Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1879 — EPITOME OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

EPITOME OF THE WEEK.

Current Paragraphs. Prince Alexander has dissolved the Bulgarian Assembly, The- cattle-plague has broken out in the island of Cyprus. • True bills have been found against Davitt, Killen and Daly for sedition. For the first time since Iflfil the River Seine was frozen over at Parti on the Uth. A new Ministry' has been formed in Spain u nder the leadership of Canovas del Castillo, r _ It was stated on the 11th that the great St. Gothard Tunnel, in Switzerland, onlylacked 50j meters of completion. , Over two thousand packages of oleomargarine are said to be daily sold as dairy butter in the New York market. - Ex-Senator Ramset, of Minnesota, was nominated and con finned as Secretary of War, vice McCrary resigned, on the 10th. Congressman Alfred M. Lay, of the Seventh .Missouri District, died at his hotel In Washington, on the morning of the Bth, iff paralysis. ’•The readjusters of the Virginia Legislature have nominated General William Mahone as their candidate for' the United States Senate# - Judge Ketcham, of the United States District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania, died in Pittsburgh a few days ago, of apoplexy. The French Court <sf Cassation has suspended a Toulouse Judge for toasting Coant de Chambord as 'King of France at a Legitimist banquet. The Pope has again advised the Catholic Bishops of Chili and Peru to exercise their good offices in the direction of peace between the two powers, i Petitions to Congress for the repeal of the act bare recently been circulated and extensively signed in New York, Boston and other Eastern cities. One of the most violent storms in the memory of the oldest inhabitant occurred in Dakota on the 10th. Bnow fell to a great depth, and drifted to. such an extent as to make travel impossible.' The Republican Senatorial Committee, by a vote of eight to one, resolved on the 9th upon a policy of iron-action in regard to any and all legislation affecting the currency during the present session of Congress. On the 12th the New York Board of State Canvassers declared all the Republican candidates elected except ttyj State Engineer and Surveyor. Horatio Seymour, Jr., the Democratic candidate for that office, is declared elected.

Red Rock, a town in Pennsylvania, near Bradford, was completely destroyed by fire on the 12th. The fire started from the accidental ignition of a quantity of petroleum, and the explosion of several tanks of oil completed the work of destruction. Three hundred families are rendered homeless and entirely destitute. _ • A Washington dispatch of the 12th says the Senate Finance Committee had postponed till after the Christmas recess the Warner Silver bill, the Trade<dollar bill, and' Bayard’s resolution concerning greenbacks, on the ground that the subjects require fuller discussion than could be given by a committee before adjournmentThe Commission appointed by President Hayes to investigate the yellow-fever scourge in Cuba have made a preliminary re; port to the National Board of Health, in .which they state that the fever prevails in all places in that island from which reports had been received, provided those places are of any commercial importance and contain any considerable number of unacclimated persons to furnish food for the disease. The State Granges of lowa, Indiana and Ohio bare recently elected their officers for the ensuing year, among whom are: lowa —E. N. Gates, Worthy Master; M. L. Devin, Treasurer; W. L. Carpenter, Secretary. Indiana—Aaron Jones, Grand Master. Ohio— President, J. H. Brigham; Treasurer, R. Stevenson; Executive Committee, 8., H. Ellis, A. P. Axtell, D. Crouse; Business Agent, W. H. Hill. The Commission appointed by the insolvent court of Montreal to investigate the condition of the Consolidated Bank of that city has discovered that everything was swept away by the mismanagement and corruption of the directors and the absconding superintendent. A special of the 10th says the stock had been offered for nothing to those who would assume the liability of the call, the Sjunt of which was still unknown. The ital sunk in this rotten concern was estimated at $6,000,000. '

A Pesth (Hungary) dispatch of the 12th says nearly all the rivers and brooks in Transylvania bad overflowed their banks, laying under water vast tracts of country, and destroying bridges and houses, interrupting communications, and sweeping away farming utensils, cattle and grain. In some cases the inhabitants were for days on trees and the roofs of houses, waiting rescue. Six villages near Arad had been destroyed, and many entire families who had found refuge in neighboring woods were frozen to death. Several hundred persons were missing. On the fsth Judge Virgin, of the Maine Supreme Court, after hearing arguments in favor of and‘against the propriety of granting a writ of mandamus to compel the Governor and Council to throw open the election returns* for inspection, refused to grant the application, deciding, in substance, that the Governor and Council had an official duty to perform, and for that purpose had the of the returns for a reasonable time; that during that time they were acting under oath, and that while thus acting the court had no right to interfere. Hon. G. B. Grinnell, of lowa, delivered an address before the National Agricultural Society in New York on the evening of the 12th in which he stated that in lowa FAOOO,OOO annually are lost by what is known as hog cholera, and more than that sum by the insect which cuts short the wheat crop as the State. ‘ * lowa asks in vain for our men of science and means to discover a remedy for these losses. People complain with reason that the total appropriation of *200,000, which is not more than the value of a cheap • cigar for each of our inhabitants, is niggardly and out of proportion.” The women voted for members of . School Commitlees at the recent election in Bpeton and many other points in Msssachusetta. The reports show that the ladies voted nearly, if not quite, up to their full registration, which, in Boston, was nearly one thousand. A Boston telegram says; “ They generally voted early in the day, and came to the polls prepared—all ready with ballot*, an association favorable to the cause having seat by mall to all registered ladv ▼otara tickets headed with the names of the • eaadtdatas for members of the Echool Com-

