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

Miscellaneous American News.

The Union Convention has assembled in Phila-
delphia, and absorbs the interest of the country.
Major General John A. Dix will, it is thought, be
president. The wig-wam, by the latest accounts, up
to 3d August, was only half finished. The dele-
gates will number some three thousand persons, and
the building will accommodate upwards of 10,000
spectators besides. The Convention is strongly
supported in the Southern States, and that it should
receive the unqualified aid of such men as the rioters
of New Orleans will cause it to be regarded with
great suspicion throughout the North. The Con-
vention may be useful if led by such politicians as
Mr. Raymond, for it will then tend to pour oil on
the troubled waters, but if it gives an unqualified
adhesion to the President's policy of reconstruction,
it will meet with the sternest opposition and con-
demnation of that party which crushed the South in
war. It is the grossest fallacy to suppose that the
Republican section will ever again allow themselves
to be ridden roughshod over by the South, and such
scenes as that enacted lately at New Orleans will
strengthen this determination. That the greatest
war of modern times should have been fought for
nothing is too ridiculous to believe. Nor is it likely
that a party that no disaster could bend during the
gs
o heavywarfare should
cost.
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the
et
Democrats,
themselves,ra
exert will suffice to conquer the stern resolution of
the ascendant party led by Congress.
Intelligence from Ottawa, Canada West, to the
the Republican party
3d August, informs us that
form of Legislature for Lower Canada
were defeated in their efforts to obtain a Democratic
by a vote of
69 against 31. Upper Canada will have a Legis-
lature of one elective chamber, which is the form
sought by the Republicans of Lower Canada. Mr.
Gerin, editor of Le Canada, assaulted Mr. J. B. E.
Dorion, editor of the Defricheur, and a member of
the house. These gentlemen met in the library,
when Mr. Gerin taxed Mr. Dorion with an article
which had appeared in the Defricheur, and ended
(according to the account given to the house by
Mr. Dorion) by striking him repeatedly. The
Speaker issued his warrant to the sergeant-at-arms,
and Elzear Gerin was taken into custody and
brought before the bar of the house.
The commercial interests in America have ex-
perienced a relief from the adjournment of Con-
gress. Trade is hampered by constant change, and
many prefer not to act at all than to act in the
dark. While Congress was sitting, an alteration
in the Tariff, or the Currency, or the Public Debt,
was- not only possible, but probable, and tended
to distract trade. Comimrce is now secure
for some six months, and merchants within
that peri9cl can act without fear of any

sudden and vi lent change. The prospects of
trade are at present 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

Monadnock, 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 stow 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 null, 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 :
`Zr. Harlan having resigned the Secretaryship
of the Interior. Mr. Orville H. 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 Indiani, 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 fotir 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 Miautonomah. 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 preparing 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
: f
on
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from the absence of a downward shadow, and the
great facility with which the bearings of any object
can be taken at night. A further improvement has
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index, notifying the course to be steered, the position
of the index being so placed that it can be consulted
with reference to the compass card. The invention
has been adopted on board the Great Eastern.
It is most important that the following 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
and disinfected by ancdomlipmoeund.V oilf gyp-
this
substances method
sbue lamp,ced,
charcoal,sta nlveoso dm
oassth eds
e, and
eterious to health can
be converted into elements of fertility, and into
b
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