The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-19 00:00:00

AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE•

The Matamoros Rancheros charges the Federals
with firing on the French steamer Antonia, and aiding
generally the Liberals at that point.
The pirate Stonewall has arrived at I'Vashington.
The charges of her keeping made by the Cuban authori -
ties were $18,061.
Rumors are current in Washington of a collision
between the French and United States forces on the Rio
Grande. Last news from Mexico state that the French are
rapidly preparing for war with America.
Reports come from several of the commanders
of the Liberal cause in Mexico, to the effect that over
9,000 Mexicans have been summarily tried and executed
by order of Maximilian's Courts-martial.
The vote of North Carolina, as far as heard from,
is as follows :—For the anti-slavery ordinance, 4,333,
against, 1,109. For the anti-secession ordinance, 5,239,
against 906.
A French Club has been organised at Montreal
for the purpose of urging and securing the annexation of
Canada to the United States.

It is estimated that the receipts from customs
during the next year will amount to between one hundred
and forty-five and one hundred and fifty millions.
The boot and shoemakers are on a strike in New York.
If their demands are acceded to it will bring up the price
of first class calfskin boots from $l9 to $2l, and patent
leather to $22 or $24 a pair, Northern prices.

A great manufactory of steel is soon to be
established two miles below Harrisburgh, Penn., on the
Susquehana River. A thousand skilled workmen are to
be sent from England, and fifteen hundred others will be
gathered in America. The establishment will be much
the largest on the American continent.
A petition has been signed and filed by Senator
Wilson, of Massachusetts, for the pardon of Mallory, late
secretary of the rebel navy.
A collision has occurred at Grenada, Mississippi,
between the military and the armed negroes, who were
discovered concealing a large quantity of arms.
The Federal Government had restored to the tele-
graph companies the full control on the Southern lines, at
the same time removing the censorship on the press and
other matter which has been in force since the close of the

war.

The Mobile Times has reliable information that
4,000 bales of Government cotton were destroyed by fire at
Columbus, Mississippi, on the 25th ult. Loss, $1,000,000.
The fire was caused by an incendiary. .
It is stated that the agents of the. Southern plan-
ters who went to Brazil to negotiate for lands have met
with a cordial reception, and a large emigration from the
United States was expected.
Texas despatches state that 30,000 bales of cotton
had been received along the Texas coast, including
Houston, since September 1, and the probable receipts
this year will be 150,000 bales.
In the month of December 1864, there were
495,592 persons in the city of New York, packed
in tenement houses and cellars at, the rate of nearly
240,000 to a square mile. Of these about 10,000 in the
aggregate are yearly imprisoned for crime. The number
of families relieved last year by the association existing
for that purpose was 5,573, comprising 22,285 persons.
When the war broke out the wealth of the
people of Georgia was estimated at $840,000,000. Now
it is said to be less than $419,000,000. Of this decrease
the value of the emancipated slaves constitutes nearly one-
half. As they all remain in the State, however, there is
no real loss as far as they are concerned. Their labor,
which was their value, is not lost.
A striking curiosity has lately been discovered in
the Nevada Territory. It is a mountain of rock salt,
situated about twenty miles from Meadow Valley, and
and only eighteen miles from the head of navigation on
the Colorado River. It rises abruptly from the plain,
about four hundred feet in height, a mountain of pure,
sparkling, crystalized salt.
From a document issued by the Sanitary Commission
we glean that from June 27, 1861, to July 1, 1865, at which
latter date the active work of the organisation closed, the
receipts were over four million eight hundred and thirteen
thousand dollars, of which Massachusetts contributed
$15,511 35c., and through the Boston branch, $77,689
51c ; Maine, $24,938 430.; Now Hampshire, $1,926 84c. ;
Vermont, $3,521 17c.; Rhode Island, $11,823 96c.; and
Connecticut, $8,418 55c. Of the above-named sum
($4,813,750 64c.) the Commission disbursed four million
five hundred and thirty thousand dollars, of which amount
$322,472 19c. were for general expenses ; $88,908 50c.
for publications ; $609,011 15c. for hospital expenses ; and
$3,212,488 39c. for supplies, their purchase, distribution,
&c. A balance of cash in hand on July 1 amounted to
$282,975 69c. At this period, when the relief bureau of
the Commission closed, there were vast stores and mate-
rial on hand, all of which has been turned over to Gen.
Howard's bureau, and receipted for by the officer in charge.
The claim Bureau, which has been associated with the
Commission, will close on the Ist January, and turn over to
the Central Bureau at Washington all the papers and
documents in its possession. From that time the Com-
mission will devote itself to three objects indicated :-
1, the preparation of a historical record ; 2, the prepara-
tion of a final and full report ; 3, the settlement of its
general affairs, closing up the accounts of its numerous
agencies. What will be done with the surplus funds has
not yet been determined. They will undoubtedly be trans-
ferred as an endowment to some institution devoted to the