The New York herald., 1871-02-21

dn-Frank Blair ON che Rampage.
The famous McGarrahan oase at last reached
termination in the House yesterday. Tho
d6nouemeM of this romance Of rascality," al
1t was pertinently characterized in the debate
on Saturday, was favorable to the hero of tho
romance, who had been alluded to In the sams
debate as ''the poor exile of Erin" If pluck
obstacles, and which no adverse circumstances
diminished, deserved success, then was Will
liam McGarrahan q man whose claim was
entitled to consideration and confirmation.
AS between him and his great adversary, the
New Idria Mining Company, we doubt not that
the decision of the House will be endorsed By
all the people who have ever heard Of this
celebrated case. But we incline to the opinion
that the facts would have better justi-
fled the House in coming to the con.
clusion, as proposed by Mr.. Cook, Of
Illinois, that neither party had legal or
equitable title, and that the government should
take possession of the property That propo-
sition came very near being adopted, the vote
on 1t being 100 to 104. The proposition which
w-.ss adopted, and the effect Of which is to con-
firm Mctss.rrahan's title. although EXPRESSED in
a rather roundabout and ambiguous manner,
was carried by vote Of ITO to 92 The
trouble about it, however, is that as it is
joint resolution and requires concurrent action
by the Senate there Is not the slightest pros
pect of such action at the present session, and
the whole thing must fall with the close Of the
Forty-frst Congress, on the 4th of March next.
leaving McGarrahan, like another Sysiphus,
to commence his uphill work over again. ~, :,
Among the propositions introduced in the
House and appropriately referred, under the
call of States, was resolution of inquiry as
to the action of the Central Pacific Railroad
Company in mortgaging the lands granted to
it by the government, and a resolution
requesting the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue to enforce the collection of the tax
the issue of scrip of the New York Central
Railroad Company. 1t is too late in the
session, however, to render any report or
action on those subjects either probable or
possible.
The bill to establish the Northwestern bound
urday, came up again yesterday, and, after
considerable discussion, was passed. The
debate upon it developed the interesting fact
tiat the Joint High Commission appointed to
settle all questions in dispute between our
government and that Of Great Britain is
kaJ Ia foEa will OH ols saT~
the boundary line altogether, by ceding to the
United States the Northwestern portion of the
British North American possessions, if not the
whole of the Dominion Of Canada. That idea
must have progressed beyond the region Of
mere fancy, since it has found
resting place in the practical mind
of the chairman Of the Committee
on Appropriations. The only other point Of
interest in the discussion was an allusion by
Mr.. Swami, of Maryland, to the Chorpenning
fraud, in which he expressed the regret that
Mr.. Dawes had not represented to the Presi-
dent the enormity of the transaction, because
the retention of Mr.. Creswell in the Cabinet
was regarded with profound astonishment, If
not disgust, by the whole people of the
country. This was rather severe blow to
be aimed by distinguished Representative
from Maryland at the Cabinet officer from that
State, and may indicate an impending change
in the Cabinet.
The Sundry Civil Service Appropriation
bill, or, as it is more familiarly called, the
"Omnibus bill, was reported in the House
yesterday It foots up to the enormous figure
of nearly thirty millions of dollars, including
four millions and half for the payment OF
pensions to the surviving soldiers of the war
Of 1912, under the act passed some two
weeks ago.
In the Senate the Legislative Appropriation
bill occupied nearly the whole of yesterdays
session. The irrepressible Frank p. Blair,
Jr., resumed his attack upon the reconstruc-
tion policy of the government, asserting that
in creating and maintaining carpet-bag gov
ernments at the South the object was to
enable the republican party to misgovern and
plumber the country. He also attempted to
annihilate the philosopher of the Tribune
under shower Of his own heavy editorial
articles, published just before the outbreak Of
the rebellion, asserting the right of the South
ern States to secede and the willingness Of the
North to let them 60. He declared Mr..
Greeley to be responsible for the blood shed
in the war, as well as for the vindictive spirit
which now animated the republican party, and
characterized his malignity against those
whom he had misled as only equalled by that
of the devil himself. He also furnished new
page Of history to the credit Of the
Blair family, in the assertion that
every member of Mr.. Lincoln's Cabinet had.
given an opinion in favor Of surrendering the;
public forts and property to the rebels except.
Postmaster General Blair, on whose energetic,
protest the idea was abandoned. We begin to.