Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1871 — General News Summary. [ARTICLE]

General News Summary.

THE OLD WORLD. In the British House of Commons, on the 20th, Mr. Gladstone announced that the Queen had canceled the royal warrant legalizing the purchase of commissions in the British army. This announcement was received with vehement cheering, but tho Tory members were unable to disecmblo their anger, and bitterly denounced the arbitrary course of the Government A bill abolishing the system cf the purchase and sale of army commissions had previously passed the lower house of Parliament, but it was rejected by the House of Lords. The latcs'fcnews from Persia was to the effect that the cholera was prevailing thebe to an alarming extent, and the ravages of the disease were dreadful. In the course of an address before the French Assembly, on the 23d, President Thiers, speaking of Italy, said it was impossible to adopt a course which would lead to war. The true policy of France was peace, and in reorganization no steps must or should be taken which will even tend to alienate Italy. Prince Napoleon, who was recently at .Havre for three days, has been ordered to leave France. A report that a portion of the roof of the Mont Cenis Tunnel had fallen in, burying many df the workmen in the ruins, is unfounded. A great conflagration is reported as having occurred at Lisbon, Portugal, on the 20th, in which several persons were burned to death. The new Spanish Ministry has been ar. ranged as follows: President of the Council and Minister of War, Marshal Serrano; Minister ofToreign Affairs, Admiral, Topete; Minister of the Interior, Senor Sagasta; Minister of Justice, Senor Ulloa; Minister of Finance, Senor tegui; Minister of Public Works, Senor Candau, Minister of . Marine, Admiral Malcompo; Minister of the Colonies, Senor Ayala. The municipal elections in Paris on 'the 23d resulted in the choice of six Republicans and Conservatives and forty-nine Moderates. The vote was very small. Official dispatches have been received at Washington from Admiral Rodgers and Minister Low, confirming former accounts in regard to the first day’s fight at CoreaThe following is a translation of a letter forwarded by theCoreans to Admiral John Rodgers, commanding the United States Asiatic squadron: “In the year 1863, a man of your nation, whose name was Febiger, came here and communicated and went away. Why cannot you do the aame? In the year 1863, a people called. French came here and we refer you to them for what happened. Thia people and kingdom have lived in the enjoyment of their own civilization 4,000 years, and we want no other We trouble no other nations. Why should they trouble us? Our country is in the furthest East--yours iu the furthest West. For what purpose do you come so manv thousand miles across tne sea? Is it to inquire about a vessel destroyed- the General Sherman? Iler men committed murder and piracy, and were punished with death. Do vqu want our land? That cannot be. Do you want intercourse with us? That cannot be.” President Thiers has refused to accept the proffered resignation of Favre as Minister of Foreign Affairs. A new sorrow has come to Rochefort by tlie elopement of his daughter, a girl of 15, who was at ethool in Jersey, with a youth of 18. They went to London and were married. The young man’s mother packed him off to Australia, and sent the sentimental child back to school. A special dispatch from London on the 24th states that the departure of the Pope from R >me to take up his residence in the island of Corsica, was daily expected; also, that measures were on foot in Rome for lhe choice of a successor to Pius Nino, whois to be a man of moderate and liberal tendencies, and friendly to the Italian Government. * The Spanish Government has authorized Senor Lopez Roberts, Spanish Minister to the United States, to act according to tho clause of the Treaty of Washington which provides for the appointment of a Mixed Commission for the settlement of the claims of American citizens against Great Britain. The Spanish Government;,oin a friendly reply to General Sickles, has declared that it is not unwilling to adhere to the neutrality laws as laid down in the Treaty of Washington. A letter from Para, Brazil, dated July 4, says the yellow fever had assumed a very malignant form in that city. Nearly every stranger there had died, including the English Consul and hia wife. It ia said that President Theirs has induced Bismark "to consent to the evacuation of the Paris forts still held by German troops, and the entire Departments of the Seine and Seine ct Oise, on or before August 31. A London telegram of the 26th says arrangements were being made in Paris to welcome Andrew Johnson, ex-President of tho Unitel States, who was expected there at an early day. Recent reports from Constantinople say the famine iu Persia was causing a dreadful havoc. The deaths in the province of Khorossan averaged 300 daily, and so great was the distress that the dead bodies were devoured by thl survivors, aud men, women, aud children were in some cases killed to render tho supply of food abundant. The plague had ahso appeared among the Persians, and the Turkish Government had been compelled, by the exigencies of the case, to draw a sanitary cordon along the borders' of its dominions. “ . A special dispatch from St Petersburg Russia, states that the American Cominis’ Bion from the Evangelical Alliance had several interviews with Prince Gortscha. koff, who has treated them with marked courtesy and distinction. A dispatch from the East, received in Loudon on the 27th, says: “ The accounts from Persia are iu no way exaggerated. ’1 addition to the famine, cholera, typhus

