Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1879 — EPITOME OF THE WEEK. [ARTICLE]

EPITOME OF THE WEEK.

Current Paragraph*. An International Exhibition will be held in Home in l ViiFor the first time since 1861 the River Heiuc was froze u over at Paris on the 11th. The British Parliament lias been summoned to meet ou the sth of February, 188°. , _ General Grant has announced his intention to visit Washington in January, as the guest of General Beale. On the 16th twelve men were killed and six fatally injured liy an explosion of blasting material in a Wurtemhurg salt-mine. In the Ottawa Valiev, Ontario, the thermometer ranged l ' from fifteen to thirtyfour degrees below zero on the night of the 17th.

Calcraft, the man who, during the previous forty-six years, had conducted the public executions in Great Britain, died on the 15th. , Famine has appeared in the province of Van, in Armenia, and the Armenian Patriarch at Constantinople has issued an appeal for charity. ■ Tits remains of a young man who died of cohsumptioti in New York were cremated .In the I.c Moyne crematory at Washington, Pa-. on the 10th, * The printers in Denver, Col., recently struck for an advance of fire cents ;er l,o(k>, and the demand was granted. The price now paid is forty fiTe cents. The evicted tenant who assaulted Lord Fertnoy at Limerick the other day has l»een tried and convicted of the offense, and sentenced to five years' penal servitude. Samuel E. Perkins, Chief Jnstiee of the Indiana Supreme Court, died on the night of. ftic 17th at Ids residence in Indianapolis. Judgu Perkins was sixty-eight years old. The people in some portions of Persia and Turkish Kurdistan arc said to be starving, and an American missionary has appealed to the world lii their behalf for charity. At the meeting of the Presbyterian Synod of Long Island on the 18th the appeal of the ••p|Hinc!its of Mr. Taimagc from the dcri.si in of the Presbytery was dismissed by a two-thirds vote. Di king the tyte snow-storm which prevailed in Nebraska and Dakota, General Crook, who was put hunting wild geese, nearly lost bis life. Ili? haiidkaml feet were badly frozen. Di king the hat sixty days 300 perPiUis have been killed by Indians in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico: The Governor has offered a rewanl of #IOO for every Indian’s scalp brought to him. . The fee bill reducing the fees and salaries of ail Wyonjing officers, passed at the late Session of the Legislature, has been stolen, as is alleged, since adjournment, by some of the parties interested.

At a meeting of the grain dealers of New York, on the Isth the vote of the P/odr Ucv Exchange to conform to the cental system wits loudly denounced, and a resolution to adopt the sv-ttem was defeated by an overw helloing vote. A young man from Pleasant Ridge, OUio, entered a Cincinnati dissecting-room on the l*Uh, in search of the remains of his mother, w hiett had been stolen by grave-rob-Ihts, and found the corpse on a table and two students in the act of dissecting it. General William Mahone, the candidate of the Readjustee* of the Virginia Legislature, was electcdJUidled States Senator ou the Pith, by a vote of 79 against 53 for Mr. Withers, the present ineuinhent. The vote in the Senate was Mahone, “28; Withers, 13. In the House, Mahone, 50; Withers, 40; Wickhani, 2. _ The detailed report of the condition of the Washington Monument, submitted to the House on the 10th, shows an cxjicniliture of #99,259 since the work was undertaken by the present Commissioner*, leaving unexpended and available for the further tionof the undertaking #100,739. To continue the work until October 31, 1881, would rcqttire #300,00) additional, s and to complete the shaft to the proposed height of 500 feet would require $677,32J. 'On the 16th Josephine Taylor, daughter of the President of the Mormon Church, escaped the vigilance of her father, ami, reaching Ogden penniless, boanled a passenger-train for the East. When the conductor made his usual ticket-taking tour he found her without, the necessary ticket, and, on arriving at the next station, pat her off without ceremony. Here she cutreated the ■cent to secrete her for a time, but he proved obdurate, and she was soon in custody and taken back to gait Lake City by her father's friends. The Department of Agriculture report says, regarding the condition of the cotton and corn crops, that the returns from correspondents for the month of November substantially confirm the report of the month previous. The weather had been favorable in all sections of the cotton belt. The corn crop, during November, depreciated through the imperfect ripening in our heaviest corngrowing regious, the States north of the Ohio River and Missouri, some'States falling off ten per cent. This will reduce the average yield per acre of the whole country to 41.1 bushels, which is exceeded by only one former year—29.4 in 1875. This reduces the aggregate production about 55,000,000 bushels from the November figures but still leaves the crop larger than in any previous year by over 150,000,000 bushels. The Stages and Territories west of the Mississippi River return over 100,000,000 bushels more than in 187$.

