Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1879 — NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOKEIQN HEWS. Tianquillity re'gns in Afghanistan, and Yakoob Kab n, of the late Shore Ali, has been fproclaimed Ameer.| A St. rg dispatch says “a freeh case of pUgne bas appeared at Wetli*n£*’ Gon. Melikoff bas returned to Wetliwhere it has been decided to burn sixtyhouses, valued at 45,216 rubles. The Minister ®f the Interior has ordered the Governors <ot the various provinces to co-operate VigiHutly against the spread of the epidemic <£®ting the spring." An unsuccessful attempt was recently made at BL Petersburg to assassinate Gen. Von Drentelen, Chief of the Gendarmerie. He was driving along the Neuva quay, when a man on horseback fired twice into his carriage window. The General was not hurt The would-be aseusin rode a short distance, then leaving his horse escaped. Amnesty has been granted to 100 more French Communists. Gaunt famine stalks through Upper Egypt, and the inhabitants are reported to be «&wig by the thousands. M. Tenaille de Vaulabelle, the French historian, is dead. it is reported in London that an alliance against England is about to be formed between China and Burmah. A letter received in New York from Brazil says that 18,000 people died in Tartaleza in December, or one-fourth of the population; tthat 27,000 recorded interments were made in •two months, while a number of bodies were sunk in the bay. In the villages round about, poor people were dying like sheep. A horrible stench arises from the cemeteries, and the black plague is feared. Starving refugees clamored at the barracks for food. The commandant attempted to arrest the ringleaders, but was shot down. Four soldiers and •several rioters were killed in the struggle that ensued. Finally the military were driven out Ktftbe town and the provision houses sacked. Prince Waldemar, the third son of the Crown Prince of Germany, has just died of diphtheria. The upper branch of the French Parliament is opposed to the removal of the seat of government from Versailles to Paris. The courts having finally determined that Passanante must die for his attempt to shoot the King of Italy, the King himself has commuted the sentence to imprisonment for Ji fa. The joint occupation of Roumelia has been consented to by all the great powers except France, which has not yet acted upon the proposition. Germany declines to furnish a force for the purpose, but Austria, England, Italy and llussia will have contingents.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. Eant. The Rhode la’and House of Representatives last week voted on the question of woman suffrage—twArty-five ayes to twenty-one noes—not the two-thir ‘h majority necessary for submitting an amendment of the constitution to the people. J. & J. Tyrrell, of Boston, dealers in hides, have suspended. Liabilities, *160,000. Stratton & Storms’ tobacco factory, on Pearl street, New York, was burned last week. Loss, *75,000. The losses of . other occupants make the total over *IOO,OOO. The city of New York will have to •come down with its proportion of the money needed to complete the great Brooklyn bridge, the State Court of Appeals having so decided. Nellie, aged 18, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of ex-Gov. Hubbard, of Connecticut, fell in love with the Governor’s coachman, a young man of uncommonly good personal appearance and pleasing manners. An elopement and marriage followed, whereat the social circles of Hartford are stirred to their very depths. Judge Edwards, a prominent lawyer of Albany, N. Y., and principal of the Albany Law School, recently committed suicide by disemboweling himself with a large carving knife. Ho was temporarily insane. Pleuro-pneumonia has broken out among the New Jersey cattle. A shocking calamity is reported from Claremont, N. H. A fire broke out in the Tremont House, the leading hotel of the town, and spread so rapidly that five inmates, two boarders and"threa employes, were overtaken by the flames and burned to death. Soutn. The New Orleans banks have resumed the payment of currency on demand There was a double execution at New Kent Court House, Va., on March 25. The victims were Patrick Smith and Julius Christian, both negroes, convicted of the murder of John C. Lacy, a white man, in January last Frankfort, the capital, of Kentucky, has been the scene of a diabolical assassination. Col. Tom Buford, brother of Gen. Abe Buford, who is well known in Kentucky, upon hearing that a case in the Court of Appeals, in which he was interested, had been decided against him, loaded a double-barreled shotgun with buckshot, took his position near the front door of the Capitol Hotel, and waited for the Judges of the court to come to dinner. Judge J. M. Elliott was the first to approach. As he