Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1875 — THE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

THE NEWS.

Rissia Recognizes Alphonso as King of Spain. Cartfets Abandoning Their Cause and Submitting to the King. Family of Ten Persons Burned to Death in Canada. Ke|>wrt of the Centennial Commission. Congressional Proceeding-s— A Bead* Lock in the House. The Mwaesota Legislature Calls on Cos* gressnaa King to Explain. Statistics Relative to the Grasshopper Raid. PMBtMOOa tOO,OOOPeopIe Horror Leas Seriously Affected. Other Interesting News Items. FOREIGN. A farm-house occupied by Pierre Dulude, Is Boucherviile, Canada, was destroyed by fire on the morning of the 25th, and Dulude’s wife •fid eight children perished in the flames. The eldest child was thirteen years old and the youngest a babe. Dulude was himself seriously burned in his efforts to save his family, and was not expected to live. ._ Madrid telegrams of the 26th say that the Carlista bad abandoned the Biscay provinces mud moved into Navarre with all their material of war. Six hundred Carlists had submitted to King Alphonso in the province of Casleton de la Plana. Fugitives from Estella assert that Don Carlos had shot several officers for treason. The Carlists had fired on a British vessel laden with telegraph cable off the Biscayan coast. A London dispatch of the 26th announces the death of the Emperor of China on the 12th. ■ - "" " A London dispatch of the 27th says 40,000 Spanish troops were massed about Taffala for an attack on the Carlist main position on the road to Pampeluua. The King would direct operations in person. A Madrid dispatch of the '29th says three important positions had been captured from the Carlists in the valley of Carascal, and that there had been a gradual advance all along the lines. Zaranz had becu occupied by a Spanish battalion. Russia has recognized King Alphonso. Drs. Peters and Harkness, of the American axpedition, were the only successful observers of the transit of Venus in New Zealaud. The German party at Auckland Islands had a successful observation. A Madrid dispatch of the 31st ult. says that an understanding in regard to the Virgin ins indemnity had beeu reached by Minister Cushing and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Seaor Castro. The Captain and crew of the brig Gustav had been released bv the Carlista. Decrees had been issued permitting the press to discuss the acts of the Ministry, put forbidding attacks on royalty and religion, and the publication of news favorable to the Carlists. A Havana dispatch of tiie 31st ult. announces the capture by the insurgents of the fort and settlement of Jibara.

DOXBSnC. “ A fire in Washington on the 25th seriously damaged a portion of the Navy Department building, and a few public documents were destroyed. According to the annual report of the Centennial Commission the enterprise is moving orward with encouraging rapidity. The buildings will be entirely completed by the Ist of February, 1876. It is stated that the commission will not apply to Congress an appropriation to aid in the erection of the buildings or other work, as this has been amply provided for, and while an appropriation would give additional success to the enterprise the commission feel that the success of the exhibition is guaranteed without regard to aid from Congress. An appropriation will, however, be asked for, not to exceed $400,000, to provide for premiums to be oflered to contributors. A Washington dispatch of the 36th says the negotiations for a reciprocity treaty with the Bandwich Islands had been practically completed and would l>c sent to the Senate in a few days. Lent will begin this year on the ll)th of February, much earlier than it has done in any year since 1860. The Commissioner of Agriculture has furnished Representative Cobb, of Kansas, statistics relating to the grasshopper affliction. He says the area of this destructive visitation comprises from 300 to 235 miles wide, extending from the settlements of Southern Dakota through Nebraska and Kansas, 'over 500 mQes in length, and inclining to the south. A few western counties of lowa and Minnesota report injuries, but not to compare in severity wltn those of the country west, lie thinks the area of territory visited by the grasshoppers in 1874 very considerably exceeds 100,000 square miles, and does not think it eat of the way to estimate the number of people more or less severely affected by this pest at from 75,000 to 100,000. Another lire was started in the Navy Department buildings in Washington, on the ‘36th, and was evidently the work of an incendiary, as was probably the fire of the 25th. Sat little damage was done. An unsuccessful attempt was made on the night of the 24th, by four or five men supposed to be detectives, to capture the James boys at their mother’* residence near Kearney Station, Mo. A desperate encounter took plaee, and the house was fired in four different placet. The assailants were driven off. A band grenade thrown into the house

