The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-15 00:00:00

II01:SE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Dec. 17.—Mr. Van Horn introduced a bill to
amend Section 11 of the Supplemental Pension
Act, and Mr. Koontz, of Pennsylvania, one refer-
ring to the inconvenience experienced by small die-
tillers in being forced to purchase expensive meters
designated by the Secretary of the Treasury.—Re-
ferred to the Committee of Ways and Means. Mr.
Thomas, of Maryland, from the Committee on
Judiciary, reported 'a resolution authorising the
Committee on Judiciary to continue its investiga-
tions concerning public affairs iu Maryland, and
that their inquiries be continued with the same
power and authority upon the subject as they had
previously been given by the House. Mr. Phelps,
of Maryland, moved to amend the resolution by
adding, "And that the Representatives of the State
of Maryland be privileged to attend at the exami-
nation and cross-examination of witnesses." A
discussion followed, in which Mr. Phelps at great
length spoke in favour of his amendment, and de-
fended his State and its sovereign rights, in oppo-
sition to the attempt by Congress to force a consti-
tution of its own manufacture on Maryland.
Eventually the resolution was passed, as amended.
Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, from the Committee on
Military Affairs, reported back the bill in relation
to officers of the army dismissed or cashiered by
court-martial, and which prohibits the President
from reappointing them except by consent of the
Senate; and it was passed by a vote of 116 yeas to
34 nays. Senate amendment to the joint resolution
in relation to the change of time in the meeting of
the directors of the Pacific Railroad Company was
then taken up, and the amendment was agreed to.
On the motion of Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, the
House resolved itself into Committee of the Whole
(Mr. Dawes in the chair), and Mr. Boyer, of
Pennsylvania, proceeded to address the committee
upon the subject of impeachment, and combated
the argument of his colleague (Mr. Woodward)
made the other day, that a President of the United
States could be impeached for an act other than a
crime or misdemeanour known to the law. Mr.
Pike, of Maine. next obtained the floor, and ad-
dressed the House upon the subject of the taxes and
'the revenue. At the conclusion of his speech the
committee rose. The House then adjourned.
Dec. 18.—Mr. Elliot, of Massachusetts, offered
a resolution directing the Secretary of State to com-
municate to the House all information in posses-
sion of the Department in relation to whaling and
fishing vessels of the United States having been
fired upon by Russian men-of-war while engaged
in their legitimate vocation on the coast of North
America.—Adopted. Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania,
introduced a bill to amend the act establishing a
uniform system of bankruptcy.—Referred to Com-
mittee on Judiciary. The House resolved itself
into Committee of the Whole, (Mr. Dawes in the
chair), when Mr. Spalding, of Ohio, spoke as to the
treaty making power. He acknowledged the right
of the President and Senate alone to make a treaty,
but it was the duty of the House to inquire into the
expediency of such treaty, and to exercise a discre-
tion in appropriating money to carry out the treaty.
If not, the Executive and the co-ordinate Legisla-
tive branch trenched upon the powers of the Re-
presentatives, which must be resisted. The
Speaker, on the committee rising, laid the Pre-
sident's Message, transmitting General Hancock's
order No. 1, on the table. Mr. Ashley, of Ohio,
rising to a privileged question, called up the motion
to reconsider the vote whereby the bill to facilitate
the restoration of the late rebel States was referred
to the Committee on Reconstruction. He under-
stood it had agreed upon a bill embracing the pro-
posed features. This Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, stated
was a mistake, as Mr. Ashley's bill had been voted
down in the committee. On reconsidering the vote
whereby the bill was committed, Mr. Stevens
moved to strike out all after the enacting clause of
Mr. Ashley's bill, and to insert the bill offered by
him yesterday, and the terms of which were given
in the report of that day. After the bill had been
read, Mr. Stevens perfected the bill by according
eleven Representatives to the State of Virginia,
that State having been omitted yesterday. Mr.
Bingham, of Ohio, moved to amend by striking
out the third section of the substitute which desig-
nates the number of Representatives for each State.
Mr. Ingersoll gave notice that he would move to
have the bill printed if the previous question was
not seconded. Mr. Stevens said there Was always
some objection to everything he had heard of either
on earth or in heaven. Here is a bill which he had
supposed every member would be willing to vote for.
It is one of the simplest bills in the world, and no
man can possibly misunderstand it. In the first
section it simply restores the majority principle in
the adoption of the State Constitution ; the second
section simply empowers the people of the Southern
States to vote for Representatives to Congress at
the same time that they vote upon the question of
ratifying the Constitution; and when the States
are admitted their Representatives shall be entitled
to admission in the Congress of the United States.
That is the whole of the bill, except the third sec-
tion, which the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Bing-
ham) proposed to strike out. That third section
has simply fixed the representation, and declared
how many Representatives the States named
should be entitled to until a further appor-
tionment shall be made. Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, ob-
served that the third section is clearly violative of the
Constitution of the United States and of the legis-
lation of Congress. The power of Congress over
the apportionment of members is very clearly de-
fined. It is to be made every ten years, and he did
not recognise the right of everysucceeding Congress
to change the basis of representation when once
fixed. With himself that objection would be all-
sufficient, and he had, therefore, moved to strike
out that section ; but if the House refused to strike
it out, he could not vote for the bill with that
clause in. Mr. Stevens said as there seemed to be
much opposition, he would withdraw that part of
the bill which provided for representation from the
State at large. Mr. Bingham insisted that under that
circumstance the third section was not at all neces-
sary, as the people now had a right toelect Represen-
tatives. Mr. Stevens then withdrew the whole section.
Mr. Brookes, of New York, said he was glad the
bill had aroused some opposition among Republi-
cans, and it was evident that they were fearful of the
effect out West if they passed such a bill as this.
He referred to the several Reconstruction Acts, and
contended that their whole object was to enfran-
chise the blacks and disfranchise the whites of the
South. The object was to enslave eight millions of
white people by putting an inferior race to rule over
them. Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, addressed the
House in favour of the bill. Mr. Stevens replied to
Mr. Brooks, and said he seemed to forget the lan.
gunge of the Bible, which declared that the Creator
made of one blood all nations of the earth. Mr.
Stevens then demanded the previous question. The
previous question was then seconded, and Mr.
Boyer demanded the yeas and nays upon the pas-
sage of the bill, pending which Mr. Burr, of
Illinois, moved to adjourn, and upon that question
the yeas and nays were ordered, and resulted—,
yeas 37, nays 102. The question upon the pas-
sage of the bill was then taken by yeas and nays,
and it was passed by a strict party vote of 104
yeas and 37 nays. The House then at 4.30 ad-
journed.

