a collision between the steamer Thistle and the brig Laurel from Demerara, in the Frith of Clyde, and a collision, on the same night, between the steamer Vanguard and a schooner, off Corsewall Point. The Laurel sunk; and all her crew, about 14 in number, perished. 6th. Great Fire in Australia.-An awful conflagration visited the neighborhood of Geelong, which was more disastrous in its consequences than any that had ever occurred in the colony. The crops, stacks, live-stock, and homesteads belonging to upwards of thirty farmers were reduced to ashes; but the aggregate amount of the losses sustained has not been ascertained. The loss of life was frightful. Among others the wife and four children of a settler named McLelland, residing on the banks of the Diamond Creek, one of the tributaries of the River Plenty, had been burned to death; and eight persons in the Geelong district suffered in like manner. 9th. Collision on the Mississippi.-The steamer Autocrat, on her passage from New-Orleans to Memphis, came in collision with the steamer Magnolia, and was lost. About thirty persons perished on board. 15th. Fugitive Slave Case.-Shadrach Wilkins claimed as a fugitive slave, on behalf of John de Bree, Purser in the U. S. Navy, was arrested at Boston. But he was subsequently rescued by a crowd, who broke into the court-room, and overpowered the officers who had him in custody. Shadrach escaped to Canada. The case caused much excitement. 18th. Great Mineral Discoveries.-News arrives from California of the discovery of very rich gold mines near the mouth of the Klamath river. The richest portion of the deposit is confined to a beach about two miles in length, consisting of black and gray sand. The gold is mixed with the former in proportions varying from ten cents to ten dollars the pound. About the same time an immense deposit of carbonate of mag-nesia was discovered on Pitch River, the principal tributary of the Sacramento. Much of it is perfectly white, while some is more or less discolored with iron, as if a painter had been striving to give effect by a coloring of light and shade. Large masses are easily detached, which, rolling down into the river that washed its base, floated off as light and buoyant as a cork, until it became saturated with water. A thousand wagons could be loaded in a very short time, and there is enough to supply the whole world. For three days' travel below, the soil seems to be impregnated with. it, and the banks of the river are formed of it. Soon after, an extensive deposit of phosphate of lime was dis covered at Crown Point, on the north shore of Lake Champlain. It is said that 92 per cent. only of the rock is phosphate, but even this amount will render it a valuable acquisition for the farmer's field. 19th. Great Tempest.-A terrific storm occurred at Shreveport, near New-Orleans. Rain fell in torrents; many houses were unroofed, and others blown down. The tin on one house was torn off, rolled up like a rag, and thrown over several adjacent houses into a yard. The steamer Caddo, which lay at the landing, was driven out into the river; the wind snatched up some chairs which happened to be outside the cabin, and after whirling them about in the air for some time, dropped them into the river. Strange to say, no one sustained any personal injury. Eruption of Kilauea.-The volcano of Kilauea, the great crater of Mouna Kea, on the island of Hawaii, had a great eruption, which continued for some time with unusual activity. 24th. Violent Tornadoes.-The town of Fayetteville, Tenn., was nearly destroyed by a terrific whirlwind. Many persons were severely injured, and some lives were lost. About the same time Pittsburg was visited by a severe tornado, which threw down several buildings and caused the loss of some vessels. 25th. Cherokee Educational Association.-The first semi-annual meeting of the above association was held in the territory of the nation. Various able addresses were made on the subject of edu cation, especially primary education. A committee was appointed to draft a memorial to the National Council, praying for a law to secure the employment of none but teachers of the best moral character; and they recommended that all schools should be opened by reading the Scriptures. 28th. Earthquake in Asia Minor.-A destructive earthquake occurred in Anatolia and the adjacent islands. At Makoi several houses fell; and bituminous vapors escaped from fissures opened in the streets. The neighboring town of Levissy, containing 1500 houses, was entirely destroyed, and about six hundred of its inhabitants perished. Several springs were dried up, and new ones formed. At Rhodes, the upper part of the castle fell with a great crash. Destruction of a Pirate Settlement.-A Spanish expedition from the Manillas attacked the pirate settlement of Suloo, east of Borneo. The shores, forts, and houses were crowded with natives eager to ! begin the fray, and three of them were so impetuous as to rush on the first column of troops; two of them were shot, while the third threw himself upon a sergeant, whom he slew with a lance. The first drawing of Spanish blood heated the imagination of the troops, and the assailant fell amid a shower of balls. Save this incident, the troops marched on regardless of the fire of the enemy; their advance in regular order, notwithstanding the harrowing influence of the guns, astonished the Suloos. In the meantime three steamers and a brig-of-war opened a brisk and effective fire on the fortresses, doing much execution; the corvettes anchored on the right, and discharged bombs and grenades in those parts of the town where masses of natives were seen. The fire directed to the left ceased about mid-day; this division was under the personal command of the Governor General, who made an assault upon Fort Daniel, regarded by the Suloos as the strongest in the place. On the right, the firing was kept up until half-past one. In advancing to the assault of Fort Daniel, the troops bared their breasts and pressed on. The fire from the forts was incessant and tremendous, and the resistance offered extremely desperate; every inch of ground was disputed amidst cries of "Vive la Reina" on the one hand, and the war-yell on the other. All their hope of security lay on Fort