Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1878 — Page 1

ghq fimotratif i. DXKOOBATIC NEWSPAPEB PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, ur TAMES W. McOTEN. terms of subscription. Cno copy one year SI.BO •ne oopy «lx month* 1.08 One copy three montha... M tr AdTertUln# rate* on application.

NEWS SUMMARY

THE WAR IN THE EABT. Servian troop* have captured Pzrot, with a uantity of guns and ammunition. It is impossible to procure full information . 'agarding the condition of the Russian and dcumanian soldiers and Turkish prisoners who were on their way to Bucharest during the snow-storm, but, from disconnected details that have come to hand, it is evident that there has been terrible suffering. The following is the text of England’s note Russia: “Her Majesty’s Government begs to inform the Emperor that the Porte is ready to open peace negotiations. The Emperor’s wisdom and repeatedly-expressed love of peace justify the hope that he will lend a favorable ear to the Sultan’s request.” It is said that Russia has already replied to England’s note that if the Turks desire an armistice they must apply direct to the Russian Comm&nder-in-Chief. Details are slowly coming in concerning the sufferings of Turkish prisoners from Plevna on their way to lloumania. The prisoners were unaccompanied by any vehicle for the purpose of picking up those who fell by the wayside. These wore left by the guards to freeze, as they had no means of carrying thorn, and a halt would only have been to increase the number of vicliriis. The Russians have achieved a rare feat of perseverance and endurance in crossing the Etropol Balkans, and, tlmigh the force cannot be very numerous, and the whole movement seems to savor rather of a bold, adventurous raid like Gen. Gourko’s over the Hankoi pass than of a regular military operation, it cannot but hasten the withdrawal of the Turkish j troops from tlio Balkan line, at any rate from i the western portion. Dispatches from Bucharest say the army j which was to cross Bchipka pass and co-operate ' with Qeu. Gourko in hit? movement against Adrianople gives no sign of activity, and, while j the present weather continues, such operations would be impossible. The deep snow offers an almost insurmountable obstacle to wagons, and t'ae Russians have no sledges. xv -e bloody path over the Balkans rocks called to., Hchipka pass, from which, a few months ago, re«ennded the groans of the dying until the whole -world cried out against the useless slaughter, has ai been left free to the Russians who have so stiTUiornly occupied it. The evacuation of that portion licid by tho Turks was compelled by the state of | Mio weather, which, at that high altitude, is I understood to be far too rigorous for tne exist- j euco of the hot-blooded Turk. ‘ A telegram from Gen. Gourko announces { that a dosperato engagement occurred on Jan. ; 2 near Bogrov. Tho Turks attempted to sur- I round live battalions of Russian infantry and a brigade of cavalry, but were defeated, leaving J a thousand dead on the field. The Russians ! lost 200.

GENERAL FOREIGN NEWS. The newspapers of the City of Mexico are exceedingly bolligerent in tone, and aro urging an alliance of tho Coutral American states against what they are pleased to term Northern aggression. > In London, on the 29th ult., there were two meetings of workingmen. They were called to consider the Eastern question, and one of them was composed of friends of Turkey, while the other was made up of champions of peace. They reasoned with each other for an hour, and, after a free interchange of opinions, bludgeons and paving-stones, were adjourned by the police before deciding tho questions at issue. There were many broken heads and a number of arrests. Official intelligence has been received announcing the succors of tho Chinese troops in Kashgar. They had fortified Touchtongarear and Aska, two strong strategical points. The inhabitants were fleeing in terror into Russian territory. Stanley, the African explorer, lias arrived at Cairo, Egypt, where he was magnificently entertained by tho Khedive. The Advertiser hears, on reliable authority, that official information has been received in St. Petersburg that the Chinese have massacred 15,000 men, women, and children in tho Kashgarian town of Manas, committing most frightful atrocities. A terrific explosion of gunpowder recently occurred at Montevideo, 8, A., resulting in the killing and mortal wounding of some sixty or seventy officers and soldiers. The uneasiness in France at tho prospect that England would seize upon Egypt was so great as to lead to a diplomatic correspondence on tho subject. A note of inquiry was recently addressed by the French Government, and in response the British Minister of Foreign Affairs gave tho most positive assnrance that England had no intention of helping herself to the land of the Pharaohs. Gen. Corona, Mexican Minister at Madrid, has signed a treaty by which the naturalization oi Spanish subjects as Mexican citizens since 1875 is declared void. Ex-Prosidont Grant arrived at Alexandria, Egypt, on the sth of January, aud was received by tho authorities with princely honors. Tho Pope’s health is improving. A London dispatch says there is talk in some quarters of a dissolution of Parliament in consequence of tho hopeless divisions in the Cauinet. Tho anti war agitation throughout the country is on the incroase, but seems confined pretty closely within party lines. The King of Italy is seriously ill. City of Mexico items : President Diaz pretends to entertain anti-European sentiments, and is apparently courting a close alliance with the United States. Outside the capital the unsettled condition of the border is hardly discussed. The press is disposed to be cautious on the subject. Congress, before adjourning, authorized the construction of railroads from the City of Mexico to Morelia; from Cetaya to Palmilias, and from Ometusco to Packuca. A convoy carrying *30,000 in silver was robbed in the District of Mexico. The robbers escaped.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. East. The notorious Northampton (Mass.) hank j robbers, Scott and Duni %p , have each beeQ sentenced to twenty years’ confinement in the ! State prison. George M. Brooks, banker, Lowville N. Y. has failed, liabilities $60,000. George B. Bigelow, a prominent Boston lawyer, has been arrested for embezzling *4O 000 held by him in trust. John Haddock, of Ferndale, Pa„ shot and killed Miss Lizzie Davis, and then ended his own life by the same means. Love and ealousy. The office of J. H. Young, in Nassau street, ew York, was robbed, the other day, of *IOO,OOO worth of bonds. T*4e Pittsburgh (Pa.) Ravings Bank has faded, wing depositors about *IOO,OOO. Indictments have been returned by the Grand mTt°t f ord, fi’ agttinßt Messrs. Furber, Wilkely, White Mid mew and ihr#* W* late Charter Oah Ut« Xnnuanee

JAS W. McEWEN, Editor.

