Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1881 — NEWS OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOREIGN NEWS. A dispatch from Dublin Buys the average emergency committee are taking steps to procure Protestant tenants for Irish landlords who are about to evtct the present occupants of their land*. It is thought there will be no lack of afqi&OMlts, for the passage of the Coercion tail has emboldened all who were opposed to Hba Land League, Numerous evictions arc talking place all over Ireland, and the scenes in •some cases are said to be heartrending. Am*her destructive conflagration haß ‘ xxisSred in Tokio, Japan. Eleven thousand •taA'uses were destroyed, and 80,000 people rendered homeless. A party of fifty armed men are reported to have visited several houses in Kerry, Ireland, stolen forty guns, and compelled the farmers to swear that they will pay only Griffith’s valuation. Fenian lodges have been discovered?n Lancashire, England, and a quantity of arms ■seized. JVjrty-five oaf-loads of munitions of wsur, destined for Greece, have been embargoed .a* Dunkirk. The authorities at Marneilkw have stopped a large amount of dynamise which was on the way to the Greeks. ’Thomas Carlyle bequeathed his Dumfriesshire estate to the University of Edinburgh. The Arms bill passed in the British House of Commons forbids the possession of arms except by license, permits the searclung of houses between sunrise and sunset, and regulates tho importation of arms, dynamite and nitro-g 13-ccrino. The bill is to have effect for five years. Detailed accounts of the engagement between Gon. Colley and the Boers at Spitzkop frendec it certain that the British were fairly hefcton. The fight ended in a rout, and the unost moderate estimate places the loss at 800 killed and wounded.

Tho losses by fire and robbery during the riots in Lima and Callao are estimated at ♦6.000,000. The correspondent who was with Gen. Colley at Spitzkop, and who was captured and subsequently released by the Boers, has written a very graphic description of the engagenent. His statement shows tint, with every advantage on the side of the British, the Boers carried the day by sheer fighting. Gen. •Colley had 690 men, and a position that "was regarded as absolutely impregnable. 'Tho Boers, who numbered about 1,000, made several attempts to carry tho position with a rush, biit each time they were driven back with the bayonet. At last they made a tremendous charge, and the British were routed, fit w*,s an instantaneous change from perfect *ul& ty to total defeat Drouyn de L’Huys, Minister of Foreign Affairs in France under the republic, and again under the empire, is dead. In tlie debate on the second reading of tho Arms bill in tho British House of Commons, Dillon defended his advice to the Irish to arm, and said that in the event of their disarmament they were resolved to disarm tho landlords also. He declared that were ho a tenant farmer he would keep a rifle to kill landlords, and expressed his regret that the Irish people had not resorted to civil war. Advices from Honolulu report a deplorable condition of affairs there. Small-pox is epidemic, and many houses are quarantined, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the city. The Pope has asked the Czar to grant amnesty to the Bishops and priests exiled to Siberia. Full returns of the census just taken in Germany show a population of 45,194,172, A cable dispatch from Rome says : “The loss of life by the earthquake on the island of Ischia is appalling. One hundred and two bodies have been found at Cassamaciati up to the present. It is stated that 300 houses have fallen at Casaamaciati. One hundred and ten corpses have been recovered, and sixty-seven wounded sent to the hospital. The fissures in the streets were fifty centimetres wide, and the people fled from town and encamped in the fields.” The British Ministry has settled upon terms of peace with the Boers, which were telegraphed Gen. Wood last week. It has been snowing steadily in Scotland for seventy hours. Traffic is blocked, and many shipwrecks are reported on the coast. Harris, Boyton and Sheridan, the Irish traversers, have reappeared. About twenty Americans in the counties of Cork, Limerick and Kerry, Ireland, have applied to the United States Consul at Queenstown for protection. They fear arrest under the Coercion act.