The Sun. — 1868-02-11 (London, England)

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.  (From the Anglo-American Times.) The new trial of Surratt was to begin on the 24th instant.  The English frigate Jason, from Vera Cruz, Jan. 5, and Havannah the 13th, has arrived at Now York with Mr. Middleton, the English Chargé d'Affaires in Mexico and his suite, who are on their way to England. Samuel F. Cary, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the only Republican who voted against the New Reconstruction Bill.  Mr. Conkling's (New York) amendment to the anti-Contraction Bill to prohibit further expense, as well as contraction, was defeated overwhelmingly in the Senate.  The friends of Philip F. Thomas, of Maryland, Senator elect, hoped for an early decision in his favour. . _  Minister John P. Hale, at Madrid, has resigned.  . _ Mr. Theaker's resignation of the office of Commissioner of Patents has baen accepted, and W. D. Bishop, President of the New York and New Haven Railroad, returns to that post.  Commissioner Rollins, of the Internal Revenue, has not yet resigned, and it is thought the Senate will defend him if he refuses to move.  Judge B. T. Thomas, nominated by Governor Bullock as Chief Justico of the Supreme Court, has been rejected by the Massachusetts Executive Council by 5 votes to 4, as follows :—Ayes, Messrs. Brayton, of Fall River, Harvey of Boston, Talbot of Billerica, and Knight of Easthampton; nays, Lieut.-Gov. Claflin, Adams of North Brookfield, Endicott of Canton, Usher of Lynn, and Welch of Cambridge.  The Maine Republicans have chosen their four delegates at large, Messrs. Samuel E. Spring, L. A. D. Fessenden, Gen. H. M. Plaisted, and Eugene Hale, and instructed them to vote for Grant, unitedly and unremittingly.  Capt. Charles S. Wheaton, an officer of the same regiment as Governor-General Ruger, and Treasurer Capt. Rockwell, is the officer selected by General Meade to succeed the Controller of Georgia.  The Constitutional Convention at Telahasse, Florida, sent an invitation to Colonel Sprague, commanding in the State, to take a seat in its deliberations.  The Rev. Dr. Barnas Sears, agent of the Peabody Educational Fund, has received a cordial and hearty reception from the people of the South, and the trustees met at Richmond on the 22d of January, when, on a resolution by General Grant, $200,000 were directed to be expended.  General M'Clelland was at Berlin a few days since and dined with Mr. Bancroft, the American Minister. He afterwards left for Dresden. He will remain in Europe until written to to come home by his political friends.  Egbert 1-1. Grandin of Mobile has been appointed United States District Attorney of the Southern District of Alabama, in place of Martin, who lately shot Judge Richard Busteed.  General Montez, the Haytian rebel, is said to have died in his prison from apoplexy, instead of having been murdered by President Salnave.  Dickens's Readings are about to commence in Washington. The proceeds of the sale of tickets at e over $12,000, and seats have been reserved for the course, for the President and his family. During the Train excitement it was proposed to detain the author as a hostage.  Col. Forney's Philadelphia paper, tb e Press, says— "No man has so caricatured, so maligned, so cruelly spoken of us. For insults to our flag, less than the cool, deliberate words of Mr. Dickens, and coming from poor, illiterate, angry men, we have taken life." And the reverend doctor, in a Lite lecture, said that one would infer from most of Dickens's representations that every Christian philanthropist is either a fool or- a hypocrite, and that it is fortunate when an author so full of poison gives it to his readers diluted in oceans of verbosity." General Carl Schurz is at Berlin, and dined with Mr. Bancroft, our Minister there. He has also had a two hours' interview with Count Bismarck, which the Count pronounced one of the most interesting he had had for years. They not only discussed German but also American politics. General Schurz was afterwards invited to dine with the Count. General Schurz is one of the finest speakers in the United States, and will go home in March to take the field for General Grant for President. Mrs. General Magruder, of Baltimore, wife of the late rebel General, is going to move to Rome. Her husband is living in New York City. Mr. Colerado Jewett has gone to the United States, anal proposes to engage in business in Baltimore.