Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1871 — Weekly News Summary. [ARTICLE]

Weekly News Summary.

CONGRESSIONAL. In the Senate, on the 27th, remonitrancee were presented from 1,400 citizens of Western Pennsylvania against the Interference with the navigation of the Ohio River by the construction of the Newport and Cincinnati bridge ... A rcsolntlon wae adopted appointing Gen. Sherman Regent of the Smithsonian Institute, rice Gen. Delafleld resigned.. A bill was reported confirming the title of the State of lowa to the lande granted by the act of July 1», 18-*; also, a joint resolution to confirm the sale of Shawnee Indian lands In Kansas, made with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. ...A bill waslntrodnced to confirm the title of certnln lands lb the Fort Kearney reservation in lowa....The Civil Service Reform bill was further debated .. .Executlve’sesslon and adjournment to the 80th. In the House, on the 27th, a bill was introduced and referred to provide for the admieelon, free of duty, of animals, especially those Imported from the Dominion of Canada for breeding purposes. .. .A bill was reported and laid on the table to incorporate the Southern Express Company.... The Indian Appropriation bill was reported from Committee of the Whole and passed.... A resolution was adopted that the Senate bill to repeal so much of the act approved .Inly 14, 1870, entitled an act to reduce Internal taxes, and for other pnrSoses, as continnes the income tax after the 81st ay or December, 1869, be returned to that body with the respectful suggestion on ihe part of Ihe House that section 7 of article 1 of the Constitution vests in the House of Representatives the sole power to originate each measures Adjourned. In the Senate, on the 80th, bills were introduced—declaring that any one who shall sell or give to any 'civil, military or naval officer of the Government liquors to he used as a beverage, shall bo deemed guilty of crime against the peace of society, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by fine and Imprisonment, also providing that employes as officers of the Government, who shall continue to use Intoxicating liquors, or shall become at all intoxicated, shall be summarily dismissed, and shall not he reinstated for two years; to extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims: to extend to the officers of the military and naval service the benefit of the act for furnishing artificial limbs to disabled BOldiers; to authorize the construction and use of a horse railroad in Rock Island, 111.... The hill to provide State governments for New Mexico and Colorado was reported hack with amendments.... The Georgia election question was considered and the minority report declaring nenry P. Farrow and Richard H. Wliltely entitled to seats in the Senate, was rejected—Adjourned. In the House, on the 30th, bills were introduced—for the appointment of a River Inspec tor for Western rivers; to extend the time for redemption of lands sold in Memphis, Tenn., at United Stales tax sales; to regulate commerce among the several States; granting lands for a railroad from Berlin, Wis., to Bayfield, Wls., with a branch.. . A resolution was oflered, reqnestlng Information from tlie President as to the employment of military officers In civil dnties at the White Honse.. ..Bills were passed to amend the act of Jaly 23, 1868, making a grant of lands to Minnesota to aid the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi; providing that Assistant Marshals for taking the ninth census when the pay did not)amount to $5 a day, shall receive increased pay to that amount; Senate bill appropriating SIOO,OOO for the prosecution of the work on the St. Mary’s Falls Canal and St. Mary's RlAer, Michigan. . .Senate Joint resolutions were passed—for the appointment of Gen. Sherman as Regent of the Smithsonian Institute; authorizing claims of persons against the Government, in connection with building vessels of war, to be referred to the Court of Claims.... A resolution was adopted—l 79 to 21—that the Congresa of Ihe United States, In the name and on behalf of tlie people of tlie United States, give to J. O’Donovan Rossa, Thomas Clark Lnhy, Jno. O’Leary. Ttios. F. Burke, Chas. Underwood O’Connell, and their associates, Irish exiles and patriots, a cordial welcomo to the Capital and the country; and that a copy of the resolution l>e transmitted to them by the President... .Adjourned. In the Senate, on the 31st, the VicePresident announced the return from the House of the income tax repeal hill, with the accompanying suggestion on the part of the nouse, that, under section 7, article 1, of the Constitution, the House had the sole power to originate such a measure, and a resolution was adopted that the bill lie returned to the House, and that the Senate ask a conference on the question at issue, and Messrs. Scott, Conkllng and Casscrly were appointed as such committee on the part of the Senate. .. .Resolutions were oflered commending the suffering poor of France to the American people ... .Bills were introdnced and referred—to further preserve tlie purity of elections, und guard against abuses of the elective franchise by the registration of electors; to establish an ocean mall steamship servico between the United States and foreign countries... .Tlie Georgia Senatorial question was further debated.... Executive session ami adjournment.

