Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-01-06
wAsHUsToN NEWS AND GOSSIP.

Us, We mink we can now assure Oul
miiiv ~ subscribers (and, by the by, We have
subscribers at every United States military
post in the United States, which is much mofs
than any other Washington journal can boast
off, that the Army reform bill Of Gen. Shields
il destined to become law ere the close Of
the present session. Many members who for
some years past have apparently entertained
a settled repugnance to the idea of permitting
the army to cost q dollar more to the United
States Treasury than can be avoided, even by
refusing to make 1t efficient, seem of late to
have had their minds opened to q realization
of the fact that the Government has but one
of tive things to do in this connection. That
is; either to abandon the frontier and the
great plains wholly to tho savages. or tc give
those citizens who are necessarily upon them
efficient protection, such as they have been
without Of late, owing to the paucity of the
means OF defence in the hands of the War
Department, and the unexampled increase of
practical calls for more troops of more eff
cient sort for frontier service. All in Con.
service now stands, all overland travel to CAL
ifornia, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon
Territories must be abandoned, or the Army
must be increased by the creation of new regi-
ments, and also made more efficient by pro-
viding some plan by which tho officers or
dsred ON frontier duty shall be only such as
are really fit fo- the discharge of all duties
they may be called on to perform upon the
frontier.
Under such circumstances it is that we feel
at liberty to assure our military readers that
the bill in question will, in all probability,
become law before the 4th of March next
A Letter from Mr.. Whitfield MIR. Whit.
field, the delegate from Kansas, has written
long and interesting letter upon Kansas to
Ny W. 7. Helms, of Tennessee, which We
understand will appear in to morrow morn
ing's Un,on. We have been permitted to
extract from it that portion which bears upon
the politics of the territory, just now so inter-
esting to the American political world:
"In relation to the political aspect of things
in the territory, the passage of the Kansas and
Nebraska bill (as it Is called) of Mr. Douglas,
was an act of simple justice to the people, who
would have been placed under An
unfair and anti-Americsn restriction. It was
the reannunciation of a great principle first
in the charter of our liberties.
Upon the principle of this BILL went through
the late contest and triumphed, having been
supported by persons from slaveholding as
we'll as non s!aveholding States, who had faith
in their rights and capacity for sell. govern-
ment Upon the principle of the Douglas bill
they have taken their stand, and whatever
shape they in their wisdom, may give to their
institutions when they form a State govern
ment. though to some it may be source of re.
gret-according to the views they may happen
to entertain-to Hone can it afford q lust
ground of complaint"
The Resignation Of Mr. D. E. sickles.-
Perceiving that different Washington CORE
spondents of distant journals are denying the
truth Of our statement, made q few days
since, that Mr.. Sickles had virtually resigned
the position Of Secretary to the American Le-
cation in London, We have to call public at
tention to the fact that our paragraph on the
subject was confirmed, on the day after its
publication in the Star, by similar publica-
ton in the Union, the official journal 1t is
very probable that the correspondents referred
to above have misinterpreted the private con-
of Mr.. Sickles, or that what was in
affairs at home might prevent him from again
renewing his connsc ton with the legation, was
construed by his friend, Mr. buchanan, into a
virtual tender of his resignation. We are very
certain, however, that the best feeling exists
between those gentlemen, the New York Her.
aid to the contrary Notwithstanding.
Army News.-The following order is being
published by the War Department:
GENERAL oRDERs,l WAR DEPARTMENT,
}ADJUTANT GENERALS OFFICE,
No. p. } Washington, Dec. %, 1854.
Thefollowing regulations have been received
from the War Department, and are published
for the information of all concerned:
l. Paragraph 974 Of the General Regulations
of 1S4l, is so far modified as to substitute
single iron bedsteads for the wooden hunks
prescribed by that paragraph, to be furnished
by the Quartermaster' department.
2. Paragraph 1102 Of the Regulation of the
Subsistence department, is amended so as to
authorize an increase of the ration of hard
bread to one pound to troops detached from
their posts and employed in the cutting of
roads or other constant labor
8. Paragraph % of the Regulations for the
Recruiting Service is amended 80 al to read
IS follows:
No person under tho age of q years is to be
enlisted without the written consent of his
guardian or master, which consent will inva.
rably be appended to the enlist ment
By order Of the Secretary of War,
S. COOPER, Adjutant.
A Slight Misrepresentation We hear, on
what We regard as good authority, that Mr..
NJ B. Giddings, the Delegate from Nebraska
who has just taken his seat in the House hall,