Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1871 — Weekly News Summary. [ARTICLE]

Weekly News Summary.

CONGRESSIONAL. In tho Senate, on the 22d, the joint resolution authorizing the appointment of a Commission in relation to tho llepubljU: of. Dominica was passed—Bl to 9....Th0 credentials of Mr. Jewett, appointed by tho Governor of Missouri to All the temporary vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Drake, were presented, and Mr. Jewett was qualified and took his seat... .'pie House bill relieving tho political disabilities of certain citizens of Virginia was taken up, and the Amnesty bill, reported at the last session from the Select Committee on Disabilities, was moved as an amendment....A message from the House was received, announcing the decease or Hon. Wm. Smyth, the late Representative from lowa. An eulogy was delivered and the customary resolutions were adopted, when the B<nate adjourned until January 4. In tho House, on the 2td, a general debate was had In Committee of the Whole, on the President’s annual message.... Adjourned to the 4th of Janoaiy.

FOREIGN. After a severe engagement on the 20th, the city of Tours surrendered to the Prussians. It was announced at Bordeaux on the 21st that the Prussians had that day evacuated Tours, retreating towards Chateau Renault. A Berlin dispatch, received in London on the 22d, threatens that, unless Paris should soon surrender, a regular attack would be begun. Dispatches from Vienna on the 22d state that the Turkish fleet was under immediate orders for service, and extensive warlike preparations had been made. According to a London telegram of the 22d, the French claimed to have severed Frederick Charles’ communication, and to have captured 2,000 prisoners as the Germans were leaving Tours. They also'report that the army of the Loire had made a successful union, and was 300,000 strong, and ready for the offensive. A Berlin dispatch of the 22d states that the Germans had surprised the French at Langres, in the Department of IlautcMame, and driven them from their positions with heavy loss. Many prisoners and a large quantity of arms and baggage were taken. . The most satisfactory observations were taken of the sun’s eclipse in England on the 23d. The bill ratifying the vote of the Roman people for annexation to Italy has passed the Italian Chamber of Deputies by a vote of 239 to 20. A Versailles dispatch says another great sortie was attempted from Paris on the 22d. Three divisions of French troops issued from the city and commenced a vigorous and well-directed attack upon the German lines, .which gradually fell back before them. The Germans were subsequently reinforced, and the French.-troops were forced back from the position they had gained, and were finally repulsed and compelled to withdraw within the city. A London dispatch of the 25th says : “ The total effective force of the German armies now in France is set down, in round numbers, at 600,000, half of which is now before Paris;'and 100,000 on the sick list. It is estimated that 300,0Qp Germans have been killed or disabled since the beginning of the war.” King William telegraphed the Queen on the 25th that General Manteuffel won a victory on the 23d, pear Amiens, taking 1,000 prisoners and commenced the pursuit of the French in the direction of Arras on the 25th. A dispatch from Susa announces that the Alps were pierced through on the 26th, and that the workmen from both ends of the Mont Cenis tunnel joined in congratulations upon the completion of the great work. A telegraphic dispatch from the commanding general of the Saxon troops before Paris, announces that the bombardment of Fort Avron commenced on the 27th. This fortification is the most advanced of the French outworks east of Paris, and crowns Mont Avron at a considerable elevation, six miles from the city walls. A dispatch from Versailles on the 23d says a scheme for the assassination of the King of Prussia, Von Moltke and Bismark had been discovered there. London dispatches of the 27th give accounts of an alleged outrage recently perpetrated by the Germans upon a number of English subjects. Six English vessels, Which were lying at anchor at Duclair, a small town on the Seine, were fireff on by the troops, and the crews, being unable to offer a formidable or prolonged resistance, were at last compelled to surrender. The Germans tbCP boarded the vessels, and, after securing tho eiS™ by binding them, they proceeded to ransack the ships for valuables and other plunder. After securing everything of any value, the invaders took the vessels into midstream and scuttled them, with a • view of impeding the navigation of the river. The London Shipping Gazette of the 27th declares that the government must instantly demand an explanation and redress from Prussia. The expedition sent to Oran, Africa, to observe the eclipse is reported to have been a failure. The bombardment of Fort Avron continued on the 28th. The French replied with vigor, but their fire was reported to be ineffective. The news of the opening of fire on the fortifications of Paris was received at Berlin with public rejoicings. The weather in Southern France was intensely cold on the 28th'. A Versailles dispatch of the 28th says the French army of the North had concentrated around Arras. The health of the troops was excellent. A Havana dispatch of the 28th states that the rebels were presenting themselves for surrender everywhere, in large riumiiers. Their condition when they reached the town was lamentable in the extreme. DOMESTIC. Gold closed in New York on the 28th at UO The mail-bag known as the “Agents’