In the House, on the 31st, a joint resolulutton of the Michigan Legislature for the repair and Improvement of the harbor and ship canal at Monroe, Mich., was presented.... A bill was reported, authorizing the institution of proceedings to recover damages for the destruction of thesloop-of-war Oneida by the steamship Bombay.... Bills were passed—to extend the bounty land system to soldiers and sailors of the late war. to their widows and orphans: appropriating $15,000 for the expenses of the Select Committee on the alleged outrages at the South....A conference was agreed to oirthe income tax question, and Messrs. Hooper, Allison and Voorbees were appointed conferees on the part of the House....A bill was introduced to extend the time within whicli debtors may receive a discharge In bankrnptcy, whose assets do not pay fifty percent The Senate substitute for the bill abolishing the rank of Admiral and Vice-Admiral of the navy, was noil-con-curred in, anda Committee of Conference yas asked.... Adjourned. In the Senate, on the Ist, a remonstrance was presented from women of New England agaiiißt female suffrage.... A concurrent resolution was adopted, commending the suffering belligerent nations ot Europe to the American people, and recommending a generous system of organized charity in their behalf.... A resolution was offered, and referred, requesting the President to communicate to the French Government our profound sympathy for the people of France, and to extend to them every encouragement and support consistent with the laws of tue United Slates and our treaties with other Powers, in establishing upon a firm basis a republican government... .A Joint resolution was introduced to authorize the Union Pacific ltailroad Company to issne bonds to complete the bridge across the Missouri Kiver at Omaha.... The resolution for the admission of Joshna Hill,Senator from Georgia, was adopted, and Mr. Hill took the oath of office... .A joint resolution was offered and referred prescribing the oath of office to be taken by Mr. Miller, Senator-elect from Georgia. . ...The Consular Diplomatic and the West Point Appropriation bills were passed, with amendments. .... Executive session and adjournment. In the House, on the Ist, bills were passed—Seuate bill providing that persons In the South not disqualified by the Fourteenth Amendment, who, when appointed to office, shall not bo able, on account of participation In the late rebellion, to take the oath prescribed in the act of Congress, approved 2!)d of July, ltC3, shall take the oath prescribed in the act of July 11,1 hi>B,-pre-scribing an oath of office to be taken by persons from whom legal disabilities shall have been" re-moved-Its to HO; for the appointment of an additional Assistant Attorney-General; to divide the State of Ohio into three judicial districts; for the relief of purchasers of land sold for direct taxes in| the insurrectionary slatos; providing that where a railroad company is operating in a State, and ha« offices there, it shall be deemed a citizen of that State, in so far that it shall not be permitted to remove causes brought against it by citizens of that State, from the State Courts to those ,of the United States; relinquishing to the State of Michigan the title of the United States to Fort Gratiot military reservation.... Bills were reported—alio wing parties in certain cases to testify, making the laws of each State govern as to the competency of witnesses in all criminal trials ill the United States Courts; to amend the act of the 81st of May, 187>\ to enforce tiro right* of citizens ot the United States to vote In the several states . The Speaker appointed Messrs, Logan, Scofield, and Butler or Massachusetts, a Conference Coramltte on the bill to abolish the offices of Admiral and Vice-Admiral....Adjourned. In the Senate, on the 2d, a memorial was presented and referred from over 1,000 citizen* of the Dee Molne* Valley, lowa, setting forth that by a decision of tht Supreme .Court pf the United States they are threatened with ejectment from lands on which they settled In-good faith for the purpose of obtaining homesteads, and asking relief s. .The House bill to allow the Importation of brandy with the same rights and drawbacks as allowed -te rum. alcohpl, etc., was amended so as to provide that drawbacks shall not be allowed until th* passage of the act, end the bill passed .. The amendments . jiy the House to the bill to divide Virginia Into two Judicial districts were concurred in A Mil was lotroduoed to allow the Bavahnab and Memphis Keiiroed Company of Alabama to enter public land*....Executive session and adjournment. * In the House, on thl 2ft, bills were

