The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-14 00:00:00

Miscellaneous American News.

There is considerable anxiety to know what this
Congress will do in regard to the question to
finance and the currency. The House Committee
of Ways acd Means is, as it was last year, favour-
ably inclined to Mr. M'Culloch's idea. But the
general sentiment of Congress is adverse to his
recommendation. A large portion of the Western
members come here strongly in favour of more
national banks and additional currency. We should
not be surprised if they succeeded in securing
more banks, but on the condition that the currency
shall be furnished them only in the ratio of the
retirement of the greenbacks. One thing, how-
ever, is certain--Secretary M'Culloch will not be
able to obtain any further power to contract the
currency
than that which he now has. Congress
is not disposed to give him any additional power in
that line.

In Congress, Mr. Sumner, Massachusetts, offered
,the following resolution, which was agreed to :
" Resolved, That the Secretary of State is hereby
requested to communicate to the Senate such infor-
mation as he may possess in respect to the progress
made in collecting the products, and also the weights,
measures, and coins of the United States, for exhi-
bition at the Universal Exposition at Paris in April
nQxt.

The Nation remarks as follows :—" Of all the
plans for the relief of Broadway, we like best
that of the Metropolitan Transit Company,
which proposes, if it can get leave, to lay a horse
railway, level with the ground, from the Battery to
Central Park, touching no street in its whole course
except the streets it crosses at right angles, and
buying its right of way from the owners of pro-
perty instead of begging, or buying, or stealing from
the city government a right to occupy part of the
public thoroughfares. The new line of travel will
lie through what now are blocks of buildings. Com-
bined with the horse railway on the surface will be
a steam railway, for freight, laid under ground, and
a second steam railway, for passengers, laid at some
considerable height above the surface—all these
roads to have double tracks. The company expect
to be able to carry a passenger from Wall-street to
the Park in about sixteen minutes. The expendi-
ture necessary to bring about this much-desired re-
sult is reported to be very much less than unin-
formed persons would think possible, and is set
down at no more than $3,200,000, for it is intended
that the road shall be run over lots of land which as
,
yet have not many houses standing on them. We
sincerely may
be chartered
and the homesh
brought within a
reasonable distance of their working places.
ope thato fN theew company
Yorkers
Mr. Ashley's resolution looking to Mr. Johnson's
impeachment was couched in general terms, and
would, if passed, have empowered a committee of
seven to inquire into the official acts of " any officers
of the Government of the United States." The
vote was upon the suspension of the rules, and an
affirmative vote of two-thirds was required. Every
Democrat voted against it, and sixteen Republicans,
among the latter being Judge Spoiling. Mr. May-
nard also voted against it and Mr. Raymond. It
is reported that the resolution is to be revived ; but
this vote may probably be justly taken by Mr. John-
son as an assurance that if he behaves himself hence-
forth be is to be allowed his two years and two
mouths more of office. That the people would be
very glad to get rid of him isbeyondadoubt ; but be-
yond a doubt, too, they are hardly ready to subscribe
to the belief of a late writer in the Atlantic Monthly,
that a President may be impeached "if he have
done anything that he ought not to have done, or
left undone anything that he ought to have done,"
which is true, probably, as theory, but does not
answer the question whether we had better get the
wheel ready to break our particular butterfly.
Congress appears to have changed its mind since
this was written, or to have considered the veto of
the President on the Negro Suffrage Bill sufficient
cause to take preliminary steps toward Impeach-
ment.

There appears to be, if we
judge from the fuss
which exists at Washington, amongst a large class
of persons, a settled conviction that the departments
are something in the nature of charitable refuges for
distressed persons of both sexes. Men lay claim to
the offices on the ground of service in the army,
which, in the absence of personal unfitness, is good
ground, and women on the simple ground of sex,
which is no ground at all. Private employers are
perfectly justified in employing women qua women;
but Government, being simply an agent spending
other people's money, has no right to employ any-
body for any other reason than his or her eminent
fitness. In the meantime discipline and order in
some of tho departments seem well-nigh at an end.
The remedy
is competitive examinations, tenure de-
pendent on good behaviour, and the total abolition
of patronage.
An arrangement has been made with the General
Post Department of France for the exchange of
mails by means of the new French line of mail
packets established between Havannah and New Or-
leans, running in connection with the French line
conveying -mails between St. Nazairo and Vera
Cruz. Under this arrangement the New Orleans
Post-Office will make up mails for and receive mails
from the agents of the mails embarked on these
French packets, to comprise not only correspond-
ence to er from France, Algeria, and countries to
which France serves as an intermediate point, but
also letters for Cuba, Mexico, Hayti, Porto Rico,
St. Thomas, Venezuela, United States of Colombia,
Guadaloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, English
Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia,
St. Vincent, Dutch Guiana,
Mayaguez Island, Ton
Islands, Society Islands, Bolivia, Chili, Peru. The