Dec. 19.—Mr. Bowyer, of Pennsylvania, asked
leave to offer a resolution reciting the President's
Message, on the order of General Hancock, the
Senate concurring, that the thanks of Congress are
due and tendered to General Hancock for his sup-
port of civil law. The Clerk was not permitted to
conclude the reading of the resolution, as objec-
tions were made by Mr. Farnsworth, Mr. Spald-
ing, Mr. E. B. Washburne and others, and the re-
gular order of business was at once demanded and
insisted upon. Mr. Hooper, of Massachusetts, re-
ported from the Committee on Banking and Cur-
rency a bill providing that national bank notes may
be taxed for State purposes. Referred to Committee
of the whole House. The House resolved itself
into Committee of the Whole on the bill to supply
deficiencies in appropriations for the execution of
the Reconstruction Acts, and for the service of the
Quartermaster's Department of the Government
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868 ; Mr.
Maynard, of Tennessee, in the chair. The bill was
read, after which no business of importance was
transacted.

Dec. 20.—Mr. Price, of lowa, introduced a reso-
lution in relation to American citizens arrested
abroad. Referred to Committee on Foreign Affairs.
On the motion of Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, the
House resolved itself into Committee of the Whole
on the Senate amendments to the Deficiency Appro-
priation Bill ; Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, in the chair.
The amendment striking out the appropriation for
stationery for members of Congress was declared
agreed to by a viva voce vote. The other amend-
ments of the Senate were concurred in, and.ithen
the question recurred upon agreeing to the whole
bill, and upon a rising vote, and it appearing that
the bill would not be agreed to, Mr. Washburne, of
Illinois, withdrew his motion to agree, and said he
would move his amendments in the House. The
committee then rose, and its action was reported to
the House. The question of agreeing to the Senate
amendment striking out all allowance for stationery
was taken by yeas and nays, and it was agreed to—
yeas 54, nays 41. The amendment making appro-
priations for deficiencies of 112,444 in the Senate
expenses, were disagreed to by a vote of 63 to 30.
All the other Senate amendments were non-con-
curred in, and the amended bill was then agreed to
as amended. At 3.43 p.m., on motion of Mr.
Spalding, of Ohio, the House adjourned until Mon-
day, the 6th day of January, at 12 o'clock.

