Connecticut western news., 1878-12-18

0l6Neu hS dU pIOoOAU, Uub bu0 T6QuCGlOQ is to take place by casualties that is, the offices of General and Lieutenant General shall cease to exist with the present incumbents. That the corps of Artillery shall consist of 5 regiments, as at present, with reduction of % in the number of officers; that the corps of Cavalry shall consist of 8 regiments, in stead of 10 as at present that the corps of Infantry shall consist of IS regiments, [ instead of 25 as at present, with re- duction of 136 in the number of officers; that each regiment of the line shall con- sist of four battalions, three of which | are to be officered and manned, but the | manned until especially authorized by Congress.
 The bill for the payment of invalid and other pensions for the next fiscal year, as it passed the House, appropri- ates $29, 366, GOO, being $25O,0 less than the amount estimated and $5,5OO less than the appropriation for the pres ent fiscal year.
 Attorney General Devens called upon the President and informed him that, after much deliberation, he had
 
 United States Circuit Judge for the Massachusetts district, but would re- main in the Cabinet.
 Tt is expected that the new bill on patents will pass the Senate.
 A letter has been sent to prominent Republican in Boston from New York politician saying that General Grant will surely be 8 candidate for the Presidency in 1880, and that the first demonstration in his favor will be made in Boston.
 General Macfeely testified in Washington that If Army supplies cost more than Indian supplies, it must be because the latter are inferior and are bought in larger quantity.
 The Dill reported in the House last session for the regulation of inter- State commerce was passed by vote of l39 to lOl. The bill proposes to afix penalties to railroad discriminations in favor of large shippers O. of one class of traffic to tue prejudice of another, and aims at the prohibition of freight-pooling arrangements between rival lines.
 Secretary Sherman has sent to the House bill in regard to sugar duties. which also proposes to grant moieties to informers and to make it legal to con- solidate customs districts in certain cases
 The Secretary of the Treasury has issued the seventy y-fourth call for the re- demption of fve-twenty bonds of 1865, consols of 1865. The call is for S5. .OOO, 900, of which $3,OOO, 900 are registered bonds. The principal and interest will be paid at the Treasury on and after the 9th day of March, 1879, and the interest will cease on that day.
 Senator Edmunds made a statement of the necessity for change in the laws regulating the Presidential election and of the features of the bill he has intro duced. The subject will-be further de- bated in the Senate at considerable length.
 Congressman Willis proposes dur ing the present session to bring MT. Charles A. Dana, editor of the New 4ork Su,e, to Washington as witness before the Naval Committee of the House, and afford him an opportunity to tell what is known about the eraudn- lent contracts for which Congress made an appropriation at the last session. Congress has been appealed to by the State Department to make a more liberal appropriation for the consular and diplomatic service.
 It is understood that the Committee on Appropriations in the House is unanimously in favor of passing bill embodying the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences in regard to the transfer of the Coast Survey from the Treasury to the Interior Department. and making it the Coast and Interior survey, and also consolidating all the geological surveys into one bureau un- der the Secretary of the Interior.
 Attorney General Devens is half in- cllned, It IS said by his friends, to leave the Cabinet and accept the vacant Uni ted States Judgship in New England. Ire Preside ; is anxious to have him remain, as he is desirous of keeping his Cabinet intac5 to the end of his term of once, and IS persoE ally anxious to have MT. DeVens remain for other reasons.
 It is expected that either Secretary McCrary or Secretary Thompson will take General Devens's place, and that a new man will be put in the place of the officer so transferred.
 1.-The Potter committee has decided to send subcommittee to Louisiana to take further testimony provided Con gress will supply money for the expense.
 -Ihe Assistant Secretary of the Treas ury has drawn up bill to equalize the duties on the different grades of sugar, practically abolishing the color test. It IS expected that it will be passed bv Congress without much difficulty.
 Senator Beck, of Kentucky, has in- troduced bill to repeal section 1,218 of the Revised Statutes of the United States which provides that "no person who has served ill any capacity in the military. naval or civil service of the so-called Confederate States, or of either of the States in insurrection during the late rebellion, shall be appointed to any po- sltlon In the army of the United States. "
 The commission on the proposed transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department IS practically unanimous agalnst such change.
 SENATE.
 MT. Windom offered a bill proposino radical change in the Patent laws. and spoke briefly on the subject, The Senate nonconcurred in the House ap- continent of 2 Yellow Fever Com mission. MT. Edmunds called up the Electoral bill and spoke upon it.
 A bill was passed by 39 to 21 author 1zlng the appointment as an assistant surgeon in the army of 8 man who, while minor, had served in the Confederate Army. Five of the majority were Re. publlcans. A resolution was adopted calling on the House to transmit the test lmony of James B. Anderson in regard to Senator Matthews. Bills were offered to recoin the trade dollars into subsidiary coin and to issue dun1icate