The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-10 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS AMERICAN NEWS.

Philadelphia presented a strange spectacle during
the sitting of the Convention. The city was
thronged with strangers. Southern and Northern
leaders met at every turn. There were those who
had hoped to have entered the Quaker City at the
head of ahostile and victorious army, and there were
those who had intercepted and thLown back that
army in its march through MaryTand. The rush
now was not for military fame and warlike trophies,
but for " victuals" and a place to lay one's weary
head. A decent bed could not be obtained for love
or money. The dining table by day was surrounded
by a scrambling multitude—at night it groaned
under the weight of sleeping patriots. Barring the
hot rush for creature comforts, profound peace
reigned in Philadelphia. Large bodies of military
were stationed at convenient points. Both within
and without the Convention long speeches and
exciting harangues were vigilantly suppressed. It
is probable that the Quaker City might have been
the scene of a riot if every patriot had had an
unlimited opportunity of speaking out his senti-
ments to the public.

The Independent of August 23d has an amusing
letter from the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, on
the " Dumb Convention." The wig-wam, he says,
so called—not by invidious outsiders, but by the
Indians themselves—was a barn of rough and rugged
pine boards about as big as that hole in New York
which the burning of the Academy of Music has left
as a classic ruin. Some say the wig-wam held 15,000
people; but crowds are always over-estimated by un-
careful guessers. Perhaps the Convention and its
audience at its greatest crush of attendance num-
bered nearly 10,000. " The sight was superb—that
multitude of faces ! I heard the statement fall from
the lips of the Hon. James R. Doolittle that the Con-
vention contained more brains than had ever before
been assembled in America under one roof. The
large number of Radical editors who were present
felt this compliment keenly. I turned to one of
these gentlemen near me, and inquired, How
would you anaisye this crowd ?" Well,' said he,
' I would first put the question, "As many of the
Convention as are office-holderi will hold up their
hands," and one-half would respond ; then I would
say, " As many as are not office-holders, but expect
to be, will hold up their hands," and the other half
would respond ; and so you have the two classes."
The whole business was in a nut-shell. Does the
innocent reader think that this greatest of delibe-
rative bodies' did any such thing as deliberate ?'
Not at all. There was not an exchange of senti-
ment on its floor ! The Convention did nothing
but appear in
,dress-parade before its leaders.
Its total sessions amounted to less than five
hours—two hours of which were occupied
by the simple reading of the address and the
declaration of sentiments. All motions, resolutions,
and nominations were prepared beforehand. Every
state delegation voted in its private committee-
room that no member should speak except by
unanimous consent of the delegation. Accordingly,
in open session, every motion was carried unani-
mously, and without debate. Charles V. could not
make his clocks strike together, but the managers
of the Philadelphia Convention could have taught
him how ! lam fond of machinery ; and I frankly
confess to a doubt whether the machinery of the
Philadelphia Mint, or the machinery of the Phila-
delphia Convention, was the oilier and smoother of
the two. I believe that if any delegate had risen
in the Convention, and been determined to express
his mind against the foreordained plan, he would
have been lynched. The declaration of principles,
and the address to the people, took the ground
that the Southern States are entitled to represen-
tation, without delay and without condition. This
is the only vital point at which this convention is at
issue with the Republican party. As to slavery,
emancipation, and their consequences, Ido not see
but that the Philadelphia Convention is up to the
high-water mark of any official declaration which
has ever been made, on.the same points, by any gene-
ral convention of the Republican party. For instance,
the Philadelphia Convention says, Slavery is abo-
lished, aud forever prohibited, and there is neither de-
sire or purpose on the part of the Southern States that
it should ever be re-established upon the soil within
the jurisdiction of the United States ; the enfran-
chised slaves in all the states of the Union should
receive, in common with all the inhabitants, equal
protection iu every right of person and property.'
This reaches as high a point as the two great Re-
publican measures known as the constitutional
amendment prohibiting slavery and the Civil Rights
Bill. The Republican party, as a party, has not
yet taken' a step beyond these two measures. On
the subject of human rights, therefore, abstractly
considered, the Philadelphia Convention confesses
itself side by side with the Republican party. I
sin devoutly grateful for this result. It leaves no
possible excuse to the Republican party for not im-
mediately taking the next and final step to impar-
tial suffrage. Mr. Raymond said to me on the
stairway of the Continental Hotel, This conven-
tion will compel the Radicals to a more conserva-
tive position.' But, on the contrary, I think it will
compel the Republican party to a more Radical posi-
tion. The Republican majority in Congress failed
to plant themselves on the basis of Equal Rights,
thinking they had enough of principle still left to
themselves in a higher moral position than their
antagonists would dare to occupy. But the Phila-
delphia Convention has stolen a march to the Re-
publican front: The moral of the strategy is, let
Congress beware of all half-way measures in deal-
ing with great principles."
Captain Lycester, R.N., the Admiralty agent at
Liverpool, received orders on Saturday last to
charter two steamers for the immediate conveyance
of a number of troops and horses to Canada. The
Sunflay Gazette observes that when the reinforce-
' ments how embarking reach Canada we shall have
quite a respectable army in our North American
provinces. "here are two brigades of artillery and
fifteen battalions of infantry, of which latter eleven
arc in Canada, two in Nova Scotia, and two in
New Brunswick. An additional force of artillery,
a regiment of cavalry, and three more battalions of
infantry will have been landed by the end of the
month, when the total of the regular force will not
be less than about 16,000 of all arms.
Almost daily some new instance of fraternisation
between the Russiansfand Americans is reported by the
St. Petersburg telegrams. We read that a deputation
of American peasants have waited upon Mr. Fox
to offer him their congratulations in the name of
the whole Russian peasantry. Mr. Fox presented
M. Gwosdew, the spokesman of the deputation, with
an American flag in remembrance of the occasion,
and, in acknowledging the gift, M. Gwosdew de-
clared that, in case of necessity, all Russia would
unfurl its banners by the side of those of the great
American Republic.
The Times -in a recent article on the English
Navy, praises the American system, which uses the
beat means at hand and best contrivances known,
instead of waiting for perfection. This system
WaB well described by the Chief of the Ordnance
Department in one of his last reports. Speaking
of the Parrott guns, he said that the Department
had received information tending to condemn them,
but as they knew no perfect guns, or of any guns
more perfect than these, they would continue the
manufacture till they heard of something better.
this means America has obtained her present
large stock, including thousands of 15 and even
20-inch cannon.
The following are the principal amounts appro-
priated by the last Congress for the services of the
Covernment, as appears by the acts already pub-
lished, which, it is believed, comprise nearly all the
appropriation acts :
Legislative, executive, and judicial service 525,412,550
Civil and miscellaneous service
Collecting revenue from customs 4,200,000
Consular and Diplomatic service
Indian servic©
Naval 18,904,667 service
Military service
..................... ,
Pensions
Rewards for capture of assassins . 105,000
7,600,000
Various acts of deficiency .....................

Total 5122,005,307
This does not include the amounts necessary to pay
the bounties under the recent bounty law, for which
no amount is given, and there are numerous other
appropriations made to which no sums are affixed.
The Treasury variously estimate the amount required