Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1878 — NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOREIGN NEWS. Late advices from China report that rain has at last fallen in the famine-stricken provinces, and faint hopes are entertained that the prolonged drought, with its miseries, may soon end. A friendly conference between Disraeli and Gortscbakoff is reported in Berlin dispatches. The Russian Chancellor assured the English Minister that he saw nothing objectionable in the Anglo-Turkish convention. Russia entertained no projects for aggrandizement on the coasts of Asiatic Turkey, and h» could see no difference between England’s occupation of Cyprus and her occupation of Malta. Hoedel, who some weeks ago attempted the life of the Emperor of Germany, has bam sontenced to be beheaded.

An Englishman who has recently returned to Constantinople from Lagos, reports that the most unheard-of cruelties are being inflicted by Bulgarians and Cossacks on the Mussulmans south of the Rhodope mountains. Whole villages have been burned and the inhabitants subjected to the most unparalleled barbarities. A report of these horrors is to be laid before the English, Austrian, and French Ambassadors, with a view to sending out a commission of inquiry to the s pot, and endeavoring to put an end to tbesr excesses which disgrace humanity. Late advices from Sydney, New South 'Wales, report that two tribes of natives have risen against the Government on the island of New Caledonia, and massacred 125 whites, including wbr on and children. They have also captured two military stations.

A report just made by the physicians ' ?ws that the Emperor of Germany is in anything out ° satisfactory condition. He has not regained his natural strength, has but little power of locomotion, and is unable to eat without assistance. The doctors, however, are sanguiilC of his ultimate recovery. Port au Prince, in Hayti, has been visited by a big fire, which destroyed half a million dollars’ worth of property. A Constantinople dispatch says that Mr. Baring, of the British Legation, took possession of Cyprus on the 11th of July in the name of Great Britain.

The work of the Berlin congress was completed on Saturday, July 13, by the signing of the treaty which for the present restores peace to Southeastern Europe. A banquet at the palace of the Crown Prince closed the memorable day, all tiie plenipotentiaries being present except Goi tschakoff and Beaconsfield, who were too ill to attend. Under the provisions of tho treaty Bulgaria is to be a self-governing principality, paying tribute to the Sultan. The Prince is to be elected by an assembly of notables. Roumelia will remain subject to the Porte, but will have some of tho conditions of autonomous administration, with a Christian Governor to be appointed by the Sultan, subject to the approval of the powers. All the stipulations of the treaties of Paris and London are recognized as still in force, except those which are altered or repealed in the present treaty. The proposed supplementary meeting was defeated, Lord Salisbury refusing to accede to any proposal that should interfere with the immediate submission of the treaty to the English Parliament.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. Tlust. Ira B. Wright, the defaulting Treasurer of South Hadley, Mass., has been found guilty of embezzling $29,000, and sentenced to five years in the State prison. A heavy robbery is reported from Newport, R. I. The residence of Gov. Van Zandt was entered at night by burglars, and robbed of jewelry of the estimated value of $35,000. The death of Mr. George Swett Appleton, of the great New York book-publishing firm of D. Appleton A Co., is announced. A broom-factory in Amsterdam, N. Y., was demolished by a tornado, the other day, and nine persons buried in the ruins, three of whom were killed and the rest severely injured. Alexander B. Sayres, convicted of the murder of his wife in the Church of the Ascension, in Philadelphia, in November last, has been sentenced to be hanged. John W. Bawker, cashier of the freight department of the Eastern railroad of Massachusetts, abandoned his office recently, and already the investigation shows that hs is a defaulter to the amount of $20,000. West. A dispatch from roruand, Ore., reports a sanguinary engagement between a party of white volunteers and a band of hostile Indians at Willow Springs, Ore., resulting in a disastrous defeat to the volunteers. It was a second Custer massacre. The Indians completely surrounded the whites, fifty strong, and shot and scalped them without mercy. Only seven of the ill-fated little army escaped to tell the story of the horrible massacre. A battle is also reported between the friendly Umatilla Indians and 40 hostile Snakes, the latter being defeat with the loss of thirty braves.

