The New York herald., 1871-02-08
If not settled meantime by General Grant ana
Congress In tightening our taxes, will be
settled In the result of the elections Of 1872.

settled in the result of the elections Of 1872.
CoDrress Yesterday - Tho Ch0rpcnnfca
Cnse-The West Point Cadet Difficulty
The Income Tnx-NatfonaI Tsducatisn.
The Chorpenning fraud was before both
houses yesterday. The Senate discussed the
House bill repeating the joint resolution Of last
session, under which an allowance Of nearly
half million of dollars had been made by the
Postmaster General where there was not a
cent due. Two Senators, Trumbull and
Vickers, reflected upon the action of Mr..
Creswell, while Senator Hamln, Of Maine, de-
Tended him as having merely carried ont the
terms Of the law. The Senate passed the re-
pealing act, and there is an end of the Ch0r-
penning fraud, for the detection and exposure
Of which the country is indebted to the active
chairman of the House Committee on Appr0-
priations. Mr.. Dawes, Of Massachusetts. The
same subject was also up In the House, In the
form Of personal explanation from Mr..
Cessna. This was the gentleman who,
as member OF the Post Office
Committee, introduced aud had passed
the joiut resolution Of last session under
which the Treasury was to be depleted. His
defence was that Chorpenning was consti-
tuent of his, and therefore honest that Jere-
miah S. Black, one Of Chorpennings attor-
neys, had been judge in Pennsylvania, and
therefore incorruptible; that the witnesses in
the case were residents Of his own district.
and therefore of undoubted veracity; that Mr..
Earl, another of Chorpenning's attorneys and
formerly the law partner and assistant of the
Postmaster General, was man OF character
and intelligence, and that Chorpenning had
managed-we presume through the influence
of Mr.. Jerry Black-io get sort Of quasi
endorsement for his claim from President
Buchanan and President johnson. Finally,
Mr. Cessna asserted his own innocence
in the matter aud that of the Postmaster
General, and invited the closest scrutiny OF
his official conduct. He did not, however, ven.
ture to assert that there was any justification
for the decision of Mr.. Creswell except that
he believed there was still small balance
due to the claimant. And thus ends this latest
job of the Washington lobby in defeat, dis.
grace and modification.
Another job also came to grief yesterday, in
the shape of a veto by the President of bill
for the relief Of contractors for building IRON
clads and machinery for the government during
the war. The President based his veto on the
ground that rise in the cost of labor and
material, after the making Of a contract, does
not give the contractor valid claim against
the government, particularly when the loss
was oecasioned chiefly by delay in fulfilling
the contract.
The Washington and New York Air Line
Railroad bill was discussed for some time in
the Senate, but was finally laid aside to give
place to the consideration Of private bills.
One very important private bill was passed.
being bill for the relief of loyal
citizens Of Loudon county, Virginia, on
account of stock seized by the United States
forces, under General Sheridan, in 1864. The
passage of the measure establishes precedent
for claims the aggregate of which would
bankrupt the national Treasury.
The subcommittee which investigated the
recent difficulties at West Point made a report
IN the House yesterday, which renects
severely on the management of that institu-
tion, and recommends the readmssion of the
three CADETS who were violently expelled by
the cadets Of the first class, the dismissal Of
the leaders and ripgeaders in the affair and
the trial and punishment of all the other parti-
cipants in it. The report is to be taken up for
action on Tuesday next.
The bill to repeal the income tax was re-
ported from the Committee of Ways and
Means and referred to the Committee of the
Whole on the State of the Union. 1t stands
No. 18 on the calendar of that committee, and
cannot be reached without laying aside, by
separate vote, each bill that has precedence of
it. When we know how business can be inter-
rupted in the House by resort to what is
termed ''flibustering' and how calls of the
House occupying whole evening can be
forced by members declining to vote, we can
readily conceive what difficulty there will be
in getting at this bill, particularly as it is
doubtful whether majority vote in the House
could be secured in its favor.
The bill to establish a system of national
education-a synopsis Of which will be found
in our Congressional reports-was before the
House yesterday, and was supported by an
argument made by its author, Mr.. Hoar, Of
Massachusetts,. 1t proposes remarkable
advance in the progress of Capitalization, but
we doubt whether it can find much support
in either house. Subsequently deficiency
bill, appropriating over ten. aud half millions
OF dollars, was reported and postponed for
future action.
Mr.. Fernando Wood having voted on Mon
day for tha Union Pacific Railroad BILL fol-
lowed up that action yesterday by presenting
petitions from this city against the land grant
policy. This is another instance of locking