Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1877 — NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE WAB IN THE EAST. A dispatch from Gabrova *ays “Bulgarian fugitives estimate that from 12,000 to 15,000 Christians have been massacred by the Turks in the Eski-Baghra and Tschirpan districts. Soldiers were posted along the road from EskiHaghra to Kazanlik, with orders to .shoot everybody passing. When the Russians evacuated Eski-Saghra, the Turks ordered that all Christians, men, women and children, should be shot as they left their houses. Those who remained were burned alive. The order was given to burn down and destroy evorif particle of Christian properly. The hospital, containing 800 sick and wounded Russian soldiers, was burned.”

The Roumanian army will not cross the Danube until the Russian reinforcements reach the front, and then perhaps the assistance of th* Roumanian army will not l>e needed. Qen. Krudener, who Commanded at Plevna, has been succeeded by Gen. Latoff. The Turks have achieved another important victory. A portion of Sulieman Pasha’s command attacked the Russian columns guarding the Rsalia and Harem-Bogoz passes through the Balkans, routed them with great slaughter, and regained possession of the two passes. The loss of the Russians was 500 killed and 1,000 wounded. The Turkish army in Bagdad, 35,000 Htreng, has been ordered to Constantinople. Advices from Asia Minor report that the Russians have been largely reinforced, and have commenced a general forward movement. The siege of Rustchuk has been abandoned by the Russians. The Russians officially acknowledge the loss of 14,45!) men killed and wounded up to Aug. 9. Every detail of preparation shows that the Russians have made up their minds for a long war, and are preparing great depots of firewood. The Roumanian Government is also asking tenders for the supply of great quantities of clothing and stores. The fever epidemic in the Russian army in Bulgaria is said to be increasing. A telegram from Bucharest Hays: “Gen. Gonaka declares that the Russian positions from the Danube to Hchipka pass are so strong that the Turks will not venture an attack. Both armies are constantly intrenching themselves. The Turks especially hold a wonderfully strong position at Plevna, but Osman Pasha is nevertheless in a difficult situation, because the numerous cavalry attached to the 80,000 Russians confronting hnn completely

cut off his communications with Holla, and capture his convoys of ammunition and provisions. The Russians will not undertake operations until the whole guard arrives from St. Petersburg. This signifies a pause of a fortnight or three weeks.” A sharp engagement has been fought in Asia between a Russian reconnoitering party and a portion of Mukhtar Pasha’s army, resulting, as usual, in the defeat of the Russians. A court-martial has convened in Constantinople to try Radif Pasha, ex-Minister of War ; ex-Commander-in-Chief; Brigadier Gens. Ahmet and Hafvet Pasha, the latter commanding at Tinuiva ; Gen. Escharef Pasha, of Rustchuk, and Hamdi Bey, Governor of Histova, ali charged with having made bad dispositions and with negligence when the Russians crossed the Danube.

GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS. From statements made at a public meeting in Madras, the other day, it appears that th* famine area in that part of British India has a population of 18,000,000 people. Nearly all the food consumed in that district is imported from less afflicted regions. One-twelfth of the whole population are fed by the Government, and the Sanitary Commissioner of the province is responsible for the appalling statement that no less than half a million have’perished from actual starvation or privations they have suffered. The Mark Laue Express, reviewing the crop prospects throughout Great Britain, finds the outlook quite discouraging. In England the wheat is very poor, with bad weather for gathering the crop, such as it is, and in Scotland the delay of the harvest by excessive rains increases the probability of damage. Queen Victoria., in her address to the English Parliament, proroguing that body till the 30th of October, congratulates the country on its friendly relations with other nations, and reviews the efforts that have been made to preserve neutrality in the Russian-Turkish troubles. Should any emergency arise to disturb the equanimity of the country, she will rely upon Parliament to vindicate and maintain its integrity and honor. Groat Britain has prohibited the landing in that country of leaves or stalks of potatoes from the United States, Canada or Germany. A new convention concluded between Great Britain and Egypt for the suppression of the slave trade entirely prohibits the export or import of negro slaves. Egyptian slave-traders will be tried by court-martial as assassins. Foreigners will be handed over to their own tribunals. British cruisers are authorized to capture slavers hoisting the Egyptian flag. The Khedive engages to abolish all private traffic iu slaves in Egypt within seven years, and within twelve years in Soudan and the frontier provinces. The foreign policy of Servia has precipitated a revolution in the Ministry, and several resigns tions have been sent in.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. I da Mt. There was a big and a patriotic gathering at Bennington, Vt., on the 15th and 16th inst., to elebrate the centennial anniversary of the battle fought there 100 years ago, as well as the 100th anniversary of the birth .of Vermont as a State. Gunpowder, music, processions, banquets, speeches, and a general exuberance of spirits, were the features of the occasion. The crowd, estimated at 50,000, included President Hayes and many other distinguished personages. West. ~ W- Hib by. indicted for subornation of perjury in the Grover investigation at Portland, Ore., has been held to appear in the sum of $2,500. In default he is in jail. The steamer City of Madison, from Chicago for Ludington, Mich., was burned on Lake Michigan, off Racine, Wis., a few nights ago. There were no passengers on board. The officers and crew escaped in a small boat, and rowed back to Chicago. Gen. Gibbon telegraphs from Deer Lodge, Mont., that the wounded of his command had arrived there, and were doing well. Gen. Howard was in pursuit of the Indians, who were unable to travel fast on account of their wounded, and, to use his language, “the next time they are struck they will be ruined." li of. Watson, df the Michigan University, has discovered another new planet, which he classes as a star of the tenth magnitude. The Murphy temperance movement has spread to Colorado. Three pf the most notorious and successful

forgers in the United States—Nelson A. Gesner, Ely B. Weston and E. J. Henderson, alias Stevens—have been arrested, the first two at. Chicago and the latter at Grand Haven, Mich. The trio always operated together,, and it is estimated that they have robbed the banks of the country out of millions of dollars. Gesner. was formerly a member of the Minnesota Legislature. A town called Gayville, two miles from Deadwood, Dakota, was recently destroyed by fire. Loss, $75,000. The will of the late Chauncey Rose, of Terre Haute, Ind., gives the bulk of decedent’s property and SIOO,OOO to the Rose Polytechnic Institute. He leaves an additional $150,000 to the endowment of the Vigo Homo, and $75,000 to the founding of a free medical dispensary at that place: also various sums and parcels of real estate to relatives and friends. fSontll A band of fifteen Mexican greasers recently crossed into Texas, entered Rio Grande City, broke open the Jftil, shot Judge Cox and the jailer, and released two notorious outlaws. Tire civil authorities called upon the military for assistance, and Col. Price with 100 regulars and two Gatling guns started in pursuit of the Mexicans, but failed to overtake them. They recrossed the river and' entered Mexico seventy?seven miles below Rio Grande City.

WASHINGTON NOTES. There was a cowhiding affair in Washington the other day. Joseph R. Wheatley, of Harrodsburg, Ky., wielded the rawhide, and William J. Murtagh, proprietor of the National Republican, was the victim. At a Cabinet meeting, held just before the President’s departure for Vermont, it was resolved to insist upon the most ample reparation and satisfaction for the Mexican outrage at Rio Grande City, Texas. The extradition of the scoundrels concerned in it will be exacted, and no recognition will be given Diaz unless these demands arc promptly complied with. The President is said to be contemplating a change in the Indian policy. The details have not been fully considered, but it is probable that sopie of the features of the Canadian system will be adopted. The Canadian plan is almost exactly opposite to our own, the Indians being treated as subjects to the Dominion Government, and not as members of an independent nationality. They are made amenable to the law for all offenses, and are protected in all their rights under the law. There is a system of Indian magistracy and a mounted police.