French packets of the branch line from Havannah to
Ne,wOrleans leavellavannah on the 6th of each month,
on the arrival at the port of the packet which left
St. Nazaire on the 16th of the preceding month, and
will arrive at New Orleans on the 9th. Return-
ing, will leave New Orleans on the 13th, to arrive
at Havannah on the 16th, in time to make connection
with the steamers from Vera Cruz for St. Nazaire.
The postage charges upon letters sent and received
by this route, vi New Orleans, are as follows :
For or from Gnadaloupe, Martinique, French
Guiana, English Guiana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Grenada, and Trinidad, thirteen cents per
single letter of half au ounce, prepayment optional,
which is in full to destination. For or from Dutch
Guiana, 14 cents per single rate, prepayment op-
tional, also in full to destination. For or from
Marquesas, Ton Islands, and the Society Islands,
37 cents per single rate, prepayment optional, which
is in full to destination. For or from Cuba, Mexi-
co, Hayti, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Venezuela, and
the United States of Colombia, 10 cents per single
rate. For or from Bolivia, Chili, and Ecuador, 34
cents per single rate, prepayment required. For or
from Peru, 22 cents per single rate, prepayment
required. The postage upon letters sent to or from
France and Algeria by this line is 15 cents per single
rate of one-quarter ounce, prepayment optional.
The Postmaster-General has sent estimates to the
House for the service of the Department for the fis-
cal year ending June 30, 1868, the sum being
$7,500,000. The items include—for inland trans-
portation, $860,000, for foreign mail transportation
$620,000 ; and for ship, steamboat, and way letters,
:,000. The following amounts will be requiredfrom
any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro-
priated :—For overland mail transportation, be-
tween Atchison and Folsom, and for marine trans-
portation, between New York and California,
$900,000; for steamship service, between San
Francisco, Japan, and China, for one year from
July 1, 1867, $500,000 ; for steamship service be-
tween the United States and Brazil, for the same
period, $150,000. Total, $1,550,000.
The House Committee is adverse to the Senate
Bill allowing the mail line from San Francisco to
China to dispense with a stoppage at Honolulu,
Sandwich Islands.

A joint resolution has passed the Arkansas Le-
gislature to appoint a committee of 14, including
the President and three from the Senate, the Speaker
and six members of the House, and three citizens to
be appointed by the Governor, to proceed imme-
diately to Washington for a conference with the
Government as to the political situation of the coun-
try, and report on the reassembling of the Legisla-
ture on January 10.
The American Board of Missions has prepared
an interesting collection of books and other articles
for the religious department of the Paris Exposition,
which will be taken out at the expense of the Go-
vernment. In the collection are about 112 speci-
mens of the more than 2,000 different publications
issued from the presses of the board. It includes
42 works on Ethnography, 41 on Philology, and 31
Biographies of Missionaries, and 1,000 others
printed in 14 different dialects. A number of idols
formerly worshipped by the people of the Hawaiian
Islands accompany the collection, together with
copies of the papers at present published there, three
in English and four in the native language. Among
the idols is the original Sandwich Island war-god,
the only one in existence. There is also a Hawaiian
drum, and specimens of cloth, beaten from bark,
formerly made and worn by the females of the
islands.

The President has informed Governor 'Worth, of
North Carolina, that Secretary Stanton has ordered
General Sickles to rescind his instructions prevent-
ing the infliction of corporal punishment under the
laws of North Carolina ; also that General Howard
has been instructed not to interfere with the North
Carolina law for the apprenticeship of orphan chil-
dren. This was inevitable, for the barbarous code
of North Carolina, which makes whipping a punish-
ment for theft and other petty offences, applies to
black and white alike, as does also the orphan law.
As matter of fact the coloured people are likely
enough to get more than their fair share of the
" benefit" of both laws. The only remedy is to bo
sought through the Civil Rights Bill, when the
State laws are unjustly applied, as they are quite
certain to be in many instances until both whites
and blacks are educated out of the semi-barbarism
left by slavery. General Howard is said to be
satisfied with the North Carolina orphan law. It
is reported that General Sickles will resign because
of the recall of his order, but this is a guess of the
gossips, and is not probable.

