The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-26 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)

LIVERPOOL, Tuesday.
The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Com-
pany's screw steamer, Cicy of Cork, CApt. Tibbetts,
from New York on the 12th instant, arrived in the
Mersey this evening, bringing 40 passengers.
The City of Cork was intercepted off Cape Race
by the newsboat of the Associated Press, on the
17th inst., and received telegraphic advices from
New York to the night of the 14th, which have
already been published. The New York journals
of the 13th add very little detail of interest to that
brought by the Scotia.
The New York Times says—" We have a report
from Sim Francisco of trouble in the lower counties
of California with the Secessionists, who are there
from Texas and other points in the southwest in
considerab!e numbers. Rumours are current that
they contemplate a general rising, but they appear
to have no better foundation than a collision which
took place on the 6th instant in Tillare county be-
tween a party of Secessionists and some soldiers
stationed there, in whieh one soldier was killed and
several of the Secessionists were wouuded."
It will be remembered that a telegraphic report
of a naval battle between two steamers on the coast
of Maine, said to have occurred on the 23d ult.,
was published a day or two after that date, since
which time until now nothing additional in regard
to it has reached us. It now appears that there
was such a battle, but of the actors in it we are in
as much ignorance as before. The particulars, so
far as known, are copied from the Portland Argus
of Tuesday. The belief of those who witnessed the
battle is that the belligerents were a United States
gunboat and a rebel privateer, and that the gunboat
was worsted; but no official report of the affair has
appeared, though it is believed that the Navy De-
partment must be in possession of the facts in re-
gard to it.
The Argus describes the privateer as a large pro-
peller steamer, painted black, and states that some
of those who saw her thinx she was the Lord Clyde.
The battle occurred between 10 and 11 o'clock in
the forenoon, about ten miles east-south-east from
Baker's Island, Mount Desert. The day was per-
fectly clear, and the battle was witnessed by Capt.
Richardson, of Cranberry Island, and others, from
the lighthouse on Baker's Island. With a glass
the vessels could be seen with perfect distinctness.
The persons in the lighthouse counted 53 discharges
from guns, eight very heavy calibre.
Captain Cawes, of the schooner George Kilborn,
from Calais, arrived in Fremont about three hours
after the engagement. He reports that he saw the
whole engagement at about 10 to 12 miles distant
from him. The engagement lasted about three-
quarters of an hour, when the vessel which was
taken to be the U. S. gunboat, run iu for the land,

and the other steamer, supposed the one that had
been lying there, followed her in as near the shore
as she dared to, apparently, and then went off.
The gunboat went into Southwest harbour to Fre-
mont, sent a boat ashore and a message to the post-
office. The officer of the boat, on being asked
what the firing meant, replied, "We had an en-
gagement with a Confederate privateer, and sunk
tier." The boat returned to the steamer, which
then started off westward.
The New York, Tribune says :—The dispatch
telegraphed from Cincinnati, and published in all
the papers, stating that there is to be an important

meeting of distinguished personages in Washing-
ton this week, to discuss grave questions bearing
on the rebellion, has no foundation, in fact no such
gathering will take place during the coming week,
nor is any such contemplated.

The Herald goes so far even as to announce the

Immediate cause of the assembling of this Con

ference to be that news has been received from the
South that leading rebels are wilting to come back
into the Union provided terms are offered them.
the opinion is becoming general that no overtures

for peace on the part of the Rebel Government can
or will be received by the Federal Government
while a single rebel remains in arms.

The Washington correspondent of the .New York
Tunes says that under no exigencies will the Pre-
sident's Emanicipation Proclamation be departed
from.