At the meeting of, the National Republican Committee hi Washington on the 17th it was decided that the Convention in l!sSO should he held ip Chicago on the third day of June, the vote standing: Chicago, 34; Saratoga, 14, and Cincinnati and Indianapolis each 2. Senator J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania, was elected Chairman over/ Mr. •Averill, of Minnesota, the vote being: Cameron, 22; AveriH, 19; Platt, I—Messrs: Cameron, AveriH and Root declining to vote. Eulojnes were pronounced upon the late Senator Chandler, and resolutions of respect were adopted. The changes in the Committee were the resignations of William H. Kemble, of Pennsylvania, and the substitution of J. D. Cameron; the resignation of E. R. Noyes, of Ohio, and the substitution of William C. Cooper, and the resignation of A. B. CortudL of New York, and the appointment of Thomas C. Platt in his stead. William L. Heath, of'Miehigan, was admitted to fill the vacancy caused by'the death of Zachariah Chandler.

* Gteneral. The four Irish land agitators, Davitt, Daly, Killen and Brennan, have given ball to answer to the indictmeut recently fuuud a§aim>t them for seditious utterances, and retimed to Dull n On leaving Carrick-on-

Shannon, on the 15th, they were accompanied to the railway station by a large crowd, the bond playing Irish airs. A Dublin telegram of the 15th saga there was no foundation for the report that the prosecution against them was to be abandoned. In the porch of the Limerick County Cluh-Hoase a few days ago, an evicted tenant named O'Shea felled to the floor Lord Fermoy, who resides in the County Limerick. Lora Fertnoy remained senseless for some time. The assailant was immediately seized and taken to prison. The argument# in the case of the Lottery Agent vs. the Postmaster General were concluded In Washington on the 16th, and the Court took the papers, reserving decision. General Grant reached Philadelphia on the 16th, where he expected to remain a number of days. His reception there was very enthusiastic. The procession is said to have contained thirty thousand men. Ur the explosion of a saw-mill boiler at' Collins, Ind., on the 16th, five men were instantly killed, their bodies being frightfully mutilated. General Adams, of the Ute Commission , telegraphed Secretary Schurz on the 16th that he considered the surrender of the twelve guilty savages as good as accomplished, although as yet only one had been brought in. . St. Petersburg .'dispatches of the 16th say that several prominent Russian Generals had. threatened to issue an address withdrawing their allegiance Trom the Cxar unless he granted the people a Constitution. The captain of the schooner Laura Bruce, which arrived at Halifax on the 16th, reports that, while In West Indian waters, a piratical craft wys sighted, and chased him for fifty miles. The schooner made its escape by her superior sailing qualities. The session of the International Dairy Faiif in New York on the 16th was distinguished by the award of the prizes. The first premiums for creamery butter were given to citizens of lowa and Wisconsin, and for dairy butter, to citizens of Eastern States. Canada took the first premium for best cheese. Simla disputches of the 17th say that the British forces at Cabul were virtually bcslcged. All communications with India had been cut off, and the situation was a grave one. A loud call was made upon the home Government for reinforcements. On the 17th the Governor and Council of Maine issued certificates to such persons as appeared 'to them to have been elected members of the next Legislature. Iu the Senate the Fusionistsi arc given twenty and the Republicans eleven, and in the House the former have seventy-eight and the latter sixty-one. The Republican majority on joiut ballot on the face of the returns was nearly thirty. Lord Napier was summoned from Gibraltar on the lbth to consult with the British War Office In regard to the condition of affaire in Afghanistan. The opinion prevailed that not only was General Roberta iu danger of destruction with liis whole army, but that a gcueral mutiny might be expected in India. A Madrid dispatch of the 19th says a conspiracy against the life of the King bad l»eeu “discovered and numerous arrests of suspected persous made. The King of Italy has issued a Royal decree ordering the cessation of quarantine on vessels coining from northern ports of the United States. The British Government lias granted a pension of. £SOO annually to the widow and £IOO to the mother of Sir Louis Cavaguari, massacred at Cabul. A gentleman connected with chemical works has informed the Glasgow Philosophical Society that, after experiments since 1866, he has succeeded in obtaining erystalized forms-of carbon which Professors Tyndall and Smyth and Mr. Maskelyne. of the British Museum, do not doubt are diamonds.