passed—ln reference to the United States District and Circuit Courts of Indiana; giving the assent of Congress to the application of the 500,000 acres of school land In Oregon to support common schools; providing that the act of Jane 17, 1862, defining additional cause for challenge and prescribing the oatk for grand and petit jurors In United States courts, apply only to petit, Jurors in cases where the United State* is tho party in name or interest; for the collection of dents due from Southern railroad corporations, authorizing the Secretary of War to compromise, adjust and settle suits on such terms, as to amount and time of payment, as may he just and equitable, and best calculated to protect the Interests of the govern ment; authorizing the issuo of duplicate bonds of the United States, under certain conditions, in lieu of bonds lost or destroyed. ...The bill extending the time for the construction of the railroad frbm St. Croix river or lake, to the west end of Lake Superior and Bayfield, was taken up, debated and recommitted to the Committee on Public Lands. ... Adjourned.

FOREIGN. The London Telegraph of the 20th has a dispatch announcing that Garribaldi and his forces were surrounded by the Prussians, near Dijon. Secretary Fish, at Washington,received a telegram from Mr. Moran, Charge d’Affairs at London, on the 29th, announcing that the German Ambassador there had been officially informed that the capitulation of all Paris forts, and an armistice of three weeks by land and sea, was signed at 10 o’clock on the evening of the 28th, at Versailles, by Count Bismark and Jules Favre. The army of Paris would remain prisoners of war in the city. The German troops occupied all the forts around Paris on the morning of the 29 th. Emperor William has sent the following dispatch to the Empress Augusta: “ Vsßsxnxafl, Jan. 29, 2 p. in 11 Last night an armistice for three weeks was signed. The regulars and Mobiles are to be detained in Paris as prisoners of war. The National Guard will undertake the maintenance of order. We occupy all the forts of Paris. Tho city remains invested, but will be allowed to rovlctual as soon as the arms arc surrendered. The National Assembly Is to be assembled to meet at Bordeaux _in a fortnight. All the armies In the field will retain their respective positions,'the ground between the opposing lines to be neutral. Thiß is the re-ward-of patriotism, heroism, and great sacrifices. Thank God for this fresh mercy. May peace soon follow. (Signed,) Wrmsm.’’ A telegram of the 29th says Emperor William would not enter Paris, but would return to Berlin, on the 31st, leaving the Crown Prince in command of the Prussians. Paris was being supplied with provisions. Berlin was in a perfect frenzy of excitement on the 29th, on the reception of positive news of the capitulation of Paris. A Versailles dispatch of the 29th says the terms of lasting peace offered by Bismark are as follows : 1. The cession of the province of Alsace, and that part of the province of Lorraine known as the German Lorraine. 2. A monied indemnity of 1,000,000,000 francs. 3 Forty war ships from the French fleet. .1 4. Olio of the colonies now held by France, which one cannot lie learned. Tlie money Indemnity must be guaranteed by municipalities. If this guarantee bo refused, the property of each indlvidnal will be held until acquiescence is obtained. It is said that Bismark denies that he has ever negotiated for the restoration of the Bonapartes, or that he intends to interfere in the domestic concerns of France. The bill removing 4he capital of the Kingdom of Italy to Rome has passed the Italian Senate by a vote of 94 yeas to 39 nays. A Versailles dispatch of the 30th says: “ A cordon lias been drawn around Paris ; and no person is allowed to enter or leave without a permit from the German authorities. The revictualing of the city will proceed under German supervision. Confidence is expressed at the German headquarters that peace has been secured. The German soldiers are chagrined at being prohibited entering Paris.” The contribution imposed upon PaTis by the articles of capitulation is fifty-three millions of francs.

