Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1873 — Genneral News Summary. [ARTICLE]

Genneral News Summary.

CONGRESSIONAL. In the Senate, on the 6th, several resolutions of Inquiry were agreed to, and one was offered and ordered printed, directing the Committee on Privileges and Elections to examine and report et the next session of Congress, oh the best and most praeticable mode of electing the President and Vice-President of the United States, and of providing a tribunal to adjust and decide all contested questions connected therewith,... Bills were Introduced— ceding tope-several States within which they respectively lie the beds of surveyed lakes and other bodies of water; to set apart a portion of the Island of Mackinac as a national park.... The Indian Appropriation bill was taken up, and the question raised as to the existence of the Teton Sioux tribe of Indians, when It was asserted that there was such a tribe for whom appropriation had been made, though there might be some question SB to whether that was their proper name; the appropriation of #200,000 toy paid Indians was agreed t 0.... Executive session and adjournment. In'the House, on the 6th, a large number of bills were introduced and referred to the appropriate Committees, among them—for a canal connecting the waters of Lake Michigan and the Illinois, Mississippi and Rock Rivers; to give the officers of the Missouri militia three months pay, to pension the widows and orphans of the soldiers murdered in Missouri in 1864; making Sioux City, lowa, a port of delivery; to provide for the convertibility of United States notes into coin after the Ist of May, 1874.... Resolutions were adopted—for public sessions of the Credlt-Mobiiler Investigating- Committee: reciting that the Union Pacific Railroad Company is a defaulter to the Government in the sum of $5,337,736 for interest paid on its bonds, and that the inability of ths Company to pay such Interest nas been occasioned mainly by the enormous sums paid illegally and fraudulently to the CreditMobiller Company, and therefore directing suit to be brought against the latter Company, and Its individual stockholders, to recover such Interest due the Government; providing for another Secret Committee of five, to Inquire whether any stockholders of the Credit-Mobilier hold bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and whether they obtained them for valuable consideration, etc.; calling for information as to the suitability of the White House for the President’s official and family residence .. .The Senate amendments to the Deficiency bill were taken up and concurred in... .Adjourned. - - In the Senate, on the 7th, among the bills introduced were—amendatory of the—National Currency act of June 30, 1864; joint resolution proposing a Constitutional amendment to provide . that disputes arising with regard "to the persons chosen a* Electors of President and Vice-President, in any State, shall be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States... .A resolution was passed, directing the Committee on Privileges and Elections to inquire and report whether the recent election has been conducted In Louisiana and. Arkansas in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the laws of said States, and to inquire, also, what contests have arisen out of the election, and what measures are necessary to provide for the determination of snch contests In future..,. The Indian Appropriation bill was further considered, and an amendment was adopted appropriating ssn,oooto remove the Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin to the Indian Territory, If they consent. .., .Adjourned. In the House, on the 7th, several bills were Introduced and referred.... Mr. F. C. Bunnell, of Pennsylvania, took the oath and was as signed his seat, as successor to Mr. Mercur, reslsned.... The Naval Appropriation bill ($18,884,993) and the Annual Fortification bill (#1,999.000) were reported.... A bill was passed to enforce the stipulations of the Convention with Venezuela of April 25, 1866, and the payment of the adjudicated claims.... The Legislative Executive and Judicial Appropriation bill was considered in Committee of the 'Whole, and an amendment was adopted, forbidding the payment of contestants in contested election cases.... Messrs. Wilson, of Indiana, Shellabarger, Hoar, Swann and Slocum were announced ar the Select Committee on the Credit Mobilier and union Pacific Railroad questions.... The Speaker presented the resignation of Mr. Beveridge, as Con-gressman-at-Large from Illinois .. Adjourned. In the Senate, on the Bth, bills were, passed for the erection of public buildings at Evansville, Ind., and Gtand Rapids Mich ...A resolution was adopted appropriating $20,000 to defray the expenses of an investigation to be made by the Committee on Privileges and Elections into the election troubles in Louisiana and Arkansas, and conferrieg authority upon the persons to be deputed by the Committee to make the investigation, the Committee being authorized to have witnesses sworn by any State or United States officer authorized to administer an oath,... The Superintendent of the Interior was directed to communicate any information in his possession touching the difficulties with the Modec and other Indians in California and Oregon... . A bill was introduced and referred amending the National Currency act... The Indian Appropriation bill was further considered.... Adjourned. In the House, on the Bth, a bill was -introduced to amend the Bankruptcy act....A number of bills relating to the Territories were reported and disposed of ... Bills were passed—to readjust the western boundary of Dakota Territory; disapproving certain legislation in the Territory of Washington... The Legislative, Executive and Judicial Appropriation bill was further considered in Committee of the Whole, and an amendment was. offered and ruled out of order, on an appeal from the Chajr, increasing the appropriation for the President’s salary from $25 000 to $50,000, and fixing the salary hereafter at $50,000. ....Adjourned. THE OLD WORLD. King Amadeus, of Spain, ’has expressed himself as heartily in favor of the bill recently introduced In the Cortes providing for the em ancipat ion of the slaves in Porto Rico. A recent London dispatch says hundreds of agricultural hands were out of employment there because the farmers refused to pay the wages demanded, and they were preparing to emigrate to Brazil. The Russian Government has communicated to Great Britain its plan for the campaign in Central Asia, and has offered to allow British officers to witness It., The London Timet of the 3d, In an article upon the death of King Kamehameha, says it must confess that the Americans will eventually people the Sandwich Islands, which will become a valuable colony between Ban Francisco and China and Australia.

