Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1879 — NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOBBIGW NEWS Disastrous floods are reported in Poland. Rome dispatched report violent earthquakes in the vicinity of Aci, Italy. Several persons were killed, and the inhabitants of the district were fleeing en masse A Cape Town dispatch says the young Prince Imperial of France, who went to South Africa to fight the Zulus, has been killed. He was one of a party of officers who left CoL Wood’s camp to reconnoiter. The party dismounted in a mealie Geld, when the enemy crept upon them and aasegaied them, killing the Prince and five others, and wounding fifteen. The French Minister of Marine has decided to send three cruisers to the Pacific ocean to protect French subjects in Chili and Peru. A Socialist conspiracy has been detected at San Miguel, in Spain. Telegrams from Cairo report that the English and French Consuls General have demanded the abdication of the Khedive of Egypt in favor of his son, Prince Mohammed Tewpik. The Khedive replied that when his creditors were paid he would abdicate. The London walking match was won by Weston, the American pedestrian, who footed 550 miles in five minutes less than six days, beating all former records, and winning the long-distance championship. Five thousand persons witnessed the finish. The French Government has submitted to the Chambers a bill regulating the details of the return of the Chambers to Paris. It fixes the first meeting of the Legislature in Paris the 3d of November. The German Parliament has passed the bill granting a constitution for AlsaceLorraine. A correspondent at Berlin reports that there were 1,730 conflagrations in Russia during the month of May, occasioning a loss of 7,000,000 rubles. The Canadian Government has rescinded the permission given for American militia to visit the Dominion. The Bonapartist Deputies in the French Assembly have decided that the cause of '.the empire must be maintained, notwithstanding the death of the late Emperor’s son. The British court has gone into mourning for the young Prince Imperial.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. XQast. Frequent arrivals of vessels from Hayti, infected with yellow fever, excite a good deal of apprehension in New York. The sanitary authorities admit that there is danger of the pestilence obtaining a foothold in the city unless a rigid quarantine is enforced. Evan Rice, ex-cashier of the National Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine (Del), pleaded guilty to embezzlement and false entries, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Three hundred piiddlers and helpers in the Allentown (l’a.) Rolling Mills have struck for an advance of 5 cents a head. The mille stopped work. The steamship Italy, when leaving New York for Liverpool, ran into the German ship Barbarossa, which was at anchor in the bay, sinking her. While the Italy was backing from the wreck she and the steamship Canada, for London, camo in collision. The Canada was obliged to return to her dock. The Italy proceeded to sea. By the explosion of a boiler at an iron mine near Emans, Pa., five men were killed and four wounded. "West. The eminent divine, Rev. Robert Collyer, has resigned the pastorate of Unity Church, Chicago, which he has occupied twenty years, and accepted a call to occupy a pulpit in New York. The sickness of Mrs. Collyer, necessitating a change of climate, led him to take the step. Gen. Crook’s recent visit to the frontier military posts has satisfied him that there is no danger of an Indian war this summer. The Illinois Legislature lately passed a bill aimed at the Socialists, taking away the right of military companies not organized under the State law to parade with arms. This law was to take effect July 1. On Sunday, June 22, such a company, called the Bohemian Sharpshooters, attended a picnic at Chicago, and, in a disturbance which arose, made a bayonet charge upon some outsiders who wore annoying the picnickers, and discharged their pieces into the crowd, firing three volleys, injuring a number of persons seriously, and some fatally. A squad of police arrived on the scene, and arrested the Bohemians, who wore threatened with severe punishment by a large crowd which had gathered.

South. A party of ten convicts at work on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley railroad, in Chatham county, N. C., recently made a desperate break for liberty. They were fired upon by the guards with deadly effect, four of them being shot stone dead and the other? badly wounded. Revenue officers and moonshiners met recently near Gainesville, Ga. Three stills were found in a valley, and two of them were destroyed. The moonshiners rallied to make a stand at the last still. The revenue men hailed it, and were met with a volley, but succeeded in dislodging the distillers, laying one of them with a dangerous wound and capturing two more. POLITICAL POINTS Ex-Congressman Henry W. Blair has been elected United States Senator from New Hampshire for six years from the 4th of last March, succeeding Mr. Wadlcigh. The California Republicans held their State Convention at San Francisco on the 18th of June. George 0. Perkins was nominated for Governor on the first ballot. The Republican State Convention of Wisconsin is called to meet at Madison July 23. The California Republican Convention met at San Francisco, June 17, and nominated a full ticket, with George C. Perkins for Governor. The platform sustains the President in his use of the veto, and contains an anti-Chinese plank and a declaration in favor of small holdings of land. The Democratic State Convention of Maryland will occur Aug. 7. The State Central Committee of the Wisconsin National Greenback party have decided to hold their convention for the nomination of a State ticket in Watertown, Tuesday, July 15. WASHINGTON NOTBS. Eleven of the thirteen members of the House Committee on Elections have decided the Representatives from lowa elected in October last are legally entitled to their seats.