VOLUME I.

Company, for conspiracy to defraud policyholders. | Thomas Lord, one of the wealthiest retired | merchants of New York, aged 84, married, a , few days ago, the celebrated Mrs. Wilhelmina Wilkins Hicks, aged 43. His children have joined in a petition stating that their father is deprived of his understanding through old age, infirmity and decay of his natural powers, and is unfit for the government of himself and ! management of his estate, wherefore they | pray for a commission in lunacy. The affair | has produced a big sensation in the metrop- ! olis. The cost to Pennsylvania of suppressing the riots of last summer foots up about *500,000. Two men were killed and a third probably fatally wounded at Glendale, L. L, by the explosion of a dynamite cartridge while preparing a blast. The schooner Martha Innes went ashore on Cape Cop, and the crew of six men were lost. A number of other vessels were wrecked by the recent gales on the Eastern coast, and some loss of life is reported. West. Thomas Nixon, supposed to be one of the Union Pacific express robbers, has been arrested in Texas and taken to Omaha. The number of hogs slaughtered and packed during the past two months in Chicago has been 1,022,537, against 1,050,945 for the same period last year. The loss of property on Western rivers during the past year is set down at *5,330,000. This includes the ice and coal-boat disasters on the Ohio river, amounting to *4,000,000. The number of lives lost during the same time was seventy, more than two-thirds by explosions 1 and burning of steamers. I A poor orphan boy in St. Louis named August KablemanD, has been left a fortune of *300,000 by the death of an uncle in San Francisco. Jacob Bunn, banker, Springfield, HI., has joined the innumerable caravan of bankrupts. Liabilities, *750,000; assets, *250,000. The State Savings Bank, Indianapolis, Ind., and Hickox & Spear, bankers, San Francisco, Cal., have also collapsed. The Union Pacific Railroad Company has ordered a red notion of the wages of its employes. A terrible explosion of nitro-glycerine occurred at Negaunee, Mich., on the 2d inst., by which seven men were instantly killed and several others more or less injured. The shock was felt for many milts around, shaking the buildings in Ishpeming, throe miles distant, breaking tlio glass in nearly all the stores and dwellings in Negaunoo. The explosion occurred while some men were loading nitroglycerine into a freight car on the Chicago and Northwestern railway track, just west of Negaunee, within twenty rods of the North Jackson mine. Some 4,800 pounds had been or was being loaded, when the explosion occurred, with Buch tremendous force as to completely demolish the locomotive attached to the car and blowing tho car- itself into fragments. The engineer, William Myers, the fireman, and two brakemen, namod respectively Charles Miller, Jeremiah Foley, and William Spellman, were instantlykilled, and their bodies horribly mangled. Ira Hinkley, H. A. Wheeler, and his sod, 20 years old, who were handling the packages, were blown to atoms, fragments of their bodies being found three-fourths of a mile away. Considerable property was destroyed by the explosion. Chicago papers announce the failure of Samuel Bliss & Co., wholesale grocers, and J. D. Easter & Co., dealers in Marsh harvesters. The Bliss liabilities are given at *130,000; assets not stated. Easter A Co. owe *1,400,000; assets (on paper) about *1,500,000. The failure is announced of Clement, Mortou & Co., one of the heaviest wholesale clothing firms in Chicago. Abraham Lipnian, the leading pawnbroker of Chicago, has failed, owing creditors about *IOO,OOO. When our “uncles” begin to go into bankruptcy the times must indeed be sadly out of joint. It is reported that a desperate and bloody fight took place recently in tho Pan-handle of Texas, south of the Red river, on the buffalo hunting grounds, between a hunting party of Indians composed of Arapahoes and Pawnees, and another hunting party of Pawnees, during which some thirty Cheyennes and twelve Pawnees were killed. The gold and silver product of Colorado for 1877 reaches the neat sum of *7,879,432. South. The Tennessee Legislature has adjourned without agreeing upon any settlement of the State debt, tho object for which the session was called. A Nashville (Tenn.) dispatch says a frightened team backed a wagon containing Mrs. Morris Goodloe and four children off the bridge over the Obion river, resulting in the drowning of the four children. The banks composing the Clearing-House Association of New Orleans have passed resolutions protesting against the remonetizing of silver. The business meu of Nashville and the other Southern cities are agitating the ques tion of establishing direct trade with the West Indies. A delegation has gone to Havana with that object in view.

POLITICAL POINTS. The Washington Post, the new Democratic organ at the capital, announces in a doubleleaded editorial that hereafter the Democratic Senators will vote to confirm the President’s appointments. A Washington Post representative inter- ! viewed the President the other day, and rej P° rt|a him as follows : “He says he has exi haunted his powers under the constitution to ! pacify the South to avert the war of races j which seemed impending at one time, and to j withdraw all obstacles to the normal- ope ration of the principles of local self-government. He has put an end to Federal interference, and has called the attention of Congress and the country in his message to the results of this action. Having done thiß, his power to act is exhausted. He deprecates the efforts which are being ! made in various quarters to prolong popular agitation and perpetuate sectional feeling, not because of its reflection upon him or his motives, but because it tends to exasperate I the people of both sections, and thus to j prevent that clear . understanding be- ! tween the North and South which is essential to the restoration of perfect unity of patriotic sentiment. He expresses the belief, however, that the utterances of those who, in | their capacity of managing politicians, are ; seeking to stir up strife will not find among the | masses of the Northern people any consider--1 able response; that when the Congressional campaign comes on it will be found that the people are no longer excitable over those topics, and that the managing politicians, find*ing uo material to work upon will soon aban- ! don tlieir anti-Southern programme. As for other matters of public policy, Mr. Hayes reI marks that he has seen no cause to reconsider | ot the past, generally speaking, and no reason to modify any purposes which he may have formed or announced at any previous period of his ad^lulstratioc." A Washington cermpoiultm a Set tovfc

