The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-25 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

[From the Anglo-American Times.)
On the 14th the only telegram relating to public
affairs during the week was forwarded from New
York. It announced that the new State Constitu-
tion had been defeated iu Alabama. In some coun-
ties hardly a tenth of the registered voters balloted,
and in all the proportion had been up to the fourth
day very small, the whites almost unanimously re-
fusing to vote. The defeat of the Alabama Con-
stitution will be followed by the defeat of those of
the other Southern States, which will end the pre-
sent plan of Reconstruction. Whether the Senate
will now pass Bill No. 4 remains to be seen, but, it
is thought that this must be the result of the defeat
in Alabama. The other message refers to the im-
peaehment of President Johnson, it was said, on
the last news by mail from Washington to the 7th
inst., to be untrue that the Reconstruction Com-
mittee even entertained the project. It appears to
have been recommended on the ground of Mr.
Johnson's opposition to the Tenure of Office Bill,
that is to the Stanton-Rollins's affairs. It was de-
feated by six votes against three. Grant, Stanton,
and Rollins are now at open war against the Presi-
dent, Randall, Browning, and Welles.

A telegram, dated New York, 17th inst., says—
" Intelligence received here from Japan via San
Francisco, and dated the 27th ult., announces
that the Daimios have revolted and made the Mi-
kado prisoner. The Shogoon had fled to Osaca,
where he was organising a force to attack the
Daimios. The town of Hiogo and two palaces at
Jeddo had been burned. The foreign Ministers
refused to interfere. The news from Shanghai was
to the 20th of January. Rear-Admiral Henry H.
Bell, commanding the United States squadron on
the coasts of China and Japan, with his flag-lieute-
nant Reid, and a boat's crew of ten men, were
drowned at Osaca on the 11th of January, while
attempting to cross the bar. Rumours were still
current of difficulties in Japan between the Mikado
and the principal Daimios.
From all accounts Theodore might well be de-
scribed as the Abyssinian Pet. He seems to be
exactly suited to the idiosyncracy of the race. A
delightful sensation of insecurity waits on those
who wait on him, coupled with a charming antici-
pation of a novelty—a new thing in tableaux. The
Times correspondent relates the following pretty
little anecdote :
"He summoned his chief followersaround him the other
day, told them that they had better destroy him, as other-
wise he should destroy them, and then launched his spear
through the body of the nearest. The rest, says the story,
threw themselves down and kissed the ground. He does
not spare even his own picked soldiers, and if a ti he of
what is told of him be true, he is almost without a prece-
dent in history. Other tyrants have made the nobles, the
people, and the soldiery by turns their victims; but Theo-
dore makes war upon them all at once, and is hated only
less than he is feared:'

It is almost a pity to deprive the Abyssinians of
such a playful monster, for he is one that they are
not likely to be able to replace.
The American pumps are doing good service in
Abyssinia, though considered too delicate for the
rough and constant work required of them in the
expedition. A large supply of water was produzed
at Mayen, and, in addition to Norton's pumps, one
of Bastier's has been brought into use, raising 700
gallons an hour. _ _

The people of Austin, Nevada, pay high for sport
sleighing has lately been the fashion, and we pre-
sume the price is so exorbitant because in such a
climate the amusement cannot last long. The
sleigh bells jingle pleasantly 012 Maine-street, and
well they may in their owner's ears, as for every
hour they are in motion the hirers pay ten dollars
in gold, or two guineas.
The New York Republican State Convention for
the choice of delegates to the Presidential Convention
at Chicago was held on the sth inst. at Syracuse ;
General Charles H. Van Wick presiding, and
Horace Greeley, Vice-President. The delegates
elected were Daniel E. Sickles, Lyman Tremaine,
Charles Andrews, and D. D. Brown ; and the
New York delegation was ordered to vote as a
unit, and to use their best endeavours to
nominate Grant and Fenton. Grant clubs are
springing up in every direction, and the Republi-
cans are working earnestly in his favour since the
publication of the correspondence between the
General and the President which has committed
Grant to their party.

