The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-20 00:00:00

TEE SON, LOI'VDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 20, 1866..

sudden and violent change. The prospects of
trade are at pesent very encouraging, and the
reports of the grain harvest from all parts of the
country are much better than were anticipated.
The effects of the German war were considered as

likely to create a demand for breadstuffs in Europe,
but as that war has suddenly ceased, and as the har-
vests in Europe appear to be a fair average, the
anticipated demand is not likely to be realised.
The New York, Times states that the Monitor
Mo

,nadnock, when passing through the torrid zone
on her way to the Pacific, developed in her fire-
men and engineers several cases of active spinal
disease, attended with violent convulsions. This
was caused by extreme heat. In the engine-room
the thermometer reached 125 to 130 degrees, and
this ranged 20 degrees higher in the fire-room. It
will be difficult to make vessels thus submerged
really habitable in the tropics. If the system for so
protecting the hull of a vessel from an enemy's shot
be generally adopted, the only plan by which she
can be thus secured, and at the same time made
habitable as a regular sea-going cruiser, is to invent
a power of submerging the vessel at the will of

those on board. The construction of wing pas-
sages to be filled with water has been suggested.
We have no doubt, however, that the whole subject
has been fully considered by the clever heads that
planned and the skilful hands that executed such
war machines as the Monitors.

Congress has passed a bill for increasing the
salaries of the members from $3,000 to $5,000 a
year. This, together with the mileage, as the
allowance for travelling expenses is termed, makes
up the pay to a nice sum. A person aspiring to a
seat in the British Parliament sees before him a
heavy disbursement. In America, however, the
honour and influence of the position is sweetened by
a handsome salary, together with the power of
franking, to which the late Postmaster so strongly
objected, and other advantages which make up in
all a very good thing.
Although the accounts from the South show in
many places a brutal spirit of oppression towards
the blacks, yet the condition of the population im-
proves gradually, and in some States that improve-
ment is general and marked. Of the 360,000
blacks in the State of- North Carolina, only 3,294
are receiving rations. One hundred and nineteen
schools are now in operation, with one hundred and
thirty-five teachers, the daily attendance averaging
9,034. The destitution among the whites and
blacks in various parts of the States is being
gradually relieved. Old North Carolina coupons
have gone up, at the National Bank of Raleigh,
from 50 to 55, and they will continue to rise, we
feel assured, with increased material prosperity.
The New York Times says that no appointments
to office had been made by the President, as Mr.
Johnson has determined to move slowly and cau-
tiously henceforth in the matter of removals and ap-
pointments, notwithstanding the prediction by
many that he would, as soon as Congress ad-
journed, begin a wholesale, indiscriminate official
decapitation. Some of those who were rejected
by the Senate upon political grounds, or because
they were to succeed officers who opposed the Pre-
sident's policy, will immediately be commissioned

to fill the several offices to which they were nomi-
nated by the President. The report that General
Fullerton has been appointed Private Secretary to
the President has no foundation in fact. No selec-
tion has been made by Mr. Johnson. General
Fullerton has been named for the position how-
ever. General Steedman has notified the President
by telegram that he declines the appointment of
Superintendent of Public Printing. Mr. Johnson
has not yet determined what he will do in the
matter. It is understood that the Philadelphia
Sloanaker contest for the position of Collector of
Internal Revenue for the First District of Penn-
sylvania has been put at rest by the appointment
of Sloanaker, and his commission will be issued to-

morrow.
The celebrated piratical cruiser Sumter is now
engaged in a traffic likely to bring more credit and
profit to her owners than her late occupation. She
hasbeen purchased by a Mr. Lyon, taken to Hull, and
has commenced running between this country and
the continent with cattle. There may be less
chivalry in the " beast trade" than in the exploits
which formerly characterised this soi-disant war
steamer, but more utility and honesty.
The President signed the joint resolution re-ad-
mitting Tennessee ; not, however, without commu-
nicating his objections to Congress.. Subsequently
Messrs. Fowler and Patterson appeared as Senators,
and the former, having taken the oath, was ad-
mitted to the seat ; but the other, who is the Presi-
dent's son-in-law, and is charged with complicity
in the rebellion, was not at once received, but
was subsequently sworn in. In the House Messrs.
Leftwich, Stokes, and Cooper were admitted to
seats.