No important business was transacted by Congress on the 19th. In the Senate the Vice-President appointed Messrs. Voorbees, ■ Vance, Pendleton, Windoin and Blair as the special committee to Investigate the causes of the negro emigration from Southern to Northern States. The Committee on Rules made a unanimous report in the House on the revision of the rules. The Speaker appointed the following as members of the Committee on the Interoeeanic Canal: King (Chairman), Singleton, Whitthornc, Martin, O. Turner, Nichols, Hutchings, Page, Conger, Frye and Haskell. The following committee appointments were made: Hutchings, Committees on Education and Labor and Expenditures in the Treasury Departmcut, in place of Morrison, resigned; Berry, Committees on Public Lands and Mines and Mining; Davis (Cal.) Committees on Coinage and Expenditures in the Navy Department, In place of Neal (Ohio); Pacheco, Committees on Private Land Claims and Public Expenditures; Thompson (Iowa), Committees on Mines and Mining and Enrolled Bills; Page, Committees on Education and Labor and Expenditures in the Department of Justice; Dunn, Committee bn Public Lands, in place of Steele; Steele, Committee on Counting the Electoral Vote, in place of Dunn; Beiford, Committee on Mines and Mining. Both houses adjourned, ’ for the holiday recess, until the 6th of Janlaary. j Governor Gar'cklon, of Maine, has issued an address to the public justifying the reversal by himself and his Council of the election results claimed by the Republicans. A Boston telegram of tho jj)th says that the pleuro-pneumonia had broken out among the cattle in New Hampshire. Two murderers were hung in Virginia and one in Georgia on the 19th. A St. Louis dispatch of the 19th says Dan Rice', the famous circus man, had made announcement that he had been converted and would at once enter the field as au evangelist, lie hod had interviews with Mr. Moody, and would protiably begin his new career by shaking at Moody’s meeting, and then seek such fields as offer the best prospect of success in his new work.

Congress. Monday, December 15. —In the Senate Mr. Voorbces presented a petition of 7,000 ex-soldiers and sailors, praying to be paid in greenbacks the difference between the value of greenbacks, in which they wore paid for services to the Government, and the value of gold at tbo time of payment. Mr. Butler introduced an amendment to the Senate joint resolution introduced by Mr. Bayard, withdrawing the legal-tender quality of greenbacks, providing that the same shall take effect January 1, 1885. A bill was ihtroduccd by Mr. Vest for the organisation of the Territory of Oklohoma out of the E resent Indian Territory..... Among the bills it reduced in the House were—for the encouragement of American shipbuilding and manufactures; to prohibit “omnibus” legislation, providing that no bill except the General Aporopriation Bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, and that no appropriation bill shall embrace legislation not directly relating, to the subject-matter of the appropriation; to encourage the education of the colored race; to regulate the manner of counting the votes for President and Vice-President of the United States. Tuesday, December 16.—The House bill authorizing allowance tor loss, by leakage or casualty, of spirits withdrawn from distillery warehouses for exportation was passed in the Senate, gs was also a toll to allow applications and affidavits required for thcobtainment of the patents for mineral lands to bo made by agents of non-residents. Several bills and resolutions were introduced....A resolution was adopted in the House tor th© appointment of a Select Committee of eleven whose duty it shall be to examine into the subject of the selection of a suitable route for an Intcroceanle Ship Canal, to which all petitions, memorials ana reports relative to such ™»niq *imii t>o