A dispatch forwarded from Versailles on the 28Ui, by.Tules Favre to the Government at Bordeaux, says: “A treaty whs signed to-day. - There is to be an armistice of twenty-one days. The National Assembly is to be convened at Bordeaux on Feb. 15; election to take place on the Bth of February.” An official dispatch to the Baden Ministry on the 30th stales that the army of Gen. Bourbaki had entered Switzerland, crossing the border near Bruntroul. A rejwrted attempt of Bourbaki to commit suicide is confirmed. A dispatch from Victoria, on the 30th, says the Legislature of British Columbia has accepted the proposals for confederation with Canada. A Versailles dispatch of the 30th says the distress in Paris was very great. The destruction of the railways impeded the revictualing of the city. The Germans, meanwhile, were supplying articles of first necessity from their own stores. A London telegram of the 31st stated that postal communication between London nnd Paris had been reopened. Gambetta had ratified the capitulation. Tl# Prussians were driving cattle into Paris, to feed the inhabitants. The reassembling of the Conference had been again postponed in consequence of the illness of the Earl of Granville. It is statedthat the ex-EmpressEugenie, after a stormy interview with the Duke do Pcrsiguy, ordered him to quit her presence, since he persisted in urging her to consent to the dismemberment of France. A special telegram from Berlin to the London Time*, on the Ist, says the conditions of pekoe presented by Bismark to Favre embrace the cession of Alsace and Loraine with Belfort and Metz; payment of a thousand million francs indemnity for expenses of the war,- the cession of the colony of Pondicherry, and transfer to the German navy of twenty first-rate frigates. M. Favre referred these terms to the National Assembly to meet at Bordeaux. A dispatch from Versailles on the Ist says the armistice-had been carried out in the West and North of Frauce without difficulty. It was reported that the armistice had been extended 'to all' the departments. A late Constantinople dispatch says the dykes at JSmvmit had been destroyed by a , * ■ A”

towent. A large part of the town was (n-, undated, and many persons were drowned. Hon. John Ross, member of the Dominion Senate, died at his residence, near Toronto, Canada, on the 31st ult. " The Berlin Provincial Correspond* of the Ist states positively that the Emperor will remain at Versailles during the armistice, on account of pending negotiations for peace. A Bordeaux dispatch of the Ist says the government there had issued a decree ordering the elections for the National Assembly to be held on the Bth. ’ - Many thousand of Bourbaki’s army died from starvation. There were 15,000 prisoners taken including 100 officers, two being generals. His army, 80,000 strong, entered Switzerland on the Ist. The Italian Chamber of Deputies has, by a vote of 232 against 29, resolved to transfer the capital to Rome.