fever, and the plague are making terrible ravages. The reports of cannibalism are confirmed. The Governor of Pheranze has placed a guard at each of the cemeteries to prevent the unfortunate starving people from disinterring the dead bodies for food. The attaches of the British Embassy and the telegraph have all fled the country.” The Russian Grand Duke Alexis will sail from Cronstadt for the United States, August 80. He is coming in grand styleA cable dispatch from St. Petersburg says his fleet “ will be by far the largest that has ever left Europe.” A Rome dispatch of the 27th says the Pope, in reply to an address by the Roman Academy, remonstrating against doctrines which are antagonistic to the spirit of modern times, disclaims any intention on the part of the Papacy to lay claim to inherent power to dispossess sovereigns or to assume direction over tho worldly affairs of nations. A letter from Alexandria, Egypt, states that ex Secretary Seward passed through that city recently on his way to Constantinople. While in Alexandria he was the guest of the Khedive and the recipient of ostentatious attention. It was thought that he and his party would at once set out on their home journey. THE NEW”WORLD. Gold closed in New York on the 27th at 112. The horse disease has made its appearance at Portland, Me. The whole business portion of the city of Truckee, California, on the Central Pacific Railroad, the great lumber depot of the Sierra Nevada region, was destroyed by fire on the 20th. Loss immense. The trial of Oliver Peaslee, engineer oh the Chicago, Rock Island A Pacific Railroad, for manslaughter, in killing Wilson Wigant, in October last, by running over him on the railroad, was concluded at Joliet, 111., a few days ago, and the jury not only rendered a unanimous verdict of “ not guilty” on the first ballot, but immediately thereafter wrote a statement to the effect that they not only found the prisoner not guilty of manslaughter, but fully exonerated him from all blame in the transaction.

Patrick Logan, a New York policeman, has been dismissed the force for his refusal to attack the rioters on the 12th, because they were his friends. The Massachusetts Republican State Central Committee has decided to call a convention for the nomination of a candidate for Governor and other State officers, at Worcester, on September 24. The two-headed child died in Boston a few days ago. It had been taken to that city from its home in Ohio for the purpose of public exhibition. It was nine months old. In Washington, on the morning of the 22d, an explosion occurred in a small magazine at the arsenal, which is med for the preparation of rockets, lights and shells for the signal corps. A destructive conflagration ensued, and government property to the amount of over $60,000 was destroyed.

The work of changing the gauge of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad from six feet to four; feet nine inches was commenced on the 23d at 8 o’clock a. m., and completed throughout the entire distance, 340 miles, at 11 o’clock a m. The Coroner's jury, inquiring into the cause of the death of the victims of the late riot in New York city, rendered a verdict on the 24th to the effect that “ We find that those parties came to their deaths on the 12th instant, by gunshot wounds, at the hands of parties to us unknown.” The jury, having signed the verdict in forty-two cases, were discharged. A Washington dispatch of the 24th says the report of the Department of Agriculture, just published, shows that the potato crop will be a full average; the hay crop short, and the apples about threefourths of a good yield. President Grant has appointed D. B. Johnson to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Mexico. A letter has been received in Washington from Mrs. J. G. Wharton, widow of the Mr. Wharton who, with his daughter, died suddenly some four years since, while on a visit from their home in Washington to Mrs. Wharton, of Baltimore, lately arrested there for poisoning Gen. Ketchum. The letter asserts that, at the time of the death of these persons, and ever since, she has firmly believed that both her husband and daughter were poisoned by Mrs. Wharton. The reason assigned for this alleged murder was that Mrs. Wharton owed her husband $2,500. A Peoria, 111., dispatch of the 25th says: “ Several of the persons who were engaged in the Singing of Meara, at Watseka, the other day, were iu this city to-day, and it ia stated that they will give themselves up to the authorities and demand a trial. Hon. W. W. O’Brien has been retained as counsel for the defense.” Tho fallowing private dispatch from Yorkville, 8. C., dated July 24, has been received by a gentleman In Washington : “ The Sub-Committee on Southern Outrages arrived here yesterday evening. At the supper fable of the hotel, Hon. Jas. E. Stevenson, of lhe committee, and Hon. A. J. Wallace, Representative of this district, were assaulted as they took their seats, by Major James Barry, a prominent citizen, and a pitcjjpr of milk thrown over them. Wallace drew a but Mr. Barry was surrounded by friends, and he left the hotels At 9 o’clock the committee was serenaded by a negro band, and a crowd collected. As the band was retiring an affray took place, and one negro was shot, receiving three wounds. No arrests have bsen made. ” A dispatch from N«w York on the 26th says the horse disease was still making

sad havoc among tho railroad horns of that city. Persons who send to Now York so counterfeit money, in answer to advertisements, may be interested in knowing that full lists of their namesand residences are being made by the police for publication. At a meeting of the Indiana Democratic State Cantral Committee, held in Indianapolis on the 25th, a resolution was unanimously adopted, “ that we recognize in Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks tho unanimous choice of the Democracy of Indiana as their candidate for the Presidency in 1872, and recommend that every honorable effort bo made by our fellow-citizens to secure his nomination and election ” The Illinois Republican State Central Committee, in session in Chicago on the 25th, decided to call a State Convention to meet at Springfield on the 20th of September, for the nomination of a candidate for Congressman-at-largc. The Missouri Republican of the 25th, learns from Jaxboro, Tex., that the report that the Indian chiefs, Santanta and Big Tree, had been killed while attempting escape is untrue. They were both tried at Jaxboro, and found guilty of murder in the first degree. Recent severe hail-storms in Wayne and Pike counties, Pa, and Sullivan County, N. ¥., caused great destruction to crops. Much damage to buildings, fences, etc., was done by heavy winds. President Grant has appointed L. W. Smith and Thomas Hardman, Jr., of Georgia, Commissioners to the one hundreth anniversary of American independence. A very severe hail storm occurred in Chicago on the 26th, doing damage to the amount of -SIB,OOO. v- . In a letter published in the Chicago Evening Journal of the 27th Hon. Richard J. Oglesby peremptorily declines being a candidate for the Republican nomination of CongrCssman-at-Large in Illinois, . While an express wagon, in charge of a driver and messenger, was halted at the end of an alley, in St. Louis, on the 25th, and the messenger was delivering a package in the alley, the driver was seized by robbers, as is alleged, gagged, and the safe containing the money packages robbed of its contents. |The thieves then escaped. The messenger and driver of the wagon were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the robbery, but were subsequently discharged.