B. Leidersdorf & Co.’s tobacco manufactory, in Milwaukee, was destroyed by fire last w< k. Loss estimated at SIOO,OOO. Dispatches from San Francisco give brief particulars of a severe engagement fought between Gen. Howard’s forces, about 800 strong, and a band of Bannock Indians, strongly posted in tho hills near the head of Beetle creek, in Oregon. The Indians were di iven from their position, abandoned horses, provisions, ammunition and camp. They took up a second position in the heavy timber covering the Blue Ridge, but were again dislodged and pushed into the mountains, where the pursuit was alandoned. Gen. Howard’s loss is given as five enlisted men wounded and twenty horses killed. The loss of the Indians could not be ascertained. The troops behaved with distinguished gallantry. A PoitJand (Ore.) dispatch reports that the Indians are killing settlers in the Tygh valley, about forty miles from Dalles. A Portland (Ore.) telegram reports that the hostiles, whipped back into tho mountains by Gen. Howard, have now started eastward for Snake river, along the ridge of the Blue mountains. It is believed that the worst of the Indian war is over. Dispatches from Portland, Ore., report that the hostiles are scattering, and endeavoring to sneak back to their jeservations. The Governor of Oregon considers a general Indian war in that region inevitable, and has issued a proclamation calling for volunteers to put down the unruly savages. Intelligence comes by way of Bismarck that the hostile Nez Perces, at present on ladian territory, are moving across the Ro. ky mountains to join those who did not break out in open hostilities last summer.

The Commissioners sent to the Red Cloud Indians, for the purpose of trying to persuade them to settle at some point near the Missouri river, have utterly failed. Red Cloud insists on establishing himself at White Clay creek, 250 miles from the Missouri, and utterly refuses to remain at the present agency, or to listen to any terms of compromise. Spotted Tail is willing to make his camp much nearer the Missouri, but he, like Red Cloud, proposes to have his own way. South. Mike Shaw was hanged for wife-mur-der at Milledgeville, Ga., on the 12th inst. Hiram Fooks (colored) was executed the same day at Princess Anne, Md.

POLITICAL POINTS. Official returns of the California election give the following as the composition of the Constitutional Convention : Non-Partisans, 81 ; Workingmen, 52; Republicans, 11 : Democrats, C ; Independents, 2. The Non-Partisans elect all the delegates at large. The Missouri Democratic Convention was held at Jefferson City July 10. The following ticket was nominated : Judge of the Supreme Court, Elijah Norton ; Register of Lands, J. E. McHenry*; State Superintendent of Public Schools, R. D. Shannon; Railway Commissioner, A. M. Sevier. The three first named are present incumbents. The platform denounces the national banking system as oppressive and burdensome, deprecates the contraction of the currency, and demands the unconditional repeal of the Resumption act. The Democrats of Michigan met in State Convention at Lansing on Wednesday, July 10, and nominated the following ticket: For Governor, Hon. O. M. Barnes, of Lansing ; for Lieutenant Governor, A. P. Swineford, of. Marquette; Secretary of State, George H. Murdock, of Berrien Springs; for State Treasurer, Alexander McFarlin, of Flint; for Commissioner of the State Land Office, George Lord, of Bay City; for Auditor General, W. T. B. Schemerhorn, of Hudson; for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Prof. Truesdel, of Pontiac; for Attorney General, Maj. Allen B. Morse, of lonia; Member of the Board of Education, Edwin F. Uhl, of Grand Rapids. The platform arraigns the Republican party for corruption in office, indorses the investigation of the electoral frauds, declares that gold and silver is the money of tho constitution, that all paper money should be convertible into coin at the will of the holder, and opposes any further forcible reduction of the currency. Gen. Ferdinand Latrobe has been elected Mayor of Baltimore. Something of a sensation has been produced in political circles in New York and Washington by the announcement of the removal of Gen. Arthur, Collector of the Port of New York, and Hen. A. B. Cornell, Naval Officer at that port. Gen. E. A. Merritt and Col. W. 8. Burt have been designated as their successors. Secretary Sherman, while in New York a few days ago, was interviewed regarding the next Presidential campaign. He is reported to have said, unreservedly, that Grant would be the next Republican candidate, and that if the convention were to be held immediately he would be nominated without any opposition.

WASHINGTON NOTES. John A. McDowell, a brother of Gen. McDowell, has been appointed Superintendent of Construction of the Chicago Custom House. The President has appointed John L. Frisbie, of Michigan, United States Consul at Rio Grande, Brazil. A Washington telegram to the Cincinnati Times says : “It has leaked out here, from sources entitled to the highest consideration, that an arrangement has been completed whereby Justice Swayne will be given, in March next, a foreign appointment, and Mr. Stanley Matthews, whose Senatorship expires at the same time, will be appointed to the Su-preme-bench vacancy thus caused.”