Messrs. Springer and Colerick dissented—the former holding that no lawful election had been held in lowa for the present Congress, while Mr. Colerick insists that votes cast on the national election day in November were legal, and entitled those who received them to seats in the House. The reports will probably not be submitted for argument until the tegular session beginning in December. The legal difficulty discovered by the Senate Judiciary Committee in the confirming the appointment of Secretary McCrary to an office which will not be vacant for nine or ten weeks induced the President to send a brief message withdrawing the nomination. A German named Kemmler, at Holyoke, Mass., killed his three children, by shooting, in order to save them, as he said, from the misfortunes of life.

DOINGS IN CONGRESS. The Senate, after debating and slightly amending the Supplemental Judicial Appropriation biil, finally passed it, on the 16th Inst., by • strict party vote. In the House, Mr. Cox introduced a bill to protect certificates of naturalization. Mr. Samford introduced one to prohibit an increase of the interest-bearing debt of the United States, and Mr. Young (Tenn.) introduced cue granting a pension of SSO a month to the widow of the late Lieut. Hiram Benner. On motion ot Mr. Ryan, a bill was passed for the relief of settlers on the Osage trust and diminished reserve lands in Kansas. On motion of Mr. Washbum, the bill was passed allowing pre-emption settlers twelve months after date of filing their entry to complete their residence. The Senate was engaged in debating the Army Appropriation bill on the 17th, and the House spent the day in discussing the b.'ll to prohibit political assessments. An effort was made in the House to take up the bill in relation to jurha, but the Republicans blocked business by declining to vote, thus leaving the House without a quorum. The Senate was the scene of a long and hot debate on the 18th, the Army bill constituting the bone of contention. The debate culminated in a personal altercation between Messrs. Conkling and Lamar, which for a time produced considerable of a sensation about the Capitol. Mr. Conkling delivered a bitter speech, in which, referring to the course of the Democrats in regard to the Appropriation bills, imputed to them bad faith. Mr. Lamar rose at the conclusion of Mr. Conkling’s remarks, and said that as far as any intimation of bad faith to him was coneerned, he had lived in vain if he was not superior to such a charge from such a source. “It is not my purpose,” he said, “ to indulge in personalities, but I will say to the Senator that it he intended to intimate that anything I have done was not in good faith, I pronounce his statement a falsehood, which I repel with all the unmitigated contempt that I feel for the author of it.” Mr. Conkling, who had been walking slowly back and forth behind the benches, advanced to his seat and said: “ Mr. President, 1 was diverted during the commencement of the remarks, the culmination of which I heard, from the member from Mississippi. If I understand the member right, he intended to impute, and did in plain and unparliamentary’ language impute, to me an intentional misstatement. (Pausing.] The Senator does not disclaim that?” Mr. Lamar—“l will state what I int nded, sir, so there can be no mistake ” The presiding officer (Cockrell) called Mr. laivar to order, and Mr. Conkling preceded: “ Whether lam willing to respond to the member from Mississippi depends entirely upon what that member has to say, and what he did say. and for the time being I do not choose to hold any communication with him. I understood the Senator to state, in plain, unparliamentary language, that the statement of mine to which he refers was a falsehood If I caught his words aright, I have only to say—this not being the place to measure with any man the capacity to violate decency, to violate the rules of the Senate, or to commit any of the improprieties of life—l have only to say that if the Senator, the member from Mississippi, did impute, or intended to impute, to me a falsehood, nothing except the fact that this is the Senate would prevent my denouncing him as a blackguard and a coward. [Applause and hisses.] Let me be more specific, Mr. President. Should the member from Mississippi, except in the presence of the Senate, charge me, by intimation or otherwise, with falsehood, I would denounce him as a blackguard, as a coward and a liar. The rules and proprieties of the Senate are the only restraint upon me. Ido not think I need say anything else, Mr. President.” [Applause andhisses.] The Chair demanded quiet •n the gallers. Mr. Lamar—“l have only to say that the Senator from New York understood me correctly. I did mean to say just precisely the words and all that they imported. 1 beg pardon ot the Senate for unparliamentary language. It was very harsh; it was severe; it was such as no good man would deserve and no brave man would wear.” [Renewed demonstrations of approval and disapproval.] Another effort was made in the House to take up the bill prohibiting political assessments, but the Republicans renewed their filibustering, leaving the House without a quorum. Ti.e Legislative Appropriation bill was passed in both houses.