A Washington correspondent telegraphs that “it is expected that the vacancy upon the Supremo Court bench will be filled in October. There are nine the South. Some of the officials about the Supreme Court who have observed the matter closely say that, if the candidate is nominated outside of the judicial district in which Judge Davis lived, the Senate would not be likely to confirm him.” The great telescope in the hands of Prof. Hall, at the Washington Observatory, has just signalized itself by one of the most surprising discoveries in modern astronomy—nothing less, in fact, than one, and probably two, satellites to the planet Mars. The distance of the first satellite, which is described as a faint object of the thirteenth or fourteenth magnitude, is between 14,000 or 15,000 miles, which is less than that of any known planet. The inner one, as to the existence of which the astronomers are not yet absolutely certain, is still closer. The diameter is very small, probably not more than 5,900 miles.

POLITICAL POINTS. ' The Maine Democrats met in State Convention, at Portland, on the 14th inst., and were called to order by Hhn. E. F. Pillsbury. William L. Putnam, of Portland, was made Chairman. On the third ballot\Josoph H. Williams, of Augusta, was nominated for Governor. Resolutions were reported and adopted reaffirming the platform and principles of the St. Louis Convention, characterizing as monstrous the political fraud reversing the election of Samuel J. Tilden as President, and asking an amendment to the Constitution which will make a repetition impossible, and finally declaring “ that the restoration to the common rights of citizenship of the people of three Soul horn States long kept subject to military occupation is a just acknowledgment of the wisdom of Democratic principles ; that the’Democratic party acts upon principle, makes no factious opposition, and opposes only what is wrong in the administration in possession of the Government.” At a State Convention of the Greenback party of New Jersey, held, at Trenton, Aug. 14, Thomas D. Hoxey was nominated for Governor. The resolutions denounce the demonetization of silver demand the repeal of the law, call for the immediate repeal of the Resumption act, attributing to it the contraction of the currency and the general distress of the country, and warn workingmen that it is part of a conspiracy of the money power to pauperize and then disfranchise labor. All parties who desire relief from the present burdens are invited to join. The West Virginians did settle that capital question after all, but there was evidently a mistake somewhere. They meant to vote to keep the question open, but miscalculated to the extent of a few votes, and Charleston was chosen the seat of government. This disposes of an interesting element in West Virginia politics.

Calls have been issued for national and State political conventions and conferences as follows : Wednesday, Aug. 29, lowa Democratic, in Marshalltown; Wednesday, Sept. 5, Pennsylvania Republican, in Harrisburg; Tuesday, Sept 11, Wisconsin Republican, in Madison; Wednesday, Sept. 12, Massachusetts Prohibitionist, in Worcester, and Pennsylvania Prohibitionist, in Harrisburg ; Thursday, Sept. 13, Massachusetts Democratic, in Worcester; Wednesday, Sept. 19, Massachusetts Republican, in Worcester; Thursday, Sept. 20, Maryland Republican, in Baltimore; Wednesday, Sept. 26, National Convention of Representative Colored Men, in Washington, apd National Conference of Prohibitionists at Perry Street M. E. Church, Now York city. The State Committee of the Independent pafty,».of New York, has issued a call for a State Convention. It asks for the immediate consideration of the platform and resolutions adopted by the National Convention at Indianapolis, May 11, 1876, denounces the Resumption act and asks for its repeal, and denounces the issue of 4X Per cent, bonds as a barefaced robbery of the people out of $18,000,000. Laws to sustain labor are called for, and to control railroad and other moneyed mono polies. Judge West, Republican candidate for Governor, opened the Ohio campaign in a speech at Bellefontaine last week. He discussed the relations between capital and labor, held that their interests were identical if properly and intelligently considered, advocated a system of graded compensation and semi-co-operation and the establishment of a National Bureau of Industry. On the question of finance, he was in favor of the remonetization of silver, and opposed to the further issue of legal-tender notes. He was in favor of a “ con-

tinuous and steady progress to specie payment,” but a return to coin payments through contraction be declared to be simply suicidal. While refraining from indorsing the President’s Southern policy, he believed in giving it a fair and honest trial. 1 i\ 5