The Democratic sentinel

journal telegraphs that the President's special message to Congress on civil-service reform promises to set forth practically the same plan as was proposed by the old Civil-Service Commisaion. Competitive examination will he urged, with no removals from office of those who have passed it, except for cause. Dorman B. Eaton, of the Civil-Service Commission, has communicated to the President the result of a thorough personal investigation of the English civil-servioe system. The feature thereof which retains efficient and faithful officers wil be proposed as a basis of all true reform in the executive branch of our Government. Thro3 letters written by Charles Sumner to Gerrit Smith, in August and September, 1871, have just been made public; They relaie to the renomiuation of President Grant. It seems that Mr. Smith was in favor of it. Mr. Sumner was very earnest and elaborate in his opposi tion. WASHINGTON NOTES. It is expected in Washington that the present session of Congress will be a lengthy one. The Appropriation Committee will soon be ready to report on the Pension, Consular, Naval, and Po-rtoffice bills, but the condition of general business indicates that slow progress will be made. A commission composed of two army officers designated by the President and a third member to be selected by Gov. Hubbard, of Texas, is to investigate the affair at San Elizario, with power to summon witnesses and take testimony as to the part borne in that bloody business by citizens of Mexico. During the six weeks comprising the called session of the present Congress bills were introduced authorizing the expenditure of nearly *5,000,000 for the erection of public buildings. These bills provide for the erection of public buildings and the expenditure on their construction of the amounts named below : Galveston, Tex. $ 500,000 Houston, Tex 300,000 Tyler, Tex 300,000 Shreveport, La 50,000 Savannah, Ga 300,000 Kansas City, Mo 250 000 Jefferson City, M0....'. 100,000 Montgomery, Ala 350,000 Danville, Va 50,000 Lynchburg, Va 200,000 Pittsburgh, Pa. 900,000 Erie, Pa 150,000 Davenport, lowa , 150,000 Quincy, 11l 150,000 Topeka, Kan 300,000 Leavenworth, Kan 250,000 San Francisco, Cal 250,000 Sacramento, Cal 100,000 Total $4,650,000 The silver-wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes was celebrated at the White House on the 31st ult. The affair was very quiet, only about 100 guests being present. The Treasury Department’s statement, published below, shows a diminution of the public debt for December of $71,623 : 81x per cent, bonds $ 748,667,200 Five per cent, bonds 703,266,650 Four and a half per cent, bonds 200,000,000 Four per cent, bonbs 74,900,000 Total coin bonds $1,726,833,850 Lawful money debt: Navy pension fund at 3 per cent $ 14,000,000 Matured debt: Principal $ 21,512,240 Legal tenders 350.007,308 Oertmeateß or ut-pooit 02,000,000 Fractional currency 17,764,108 Coin certificates 33,424,900 Total without interest $ 434,026,317 Total debt $2,196,372,407 Total interest 37,436,285 Cash in treasury—coin... $ 139,518,405 Cash in treasury—currency 6,498,844 Currency held for redemption of fractional currency 10,000,000 Special deposits held for redemption of certificates of deposit 32,830,000 Total in treasury..... $ 187,847,250 Debt loss cash in treasury .$2,045,955,442 Decrease of debt during December 71,623 Decrease since June 30 14,202,780 Bonds issued to Papiflc Railroad Companies, interest payable in lawful money; principal outstanding 64,623,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid 1,938,705 Interest paid by United States 35,957,629 Interest repaid by transportation of mails, etc 9,006,189 Balance of interest paid by the United States 26,951,439 Tho Comptroller of the Currency lias called for a report showing the condition of the national banks at the close of business on Friday, Dec. 28, 1877. The internal revenue receipts for December fell off *448,000. The cause is thought to be the agitation in Congress to reduce the taxes on whisky and tobacco. Tho coin in the national treasury, as shown by the monthly statement of tho Treasurer, amounts to *139,618,405. Nearly one-fourth of this belongs to private persons who hold certificates of deposit and may present them at any moment. The amount owned by the Government appears to be *106,093,605, while the legal-tender paper outstanding, for the redemption of which this coin has been accumulated, is nominally *350,007,308. A considerable portion of this total has doubtless been lost, worn out, or destroyed, and will never be presented for redemption. It is stated from Washington that the purpose of the Ways and Means Committee in its scheme for the reorganization of the tariff is to make a harmonious new Tariff bill. The committee have taken the official estimates of the necessities of the Government for revenue, and propose to reduce the tax and tariff so that, while the necessary revenue will be produced, the burden will be removed from the people and from home industries. The Postmaster General haß prepared a tabular statement showing the number of stamps issued each fiscal year from 1859 to 1877, both years included. From this statement the rapid and constant, increase in the business of the postoffice is plainly apparent, the issue of ordinaiy letter stamps growing from about 200,000,000 in 1869 to nearly 700,000,000 in 1877. The Postoffice Department, under directions fiom Congress, is engaged in ascertaining the compensation paid to postoffice clerks in the different cities with the view to legislation looking to the equalization of the salaries. It is stated from Washington that a plan is in contemplation at the Treasury Department to send to the Senate a bill intended as a compromise for the Bland bill. The proposition will be to so amend the Bland bill as to make the silver dollar equal to a greenback, and a legal-tender to the same extent as the United States notes are. Another proposition of the opponents of the Bland bill is to coin a dollar of the same value intrinsicaUy as the gold dollar on the basis of the present price of silver. The President has appointed the following Assistant Commissioners to the Paris Exposition : D. R. Morrill, of Pennsylvania, President of the Cambria Iron Works; Prof. Watson, of Michigan, the astronomer; Alfred Grey, of Kansas, of the State Agricultural Society ; Andrew B. White, of New York, President of the Cornell University; Prof. Jenkins, of Louisville, chemist; Col. Jillard, of Louisville, aud Prof. Safford, of Tennessee,

MISCELLANEOUS GLEANINGS. Pfcf. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute, reports that Prof. Foerster, of Berlin, announces the discovery by Palasia of a planet of the eleventh magnitude, seven hours and eight minuteß right ascension, 39 degreels 37 minutes north deoliuattoti, tuo pr**to.ot of to* prwieut mu,i* to toe

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 187 S.

