Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-04-16
FROM WASHINGTON.
Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette. ]
WASHINGTON. April 16.

uO ChUluob uloobluS tO"udy iooeOu al
hour and half but was devoted to the
consideration of routine department
matters. Judge William R. Day OF
Ohio, who is to 60 to Cuba on special
mission in connection with the Ruiz
case, is expected here tomorrow. Alter
an examination of the precedents and
papers at the State Department bearing
on the case he will leave for Havana
about May /.
The republican committee on COM
mittees of the Senate to day agreed
unanimously to accept so far as it is en-
powered to do so the proposition made
by the democrats for the organization
of the Senate committees. 1t was also
decided to report this conclusion to the
republican senatorial caucus. Accord
ingly caucus will be held at 10 o'clock
Monday morning. The proposition
which the committee has agreed to &C
cept provides that the republicans shall
fill all the committee places which were
filled by republican Senators during
the last Congress, including the chair.
manships vacated by republicans, and
that they shall be given one additional
place on the appropriations committee
vacated by democrat, and that the
mem bership of the committee on post
Offices aud post roads shall be increased
from nine to ten in order to give the
democrats an additional place on that
committee. This arrangement will re-
suit in leaving the republican Senators
at the head of all the important Senate
committees, but majority of the mem
bership of many Of them will be anti
republican. There are indications that
the committees recommendation will
not be received with favor by all the
republican Senators. Some of them
think it would have been possible for
the republicans to secure the coopera-
ton OF enough populists to organize all
the committees, securing a majority OF
the membership as we'll as the
chairmanships, and this possibility
will undoubtedly be pressed upon the
attention of the caucus and the
| adoption of the plan urged in
preference to that recommended
by the committee. The commit
tee, however, will take the position
that the plan outlined is preferable in
the event of the presentation of the
tariff bill to the Senate, when fight
on the organization of the committee
would be unfortunate.
There were comparatively few call
ers at the White House to-day before
the Cabinet meeting. The friends of
Herbert Bowen, of Brooklyn, now con-
sui at Barcelona, Spain, have resumed
their efforts to have him appointed to
succeed Minister Taylor at Madrid.
Representative Walker, of Massachu-
setts, saw the President in his behalf
| to day. Mr.. Bowen is highly educat-
! ed, and, though appointed originally
by President Harrison, was not dis
turbed by Mr.. Cleveland. He attract
ed much attention by his patriotic
course during the anti-American dem
| constructions in Spain at the time of the
hot Cuban debates in Congress. The
consulate at Barcelona was attacked by
! a mob, but he refused to abandon it
| and the mob was finally dispersed by
the gendarmes. Mr.. Walker told the
President that Mr.. Bowen's appoint
ment would be deserved promotion
for gallant conduct under trying cir
cumstances and would prove stimulus
to men in the consular service. The
President indicated that he was in
clined to look favorably upon the sug-
gestion. Senator Cullum: of IL
linois, congressman Mondell, Of
Wyoming, who wants to be as
sistant commissioner of the gen.
eral land Office; Representative
W. A. Stone, of Pennsylvania, with
Major William H. Lockhart, of Allie.
ghany, candidate for assistant CON-
! missioner of pensions; Richard G..
Kerens, of st. Louis; Representative
Lowe, of New York, and ex-Represen-
tative Cultivate, of Ohio, member Of
the board of ordnance, were among the
callers to-day. This is the anniversary
of Lincoln's proclamation emancipat-
ing the slaves in the District of Column
bia and this afternoon the President
will review the emancipation parade at
the White House.
According to information received
from trustworthy sources here the
withdrawal Of at least part of the
great army that Spain has maintained
for several years in the island Of Cuba
will begin when the rainy season sets
in within a few days. The initial
movement will be the departure of ten
thousand Spanish troops from Havana
for Spain and within a short time after
that thirty thousand troops, it is under
stood, will follow. This means that
little or nothing remains of the insur-
rection. The Spanish say that Gomez
has only about fifty or a. hundred fol-
lowers and that to watch these under
the conditions In which the campaign
has been necessarily conducted few
thousand men are quite as effective as
the army of 10000 men which has
been maintained in Cuba.
The chief of the weather bureau re-
ports that the Mississippi has fallen
slightly from St. Paul to Dubuque, and
risen from Davenport to Keokuk, hav-
ing passed the danger line at the latter
point. 1t has continued rising from
Vicksburg to the mouth, the guage at
Vicksburg reading 52.3, and at New
Orleans 1876, which is respectively, one
foot and two tenths-seven tenths
of foot above the high water Of any
previous flood.
Most all the Virginia republican
Office seekers recently here have gone
home, and none of them we'll pleased
with their prospects. The statement
that Mr.. Bowden will be the admins.