until January. It was alleged, and with some show of reason, that Prussia had submitted to the dictation of the Czar, for Austria alone was not sufficiently strong to menace Prussia. The minor powers of Germany feared results from the Dresden conference prejudicial to their independence, and that body will probably meet with difficulties occasioned as well by such fears as by the hostility of the democratic element still predominant in Prussia. On the 28th of December, the congress at Dresden was opened by speeches from the Austrian and Prussian ministers.* TURKEY. During the last fall some intestine commotions agitated this country which were not repressed without bloodshed. From the speech of Prince Schwartzenberg we make the following extract: "The readiness which those who sent you showed in answering to the invitations of Austria and Prussia, and the choice which they made of their representatives, are a guarantee for the harmony and the successful issue of our endeavors. "The Germanic confederation, which was produced by a necessity which was inculcated by the teachings of a most eventful period, has for thirty-three years been the guardian of the general peace, to the preservation of which it has materially contributed. * * * * * * "That experience has shown the futility of all attempts to create an absolute novelty. It has shown that the foundations on which the confederation reclines are not only good and serviceable, but that they are the ones which are suitable for a fabric in which a community of States-such as Germany includes-can be expected to live in harmony, and in a state of general prosperity. But that experience has likewise shown the short-comings of the federal constitution such as it hitherto has been; and it has pointed out the spots where remedies ought to be applied. Among these I mention the strengthening of the chief organ of the confederation by arrangements which will enable it for the future to stem the tide of revolution, and to protect the principle of monarchy. 66 Gentlemen, their recognition of this truth suggests our obligations and our duties at this place, viz.: the revision of the federal act, and of the laws which emanated therefrom. "Let us make the original federal constitution the basis and the starting point of our negotiations; let it be our object to complete that constitution by the lessons of experience, and with a consideration to the real desires and the welfare of our common country; let us create a supreme federal board, which shall be sufficiently strong to rotect the individual governments against the enemies of order, and to preserve the most sacred blessings of society." Five committees were formed for the transaction of the business of the congress, over which Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony presided. The first committee has charge of the question of federal territory, and one of the most important questions will be the reception of Austria with all her provinces. Prussia, it is said, will not consent that Austria shall possess a power in the confederation equal to her own, and a still greater power beyond the pale of the confederation, while Prussia, by the incorporation of the eastern and western provinces, and of Posen, had no ex-federal territories whatever. No definitive decision has been taken on this delicate point. Prussia protests that, if only the German provinces of Austria are to enter the the new confederation, it will be necessary for her (Prussia) to remove East and West Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen from the federal bonds. But an offer has been made, at the same time, that the whole of the Austrian monarchy shall be admitted into the confederation; or at least all the provinces, excepting Italy, Hungary, Transylvania, and the Banat; and that if this were granted, the whole of Prussia would remain in the confederation. At Aleppo, about the middle of October, a body of Turks and Arabs, setting the authorities at defiance, fell upon the Christians during the night, and a fearful massacre took place. The Greek bishop was among those murdered. The pacha locked himself up in the fortress, and the troops did not attempt to interfere. At Monasta, a fanatical dervish, who professed to be inspired, killed a Christian boy of fourteen years of age, and a certain Guiseppe Thomaso, an Italian emigrant, in the open street. The For these outrages, a terrible chastisement was inflicted on the insurgents by Kerim Pasha, who invited the principal chiefs to a conference, and had them placed under arrest. The insurgents, finding their chiefs did not return, rushed to arms, and came, in number about 10,000, and insolently demanded their liberation. The Ottoman general was prepared for this, and replied to their demand by charging them at the head of 4,000 imperial troops, whom he had assembled in the inside of some barracks. combat was desperate, and lasted for more than twenty-four hours, but the result was favorable to the Turks. Three Mussulman quarters, Karlek, Bab Coussa, and El Bab Neirab, which were the seat of their revolt, were almost entirely destroyed. Eighteen hundred of the rebels fell in the struggle, and the remainder, with the inhabitants of the above quarters, fled from Aleppo, the Turkish cavalry pursuing them. Not a single Christian fell in this terrible affair. All the property of the rebels was devoted by the authorities to indemnify the Christians for their losses on the 14th and 15th of October, and to rebuild the three churches which were burned. A very serious insurrection also occurred in Syria, near Damascus, occasioned by the opposition of the people to the recruitment system. They assembled, armed, to the number of three or four thousand, under their Emirs, Mohamet and Hassan, and gave battle to the government force, commanded by Mustapha Pacha. The action was fought on the 16th of October, and resulted in the defeat of the rebels, with the loss of one thousand men and the capture of the emirs. The village, Maloulah, where the fight occurred, is inhabited principally by Christians, some of whose houses were pillaged by the soldiers, and two convents sacked; but restitution was afterwards made through the interference of the French consul at Damascus. The Turkish government has not yet released all the Hungarian refugees. The latest accounts state that the sultan was inclined to yield so far to the Austrian and Russian requests as to continue for a while longer the imprisonment of Kossuth and his principal associates. CHRONICLE.* JULY. 9th. Death of General Taylor.