The Arkansas Convention has passed a resolution
opposing an amalgamation of races. This is very
considerate on the part of the Arkansas Conven-
tion, and no doubt will effectually settle the ques-
tion and save further discussion. Perhaps the
Arkansas Convention will next turn its attention
to establishing a connection with the moon. Its
legislation in that quarter will be quite as effective
and little less ridiculous. The Georgia Convention
denies to the Civil Courts, jurisdiction over debts
contracted previously to the termination of the re-
bellion. The Louisiana Convention has rejected
an ordinance legalizing illegitimate offspring. The
North Carolina Convention has expelled a news-
paper reporter for calling the black members
" niggers," whereupon the Raleigh Carolina terms
it " the Nigger Convention." It has rejected a reso-
lution declaring that persons unable to read or write
are ineligible for public offices. In the Mississippi
Convention a resolution was introduced to expel
such reporters as do not put " Mr." before the names
of the African delegates. This is a title often
omitted as a prefix to the most distinguished names
in the United States, and certainly their owners
never regard it as a slight ; in fact, the higher the
name the less chance there is of finding a prefix
before it. Whenever the President's name is given
he is simply styled Andrew Johnson. As the
coloured delegates have shown such sensitiveness
the papers take a delight in describing them in the
way most calculated to touch their pride. An
Atlanta paper calls them " Sambo's Convention ;"
others, " the Destruction," " the Black Crook,"
" the Gorilla Bayonet," " the Congo," " the Great
Ringed Streaked and Striped Negro Conventions ;"
and in each State the ingenuity of the editors is
exercised in discovering a new epithet. Richardson
and Simonton, of the Georgia Convention, quar-
relled, when the latter shot the former, it is feared,
fatally.
Class day at Harvard gives its honours thus :
Orator of the day, J. B. Amos, of Boston ; poet, D. Tiffany,
of Worcester; chorister, F. I. Eustis, of Cambridge; ivy
orator, J. F. Wheeler, of Watertown; at the supper—
orator, C. G. Falls, of Malden ; chorister, G. F. Becker, of
Cambridge ; odist, M. Reed, of Erie, Pennsylvania ;
shronicler, H. M. Whitman. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Rev. J. W. Potter preached at East Bridge-
port, Connecticut, on the 26th of January, and informed
the congregation that if all the factories, stores, and
other places of business were not closed on Monday at the
hour appointed for meeting he would leave on Tuesday.
The Springfield Republican pronounces this, dictatorial and
impudent, adding, it is about time somebody snubbed him
We do not see it in this light, as people have only to carry
on their usual occupations, and the rev. gentleman departs
in dudgeon. He thus left Belchertown, Massachusetts,
but nothing happened to the good people, nor need those
of East Bridgeport anticipate any calamity from the de-
parture of Mr. Potter. Had he threatened to stay, the
matter would have assumed quite another aspect, and we
strongly recommend the reverend gentleman to change his
tactics and try that plan.
The Supreme Court of the United States has
eight judges, each of whom receives a salary of $6,000,
with the exception of the Chief Justice, wko-receives $5OO
more. Their ages are ; —Chief Justice Chase (of Ohio),
60; Grier (of Pennsylvania), 72 ; Clifford (of Massachu-
setts), 63 ; Nelson (of New York), 70 ; Field (of (Califor-
nia), 45 ; Davis (of Illinois), 60; Swayne (of Ohio), 55 ;
Miller (of Iowa), 41; Messrs Nelson and Clifford are De-
mocrats; Grier, doubtful; Field, Johnsonian ; Davis, Con-
servative Republican; Chaser, Swayne, and Miller, Radi-
cal. The number of judges has been reduced to seven, so
that when one of the judges—who are appointed for life or
during good behaviour"—dies or retires, no successor
will be appointed. The details of the court are left to
Congress, which has a constitutional power to say how
many shall constitute a quorum, or what majority shall be
required for a decision.
An emplo,ye'on the Orleans Railway, France, has
invented an amalgamation of coal and other combustible
materials, easci4ly petr9lvtun, vaado for mayaicaco of

use in the form of bricks, which, it is said, is calculated to
effect an immense saving in the fuel necessary for gene-
rating steam. It burns with intense heat for a long time,
and is likely to be extensively employed very shortly on
the Orleans line, where some very satisfactory experi-
ments have been made with this material. • The com-
pound is called briguettes bordelaises.
Mr. Jefferson Davis has arrived at Jackson,
Mississippi, where ho was well received, but without de-
monstration from the white inhabitants.

