The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-08 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

By the Java, which arrived at Queenstown at
(From the Anglo-American 2 imes.)
7 a.m. yesterday, making the remarkable passage
from New York of eight days and eight hours, we
learn that General Grant has, with the approval of
the President, abolished the Second and Third Mili-
tary Districts, and formed them into a Department
of the South under General Meade. 'This finally
withdraws military supremacy, and restores the
States returning those districts to civil rule. The
Fourth District is to consist only of Mississippi,
under General Gillem, and the Fifth_of Texas, under
General Reynolds. These two latter districts are
now narrowed to the single un-Reconstructed
States, the " Reconstructed States " coming out of
them. The Department of Louisiana is to be
commanded by General Rousseau, and that of

Washington by General Canby.
We learn that the Funding Bill, as finally passed,
appropriates $135,000,000 of the imports towards
the reduction of the Public Debt. As the imports
are paid in gold, this must mean gold, which would
give upwards of £27,000,000 a year. The Con-
ference Committee has struck from the bill the sec-

tion legalizing gold contracts. Indeed, the recep-
tion it met with in the House left little chance of
any other result. The Representatives appear to
sympathize strongly with the debtor class, though
we do not see why people who made contracts to
pay in gold should not be compelled to do so ; nor,
indeed, those who received in gold, or its equiva-
lent, should not be forced to pay in the same
metal.

Andrew Johnson, consistent to the last, has
actually vetoed the bill discontinuing the Freed-
man's Bureau. That department was to the South
more obnoxious even than military rule—a sort of
badge of Southern degradation. It was instituted
to protect the negro at an expenditure for which
the Republicans have been greatly blamed by the
Democrats, and which all parties desired to be lid
of as speedily as possible. It appears, however,
that the President, who condemned Congress for
establishing the Bureau, has vetoed the bill discon-
tinuing it, because he considers it interferes with his
Constitutional powers of removal and appointment.
We venture to say that Congress could scarcely
deal with any measure whether its tendency was
Republican. or Democratic without finding that
" cuss" in the way.
The House of Representatives has passed a Bill
to prevent the Secretary of the Treasury from sell-
ing gold, but the House might have saved itself the
trouble, as its legislation has still more effectually
prevented the Secretary by depriving him of any
gold to sell. The Alaska purchase money was de-
livered to Baron Stoeckel, on the 28th July, and
Mr. M,Culloch has a beggarly account of empty
boxes to contemplate. It will take some time be-
fore he has again to deal with a large gold balance,
and Congress will have many opportunities of dis-
cussing the laws ere that period arrives.
The further news by the Java is that the Com-
mittee of Foreign Affairs has been directed to in-
quire into the expediency of negotiating a new
Canadian treaty with Great Britain. The Georgia
delegation have been admitted to seats in the House,
and a proclamation had been issued by the Presi-
dent, announcing that the constitutional amend-
ment had been ratified by that State. This was
accompanied by one from Mr. Seward, declar-
ing it to be now part of the fundamental
law of the Republic as it had been ratified by the
requisite number of States. Mr. Hamilton, a Ra-
dical Representative for Florida, had offered a reso-
lution to impeach President Johnson, which had
been referred to the Judiciary Committee. One
would think that Impeachment was now flat, stale,
and unprofitable, and none but a " carpet-bagger"
from the South would think of reviving it.
A case of robbery and lynching occurred in In-
diana near Seymour. A gang seized on a locomotive
and to rob an Adams Express car on one of the
railways of the State, close to Brownston. After
proceeding some distance the car was attacked,
but the guards inside being armed shot one of
the robbers and the others ran away. Three of
the party were, however, captured and brought back,
and being secured the train proceeded on its way,
with the intention of lodging them in the county
gaol, but the end of the story was not yet. The
vigilance committee assembled, stopped the train,
seized the prisoners, and hung them on a tree. A
large reward has been offered for Reno, the leader
of the robber gang, who is reported to have fled
into Canada. His house was the head-quarters of
the gang which lately has become notorious, but is
now brokei up. The vigilance committee having
taken the matter into their own hands, and fearing
that their energy and sharp application of the law
might be overlooked by those against whom it wis
directed, published this announcement
:
"ATTENTION, THIEVES!—The attention of aN thieves,
robbers, assassins, and vagrants, together with their eiders,
abettors, and sympathisers, is called to the doings of the
Seymour Vigilance Committee last night. We are deter-
mined to follow this up until all of the classes above-named,
whether imported or to tho ' manor born,' are driven for ever
from our midst. Threats have been made of retaliation in
case we should resort to capital punishment. In answer, we
say, should one of our committee be harmed, or a dollar's
worth of property of any honest man be destroyed by
persons unknown, we will swing by the neck until they
be dead every thieving character we can lay our hands on,
Whtlihtt we bare the moue who