A despatch from Memphis, dated August 5, states
that Gtneral Herron and the army under his cum-

mand have landed on the east side of the Missis-
sippi river, five miles below Port Hudson. A few
cases of yellow fever have occurred in New Orleans,
but the health of the city for the season of the year
is good. Vicksburg is reported very unhealthy—
typhoid fever and diarrhcea, being the principal
diseases. In Jackson County, Ohio, Morgan cap-
tured 290 horses, and the Union forces appropriated
46, valued in the aggregate at 29,700 dole. The
merchandise, cash, and buggries, stolen by Morgan,
was valued at 16,000 dole. The damage done to
the Portsmouth and Newark Railroad will run up
the total to about 50,000 dole.

The Canadian Parliament was to meet on the
12th inst.

A Washington telegram says:—" It is stated by
those who profess to know much of the programme
of the rebel leaders, tliat the organisation of negroes
in the rebel armies has been determined upon. The
negroes thus employed are to be compensated by
donations of land, and emancipation at the end of
the war. They are also to be allowed five dollars
for each United States musket, twenty-five dollars
for each United States horse, fifty dollars for each
United States negro soldier captured by them, and
fitly dollars for each scalp of a United States wnite
officer commanding negro soldiers.
"It is not believed here that the rebel authorities
will persist in the execution of Captains Sawyer
and Flynn at Richmond, knowing that such execu-
tion will be promptly followed by that of General
W. IL Lee and Captain Winder. The reported re-
monstrance of General B. E. Lee, and his threat to
throw up his commission and retire from the Con-

ederacy if the execution is carried out, comes from

such widely different sources that it is believed to

be entitled to full credit."
The trial of the New York rioters was being con-
tinued in that city. The leader of the attack on

,he tribune office was tried on the 12th, and found

guilty.

BEAUTIFUL ROSES—may now be multiplied by
thousands, says Ilibberd's Gardeners' Magazine, in
a very simple manner. In the first place take cuttings of
shoots just getting ripe—that is, shoots of this year. Cut
them clean below a joint, remove the lower leaves, and have
about four joints above the bottom joint. Dibble these into
pans or boxes of damp sand, pretty close together, and put
them in a close shady place, or in a frame kept shaded, or
under the stage of a greenhouse. Keep them only suffi-
ciently damp to prevent flagging and to keep the leaves
fresh. In about ten days they will havo formed a callus at
the base, and they may either be potted separately in small
pots and plunged, or be planted out four inches apart on a
moderate bottom-heat. There is nothing so good for this
purpose as a large bed of short dung that has been two or
three times turned, and the bed made up a few days before
the cuttings are potted ; there will then be a steady heat.
Tho soil in which to root them should be light, and have a
considerable proportion of leaf-mould or cocoa-dust in it.
If it is not convenient to make up a dung-bed, pot the
cuttings separately as they are taken from the plants, and
plunge in coal-ashes in a pit and keep close and shaded.
The earth is a hotbed now, and anything may be propa-
gated with ease if done at once, and done properly. Fine
plump shoots with the soft tops removed root quickest
cuttings of old hard wood are of no use to amateurs, and
the same may be said of soft sappy shoots.

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION.—On the 3d
July Sir Thomas Maclear received letters from Dr.
Livingstone, written in October, 1862, forwarded to Natal,
sent from there to :England, and finally returned to the
Cape. Of course the principal portion of their contents
has been anticipated, but the following passage will be read
with interest :—" Dr. .-fc irke, I am sorry to say,wil I soon leave
us, and I suppose that I shall die in these uplands, and
somebody else u ill carry out the plans I have longed to put
into practice. I have been thinking a great deal, since the
departure of my beloved one, about the regions whither she
has gone, and imagine,
from the manner the Bible describes
it, we have got too much monkery in our ideas. There will
be work there as well as here, and possibly not such a vast
difference in our being as is expected, but a short lime there
will give more insight than a thousand musings. We shall
see him by whose inexpressible love and mercy we get
there, and all whew we loved, and all the lovable. I can
sympathise with you now more fully than I did before,
and work with as much vigour as I can, and mean to do so
till the change coma; but tie prospect of a home is all
dispelled."