“A Firm Adherence to Correct Principles.”

region between the Missouri river and the Pacific, for 1877, is estimated by Wells, Fargo & Co. at *98,500,000. The yield of California wa* *15.250,000 in gold, *1,250(000 in silver, *1,750,000 of “base bullion,” the latter containing about 28 percent, of gold. Nevada’s product was something more than #51,000,000, nearly nino-tenths of the whole being reported as silver bullion, but containing 45 per cent, of gold. Burned : The Union Mills, Lafayette, Ind. loss, *100,000; H. Walsh & Sons’ dry-goods house, Church street, New York, loss *57,000; several buildings at Westerly, B. L, loss *40,000. A dispatch from Halifax, N. S., says the ship Nebro, from Cascumpec,., Prince Edward’s island, has been lost, with nine men on board. Three of the bodies washed ashore at New Frage. The General Superintendent of the United States Life-Saving Service has submitted his annual report of the operations of that service for the last fiscal year. The report showb that there have been during the year 134 disasters to vessels within the limits of the operations of the service. On board these vessels there were just 1,500 person?. Estimated value of the vessels. *1,986,744; and of the cargoes, *1,306,588. Number lives saved, 1,461; lost, 39. Amount of property saved, *1,713,647; amount lost, *1,579,685. The Government Commission to bo appointed to investigate tho recent disturbances in Texas is intended to be a secret affair—so much so that not even the names of the Commissioners will be disclosed. Advices from Lima, South America, give particulars of the loss of the steamer Atacama, on the Chilian coast, some weeks ago. In all, it is estimated that 101 persons were drowned. Twenty-nine were saved. The ship was on a trip from Valparaiso to Callao. She struck at 8 p. m., when the majority of the passengers were below, and so instantaneous wa3 the freaking up of the ship that no time was given to gain the deck. The passengers were mostly Chilians, journeying between the ports. Eev. David SwiDg, of Chicago, has joined hands with Canon Farrar aud Henry Ward Beecher, and proclaims his unbelief in an eternal hell.

A Modern Munchausen.

One of the Boston restaurants boasts of an Irißli Munchausen, who acts in the humble capacity of waiter, and adds much to the entertainment of guests. One of them, being served with a small lobster, asked: “ Do you call that a lobster, Mike ?” “Faix, I believe they do be callin’ thim lobsters here, surr. We call ’em crabs at home;” “Oh,” said the diner, “you have lobsters iu Ireland ?” “Is it lobsters? Begorra the creeks is full of ’em. Many a time have I seen ’em whin I’ve lepped over the sthrames. ” “How large do the lobsters grow in Ireland ?” “ Well,” said Mike, thoughtfully, “to shpake widin’ bounds, surr, I’d say a matter of five or six feet.” “ What 1 firo or oLx feet; how do they get arouhd in those creeks ?” “Bedad, surr, the creeks in Ireland are fifty or sixty feet wide,” said the unabashed Mike. “But,” said the persistent inquirer, ‘ ‘ you said you had seen them when you were leaping over the streams, and lobsters here live in the sea.” “’Deed I did, surr; we’re powerful leapers in Ireland. As for the say, surr, I’ve seen it red wid ’em. ” “But look here, my fine fellow,” said the guest, thinking he had cornered the Hibernian at last, “lobsters are not red until they are boiled.” “Don’t I know that?” said Mike, reproachfully; “bnt there are bilin’springs in the ould countliry, an’ they shwim troo ’em an’ come out ready for ye to crack open and ate;” and Mike walked calmly off to wait upon the next guest, leaving his interlocutor to digest the lobster and the story. Indian Representation in Congress. It is gratifying to know that the Indian Territory is far enough along in civilization to deserve a delegate in Congress. A concession of this character will do something to correct the general impression in this country and in Europe that we have done nothing for the Indians but to hunt ‘them, and will aid, perhaps, in bringing more wild tribes into the Territory. The consideration which leads to the step, however, is the fact that the Territory is now put to an annual expense of $60,000 to send tribal deputations to Washington. The Territory has 60,000 inhabitants, in five tribes, including 10,000 whites, who have intermarried, and is increasing quite rapidly in wealth, raising large crops and great herds of cattle. The full status of a Territory does not seem to be too onerous a Government to impose upon them. We trust the Secretary of the Interior will urge the qualification of suffrage by the educational test, as the majority of the inhabitants already speak and read the English language. We hope it will be a good while before the Indian or any other Territory is made a State. We have made too many States out of a few ranches and a small purchasable voting population. Springfield Republican.

A Long Tramp.

The longest overland tramp recently recorded is that of Emil Zack, who arrived at Castle Garden on yesterday, having walked all the way from Brownwood, Tex. He became disgusted with agricultural pursuits, abandoned his claim, and, with a few dollars, started on his long journey. ‘* I slept wherever I could,” he says. “Sometimes people would give me a bed, and sometimes they would not. I walked all the way from Brownwood to Austin, from Austin to New Orleans, and from New Orleans to New York. People were kindest to me where they were met with far apart, in the sparsely-settled parts of the country. In Texas and Louisiana I found a bed every night, and as much as I wanted to eat. The further north I came the worse I was treated. Sometimes I had nothing to eat for a whole day, and had to sleep in the open air. I started from my place in Texas in May. I left the farm in the hands of. an agent of the German Emigration Society, to be sold.” He said he sometimes worked for a few days in order to get a little money, and, having obtained it, he would again start on his journey. His walk was over 2,000 miles long.— New York Herald.