The President vetoed the Montana bill ; while
that admitting Nebraska failed for want of his sig-
nature.

The names of these eminent Americans appear in
the New York Independent as follows :
" Mr. Harlan having resigned the Secretaryship
of the Interior. Mr. Orville 11. Browning, of Illi-
nois, has been nominated and confirmed as his suc-

cessor.
" Gen. Jno. A. Dix has been confirmed as Minis-
ter to the Netherlands, and Mr. Jno. B. Skinner as
First Assistant Postmaster-General.
" Mr. Schuyler Colfax is a candidate for re-nomi-

nation from his !district in Indiana, having finally
declined a contest for the Senatorship.
" Mr. Thaddeus Stevens has consented to stand
for the Senatorship in Pennsylvania.
" John Covode has been unanimously nominated
by the Republicans for Congress in the twenty-
first district of Pennsylvania, which has been re-
presented for the last four years by Mr. Dawson,
Democrat."
The President.has named the Commissioners to
represent the United States at the Paris Universal
Exposition next year. These gentlemen have been
selected for eminence in science and invention.
Louis Agassiz, the great naturalist, stands foremost
on the list. Among the principal inventors is John
Ericsson, a specimen of whose brain-work has
lately excited so much attention in Europe, the
celebrated monitor Miantonomah. These appoint-
ments have all been confirmed by the Senate, and
we may therefore expect some of the most renowned
Americans shortly among us.
By direction of the Lords of the Admiralty, Mr.
Brown, connected with the civil service, attended
at Chatham dockyard the other day for the pur-
pose of submitting to the officials of that establish-
ment a newly invented binnacle lamp about to be
fitted on board the Reindeer, now pr4aring for sea
at Chatham. The experiments previously carried out
by Mr. Brown with the invention at the joiners'
shop of the dockyard, in the presence of the leading
officials, fully bore out the merits claimed for the in-
vention over all other binnacle lamps, not the least
of which are a considerable gain to the light by the
plan on which the reflectors are constructed, the
perfect and entire illumination of the reflector card
thefacility
absenceacilitywitho a downward
which
hichthebearinsghsadoofwa,nynd objectthe
fra.roeninabt taken at night. A further improvement has
also been effected in the invention at the suggestion
of Admiral Ryder, in the adoption of a transparent
index, notifying the course to be steered, the position
of the index being so placed that itcan be consulted
with reference to the compass card. The invention
has been
ism
adopted
importantboardtedonthat u
the Greatie following Eastern.
It
plan
should be adopted universally, but especially in all
large cities : —" It is proposed to use the garbage
of the city of New York as the base of a valuable
manure, by placing air-tight boxes in convenient
places, into which every decaying substance shall
be placed, and disinfected by a compound of gyp-
sum, charcoal, wood ashes, and lime." By this
method substances most deleterious to ilea'
be converted into elements of fertility, and into
real blessings instead of poisons for man.
The success of the Atlantic Cable was suddenly
announced in New York on a Sunday morning,
and the news, as may readily be believed, created
some excitement and much joy throughout the
country. Cyrus W. Field,
immediately the cable
was landed, July 28th, announced its success to the
President, and received the following reply :—" I
heartily congratulate you, and trust that your