Sergeant Bates is walking from Vicksburg to
Washington, carry ing the flag of the United States, which he
boasts he can do not only without molestation, but without
money. He is everywhere received by the coloured people
with acclamation and supplied with food.
Mr. Holden, late Governor of North Carolina,
and Mr. Orr, of South Carolina, as well as General Long-
street, have been restored to their civil and political rights
by the vote of the House of Representatives.

M. Outrey, Consul-General of France in Egypt,
has been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, in
room of M. Leon Roche, elevated to the rank of Minister.

From the report of the United States Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, just issued, it appears
that, on board the vessels in the navy of the United States
engaged iu suppressing the rebellion, from April, 1861, to
June, 1865, the total number of sailors treated was
141,058, of whotn 2,532 or •(1175 died, or rather les3 in
proportion during the years of war than during the years
of peace.—British Medical Journal.

The ship St. Bernard is the first vessel which has
proceeded direct from Melbourne (Australia) for Yoko-
hama, Japan. She cleared out at the Customs and sailed
on the 22d December with a cargo more than half com-
posed of colonial produce. About 100 tons were beef and
mutton, cured and preserved in various ways, and in addi-
tion were hams, jams, bottled fruits, leather, &c. The St.
Bernard was loaded and chartered by Mr. S. D. Taller-
man, to whom belongs the credit of opening up this new
field of enterprise.

The fattest and possibly the largest cattle in the
world are now to be found in West Springfield, Massa-
chusetts. Charles A. Ashley has a matched pair that
make the beam of the scales kick at 5,600, and Ebene-
zer Colton still holds on to his wondrous heifer, that
long ago • astonished the cattle kings of West-
field. The last animal has been fed uninterruptedly seven
years, and the last four has not been out of the stable but
once. She is a monster of fatness, and ought to "sit"
for her photograph. Her greatest breadth is in her
shoulders, which measnre more than five feet, and the
natural spread of her fore legs is fully three feet. Her
horns are naturally smooth, and with but a single slight
wrinkle. She bas a wonderful constitution, or she could
not take her feed so long or regularly. Her daily rations
are a peck of dry meal and four quarts of shorts, all the
rowen hay she wants, several sheafs of stalks, and five
pails of water. Her owner declares she was never more
hearty or thrifty than now, and he can vouch for her bright
eye and mobility.

The Saratoga races will commence on the sth of
August, and last for six days.
Wilkes' Spirit says :—" Goulding has had a letter
from Mr. Price, of England, in which it is stated that
Teddy Mills will run Harding three miles in England,
but will have nothing to do with a gate-money affair.
Harding tells Goulding that ho will run Mills a home-
and-home match of three miles for £5OO a side each race
100 to be allowed for travelling expenses. Mills' first
proposition was to run any distance from four to ten
miles, but he is now willing to run three. It only remains
for him to consent to run a match in this country, as well
as one in England, and Harding will meet him as soon as
his present engagement with De Kelso is over.
A monthly magazine, " The Billiard World," to
be edited by Dudley Kavanagh, is announced. The first
number will be issued on the 20th inst.

The gathering of sponge among the Bahama
Islands for conversion into bedding, cushions, &c., or for
use in general upholstery, is becoming a business of much
magnitude. Fifty vessels were engaged in the trade, and
there have been recent sales of 12,500 strands of sheep-
wool sponge at $1 per strand. This trade originates in
the success of a now American patent, and its growth
would be still more rapid if adequate machinery for manu-
facturing were in readiness.

IRISH GRIEVANCES.