mlttee. The decorum at the polls, and the eoorteay show* the new element in the voting population was a noticeable feature in the day's events.” (Jenera). A Vienna telegram of the 9th says intelligence .had been received from St. Petersburg that the Czar waa seriously considering the propriety of an early abdication of his throne. Up to the 9th there were 170 arrests in Moscow and its vicinity for supposed connection with the late attempt upon the life of the Czar. In consequence of the educational difficulties in Belgium the Pope has recalled the Papal Nuncio. Heavy snow-storms were reported on the 9th at all the principal European capitals. The city election in Boston on the 9th resulted in the re-election of Mayor Prince (Dem.) by a plurality of 2,763 out of an aggregate total vote of 85,473, of which Prince polled 18,798; Stebbins (Rep.) 16,033; King (Greenback candidate), 357; McDavttt (Butler Democrat), 287. Secretary Schurz sent a telegram to General Hatch, at Los Pinos, on the 9th, directing him to receive the surrender of the Indians designated, with the understanding that they win be guaranteed a fair trial by military commission outside of Colorado and New Mexico. Instructions were also given to take possession of the prisoners with a military guard, and convey them, In the first place, to Fort Leavenworth. Ex-President Grant was pleasantly received at Louisville, Ky., on the 10th, and accorded a hearty welcome by the State and municipal authorities and citizens generally. St. Petersburg dispatches of the 10th say the Czar had decided to abandon for the present his Asian policy, and devote his wisdom and strength to the development of home interests and the introduction of needed reforms. The police force in St. Petersburg had been greatly increased and the streets and passages in the vicinity of the Winter Palace were being incessantly patrolled. The Nihilists were very active and threatened further attempts upon the life of the Czar.

Fiftben Spanish Generals resigned their comfnissions on the 10th. The National Council of the Union League of America met in annual session at Philadelphia on the 10th. Wm. A. Newell, of New Jersey, was re-elected President; Thos. G. Baker, of New York, Corresponding Secretary, and Samuel F. Gwynner, of Pennsylvania, Recording Secretary. A series of resolutions was adopted declaring it the duty of the Nation to execute the laws with force, if necessary; demanding protection by National law of ail citizens in the enjoyment of all their privileges and immunities; denouncing Southern War claims, etc., etc. According to a Los Pinos telegram of the 11th Ouray had brought in one of the Indians demanded by the Commissioners, and had promised to surrender the others as soon as they were captured. It was stated that the Commission had decided to recommend that the White River Agency be abolished, and that the Utes of the agency be distributed between Los Pinos and the Southern Agency; that the loss of property occasioned by the outbreak be paid for out of the Ute fund now at Washington, and that the portion of the reservation formerly occupied by the White River Utes be ceded to the Government. Ex-President Grant arrived at Cincinnati on the 11th. Great preparations bad hecn made for his reception in that city, and the demonstration was on a par with those of other cities on similar occasion* Th* Mayor made a welcoming address, to which the ex-President appropriately responded. A banquet was given in the evening, which is said to have been the grandest affair of the kind in the history of the city. A Fredericksburg (Va.) telegram of the 11th states that leading Democratic citizens of Richmond County, in that State, headed by Charles Pitts, their recentlyelected member of the Legislature, had petitioned Judge Jones to include within the jury list such of the colored citizens of the county as the court shall think well qualified to serve as jurors. Lord Lytton, Viceroy of India, narrowly escaped death on the 12th. He had returned to Calcutta from a tour of the provinces, and while proceeding to bis residence was twice fired upon. The would-be-assassin was captured and found to be a drunken native. * Simla dispatches of the 12th report that the engagement at Kotal was more important than first reported. The Afghans had inflicted heavy loss on the British, and at the date of the last advices each party held its ground. It was feared that the British would be forced to abandon the position. All the Spanish Generals on the Island of Cuba, including General Blanco, the Captain-General, tendered their resignations on the 12th. *'•