Pouch,” <nd made up for Washington, D. C., of the Western mall via Harrisburg,, which arrived at Baltimore on the 21st, was found the following morning in an alley near the Post Office, cut open and robbed of its contents. The number of immigrants arriving at the port of New York from January 1 to December 28, 1870, iff 208,363; to the same date in 1869 the number of arrivals was 255,449. Fifteen hundred pounds of nitro-glyccr-ino exploded at the Hoosac tunnel on the 23d. John Vclsar, the Superintendent, was blown to atoms. According to the annual report of the Directors of tho Northern Penitentiary of Indiana, the institution for the first time is self-sustaining. The excess of recciptsover expenditures was $1,829.36. Tho whole number of convicts is 339; pardoned, 23; discharged from all causes, 132. Most of the convicts are hired out at fifty cents per day. The trial of John Armstrong and Charles Jolly, for the murder of the Lapine family, near Potosi, Mo., about a month ago, closed on the 22d, and after an absence of only three minutes, the jury returned a verdict of murder in the first degree, and the murderers were sentenced to be hanged on Jan. 27. The entire business portion of Brandenburg, Meade county, Ky., was destroyed by fire on the morning of the 22d. Only three business houses are left in the place. Loss estimated at $100,000; insurance, $50,000. — '-A— Specials from Vicksburg on the 22d say nine cabin and thirty deck passengers were lost on the steamer Nick Wall. The exact population of Ohio, according to the corrected returns, is 2,664,681. The Central Pacific Railroad robbere tried at Washoe City, were sentenced to the State Prison, as follows: Chapman, 18 years; Parsons, 20 years; Cockerell,. 22 years; Squires, 23 years 6 months. The Spottswood Hotel at Richmond, Va., was totally destroyed by fire on the night of the 23d, and some six or eight persons perished in the burning building. Complete census returns from the State of Maryland show the population to be 781,054, an increase of 94,000 since 1860. The gain is principally in Baltimore and a few interior towns. Census returns from the principal cities and towns in Virginia are as follows : Richmond, 51,093; Norfolk, 19,254; Petersburg, 18,759; Lynchburg, 16,725; Portsmouth, 10,592; Alexandria, 13,576; Fredericksburg, 4,046; Winchester, 4,450.

PERSONAL. The President was visited on the 22d by many Senators and Representatives, who congratulated him upon the passage of the San Domingo resolution by the Senate. He said, in his reply, that he believed the annexation policy waa prudent, and thought it would gain strength as the facts became known. The Senate, in executive session on the 22d, confirmed the nomination of Robert C. Schcnck, of Ohio, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Great Britain. A recent assemblage of bee-keepers at Indianapolis, Ind., adopted the name of the North American Bee-Keepers’ Association. Commissioner Wilson, of the General Land office at Washington, received a note on the 23d, informing him that his resignation would be accepted. A letter of Senator-elect Vance, of North Carolina, in reply to certain accusations against him, was published in Washington on the 23d. He declares that he acquiesces in, and will maintain, all the legitimate results of the war, and that he earnestly desires the unity and fraternity of the whole country in prosperity and honor. On the evening of the 27th the magnificent dwelling of General McClellan, in Llewellyn Park, Orange county, New York, was totally destroyed by fire. It was one of the most elegant and noted residences of that vicinity, and waa valued at $50,000. It waa not occupied by Gen. McClellan at the time, but waa in charge of hired men.

POLITICAL. Mr. Gaston’a plurality for Mayor of Boston is shown by the official returns to be exactly 3,000. The Female Suffrage bill has been defeated in the Dakota Territorial Legislature by a vote of sixteen to seven. .An Augusta, Ga., dispatch of the 24th says sufficient returns had been received to show that the State had gone Democratic at the recent c! ect * on - The Democrats had certainly carried fiV? Congressional Districts. The Labor Reform party of New Hampshire held a State Convention in Concord on the 27th, and nominated Samuel P. Copper, of Croyden, for Governor. George Roberts, °of Bochester, was renominated for Railroad Commissioner. The following Congressional nominations were made .- First District, Emory A. Hibbard, of Laconia; Becond, W. H. Gove, of Weare; Third, E. D. Baker, of Claremont. The North Carolina Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, has ordered the answer of Governor Holden to the articles of impeachment to be filed on or before January 23, and that the case will stand for trial on January 80. A. F. Stevens has been renominated for Congress by the Republicans of the Third Vermont District. An Atlanta, Ga., dispatch of the 28th says: “Thos. J. Speer, Republican, has been elected in the Fourth District to the Forty-second Congress, by 500 majority. Jefferson T. Long, Republican, has been elected from the same district to the For-ty-first Congress. It is believed that John S. Bagby, Republican, in tho Third Dis-

trict, and Richard A. Whitney, Republican, in tlio Second -District, are elected. Adam P. Price, Democrat, {selected in the Sixth District by a large majority. Elbert, White, Banks, Madison, Habersham and Franklin counties are largely Democratic.”