The library at Paris is one of the finest m the world. It has 86,774 volumes on Catholic theology, 44,692 volumes on the science of language, 289,402 volumes law, 68,488 volumes on medicine, 441,83 b volumes on French history and 156,672 volumes of poetry. TheVorks on natural science are not yet catalogued During 1876, 45,300 French works were #idsd, wad 4585 foreign works to the library

HOW PLEVNA FELL.

Graphic Fen Picture of the Attempted Sortie. [From the London Daily News.] Osman Pasha had during the night abandoned all his positions from Grivica to the Green hill, and concentrated the greater part of his army across the Yid, over which he passed on two bridges, one the old and the other the new one lately constructed. He took part of his artillery, some three batteries, and a train of about five hundred or six hundred carriages drawn by bullocks. He succeeded in getting his army, the artillery, and part of the train over by daybreak. The Russians say that to have started with so large a train is a proof that he was deceived with regard to the number of the Russian forces, and that he believed the Russian line, owing to the absence of Gen. Gourko, was very weak on the Sophia road, and thought another road along tho Vid was virtually open. It does not seem possible that he could have been so badly informed, and I am inclined to think the train was taken to serve a special purpose in the fight. Indeed, the first thing the Russians perceived when daylight broke was a line of wagons drawn by bullocks advancing upon them in close order across the plain. The smooth open level offerred every facility for such a maneuver. The Turks were behind these wagons, which, piled full of baggage and effects of various kinds, afforded very fair protection from bullets.

The attack was directed against the positions held by the grenadiers, north of the Sophia road, whose lines extended from the road to a point opposite Opanes, where they were joined by the Roumanian curving line through Susurla. It is said the attack was made with 20,000 rren, but I doubt this, as there was really not room for so many to deploy unless they had descended from the heights of Opanes and taken the Roumanian positions, and I have not heard that they did this. Nor did they even attack the Russian positions south of the road, as they would probably have done had they attacked in suen force. At any rate, the attack was a most brilliant and daring one. The Turks advanced as far as they could under cover of their wagons, while the Russians poured in a terrible fire on them from their Berdan breechloaders, scarcely less destructive than the Peabody, and opened on the advancing line with shell and shrapnel. The Turks then did a splendid deed of bravery, only equaled by Skobeleff’s capture of the two famous redoubts. Probably finding their cover beginning to fail them, owing to the cattle being killed or getting frightened aud running away, they dashed forward with a shout upon the line of trenches held by the Sibrersky or Siberian regiment, swept over them like a tornado, poured into the battery, bayoneted the artillerymen, officers and men, who with desperate heroism stood to their pieces to nearly a man, and seized the whole battery. The Sibrersky regiment had been overthrown and .nearly annihilated. The Turks had broken the firot oirole that held them in. Had they gone on they would have found two more; but they did not have time to go on. The Russians rallied almost immediately. Gen. Strukoffjjof the Emperor’s staff, brought up the first Brigade of Grenadiers, who led by their General—l forgot his name, but the Russians will remember it—flung themselves upon the Turks with fury. • A hand-to-hand fight ensued, man toman, bayonet to bayonet, which is said to have lasted several minutes, for the Turks clung to the captured guns with dogged obstinacy. They seem to have forgotten, iu the fury of battle, that they had come out to escape from Plevna, and not to take and hold a battery, and they held on to the guns with almost the same desperation with which the Russian dead around them had shown a few minutes before. Nearly all the Turks in the battle were killed. Those ia the flanking trenches open to the Russian had, of course, very little shelter, and were soon overpowered, and began a retreat, which, under the murderous fire sent after them, instantly became a flight. Some took shelter behind the broken wagons and returned the fire for a time; but the majority made for the banks of the Vid, where they found ample shelter from the Russian shells and bullets. They formed here behind the banks, and instantly began to return the Russian fire. It was now about half-past 8, and the Turkish sortie was virtually repulsed, but the battle raged for four hours longer. The losses inflicted from this time forward were not great on either side, for both armies were under cover. The Turks were evidently apprehensive that the Russians would charge and drive them back in a mass into the gorge. The Russians were resolved to prevent another sortie; and so both sides kept it up. Indeed, there seemed at first every probability that the Turks would try it again, though it was evident to any one who knew the strength of the Russian lines, and had seen this affair, that escape was hopeless from the first, even though Osman Pasha had had twice the number of men. For four hours the storm of lead swept on as 100 guns sent forth flame and smoke and iron. During all this time we were in momentary expectation of seeing one side or other rush to the charge. We could hardly yet realize that this was to be the last fight we should ever see around Plevna, and that when the guns ceased firing it was the last time we should ever hear them here. It was a strangely-impressive spectacle. Behind us the plain, stretching away to the horizon, dark and somber under the dull, lead-colored clouds of the black November day. Before us the gorge leading up to Plevna, flanked on either side by steep, high cliffs, and between us and them the smoke and roar and fire of battle, filling the air with its mighty thunder, a battle on which hung the fate, not of Plevna—for the long-be-leaguered town was already in the hands of the Russians—but of Osman Pasha and his army. _ About 12 o’clock the firing began to diminish on both sides, as if by mutual agreement. Then it stopped entirely. The rolling crash of the infantry and the deep-toned bellowing of the artillery were heard no more. The smoke lifted, and there was silence—a silence that will not be broken here for many a long year, perhaps never again, by the sounds of battle. The firing had not ceased more than half an hour when ft white flag was seen waving from the road leading around the cliffs beyond the bridge. Plevna had fallen, and Osman Pasha . was going to surrender. 'Die white flag being hoisted,, some of the Turks on the bridge walked forward and came to us, some with guns hung over their shoulders, others with guns in their hands. They walked about us and examined us curiously. Thousands of them are on the cliffs, not more than fifty yards distant, looking down on ur with composure,

