Morning journal and courier., 1881-01-21
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THR APPROPRIATIONS. Seven Bills Disposed of in
 the House. Trouble Over the Chinese Treaties. Their Publication a Subject For h.
 testigatlon., THE GREAT STORM IN ENGLAND. A LOSS OF OVER TWO MILLION
 POUNDS.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

Tke Appropriations-Seve of the Bill
 Passed by the HOuse-A Valuable Pub
 Iication for Physicians-Hearin on
 Interoceanic Canal-RePort Favorable
 to Government TeIegraphy-TroubI
 Over the Chinese lTrentfes-An Invssti.
 gation to Determine How They Were
 Made Public.
 WASHINGTON, Jan. 2O.-Seven of the ap
 propriation bills have now been passed in the
 House. The fertifeation bill is still in ths Senate, as are also the pension bill and the Indian bill. The consular bill is in confer. ence. The army and military academy bills have been returned from the Senate with amendments The naval bill was reported to-day and recommitted, although some changes are yet to be made by the Appro- ported are the legislative, District of Colum-
 bia, river and harbor, deficiency and the agricultural bill.
 The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a meeting to-day and gave a hearing to Secretary Thompson on the Panama canal scheme and adjourned to hear final argument next Tuesday morning.
 The House Committee on Ways and Means held 8 meeting to-day and considered the tar if resolution, which was referred to a sub- committee consisting of Messrs. Felton, Nor rison and Dunnell; also to repeal section 2,201 of the revised statutes, without coming to any conclusion.
 On last Monday bill was introduced in the House authorizing the public printer to reprint an edition of 5O,OOO copies of each of the four volumes heretofore published of the medical and surgical history of the war. Should this bill become 0 law it will enable every member and Senator to furnish free to every physician in his district com plete set of this valuable publication.
 The special interoceanic ship canal com mittee had meeting to-day and gave hear ing to Captain Eads aid Mi. Cochrane on the proposed ship railway. Captain Eads read a letter from Captain Silas Bent, of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, urging the adoption by Congress of the ship railway route of Captain Eads. The letter treated of the prevailing trade winds, which would materially interfere with the Panama canal, and of the difference of time as between the two routes, which would be that a vessel by Eads' plan would reach her destination in thirty days before a vessel sailing by the Panama route.
 The claim of Captain Shreve, the inventor of the Mississippi river snag boat, which has been pending since 1884, has been paid by the Treasury, the amount being $5,O0O. It was paid to Walter R. Carter of St. Louis, 8 son-in-law of Shreve, in accordance with a bill passed by Congress last week.
 The only important item in to-day's meet ing of the steamboat inspectors was the pro- posed amendments to the pilot rules for the lakes and seaboard, which were submitted by Inspector General Dumont and to committee for consideration.
 The Post has received the following in in private letter from Rio Ja- neiro ''The Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, United States minister to Brazil, was recently robbed in Rio de Janeiro of over $500, his watch and chain, clothing, jewelry, &c. The thieves entered his room in the night and ad- ministered chloroform to Hilliard, from the effects of which he had hardly recovered when the last American steamer left.'
 The House Committee on Postoffices and Post Roads to-day, by 8 vote of to 1, agreed to favorable report upon the Springer" and directed Representative Mercy, chairman of the committee, to pre- sent it to the House at the earliest opportu- nity. The following is the text of the reso- lution:
 Resolved, That the Committee on Post offices and Post Roads be instructed to inquire nto the expediency of establishing by law a postal system under the govern nent of the United States, and also the cost of reproducing facilities for transmitting tele- graphic messages equal to those now pos S65SGu ny 0A1SlluS COTpOTdt1OuS, dl1 dS GO bu6 expense of operating the same, with power to send for persons and papers, and report It any time by bill or otherwise.
 At the executive session of the Senate this Afternoon a resolution was unanimously adopted directing the Committee on Privi- eges and Elections to investigate the manner n which the Chinese treaties in relation to immigration and commerce were made pub ic. The committee was instructed to send for persons and papers and to make a most and minute inquiry as to the man. 1er in which the aforesaid treaties were to the world. The executive session lasted for an hour and half. The few who remained to learn the of the proceedings little dreamed hat the dark and devious ways of the pro- ession were under discussion, on the con rary it was the firm conviction of the iourn- llistic mind that Senator Conkling was speak ng against the nomination of the postmaster tt Albany. As soon as the Senate adjourned, however, it was learned that MT. Edmunds lad been delivering long lecture upon the outraged dignity of the Secretary of Senate md under whip and spur had caused the pas age of the resolution of investigation. As oon as the doors were locked and sealed Mir. sdmunds said that the Chinese treaties sent o the Senate as confidential communica- ion from one of the executive departments If the government had been made public. The treaties were not published in he newspapers until they had been That fact was a,7ioG .facie evidence that the documents had not been given to the public trough any fault of the government printers. Gr. Edmunds could not conceive that any Senator of the United States would be so alse to the high trust reposed in him by the ,ody of which he is member as to make public proceedings which occurred in the iva Ia o+ hat any Senator would have such 8 blind disregard for his oath so little respect for the lightly and decorum of the Senate as to make public the secret proceedings of the senate. At the same time, he said, it was pparent from what appeared in the press rom day to day that correspondents eceived their information of executive The officers of the body would not dare to eveal the information that could be ob- aimed in almost any daily paper. He thought t was high time the Senators should un- lerstand the full nature of the obligations imposed on them, and he therefore moved lis resolution. MT. Edmunds' speech created quite sensation. It is entirely unneces- ary to give the names of those who spoke n reply thereto. The impossibility of as- ertaining any accurate information 8 to the sources from which the reaties derived publicity was stated Others said the principal points of the trea- ies had been made public before the docu- nents were sent to the Senate from the State department. The fact that one of the com nissioners who had helped negotiate the reaties had talked freely as to their purport vas mentioned. It was suggested that the oil of Senators might be called and each 'enator could declare solemnly upon his lonor whether or not he had in any way iven publicity to the treaties. MT. .Edmunds vas determined upon an investigation and it an be,easily imagined why no Senator, even hough he believed the investigation to be idiculous, would vote against it. Mir. Hill f Georgia and Mir. Saulsbury, both members f the Committee on Privileges and Elections dvocated the resolution. A lively time is xpected when the committee meets to inyes- igate, but of course it will be impossible to scertain who gave the secrets away.
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