can

enterprise may prove as successful as your efforts
have been persevering. May the cable under the
sea tend to promote harmony betweenthe Republic
of the West and the Government of the Eastern
hemisphere !" The message to Secretary Seward
was answered in these words "Acknowledg-
ments and congratulations. If the Atlantic cable
had not failed in 1858, European States would not
have been led in 1861 into the great error of sup-
posing that civil war in America would either per-
petuate African slavery ordivide this republic. Your
great achievement constitutes, I trust, an effective
treaty of international neutrality and non-interven-
tion." The first telegram brought the news of July
27, and was published in New York two days after
leaving London. The Associated Press gave their
despatch in the following words :—" The London
Thies of the 27th of July says of the Atlantic Tele-
graph, It is a great work, the story of the age and
nations, and they who have achieved it deserve to
be honoured as the benefactors of their race.' A
treaty of peace has been signed between Austria
and Prussia. A previous telegram says that a five
days' armistice between Austria and Prussia com-
menced at noon on the 23d." A contract has been
entered into between the Associated Press and the
Atlantic Telegraph Company for the regular trans-
mission of news. The Press will receive daily a
despatch from Europe of about 40 words, for which
they will pay annually £22,000. The expense will
be borne by the daily newspapers published in the
United States and Canada—the arrangement is; of
course, contingent on the cable lasting.
Many people think that petroleum is destined to
finish off the world's career in a universal blaze—
that for a spell will light up the whole heavens, and
be a marvel to other worlds, ere it burns out, leaving
a charred and dried ball, if it does not melt with
fervent heat and run to chaos. This inflammable
oil is doubtless spread over the surface of the earth,
and we have lately had two examples of what con-
flagrations can be produced by comparatively small
quantities. Ten thousand barrels of petroleum
have furnished fuel for a blaze in Antwerp that has
seldom before been seen in Europe. Once on fire
any attempt to extinguish it was mere child's play
in the result produced, though no child's play in the
danger involved. Barrel after barrel exploded,
shaking the city and tumbling down houses. The
burning petroleum flowed into the sewers and carried
a flame into the surrounding houses. Probably half
a million of property has been destroyed. Only a
few days earlier the oil regions in the State of Phila-
delphia was treated to a similar illumination ; on
the 2d instant exactly 10,000 barrels were burned
at Pithole. In this district, however, people are
accustomed to the conflagrations caused by petro-
leum, and the tremendous explosions resulting there-
from.

By advices from Vera Cruz, dated 27th July

last, we learn that a revolution had been attempted
in the city of Mexico. Many arrests had been made.
Some were banished to Yucatan,bthers were brought
as prisoners to Vera Cruz, and placed in the castle
of San Juan previous to transportation. The country
was very excited. Three hundred exiles from the
Rio Grande have arrived at Tampico. Yellow fever
prevails at Vera Cruz. The Empress is now at
Paris, and has had an interview with Napoleon.
ller presence in Europe has had an injurious effect
on Nlexican Bonds. The holders interpret her visit

as a sign of overwhelming financial embarrassment,
and they have little faith in France acting as
Maximilian's paymaster any longer. Maximilian
is said to have signed a treaty with the French
Minister with the following provisions: —" Seven
thousand French troops will remain in Mexico for
five years. France will furnish beside $500,000
every month for five years, to meet the civil ex-
penses. Maximilian is to give as security the rail-
road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. Maximilian's re-
venues are to be collected by French officers."
Although the Tariff Amendment Bill failed in its
passage, two changes have been effected. The
duties on cigars are 50 per cent. ad valorem, or $3
per lb. A clause previously stricken out has now

been re-inserted, adding to the estimate of the cost
of merchandise the transport, shipment, tranship-
ment, packages, &c. This will add $10,000,000
to the revenue. As the subject is of considerable

importance we give the clause :—" Sec. 9. That in
determining the dutiable value of imported mer-
chandise, there shall be added to the cost on the
actual wholesale prices, or general market value at
the time of exportation in the principal markets of
the country from which the same shall have been
imported into the United States, the cost of trans-
portation, shipment, transhipment, with all ex-
penses included, from the place of growth, produc-
tion, or manufacture, whether by land or water, to
the vessel in which shipment is made to the United
States ; the value of the sack, box, or covering of
any kind in which such goods are contained ; com-
mission at the usual rates, but in no case less than
two and a half per cent., brokerage, export duty,

and all other actual or usual rates-for putting up,

preparing, and packing for transportation or ship-
ment, and all charges of a general character incurred
in the purchase of a general invoice, shall be dis-
tributed pro rata among all parts of such invoice,
and every part thereof charged with duties based
on value shall be advanced according to its propor-
tion, and all wines or other articles paying specific
duty by grades shall be graded, and pay duty accord-
ing to the actual value so determined. Provided,
That all additions made to the entered value of
merchandise for charges shall be regarded as part
of the actual value of such merchandise ; and, if
such addition shall exceed by ten per cent. the value
so declared in the entry in addition to the duties

imposed by law, there shall be levied, collected, and
paid a duty of 20 per cent. on such value. Pro-
vided, That the duty shall in no wise be assessed
upon an amount less than the invoice or entered
value. Provided further, That nothing herein con-

