make this route one of the most desirable routes to California, being the only one that can be passed over in winter.

The Polar Expedition.-Sir John Richardson arrived at Sté. Marie river from a fruitless search after the lost polar expedition of Sir John Franklin, of whose dreadful fate among the icebergs of the Arctic ocean, there is left little or no room to doubt. Sir John Richardson, having failed to find even the remotest clue to the Franklin expedition, was then on his way back to England. He left there in April, 1848; and from the Saut Sté. Marie has made the voyage in canoes and boats and overland, a distance of three thousand five hundred miles and back, by the way of the Lake of the Woods, Mackenzie's river, &c. After reaching the Arctic ocean, they travelled five hundred miles along the coast. He speaks confidently of the existence of a northern passage; its practicability, he says, is another question, the summers being only from thirty to sixty days long.

The Cholera.-At this date the pestilence had generally ceased in the cities of the United States." In our last number we have

given accounts of its ravages. In Philadelphia, there were from May to October, 1849, 1,019 deaths, in New York, 5,017, in Boston,

616.

2d. Indians.-The accounts at St. Louis to this date from Chihuahua, were that the Indians in that part of the country were daily becoming more hostile towards the whites.

During the two weeks preceding the 2d of August, upwards of fifty Mexicans, and several Americans, had been killed by hostile Indians near Chihuahua.

In the middle of July, Mr. Vaughan, an American trader, was murdered by a party of Apache Indians near Sacramento. Six daring Americans immediately started in pursuit of the murderers, and succeeded in securing Mr. Vaughan's scalp and property. The Indians, who numbered about thirty, fled.

Jones, the Apache chief, offers a premium of ten horses for the scalps of each American, and thirty horses for the scalps of each Mexican officer that are brought to him.

The Arrickara Indians, a very savage tribe on the Missouri river, have joined the Apaches.

Col. Washington and his force were, at last accounts, in pursuit

of them.

A later despatch from Chihuahua states that the Apaches attacked the military post of Janos, captured all the horses and cattle in the vicinity, and twenty-nine Americans, who had just arrived at that place. The Apaches approached the Americans under the pretext of seeking peace, and having lulled them into a state of fancied security, suddenly turned in hostility on them. The Americans flew

It has since re-appeared on some of the Western rivers.

to their arms, but it was too late, and they became the prisoners of the savages.*

Several of the Apaches then went into the Presidio, a species of fort there, and proposed to the commandant to make peace and exchange prisoners. The commandant immediately sent out couriers to all the places in the vicinity, calling for aid to defend the Presidio, and to rescue the Americans. When the intelligence reached Chihuahua, the governor sent despatches to the political chief of Canton Galena, directing him to treat with the Apaches immediately for an exchange of prisoners.

It may be recorded in this place, though somewhat out of the order of time, that in the month of November Major Green and party started in pursuit of a band of Apaches who had previously captured a Mr. and Mrs. White and child, together with eight other prisoners—all of whom were afterwards killed, with the exception of Mrs. White and child, who were still held as prisoners by the Indians. As soon as the Major and his comrades came in sight of the Indian camp, and were discovered by them, the latter became much alarmed, and after having shot Mrs. White, precipitately fled -leaving their camp equipage and two Indian children behind, The body of the lady was then taken possession of, but no trace of her child was to be found.

Early in this month a great Indian council was held in Minesota by Governors Ramsey and Chambers, at which 3000 of the natives were present. The object of the commissioners was to effect a treaty with the Sioux and others.

The Sandwich Islands.-Advices were received at San Francisco that the French Admiral at Honolulu had taken possession of the Fort, and held it for three days, when he abandoned it. The cause of this violent proceeding was the refusal of the king to accede to the following demands made by the French consul:

"1st. A reduction of duties on brandies and liquors of one-half, and the return of one-half of all such duties as have been collected since 1846. 2d. The same rights to Catholics and their schools as are granted to Protestants. 3d. The repeal of a law which compels whale ships, importing liquor for sale, to pay port charges. 4th. The remission of a fine imposed upon some captain of a whale ship." The British and American consuls protested against the action of the French forces.

4th. Hungarians.-The Sultan of Turkey magnanimously refused to deliver up Kossuth and his associates, who had sought refuge in his dominions, on the demand of the emperors of Austria and Russia. From the peremptory nature of the demand, war was anticipated, and preparations were made to resist the Czar. The Sultan

*The Apaches are well armed, and their hostility is ascribed to attacks made on them by Mexicans and Americans.

reviewed 50,000 troops on the plain of St. Stefano. Gen. Bem, one of the distinguished Hungarian generals, as soon as he learned the determination of the Sultan to resist the demands of Russia and Austria, and to refuse the extradition, declared that his country was his first religion, and as the Sultan had the same enemies and friends with himself, he wished to become his subject and to serve under his flag, and that he would therefore embrace Islamism. On embracing the Moslem faith he received the name of Murad Pacha. Kossuth pursued a different course; on being informed of the abjuration of Bem he went to the camp of the Hungarians, and informed them that the Porte resisted the demands of Austria and Russia, that France and England appeared decided to aid the Porte, and implored them not to stain by apostacy the flag of Christian Hungary, which they had always served with honor.

6th. This day, the anniversary of the death of Count Latour, was fixed upon for the execution of Count Louis Batthyany, late prime minister of Hungary, and of other Hungarian patriots. The names of some of those executed at this time are Count Charles Bensay, Major Louis Anlick, Count Charles Linengen, subsequently at Pesth other executions took place-among the sufferers were Prince Woronjechi, Gerin, Havareourt, &c.