reached the door Buford walked up to him and shot him dead. Twelve buckshot entered his body, some of them passing through his heart Judge Pryor made his appearance on the scene a moment later, when Buford leveled his gun to give him the contents of the other barrel, but, before he could get a satisfactory aim. Judge Pryor run behind a comer. A crowd collected, and the assassin was taken into custody. A wharf-boat burned at Hickman, Ky., last week, and four persons who were sleeping on the boat were burned to death. Buford, the assassin of Judge Elliott, has been placed in the jail at Louisville, Ky. Hon. H. Y. Riddle, a member of the last Congress from Tennessee, recently committed suicide at Lebanon, Tenn., while laboring under a temporary fit of insanity, caused by protracted illness. West. William H. Vanderbilt will begin, about the last of April, the construction of a tunnel for the Canada Southern railway under the Detroit river, at Grosse Isle. The tunnel will be 3,700 feet long, and, it is calculated, will cost *1,500,000. At Fort Scott, Kan., a few days ago, a negro named Bill Howard, having been detected in a horrible crime, was taken from jail and hanged to a lamp-post After the body had hung some fifteen minutes the infuriated mob took it down and dragged it to the square, in spite of the resistance and objection of the more calm and peaceable portion of the crowd, and literally roasted and burned the remains in a fire of dry-goods boxes and coal-oil, amid demonstrations that rivaled pandemonium. John Schreler, a prominent Western godtaUßt agitator, was arrested at>

home in Evansville, Ind., and adjudged insane. He had previously attempted suicide, and a coffin ready for his use was found in his parlor. Every boat that arrives at St. Louis from the South brings a deck-load of negro emigrants on their way to Kansas. During the progress of a fire in the Fairchild block, at Madison, Wis., and while a large number of people were gathered around the flames, an explosion of gas occurred with terrific effect Some men were blown completely out of the rooms, while others were thrown to the floor. Thera was for a few seconds a frightful scare. All who were able rushed down-stairs for the streets; others had to be carried out At least thirty were injured. The block was injured to the extent of *20,000. WASHINGTON MOTES. It is reported f’iat ex-Congressman Rainey, the ablest co’ red man that ever sat in Congress, is likely to M appointed Third Auditor. Federal appointments: John B. Hamilton, of Illinois, to Supervising Surgeon of the United States F-eiHal Marine service; J. P. Kidder, Associa’i Justice of the Supreme Court of Dakota Territory; John M. Wilson, of Ohio. Consul at Pan The President has appointed Prof. Andrew D. White, of Cornell University, Minister to Berlin, and Dr. Cornelius A Logan, of Chicago, Minister to Central America. The demand for 4 per cent, bonds seems to have exhausted itself, and daily subscriptions of from *5,000,000 to *15,000,000, such as were received two months ago, have been reduced to from *50,000 to *200,000. The administration is agitated by the reports of the movements of Sitting Bull on the Northwest boundary, and has adopted the idea of holding the Government of Canada responsible for the conduct of that erratic and uneasy Indian. POLITICAL POINTS. Washington dispatches state that “the Republican leaders have become thoroughly alarmed over the unqualified assertions of leading Democrats that, as a result of conferences with the President and members of the Cabinet, the President would sign a modified bill repealing the Election laws.” A caucus of the Greenback members of the House was held at Washington last week, at which the subject of attaching political measures or any foreign legislation to appropriation bills was generally discussed. There was a unanimous expression of opposition to this way of legislating. The Greenbackers, however, expressed themselves as being m favor of all measures proposed by the Democrats, except the repeal of the law relating to Supervisors of Elections, whirii they are in favor of in a modified form. They are opposed to the test oath for jurors and favor its repeal They are also opposed to the nse of troops at the polls and to the Election laws which authorize Federal ''’’erference at the polls, and favor their repeal, but they ask that these repealing clauses be introduced as separate measures. A comr : ”ee of the caucus has been appointed to draft Snancial measures to present, to Congress embodying aH greenback ideas. The Ohio Democratic Committee have decided to hold the State Convention at Columbus, June 4. The Greenback-Labor party of Rhode Island held its State Convention at Providence last week, and nominated candidates for State officers, headed by Samuel Hill for Governor.