A New York engineer has planned, and is about
building, a river steamer, constructed entirely out
of Bessemer steel, the length to be 45)ft., the
breadth 45ft., and the displacement 1,760 tons. By
constructing the steamer upon a peculiar model
which he has planned, the engineer claims that with
engines of 10,000-horse power he can secure a
speed of at least thirty miles an hour. The boat
will accommodate 1,000 passengers, and is to run,
if successfully built, between New York and
Albany, making the trip in five hours.
One factory in Augusta has turned out, during
the past year, six millions four hundred and ten
thousand yards of cloth, which, at a profit of only
two cents a yard, would amount to about twenty-
five per cent. on the capital of the concern—
s6oo,ooo. This, says the American Artisan, proves
that there is profit to be acquired in the manu-
facture of cotton where it is grown.
In a recent petroleum litigation in New York an
affilavit of a chemist was read, in which it was as-
serted that the article termed " red kerosene" is
merely ordinary kerosene oil coloured, to induce
persons about. purchasing to believe that it has
undergone a process depriving it of its explosive
properties.
Mr. Gartshore, of Dundas, Canada West, has, or
is about patenting, a method of using petroleum as
fuel, which promises extraordinary economy. By
the process eight gallons of petroleum will propel a
train of twenty-four cars from Windsor to Suspen-
sion Bridge. It is said that Mr. Gartshore has bec:n
offered by the Great Western Railway ComprAny
$lOO,OOO for the privilege of using the invention on
the road.

The citizens of the eastern part of Indiana are
agitating the question of a railroad to conuect with
the Indiana Branch, P.R.R., or at Homer. Station.
A meeting was held at Cherry-tree a few days ago,
and a respectable, amount of money su.bscribed to-
ward the object.

Some capitalists of Erie, PennsyNania, have pro-
jected a Transportation Company, for the shipment
of oil from that city direct to auy port in Europe.
Two Erie gentlemen have visited Europe to ascer-
tain the feasibility of the scheme, and have reported
favourably. A. Brigham, a leading exporter of
petroleum, is a prominent mover in this enterprise.
He proposes to secure sufficient capital to purchase
a fleet of vessels, to start early next spring, and to
purchase others as they are needed ; the vessels to
be of 400 tons canal capacity, and to carry 2,500
barrels each, and to make three trips per year. The
objection to shipping other freight in vessels which
have carried petroleum. is to be obviated by a new
fumigating process. It is estimated that a saving
of $2 per barrel on the cost of transportation to
Europe can be effected by this plan.

The coal fields of America cover over 225,000
square miles, an area equal to twenty-eight such
States as Massachusetts. One cubic mile will fur-
nish seven millions of tons annually for a thousand
years. At this rate our coal will last sixty thou-
sand years.

The Honolulu Commercial Advertiser states that
the principal object of General M'Cook's visit to
San Francisco was to communicate with the Govern-
ment by telegraph, and to ask leave of absence, so
that he may visit Washington to consult with the
Cabinet respecting a reciprocity treaty with the
Sandwich Islands, or a liberal revision of the treaty
now in force. He has become convinced that
the American interests will be greatly served by a
reciprocity treaty. The project is warmly supported
by American residents on the Islands, and by the
business men of San Francisco.

The Times' Philadelphia correspondent states that
the American people who wish a perpetuation of
good-feeling between the North and South greatly
approve the action of a son of General Robert E.
Lee, who, at a recent dinner party in Richmond,

was asked to join in a toast to " The Fallen Flag,"
but, instead of doing so, rose and said—" Gentle-
men, this will not do. We are paroled prisoners.
We have now but one flag, and that is the flag of
our whole country—the glorious old stars and
stripes. I can recognise no other, fight for no
other, and will drink to no other."