all with arms in their hands. One welldirected volley would thin our Russian cadres this side of the Yid very appreciably, for bv this time there mast have been a hundred officers gathered here, and capitulation was by no means arranged as yet. On the heights to onr right we see the Russians moving up to the redoubt on one side while the Turks were leaving it on the other. Presently Gen. Ganetsky arrives, and then the way is blocked with wagons, dead horses and oxen. The men have all been carried off, bnt besides the wagons, near the bridge, I see one young fellow lying, badly wounded. He has lain himself carefully down there, with his cloak wrapped around him and his rifle and knapsack under his head. He evidently takes pride in his gun—a Peabody—for it is very bright and clean, and he has put it carefully under him so that it may not be taken away. He did not think to part with it so soon. He is scarcely 17, and the doctor who has dressed his wound says he will not live till night. We thread our way cautiously over the bridge, through broken carriages and dead bodies of horses and cattle, and find ourselves among the Turks. There are several dead lying in the ditch beside the road. Some wounded are limping along with us, going heaven knows whither, and there are two sentinels standing in a trench overlooking the river, keeping their watch as though they were looking for an attack at any moment. As we advance the crowd gets thicker. The Turkish soldiers, with gun 3 and bayonets in their hands, men at whom we have been shooting, and who were shooting at us two hours ago, some with a savage expression, gaze at us with a scowl, but there are pleasant, intelligent faces also, who look at us with* steady, clear, inquisitive eyes. Gen. Skobeleff, Sen., recalled an episode of the Hungarian insurrection resembling this, where there was an armistice, and a great number of Austrian officers crossed over the bridge to the Hungarians, as we did here, when the Hungarian commanding officer opened his ranks and fired his cannon, charged to the muzzle with mitraille, on the Austrians. Let us hope the two incidents will not resemble each other in all respects. When the, General is about a hundred yards from the bridge t!ie crush is so great that we can advance no further, and indeed we do not wish to, for it is in this little house overlooking the road that Osman Ghazi lies wounded. Gens. Ganetsky, Strukoff and some others have gone to see him. I was unable to get iu jwing to the crowd. The conference did not last more than a few minutes. The terms of capitulation were easily arranged. The surrender is unconditional. Osman consented at once. If surprise be expressed that it shduld have been so suddenly agreed it is only necessary to state that he could do nothing else. In order to attempt a sortie, he had to abandon all the positions in which fie had defied the Russians so long, and to concentrate his army down on the Yid. These positions once lost were lost forever, because the Russians occupied them almost as soon as he left them. He was down in the valley; they on the surrounding hills, witfi an army three times as large as his. He had to surrender without delay, for they were drawing tne circle tighter every moment. His position was like Napoleon’s at Sedan. The disparity in numbers was greater, and he had not even the shelter of the village. So Osman surrendered unconditionally the gallant army with which he had held this now-famous stronghold for so long, and with which he upset the whole Russian plan of campaign, and with which he defeated iu three pitched battles Russia’s finest armies.

Mr, Chase and the Presidency.

The fact that Mr. Richard Parsons is connected with the Cleveland Herald. and was for a long time in confidential relations with Mr. Chase, gives a special interest to the following passage from an editorial in the Herald concerning the letter from Mr. Chase, relating to the New York Convention of 1868, recently published: No harm can now bo done by saying that Mr. Chase not only warmly desired the nomination for the Presidency at the bands of the Democratic Convention in 1868, but be had every reason to eipect he would receive it. Mr. Chase repeatedly to his friends justified his right to accept it, on the grounds that he had changed none of tho principles he had advocated, and was as firmly devoted to their complete triumph as ever. But he insisted that the Democratic party, if it nominated him for the Presidency, “ would come over to him,” and he could, without loss of consistency and with entire propriety of conduct, accept the nomination if it were tendered. Nobody knows beiter than Mr. Seymour that in accepting the nomination, instead of declining it and turning it over to Chase, as he could have done, and as he, in fact, wished to do, he made the greatest mistake ever committed by a public man for himself or his party, nad Chase been nominated by the convention of 1868, it is not improbable that the current of American politics might have been entirely changed, and neither Grant nor Hayes would have touched the Presidency. From personal knowledge \ye know that Mr. Chase had the utmost confidence in his election, if nominated, and this confidence was largely shared by some of the most eminent Democratic statesmen of the country, who warmly espoused his nomination. The probability is they were all mistaken. We thought at the time that tlie nomination of Chase was almost equivalent to an election. It now seems to us pretty clear that Gen. Grant would have beaten any candidate who could have been placed in opposition to him. The nan who took and returned the sword of Lee could not have been defeated for the Presidency in 1868. Chase would have been stronger than Seymour, but it was written th%t Grant was to be elected.—Cincinnati Commercial.

Russian Trophies. The Russian trophies in Kars are beyond expectation. Three hundred and twelve cannons, among them forty-two field pieces, whole depots of rifles and revolvers, large quantities of ammunition, stores, and provisions, and about 16,000 prisoners fell into the hands of the conquerois. The remainder of the garrison must be considered as killed or as having deserted. The Russians shut their eyes with regard to deserters, as they experience too much trouble and cost by transporting their countless prisoners in this season into the interior of their ice-shackled country. Whosoever manages to procure for himself a suit of plain clothes may run away and make himself comfortable in one of the villages, or in his own homestead. Voluntarily these men will not again join Mukhtar Pasha’s hungry and neglected host. Tho Russian losses do not exceed 2,000 men, and are less than had been originally supposed. —London News.

The Rev. Wm. Gleeson, in a * recent lecture in San Francisco, on Ireland’s independence, said that there are from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 Irishmen on the globe, and that an anny of 250,000 could be easily raised to rem««re‘ British sn-" premaey iu Ireland. M

$1.50 ner Annum.