DOINGS OF CONGRESS. The Senate was the scene of a long and warm political debate on the 241 h, over the resolution of Mr. Wallace (Democrat) to proceed to the election of officers of the Senate. The Republicans opposed the removal of the old officers, and charged the Democrats, in pursuing such a course, with a violation of precedent and custom as old as the Senate itself. The Democrats urged the removal of the old officers because they had made themselves unusually conspicuous as partisans while the Republican party held sway in the Senate, particular stress being laid upon the case of George C. Gorham, the old Secretary of the Senate. A circular signed by him during the campaign of IMS was produced by the Democrats. This circular stated that “it is almost certain that the next Senate will be Democratic,” and asserts that, “ foremost among the schemes of that party is the intention to attempt the revolutionary expulsion from his office of the President.” The Democrats, during the debate, pronounced the circular false in every particular, and held that any man guilty of signing his name to it was unfit to be Secretary of the Senate. The Republicans defended Gorham, and claimed that the then existant facts justified the issuing of the circular. Alter a five hours’ debate, participated in by Messrs. Anthony. Hamlin. Wallace, Conkling, Bayard, Beck, Voorhees, Blaine, and Eaton, the Wallace resolution was adopted by a strict party vote, and all of the Democratic caucus nominations for officers of the Senate wese elected.—The Mouse was not in session. A communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, in answer to Mr. Wallace’s resolution calling for information in regard to fees paid Deputy Marshals in elections in October and November, was laid before the Senate on March 25. Mr. Hoar called up his resolution declaring the failure of one house to pass the appropriation Bills, except upon condition of repeal of the existing laws, is revolutionary, and took the floor for a speech. Mr. Hoar took the ground that there is no historical precedent for the refusal of the House to grant supplies except upon the conditions it has fixed. The notion that English history furnishes warrants for this action was a mistake. He went back into English history and made numerous citations. At the close of Mr. Hoar’s speech the Senate adjourned. In the House, Messrs. Harris and Cox asked leave to introduce resolutions, but Mr. Conger stated he would object to the introduction of anything unless it had reference to the appropriation bills, whereupon the House adjourned. The joint committee of the Senate and House Democratic caucus held another meeting, at which the report of the jointsub-committee was received and considered. The result of the proceedings was an agreement to attach precisely the same amendments to theDegis lative bill as passed the Hous-' at the last session, without the modifications suggested and favorably considered at the last meeting of the committee. They, however, agreed to provide for two Supervisors of Elections, after stripping them of every function except that of witnesses. Neither house of Congress did anything on the 26th, everything being postponed to await the decision of the Democratic caucus. This met in the afternoon, and their final determination was that they would incorporate in the Appropriation bills legislation like that of the last eessfop, w|tfi

some modifications. The law authorizing the presence of troops at elections is to be repealed, as is also the jurors’ test-oath law. The sections of the Revised Statutes which bear upon elections are not all to be repealed outright, but are to be greatly modified. Two Supervisors are to be allowed in each election precinct, and they are to be of different political parties, and all distinctions bfetween Supervisors in suburban and in rdral districts are to be abolished. The Mupervisore are to be shorn of their power to make arrests In advance of voting. Numerous bills Wert introduced in the Senate ■A the 97th; none of them, however, were of any considerable importance. Mr. Hoar's resolution declaring the course of the majority revolutionary, etc., was taken up. In a running debate, Mr. Hoar charged that the majority had usurped the functions of legislation by maturing measures in caucus, thus anticipating constitutional forihs. Messrs. Beck, Bayard and Voorhees replied, ■Aying that the Democrats were acting With caution and circumspection, which was more than the Republicans had done when in the majority. Without oisposing of the subject, the Senate adjourned until the 3(;th.