Recent advices state that an understanding bas been arrived at between England and Russia with regard to the war against the Khivas. Prince Gortscbakoff has given assurance to the British -Minister at St Petersburgh that Russia has no hostile design against Afghanistan, and that the Russian expedition, commanded by General Kaufmann, was sent to punish the Khon of Khiva, who still refused to surrender Russian prisoners. The British Government expressed itself satisfied with thia explanation. Randolph Stewart, the ninth Eari of Galway, died recently, aged 72. A London dispatch of the 4th announces the failure of the extensive wholesale mercantile house of John H. Pawaon & Co., of that city. Liabilities stated at 815,000,000. The late King of the Sandwich Islands weighed 300 pounds, and his coffin weighed 900 pounds. His rightful successor, William LuaalUOj i» said to be an inveteraie~drunkard and a worthless character generally. The new ceasus of France shows the population to be 36,1(r2,921, a decrease of 366,935 sinse 1866. The Enianelpatlon, a radical newspaper of Toulouse, France, has been suppressed. Sir Charles DLlke spoke at Derby on the evening of the 7th, on the land question. A mob attacked tbiii audience, and a fight followed which lasted for an hour. Many i persons were badly hurt, and an armed [escort was necessity to bring Sir. Charles t onkeand his wile to their hotel, tn. safety. I Cable dispatches of the Sth announce that

the ex-EmperOr Napoleon wm dangerously ill. Several persons-belonging to the International Society have recently been arrested in Paris and the provinces. The police found Orsini bombs in the possession of some of the parties. < ' News from Spain on the Sth was to the effect that the Carilsts had tom np rails on the roads between Mirandl and Bllboa, and between AlMna and Pamplona. They also set fire to a railway station with petroleum, completely destroying It, and made prisoners of the railway officials. THE NEW WORLD. Gold dosed in New York on the Bth at The National debt statement, January 1, is as follows: Six per cen*. bonds Five per cent, bonds 414,567,300 Lawful money debt 17,158,000 Matured debt 4,084,220 Legal-tender notes.; 868,642:294 Certificates of deposit 26,370,000 Fractional currency 45,722,061 Coin certificates... .. 28,263,000 474,539,575 Total debt without interest. -....52,231,191,025 Interest 40,667,161 Total debt 52,271,858,186 Cash in Treasury— Coin $74,859,275 Currency... 9,876,573 Special deposits held for redemption of certificates of deposits, as provided by law 25,370,000 Total in Treasury $109,605,848 Debt less cash in Treasury..... v.... . $2,162,252,338 Increase dnrftg the month. 1,684,307 Bonds issued to the Pacific Railroad Companies, interest payable in lawful money, principal outstanding.. 64.628,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid.... 1,938,705 Interest paid by the United States-... . 16,570,575 Interest repaid by transportation of > f mails, etc... 4,006,002 Balance of interest paid by the United States 12,564,578 On the afternoon of the 30th ult., fourteen of the women held in Rochester, N. Yr, for Illegal voting at the election, gave bail to appear at the Albany Court. Susan B. Anthony refused to furnish ball, and was remanded. Governor Washburne was inaugurated as Governor of Massachusetts on the 2d. His address says that while the Boston disaster caused commercial embarrassments, the public finances are gratifying. The funded debt has been reduced $2,000,000 during the year, the total funded debt is now about $27,000,000. He considers the labor question as of the first Importance. At a special election held on the 2d, In the Bradford District of Pennsylvania, to fill the vacancy in Congress caused by the resignation of Mercur, Mr. Bonnell, Republican, was elected by about 1,000 majority over Victor E. Piollet. Governor Perham, Maine, was inaugurated on the 2d, and delivered his annual message, which shows a healthy condition of the financial, agricultural and manufacturing interests of the State. The Legislature elected the following State officers : Geo. G. Stacy, Secretary of State ;B. B. Murray, AdjutantGeneral ; W. P. P. Burleigh, Land Agent ; H. M. Plaisted, Attorney-General. The coal miners’ strike in the neighborhood of Springfield, 111., has terminated, the men resuming work at the old prices. The free public library of Chicago was formally opened on the Ist. The Lower House of the Missouri Legislature permanently organized on the 2d by the election of Mortimer Mcllheney, Democrat, for Speaker, arid J. T. Pratt, Democrat, Chief Clerk. By a collision on the 2d between a freight and a passenger train on the Macon & Western Railroad, In Georgia, eight negroes were killed and ten or twelve others and three whites were Injured. The time for filing claims for additional bounty under the act of July 28,'1866, giving SIOO to every soldier who enlisted in the army of the United States after the 19th of April, 1861, for a period of not less than three years, and received his honorable discharge; or SSO for two years enlisted after April 14,1861, expires on the 81st of the present month. The Postmaster-General has decided that families, firms, or companies cannot eotabine to rent Post-Office boxes concertly, butthat one box rent must be collected for each firm, family, or company enjoying such facilities. The following explanation accompanied the bank statement of January 1: “The large excess of national expenditures over the receipts during the past month, amounting to over $1,600,000, Is partially accounted far by the fact that the bank tax of $3,000,000, which was paid during December, does not appear In course of business in the receipts ..for that month. When the accounts are finally settled, and the expenditures by warrant for December are made up, the greater part of the unfavorable balance will probably disappear.” A New York Court has decided that the United States cannot tax the salaries of State Judges. TZZf -

