Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-02-05
From Our Regular Correspondent
Washington Letter.

were convened TO the New York Tribune |
is no longer a mystery. 1t was disclosed,
on Tuesday, by the testimony Of second
assistant Postmaster General Brady. that
he received the package of dispatches
which Bullock. while messenger of Sen
ator Morton's committee, took from the
committee room, and that he gave them to
Wm. +. Chandler, who left some on Cen
eral Buffers table. and forwarded copies
of others to Mr.. Whitelaw Reid, editor OF
the Tribune. Mr.. Brady's and Mr.. Chand-
ler's testimony show that all of the thirty
thousand dispatches were in the commit
tee room OF Senator Morton for several
weeks, open to the inspection of almost
anyone who might call. This is practically
the end of the investigation. Mr.. Tilden
will perhaps appear and testify that he
was not personally privy to the cipher
dispatches, but, since the mystery of their
abstraction has been disclosed, and since
it is known that of the thirty thousand
only three hundred live to tell tales, the
investigation will soon die out for want Of
| fuel.
In the earlier part of the week the at
tention of quid nuncS was about equally
divided between the Potter cipher COM
mittee and the Senate, where it was eX-
pected that the great Conkling versus
Hayes case, concerning the New York
appointments would be debated and set
tied in open session. The general impress
sion now is that the secretary of the
treasury has been very completely an
swered by General Arthur, and no reply
of Secretary Sherman to the answers OF
Arthur and Cornell has as yet been re-
ceived. Yesterday IL little after O'Clock
the Senate went into executive session to
take up and dispose of the New York
custom house nominations. but when the
doors were opened it was learned that the
business had been deferred until Friday AT
l A. NJ. in order that Secretary Sherman
may have IN opportunity TO file his reply
The new Chinese minister has taken Il
keen interest in the bill that has just pass.
ed depressing Chinese immigration, but
like u true dplomatist of the old school
he will have nothing to say to the many
representatives Of the press who seek 10
interview him. 1t is said that no foreigner
is better acquainted than his excellency
Chin Ian Pin with American politics, ant
that he knows and appreciates the desir,
for party ascendency on the Pacific coast
that was the secret of the success of The
bill. The Chinese minister WAS ut thu
presidents reception last night, ard wa!
the object of much attention from mem
bers of congress who sought to be intro
duced to him.
There are indications that the attention
of congress will soon be directed to i'm
proving the sanitary surroundings of thi
swamp beleagured capital. The startlin:
congressional mortality is believed TO be il
great degree due to local causes, ant
there is no doubt that through the persist
= ent neglect of both Houses to give an
S attention to the great river that with it
branches and tributaries nearly envelop
V the national capital, the channels of tina
: stream have got SO choked up and tn
= current so scattered over wide marshc
c and flats that it is II wonder the city ha
It escaped malarial plague. The Anacosti
branch of the Potomac, east of the Cap
= tol, that used to be navigAble all the wa
II up tc Bladensburg, is now a swamp file
0 up with rank vegetation, the haunt of rec
west front of the city is filled up wit
+. mile wide flats to such an extent that tn
j., sewage lodges on the rcedy marshe!
u, forming pestlence- breeding nuisance {
n unhearable otfensiveness. Last summC
the evil had reached such point that til
district authorities were obliged to sprea
" dsinfectants overLthesc flats rs palliatiy
y measure; though, of course, it could NJ
- afford any permanent or adequate relic
ut SltuCl HUN IulS lOulllSOlIc Sll CtCl
fecal matter exposed to the direct rays
= the sun at low tide was such that Il
J. winds from that quarter sickened poop
c all over the city, and it was found nece
g. sary to close tho windows Of the ca
u crossing the Long bridge to Alexandra
: to keep out the terrible odor. During Il
IS winter weather, and while the river
Is covered with ice, this nuisance is not II
le parent to the sense of smell, but it eXis
r, there still, and the unpleasant fact mu
Y. be faced that the evil is absolutely on Il
increase, from the continuous growth
II the deposit on the river front; the furth
al choking up Of the sewer exists, and Il
m greater sluggjshness of tie more and mo
is widely dilfused river current, with cons
as quenty less ability to carry off the fee
10 mltter deposited by the sewers.
IN Whether or not the city eXperienc
malarial influences from this quarter
If this season, it is quite certain that as SOC
~ as the warm weather sets in the sickcnr
"a offensiveness of last summer will mantle
v itself again, probably in a yet more n
~ gravated form. Under the crcumstanc
" it would seem that selfish consideration
is. alone should prompt congress TO give Il
IN river and barber Of the Capitol city son
consideration in the river and harbor bi
where they have been continually owe
~ looked, while enormous log-rolling appr
~ priations have been inserted for the ben
~ fit of all ocean inlcts and inland creeks
' every congressman's district.
C. A. S.
I'd A NERMoNTER FLEECED BY SHARPER
tn "A Troy Press correspondent says
=, was coming east from Buffalo on Il
" Coptral rooI thn nj hor 1av Whom