waa cast upon the grate by Dr. Samuels, stepfather of the James boys, and its explosion killed a lad ten rears old and so injured the arm of Mrs. Samuels that amputation was necessary. It Is asserted that the James boys were not at the house during the fight. A report from Fort Sully, D. T., states that the recent cold weather there was the severest ever known in that country. The thermometer for several days ranged from thirty-eight to forty-four below. Many cattle and ponic* were frozen to death. A package was received at the Office in Washington on the 30th nit con taming half a dozen snake*, two dead and tkelrc,. matador alive. One was a copperhead five feet long. The reptiles were in a tin box addressed to Germany, but had been stopped at New York on account of insufficient postage. A reward of $5,000 wjas not long since offered, by a citizen of Loudon, for a copy (said to l>e the only one in the United States) of a hook published in England in 1830, relating to a member of the royal family of. England, and against the publication of which the Lord Chancellor issued an injunction. The book is rvported to be in the possession of a lawyer of Louisville, Ky. The object in securing the book at London is said to be the fact that it contains documentary evidence of the legal marriage of King George IV. to Mrs. Fltz Herbert and of* the birth of a child to them in lawful wedlock, which child Is supposed to be now living. PERSONAL. “ DtTrtifg tht dfoAfe-ex a m IhaTTciiTor "M rTVt oui - ton, in the Beecher trial, on the 26th, the witness received word of the death of his mother. Though much affected by the news he consented to finish his testimony, and the cross-examination was concluded. Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris, son-in-law sud daughter of President Grant, arrived at New York on the 27th, from Europe. King Kalakaua and his suite arrived at Ban Francisco on the 26th, m mute for Honolulu. Mrs. Bradshaw and Mr. Franklin Woodruff have testified in the Tilton *w. Beecher suit. The former’s evidence was unimportant. The latter (Mr. Moulton’s partner) confirmed Mr. Moulton’s statement relating to a former interview with Mr. Tracy at which the guilt of Mr. Beecher was affirmed by Mr. Moulton, and the witness stated that Mr. Tracy had said that in this case lying was perfectly justifiable, and had recommended that either Moulton or Tilton be sent to Europe. Mr. Tilton was called to the stand on the 28th; and the question of his being allowed to testify was argued. The Mayor of Philadelphia ou the 28th addressed a circular toJusttees of the Peace and other prominent pcr6onß living in neighborhoods in which it is thought the supposed abductors of Charley Ross operated after the abduction, appealing to them to personally interest themselves in seeking for the missing child, aud that a general and thorough search be. wade in all secluded places. The $5,000 reward is still offered. The Thomas Paine memorial building in Boston was dedicated on the 29th. Mr. Trask, the well-known anti-tobacco apostle, died at Fitchburg, Mass., a few days ago, at the age of seventy-nine. POLITICAL. The Rhode Island Legislature has chosen Gen: A. E. Burnside as United States Senator to succeed Mr. Sprague. Ex-President Andrew Johnson has becu elected to the United States Senate, to succeed Mr. Brownlow, by the Tennessee Legislature. The New Jersey Legislature has elected Theodore F. Randolph (Dem.)United States Senator, by a vote of 49 to 31 for Geo. M. Robeson. The New Hampshire Republican State Committee, in session at Concord on the 28tli, sent a telegram to the Republicans in Congress, calling ou them to stand by the CivilRights bill. The Illinois House of Representatives on the 27tli adopted a series of resolutions condemning military interference (except in the manner prescribed in the Constitution) in State affairs, and censuring the Administraturn for its maintenance by Federal authority of the Kellogg Government in Louisiana in opposition to the will of the people, and especially condemning the alleged military interference with the organization of the Legislature ol that State. At a caucus of Republican United Slates Senators in Wa.shing*on on the evening of the 80th ult. it was decided to support the “President iti what he Lad already done relative to affairs in Louisiana, and to stand' by him iu the future in the support of the Kellogg Government in all its lawful authority. It is said there were eight Senators who dissented from this position of their Republican associates. A National Convention of reformers whose object is to secure an amendment to the United States Constitution acknowledging God and the Bible Mas recently held in St. Louie. Speeches were made and resolutions Were adopted in keeping with the object of the meeting. One of the resolutions declares “that the fael of the nation's life and its duty to God unite in requiring an explicit acknowledgment in its written Constitution of its relations to God as the author of its existence, to Christ as its ruler and the Bible ns of Supreme authority," The Minnesota Legislature on the 30th, by an almost Unanimous vote, passed a resolution calling on William S. King to immediately appear before the Ways aud Means Committee of the United States House <rf Representatives and clear himself of the charges aud make,a full expose of his knowledge of the Pacific Mail subsidy business, or, failing in that, to resign his position as Congressman.

