The National Capital

Washington, heb. 1, Ib7i). THE MER TEU.GKAMS. The secret of those cipher telegrams, aboilt which tlicre has been so much talk these last few months - or, rather, the secret as to how they were procured and made public - lias at last come out. It is a simple story, and, briefly told, is about as follows : The origináis were delivercd by the Telcgrnph Company to the Senato Committee on Privileges and Electious, of which Senator Morton was at that time Chairman. When the committee were throngh -with them - there was a large trmik f uil of the cabalistic mesgages - they were dumped back into the tritnlt, retnrned to tho Telegraph Company, shipped off toNew York, and burned. It was supposed by the telegraph people that all the diapatches relating to the Presidential election were reduced to nshes. There was at least one jjerson, however, that was wiser than the telegraph company, namely, George E. Bullock, clerk of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Eleetions, and now Consul to Cologne. It appears that Bullock sorted out all the suspicious-looking Democratie dispatches and preserved them. Just before his departnre for foreign lands Bullock turned them over to James L. Evans, au Indiana Kepublican politician, with the remark that they'might prove useful to tho Enpublican party. Evans turned them over to J. W. Brady, Assistant Postmaster General, and lie tnrnpri fhpm over to Williani E. J yi 1 J 4 tilt _A i ' -- W ï ■ - " iww- i w -- - - dier after trying in vain to decipher them. Chandler carried the origináis to tlie office of Ben Butler, and, while tliat gentlemau's back was turned, quietly laid them on his desk. Copies of them, in the meantime, liad been made and forwarded by Chandler to Whitelaw Iieid, of New York. Keid placed two experta, Hazard and Grosvenor, at work npon them. They wrestled witli the matter for weeks without making any progress toward deciphering them. Finally they carne across an old mining cipher printed in the ' Household Dictionary," and the work henceforlh was as " easy as rolh'ng off a log." And this is the story of how the Democratie ciphers were given to the world, while the Eepublican dis;patches were consigned to the flames and eternal oblivion. THK NEW PENSION BILL. At a Cabinet meeting, this week, there was an extended legal discussion with reference to the construction to be placed npon portions of the Pension Arrearages bill. It is a matter of great importance as to when the payment of arrearages begins, whether on the date of the discharge of the nensioner f rom the Government service or at the period at whicli the disability commenced. After considerable debate on this topic the matter was left for the opinión of the Attorney General. THE MITCHELL WAK CLAIM. Warren Mitchell, of Louisville, Ky., has for several years been prosecuting a claim for 128,000, to reimburse him for cotton seized by the Federal troops in Georgia, during the last days of the Eebellion. The Conrt of Claims once decided favorably on this claim, and Mitchell was just about to get possession of the money, when information came to the members of the Court that, so from the plaintiff being a ioyal citizen, as he had proved by any number of witnesses, he had been a contractor in the South during the war, fnrnishingthe Confedérate army with pork, beef, and other sinews. Thereupon the j Conrt of Claims modified their opinions so far as to reverse their decisión and kick the claim out of court. Of course Mitchell's next step was to make a raid on Congress. After a series of spicy debates the question was decided adversely by the Senate, by the decisive vote of seventeen yeas to thirty nays. The unusual prominence given to these war claims in the House of late has induced Senator Edmunds, of V ermont, to prorjose an amendment to the constitntion prohibiting the payment of claims to disloyal persons. It reads as íollows : Aitx. 10. No claim against tlie United States shall ever hereaf ter be süstáihed or allowed by Oonerea, or any department, ofrtcer, or court ! of the United States, or money paid by the United States or from their funds, whether as damages, cornpensation, or othcrwise, from or on account of any property, real, personal, or mixed, taken, used, injured, or clestroyed by the United States troops, or by or through any oftieer, civil or military, or other person acting or professing to act undcr or by authorify oí' the United States, or of their enemies, or taken, nsod, iniured, or destroyed froni any other cause -whatever during th! existence of the lato insurrection or rebellion against the Government of the United States, unless the owncr thereof (and in case of any Corporation its governing authority and maiiagomeut) waa during all the time of Rneh insurrection or rebelliou loyal in faot to the Government of the United States, and gave neither aid nor encouragement to tho enemy. No pension, bounty, graut, peouniary indemnity, or pecriniary beneflt shall ever be piven or provided for, by or under authority of Uongi'ess or any State fo? or on account of "any military or other service performed or injnry suffered in hostility to the Government of tho United States. No pardon or amnesty, past or future, shall bave any effect to take any person, case or claim out of tho pur view of this article. TUE BRAVE MILITIA. Senator Ferry, of Michigan, has ofï'ered in the Senate a uew National Militia bilí. It provides that all ablebodied male citizens between tlie ages of 18 and 45 yeaiSjWithin the respective States and Territories, except suoh as may be exempt by law.shall con.stitnte the militia. The militia are to be divided into two classes - the active, to be known as the National or State Guard, as the State may prescribe, and the inactive, to be known as the reserve militia. The bilí proposes to appropriate $1,000,000 for the purpose of providing ai-ms, ammunition and other ordinary and Quarterrnaster's stores for the active militia. THE CHINESE EVIL. Tlis House of Kepresentatives haa passed the bill, reported from the Committee on Education and Labor, to restrict the immigration of Chinese to the I United States. Briefly stated, it provides that no master of a vessel owned in the United States shall take on board at any point in China or elsewhere more than fifteen Chinese passen gers, with intent to bring them within the United States. Vioktion of this provisión is made a niisdemeanor, pnnishable by a fine of $100 for each passenger and imprisonnieut for six months. The master of the vessel is required, under like penalties, to report on his arrival n sworn list of all Chinese passengers. The report froin the committee on this bill was unanimous. It sets forth that the evils of Chinese immigration are fully recognized on the Pacific .slope, and have been for many years. "Welcomed at first," the report says, "as a mcager addition to society and a valuable ally in the development of the material resources of their new home, the Chinese, by their sordid, clannish, immoial and uou-amalgamating habits, within a very short time reversed the judgment in their favor and came to be regarded .is a standing menace to the social and political institutions of the countrv." THIÍ I.AÜOU PKOBLEM. Senator David Davis, of Illinois, has presented in the Senate a memorial of more than ordinary importance. The memorial is signèd by 3,100 persons from a nuinber of States, raiiging all the way from TMassaehusetts to Texas mul recites tlmt the labor qm-süon is one whieh involves the happiness w misery of millions of tlie people of this country, and asks that Congress take some action in collecting statistic on the subject. Mr. Davis made a few remarks in favor of the subject of the memorial. He said the people were justly indignant that Congress should expend money to ascertain the condition of foreijjn tiade and bestow no attention npon the condition of trad e at home. He tlionght the accumulation of statistics upon the subject was of tho utmost importance, and that the man or set of men who would do anything to solve this great question of the status of labor would beconie immortal. The memorial was. referred to an appropriate committce. THE INDIAN QUESTION. The Oabinet lias been giving considerable attention, lately, to tho knotty Irjdian problem. The crossinginto this country of Sitting Buil and a number of his people seems to have created no little uneasiness, and the opinión is not witliheld in official circles that the rcappearance of these savages on United States territory suggests trouble in the spiing, and means are already being taken to meet the grave emergeney.