The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-03 00:00:00

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, JAN. 18.
The steamship Arabia was intercepted off Cape
Race, Jan. 14, and her news remived in New York
Jan. 15. The Arabia arrived at Halifax Jan. 16.
The news of the Arabia had a favourable effect on

the New York stock market. The steamship
iaarrived at New York
J
complete batteries consisting
Saanx. on
16, ,
bringing from Hamburg,two
of 16 guns and equipments complete, also a large
quantity of arms.
A British steamer is reported by the Houston
Telegraph, of the Ist to have arrived in a Texan
port, laden with 45 tons of powder, 700,000 caps,
5,000 cannon primers,,and a Considerable amount of
coffee, dry goods, bagging, rope, &c.
The New York papers report the death of Cap-
tain Leander Starr, forMerly of the British service,
and late of the 13th Wisconsin Volunteers.
General M'Clellau had resumed active duties.
He had an interview on the 17th with the Com-
mittee on the Conduct of the War, which is thus
reported :
" Without entering into any details of his plans,
he convinced the members of the committee that the
result which all desire—the suppression of the rebel-
lion and the end of the war—will be attained with
certainty, and even more despatch than the most
sanguine were inclined to believe.
" General M'Clellan's firm and dignified position,
taken before the Joint Committee on the Conduct
of the War, has produced a most wonderful change
in his favour. His startling narrative of the detail
work of raising, equipping, and drilling the army
showed him to be a man of
I‘CTlheellatnenheaseafltogether changed,
geniussentiment
and
wondperufbullie
etowards
v eGeneral
y
growing out of the sudden rig ht about face of certain
Congressmen towards him since his appearance
before the committee. Men who claim to be states-
men have been howling against General M'Clellan
for weeks in a manner that would be unbecoming
in boys, mainly because they did not understand all
his secrets, and, secondly, because the committee
failed to obtain from one of M'Clellan's generals a
statement of the plans of the General-in-Chief.
The general alluded to, when called before the
committee, was asked if he had ever been invited by
General M'Clellan to a council of War. He replied
that he had.
" Committeeman—Do you think Gen. M'Clellan
has any plan of operations ?
" General—l know he has.
" Committeeman—Has he ever submitted his
plans to any Council of War that you have at-
tended ?
" General—He has.
"Committeeman—Will you please state to the
Committee what General M'Clellan's plans are P
"General—No, sir; not until I am ordered to do
so by General M'Clellan.
" This prompt and soldierlike reply brought the
committee suddenly to the consideration of the fact
that they were meddling with affairs that did not
concern them, and about which they had no busi-
ness to interfere. The General in question was
discharged, and returned over the Longbridge to
the head-quarters of his division. The foreboding
and dissatisfaction at the inactivity of the army,
which was recently apparent here, is rapidly dis-
appearing before the evidence of energetic prepa-
rations for a grand blow at the vitals of the rebel-
lion.- The people who were wont to murmer at the
seeming delay, the reason for which they did not
understand, now begin to perceive a glimmering of
the wisdom of preparation as a means of insuring
success. Confidence in the Commanding-General
is constantly increasing."
The appointment of Mr. Stanton as Secretary of
War has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate
in executive session. The appointment seems to
meet with general public approval. rM. Cameron
has been confirmed Minister to Russia.

The Evening Post says
that private letters from
Charleston state that only one of the banks in that
city was burned in the late fire. The Mills House
reported burned was saved ; none of the business
portion of the city was destroyed.
The New York legislature has passed resolutions
in favour of the State assuming the collection of its
quota of national taxes.
The .New York Herald of Jan. 18 has the follow-
ing on the " situation ":
"There is nothing new to report from the Army
of the Potomac. The severity of the weather still
precludes drilling the troops in large force, but the
evening parades are kept up in the different regi-
ments. Some of the remaining vessels of the Burn-
side Expedition left Hampton roads on Thursday.
They comprised the bark John Tracks, with D'Epi-
neuil Zouaves on board, the schooner Colonel Slat-
terly, with the signal corps, the hospital attached
to the expedition, and severai:other vessels. Cclonel
Harvey Brown opened fire from Fort Pickens on
the Ist inst. on the rebel steamer Times, while
loading stores at the Pensacola Navy Yard. He
was provoked to adopt this course by the fact that
the rebel batteries at Pensacola had been firing for
some days previous at our small craft: The rebels
returned the fire, several of their shell bursting
within Fort Pickens, but wounding only one man.
The firing was continued until evening, when the
last shot came from Colonel Brown's guns. One of

the shots from Fort Pickens made a breach in Fort
Barrancas, and during the day the town of War-
rington was set on fire by our shells, and continued
to burn until the night of the 2d, when the Rhode
Island left. With regard to the expedition at Ship.
Island, in the Mississippi Sound, we learn, by way
of Fortress Monroe, that the gunboats St. Louis,
New London, and Waterwitch, had proceeded to-
wards Biloxi on the 31st of December, and that at
latest accounts the New London was returning
with three schooners in tow, evidently prizes taken
from the rebels. The steamer Rhode Island, from
Galveston, which brought this news to Fortress
Monroe, captured the rebel schooner Venus, off
Galveston, bound for Franklin, Louisiana, with a
cargo of tin, lead, copper, and wood, from Port
Isabel, valued at 10,000 dols. She was sent to Ship
Island. The expedition down the Mississippi
River from Cairo is being rapidly reinforced, but
no skirmish with the rebels had taken place up
to last night. The columns of Generals M'Cler-
nan, Cook, Rame, and Grant, have all united at
a point twelve miles from Columbus. It is
stated in the Louisville Journal on the authority
of its Mumfordsville correspondent, that the
rebels were destroying all the ponds and wells in
that vicinity, by throwing dead cattle into them, in
order to deprive the Union troops of water suitable
for drinking. The movement of trocps from Saint
Louis to Cairo is considerably retarded by the ice,
which prevents the ferry boats from crossing the
river. The weather was moderating yesterday, how-
ever, and a prospect of a breaking up of the ice was
presented."
The Government Contract Investigating Commit-.
tee are said to have discovered immense frauds in
the contracts for army supplies, the same horses
having in some cases been sold twice to Govern-
ment, each time for double their value.
The Secretary of the Navy has sent to Congress
an elaborate defence of his employment of Mr. Mor-
gan to purchase vessels at New York for the Go-
vernment, stating that by the means he employed
Ithe Government obtained all their vessels at a lower