There is a split in the Fenian camp about—
Christmas plum-pudding! An Irishman would be
at his wits' end if he could not find a cause for a
quarrel. The Fenians in the United States looked
with complacency on the Fenians in Canadian
prisons under • sentence of death. Indeed, they
rather rejoiced at the acquisition of strength they
anticipated from the blood of the martyrs. A
Fenian hanged by the sentence of a British Judge
would have been a strong card in the hands of Pre-
sident Roberts—a fine subject for declamation,
and not a bad reason for a call for coppers. Lynch
and APAlahon naturally saw the matter in another
light, which inclined them to regard as callous the
indifference of the brotherhood to their fate. No
assistance was tendered from head-quarters during
the trial, nor to alleviate their suffering during the
long imprisonment, an imprisonment, too, which
had a prospect of ending in a very unsatisfactory
manner. The magnanimous Roberts, however,
began to move towards Christmas time, in favour of
his incarcerated brethren. The picture of the heroes
pining in gaol without pudding at this festive
season touched his heart, and appeals issued from
head-quarters for contributions towards procuring
a Christmas dinner. This was " the straw that
broke the camel's back." They had been captured,
imprisoned, tried, and condemned, and both Lynch
and M'Mahon had borne themselves, under the trying
circumstances, like men of courage and resolution.
They probably regarded President Roberts' action
as a bitter satire ; they knew what became of con-
tributions received by Ilead Centres ; they wished
at least to have the dignity of martyrs ; and they
saw they were being degraded that the President
might obtain contributions, as well as the credit of
'interesting himself to benefit them, at the same
time that they keenly felt his neglect. 11l‘Mahon
resented the appeal as an insult to himself per-
sonally,
and both he and Lynch, on the part of
the prisoners generally, cautioned the public
against responding to Colonel Roberts' appeal.
"This appeal," they said, " might be made with
propriety for paupers and convicts on Blackwell's
Island, or in some institution of the kind, but is a
gross insult to the Irishmen held as political
prisoners in Canada. Never having received any
aid or assistance from the Fenian head-quarters
during their long confinement in the Toronto Gaol,
they consider this last appeal of President Roberts
as adding insult to injury. They earnestly entreat
their friends not to outrage their feelings, and that
they may be spared this cruel humiliation.,,
The public debt of the United States amounted
on the Ist inst. to $2,675,000,000.
Secretary I\PCulloch writes to a friend :—" What
we need is an increase of labour. If we could have
the productive industry of the country in full exer-
cise, we could return to specie payments without
any very large curtailment of United States notes.
My object has been to keep the market steady, and
to work back to specie payments without a financial
collapse. I shall act in the future, as I have in the
past, with great caution, and attempt no impractic-
able thing."
With regard to the Southern Post-offices, one of
the despatches to the Associated Press states
Notices recently published concerning the discon-
tinuance of Southern post-offices are liable to be
misunderstood. No wholesale discontinuance of
offices now in operation is contemplated, but the
action of the Post-office Department refers only to
the many offices in the South which were suspended
at the commencement of the war in 1861, and
which have not since been formally re-opened.
Although in fact discontinued, the accounts of such
offices cannot be closed, and the balances due the
Government collected by the Auditor for this De-
partment, under existing laws and regulations,
without a formal order of discontinuance by
the Postmaster-General, whereupon the bonds
are surrendered to the auditor, and he can
proceed against the late postmasters. The auditor
of the Post-office Department reports to the Post-
master-General that the postal revenues in the late
insurgent States have exceeded by $291,654 the
actual expenditures ; and it appears that, including
all liabilities to June 30, 1866, the revenues in that,
Section would only be deficient $75,383.
The new Tariff bill has upon the free list -an-
planed pine lumber, shingle bolts, hemlock bark, and
ship timber.

The Pall Mall Gazette says :—" So mach has
been said of electoral corruption in the United
States that it is only fair to mention particularly
that a member of the New Jersey Legislature con-
victed of selling his vote has been sente►iced to im-
prisonment forone year and for ever precluded from
holding public office."

Colonel Bomford; commanding in North Caro-
lina, prevented the infliction of c(Jrporal punishment
by the Sheriff on a negro in RrAeigh, Dec. 19. In-
dictments were immediately rirdered against him by
Judge Fowle, and the Gov, ernor of the State was
called on to carry out th d laws of the State. The
whipping of the negro was to be continued next
day.

We notice the sudden death at Baltimore, on the
15th Dec., of the Rev. Stephen Williams, aged 84.
He was apparently enjoying his usual health, and
was conversing with his wife, when he fell from his
chair, and 0'). being raisA it was Laud that he was
quite dead. The remains of deceased, who was
much respected, were interred in Greenmount
Cemetery,

George Peabody has given $25,000 to the Five
Points House of Industry in New York.
Prciessor Agassiz is to deliver in February, be-
fore the New York Association for the Advancement
of Science and Art, a course of six lectures upon
rdrazil and zoology.
The Rev. John S. C. Abbott, whose " Lives of
the Presidents of the United States" has just been
published, will soon sail for France, whether
he goes to collect materials for his life of
Napoleon 111.

