The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-15 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS AMERICAN NEWS.

On the 3d instant the route of the overland mail
between New York and California was changed so
as to go by way of Chicago instead of St. Louis,
saving about four days in its transit from New York
across the North Fork of the Platte river. To effect
this the routes selected for its carriage are by way
of Allentown and Pittsburgh to Chicago ; from
there by way of the Cedar Rapids and Clinton line
of the North-western Railroad, to Woodbine, thence
by stage to Council Bluffs, crossing the Missouri
river there to Omalia, and taking the Union Pacific
Railroad to its present terminus. The only break in
the railroad communication in this line is the short
gap between Woodbine and Council Bluffs a dis-
tance of thirty-five miles ; but the Cedar Rapids
and Council Bluffs Railroad is already completed
five miles beyond Woodbine, and by the firdt of
January will be finished to Council Bluffs.

We were confident that Mr. Gilead A. Smith
would soon make his presence felt in the business he
had opened at 15, Langham-place, London. If
broad views and energetic action, aided by capital
and an extensive connexion, could command suc-
cess for large measures, in his hands that success
was secure. We transfer to our columns an article
from the Philadelphia Inquirer, which will give an
idea of the operations in which that gentleman is
engaged. The . President of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, in America, and Mr. Gilead A.
Smith, its agent in England, are completing a
scheme which will add another great line of steamers
to the many now plying between Europe and
the United States. Philadelphia is the city to and
from which the steamers of the new line will sail ;
but we are not sure that Bristol, on this
side, would not be a better destination than
Liverpool for these vessels. If to the
powerful aid of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com-
pany was added that of the Great Western of Eng-
land, however extensive the operations aimed at,
there could be little doubt of the ability to carry
them out. Both ports, however, between which
these:vessels are to ply, must have been carefully
selected, and for sound reasons, by the projectors of
the line, and the public will be satisfied in the
knowledge that their interests in this matter have
been confided to good hands.
By news from New York we hear that a new
postal arrangement with England is reported, by
which the postage on letters is to be reduced one-
half and prepayment made compulsory, each Go-
vernment to retain the amount of postage collected.
How such an arrangement can be entered into by
the United States Government without Act of Con-
gress- is not stated --probably the plan is yet in
contemplation.

The United States Government is taking mea-
sures to suppress the coolie trade, which has lately
threatened to assume alarming proportions. Capt.
Collins, commander of the United States ship
Sacramento, has sailed for China with instruc-
tions to investigate the matter, and report to the
Secretary of State.

Petroleum is to be represented at the " Parii
Exposition of 1867." Mr. J. T. Briggs, of Titus-
ville, has been appointed by Governor Curtin a
Commissioner to Paris for this purpose. Mr. Briggs
desires to obtain specimens of crude oil of every de-
gree of density produce], from all the oil-producing
districts of the United States, each sample to be a
fair specimen, and to be properly labelled with
the locality of the well, and the conditions in
which the oil was found, depth of boring, and other
important facts. Samples of refined oil from every
refinery are also desired, together with samples of
all the different products of petroleum manufactured
in the United States. The sample of crude and re-
fined petroleum should be of about a quart each.
Due notice will be given of the place where those
samples should be sent, with such detailed instruc-
tions as may be required. In the meantime the
samples should be got ready, as there is but little
time to spare.

Petroleum is to be used as a steamboat fuel. A
company has been organised in Memphis, Tennes-
see, which is building a boat of not less than fifty-
horse power, that will save one-third of the space
devoted to fuel, while its lightness will greatly
lessen the draught of the vesssel.
A railroad, having the shape of a spiral, or rather
of a cork screw, has been built, circling around the
immense iron deposits of the South Mountain, in the
Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania. Sidings are so
constructed as to divide the face of the ore hill in
terraces, on which the cars are loaded, and then
taken down to the foot of the hill by locomotive
power. Other railroads are extending to the other
two hills, all centreing in such a manner that a
single locomotive can distribute the empty cars,
hauled to Cornwall, to any part of any one of the
hills, collect them again after they are loaded, and
deposit them after they bad weighed, in sidings,
ready to be taken to market. If these deposits are
as extensive and valuable as stated, why should not
the iron manufacturers of Pittsburgh go to the
Lebanon region for the ore that they now bring in
such large quantities, and at such great expense,
from the iron regions of Missouri.

The Philadelphia Inquirer informs us that there
are in Chicago seven counts, two marquises, one
who would have been a duke, and a baker's dozen
of German barons. The latter are not counted in
" our set" by the others, as barons in Germany are
common as " colonelcies" in Virginia, or unfounded
military titles in America. Out of the former ex-
noblemen there are several whose history would be
interesting, and whose lives have in them more ro-
mance than is generally vested in the hero of a
first-class novel. Hungary and Poland were their
homes. Austrian, Russian, and combined Euro-
pean tyranny are responsible for their present
position.

Since the completion of the Susquehanna Railroad
bridge at Havre de Grace, the steamer Maryland,
the immense ferryboat, has been rendered useless at
that point, but will in all probability be transferred
to Baltimore for service. The transfer of through
passengers from Washington and the West bound