g-combing Carpet-wools
tabled shall apply to lon
costing twelve cents or less per pound, unless the
charges added shall carry the cost above twelve
cents, in which case one cent per pound duty is
to be levied."
We have more than once alluded to the subject
of providing means to enable distressed Americans
in London to return to their native country. The
class most concerned are seamen, and we are rejoiced
that the British Government has taken the initia-
tive with respect to them. Sir Frederick Bruce has
proposed officially on behalf of England that a
reciprocal treaty, be entered into by the two coun-
tries for the benefit of seamen in distress. Con-
gress can alone ratify such a treaty, but there can
be no doubt that the measure will receive its sanc-
tion. Each nation will agree to send home seamen
of the other country in distress in its ports. When
the treaty comes to be discussed we hope the whole
subject will be fully entered on, as seamen are not
the only class deserving of Government aid. Most
distressing cases of destitution among Americans
occur in London. Good men may be deprived of
the means of living by sickness, failure of their
employers, and circumstances over which they have
no control, and find themselves reduced to the
greatest straits in this vast metropolis, with no
other resource than the private assistance of Ameri-
can residents. Some recognised official should be
authorised to inquire into such cases, and where the
applicant was found to be the victim wholly
of misfortune, the means of returning to -his
country at his country's expense might surely be
extended to him. Many of these persons could
give bonds to return the amount, and what is done
by such colonies as New Zealand to introduce a
population into the country might be done by the
Great Republic in aid of its own citizens in distress
in a foreign city.
We extract the following account of the Generals
of the regular army and their order of seniority
from tho New York Post :
" The quick promotion of Sherman to the rank lately
held by Grant, and of Porter to that of Farragut, will
please everybody. The army have,
in the establishment
of the new rank of General,
an especial and professional
pleasure, as it completes tho round of grades. Hitherto
we have had no rank to correspond with tho highest com-
mands in our army. During the late war a Major-General
commanded a hundred other Major-Generals, which is
as though a Colonel should command an army corps. This
anomaly is now remedied. The promotion of Hancock
to a Major-Generalship in the regular army will be re-
garded us a fit recognition of the brilliant and important
services of one of the most prominent subordinate com-
tnanders of the army of the Potomac, who was always
oni tho first fight at Williamsburg to the last of the cam-

paign under Grant and Meade—distinguished for the vigour
of his movements, as well as for a gallantry which con-
tinually led him and his command into the hardest and
thickest of the fighting. Of General Ord, who is pro-
moted to the brigadier-generalship made vacant by Han-
cocks' elevation, we can say that there is not in the service
a more thorough or faithful officer. In the West he was a
favourite of General Grant, and in the Eastern army he
fully maintained his reputation and standing. The gene-
rals of the regular array now rank in the order of their
names in tho following list :—General, Ulysses S. Grant ;
Lieutenant-General, William T. Sherman ; Major-Gene-
rals, Henry W. Hallock, George G. Meade, Philip H.
Sheridan, George H. Thomas, Windfield S. Hancock ; Bri-
gadier-Generals, Irwin McDowell, William S. Rosecrans,
Philip St. George Cooke, John Pope, Joseph Hooker, John
M. Schofield, Oliver 0. Howard, Alfred H. Terry, E. 0. C.
I Ord. Of all . these, General Terry, the brilliant captor of
Fort Fists, and faithful commander in Virginia, is the
only officer drawn from civil life. All the others were
educated at West Point ; but Grant, Sherman, Hooker,
Howard, and Halleck were in civil life when the war broke
out, having resigned from the army after the Mexican

war."