NUMBER 48.

THE FINANCIAL CONFLICT.

The Beauties of Contraction. [From the Cincinnati Enquirer.] With the beginning of this year the country will learn some of the effects of the Sherman policy of forced resumption, j The saddest New-Year’s day the people of the United States have known since the war was yesterday. Ia spite of the bountiful gifts of Piovidence, yesterday carried bankruptcy into more homes than any of the New-Year’s days since the war began. The divine benevolence, that has commanded plenty to spring out of the soil, has not been equal to the task of overcoming the inhumane financial legislation of the last few years. Our special dispatches yesterday announced eighty-nine failures in the city of New York in the month of December, and eleven assignments. The aggregate liabilities were $8,000,000, three times the amount of the failures of the previous month. The bitter distress of bankruptcy has multiplied three times in one city in one month. This is only a portion of the record. The Netters and the Kinneys and the Bonners are to be found, unfortunately, in every city in the land. In every comer of the country savings banks are collapsing and the hard-earned accumulations of the people of small means are melting away. The widow and the fatherless are left penniless, and the explanation given to them in place of their money is a “ depreciation of values. ” It is the John Sherman resumption policy. The statistics of failures for 1877 will be awaited with mournful interest. The number of

bankruptcies in the year determine the prosperity of the country in that year. A single failure sends agony into many hearts and homes. It means the bitterness of unavoidable shame. It is anguish for a family circle. It carries its woe and suffeiing far beyond a single family circle. Multiply the sorrow, the sense of disgrace, the humiliation, the want, that accompany one failure into 10,000, and one approximates to the year’s record of the working of the policy of forced resumption—the working* even of the threat of it. While the mercantile agencies are making up their reports to again call attention to some very eloquent facts which tell the story of the pitiless financial policy that has been pursued for more than a decade will not be out of place on this second day of the new year, one day less than a year away from that on which John Sherman says his policy can be, and ought to be and will be executed.

In 1863 the number of failures in the United States was only 485. It was the year in which the effect of having abundant machinery for the conduct of business was first felt. The various forms of United States notes, bonds, etc., that were made legal tender, or used as money, made money plenty. The amount of indebtedness involved in these failures was only $6,864,700. One city in the country last month furnished a larger amount of indebtedness iD its failures. In 1864 the number of failures in the country was but 520, an addition of only thirty-five, and the total indebtedness was only $8,579,000. This is about equal to the record of New York alone for the last thirty days. In 1865 the policy of contraction was begun, but had not begun to be felt. The failures in that fiscal year; ending June 30, were only 530, and the indebtedness involved was but $17,625,000. These were years of abundant money. The machinery for the carrying on of business was ample. They are in emphatic contrast with the years following and the years preceding. In 1862 the failures had been 1,652 and the liabilities $23,019,300. A change of financial policy in one year reduced the number and amount three-fourths. In 1861, before any of the war financial measures were Adopted, the failures were 6,993, and the indebtedness $207,210,000. We ask critical attention to these years and figures, for they show that the prosperity of the people and a sufficient currency for the conduct of that people’s business are indissolubly connected. We find that for these four years when paper money in various forms was abundant the failures were few and unimportant. There was universal prosperity. In 1865 the policy of contraction was adopted by Mr. McUulloch, and in one shape or another has been consistently and remorselessly pursued since. In one year the number of failures increased to 632, and the amount involved was trebled, reaching $47,333,000. In another year the results of the fatal policy were seen. The failures had increased to 2,386, with liabilities amounting to more than $86,000,000. Without tracing them year by year, it is sufficient to say that the dread effects of the scheme of contraction kept steady pace with that contraction. In 1870 the failures numbered 3,551. In 1873 they had grown to be 5,183, with liabilities of $228,000,000. In 1876 they were 9,092, and for the first six months of the last fiscal year they were 4,749. These are the operations of contraction. Let us await the remainder of the record.

American Gold and What It Mast Pay. [From the True Citizen.] In the late discussion, in the House of Representatives, of the bill repealing the Specie Resumption law, Hon. Wm. D. Kelley delivered a speech which we wish the people everywhere might have the opportunity of reading. We subjoin a brief extract which presents the difficulty of resumption under existing circumstances in a strong light Those unacquainted with the facts may be surprised at the mountain of debt piled up against us which may at any time send down its avalanche for our destruction. There is a grim humor in Judge Kelley’s account of the treasury gold* though the Judge, who knows well how to be humorous and is always eloquent, gives it as sober fact Speaking of the obstacles to resumption he said: “The question before the American people is not between gold and the inconvertible paper of the Government, j which by its legal-tender character is money. It is paper money and bank credits, which, in the absence of a sufficient supply of metallic money with which to convert them, will continue to be irredeemable. I have conversed confidentially with many bankers, and have not found one of ihem, when speaking thus confidentially, who did not admit that, though the treasury may resume specie payments on the Ist of * January, 1879, it cannot maintain them a week. The inadequate supply of bullion on which it may resume will, some of them have said, be exhausted on that day by the holders of certificates of deposit and banks which have sent forward large amounts of notes for redemption, and, the gold having thus been transferred to the banks, and the treasury having again suspended, the time will have arrived for a repowaL pf profits ou sales of gold by fhoee bards that suybavt

jffttMtraiiq jf entinel JOB PRIHTIHB. OFFICE 11m better facilities than any office In Horthwestei* Indiana for the execution of all branches of «rosi phinting. PROMPTNESS A SPECIALTY. Anything, from a Dodger to a Prloe-Ust, or from a Pamphlet to a Poster, black or colored, plain or fancy. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.