Ex-Gov. Kellogg, of Louisiana, appeared before the Potter investigating commit tee on the 11th inst., and was examined by Gen. Butler. He testified that the election in Louisiana in 1876 was entirely legal. The witness gave a detailed statement as to the composition of the respective houses of the Legislature, and, after reciting the law of Louisiana at considerable length, he stated that Gov. Packard was legally inaugurated on the Bth of January, 1877, at which time there was a Republican quorum in both houses. Gen. Butler produced tables compiled from the Returning Board’s figures, which showed that, after the board had thrown out sufficient Democratic parishes to elect the General Assembly, it was found there were still two Hayes electors defeated, whereupon the Returning Board threw out parishes and precincts until they had succeeded in securing a majority of the Hayes electors. The witness stated that, assuming that the figures be the correct finding of the Returning Board, it left the General Assembly Republican in both branches, and still left two Hayes electors in the minority. Mr. Butler —Whereupon the Board proceeded to give the screw another twist ? Witness—That is not my testimony. Q. —How much on the returns, as returned by the Returning Board, did the lowest Hayes elector run behind Packard ? A —These tables show a majority for Governor of 401, while two Republican electors (Leviseee and Joseph) were in the minority. The Tilden electors had a majority, I believe, on the face of the returns cast in the different parishes originally, and so did Nicholls....E. L. Weber was recalled and questioned by Mr. Cox in regard to the Sherman letter. Witness said he found it in a box sent from his brother at Bayou Sara to his father-in-law’s warehouse in Donaldsonville. He found the letter after Mrs. Jenks’ visit: tore it up at once because it exposed my brother’s wrong-doing. My brother told me there were no grounds for protesting the parish. Witness admitted he had been indicted, forfeited bis bond, and afterwards, at the suggestion of the District Attorney, made a false affidavit in order to have the bond restored. In answer to the question relating to his indictment, witness, turning to Mr. Cox, said excitedly : “ You Republicans could use my brother who is dead; to-day you could use us on the stand to swear to any kind of a lie that you wanted in order to support and sustain you; today, that you can’t use me as your tool, you propose to ruin me.” Gov. Cox disclaimed any such notion as that imputed to him by witness, and said he wanted to give witness an opportunity to vindicate himself. The President has appointed Alexander Reed, of Ohio, Receiver of Public Moneys at Walla Walla, Washington Territory; Eliot C. Jewett, of Missouri, Commissioner to the Paris International Exposition; Caspar H. Stibolt, of lowa, Consul at Campeachy, Mexico; Eugene Schuyler, Consul at Birmingham, England. Ex-Gov. Kellogg was again before the Potter committee on the J 2th inst. Referring to the MacVeagh Commission, the witness heard, last fall, that the Sherman letter had

been found among D. A. Weber’s papers, and that Mrs. Jenks had procured possession of it through her intimacy with the Weber family. Mrs. Jenks had called upon him in New Orleans and spoken of the Sherman letter. While explaining the contents of the document, Mrs. Jenks sat on a sofa and pretended to be reading him the substance of the letter from a paper which she held in her hand. The witness contradicted many of the statements of James E. Anderson, whom he regarded as utterly unreliable. He denied that false protests and affidavits relating to intimidation were used before the Returning Board as a pretext for throwing out Democratic majorities. He produced letters from the Weber brothers certifying to the intimidation that prevailed in the Feliciana parishes. Kellogg explained that the $20,000 borrowed in Chicago was for his private use, and was not employed in connection with the electoral count.

The Potter committee occupied itself on the 13th with ex-Senator Kellogg, and completed his examination. Nothing of material importance was elicited. Gen. Butler endeavored to elicit from the witness a statement as to whether or not all the visiting statesmen, commissioners, and others connected with the election in Louisiana had been rewarded with offices. Mr. Hiscock objected to such testimony upon the ground that its only object was to throw ridicule upon President Hayes. Gen. Butler disclaimed any intention to cast ridicule. He said it was hard to gild the lily or paint the rose. Some persons were so ridiculous that nothing he could do could add to it. A long list of names was shown of persons connected with the Presidential con test in Louisiana who had been appointed to office by President Hayes. The committee adjourned till the 23d of July, to meet at Atlantic City, N. J. -