The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-06 00:00:00

Miscellaneous American News.

General Dix has written a letter in support of the
Philadelphia Convention. lle gives hand, heart,
and sword to the propositions, reasons, and objects
of the club. The Democrats of the six Congres-
signal districts of New York have elected their dele-
gates for the Convention. In the Fifth District
Judge Moncrieff, in the Sixth Washington Hunt
and Dr. Sayre, the port physician, are among the
elect. The Eighth sends James Brookes, and the
Ninth Fernando Wood. Governor Seward writes
to Senator Doolittle that he is surprised that any
one should ask whether he does or does not oppose
the cause of the Convention, and asks, " that the
citizen who objects to the Convention should pro-
pose a better plan of proceeding to effect the desired
end." No other plan is proposed or even thought
of. The Tribune says, when Messrs. Randall,
Dixon, and Co. issued the call for the National
Convention, they seemed to invite and expect that
said Convention should embody the sentiment and
express the predominant convictions of the Union
party, of that Union party which sternly resisted
and subdued the Rebellion, of that Union party
which nominated Lincoln and Johnson, and elected
them over M'Clellan and Pendleton. We said at
once, this call is a fraud. Its authors do not expect
or desire the attendance of delegates who shall
faithfully represent the Union party. They desire
and expect to carry off a mere salvage of this party,
composed mainly of office-holders, and unite it with
the Democratic M'Clellan party of 1864, thereby
securing to the latter the government of the country.
This statement was denounced and stigmatised ;
but a few days have sufficed to demonstrate its
truth. The Union party of 1861-5 refuses to at-
tend or countenance the Convention. Not ten out
of its 180 members of Congress countenance it,
while their advisers do so to a man. Thus the Con-
vention will be a gathering of those who resolved at
Chicago, in 1864, that the War of the Union had
been a failure, and nominated accordingly. Its
objects, its instincts, its oracles, will be the same
that they have been. Its success will be the down-
fall of all who triumphed with Lincoln and Grant.

Lieutenant-Ell'eneral Grant has been raised to the
rank of General. The following order, dated
Head-quarters of the Army, Washington, July Ist,
would argue that the General was not an advocate
of the President's policy ; but as the President is
commander-in-chief of the army, we cannot under-
stand how such an order could be issued without
his sanction :

(General Order, No. 44.)
District, Department, and Post-Commanders in
States lately in rebellion are hereby directed to ar-
rest all persons who have been, or may hereafter be,
charged with commission of crimes ' • and offences
against officers, agents, citizens, and inhabitants of
the United States, irrespective of colour, in cases
where the civil authorities had failed, neglected, or
are unable to arrest and bring such parties to trial,
and to detain them in military confinement until
such time as a proper judicial tribunal may be ready
and willing to try them. A strict enforcement of
this order is required.
(By command of Lieut.-General Grant,)
E. D. TOWNSEND, Assist.-Adjt.-General.
This is regarded as the.mostimportant paper which
has been printed for months. If not paralysed by
i* will nrovo rt. terror to evil-doers
and a much-needed shield to the persecuted loyalists
of the South. It is equivalent, adds the Tribune,
to a fresh proclamation of martial law in the South,
where no other law operates to protect those who
have been faithful to the Union.

The news received by the French Government
from Mexico to the 29th of June is rather in-
teresting. At the moment of the departure of
the mail Marshal Bazaine was informed that the
Mexican brigade, commanded by General Oldera,
1,600 strong, having left Matamoras to escort a
convoy of merchandise to Monterey, had been sur-
prised and attacked by Escobedo with 4,000 men
on the 16th June at Berrendo. The convoy was
overpowered, and the Mexican troops, partly de-
stroyed, left 500 men in the hands of the enemy.
General Mejia had only 500 Mexican troops and
Urban militia to defend Matamoras. All was ready
for an energetic resistance, when the inhabitants,
alarmed at the insufficiency of the means of de-
fence, determined to capitulate. No details had
arrived respecting the reduction of the place, but it
was known that General Mejia- obtained for his
small garrison an honourable capitulation, and the
most favourable conditions for the population of
Matamoras. The General had landed with his
troops at Vera Cruz. Michoacan was still infested
with guerillas. A detachment of the Auitrian legion
was attacked on the 12th of June at Tehuatlan by
400 disaffected in a strong position, but after a com-
bat of several hours they were dislodged with con-
siderable loss.

The Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship Company
are contracting for a number of barges to bo built at Cincin-
nati, and are also about to purchase several powerful tugs,
all of which are to bo used in freighting business, it being,,
the design to ultimately do all the freighting business by
barges, leaving the large steamers entirely for passenger
trade.

San Francisco has a new daily paper called the
Times.

n gNseiaz Ebyllsswidoe,rtohe,cMupaieindeb, tyhfierveoatrherfiifvve
mhzesbrsottahnerds-,
who married five sisters.
A cook in Washington used calomel instead of
soda in making a batch of biscuits a few days ago, and the
partakers haven't got over the medication yet.
Professor Agassiz says that the strip of " high
lands which divide the waters flowing into the St. Law-
rence from those flowing into the Atlantic," is the oldest
land in the world. It was once a lonely sea beach,
washed by a universal ocean.
California exports an average of $125 annually
for each inhabitant of the State, and imports nearly as
much. England exports only $4O per person.
The fair of the New England and Vermont State
agricultufal societies will be held on the grounds of the
Windham Park Association, at Brattleboro', Vt., Sept. 4,5,
G, and 7, 1866.
The burned district at Portland has been ac-
curately surveyed and found to cover an area of 327 acres,
so thoroughly burnt that scarcely 10 cords of charred wood
could be gathered from the ruins. Some 70 children have
been born in the tents ou Munjoy Hill since the fire.
The Southern Telegraph Company propose a line
from Cincinnati to Louisvil'e, Nashville, Memphis, Vicks-
burg, Mobile, and New Orleans.

One grain of wheat in Missouri produced 75 stalks
averaging 29 grains each, or an aggregate of 2,175 grains.

Mr. Lindsley, the clergyman who whipped his
child to death, only three years old, because it would not
say its prayers, and who was released on 610,000 bail, im-
mediately on being set at liberty went to the house of his
brother-in-law to stay, but was not. allowed to do so, the
brother-in-law fearing that his house would be torn down
by an excited mob ; and the miserable man has again
taken up his quarters in the gaol at Albion; this time
voluntarily, but really to escape summary punishment at
the hands of an infuriated and indignant public;.
Among other curious incidents of the Portland
fire, it is said that a man who had been locked up in gaol
slept through the fire in his cell, although the' building was
burned over his head. He was discharged tl to next morn-
ing, having been " tried as by fire."
Among the losers by the fire in Pox nand was