The Senate remained in continuous session, without making any progress in legislation, till 11:50 in the forenoon of the 19th, when an adjournment was ordered, to aUow the new legislative day to begin at I*. When the Senate was again called to order, a discussion arose on the question of dispensing with the reading of the journal, which, owing to the all-night session, the clerks had not been able to frilly prepare. Sev eral attempts at a vote were made the Republican Senators declining to vote. Finally Mr. Carpenter suggested an agreement for adjournment, saying that if opportunity was given his side to discuss the bill before the Senate, he had no doubt a vote could be reached by (i o’clock the following day. Mr. Withers, on the Democratic side, favored the proposal, and, on motion of Mr. Thurman, the Senate adjourned at 3 o’clock p. m. In the House, Mr. McMahon submitted the conference report upon the Judicial Expenses bill. Section 3 prohibits the making of any contract or the incurring of any liability under the provisions of the Revised Statutes authorizing the appointment or payment of general or special Deputy Marshals for services in connection with elections on election day. After some discussion, the report was adopted -yeas. 102; nays, 79. r / » The Senate, on the 20th, continued the consideration of the Army bill. The measure was debated by Messrs. Carpenter, Ingalls, .Kirkwood, Logan, Conkling, Eaton, Bayard and Thurman. The bill then passed—2o to 17, Mr. Burnside the only Republican voting with the majority—and at 2 o'clock in the morning the Senate adjourned. Committee presented their views upon the subjects discussed in the President’s veto message. Referring to the majority report, presented some days before, the minority say: “The repeated efforts in said report to make it appear that the right or authority to interfere with State elections, or with the freedom and lawful conduct of any election, is claimed or asserted in any quarter, is hardly deserving of serious notice. The minority in Congress have made no such claim. The right of Federal supervision contended for applies to Congressional elections only. This is entirely ignored in the report of the majority. Their report proceeds upon the false assumption that the President advocates the use of Federal authority to supervise State elections. No such claim is made in the message under consideration or in any

message or utterance of the President; neither does the message advocate or jus ify military interference with tbe freedom of any elections. On the contrary, the Presi jent uses the following language: “ ‘Holding, as I do. the opit ion that any military interference at the polls is contrary to the spirit of our institutions, and would tend to destroy the fr«cdom of elections, and sincerely desiring to concur with Congress in all its measures, it is with very great re ret that I am forced to the conclusion that the bill before me is not only unnecessary to prevent such interference, but 1’ is a dangerous depar ure from long-settled and important constitutional principles. “ ‘The true rule as to the employment of military force at elections is not doubtful. No intimidation or coercion should be allowed to control or infiu ence citizens in the exercise of their right to vote, whether it be in the shape of combinations of evildisposed persons, or of armed bodies of militia of the State, or of the military force of the United States. Elections shall be free from all forcible interference, and as far as practicable from all apprehensions of such interference. No soldiers, cither of the Union or of the State militia, should tie present at the polls to take the place or to perform the duties of the ordinary civil police force. There has been and will be no violation of this rule under orders from me during this administr»‘'on.’” ae report says it is conceded that, during the civil war, some Generals—among others, Gen. McClellan —issued orders interfering with elections where disloyalty existed, and that “ these and similar orders undoubtedly exercised influences in securing the enactment of the law of 1865. which prohibits the use of tbe army or Lavy at the time and place of any general or special election in any State, except it be necessary to reilel the armed enemies of the United States or to keep peace at the polls, and also prohibits any militarv or naval officer from prescribing the qualifications of voters, or in any manner interfering with the exercise of the free right of suffrage in any State. This law, with appropriate penalties for its violation, was approved by President Lincoln, and since its enactment we do not believe there has been any well-grounded cause of complaint of military interference with "lections." The report of a Congressional committee in regard to the operation of the law in New York city is alluded to, in which itwas declared that “This happy result [a free, fair, and honest election] was the consequence of the co-operation be-tween-the official advisers of city and United States officers.” lu conclusion the min jrity say : *ltis to remain a law of the land. All efforts for its repeal have been for the present abandoned. It is the constitutional duty of the President to see that it is faithfully executed. Many of its provisions are applicable to and only to be enforced on the day an election is held. Why should the authority to use ail lawful and constitutional means to execute it be suspended or crippled on that day ? To whatever ext< nt this may be done, the law will be rendered a nullity so far as it is a law for such days only. Why should the day of election be excepted from the operation of this or any other statute? Surely, the need may be as great on that day as on any other. A proposal to impose like restrictions at every place where a court is to be held on the Fourth of July, or Eighth of January, or any other holiday or anniversary that is to be celebrated or observed, would be met with the jeers or contempt ot all good men. rhe laws should be enforced and executed on all days and at all times and places. To abdicate the authority of the Government of the United States to execute its laws on the day of election would be a fatal mistake, and constitute a precedent of the most dangerous character.” On the 21st the Senate adopted the conference report on the Judicial Expenses bill—3l to 17. After a long discussion upon the proposition to strike out the item in the Postal Deficiency bill increasing the pay of letter carriers, it was voted that the item be retained in the bill. The House joint resolution authorizing the completion of the foundation of the Washington monument was passed. In the House a message was received from the President announcing his approval of the Legislative bill. During the day’s session there was utter apathy manifested, so that it was almost impossible to obtain .a quorum tn any vote, and no business of any importance was done.