ri . I ilittOit*- OtOttt, LETTER FROM WASHIN,GTON. (Correspondence . of the Pit' strargh Gazette.) WASHESGTON,. December 17, 1868. The speech - of Hon. 0. P. Morton on the financial questions of the nation attracted great attention, and lathe theme of univer sal comment where men most do congre gate. I observe that you takeissue With the views which ha o 'been attributed to him as to a gradual r timption. Yet I ask you to read his ape through—of course you will do so; edito s are known to read everything—are supp sed never to, slap or . take time to eat—a d say if he has not grappled with the w le subject more like a master than any of e other Senators who have touched upon it. I noticed, with much pleasure, as have others'of your numerous readers here, that you corrected the story, about Gen. Howard and the Chaplain of the Honse, which got into the newspapers and was dishonoring to both. Whatever the Reverend gentle man - may. be, he is not a street brawler; ..what,GeneralHoward.is, , l think you and • all who heard and saw. him recently in Pittsburgh can judge. A faithful officer, he gave his right arm, to his country; a faithful head of an ImPortant bureau, over which he was set by Abraham Lincoln, who loved hina, he has never been charged with wil fully neglecting his duty or with corrupt deslings; a faithful. Christian. he has sought to build up a house to God where men might. worship according to the faith and, forms`(or absence of forms) of the Pilgrim Fathers. The OnlYpeople who havi had fault to ibid with General Howard are Fernando Wood and, an anonymous writer who at one time had access to the Cincinnati Gaeette. From the latter sprung, it is supposed, the unworthy tale about a street quarrel here between General Howard and the pastor al luded to. The,General is opposed to the continuance of the Bureau except in its work in organ zing edlrcation in the States where no pro vision is made by law for schools. Of course in his wide and worthy career he runs coun ter to certain weak and narrow-minded per sons who cry out on him to attract atten tion to their own *small selves. A great many petitions are laid before Congress from people in the South praybig that the work heretofore so nobly carried forward by General H. may be continued, but it Is supposed that against his wish no legislation for that purpose will be had. When before the regular Committee on t the Freedmen the other day, to give infor mation concerning the continuance of the Bureau, he repeated his request for a full investigation (tall the matters pertaining to the Bureau since its organization, but was told that no such investigation would be had,, or was needed, as they were satisfied he had done all well. So the — Boynton thunder will be harmless to all but them selves. The speech of General Moorhead in eulo gy of the late Mr. Stevens attracted wide attention, and is commented upon as the most just and flattering terms by the many who heard it. The public mind 'on the oc casion ,was excited and General M. rose equal td the Oectision. The speech which you will publish in full - was rich in re • miniseence. The high position which Gen. Moorhead has before Congress and before the country as a gentleman of great influ ence, of lofty character and of high legisla tive capacity, lent additional interest to all he Said. OBSERTER. The Nortilmen in America An interesting paper was recently read in New York relative to the-discovery of the American continent in the tenth century: The speaker began by explaining that the Northmen were an Asiatic race that settled in Denmark, overran Norway and Sweden, and afterward, in the year 875, colonized Iceland. Near the close of the With cen tury the Icelanders, led by Eric the Red, pushed westward and colonized Greenland, where the colony existed until near the be ginning of the fifteenth century, and where a line of no less than seventeen bishops pre sided over the church which was estab lished. The last bishop was Andreas, who in the cathedral church of Gorda, on the west coast of Greenland, celebrated the marriage of a couple from whom the learned Finn Magnassenn took his descent. While the Icelanders were in Greenland they made expeditions far into the North. In 1824 Parry found a monument that was erected by them in latitude seventy-three degrees, in the year 1135. In 1266 another expedi tion reached the latitude of seventy-six de-. grees, which was as far as Perry went in 1827. After showing that the Icelandic narratives possess no faults that are not found in modern histories, Mr. DeCosta proceeded to speak of the voyages of the Northmen to New England, which they called Vinland, on account of the quantity of vines they found growing wild. The existence of land south of Vinland was first made known by one Beirne, who in 384, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was driven southward upon the American coast. This encouraged Leif, son of Eric the Red, tog() in search of the new land. He sailed in the year 1000, and passed down the American coast as far as the latitude of _Rhode Island, where, in the region of Mount Hope Bay, he spent the Winter, returning to Greenland in the Spring. In 1002 his brother Thorvald made the same - voyage, but lost his life in a conflict with the na tives. The most distinguished explorer was Karlsefne, who sailed to 'Vinland is 1007 with three shipps and 160 men. He spent three years in the vicinity of Mount Hope, in Rhode Island. One very interesting con firmation of the truth of the Icelandic narra tives which give an account of tke voyages is • found in connection with that island which the Icelanders mention as then exist ing in the ocean east of Cape Cod. This island is also referred to in Gosnold's voy age, and its non-appearance now has led some to discredit Gosnold's account. But recent explorations by. Professor Agassiz and others have demonstrated its existence by geological evidence. The result of these explorations was illustrated by a map drawn for the purpose., which makes it' clear that the Northmen visited_ the coast of Massa chusetts. and that they have desciibed its appearance at that early time in their narra tives which bear, every mark of truth. Tar. inandations in Switzerland