The Governor of Maine reports that shipbuilding is again prosperous In that State. The Northwestern Fertilizing Company’s works, near Chicago, have been destroyed by fire. Loss about $170,000. The Legislature of Michigan convened on the Ist. Charles M. Crosewell was elected Speaker of the House. Governor. Bagley was Inaugurated on the 2d. The message of retiring Governor Baldwin Wax Teal on' the 2d. The total debt of the State i5'51,762,292.78. The State owns 3,102,923 acres of land. The value of school-houses and lots is $2,469,296. There are 5,365 public schools in the State, with a seating capacity of 381,812. The number of children of school age is 404,994. The fixed shod fund is $2,968,272, and there are school lands unsold valued at $1,808,135. The Income of the State University is- $76,359.61, and its expenditures $92,000. William Cluck, convicted of the murder of his wife, and sentenced to be hung at Indianapolis on the 3d, committed suicide on the 31st ult., by taking morphine, which he had obtained from' some unknown source. The Ohio General AWGhWy met at Cotunibus on the 2d. Governor Noyes, in his annual message, states the aggregate debts of the State to be $30,197,569 37, in which Js included $4,060,000 of debt in aid of railroad enterprises. Jhe receipts for the fiscal year ending November 15, ware $4,757,797; ihe ; disbursements were $5,058,485. Governor Brown's Message was' read In ■the Misaduri Legislature on the 3d. The receipts into the TYeasury for the pitat year 1 were $2,866,123; balance off* hand at the

