The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-12 00:00:00

AMERICA.

The following are extracts from the American
papers brought by the Ariel, whose arrival we
announced yesterday :

THE PRESIDENT ELECT.

The President el3ct had been waited upon by Lord Lyons
and the other foreign Ministers on the 25th. General Scott,
r. Seward, and other prominent Republican Senatore,
were closeted with him concerning the ceremonies connected
with the inauguration. At a general levee given by Mr.
Lincoln several hundred gentlemen from all sections of
the country paid their respects to him. Mr. Lincoln visited
the Senate and House of Representatives. At the
former place he was greeted heartily by one and all.
When he went upon the floor of the house he was taken
first to the Republican side, where, of course, he was greeted
warmly; then he turned to the Democratic side, and a great
majority of the members instantly rose and shook hands
with him. Some of the members treated him with great
indifference.

ME., LINCOLN'S CABINET.
The cabinet of Mr. Lincoln will take something of the
following shape
Secretary of State Mr. Seward, of New York.
Secretary of the Treasury Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania.
Secretary of War Mr. C M. Clayt, of Kentucky,

_
or Mr. M. Blair, of Ind.
Secretary of the Navy ....Mr. Wells, of Connecticut.
Secretary of the Interior.. Mr. Smith, of,lndiana.
Postmaster. General
Attorney-General Mr. Bates, of Missouri.
Another report as to the construction of Mr. Lincoln's
cabinet is as follows :
Secretary of State Mr. Seward.
Attorney •General Mr. Bates.
Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Gilmer, of N. 0.
Secretary of the Interior .. Mr. C. B. Smith, of Ind.
Postmaster-General Mr. Wells.
Secretary of the Treasury Mr. Cameron.
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE MR. LINCOLN.

A letter, dated Washington, Feb. 22, says :—" Mr Lin-
coln having safely arrived at his destination and become
partially domiciliated, efforts are being made to unravel
the monstrous plan by which his life was to be destroyed,
and, if necessary, the lives of all in his suite. The facts
are gradually becoming known. From those thus far deve •
loped, it appears that the plot was concocted in Baltimore,
and being discovered by a detective officer, was by him
communicated to two or three leading republicans, includ-
ing Mr. Seward and Mr. Thurlow Weed. Afterwards it
was made known to Mr. Judd, of the Presidential party. '
On Thursday last, the intelligence having been privately
forwarded to New York, several detectives were at once
sent from that city to confer and cooperate with those who
had the matter originally in charge. Mr. General Superin-
tendent Kennedy and Commissioner Acton were also on
hand. Together they succeeded in ferreting out the details
of the conspiracy, and enough has been made known to
give it, in the minds of thew men, a rank by the side of
the most infamous attempts ever made upon human life.
The information thus obtained by the detectives was com-
municated to the Presidential party while on their way to
Trenton and Philadelphia, and when in the latter place the
whole matter was thoroughly discussed and analysed. Mr.
Lincoln was urged by his friends to go from Philadelphia
direct to Washington ; but, in order to carry out as much
of the programme as possible, and, at the same time, to
avoid exciting the suspicion of the conspirators, he decided
on proceeding to Harrisburg. By the advice of Seward,
Judd, and other Republicans, it was arranged that at that
point a special train should betakenfor Philadelphia again,
whence he was to proceed to Washington. The public are
already aware of the manner of his departure from Harris-
burg—the Scotch cap and plaid cloak, the embarkation in
this disguise, the night journey, and the great a, tonishment
of the people at his unexpected arrival in this city on the
morning of Saturday. These charges of conspiracy have
created the greatest excitement throughout Maryland, and
especially in Baltimore, where a handful of republicans in-
tended to receive him with eclat, get him safely through
the city, and then bag all the officers. In the rivalries
growing out of the probable passage through Maryland,
three or four delegations turned up ready to do the agree-
able to the President, dreadfully perplexing Wood, the
commi=sary-general of the party ; and it was while he was
in doubt what to do with these different delegations before
him at Harrisburg that Mr. Lincoln was halt way on the
relate to Philadelphia. It is said that Wood has not yet
recovered from the shock he received at the discovery.
The exact mode in which the conspirators intended to
consummate their designs has not yet transpired, but
enough is known to be satisfactory that either an infernal
machine was to be placed under the cars or railway, like
the Orsini attempt upon Napoleon, or some obstruction
placed upon the track whereby the train wrilild be thrown
down an embankment at some convenient spot ; and that
if these failed, then, on the arrival at Baltimore, during
the rush and crush of the crowd, as at Buffalo, by knife
or pistol, the assassination was to be effected. It has also
been ascertained that two or three of the conspirators were
'in New York on Wednesday, the 20th inst., watching the
course of events white the President Elect was there. These
are but a portion of the facts ; but when the whole have
been revealed it will appear that it was one of the most
diabolical and desperate attempts to precipitate the counts y
into revolutiOn that has been attempted since the attack by
Orsini upon Louis Napoleon.
The Syracuse Journal states that just as the Presider.
tial train was leaving Cincinnati, a grenade of the most
destructive character was discovered in the car occupied.by
Mr. Lincoln, his family, and personal friends. Attention
was drawn to it from the fact that no baggage was allowed
in the cars. On examination, the grenade, concealed in
the carpet-bag was discovered to be ignited, and so ar-
ranged that within 15 minutes it would have exploded, with
a force sufficient to have demolished the car and destroyed
the lives of all the persons in it.
Some of the New York papers treat the above statement
as a canard.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND SECESSION.
The New York limes is responsible for the following
double-leaded article :
" ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH.

" We are enabled to inform our readers that a letter from
a member of the British Government to an American citizen,
long resident in Europe, has been recently received here,
which gives a more authoritative declaration of British
policy in regard to secession than anything which has been
made public.
" This letter, as we are informed by one who has read it,
states that the whole matter of secession has been brought

by Lord John Russell before the Ministry, as also the sub-
ordinate questions of defective clearances, &c. ; and the
declaration is made that not only will there be no recogni-
tion by Great Britain of the Southern Confederacy, but
that everything will be done on her part to discountenance
disunion.

"It is utterly itnposaible, the letter states, for Great
Britain to be on good terms with seceding slave-traders.
Not even the needless and untimely enactment of the now
Tariff Bill can accomplish such a result."