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. East The Italian bark Ajace was wrecked off Coney island. Ten of the crew were drowned, and four others cut their throats in despair. Samuel J. Tilden predicts for Gen. Garfield the stormiest Presidential term on record. L. B. Boomer, the famous bridgebuilder of Chicago, died at the Windsor Hotel, in New York, of apoplexy. West ' Herman Fisher, of St. Louis, killed Peter Kealeamann with one blow of his fist. A fire at Chatsworth, 111., destroyed ten mercantile houses, leaving $31,000 to be adjusted by the insurance companies. A gentleman who has traversed Southern lowa and Northwest Missouri reports the winter wheat in magnificent condition. Harry S. New treated the people of Indianapolis to a sensation by cowhiding J. G. Thompson for writing reflections upon his wife and father. Judge Moran, of Chicago, refuses to grant naturalization papers to Chinamen, on the ground that they are not white men. A shocking double railway disaster occurred on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. A train was thrown from the track near Bericr, Mo., in the night. Twelve persons were injured, none of them very seriously, however. A wrecking train with thirtysix men on board, which started from Brooklyn, Mo., to the scene of the accident, went through a bridge into a broken heap, down a distance of over twenty feet. Every man was injured more or less. Dr. Wood, one of the physicians on the train, was killed outright, and five others died shortly afterward. Not a man of the entirt thirty-six on the train escaped injuiy. The State Capitol at St. Paul, Minn., caught fire while both houses were in session, and burned to the ground. The members escaped by means of ladders, although some pf

them were slightly singed. The loss on the building is about $100,900. The historical and Supreme Court libraries were destroyed. The records were saved. A coal field, six miles long and half a mile wide, has been discovered in Arizona, seventy miles north of Tucson. An immense double-decked, fourmasted steamship, with a carrying capacity of 80,000 bushels of grain, has just been launched at Cleveland. She is to be used between Chicago and Buffalo. Thirty-five Chinamen and three whites were killed by an explosion in the coal mine near Alma Station, in Wyoming. By an explosion at the Eureka powderworks, at San Francisco, two Chinamen were killed and five others wounded. Ex-Sheriff O’Hair, of Edgar county, Ill.,'shot a Chinaman at Peris. The Chinaman's offense consisted in suspecting O’Hair of hnviog robbed him. There was an exciting scene at the funeral of C. E. Freeze, the young man who committed suicide in Fort Wayne, Ind. His mother arrived during tho service and wanted to take the body homo for interment, which tho widow would not allow. The mother then rushed into the street, summoned a crowd, aud asked lhem to take the corpse by force. They refused. Bhe then demanded that a second inqnest be held, alleging that her son had been murdered. Sho was finally quieted and induced to return to her hotel, and the funeral proceeded without further interruption. South. The house of Dudley Hunter, of Shelby ville, Ky., was burned, and three children perished in the flames. Andy Page, of Broad well, Ky., an aged colored man, got his head fastened in a barrel of water while attempting to get a drink, and before assistance could reach him was drowned. The Pearl hominy-mills, at Baltimore, havo been burned, the loss being $70,000.

