The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-24 00:00:00

erroneously telegraphed, the latter being only 2,000

On the 9th Mr. Stevens, from the Committee on
Ways and Means, reported a bill for 250,000,000
dols. national loan, and for other rurposes. Mr.
Stevens proposed a bill providing fo► the payment
of the Militia and Volunteers called into service
by proclamation of the President, from the time
they were called into service until June the 30th.
He said there was much suffering among the sol-
diers. and no means to pay them unless this bill
passed. The bill passed. It appropriates six mil-
lions. On the motion of Mr. Sheffiild, the Com-
mittee on Commerce was instructed to inquire
whether further legislation was necessary to secure
With leave to re-
tphoer
tf obryt ebi ul r
oe
roof t ph ierrawt iics ael.
o a vessels,
the motion of Mr.
Cox it was resolved that the President,if compatible
with the public interests, communicate any corre-
spondence with Spain in reference to the incorpo-
ration of the Dominican territory, and what protest,
if any, had been made against the insclent and ag-
gressive conduct of the Spanish Goverrment.
Mr. Eliot, from the Committee on Commerce, re-
ported a bill providing for a code of marine signals.
Mr. Washburn, from the Committee on Commerce,
reported a bill to further provide for tke collection
of duties. It designs closing the ports of seceded
States, and to collect duties on shipboard, and to
seize and confiscate vessels belonging to the rebels,
&c.—Ordered to be printed. Also a bill authoriz-
ing the Secretary of the Treasury to remit fines
and penalties in certain cases and regulate a com-
pensation for surveyors of Customs in certain
States. Mr. Lovejoy offered a resolution that,
in the judgment of the house, it is no part of
the duty of soldiers to capture or return fugitive
slaves. Mr. Mallory moved to table it. Mr. Strat-
ton raised a point that the resolution was not ad-
missible under the order adopted yesterday. The
Speaker overruled the point. Mr. Stratton ap-
pealed. Mr. Hutchins moved to table the appeal.
—Carried.
The resolution was passed, 92 against 55.
Alluding to the proposed alteration in the tariff,
the New York, Tribune says :
" The main distinguishing features of this bill have al-
ready been foreshadowed. They consist of the levying of
duties of 15c. per lb. on the importation of green and 10c.
on black teas, sc. per lb. on coffee and cocoa, 6c. per lb. on
chocolate (all now free), with an increase of the duty on
raw sugar from lc. to 210. per lb., with a corresponding in-
crease on refined sugar, molasses, &c. These are the distinc-
tively, unmistakably revenue sections of the bill, which we
trust will be accepted without opposition. It were plea-
santer not to pay these duties, but the Secretary must have
money, and we cannot borrow to advantage unless we pro.
vide for payment. So these purely revenue duties will have
to be laid on. Governor Chase proposes to increase the
duties on imported liquors generally, and to substitute spe-
cific for the ad valorem rates imposed on wines by the pre-
sent tariff. This change with respect to wines is substan-
tially a return to the provisions of Mr. Morrill's original bill,
which the Senate saw fit most unwisely to alter. Of course
we approve this feature of the new act. Mr. Chase proposes
toincrease the duty on salt from 4c. per 581 b. to 15c. per
100 lb., nearly doubling it."
A mutiny had broken out among the Garibaldi
Guard stationed near Washington. They were sur-
rounded by the President's mounted guard, two
eo
aAmi s
upu
rad
yni
Alluding
itf thelodi tnh ge d.
st
Air
it
c fumi
number
bloi
elt
.ri a
To,
companies of regular cavalry, two of infantry, and
lay down their arms. They
afaynt
lhdo
erw
tleosr.
tem
rf
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arescrhemidnatgno
were imprisoned in the
aTre
(New York) Regiment had also revolted
ton, a despatch to Boston says
i 4 Taylor, who came here with a flag of truce, says his
business was disposed of at the White House in a very few
minutes, as he was sent back by General Scott with one
letter less than he bore, the President not deeming the in-
tercourse he brought such asrequired him to enterinto any
communication whatever with Jefferson Davis. Taylor
immediately faced in the direction he came and marched
back to M'Dowell's head-quarters, where, though courte-
ously and kindly treated, he was kept under strict guard
until early this morning, where he was escorted back to the
lines and turned loose to find his own way back to Beaure-
gard, without having accomplished what was evidently the
main point of his mission-7 doubtless prepared to send., to communicate with the
traitors in our midst, who had
gh him important information con-
to Beaureo•ard throu
at ed movement of 111‘Dowell's
cerning the alleged contemnl,