DOMESTIC. Gold closed in New York on the 2d at 111%. The strike among the Pennsylvania coal miners continued on the 27th, with little prospect of an early resumption of work. A gas explosion occurred in the Brooklyn gas works on the 27th, and the engineer, Frederick Anderson, was killed. The loss by the explosion was estimated at $150,000. It is said that the money stolen from the express company at Albany, N. Y., at the late robbery, was not much short of $75,000 or SBO,OOO. John Filkins has been indicted by the grand jury as the perpetrator of the crime. The steamer W. R. Arthur, from New Orleans for Louisville, exploded her boilers fourteen miles above Memphis, on the morning of the 28th, tearing away the forward part of the cabin and texas. She then took fire and burned till her bow sunk. The night was intensely dark. After the explosion, most of the passengers rushed down to the lower deck. Many in the confusion jumped into the river and were drowned. When the bow sunk, the waves washed her lower deck, sweeping off all who were gathered there. It was believed at Memphis on the 28th that eighty-seven lives were lost by the disaster. In the U. S. District Court, at Richmond, Va., Kate Cummings, colored, has obtained a verdict of fl ,100 damages from the Orange & Alexandria Railroad Company, for having been ejected from the train at Alexandria, because she, having a firstclass ticket, refused to go into the colored people’s car. John Lau|hlin, aged 27; his wife, aged 30; son, aged 4; and Susan Sands, aged 23, were found dead in a room at No. 1497 Third avenue, New York City, on the 80th. They were suffocated by gas from a stove. There was great rejoicing on the 30th in all the principal cities of the country, among the German residents, over the capitulation of Paris. The President sent to Congress on the 30th a message recommending the establishment of a territorial government for the Indians.

A terrible calamity occurred at Kenosha, Wis.,on the 31st ult. The Halliday House, a four-story brick-building, was discovered, about 4:30 a. m., to be on fire in the second story, in the room used as a store-room for lamps and kerosene. There were about thirty persons in the building, who were awakened by the discoverer of the fire, and several of them succeeded in making their escape; but the flames spread so rapidly that a Mrs. Merrill and . her four little children, the eldest of whom was twelve years of age, who occupied a room on the third floor, were unable to escape, and, notwithstanding great efforts were made to rescue them, they all perished in the flames. Mr. Osmond Capron, son of Horace Capron, United States Commissioner of Agriculture, was asleep in his room adjoining that of Mrs. Merrill, and barely escaped from the building alive, being horribly burned. Simeon Fuller, clerk of the hotel, aged thirty-five, was passing the fateful lamproom door when a terrific explosion was heard, and he was thrown upon his face and actually saturated with kerosdic, which, igniting, enveloped him literally in a garment of flame. He succeeded in jumping from the window, but was fearfully burned, and died at 3:80 p. m. The cook of the hotel, Edward Wade, was missing, supposed to; be among the victims. The origin of the fire is attributed to a lamp left burning in the lamp-room having exploded. The following is the public debt statement as published on the Ist : Total outstanding dabt. t*,41M13,004 00 Total principal and Interest, Including Interest due and unpaid a,451,MU»6 00 Amount In the Treasury. I!IS,MM,*B9 00 Debt leas amount In Treasury 8,848,0J6.007 00 Decreaae during the month 4,04'.\986 00 Decreaee alnoe March 1, ftlO ...110,801,670 00 Bonds Issued to Paclllc Railroad Companies, Interest payable In lawful money— Amount outstanding 64,618,088 00 Interest accrued ana not yet paid. 883,094 00 Interest paid by the United States 10,755,910 00 Interest repaid by transportation of malls... .... * 8,460,810 00 Balance of Interest paid by the United States 8,893,006 00 The order removing the United States Land Office from Fort Dodge to Deg Moines, lowa, has been modified so as to continue the office at Fort Dodge until the Ist of March. By the official report of the censustakers, lowa has a population of 1,191,802. A movement is being started by. several wealthy citizens of Boston to raise $l(l0,000 to purchase provisions to load a ship to be sent to the relief of the French, providing the government will furnish a United States vessel to carry the provisions. * The Supreme Court of Maiue has decided that railroads carrying express matj ters for onp company have no right to re