Mr. Raphael Semmes (Admiral) has been
lecturing in Texas upon " The Equipment and
Captures of the Alabama, viewed by the Light of
American Precedents and the Laws of Nations."
EXPERIMENTS WITH PETROLEUM.—The necessi-
ties of ocean steam navigation, especially for long
voyages, are stimulating wide-spread attention to
such improvements in generating steam as may
lessen the storage now required for fuel, and dimi-
nish the cost and labour in managing it. Difficul-
ties in the mode of burning petroleum in England
are supposed to be obviated by some American in-
ventions, and our Navy Department, under a late
Congressional appropriation, has directed tests to
be made at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Chief Engi-
neer Isherwood has, therefore, arranged for an
adequate series of experiments with apparatus on
the principle covered by patents owned by the Pe-
troleum Light Company, the appropriation of
$5,000 having been made on the memorial of Col.
Julius Adams, an engineer of New York, in re-
ference to that mode of using petroleum as fuel.
It is claimed that the effect of burning oil is nearly
thrice greater than that of an equal weight of an-
thracite coal. As the coal and petroleum occupy
nearly equal space—the first weighing from 43 to
52 pounds and the latter about 52 pounds per cubic
foot--the use of oil would be a great gain in saving
stowage in steamers, as well as dispensing with
much of the labour in shipping supplies of fuel, and
in dispensing also with numerous coalheavers,
stokers, &c., beside avoiding the inconvenience of
raising clinker and ashes from the furnace, which
rubbish from coal reaches from seven to more than
16 per cent. of the whole weight. Other advan-
tages are claimed for the oil as fuel for marine en-
gines, such as the rapidity with which steam can be
raised ; the reduced dimensions of boiler and fur-
nace below that required for coal ; the continuous
firing effected by feeding the fuel through a pipe into
the furnace, thereby preventing the great loss of
heat to the furnace every time a fresh supply of coal
is thrown in, and the rush of cold air on opening
the furnace doors ; the freedom from smoke, cinder,
ashes, or refuse of any kind; and last, not least, the
ability to cointuaucl a forced fire almost tly with-

rr
out a forced draft which, under some circumstances
at sea, is of vital importance, &c. The whole petro-
leum interests of our country would be immenselY
benefited by success in the experiments now in
progress under the direction of the American and
British Governments.

NEGRO SHOOTING IN VIRGINIA.—A correspon-
dent of the .New York Herald, writing from Rich-
mond on the 11th inst., says :—" The following ac-
count of the difficulty between Dr. James Watso!,,
of Rockbridg,e county, and a negro named 'robe
Echols, was published several weeks ago, awl Will
prove interesting to your readers, since Dr. W. has
been rearrested by order of General Schofield awl
brought.to this city. Dr. James Watson, one of
the most respectable gentlemen in Rockbridge
county, on Wednesday last shot and killed a negro
named Tube Echols under the following circum-
stances. On the day previous the doctor's family
were going to church in a carriage, and were over-
taken in a very narrow part of the road by the car•
riage of Major John R. Echols, containing the-
family of that gentleman, and driven by deceased.
The negro attempted to force a passage by the
doctor's carriage, though knowing that he could not
do so with safety on account of the narrowness of
the road. He, however, against the remonstrance
of the doctor's driver, made the attempt, when the
wheels of the two carriages became interlocked, one
wheel of the doctor's vehiclebeingsmashed to pieces.
This did not stop the determined negro, but Ito con-
tinued to drive ahead, when another wheel was
broken, and the horses to Dr. Watson's carriage
took fright and ran off, in their flight breaking the
carriage to pieces, but fortunately without injuring
any of its occupants. This occurred in a very dan-
gerous part of the mountain road, on one side of
which was a steep precipice. Dr. Watson was not
present, nor was he at home, being absent in at-
tending his practice. When he returned on Tues-
day night he was told of the occurrence, and on
Wednesday morning rode over to Major Echols'
to chastise the impudent negro who had thus endan-
gered the lives of his wife and children. He found
him in the field at work, and told him for what pur-
pose he had come, and struck him with a small stick,
which the negro wrenched from his hand and started
to run. The doctor ordered him to halt or be
would shoot him, and the negro not obeying the
order the doctor levelled his pistol and fired, the
ball striking him in the back and coming out about
the centre of the abdomen, inflicting a wound from
which death ensued in a few hours. Dr. Watson
immediately went to a neighbouring magistrate and
surrendered himself, and, after an examination, was
bailed in the sum of 1,000 dols. for his appearance
for trial before the County Court. The doctor was
subsequently tried and discharged by a jury of his
own country, but, as remarked above, he was rear-
rested and brought to Richmond. General Schofield
admitted him to bail in the sum of 20,000 dols., and
by an agreement between the parties, an examina-
tion will be commenced in this city to-morrow,
when the evidence in the case will be made public.
The affair caused no excitement outside of the
neighbourhood in which it occurred, and conse-
quently lam unable to furnish any of the evidence
brought to bear upon the case before the court
that tried it."