The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-03-28
Letter from the Federal Capital.
WASHINGTON, Mar. %, 1866.

10 We EusEOT W Tue lfTeSS.
Z This has been busy if not noisy week
1t the Capitol. Now and then Congress in
3ermits speech-making, lays aside for the time,
he more grave and weighty interests commit
led to its watch and care, and sets itself to
dispatch those minor matters always accumu-
latins upon its hands, with an ardor and en-
thusiasm strongly suggestive OF down-esat
aousekeeper's clearing up" Party lines are
temporarily dropped, political asperities
;moothed away, gentlemen upon opposite sides
;row good natured and even cordial, long
MINDED orators become brief and terse, theo-
lists of all sorts turn up practical and-DeSS-
ring their pardon-sensibe men-and the
whole vast mongrel race of hobbies, stiff OF
limb or CALLED of back, are turned out to pas
sure. But for the fact well understood, that
these much abused, sorely jaded, but most SER
yicable quadrupeds, their brief respite over,
remounted by their respective knights, piled
with the cogent persuasions of whip and spur,
will soon be "cavorting" along the parliament
airy lists as furiously as ever; but for the GER
tanty that these gentlemen, whose faces are
ASW " AtAAolt Will tLC SdtlStdNIlOu Vi uoCieA
employment. will soon be running each other
through with syllogistic lances, mutually and
nercilessly thwacking and being thwacked
with argumentative Bullets, reciprocally and
cordially pelting and riddling each other with
figures of speech not always the soundest, and
oarbed sarcasm not always the keenest; but
ior the certainty that the conflict of words
will soon rage again and all the hotter for the
orief truce, one looking on might imagine the
millennium not much farther off than the
length of the Avenue These seasons, when
5worjs argumentative and spears controver-
sial are temporarily beaten into pruning
hooks, when disputatious animosities are laid
aside and industrial activities Nre ife,-these
lines are to be priced, and the more because
Of their paucity and brevity.
A season of this sort we have had the pres
ent week, especially in the north end of the
Capitol. The number of small bills-some of
hem not so very small either-which were
considered and ''put through" in the Senate
IN Tuesday and Wednesday, was somewhat
marvellous. One, at least, is of sufficient in
tsrest to our people to deserve mention. This
is Senator Morrilps bill to "caTy into effect
the fourth article of the treaty of Washing
5on." 1t directs the Secretary of the Treasury
10 pay ito the State of Massachusetts the sum
OF thirty-two thousand six hundred and eighty
eight dollars, and to the State of Maine
the sum of one hundred and thirteen thou
sand nine hundred and eight dollars, being at
at the rate of ore dollar and twenty-five cents
per acre, for the amount of the public lands
oi those two States in the possession of the
classes OF persons described in said fourth ar
sicle of said treaty." as soon as Maine shall
gree to quiet by good and sufficient releases
private titles to such lands, and possessory IL
lies existing upon them. The payment may
De made in any six per cent U. S. securities
authorized by law. sll
The concurrence of the Senate in the
House joint resolution authorizing the Secre-
aries Of War and Navy to place hulks and
5essels at the disposal of commissioners of
quarantine, is matter of general interest, as
5 every step toward the exclusion of that
,errible epidemic which last year ravaged
many parts Of Europe, and which is now
threatening us with its unwelcome presence.
The nervous suggestion of Mr.. Riddle, that
the Senate was inviting the cholera here by
,alking about it," not only failed to be regard
ID, but Senators grew facetious and somewhat
Jolly over the subject. In this odd humor,
however, there may be a suggestion not so ILL
incl or useless as at first would seem. What
ever may be thought of quarantine or non
chalance as preventives of pestilence, it is at
east certain that the measures recently taken
oy Gen. Howard to put those parts of this city
chiefly inhabited by freedmen into sanitary
condition, and the vote of the Senate to place
$4,000 at his disposal for that purpose, and
any and every effort to prevent the cholera by
destroying the conditions which give it birth
and invite its presence, are wise and humane
1t is pretty sure that no other measures of
safety are to be depended on, nor should these
be delayed till miasmatic poisons, inhaled
during months of negligence, and the actual
presence of the pestilence shall render them
Intellectual. Now, very literally, is the ac-
cepted time, and now is the day of our sal
vatlon. ..Ifltr r,.,..-..r-.-.
The House has also been very busy lately,
and has dispatched no small amount Of mis-
cellaneOus business Though the Loan bill
was apparently killed at one time, it was resur-
rected by motion to reconsider, and appears
to have future before it. The struggle over
it on Monday was sharp and exciting. The
bill of Mr.. Hooper differed from that of the
committee in that it made no provision for
funding the greenbacks. aai u1.ri.
A strong disposition appears in the House
to fix an early date for the adjournment of
Congress. 1t is much ahead of the Senate in
the transaction OF business, having passed all
the regular appropriation bills except the In
dian, while the Senate has passed only the
Deficiency. A large amount of work yet re-
mains, however, such as the Loan, Tariff, In
ternal Revenue, Banking, Reciprocity and
Bankrupt bills, to say nothing about the mat
ter of Reconstruction. This does not look like
a short session. ~ - .t
Senators Foote and Dixon are both better,
the former much better. TSP.
ELECTION IN CAPE ELIzABETH.-The an
nual election of municipal officers was holden
in this town on Monday, the 25th inst, and