THE FIRST AMERICAN " GENERAL " AND
"Anminm,."—The United States have now, for the first
time in their history, a General upon the land and an
Admiral upon the seas. Heretofore we have had "Lieu-
tenant " Generals and " Vice " Admirals ; but both these
titles implied that there was a higher military and a higher
naval grade known to the law, while in truth there were
no higher grades in law or in fact. The President, though
constitutionally Commander-in-Chief of the army and
navy, has properly no military grade and no military title ;
and, in fact, the subordination implied in the prefix " Lieu-
tenant" and the prefix " Vico " has no reference, histori-
cally or actually, to any relations with the President. The
now titles have been conferred upon those to- whom the
country would award them by universal acclaim. Grant
and Farragut are not only the two foremost names in our
warlike history, but their pre-eminence is undisputed by
any rival. All hail " General " Grant ! All hail "Admiral"
Farragut !—New York 7intes.
The Boston Journal, of the sth instant, says :
The United States practice ship Macedonia; Lieutenant-
Commander Luce, arrived here this forenoon from Port-
land, and anchored in the stream off Long Wharf. Soon
after reaching this city she fired the usual salute. She is
attached to the Naval Academy fleet, and has on board
136 midshipmen cf the different classes —embracing 17 of
the Ist class, 22 of the 2d class, 48 of the 3d class, and 49
of the 4th class.
At Gazetteville, near Buffalo, a natural gas
spring was discovered a year ago. Since that time various
experiments have shown that it is of remarkable purity,
and flows over forty thousand feet per day. The well has
flowed in this manner over a year.
The income of Augustus Hamenway, of Boston,
for 1865, was $220,000. He does not enjoy it, however,
being a lunatic. He made his first venture by,,ohance.
Ho was supercargo of a vessel bound from Boston to
Buenos Ayres, many years ago. Nearing the latter port
they lerrued that it was blockaded. Changing their course,
they went into Valparaiso, sold their cargo of flour for
300 or 400 per cent. profit, and took in a full load of copper
ore, which cost not a single cent, and sold it for an im-
mense sum in' Boston.
John Mitchell writes that $75,000 have passed
through his hands from the Fenians of America to
James Stephens, for all of which sums ho holds Stephens'

receipts.
A man fell asleep in a theatre in Buffalo, the
other night, and only woke up when the rats began nib-
bling at his face, long after the close of the performance.
REJUVENATED TO DEATH.—The Milwaukie News
says :—" Mr. William Burton, an old citizen of North
Prairie, Waukesha county, killed himself on the Ist inst..
by experimenting a la Turkish bath. He had conceived
the idea that by subjecting himself to intense heat, he
could regain the elasticity' and buoyancy of youth, and
the beauty which usually appertains to that period of life.
He had been experimenting for some time previous, for
the purpose of attaining this object, and on the night of
his decease had got up a high temperature,' and on the
following morning he was found lifeless, the flesh upon
his limbs being literally cooked. He was an excellent
mechanic, a bachelor, and about 45 years of age."
We are informed that Mr. Horatio Ames, the
patentee and manufacturer of the gun which bears his
name, and which has been repeatedly tried with extraor-
dinary results by the ordnance officers of the American
Government, has lately brought it under the notice of the
Emperor of Russia. The resources of the Russian gun
factories were at once placed at Mr. Ames' disposal, to-
gether with a liberal appropriation of money to establish
their manufacture in that country ; but, we believe, the
offer has been declined, and, indeed, no experienced iron-
master would think of commencing such an undertaking
in a country so lacking in skilled labour and in general
facilities for special manufacture of iron as Russia.
General Sherman, in a recent address to the stu-
dents of Yale College, said :—" I tell you that before you
pass from the stage there will be fighting in comparison
with which mine will seem slight."

Navigation of the Missouri.

The 12th July marked a new era in the navigation of
the Missouri. The Railway King, who is Vice-President
of the Great Pacific Road, Mr. Durant, has won new
tributes to his sagacity and skill as a manager of great
interests, by transferring his powers from the field of
building railroads to that of navigating great rivers.
Stimulated by the zeal which he brings to the manage-
ment of the Pacific Road, ho undertook the work of bring-
ing increased facilities to the navigatiOn of the Missouri—
the worst navigable stream for its volume in the world,
owing to its shifting sand-bars. The question to be solved
was whether barges could be used in the Missouri, as
they have been used in the other rivers of the country.in
the transportation of freights. Mr. Durant, after an oppo-
sition to his views by the most experienced navigators of the
Missouri, by pilots, masters, steam-boat owners, and every-
body else, insisted that heavily laden barges could be made to
run in this river. Nothing would satisfy him but the ex-
periment itself, and the plan for trying it was organised
and put into execution under his direction. The result
brought to the Omaha levee yesterday the new and ele-
gant steamboat Elk Horn, having in tow two splendid
barges, fitly named the Hero and the Heroine, laden with
900 bars of railroad iron and 3,600 bushels of coal.
We regard this, as all will regard it, a great triumph in
tha navigation of our much-abused river. The friends of
the Missouri should be grateful to Durant for having vin-
dicated those mighty waters against the slanders of their
traducers, and for a result which places it on a par with
its twin sister, the Mississippi.

