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BY TELEGRAPH.
- THE DISPATCHES OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOON DISPATCHES.
FROM WASHINGTON.
About the Merchants' National Bank Failure.
WASHINGTON, May 8. The doors of the Mer-
chants' National Bank remain open, and the offi-
cers remain there, making promises of future re-
demption, but with no prospect of being able to
fulfill them. It appears that there was on deposit
from the Interior Department on account of the
Indian funds $32,907; Post Office Department-
dead letter fund, waste paper fund, and Disburs-
ing Clerk, $9,000: Treasury Department, $5,000,
and otheo paymasters and quartermasters, $640,-
163; total, $687,000, General Spinner holds above
the amount necessary for the redemption of the
notes of the bank about $140,000, leaving a loss
for the Government of $547,000, without having
recourse to stockholders, or counting upon the
probable non-return of a large portion of the notes
of the bank or the bank recovering, or hearing
anything from the general assets of the concern.
The official inquiry now going on will soon demon-
strate the amount of the private deposits, their
liabilities and assets. Information from Balti-
more indicate that nothing of any account will be
received from Baine, or Baine & Co., of Balti-
more. The failure of the Merchants' National
Bank has caused a general feeling of dissatisfac-
tion among depositors and among other institu-
tions, and to-day quite a run was made upon
some others, and a large amount of deposits have
been removed to Jay Cooke's, the First National,
and to the United States Treasury. There are no
other suspensions however, and it is announced
by Maury & Co., that they will resume to-mor-
row. On May 1st, there was in the various publie
depositories $24,223,730 39, for which there are
Government securities held by General Spinner
amounting to $36,114,500.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue Dissents from the Recent Decision of Judge Smalley, of Vermont,
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in a
letter of reply to a gentleman of Buffalo, New
York, dissents from the recent decision of Judge
Smalley, of Vermont, while sitting in equity in
the western part of New York. The Commis-
sioner says that the rule laid down by Judge
Smalley as to the cases in which he thinks the
Judge ought not to give aid to the assessor, must,
he supposes, be taken as the rule of that district,
as Judge Hall appears to concur in the opinions
of Judge Smalley, but as to the right of making
a second assessment the Commissioner does not
regard Judge Smalley's opinion, even in his dis-
trict, either as an authority or a precedent, for his
opinion cannot be deemed to extend as a prece-
dent, in its legal effect, beyond the point on which
the case turned, viz: The Asssessor's right of in-
vestigation in the manner proposed in that class
of cases represented by the case of Mr. Brown,
which class, moreover, embraces such assessments
as were made prior to the time when the law of
June 30th, 1864, took effect, and no such assess-
ments have been made since that time. The rest
of the Commissioner's opinion contains views not
called for by the case actually before the court.
Cholera-A Rigid Quarantine to be Enforced.
Dr. Sayre, of New York, at the head of a com-
mittee of eminent physicians appointed by the
Medical Convention recently assembled at Balti-
more, were to-day in conference with the Senate
Committee on Commerce, for the purpose of de-
vising some legislation to prevent the introduction
and spread of the Asiatic cholera in the United
States. After a free interchange of views, the
committee unanimously instructed their chairman
to report a joint resolution to the effect that the
Secretary of War and of the Navy, with the co-
operation of the Secretary of the Treasury, will
cause an efficient and uniform system of quaran-
tine, to operate against the introduction of Asiatic
cholera through its ports of entry.
Senate Committee on Public Lands.
The Sexate Committee on Public Lands have
several important measures before them, which
will be reported in a few days, looking to an ear-
ly development of the Northwest. Several lead-
ing railroad men are here in conference with them,
among whom is a Mr. Morse, who is urging legis-
lation to secure the completion of the road from
St. Paul to Bayfield, which makes an outlet to the
lakes.
General Washington News.
The Peresident has signed the bill incorporating
the International Telegraph company between the
United States and Cuba.
Senator Dixen expects to leave for his home in
Connecticut within ten days. His improvement
here is gradual, but will probaly be accelerated by
the quiet of home.
Mt. Bunker, on behalf the Union Pacific rail-
road, is here for the purpose of obtaining another
installment of United States bonds, in payment
for twenty-five miles of road lately accepted by
the commissioner. The line is now completed
beyond Elkhorn bridge, about sixty-five miles
westward from Omaha.
The War Department has suspended the pay-
ment of over one hundred discharged soldiers,
who have failed to make the proper returns.
Arrests for Frauds in the Freedmen's Bureau in North Carolina.
Dispatches from North Carolina report further
acts of malfeasance on the part of agents of the
Freedmen's Bureau in that State. Colonel Whit-
tlesey, the Commissioner for the State, and several
of his subordinates, with the assistance of some
Massachusetts philanthropists, it is alleged, have
been discovered running plantations on private
account, and working delinqent and disorderly
darkies on them for punishment. Several arrests
have been made, and more will be, it is reported.
The Cotton Seized by Government Officers at Savannah.
Nearly all the claimants of the cotton seized by
the Government at Savannah have commenced
suits in the United States District Courts of New
York against Simon Draper, cotton agent, for the
recovery of the value of the cotton. The names
number one hundred and twenty-two, and a
strong array of counsel has been retained by the
plaintiffs, among whom are James T. Brady, Wil-
liam T. Evarts, and other gentlemen of equal
ability.
General Sickles' Report.
General Sickles, who arrived here yesterdyay
with several members of his staff, from Charles-
ton, had an interview with General Grant to-day.
General Sickles reports affairs gradually improv-
ing in the State. The labor question is well settled.
and the lawless operateons in the northwestern
portion of the State have ceased.
General Sickles having declined the mission to
the Hague, will probably return return to the
command of the District of South Carolina.
Meeting of the Presbyterian General