German Empire.-The vicar General, the Archduke Charles, gave his public assent to the Convention for the formation of a new provisional central power for Germany, concluded between Austria and Prussia; by which these two powers were to act in the name of all the governments until the 1st May, 1850. The Archduke offered to resign the dignity of Vicar of the German Empire, and to deposite the rights and duties conferred upon him on the 12th July, 1848, by the German Diet into the hands of the Emperor of Austria and King of Prussia. *

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Hurricanes. Several places in this country and in Europe, were at this date, visited with very severe gales.-At New York City the wind blew with great fury. Among the disasters occasioned by its violence, the Evening Post enumerates the following:

The destruction of the Pavilion and the beautiful Diorama of Holyrood Chapel and the Harbor of Brest, valued at from $6,000 to $7,000. These elaborate paintings, extending over a thousand feet of canvass, were torn into shreds: a new four story house was blown down -two or three churches were much injured-trees were torn up by the roots-vessels drifted from their moorings along the East and North rivers; some of the eastern steamboats were delayed in consequence of the gale, and others were compelled to put back. In Boston the gale was equally severe.-The walls of a new church

*This act he subsequently performed.

were prostrated.-The British brig St. John was driven on the Grampus rock, and a number of the passengers were lost. (This disaster we recorded in the last number.) At the same time a dreadful tornado was experienced at Cape May, N. J., by which three dwelling houses were literally torn to pieces,—and trees were twisted off at the roots.

A few days after a similar tornado visited Terrebone, La. Houses were destroyed, and lives lost. The Orleans Bee says, "several sugar houses, negro cabins, stables, corn cribs, out houses, &c., were prostrated to the ground, and their fragments scattered far and wide. The largest trees in the forest were wrenched from the ground as though they were but small saplings, and carried to a great distance from their original position. Those who have never seen the effect and great force of the wind, would be loth to give credence to the wondrous and disastrous effects produced by this tornado."-The English papers state that "sixty wrecks had taken place on the East Coast" early in the month of October; the Conqueror of Glasgow, on the Gunfleet Sands, keeled over and all on board perished, numbering sixteen or twenty persons. For miles the sea was literally studded with portions of her freight. Two other vessels were lost near the same spot, and all on board perished. The Dutch and Belgian mails describe the gales to have been very destructive on their respective coasts. Numerous vessels were lost. The Camilla, steamship, reports a most fearful hurricane visiting Cronstadt, and a consequent serious damage to the shipping.

Horse Racing.-The Pasha of Egypt has challenged the Jockey Club of London to run a match race of horses for £10,000 a side. It was accepted, and the race is to come off in Egypt.

9th. Great Riot in Philadelphia.--A most dreadful and sanguinary riot commenced about nine o'clock in the evening, at a tavern called the California House, kept by a colored man, who was said to be married to a white woman. The house was soon in flames, the inmates driven out and fired upon, with many other colored persons, men, women, and children, who were seen flying from their houses in extreme terror, chased by gangs, who pelted them with brickbats and fired after them with guns and pistols. Several were wounded, and it was said that more than one was killed. But this report was exaggerated. The assailants are described as being composed of the Killers" and other similar associations of disturbers of the public peace.

Meanwhile the fire made rapid progress, but several engine and hose companies were soon upon the ground. And here a truly frightful scene occurred. The firemen, who went to the conflagration for the purpose of saving property, were fired upon, not in solitary cases, but actually in a running fire, and by volleys of several

guns and pistols at once-the rioters being out in very strong force. They were also assailed with showers of brickbats, and their hose cut in every direction. In a word, the first companies that arrived were compelled, as the only mode of avoiding wounds or death, to leave the neighborhood. Still the firing continued. One of the firemen was shot dead on the spot, and several others wounded. Shortly after midnight a body of police made their way to the scene of action-but nothing efficiently was done until the military came on the ground, headed by the Mayor, when after a partial renewal of the riot, the disturbed district was taken possession of by the authorities-cannon planted in the streets-and the mob finally quelled.

11th. Fairs-The great fair of the American Institute, closed with an address from Gen. Tallmadge. Among other things he stated one important fact with regard to the manufacture of steel in this country. By a recent American invention the best quality of steel is now manufactured directly from iron ore, with the use of anthracite coal. And this is done in a single operation, while the method practised in Europe requires some half a dozen operations to extract the iron from the ore, and run it into pigs, and then into bars, and to work it into malleable iron, and then into coarse steel, and then into refined steel. Gen. T. stated that a factory at Jersey City for the production of steel by this new method, already manufactures about one tenth of the quantity required to supply the United States. He believed the time could not be distant when our country will produce its own iron and its own steel.

The Maryland Agricultural Fair,-held at Baltimore,-was honoured by the presence of General Taylor, the President of the United States; who spent several hours in visiting all parts of the grounds and examining with great interest the herds of fine stock, agricultural productions, implements, &c. He expressed the highest gratification at the display, and by the inquiries and remarks which he made, showed the active concern and interest which he takes in all that appertains to agricultural pursuits.

The Cuba Invaders-evacuated Round Island. They were taken across to Pascagoula by Midshipman Dyer, whence forty of them took passage in the mail-boat for New Orleans, and the others, about twenty-five in number, in the steamer Mobile. No obstruction was offered by the United States vessels to their peaceful departure.

(An account of this projected expedition, will be found in the History for September.)

12th. The State Constitution of California.-Completed and submitted to the people.

The Telegraph Line to the East, completed as far as Halifax, N. S.