CONURKSKIOXAL. Ip the Senate, on the 25th, in the absence oi Vice-President Wilsoa.Mr. Anthony was fleeted President pro tan.... A letter was re eeived from the Secretary of War transmitting copies of the correspondence in relatsou to certain disorders in Louisiana.... After the transaction of some other business the Louisiana discussion was resumed. Mr. Johnston condemning and Mr. Pease defending the course of the Administration in that State. In the House, on the 25th, several bills were introduced and referred, among them tie following: To establish certain telegraph lines in several States and Territories as post roads. ' and to regulate the transmission of commercial and other intelligence bv telegraph; for a branch j mint at St. Louis; for the improvement of the ' Minnesota River by the construction of a lock i and dam at Liuie Rapids.... Richard B i Its in wajs discharged from arrest \ ! resolution that no dilatory motion should be en- ' tertsined during the remainder of the session, I pending the consideration of any bill or joint res- I olption.Jailed to receive a two-thirds vote iu the affirmative, and was defeated, as was also a mis tion to suspend the rnles and take up the CiviiKigbts hill. In the Senate, on the 26th, a message was received from the President transmitting the report of the commission appointed to investigate a permanent plan for the reclamation of the alluvial basin of tbe Mississippi River....A bill was introduced and referred to provide for and regulate the counting of vote* for President and Vice- '

I’resident of the United State*... .The Louisiana question was further debated- bjr Messrs. Foase and Thurman. Id the House, on the 26th, majority and minority reports were made from tho Committee on Elections on the propoted constitutional amendment relative to the election of President and Vice-President—the majority report favoring the plurality system and the minority recommending a direct election by the people. .. A Joint resoltftlon was offered proposing an amendment to the Constitution, extending the President's term of office to six years and rendering him ineligible for re-election, which resolution was, after considerable discussion, rejected for want of a two-thirds affirmative vote — yeas 134. nays IJM. In the Senate, on the 27th, a bill was introduced to establish certain telegraphic lines in the several States and Territories as post-roads, to regulate the transmission of commercial and other intelligence by telegraph... A resolution was submitted and ordered printed to repeal the twenty-second Joint rule of the two houses of Congress in regard to the counting of the electoral vote . Mr. Thurman spoke on the Louisiana question, arguing against the course of the Administration. Mr. West briefly responded, and Mr. Conkling obtained the floor aud yielded to a motion to adjourn. In the House, on the 27th, after the transaction of s«ue routine busiuess, a motion was made to reconsider the action of last session recommitting the Civil-Rights bill to the Judiciary Committee, when dilatory motions were made by the minority to prevent the consideration of the bill. After several hours spent iu this manner a compromise was offered byMr. Butler proposing, on the part of the majority, to allow the offering of six amendments, and that four hours should be glvenifor debate, pro and run, on the bill, and a resolution was offen d to this effect. Several dilatory motions followed, and at I:3T> on the morning of the 28th filibustering was still going on. with little proe--1 pecUtualanaiijonmiTienl In the Senate, on the 28th, a bill was passed providing for the appointment of a Commissioner to ascertain the right of subjects of Great Britain to lands in the territory which was subject of the award of the Emperor of Germany under the treaties of 1846 and 1871 between the I'nited States and Great Britain ..A large number of petitions were presented... .The Louisiana debate w as continued, Mr. Conkling beginning a lengthy argument in behalf of the Administration. The dead-lock in the House continued after an all-night session, and at midnight of the 28th the roll-call showed the presence of 150 mem hers. The Republican side hoped by thus refusing to adjourn to bring the thirteen refractory Republicans to join them, aud thus give them a twothirds vote and enable them to bring up the Civil-Rights bill; while the Democratic members hoped for an adjournment before Monday, Feb. 1, and that by this means the bill would be thrown back on the calendar and its consideraation this session be thus defeated. Should an adjournment not be had before the let the bill cauld be reached ou that day by a majority vote suspending the rules. Dilatory motions were continued up to midnight. In the Senate, on the 29th, the joint resolutions of the Missouri Legislature condemning the military interference in Louisiana were presented.An adverse report was made on the bill for the relief of certain settlers on pub1U lauds iu ceMuln-porrtouS of lowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas .. .Mr. Conkling concluded his speech on Louisiana matters, and was followed by Mr. Gordon... .Mr. Schurz wished to modify his resolution by prefixing a preamble to the"effect that whereas any military interference with the organization or proceedings of a Legislature is repugnant to the principles of constitutional government, and that whereas such interference with the Louisiana Legislature was without warrant of law, therefore resolved, etc. ....Adjourned to the Ist. Tiie House adjourned at 10:25 on the morniug of the 29th, after a continuous session of forty-six hours and twenty-five minutes. There was no compromise. Amotion to adjourn was carried by a vote of seventy-five yeas to sixty nays, nineteen ReptrbHt-ans voting in the affirmative. The roll was called seventy-five times during the protracted sitting. Senate not in session on the 30th Nothing was done in the House except the reading of the journal, which was insisted upon by the minority in order to consume the time and prevent the day’s notice being given of the resolution to change the rules. Up to the hour of adjournment—4:3o p. m—only seventeen or eighteen of the seventy-seven roll-calls of the daybefore had been read.