army."
n their
egrefie skirmish up ormish by
th the
wi
From the seat of war i Virginia the accounts are
I
exceedingly meagre. t appears from the pub-
lished accounts that thew advancere d skirmishers of
comrades Gen . Patterson
in
mistake s force
Confederates, in the neighbourhood of Martinsburg,
'o
deurin the
but the casualties were trifling. On the same day a
party of 40 men of the 15th Pennsylvania Regiment
were captured by the Confederates. The Federal
commander is charged -with carelessness. A letter
in the New York Tribune, from I‘„lartinsburg, would
make it appear that " looting Was indulged in
freely by the Federal troops. It says : _
" I am sorry to say that some of our men, after the
skirmish, which excited their feelings against Secessionists,
entered the houses a littie waY off the road, and which had
been deserted by the frightened inhabitants, and looted
them pretty effectually. They appeared to be actuated
more by the spirit of mischief than desire of plunder,
for, except in a fir instances, they ransacked and de-
stroyed rather than appropriated ; what they did take was
principally fresh meat—pigs and poultry. They committed
no other outrages. lam happy to say, however, that strict
orders have been issued to punish all future offentlers with
the severest penalties---even death. The men who were
caught with plunder have been arrested, and are now under
guard, to be dealt with as they may deserve. There was much
alarm among some of the poor people on the approach of
the Northern army, the rebels having sedulously inculcated
the belief that we are all 'Vandals."
It was reported from Martinsburg on the Bth
that General Johnson, with 25,000 Confederates,
was between that point and Winchester. Another
report states that he had been reinforced by 7,000
men from Manassas, and was prepared to fight at
Bunker's-hill, with 16,000 troops. General Patterson
, had been further reinforced by Federal troops. It
appears that Gen. Patterson's despatch announcing

the rout of the Confederates near Martinsburg was

men, and not 16,000.

The Federal steamer Pow-

hontas had been actively cruising in the neighbour-
hood of Aquia Creek and Mathias Point. At the
former place, on Saturday, she approached within
1,000 yards of the Confederate steamer George
Page, which lay far up the river, and fired 13 shells
into her, taking her smokestack as the target. While
engaged in this duty the Pocahontas was fired at from
the upper rebel battery, but sustained no damage.
Western Virginia accounts report that, on the oth,
45 men belonging to the 3d Ohio Regiment, under
Captain Lawson, while on a scouting tonr, fell in
with an ambuscade of several hundred rebels at
Middle Fort Bridge, 12 miles east, and were sur-
rounded. After a desperate fight they cut their
way through, losing one killed and having some five
wounded. The enemy is alleged to have lost some
20 killed. At Glenville four companies of the 19th
Ohio Regiment were besieged by a picked regiment
of Virginians and 1,500 militia, under 0. Jennings
Wise. Colonel Tyler, of the 7th Regiment, had
marched to their relief from Weston, and the 10th
Regiment had also been pushed forward from
Buchanan. A later despatch says,—
" BUCHANAN, VIRGINIA, July 9.—A courier from Wes-
ton reports that Colonel Tyler, of the 7th Ohio, had suc-
ceeded in throwing one company of his regiment into Glen-
ville last night, with provisions for the nine companies of
the 17th and Bth Ohio regiments, and was awaiting the
arrival of the 10th Ohio to move to attack General Wise.
General M'Clellan left Middle York Bridge, where he was
encamped last night, early this morning, with the evident
design of reaching a point 20 miles east of here, where the
rebels are reported in large force and strongly intrenched."
Arrangements have been made by the Navy De-
partment to send transports weekly from Washing-
ton to the Southern blockading squadron with sup-
plies of fresh provisions, which will render the
position of the crews more comfortable and healthy
during the hot season.
From Fort Monroe we have advices to the Bth.
The Quaker City had been ordered to Old Point to
participate in a contemplated attack on Sewell's
Point. Including a frigate and gunboats, there
was in Hampton Roads a force of 200 guns and
3,500 men. It was hoped that a demonstration
would be made against some of the adjacent
batteries. Deserters had reported that there. were
2,000 Confederate troops only at Richmond, and
an equal number on James River. Discipline ap-
peared to be very lax among the Federal troops at
,he fort.

Commodore Stringham, of the Federal block-
ading squadron, had issued a notification, advising
vessels to keep off the Southern coast, as several
small Confederate crtiisers had been rather success-
ful with several small craft which had ventured too
near inshore. A letter from Fort Pickens, of June
28, refers as follows to to the British squadron :
"I wrote to you some days ago to the effect that Admiral
Milne, of the British navy, the Commander-in-Chief of her
Britannic Majesty's naval forces in North America, was
giving special attention to our blockade. The news is
confirmed. A British steam frigate has arrived here from
Havannab, and is now swinging from a pair of anchors in the
berth lately occupied by the Sabine. The officer in command
of the former vessel makes no secret of his mission. It is,
he says, to see that the rights of English commerce are pro-
tected, and that the blockade must be such as will prevent
' the entrance or departure of any craft to or from any har-
bour of the South, coaster, ocean trader, or tender.' The
Treaty of Paris has not laid down any rules by which we
may know what is 'and what is not an effective blockade.
Admiral Milne makes up for the deficiency. Here is his
definition, as furnished to one of his subordinate com-
manders :
" ' 1. No port is blockaded efficiently if any vessel can
enter or depart from it unknown to, or in spite of, the guard-
ing men-of-war.
" 2. An efficient blockade necessitates the complete
cutting off of all maritime ingress or egress, except in regard
to harbour islands having no outlet to the sea save under
the guns of the fleet.
" 3. The escape of the third vessel from the blockading
squadron signalises the invalidity of the blockade.' "
The Confederate ship-of-war Sumpter is said to
have run the blockade at Charleston and got off to