On the 12th Secretary Schurz received information that the Utes, in demanding trial at Washington, only meant that they wished to be dealt with by the Gov ernment at any point outside of Colorado. One of the savages remarked that the offenders might as well be hanged to trees at the agency as to be tried at Denver. A Vienna telegram of the 12th says the Bhah of Persia had decided to send an extraordinary mission to European capital to seek recognition by Europe of the Persian Attrek frontier, which is threatened by Russia. On the 12th a petition in chancery was filed in the United States District Court at New Orleans to annql Mrs. Dorsey’s bequest to Jefferson Davis. The document accuses the great Confederate of unduly influencing a generous but weak-mindeddady, and alleges that his intercourse with her from first to last exhibited a design on his part to secure her fortune by working upon her political and religious sympathies. Several large land agitation meetings were held in the west of Ireland on the 14th.

Ox the morning of the 13th the British forces in Cabul, under General Baker, captured the heights of Bala-Hissar. The day before General MacPherson attempted to drive the Afghans from their position, but failed. During the three days’ fighting the British lost forty-three killed and seventy-six wounded. —> The French Chamber of Deputies voted on the 13th to appropriate 600,000 francs to prosecute the survey for a railroad across the Desert of Sahara. A Case Town dispatch, received on the 13th, says the Colonial forces had successfully stormed the stronghold of the rebellious chieftain Moirosi, who was killed with many of his followers. A Party of engineers left New York on the 13th for Mexico to locate and superintend the construction of a railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The promoters of this enterprise have formed a company, and it is said they hope, by completing their work at an early day, to defeat the canal project During the four months ending on the 13th the amount of gold brought to New York from Europe was *71,673,950. The New re P orted “ aggregate reserve of in cxcsm of the minimum, but a decrease from the previous week of over •3,000,000. Their loans, deposits and circulation ebowed an iMreaae.

General Grant arrived at Pittsburgh, Pa-, on the 13th, and there met with a hearty welcome, the public demonstrations being on a par with those of other cities on like occasions. It was announced on the 14th that the bark Monrovia was about to sail from New York for Monrovia, Liberia, with another cargo of negro emigrants for the Republic of Liberia. They had been picked up by agents of the American Colonization Society in all the principal cities of the South, many of them coming from North Carolina. The Virginia public schools have recently closed for one month for want of funds. The committee appointed to make a sanitary survey of Memphis hss recommended that measures should be taken to secure proper superintendence and subsequent care of the sanitary work to be undertaken by the city; that at an early date every house in the city should be opened, ventilated and chilled; that a lazgc number of houses should be condemned, torn down, and the materials burned; that a system of sewerage be adopted which will carry the subsoil drainage into the Mississippi River, etc., etc.

Congress. Monday, December B.—Among the bills introduced In the Senate were the following: To authorize certain improvements in the channel of the Missouri River; providing for the removal of the Indians from Colorado; to encourage and aid the education of the colored race in the several States and Territories. A resolution waa adopted, directing the Secretary of the Interior to give information to the Senate as to the number, and where located, of mining camps which have been es tablished on the Ute Indian reservation in Colorado, and what efforts, if any, have been made to remove such camps, etc. Resolutions were offered by Mr. Voorhees (Indiana), ordered printed and laid on the table, expressing astonishment and regret at the proposition of the President and Secretary of the Treasury “to inaugurate a new and uncalled for financial agitation, with a view to the destruction of the most necessary currencies now in use in the hands of the people,” and declaring that the true interests of the country require free and unlimited gold and silver coinage, and tha. it is part of a wise financia policy to maintain the greenback currency and its legal-tender quality in a volume not less than now exists. A message was received from the House announcing the death of Representative Lay, and the concurrent resolution for a committee to arrange for tbefuneral was agreed to and the committee was appointed, and, as a mark of further respect, the Senate then adjourned....ln the House Mr. Clark announced the death of Mr. Lay (Missouri), and resolutions of regret were adopted and a committee was appointed to arrange for the funeral. Adjourned. Tuesday, December 9.—ln the Senate the bills for the interchange of subsidiary silver coins and to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 810,000,000 of four-per-cent. bonds for the payment of arrears of pensions were reported from the Committee on Finance and indefinitely postponed. A petition was presented and referred from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, representing 5,000 churches and over 500,000 communicants, asking for a commission of inquiry concerning the alcohol liquor traffic. A memorial whs S resented and referred from certain cx-sol-iers, representing that they were paid in a depreciated currency, and asking Congress to make up the deficiency. The nomination of Secretary McCrary to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit was confirmed without debate or di vision.... A joint resolution was introduced and referred in the House proposing an amendment to the Constitution providing that, after the 4th of March. 1885. the President and Vice-President shall hold their offices for six years, and shall be ineligible for more than one term consecutively, and that members of Congress shall be elected for three years. Bills were introduced—to amend the laws relating to internal revenue; toretire National Bank circulation and substitute United States Treasury notes therefor; to repeal the Resumption act; declaring that,after the Ist <>f January, nothing but gold and silver coin shall be a legal-tender for debts thereafter contracted, unless otherwise expressly stipulated; for the protection of trade-marks; to prohibit the further removal of Indians to the Indian Territory; to authorize the purchase of foreign-built ships by United States citizens, for use in foreign trade. Joint resolutions were introduced and referred expressing sympathy for “the efforts now being made by patriotic Irishmen to ameliorate the condition of their beloved country,” and requesting the President to “ communicate to her Majesty’s Government our hope that some Just arrangement may be early made by which the Irish peasants may become the owners of the soil they cultivate.” A concurrent resolution for adjournment from the 19th of December to the 6th of January was agreed to.