——ln the House, Mr. Sparks introduced the Army Appropriation bill. He stated that it was substantially the bid which passed the last House, with the reorganisation features stricken out. It retains the clause prohibiting the use of troops at the polls. A caucus of the Republican members of the House was held for the purpose of discussing the aituation in regard to the political clauses which the majority has determined to incorporate in the appropriation bills. The subject was very generally d'senssed, and it was finally agreed that every endeavor should be made by the minority to prevent the passage of the appropriation bills unless they shall be relieved of the provisions in question, lhe sense of the caucus was that if the Demo-rnt* should insist Upon carrying out the plan already adopted by them, the effect would ke the stoppage of the wheels of the Government, and tho majority would be responsible for the res alt. The following resolution was adopted without opposition: "Mtsoloed, That it Is the sense of this caucus that hereafter, and until the appropriation bills are. disposed of. no pairs by Republicans shall, tv der any consideration, be made. 1 ' This resolution appears to indicate a determination on the part of the Republicans to resort to filibustering rntiu'r than recede in any manner from tho position they have taken. The Senate waa not in session on the 28th ult. In the House, Mr. Springer presented the memorial of J. J. Wilson, claiming to be elected from the Kinth Congressional district of lowa oh the sth of November, and offered a resolution to refer the memorial to the Committee on Elections when appointed. All the sitting members from lowa were elected on the day claimed on the other side, but not on the day legally fixed for the election. The resolution was adopted. The Army bill was taken up. Ths consideration of the bill having been concluded, with the exception of section 6, repealing the statutes allowing the mill-, tary to preserve the peace at the polls, that section was read. A long debate ensued, but no vote was reached, About thirty members of the House, including Reagan, Jones (Texas), Springer, Stevenson, Ewing, Murch, Ladd, Kelley. De la Matyr, Weaver, Warner, Wright and Wise, met in the evening to consider the subject of the presentation of financial measures at the present session. After a general interchange of views, the following resolution was adopted: “.Resolved, That we will ask the co-operaUon of our fellowmembers of all parties in endeavoring to pass at this session bills for the following purposes: First, to Increase the coinage of silver to the capacity of our mints, and to issue certificates receivable for all pnblic dues, and the purchase of silver bullion at market rates. Second, to reissue the greenbacks now held for the redemption of fractional currency’ or hereafter retired for the pay ment of arrears of pension and in extinguishment of the bonded debt. Third, providing for the substitution of legal-tender notes for national-bank notes. Fourth, to stop all further Increase of the national debt. Fifth, to provide for a tax on incomes of over *2,C00.” The amendment to the Appropriation bill forbidding the use of troops at the polls gave rise to a warm partisan debate in the House on the 29ih ult. Mr. Stephens argued that public sentiment, North and South, was against the employment of troops at the polls. There was no nqSd of such a thing. The country hadgotalongwithoutitforthree quarters of a century. There would be no harm done, therefore, by a repeal of the law. Mr.. Garfield argued against the policy- of the Democratic. party in Congress, declaring it to be utterly revolutionary and tending to the subversion of the Government.' '■ We pick up the g.-jge of battle which you have thrown down,umd. .will appeal to our common sovereign—the people—to say whether you shall break down the principle of free con sent in legislation at tho price of starving the Government to death. Wc are ready to pass these bills for the. support ot tho Government at any hour when you will offer them in the ordinary way, and, if you offer these other measures as separate measures, we will meet you in the spirit of fair and fraternal debate. But you shall not compel us; you shall not coerce us, even to save this Government, until the question has gone to the sovereign to determine whether they will consent to break down any of its voluntary powers, and on that ground we plant ourselves.” Mr. McMahon said it came with ill grace from any Republican to say that the provision was improper because it was put upon an appropriation bill. The Republicans themselves had passed many measures in the same way. It had never been considered revolutionary, but, on the contrary, as a protection against arbitrary power to attach legislation on appropriation bills. The Democrats wanted the jury-box purified, the use of troops at the polls prohibited, and the repeal of that most infamous of all measures which put it in the powet of Marshals and their deputies to corrupt the bal-lot-box and intimidate voter*