THE NAVY.

A letter, dated Valetta, July 18, says—" Since
despatching my letter on the 12th inst. the follow-
ing movements have taken place among her Majes-
ty's ships on this station :—The screw steam trans-
port Megmra, Commander Henderson, left on the
evening of the 12th for Corfu with the draughts
brought out by her from Portsmouth and Queens-
town for that station. She is daily expected here
on her return to England with invalids. The gun-
boat Weser, Commander Johnston, took her depar-
ture on the same day for the eastward. The gun-
boat Assurance, Lieut. P. E. Luard, left port on the
15th inst. with despatches for Vice-Admiral Sir
W. F. Martin at Messina, and, after communicating
with the Admiral, who had again transferred his
flag to the Liffey, Capt. G. W. Preedy, C. 8., re-
turned into harbour yesterday. The Liffey, bear-
Ing Admiral Sir W. F. Martin's flag, arrived here
the same day, leaving the Neptune, 90, Captain
Rornby, at Palermo, with orders to proceed to
Ckstellamare. The London, 90, Capt. H. Chads,
quitted Malta Harbour on the 16th inst., for Corfu,
it is reported to relieve the Orion, Captain J.
Frere. Besides the Orion, two other line-
of-battle ships are expected here shortly—the Re
nom, 91, Capt. A. Forbes, from Beyrout, and the
St. Jean d'Acre, Capt. P. Thompson, from Gibral-
tar. The 'gunboat Lapwing, Commander M.
O'Reilly, has arrived at Smyrna from the Piraras,
and the gunboat Intrepid in the Bosphorus from
Corfu. The surveying-ship Medina, Capt. T. Spratt,
R.N. ; the Scourge, 6, Commander W. G. Jones,
and the gunboat Mohawk, Commander E. H.
Howard,tvere at Ras-el-Millah, on the North Coast
of Africa, on the 11th inst., having just success-
fully completed laying down from Alexandria to
within a few miles of thelltas-el-Millah, the sec
tion of the Malta and Alexandria telegraph
cable, brought out by the screw steamer Ran-
goon. The Medina was to continue sounding
the remainder of the distance along the coast
not yet laid, while the Scourge returned to
Malta, calling in on her way at the Bengazi and
Tripoli stations. The Scourge is looked for here in
about a week. About 500 miles of cable are re-
quired to complete the line, which it is hoped will
be in working order by September next. Her
Majesty's ships in port are the Liffey, 51 (flag of
the Commander-in-Chief) ; the Hibernia, receiving
ship (flag of Rear-Admiral Codrington, C. 8.) ; the
Assurance, 4; and the tag Hearty. Her:Majesty's
sailing schooner Azof, having on board Rear-Ad-
miral Codrington, C. 8., from Corfu, and the gun-
boat Foxhound, Lieut. F. Doughty, from Beyrout,
Jaffa, and Candia, have just come in."
Yesterday the War Department transport Bomar-
sund was placed under the steam crane at the
Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, and landed 20 of the
i-inch 65-cwt. guns, and one pivot 68-pounder of
95 cwt., taken out of the Pylades, 21, screw corvette,
which is being dismantled in Chatham Harbour, to
be paid off. The Bomarsund also landed the solid
and hollow shot from the Pylades.
Yesterday Capt. Cunningham attended at the
dockyard, Chatham, for the purpose of making the
necessary arrangements for fitting his self-reefing
topsails to the new iron-plated steam frigate De-
fence, the Lords of the Admiralty having decided
on having this valuable invention applied to that
vessel.
The paddlewheel steam storeshit. Dee, Master-
Commander T. C. Pullen, from Woolwich, which
arrived at Plymouth on Sunday, is now discharg-
ing her cargo—marine engine gear for the Albion
and Defiance—in Keyham Steamyard.
The apprentices brig Nautilus, 6, Lieut, B. Grant,
left Plymouth on Monday for Dartmouth.
The Akbar, sailing transport, with troops for
Mauritius and Ceylon, sailed from Spithead yester.
day morning on the commencement of her voyage.
She brought up in St. Helen's Roads in consequence