- - -

The Irish campaign has commenced by two great
bombs being fired into the enemy's camp. Earl
RUSSELL discharged one, and Mr. MILL the
other. But these are English projectiles, while
we devote ourselves mainly to American opinion.
There is a remark in the New York Nation on
Fenianisin, which shows how truthfully it hits the
nail on the head, " The idea that Ireland may be,
and must be, treated exactly as England is treated,
which has for thirty years been the curse of Ireland,
and which Mr. WENDELL PHILLIPS, with his usual
want of good fortune when he draws his illustra-
tions from history and foreign politics, seems to
think is what the Irish are contending for—is being
gradually given up, and the idea of different treat-
ment and exceptional legislation is being accepted
by the English public." The curse of English rule
is that the English cannot comprehend people dif-
fering from themselves. What is good and plea-
sant to the Englishman must be good and pleasant
for the Ilindoo, the Ceylonese, the Negro, the
Chinese, the Maori, and, of course, the Celt. Roast
beef and plum pudding is the thing. The curry and
kabobs, the chuppaties and ghee, the chow-chow of
puppy and rats mixed with birds' nests, which may
furnish a banquet for the Chinese, or the cold mis-
sionary of the New Zealander, are mere make-shifts
to those who know not, nor can get anything better.
JOHN BULL, the philanthropist, comes with his
roast beef and plum pudding and tries to push the
great red, under-done joint down the heathen's
throat, with an indigestible ball on the top com-
posed of suet and raisins, and scarcely knows how
to receive the resistance he meets with. He legis-
lates with one grand object of supplying the natives
with the roast beef and plum pudding in which his
soul delights, and it is only now, after centuries of
misapplied generosity and good intentions that he
is learning the lesson that what is one man's meat,
is another man's poison. Poor JOHN BULL ! he
has undertaken to rule the world, and his success
is a marvel—showing not only good intentions,
but, in the main, an appreciation of those intentions
by the people he has governed. They do not like
him and his coarse joint ; but the mass are per-
suaded that there are worse things in the world
than roast beef and plum pudding. Let Jomr
BULL for a moment reflect on the position in which
he has so long been bsnt upon placing others. Sup-
pose the Germans were to take possession of his
country, and insist upon his swallowing sour krout,
we can well imagine the grimace of intense disgust
with which the mandate, however well intentioned,
would be received. English rule has failed in
Ireland for the same reason that Austrian rule failed
in Hungary. The Germans tried to Germanise the
kingdom connected with the Kaiser's Empire ; but
they could not make Germans of the Hungarians, nor
an homogeneous whole out of parts essentially dif-
ferent. Neither can the English, who, while they
see this in the Austrian case, cannot see it in their
own. It is easy to comment on the ancient mis-
government of Ireland, on the present discontent,
but difficult, very difficult indeed, to propose an
efficient; remedy. Of all devised that for which the
Fenians contend is the worst. Roast beef is better
than starvation even to a cow-worshipping Hincloo—
a legislation which may not tally with the spirit of the
people, is better than anarchy. The defects of Irish
character in organizing may been seen in Fenianism.
Surrounded as Irishmen are in the United States by
Americans looking on and sneering, they cannot
refrain from splitting up into irreconcilable fac-
tions. If they cannot fight the enemy, they fight
each other. An Irishman at a fair seeing a head
bulging from the canvas of a tent, desiring to re-
sist the temptation, passed it—returned--pondered
for a moment, and at last with a wild yell, brought
down the full force of his shillelah upon it. The
Nation seems to think that had the QUEEN built a
house at Killarney, lived there more or less, and
done half as much to flatter the Irish as she did to
flatter the Highlanders, she would have found
amongst them loyalty no less devoted, and Fe-
nianism would probably never have been beard of.
Doubtless something could have been done in this
way, but Irish discontent could not so easily be
removed. It is a chronic complaint, grounded half
in poverty and in a sense of wrong, and half in the
nature of the people. Were the former half re-
moved the other moiety would for generations cause
some trouble, and it matters not who rules—
whether the Fenians, the Roman Catholic party,
the Orangemen, or the British Parliament—lreland
will be factious still. " Considerable difficulty,"
the Nation adds, " is anticipated in the collection
of the Spring rents; and a general refusal to pay,
such as that which marked the Anti-Tithe Agita-
tion in 1831, would create the most formidable
difficulty with which the Government has had yet
to deal. A whole people cannot be ejected or
sold out." Thiti difficulty would certainly cziet for

such a Government as that of Great Britain,
although it would be quickly met, if a NAPOLEON, a
BISMARCK, or a NICIIOLAS ruled. If the people
could not pay, an attempt to make them do so
would be useless, for no process known to law or
f9rce, can turn bog into gold. But if they could
pay, which they can, and repudiated the contracts
into which they eagerly entered, it would be proper
to coerce them into fulfilment. Such a repudiation
would be nothing less than an outrageous robbery
of one class by another class ; nor can we suppose
that a whole section of people could combine to
carry out so dishonest a scheme.—Anglo-American
Times.