Washington Items.
The Explosion at the Arsenal was not owing to any fault on the part of the officers. So said the coroner's jury.
Collector.
F. A. Fuller has been appointed collector of customs for the district of Newbern, North Carolina.
Fight with smugglers.
The Commissioner of Customs has received intelligence of armed resistance to the execution of the laws against smuggling, at Buffalo, New York. The collector of that city states that an attempt was made to seize two boats engaged in smuggling, which attempt was resisted by force of arms, some of the smugglers being armed with muskets. Two men were arrested, but on their way to the prison the officers were attacked by a mob and the prisoners rescued. The customs officers secured the boats and their cargoes, together with one of the muskets, which was heavily loaded. Subsequently, while seizing a boat loaded with whisky, the officers were attacked by a party of six armed men: one of them fired, but no serious wound was inflicted.
Amendments to the Constitution.
The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives has decided to make no report until after the holidays, when it will report a bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution by making the number of voters the basis of representation.
Mr. Bradley and the Court.
This case was called up by Mr. Bradley himself, who felt a delicacy in acting as counsel in that court while a rule against him remained undischarged. But upon the assurance of the Judge that it was all right, the rule case was "continued," and Mr. Bradley proceeded to business.
President's message.
The special message transmitted yesterday by the President to Congress will gratify and reassure the whole country.--National Intelligencer.
The late Hon. Thomas Corwin.
The Postmaster-General will cause the remains of Mr. Corwin to be transmitted directly to Ohio, accompanied by some of his old intimate personal friends. The Ohio delegation, with other Congressmen, and others who were friends of the deceased, had a meeting to-day at the capitol concerning the subject of his demise, and funeral speeches were made by Chief Justice Chase, Senator Sherman, Davis, of Kentucky; Schenck, Secretary Seward and Johnson, of Maryland. A committee was appointed to make arrangements for the funeral.
Withdrawal of Provisional Governors.
It is given out from an excellent quarter that in all of the Southern States where regular Governors have been elected, the Provisional Governors will be immediately withdrawn and their successors duly inaugurated, as in the case of Alabama.
Secretary Stanton.
A dispatch from Washington to the Philadelphia Ledger says that Secretary Stanton has again tendered his resignation to the President, and this time, it is said, insists upon its acceptance. Mr. Stanton is on a visit to Ohio.
Enlisted clerks.
The Secretary of War is daily reducing the number of clerks in his department. It is stated that the present "general service" system is to be abolished, and only regularly enlisted men of the regular army will be detailed.
Internal revenue.
The receipts from internal revenue last week amounted to $3,733,237.91, as follows: December 11, $834,529.80; December 12, $515,291.82; December 13, $836,016.75; December 14, $604,283.94; December 15, $348,906.95; December 16, $534,208.65. Total since June 30, 1865, to December 11, $162,142,670.76.
Revenue frauds.
It is stated that the attention of the Revenue Department has been called to frauds which have been for a long time, and are still being, perpetrated in New York in the matter of cigar stamps. Parties continue to flood the market with bogus stamps, selling them at two dollars per thousand and then procuring the confiscation of the goods stamped with their forgeries, thus getting full pay both as Government informers and Government cheats.
Miscellaneous.
Mr. Miller, of Pennsylvania, will soon introduce in the House a bill to ascertain the practicability of having steamboat navigation from the Chesapeake bay, at the mouth of the Susquehanna river, to Lake Ontario.The President sent a large batch of appointments, accumulatad during the recess, to the Senate to-day for confirmation, and they were all referred in executive session.
The Committee on Appropriations had the naval bill under consideration to-day. They cut down all the estimates for the navy and navy-yards.
The House Military Committee had under consideration propositions for the re-organization of the army.
Senator Nye, of Nevada, will introduce in the Senate, in a few days, a bill to repeal the city charter of Washington.
A delegation of Friends from Pennsylvania were at the White House a long time to-day, but did not succeed in obtaining an interview.
Senator Doolittle obtained a long interview with the President this afternoon.
The "disunionist" have received a check at least, if not a repulse, in the Senate to-day.--Mr. Sumner, who had expected to advance his cause by procuring the publication of reports of executive agents who have traversed the South since the practical close of the war, was badly set back. The report of General Grant, based upon actualities of a very late day, being sent in to the Senate, created a great sensation.
To an experienced observer, the appearance of things on the Republican side indicates what Jack Falstaff denominated a state of general. "dissolution and thaw," looking to a division on the main question, unless the radicals abate their haughty pretensions.
The Republican breaks ground this evening against General Grant. It has also, by indirection in the nature of special pleading, done so to the Administration.
The President has approved the sentence of a military court held in Georgia, wherein a colored man called Isaac was sentenced to be hung for killing his former master. It appears Isaac ran away from his master and joined the Union army; after the war he returned, and learning that his master had said that if the negro ever came back he would shoot him, Isaac deliberately went to his master's house, after night, raised the window, and shot him dead with a rifle.
Secretary Stanton has applied to Congress for an appropriation to purchase Ford's Theatre, to be fitted up and used for the custody of all papers relating to sick or wounded soldiers during the rebellion, and to hospitals and the operations of the medical and surgical departments of the army.
It is a sufficient evidence that Stevens cannot carry his point in Congress to find Mr. Forney, in the Chronicle, declaring that the Republican party would inevitably be defeated upon Stevens's platform.