happened to present their demands in time. What the effect of a new suspension by the Government would be on the price of gold none can predict, as no one is able to predict the duration of the suspension. Upon what demands do we propose to resume gold payments ? Over $300,000,000 of greenbacks; over $300,000,000 of bank notes. I have here (to continue the list) Mr. S. Dana Hortons’ work on silver and gold, in which I find some things from which to dissent and much to commend; but the facts embodied in which have been most carefully compiled. It gives on page 44 the debt statement for September, 1876, when the national debt was $2 203,902,646. The nominal amount of outstanding State securities is given at about $543,000,000, of railroad and canal bonds about $2,170,000,000. “Gentlemen may say ‘Why, ’the passing of this act does not mature those obligations ?’ No, gentlemen, it does not; and I do not pretend to assume that the conversion of all or even of a considerable percentage of them will be sought; but when yon remember that all those securities are marketable in our market, it matures all of them that may be held by foreigners who can send them home, have them sold, and draw for the proceeds in gold. It puts our Government in the attitude of holding itself up as the reservoir of gold from which all its creditors and those of our people (and they are to be found in every civilized nation) may draw for gold when they need or desire it. The act does make payable in gold the deposits in our national. State, private and savings banks, which amount to thousands ot millions. It puts upon the gold-pay-ing basis all book-accounts, promissory notes, and mortgage and judgment debts. It piles up such an amount of debt as no nation has ever undertaken to pay in money based on a single metal. And with what do yon propose to pay it V Gold, I know. What gold have you V Why five resolutions, ingeniously contrived to extort information, brought us the fact that in July of the long session of the last Congress the treasury bad of real gold at its absolute disposal $13,000,000; for in the amount of gold named by the treasury in monthly debt statements we have bonds retired, but which have not been canceled; we have coupons paid but which have not gone into account of coupons. The major part of the gold reported as in the treasury is paper gold, against which parties have claims, or paper which the Government has paid and not yet found time to carry into account and cancel. ”

In Wbat Are Bond* Payable? [From the Chicago Tribune.] The Sherman letter to A. Mann, Jr., of Brooklyn, printed a few dayß ago, is creating a profound sensation among the goldites. The Secretary has hastened to write an explanation that doesn’t explain. We place the two documents side by side for easy comparison:

Lame attempt to explain it away. ! New York, Dec. 28, 1877.— T0 the. Editor of t the Daily Bulletin’— Dear ■ Sir: The letter referred - to wae written by me in ■ 1868, and hag been print- ■ ed a thousand times, and • explained as often in de- , bate and elsewhere. The • queßtion raised by it was • settled by tho act of March, 18(19, partly ■ framed by me, and go as i to cover the point raised ■in the letter. I insisted ' that the first duty of the i Government wag to resume payment of United States notes in coin before raising any question with tho bondholder ; but that, if the matter was to be decided purely upon the face of the law, the argument was altogether in favor of paying certain classes of bonds in Umi ted States note*, but the ' Government ought not to avail itself of this privilege while it dishonored its own notes and refused to pay them in coin. Very resp ctfully,

In favor of paying the bonds in greenbacks. United States Senate Chamber, Washington March 20, 1868. —Dear Sir : I was so glad to receive your letter. My personal Interests are the same as yours, but, like you, I do not Intend to be influenced by tbem. My construction of the law is the result of careful examination, and T feel quite sure an impartial court would confirm it if the case should be tried before a court. I send you ray views as fully stated in a speech. Your idea that we propose to repudiate er violate a promise when we offer to redeem the “principal” in legal tenders is erroneous. I think the bondholder violates lii« promise when he refuses to take the same kind of money he paid for the bonds. It the case is to be tested by law I am right; if it’s to be tested by Jay Cooke’s advertisements I am wrong. 1 hate repudiation or anything like it, but we ought not io be deterred from what is right for fear of undeserved epithets. If, under the law as it stands, the holders of 5-20 s can only be paid m gold, the bondholder can demand only the kind of money he paid; then he is a repudiator and extortioner to demand money more valuable than he gave. Truly yours, John Sherman.

This explanation may satisfy Mr. Sherman, but it will nobody else. Tlio ‘ ‘ certain class of bonds” was the whole 5-20 issue, embracing the bulk of the bonded indebtedness. They were all made payable in “lawful money,” meaning greenbacks.

The Carrying-Power of the Glaciers. In North America, and especially throughout the Northern States, the bowlders are numerous, often of great size, and indicating transits of many miles. Over the Eastern, Middle and Northwestern States, bowlders, that have emigrated from distant points to the northward, occur in such abundance that they may almost anywhere be found if the inquirer will only examine the country he passes over. Upon Mount Katahdin, in the Moosehead region of Maine, stones can be seen, lying over 4,000 feet above the sea, fosiliferous. in their nature and coming from northern sites; while toward Mount Desert masses, some forty to silty feet in height, are sprinkled everywhere, and, as in the case of the Dedham granite distributed to the south, invariably show northern origin. •In Berkshire county, Mass., these traveled rocks lie in long alignments, passing over the Lenox hills, and extending in generally southeasterly direction for fifteen or twenty miles, and have been filched from the Canaan and Richmond hills across the line in New York, being of chloritic slate, with angular specimens of limestone intermixed. Some granites from Vermont, on the west of the Green mountains, have been lifted over these barriers and transferred to the southern margins of Massachusetts; while in Vermont a bowlder weighing over 3,400 tons, and known as the Green Mountain Giant, has been drifted from the Green mountains easterly across the valley of the Deerfield river, and planted 500 feet above that stream. In Michigan, near the Menomonee river, a field upon th northern slope of a mountain is densely covered with bowlders, so that a mile can be traverse l without once touching the ground. Again, huge nuggets of copper, tom from the immense deposits of native copper at Keweenaw point, Portage lake, and the Ontonagon district, on the southeastern shore of Lake Superior are found widely disseminated to the south of these localities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota, a few of which have weighed 300, 800 and one 3,000 pounds. —From “ The Ice Age" in Popular (Science Monthly for January,

JOHN SHERMAN.