Wednesday, December 10.—In the Senate consideration was resumed of Mr. Davis’ (W. Va.) resolution calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for a statement of the amount paid out of the Treasury since 1864 on private claims growing out of the late war, and an amendment was accepted extending the time back to March 4, 1861; Mr. Morrill moved to further amend by calling for a like statement of all such claims which have been presented to and rejected by, or mrty be now pending in, the Treasury Department, which amendment was rejected, and the resolution was then adopted by a party vote, the Republicans voting no. The House concurrent resolution to adjourn from December 19 to January 6 was adopted—9B to 21. Mr. Morrill offered a resolution, which was laid over under the rules, similar to the rejected amendment which he had moved to add to Mr. Davie’ resolution of Inquiry as to war claims paid by the Treasury Department ...A joint resolution was introduced and referred in the House proposing an amendment to the Constitution declaring that polygamy shall not exist in the United States, or in any place subject to their jurisdiction....A bill relative to Supreme Court reports was considered and amended in Committee of the Whole, reported to the House and passed. A bill was introduced and referred establishing a government for the District of Columbia. Thursday, December 11.—A joint resolution was adopted in the Senate authorizing the Secretary of the Interior, through a commission of five pereons to be appointed President, to negotiate with the Ute Indians for their removal from Colorado, but expressly stipulating that the Indians shall not be settled in the Indian Territory. A bill was passed appropriating *200,000 for the erection of such military posts on or near the Rio Grande frontier as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of War for the adequate protection thereof.... Bills were passed in the House—authorizing allowances for loss, by leakage or casualty, of spirits wi rawn from distillery warehouses for exportation; providing that registry fees shall be paid by homesteaders already occupying eighty acres of public land when they select the additional eighty acres to which they are entitled by law. Resolutions were offered and referred—calling on the Secretary of the Treasury to report what fraudulent claims have been paid out of appropriations from June 22,1874, to December, 1877; providing for the appointment of a select committee of five to Investigate the cause of the negro expdus. The Fortification Appropriation (*375,000) and the Invalid Pension Appropriation (*.52,400,000) bills were reported, ordered printed and recommitted. Friday, December 12.—The Senate was not in session, having adjourned the day before to the 15th Bills were introduced in the House—by Mr. Gibson, for the appointment of an Inter-Oceanic Commission to determine the best plan and route for the establishment of a communication for trade and commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Darien; by Mr. Gillette, in opposition to the retirement of greenbacks and In favor of substituting them for National Bank notes, and for the free coinage of silver. The Pension and Fortification Appropriation bills were passed, as was also—l 23 to 76—a bill appropriating *20,0X) as indemnity and compensation to the widow and heirs of Henry Leer, in consequence of the illegal seizure of the bark Mary Theresa by the United States Consul at Brazil. Adjourned to the 15th.

—“Lawyers,” observed Daddy Wilson, contemplatively, “is certainly sharp files. They don’t think nothin’ of filin’ the harefest kind of a bill of particulars. ” “Yes,” replied that grandson of his, “but did you ever hear of one filin’ down a bill of costs?” Thus, on the voyage of life, we sometimes find wisdom’s current setting both ways.” —A strange relic has iust been presented to the State of Arkansas. ft is a white leather belt with the imprint across it of a bloody hand. It was worn by Colonel Archibald Yell, who, fighting desperately on the field of Buena Vista, got a fatal wound, and in trying to tear away the belt left red finger mark*.