commencement of the year, 1642,626; total, $3)638,749; disbursement*, $3,044,220; balance January 1, 1878, $594,529. The biennial report of General E. N. Bates, Illinois State Treasurer, shows that the receipts of the State Treasury from all sources during the past two years were $15,252,055.12, and the disbursements $13,201,279.14, and that of the State’s present indebtedness Is $1,700,000. a All the prisoners confined In the Frankfort, Ky., Jail escaped, a few nights ago, by cutting through the roof. The second trial of Stokes, for the murder of James Fisk, terminated on the 4th, the jury rendering a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. The announcement of the verdict created a great sensation In the court room. The prisoner turned ashy pale, and his sister wept aloud. 'lt is stated that the jury, on rWrlag, stood ten for murder in the first degree, and two for manslaughter in the third degree. By the recent breaking up of the ice in the Ohio River and its tributaries, several steamers and barges were sunk, and other damage was done to river property. Louisiana has notified her agents in New York that the payment of Interest on the State bonds is discontinued for the present, in consequence of delay la collecting the taxes. Two British war vessels have recently gone to the Sandwich Islands, and two American ships were on their way there. Chief-Justice E. H. Alien is acting Regent of ■the Islands during the interregnum. Recent Mexican advices report the completion of the railroad from the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz, an event which would shortly be celebrated with imposing festivities. A Washington dispatch of the sth says the President had directed the Secretary of State to prepare immediately an Executive order in effect prohibiting persons holding ing United ; States commissions from occupying office under State authority. The President, in a recent conversation on the subject of the Hawaiian Island affairs, said that in view of the recent publications concerning them, It was proper that all facts should be known, and which are briefly as follows: This Government had sent a United States vessel to the. Hawaiian Islands to bring the .King to San Francisco, he having expressed a desire to travel through the country, and thence go to Europe for the benefit of his health. About the time the vessel arrived at Honolulu the King died. This intelligence having been received by our Government, the commander of the Pacific squadron was instructed to send a vessel to the islands in addition to the one already there, simply to protect the rights of American citizens in case of emergency, and to see that other nations should take no undue advantages under the new government. Gen. Schofield sailed on this vessel merely for the benefit of his health. Edward 8. Stokes, convicted of murder in the first degree in the killing of James Fisk, Jr., has been sentenced to be hanged on Friday, February 28. When asked the customary question what he had to say before sentence was passed, Stokes replied that the evidence on which he had been convicted was manufactured and perjured. An earthquake shock was felt in Central Ohio on the night of the 4th. At Columbus and Dayton it caused the dishes and the furniture of the houses to dance, and made a low rumbling noise, like that of distant thunder. A horrible affair occurred at Wadena, lowa, a few nights ago. A party of young men got drunk and tied one of their number on the back of a horse, Mazeppalike, and galloped him all through the village. He was finally taken off, rolled up in a bed-quilt, and left in an unconscious state at the house of Mr. Locbard In the morning he was dead. Hl* name was Garret Dorland, and he was only seventeen years of age. The town of Carlisle, Kentucky, on the Maysville & Lexington Railroad, was nearly destroyed by fire*on the night of the 4th. Lots about $70,000. There was considerable excitement in New Orleans on the 6th. Both the Legislatures met and adjourned without transacting any business. Business in the city was generally suspended, and the citizens congregated in large numbers. General Emory received a telegram from Washington directing him to inform Governor Pinchbeck that the troops of the United States would not be furnished to disperse any body of men claiming to be a Legislature or otherwise assembling peaceably and not obstructing the Administration of the recognized government of the State. The New York Assembly organized on the 7th by the selection of A. B. Cornell a* Speaker. Governor Dix, in his message, recommends that the Erie Canal be kept within the control of the State, and that steps be taken to quicker; transportation. Among other proposed reforms for the government of New York City, he ■presses. the adoption of Minority Representation; The State debt is $25,886,725, which is $4,000,000 less than last year. New Orleans was quiet on the 7th. The -Pinchbeck Legislature and the House of the Fusionlst Legislature were in session; there was no quorum present in the Senate of the latter body.

The Arkansas Legislature organised on the 6th by the selection Of the Republican nominees in both Houses. Elisha Baxter was declared to be elected as Governor, and he was sworn in by the Chief Justice, Late advices from America report a great inundation of the city of Bogota, caused by the overflow of two small rivers that run through It. Much property was destroyed, and several Ilves were lost. At the recent New Hampshire State Demcratic Convention, James A. Weston was nominated for Governor, and Henry Colony for Railroad Commissioner. Governor Geary’s message was submitted to the Pennsylvania Legislature on the Bth. The State debt has been reduced during the year nearly $2,500,000, leaving the debt, less assets on hand, $16,521,089. The Erie Railway Company have commenced a suit against Commodore Vanderbilt for $8,.500,000, that being the amount secured by him to his settlement with Drew, Eldridge, Gould and Frak, after the great Erie “corner”of 1867. I In Chicago, on the evening of the 6th, a i Swede named Lars Gustave Larson and a i boy companion were passing along the ! streets, when a gang of young roughs as- ! sailed them and made an attack upon the boy. Larson interfered in his behalf, when i he was set upon by the gang, and to the that ensued, was stabbed to the heart 1 and akuost Instantly expired. A boy. aged

about fourteen, named James Dwyer, has been arretted, and has confessed to having dene the stabbing. Ex-Governor Koerner on the 7th tendered his resignation a* member of the Illinois Warehouse Commission. The Hannibal ABt. Jo. Railroad Company ordered the pay of theemployea reduced ten per cent, on the Ist instant. On the 6th, all the men except the locomotive engineers struck and locked up the switches. A letter received in Washington on the Bth from General Crook announces that he was prosecuting a most vigorous warfare against those Indians in Arizona who refuse to go upon their reservation. The Wisconsin Legislature met on the Bth. J. H. Waggoner was re-elected Chief Clerk of the Senate. Hon. D. D. Barron was chosen Speaker of the House. The Illinois Legislature met at Snringonthe Bth. D. A. Ray was chosen Secretary of the Senate. The House organized temporarily. Governor Hart and LleutenantOovemor Stearns, of Florida, were inaugurated on the 7th.