Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-05-11
WASHINGTON NEWS and GOSSIP.


conjunction with tho Attorney General, are
engaged in that work In an apartment OF the
building in which the Attorney Generals bu-
resu Is situated. They have before them an
hsrculean task; Is, in the existing condition
of the Districts laws, 1t will require entire
rsarrsngement and very general changing to
work them into onything like q system COM
prehensible to those to be governed by them.
1t will take long and patient examination, it
strikes d, before they can possibly be prepared
tosubmit even to the revisory board any por.
ton of their recommendations or action for
If they submit isolated points rather than
digested and classified plan of laws for each
branch Of jurisprudence, confusion worse CON.
founded will probably be the result
We undsrstand that they hope that those of
cur District fellow-citizens who may have
suggestions to make upon any branch of the
proposed changes of the laws, will net be
backward in sending to them their views In
writing
Revoked.-We have reason to believe that
the President has revoked the commission of
captain in one of the new Dragon regiments,
conferred upon Lieut. William B. Reynolds,
(of the Mexican war; of Illinois. This i'm.
preston prevails so generally among military
men here Is to satisfy MS of its correctness.
Il seems that when appointed, Mr.. Reynolds
was private in the army Of the United States,
Of which fact the appointing power is thought
to have been unaware We have heard
nothing further alleged against tie proprie,y
of the original appointment, than that the fact
that person who has held an officers COM
mission in the United States army retregrades
into the ranks, is prinsa faeie evidence that
he does not possess the elements neces; AIRY to
mako him in all respects a Desirable and
efficient officer.
A Past" Judgs.-Our establishment at the
recent decision of the Judge in the Kin.
ney and Fabens ,ase has vanished already
ilsomuch as We hear to- day, that he has sent
in bills to the accounting officer of the Govern
ment for his personal Expenses in holding the
u 5. District Court in New York, (his own
district being Connectieu;,) allowing himself
ss.A rate of some $l8 per diem. He is evil
de ~ very "fast" liver, at the expense of
Gle Sam, and probably sympathizes with
fact men" rather than with the we'll being
# society. Judge Halls bill for holding court
in New York city, though travelling much
further to reach there, amounted to less than
one-fourth per diem Of the amount charged
by this ap3aren. pro-fllibustering Judge.
The Court Of Claims.-From all that We can
gather, it strikes US that il will be some time
yet before this tribunal goes regularly to br-,
ness, though they are said to be engaged II
consultation preparatory to opening. Wspre
sumo that these sessions ere held with the
view of adopting rules ard regulations, and
other ice preparing themselves to commence
the discharge Of their duties under we'll.
digested and satisfactory system. Time thus
spent cannot be time thrown away; and the
interests Of suitors before them, as we'll as Of
the Government, can hardly fail to be best
Eubserved by the adoption of a carefully ma
tured system of rules ere they take up the
first case on their calendar.
We have every reason to believe that their
sessions will be held in the Capitol building;
probably in the chamber of the Supreme
Court at first. We hear that the judges of the
Claims Court are of opinion that the statute
make: it obligatory upon them to sit in the
Capitol.
a Natural curiosity.-The original rough
draft of the Declaration of Independence in
the handwritings of Mr. Jefferson, DIR. Frank
lin and the elder Adams, Is preserved in the
State Department with great, care 1t has
been framed and placed in a box of black
walnut, hung against the wall, the door of
which is of one piece about two feet square.
At certain angles of the room, the grain and
natural marks Of the piece of wood of which
the door is fabricated, present singular 80.
pesrance. Without the exercise of any great
fancy, representation of the battle of Bun
ksr Hill caa be discovered, though some con-
tend 1t has great resemblance to the storm.
ing Of Stony Point, or the attack OF Kings
Mountain. 1t is quite curiosity
Potato Seed. "A quantity of potato seed has
lately been procured, by the agricultural
branch Of the Patent Office, from Germany
with the view Of experimenting in the United
States with different varieties of this 30 impor.
tant agricultural staple
A curious fact, not generally known, con-
nectsd with the production of potatoes from
the seed balls is, that no two stems will possess
precisely the same qualities, yet many Of the
tubers will appear SO much alike that when
mixed together they cannot be distinguished
by the eye, though it may happen that one
variety will be four times as prolific as the
other, Q: may be much better in other respects.
The tubers raised from the seeds of the same
ball are also prodisiously diversified in regard
to color, bsing black, red, white, green, vel.
low, pink, DO and as to shape, are round,
nobbed aud varied in all proportions; as to
size, some of them being no larger tho first
year than peas, while others exceed the size Of
pullets eggs; as to "earliness," some of them
attn Al u I'll