WASHINGTON NOTES. A Washington telegram says : “ Representative Hurd, the leading spirit of the new free-trado organizations, says the purpose is to push forward vigorously and organize Democratic free-trade clubs all through Ohio for a Btnto election this year. Mr. Hurd says free trade will be the Democratic issue in Ohio, supplemented by opposition to the concentrated power of national banks.” The monthly public-debt statement, on the Ist inst., is as follows: Six per cent, bonds $ 202.266,550 Five per cents .' 469,320,650 Four and one-half per cents 250,000,000 Four oer cents 738,565,050 Refunding certificates 782,750 Navy pension fund 14,000,000 Total coin bonds $1,674,935,500 Matured debt $ 6,578,725 Legal tenders 346,741,711 Certificates of deposit... 7,965,000 Fractional currency 7,144,413 Gold and silver certificates 54,425,740 Total without interest. 416,276,865 Total debt $2,097,810,590 Total interest 15,353,999 Cash in treasury 233,208,176 Debt less cash In treasury $1,879,956,412 Decrease during February 11,843,155 Decrease since June 30, 1880 62,215,882 Current liabilities— Interest due aud unpaid $ 2,795,597 Debt on which interest has ceased 6,698,725 Interest thereon 760,292 Gold and silver certificates 54,425,740 United States notes held for redemption of certificates of deposit 7,965,000 Cash balance available March 1,1881..,. 160,602,822 T0ta1.... $ 233,208,176 Available assets— Cash in treasury .$ 233,208,176 Bonds issued to Pacific railway companies, interest payable in lawful money, principal outstanding $ 64,623,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid 646,625 Interest paid by United States 49,528,566 Interest repaid by companies— Interest repaid by transportation of mai15......; 1.. 14,079,707 By cosh payments of 5 per oeut of net earnings 655,198 Balance of Interest paid by the United States 34,793,660 Over 1,500 bills which were not acted upon remain upon the calendar of the last Congress. Don Piatt has withdrawn from the Washington Capital, and proposes to retire to a hermitage in Ohio.

POLITICAL POINTS. The United States Supreme Court has decided adversely to the claim of Charles J. Folger, formerly sub-Treasurer of New York, lor nearly $200,000 as commissions on the sale of revenue stamps. Between Feb. 19 and March 21, the deposits of legal tenders for the purpose of retiring circulation amounted to $18,069,970. Gen. Garfield arrived at Washington on the morning of the Ist inst., accompanied by his mother, his wife, his daughter Mollie and his sons Irvin and Abram, and was welcomed by Col. Bob Ingersoll, Chairman of the Committee on Inauguration Ceremonies. President Hayes, after an interview with Gen. Garfield, issued a proclamation convening the Senate in spec : al session March 4. The new President, after much deliberation, thought it would not be wise to advocate a departure from tho established precedent, and delay the session until the election of a successor to tho late Senator Carpenter.

DOINGS IN CONGRESS. The Monroe doctrine resolution was referred to in the Senate on Wednesday, Feb. 28,' Mr. Eaton announcing that be would press the resolution to a vote. The bill authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to sell worthless vessels and place the proceeds to tho credit of a naval construction fund was recommitted. A bill giving any medical, pay, or engineer officer who, has served, or may servo a term as chief of a bureau of the navy, and whose name has been on the navy register thirty years, the relative rank and pay of a Commodore on' Qje retired list, was passed. After some further business, Mr. Windom obtained the floor and. anticipating his intention by twenty-four hours, ad-

dressed the Senate In WtppoH bf the Hemroe doctrine resolution. A bill Was passed appropriating $76,739 al payment of the claim of Capt Samuel C. Reid, of the privateer Gen. Armstrong, which was sunk by the British fleet in a" neutral harbor during the war of 1812. President Hayes sent a massage to Congress accompanied by a report from Collector Merritt, of New York, in reply to Senator Conkling’s resolution as to the enforcement of the civil-service rules in the New York Custom House and postofficS. Collector Merritt’s report sets forth that Ml permanent appointments have been atafehred in accordance with the ciVitserViUe rules, adopted by him when he took charge of the office; that promotions have been made on the ground of length of service and efficiency alone and that the efficiency of the office has been increased. The Senate adopted the conference reports on the Legislative, Postoffice and Indian Appropriation bills, and passed a bill for the survey of public lands in Lucas and Ottawa counties, Ohio, the House of Representatives met in continuation of Saturday’s session, aDd proceeded to vote Ch the amendments to the Sundry Civil bill. That striking out the provision for the purchase of the private papers of Gens. Brsgg and Polk, and that appropriating $200,000 for coaling stations on the Isthmus of Panama, were agreed to. The House then went through the motions of adjourning and reassembling for Monday’* session, and proceeded with the consideration of the bilL The amendment requiring our representatives to the monetary conference to