fuso to carry similar articles for another or rival company. According to the new census, the population of New York city is given as 1)44,129 on the first day of June last. The old enumeration gave 920,341 inhabitants of nil ages, color and sexes; increase, 17,788. The United States Census Bureau at Washington has prepared an official table of the population of all the States aru’l Territories, which places the total population of the United States at 38,538,180. In crease in ten years, 7,094,759. ur. PERSONAL. The following named Fenians arrived at New York city on the 27tli, on the steamer Russia: David Mulcahy, Thos. F. Burke, D. Edward Pomer, W. F. Rountree, Edwin H. Clair, George Brown, Patrick Walsh, Peter Mangaur and Patrick Lennon. A large crowd collected at the Cunard dock, who greeted them with enthu elastic cheers. Congressman Win. Roberts greeted them on behalf of the Tammany Reception Committee, and escorted them to Sweeney’s Hotel, where they had an enthusiastic reception in the evening. Colonel G. J. Young, member of the House of Representatives from Columbiana County, Ohio, and editor of the Buckeye State, died suddenly on the afternoon of the 26th, as he entered the State House, of hemorrhage of the lungs. The case of Representative Butler, of Tennessee, was called in the Criminal Court, at Washington, D. G, on the 28th, on an indictment for forgery of penaon papers. There were six counts in the indictment. He waived arraignment and plead not guilty. After the examination of a number of witnesses, the court said that there was not the slightest foundation for the prosecution, and the jury gave a verdict of not guilty. Among the nominations sent to the Senate on the 30th was that of Louis Weitzel, to be Assessor of Internal Revenue in the First District of Ohio. The following nominations were sent to the Senate on the 31st: J. C. Abercrombie, Surveyor of Customs at Burlington, Iowa; J. H. Morrison, Collector of Customs in Colorado Territory. The marble statue of the late Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, has been replaced in the niche iu the hall of the State House, and will be unveiled when the formal presentation to the State is made. The following nominations were sent to the Senate on the Ist: Postmasters—John H. Mann, Delphi, Ind.; George W. Baker, Rochester, Minn.; Charles R. Tyler, Green Bay, Wis.; Samuel K. Bern, Canton, Ohio; F. L. Goodson, Bellevue, Ohio; Squire A. Epperson, Bushnell, Ill.; W. H. H. Ellis, Jr., Mason, Ill.; Lizzie Gilmer, Pittsfield, Ill.; L. W. Smith, Effingham, Ill.; Norman Parsons, Pendleton, Ill.; Arthur Fannies, Warren, 111.

POLITICAL. The Pennsylvania Republican State Convention is to hft.held in Harrisburg on the 10th of March. It will nominate candidates for Auditor and Supervisor Genera) to be elected in October. A convention of Sheriffs of Illinois, recently held at Springfield, formed a protective association, the object of which is to bring offenders to justice, recapture escaped prisoners, and act as co-operative police throughout the State. The impeachment trial of Gov. Holden was formally commenced at Raleigh, N. C., on the 30th, Chief-Justice Pearson presiding. Counsel for managers and respondent were present, and the defense asked until the 2d to amend their response. They were granted until the Ist, and the court adjourned until 12 m. on that day. The New Jersey Senate has passed a bill to permit indicted persons to testify when on trial, Hon. Julius L Strong has been renominated for Congress by the' Republicans of hi *irst District of Connecticut; and the Republicans of the Second District have renominated Hon. S. W. Kellogg. The West Virginia Legislature, on the 31st ult., elected 11. G. Davis, Democrat, of Piedmont, United States Senator to succeed Senator Willey, by 31 majority. In the Louisiana Legislature, Pf the 31st, the strong opposition to Speaker Carr resulted in his resignation and the election of George W. Carter as Speaker. This result is regarded as a success to the Conservative element. Immediately after the seating of Speaker Carter, the Democratic members whose seats had been contested were confirmed in their places. The Michigan Democratic State Convention has been called to meet at Lansing February 21. In the Nebraska House of Representatives, dll the Ist, a resolution to impeach Governor Butler was defeated. The charge was that he had collected of the United States $17,000 for the Nebraska school fund, of the disposition of which there was no record.