Litchfield enquirer., 1842-05-05
Correspondence Of the N. Y. Express.
WASHINGTON, April q.


thousand and five hundred, which was con.
Cured in with so much unanimity a few
days since, is so soon disagreed 20 and by
large vote, the House, in Committee of the
Whole, has decided to adopt fifty thousand
one hundred and fraction Of one hundred,
Uhe amount Of which do not remember as
the proper ratio.) This agreement, however,
though now sustained by vote OF ninety
eight to fifty-nine may be voted down to-
morrow.
The amendment submitted after the ratio
was agreed upon was in reference TO the
Congressional districts. 1t is proposed by
Mr.. Halstead, Of New Jersey, that the state
Legislatures shall be required to divide the
States into Congressional districts, the dis
trictS to embrace a continuous territory, IN
order to prevent a system of gerry wandering,
which has been we'll understood and long
practiced by some Of the more politically
bigotted and ungenerous Of the state repre-
sentatives. Upon this proposition, prolific
in itself, long debate sprung up, which will
continue tomorrow, and perhaps for many
days to come. 1t is rich theme for abstract
States right logicians, who will see in such
Il proposition heavy, deadly, and gigantic
blow aimed at the sovereign States of the
Union" No subject could be better suited
for the verbosity of those who are in the ha-
bit of a long speech upon the little end OF
nothing.
The Senate have passed the day mainly
in debating grave constitutional question
affecting tho jurisdiction Of the States and
Federal Courts. The Bill under considera-
ton came from the Judiciary Committee,
and was reported at the instance Of the Fe-
deral branch of the Government 1t propo-
ses to establish in the United States what is
called in the title remedial justice" Its
design is to give the Federal Courts add
tional power over the State Courts in ques-
tons involving principles Of treaty, intrrEla-
tional law, affecting the Constitution Of the
United States, the laws of the land, or the
rights and interests of the subjects Of one
State as affected by the rights and interest
of foreign subjects. as for example, in the
case of Alexander Mcleod and Hogan, both
of which threatened the pc CO of the country,
without ut all allowing the Federal Govern
men; the power OF action.
BY the extension of the habeas corpus, it is
believed that the wills complained of may
be remcGed and 10 injustice done 10 the
State jurisdiction. The corrective powers
of the Federal Courts in civil cases has ge,
nerally been conceded, and il is argued that
the interference of the Executive arm of the
Government is much more proper in cases
of a criminal character. One State may
now involve the other twenty five in war,
when the twenty and FIVE may differ with
the one rs to the principle involved in the
controversy. The Bill proposes the Federal
Court as the proper tribunal tor action upon
all such cases.
Mr.. Berrien has clearly defined and ably
defended the Bill which he reported. lie is
to be opposed by Mr.. Wright and Mr.. Blu.
both of whom took notes Today,
and the last Of whom will speak when the
bill comes up for consideration, which will
not be before Friday, if so soon.
The Civil and Diplomatic Bill will he ro-
ported from the Finance Committee to-day
in the Senate and will be considered to-
morrow. The bill embraces the pay for all
the officers in the Executive service for the
four months. They have been kept from
their money until this time, and look to the
passage of the bill almost as u drowning
man catches at the rope thrown out to save
him from the grave.
AN INDIAN MOUND OpENED.-The mound
IN the vicinity of Gallipolis, Ohio, which all
who have ever visited that town will rccol-
lect, has been leveled. II was about twenty
feet high and one hundred and sixty in tiia-
meter at the base. ii is said that after the
mound had been all removed to the level Of
the surrounding country, pieces of human
bones were found, and several teeth.
bone of the wrist was also found, around
which was copper band. The latter was
a strong proof-not that the mound itself
was of recent origin, but that the body was
inferred since the country was settled by
the whites. The idea that the mounds Of
the west are the work of art is an absurd
one. We have seen hundreds to which is
ascribed an artificial origin, tina, would have
employed thousand men, with all the i'm
proved implements of modern invention at
least IL year upon the construction Of single
one them. II is hardly probable that such
elevations were made by sayagcs who were
ignorant of the use of iron or of any OF the
metals. Let any one take the dimensions of
the larger mounds, and sit down and calcu-
late their solid contents and the amount of
labor it will require to construct them-then
they will not be very likely to ascribe their
origin to the Indians.-Louisrille ADJ.
A Lone SENrENcE.-Judge Kent in Oyer
and Terminer, Brooklyn, sentenced Will
liam II. Cook young man of twenty years
of age to the states prison for 81 years. A
morning paper says:
Cook is young man scarcely twenty
years old, and the son of respectable pa.
rents. There are few instances of such in
nate depravity, and irreclaimable propensi-
ty to vice. as this unfortunate young man
has exhibited almost from his boy hood
Several years back he was convicted in this
city and imprisoned for robbery, being
then mere boy, and since then his life has
been but one continued series Of crime. He
was strongly suspected of being concerned
in the murder Of most interesting boy
about ten wears old, the son of Mr.. PhelnS