American

Securities.

Englishmen carry their strong prejudices in
favour of their country, even into their investments.

Generally speaking, money banishes the romance of

imagination, and brings questions down to hard
facts and dry figures. But it is not always so ; or
it would be difficult to account for discrepancies in
values, which a glance at the Stock Exchange list

of prices will at once show. The revenue derived

from the United States is at the present moment
fully a third larger than that of Great Britain,
while its expenditure will in future be less. This
revenue is collected with facility, and borne by the
nation with ease. The national wealth increases
year by year prodigiously; outstripping beyond all
proportion the growth iu wealth of any ether coun-
try. Yet on comparing the value of American
stocks with those of this country or any of the great
kingdoms of Europe, we find that the most solvent
debtor pays by far the highest interest. Few
people are prepared to dispute the question, that a
" promise to pay" on the part of the United States
is as good as a "promise to pay" on the part of any
kingdom of Europe. Intrinsically we maintain
that such a " promise" is better, with the doubtful
exception in favour of the United Kingdom. It is
better because the nation is more wealthy now, and
growing more wealthy than any other nation ; be-
cause its Government, being firmly fixed on the
shoulders of the people, is more stable, and with
less risk of change; and because it stands alone on
the continent, without a foreign foe that could in
any way interfere with or change the destinies of
the people. The Union is free from all chance of
attack which could alter its boundaries, or work
any permanent evil, even were a combination of
Governments hostile to it possible. In this security
the Americans stand alone. We have an instance of
a great European military Government struck down
in the campaign of a few days. The map of
Europe will be altered, and Vast changes result from
a single battle. With such an example before us,
we cannot consider any European Government ab-
solutely safe. The great monarchies of Europe are
liable not only to external attack, but to internal
revolution. With scarcely an exception these Go-
vernments guard against this danger by an expen-
diture in developing their military resources which
outstrips their revenues, and year' by year dips
them deeper in hopeless debts. It is strange, then,
to see the stocks of nations so placed quoted at a
higher value than those of the United States. A
natural belief in one's own country, a Government
one sees, and a revenue one partly pays, in
.some
measure may account for this fact. Habit, the
strength given by time, and the confidence
inspired by long and honourable fulfilment of
engagements, are also among the reasons. But
ignorance and timidity have far more to do with
these quotations than any other cause. The timidity
which arises from ignorance is, indeed, the main
reason, which perhaps time only can fully dissipate.
English investors are but beginning to know what
five-twenties and seven-thirties mean. Gradually

these stocks rise in value, even during a terrible
panic which has prostrated English credit. There
are no subjects more keenly and attentively con-
sidered by men with money than the investment of
capital. Every one who has put by savings eagerly
listens to the person who can satisfy him that there
is a secure and profitable means of laying them
out. Most grasp at the highest interest, and many
plunge into a sea of trouble, in pursuit of the great
object of making much out of little. Others
timidly hold back, believing in the security of no-
thing they cannot see and know by long experience
to be sound. There is, however, a class who work
out for themselves their scheme of investment, and
attentively study the subject, uninfluenced by the
prejudice and the ignorance around them. These
are the men who come in for the good things,
buying low where the public have little confidence,
and selling high when that confidence has become
unbounded, after the knowledge they had earlier ob-
tained has been widely spread abroad. It is now
difficult to believe that the English preferred Con-
federate Bonds to those of the United States when
the war was raging. The Germans more accurately
estimated the position and invested largely in
American Government securities. John Bull was-
full of prejudice and ignorance, and paid the penalty
in giving his money for a considerable quantity of
worthless Confederate paper. The shrewd, stolid
Dutchman and German reaped the harvest. The
clouds of ignorance and prejudice are but slowly
rising, and United States Bonds still remain a sub-
ject well worth the earnest attention of those who
seek to derive a secure means of living and high
interest for their money.—Anglo-American Times.