referred, and which shall hare authority to report at any time, and the bill In the hands of tbeOnmmmoeon Commerce relative to such canal was referred to the Select Committee. Several biUe were reported from committees and passed. Mr. Morse presented petitions asking for the passage of the Joint resolution before the Senate Committee providing for the abolition and repeal of. the legal-tender power now given United States Treasury notes. » „. . Wednesday, December 17.--A bill was introduced in the Senate to repeal certain permanent appropriations. Mr. Morgan introduced a Joint resolution, which was referred, declaring that all public lands whioh have been granted by Congress to aid in the construction of oeriain-named railroad pod telegraph lines, and which have not been earned under said grants by the construction of sections of railroad contiguous and adjacent thereto, are hereby declared forfeited to the United States, and the privilege to so acquire title to the same is hereby revoked, and said lands are restored to the public domain, and shall hereafter be diepiecd of as other public lands of the United States. Mr. Morgan also offered a resolution, and made a soeech in its support, declaring that the continuance of the existing volume of United States Treasury notes,.with their legal-tender quality preserved, and the maintenance of their equivalency in value with coin, arc demanded by the present necessities of trade, commerce ana industry, and that the full restoration of silver coinage to an equality with gold is necessary to secure to the people of the United States a sufficient and permanent supply of money to maintain our National prosperity. - A bill was passed to authorize the free entry of competitive prizes won by American citizens in foreign countries.... Mr. Ballou introduced a bill in the House providing for the repeal of the law making United States notes legal tender for, the payment of debts, and enacting that gold and silver coin only shall be hereafter a legal tender in payment of debts. A Joint resolution was reported from the Committee on Manufactures, debated and referred to the Judiciary Committee, proposing a Constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to grant, protect and regulate the exclusive right to adopt and use trade-marks. The Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation bill was reported, ordered printed and recommitted. The Military Academy Appropriation bill and a bill exempting postal employes from serving oh Juries were passed.

Thursday, December 18.—A resolution was adopted in the Senate commanding the Sergcant-nt-Arms to bringto the bar of the Senate, for contempt, Smith and the other witnesses subpoenaed by the sub-committee to investigate the charges against Senator Ingulls, and who hud refused to testify. The Pension Appropriation bill was passed. On motion of Mr. Voorheoa the resolution offered by biin on the 15th, for the appointment of a committee to investigate the causes of the emlgratfim of the blacks from the Southern to the Northern States, was taken up and debated, nod finally modified by Mr. Voorheessoasto provide for the appointment of a oommifteo of five, whose duty it shall be to investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid emigration, and to report the same to the Senate, and said committee shall have the power to send for' persons . and papers, nnd the resolution was then adopted—27 to 18... Among the bills introduced in the House was one for the regulation Of Inter-State freight and passengers, and to relieve the same from the restriction of local quarantine. Bills were reported—to en-, con sage inter-State immigration, authorising the Commissioners of Agriculture to collect and publish all the facts which may t>c of vhluc to immigrants; Senate bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with the Ute Indians for the relinquishment of their reservation ,in Colorado, and their removal and settlement elsewhere, with amendments requiring the consent of the Indians to the cession of any part of their reservation, and providing that no Agreement shall l*c valid unless agreed to by three-quarters Of nlltho adult male Indians who have not forfeited I heir t reaty rights, and unless confirmed by Congress. A lengthy debate was had on the latter bill iu Committee of the Whole.