-The President of the United States died this day at the executive mansion, Washington city. In the preceding volume, under the proper head, at page 469, we have noticed the death of this distinguished man. His remains were interred in the congressional burial ground, at Washington, but subsequently taken up and conveyed by Colonels Taylor and Bliss to Louisville, Kentucky. Governor Crittenden was present at the latter ceremony, and addressed the people. The immense crowds that lined the streets at Louisville through which the procession passed attested the emotions felt by all classes of citizens on the mournful occasion. From the city limits the body was attended by a large number of persons in vehicles and on horseback to the burial-ground, lying north-east of the city, and distant about seven miles. This place of his interment was selected by the general himself as a family burial-place. It is upon the farm formerly the property of his father, and is still owned by the heirs of his deceased brother, Hancock Taylor, Esq. The War in Hungary.-General Klapka, one of the heroes in the gallant struggle of the Magyars for independence, has published his memoirs of the Hungarian war. Among the most interesting portions of the work are his opinions of Kossuth and Görgey, the two master-spirits at the time. According to him, Kossuth is a great and generous man, "of noble heart and fervid patriotism, at once an enthusiast and a statesman, gifted with 'a mysterious power' over the hearts of his countrymen;' possibly, however, of too melancholic and spiritual a temperament for the crisis, and unfortunately a civilian, so that notwithstanding his marvelous influence to rouse and bring into action the hidden energies of the masses,' he could not 'give them a military organization.' "Görgey, on the other hand, is an able, hard-headed soldier, believing only in battalions, and capable of using them well, but * The Chronicle and Obituary Notices in this volume are necessarily curtailed in consequence of the unusual length of the Historical and Documentary portions. wanting enthusiasm, without great principle, without even patriotism, taciturn and suspicious, chafing against authority, and aiming throughout, chiefly at his own ends in the struggle; wanting that breadth of intellect or strength of courage that might have made his selfishness splendid in its achievement. "Had Kossuth possessed the military training of Görgey, or had Göorgey had the heart of Kossuth; or had there been a perfect co-operation between the two men and the parties which they represented, Hungary might have been saved. Nor, so far as Kossuth was concerned, was there any obstacle to such cooperation. His disinterestedness, as it led him at last to resign all into the hands of Görgey, would have led him to do so, had it been necessary at first. But Perczel, and the other generals, who were friends of Kossuth, disliked Görgey; never had fulĺ trust in him, and even accused him from the first of treachery. Görgey is alive and rich; the earth covers the dead bodies of many of his former comrades, pierced by the bullet or strangled by the ignominious rope; and others are in prison or exile." Great fire in Philadelphia.-A most destructive conflagration consumed more than two hundred buildings in Philadelphia. Three several explosions of saltpetre occurred, and the rush for life was terrific-men and boys, firemen and bystanders, fled away from the conflagration, and as they ran around to get beyond the reach of danger, hundreds of them rolled over each other while running and jumping on the large collection of cotton and other goods on the wharves. Several were knocked down as if dead, and hundreds ran over them, causing legs and arms to be broken, and injuries inflicted of a very serious character. In the fright some were thrown into the Delaware, while a large number jumped voluntarily in, to shield themselves from the bricks and cinders thrown from the burning stores. A number of lives were lost. In one house a woman and five children were found dead. The value of property destroyed was estimated at one million of dollars. Upon the subject of the explosion, an opinion was given by one of the professors of the university, that saltpetre by itself is not explosive, but that the great quantity of oxygen which it contains greatly increases the combustion of ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion. 10th. The successor of General Taylor.-By the death of President Taylor, the Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, of Buffalo, New York, became president of the United States, and was duly installed into office. Some days afterwards, he appointed a new cabinet. Of these events we have given detailed accounts An assault by a lady.-On board the ship Saratoga, on her passage from New York to San Francisco, Mrs. Jane M. Wheeler (described as a beautiful and interesting lady), in presence of several gentlemen, addressing one of the passengers, said to him, that he had repeatedly insulted her on board, and that she was determined to submit to his insolence no longer. Mr. C., without replying, began a retreat out of the cabin, at which Mrs. W. walked up to him, and taking off her white satin slipper, slapped either cheek of Mr. C. to her satisfaction, and, as it would appear, to the satisfaction of her fellow passengers. Then taking a revolver from her pocket, she pointedly advised him not to look at her, or speak to her again, as he valued his soul. On arriving at San Francisco, a complaint was made, and the matter heard before the chief justice, who discharged the lady. The account concludes thus: 66 Whether the well known gallantry of his honor, or the provisions of the United States judiciary act of 1799, giving to the federal courts exclusive jurisdiction over offences committed on the high seas, had most influence in inducing the discharge, did not appear, as no reason for the decision was promulgated." The Circassian war.-Advices at this date from Trebizond contained important intelligence from Daghistan. It appears that Schamyl Bey, who really deserves credit as a military commander, had crossed the frontier at the head of a large force, and carried devastation and pillage among the Tartar villages south of Azderhan. General Dolgorouky, who commanded the Russian army, had not time to concentrate his troops, which were for the most part cut up, discouraged, half starved, and toiling their way through rocks and roads nearly impassable, and rendered more so by the tramping of thousands of men and beasts of burden on a narrow track from which they dared not to deviate. In the midst of these difficulties, they fell into an ambuscade of the Daghlees, commanded by Schamyl in person, and were put to route with the loss of seventy officers and four guns. The great East India diamond.-Early in this month, the steam sloop Medea arrived at Portsmouth, England, with a freight more precious in nominal value than was ever carried from Peru to Cadiz. No less a treasure, in fact, than the famous Asiatic diamond, called the Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light. |