Daniel; here the fight was maintained, the slaughter fearful, each in succession possessing themselves of the place; but eventually the Suloos were expelled. The Spanish flag was hoisted on the fortress by Father Pascual Ibanez, a priest of the order of Recoletos, who paid for his daring by being slain. The assailants on the right had but little to overcome; the Sultan's and other forts in that direction had been abandoned. The Sultan, in escaping from his fort, accompanied by his Datoos and a large force of Suloos, encountered the right division, which appears to have been panic-struck. At all events, the officers and two colonels were immediately after battle placed in arrest. Had these officers acted with decision, the Sultan must have been either slain or made captive, and his escape naturally vexed the intrepid Governor General. The left division suffered a loss of 33 killed and 84 wounded, while the loss of the other division was a single man. The defenders of Fort Daniel fought to the last-every one of them perished. The whole of the forts and part of the town were destroyed on the same night; the captured artillery, consisting of 130 pieces of ordnance and a quantity of amunition, were embarked. The number of the defenders slain could not be ascertained, but must have been considerable. The expedition then sailed for Zamboanga, leaving the Spanish flag floating over the ruins of the deserted city of Suloo. Suloo is subject to a powerful Sultan, who is also sovereign of a considerable portion of Borneo. He and his predecessors have long been noted for their atrocities; and their piratical junks have been the terror of merchant vessels in those seas for centuries. The artillery found in the forts was of English manufacture, and had been taken by the Suloos when they treacherously seized the settlement on the island of Balambangan in 1773, and murdered the garrison. The island had been ceded to the English ten years previously, by the Sultan of Suloo, as a reward for being re-established on his throne, when he had been taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and the English had found him as a captive when they occupied the fortress of Manilla. This month the legislature of California attempted to elect a United States senator in place of Mr. Fremont, but after 142 unsuccessful ballotings, they postponed further action till the 1st of January, 1852. The Crystal Palace, erected in Hyde-Park, London, for the exhibition of the industrial productions of all nations, was completed, and made over to the royal Commissioners appointed to take charge of it. MARCH. 2nd. Suicide.-William H. Thompson, generally known as "Oneeyed Thompson," committed suicide by taking acetate of morphine, while imprisoned at New York, under a charge of passing counterfeit money. He left a letter addressed to the coroner, in which he says: "There is nothing extraordinary in my end. From my boyish days, so far back as my memory serves, I have had a disposition to commit suicide. Surrounded by a mystery above my comprehension, and one that no theory, promulgated by others, appeared, to me, to be a solution of it, I have desired death as either the means of a better comprehension, or of a state of eternal quiet. For a long time I have lived only for others, those that I could not but love, and was bound to protect." Fatal Explosion.-The steamer Oregon, on her passage from Louisville to New-Orleans, burst her boiler, at Island No. 82. Twenty-one persons were killed, and about twenty severely injured. 3rd. Amazons Defeated.-An army, partly composed of female warriors, under the king of Dahomy, attacked Abbeokuta, a town in the Bight of Benin, belonging to the Egbas. They were defeated, and about 1200 of their number killed. The attack was totally without provocation, and designed solely to procure prisoners for slaves. Extensive Counterfeiting.-A large quantity of counterfeiting implements, and about $200,000 of counterfeit money, were seized near Hillsboro', in Jefferson county, Missouri, by a police officer. They were found in a small cabin, near the dwelling-house of J. T. S. Moore, the counterfeiter, who had gone to California. He alleged that he built this cabin for the convenience of his negroes and working-men. His residence was sold, under execution, during his absence, and enough was found on the premises to lead to the conclusion that he might have left behind all his counterfeiting instruments. The officer, Capt. Cozzens, observed that the floor was covered with a greater quantity of earth and filth than could have got there by natural accumulation. He tore up two or three planks, and, afterward, could readily perceive that the earth under the floor had, in several places, been disturbed. With the aid of spades and pick-axes, three boxes, lying at short distances apart, and about two feet from the surface of the ground, were brought out. They had been carefully and securely nailed, and, on examination, were found to be well coated, internally, with tar -a preservative, evidently, for their contents. There were found in the three boxes, the whole apparatus used in counterfeiting the Missouri fifties and other bills. The apparatus includes a splendid copper printing press, numerous engraving instruments, plates, magnifying glasses, vices, ink, rolls of bill paper, diamonds (such as are used by glaziers), and very many fine saws for cutting iron. The press, and, indeed, all the instruments were made of the finest materials, and elegantly finished. The plates, with engravings, were not found. The following bills, the majority of which were filled and ready for circulation, were recovered: $50 State Bank of Missouri, (all filled) $25,000 41,000 12,400 $78,400 Besides these, there were bills on many banks that were in a very mutilated condition, swelling the amount of spurious currency to, at least, $200,000. Moore, the only person, so far, to whom suspicion attached, had resided here one entire year before he left for California. Ostensibly he was a farmer, who prospered in his honest devotion to agricultural pursuits, and he bore an excellent character among his neighbors. 4th. Lynching in California.—Frederick J. Roe, a gambler of San Francisco, shot Charles H. Myers for interfering in an affray, |