-
quate means of doing SO—namely, 200,000 troops by
the peninsula route. To march his 150,000 troops
across the Rappahannock he believes will be march-
ing them by too long a route for rapid operations."
Messrs. Upton, of Boston, owners of the ship
Nora, destroyed by the Alabama, had sent a me-
morial to Mr. Seward, protesting against the de-
struction of their property. The chief points in
their memorial are the following :—" The Nora, a
legally registered American ship, was chartered at
Liverpool by Mr. W. N. Be Maltos to carry a cargo
from that port to Calcutta. While on the voyage
she was boarded and taken possession of by a vessel
calling herself the Confederate States man-of-war
Alabama, by whose captain a part of the stores were
removed and the ship set on fire. The owners pro-
test against this destruction of their ship, and de-
mand reparation from the British Government in
the sum of 80,000 dollars. They base their claim
on the fact that the Alabama is an English vessel,
having sailed under the British flag, and never having
entered a Confederate port ; that the British Govern-
ment has never interfered with her unlawful acts, and
on the additional fact that at the time of the capture
of the Nora she was principally manned by British
subjects. In view of these matters and of others
which may be made to appear, the memorialists
have entered their solemn protest against the Bri-
tish Government and people, as wilting partleE
negligently culpable iu the destruction of their pro
perty upon the high seas, and thus, in first violating