insist upon the recognition of stiver was rejected. The bill finally passed. Mr. Reagan moved non-coneurruhce lb the Senate amendments to the River ahd Harbor bill and the appointment of a confers ce committee. This was agreed to. An attempt was made to call up the Funding bill, but it failed. Mr. White proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting the payment of ciaima for proper** injured or destioyed in the late war. Eulogies upon Fernando Wood were delivered at the evening session. There are 1,664 bills and resolutions pending in Congress. In the United States Senate, on Tuesday, March 1, the Committee on Foreign Relations was discharged from tho consideration of bills for railways or ship canals across the isthmus. Bills were passed: To establish a life-saving station at Louisville; to dispose o£ Osage Indian lands in Kansas, and to open a portion of the Fort Rldgely reservation In Minnesota to homestead and timber-culture entry The Japanese Indemnity bill, directing the payment of $4,163,224 to Japan, Came Up and was discussed, but no actiou was taken, There was a bare quorum present at the evening session. The conference report on the Fortifications bill was agreed to, and several House bills Were taken tip and passed. In tho House, the General Deficiency bill, the last oi the appropriations, was reported-. The Senate amendments to the agricultural appropriation were concurred in, one of which gives $10,090 for the investigation of pleuro-pneumOhia. The Senate amendments to the River aud Harbor bill were agreed to, making the appropriation $11,141,800. Mr. Acklen’s title to the seat from the Third Louisiana district was confirmed. A struggle then en ued over the Funding and Apportionment bills. The House refused to consider tho latter, but the Funding bill was finally taken up. Mr. Conger raised the point of order that tho Senate amendments must be considered In committee of the whole, but the chair overruled it. Without acting upon the measure, the House took a recess. On reassembling the consideration of the bill was resumed, and Mr. Conger raised more points of order, which were regularly overruled. Mr. Tucker demanded the previous question upon all but four of the Senate amendments, ahd it was carried by a vote of 100 to 60. The amendments were concurred in. Attempts were made to modify the remaining amendments, but they failed, and, after a struggle which lasted until 12:45 a. jd», the House took a recess, leaving three of the Senate amendments to be disposed of.

The Senate took up the Sundry Civil bill, on Wednesday, March 2, to which the Senate committee had added $2,119,000. Most of the amendments were agreed to without important debate. Mr. Bayard offered a new amendment, authorizing the Secretary to use surplus money for the purchase or redemption of bonds. It was adopted without objection. An amendment offered to the bill to enable the Secretary of ihe Treasury to reimburse President Hayes lor the amount he paid out of his own private purse ($3,950) to meet the expenses of the Wayne MacVeagh Commission to Louisiana in 1877 gave rise to a lively disoussion, participated in by Beck, Bailey, Conkling, Jonas and 1 hurmau. Beck and Bailey favored the amendment, and the latter took occasion to say of President Hayes’ administration that there had been no better ot purer one for fifty years. Conkling made the amendment the bccasion to give the President a hit, sneered at the Commissioners es tourists, and ricliiculed the item. Thurman humorously requested that the amendment L>e allowed to go over till the next Senate could act on it, and then John Sherman, who was one of the promoters of the commission, could defend it against tho ridicule of Coukiiug, and Wayne MacVeagh, the prospective Attorney General, could give his opinion on the legality of the item. After some more discussion the amendment was tabled by a unanimous vote. A vote on the amendment appropriating $20,000 for the purchase of the papers of Confederate Gens. Bragg and Polk resulted in its defeat. The bill was finally passed. The Funding bill was received irom the House and signed by the Vice President. An attempt was mado to go into executive session to set upon the contested cases, but the Republicans, in view of the fact that many of their number were absent, opposed and finally defeated it. The House of Representatives met in continuation of Tuesday’s session, and the struggle over the Funding bill was resumed. Mr. Tucker demanded the previous question on the Senate amendment authorizing pub:ic subscriptions for the new bonds and certificates, bnt there was no quorum voting. Under a suspension of the rules, the Deficiency bill was taken up and passed. Mr. Tucker then returned to the attack, and after a good deal of filibustering on the part of the Republicans, succeeded in obtaining concurrence in the remaining Senate amendments. All other amendments proposed were rejected, and the bill passed. Mr. Carlisle then moved to suspend the rules and pass a bill amending the Funding act so as to conform with the amendments proposed by the Ways and Means Committee. After some debate the motion prevailed and the bill passed. The Speaker then signed the enrolled Funding bill, and the House adjourned.