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Some time ago a little paper in the hands of little
boys, called the Little Times, was hawked along the Strand.
We all knew that Captain Mayne Reid had undertaken the
difficult and adventurous task of adding another to the
daily papers of London. No one was surprised when the
boys ceased to call The Little Times, and all knew that the
bantling was dead. It was not the fault of the English that
they preferred a big Standard, Telegraph, or Star for their
penny than Capt. Mayne Reid's squib, and we cannot think
Capt. Reid justified in visiting on England the failure of the
Little Times and his own bankruptcy. Insolvency is the
general end of literary mon. It may be that they are bad
men of business, moregenerous or more careless than other
classes. It may be that they are worse paid ; but, under
any circumstances, Mayne Reid was no exception, and
there is, therefore, ou his part, no call for spite. He has
returned to America, taken a house in Newport, Rhode
Island, and arranged with Col. Forney to contribute
articles on English politics and parties for the Philadel-
phia Press. The tenour of these communications is
bitter hostility to England. In his first article he
endeavours to excite the animosity of the Northerners
on a point on which they aro peculiarly sensitive—Eng-
land's attitudes during the war. Fearing that at any rate
this might be acceptable to the South, he meets it by
stating " England's antagonism to the North sprang
from no sympathy with the South ;" and he words it as
follows:—" It is in truth the same cause and the same
struggle over again. On the one side the children of the
Commonwealth, for God ; on the other the descendants of
those pseudo cavaliers, for the devil—identical with the Cop-
perheads of your North, and the chivalry' of your South."
We are told that Mayne Reid was born in the province of
Ulster in 1818, which would make him 50 years of age.
Unless Colonel Forney has given him his cue, we cannot
see the object in thus writing up enmity except pure mis-
chief, or what purpose can be answered by stirring up the
worst feelings of both nations, except to gratify Fenian
spite ; and if Captain Mayne Reid is a Fenian, he cer-
tainly managed to disguise his feelings pretty well while
in England.

The first number of the American Inventor, a
monthly journal of interest to the British manufacturer,
was published January 1, at 142 and 143, Cheapside,
London. its editor and proprietor, Mr. Charles Pomeroy
Button, aims to furnish reliable information specially ap-
plicable to the requirements of the manufacturer, while
of interest to the general public. Each number will con-
tain engravings and descriptions of new and useful machi-
nery, of which there aro abundant specimens of a very
high order in the issue now before us. The American In-
ventor is beautifully got up, extending over 24 large pages,
which better answer the purpose than a magazine form in
giving ample space for the delineation of models. As
the journal has chalked out an unoccupied patk for
itself, and one both of great utility and of much
interest in Europe, we see no reason to doubt its suc-
cess, and it will have the effect of more widely opening
the field presented on this side the Atlantic to American
inventions. On no other subject does Yankee ingenuity
so exercise itself, and both material circumstances and a
national propensity have forced into this channel a large
portion of American talent. It has been held as an axiom
in the United States that a paucity of labour might be
counterbalanced by the exertion of the brain, and that a
citizen confers the highdst benefit on his country who
succeeds in releasing the largest number of hands
for other employment by the introduction of a ma-
chine which, by a simple and inexpensive method,
does the work of many men. To an incalculable extent
Europe has benefited by American inventions, till inventor
and American have almost become synonymous terms.
Yet millions in Europe, whose food, clothing, and num-
berless household_ requirements have been cheapened by
American ingenuity, are unaware to whom the obligation
is due, and many " notions" are in daily use in the United
States which would vastly add to the comfort of the toil-
ing thousands hero if they were introduced. A similar
work will, wo understand, be brought out in Now York
by a London-American house ; but the field is so large,
and both science and utility are so interested in the exten-
sion of the knowledge of American inventions, that a
strong effort only is required to make these journals
highly popular throughout Europe ; but more especially
in Groat Britain, where their value is better appreciated
by the people.