Au attempt was made in the Senate on Thursday, March 3, to replace the Funding bill, add ing to the Deficiency Appropriation bill an amendment embodying all the main features of the vetoed act, but leaving out the objeotlonable fifth section Objection was made to the addition as not being ger mane to the bill, and it was ruled out. The Senate, after an animated discussion, passed the amendment appropriating $165,000 for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of the Interior to indemnify the Ponca tribe of Indians lor losses sustained by them in consequence of their removal to the Indian Territory, to secure to them lands in severalty on either the old or new reservation, In accordance with their wishes, and to settle all matters of differences with these Indians. The Japanese Indemnity biil passed the Senate by a vote of 46 to 6. The biil directs the payment to the Government of Japan of $1,463,224. Of this sum $248,000 is to go gs a prize to the crews and officers of the United States ship Wyoming and the steamer Takiang. In the House, the Apportionment bill introduced by Mr. Cox, amended by the insertion of 319 members instead of 307, passed by a vote of 145 to 113, Several Democrats voted with the It ©publicans for the number inserted. Tho veto messa go on the Refunding bill was received from the President and read by the Clerk. Mr. Tucker moved that the message be printed and laid on the table for f u tnre consideration, Carried. The Sundry Civil biil, which appropriates $21,573,000, passed the House ,n the form in which it was reported from the conference, committee. Mr. Singleton, at midnight, made the point of order that the 4th of March had arrived, and all legislation after that hour was illegal. Nothing of importance was done after that hour, a general good time being indulged in, and the floor of the House being given over to a scene of the utmost confusion. A recess till 10 o’clock was carried about 3 a. m. The Senate met at 10:30 on the 4th of March, but transacted no business. A joint resolution was offered for an extra month’ll pay to the Senate’s officials and employes, which was briefly debated and passed. At IS o’clock Vice President Wheeler bade the Senate adieu in a few words, and declared the Senate adjourned sine die. Vice President Arthur then took the gavel and called the new Senate to order. The ceremony of swearing in the new Senators was then proceeded with, and ail but Senator Mahone responded to the call of their names and took the oath of office. Ab soon as this was concluded the ceremony of inaugurating the President was carried out, the Senate adjourning to the east portico. After this ceremony the Senate adjourned for the day. In the House, the closing hours were full at confusion, and no business was transacted. Mr. Conger presented the customary resolution of thanks to Speaker Bandall, and at 12 o’clock the Forty-sixth Congress adjourned without day. Mr. Hoar offered a resolution, in the Senate, on March 5, extending to Gen. Winfield S. Hancock the privileges of the floor during his stay in Washington. Adopted unanimously. Mr. Blaine, in accordance with a notice given by him some weeks ago, submitted the following resolution: “ Resolved , That a special committee of five Senators be appointed by tho Chair to take into censid-cr-ition the mode of voting for President and Vice President of the United States, and the mode of counting and certifying the same, who shall report such propositions for a change in the law and constitution as may seem expedient; that said committee have power to sit during the recess of Congress, and that they be directed to report on or before tho second Wednesday in January, 1882.” The resolution was temporarilylaid on the table to be printed. President Garfield tent to the Senate the names of the persons he has chosen to form his Cabinet, as follows: Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of Maine; Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Minnesota; Secretary of W'ar, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisiana; Secretary of the Ulterior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa; Postmaster GeneraLThomas L. James, of New York; Attorney General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania.