Cordova, the present Captain-General of Madrid. The
cause of the quarrel is the refusal of the minister to
grant the numerous favours requested for the troops
who have returned from Italy.
In Italy Superstition continues to Flourish. An
image of the Virgin, belonging to a woman of Fossombrone,
was observed by its owner and some of her
female friends to move its eyes in a miraculous manner.
The matter was taken up by the bishop, and a
commission of theologians, appointed to examine the case,
made a favourable report, in consequence of which the
statue was transported to the cathedral, where it now
cures the halt, the blind, the dumb, and the deaf.
Immense sums have already been received for alms by
the church.
A letter from Naples, of the 18th inst., mentions a
Terrible Catastrophe in that city. The morning before,
a part of the Grenaglio, an immense edifice, which the
troops occupy as barracks, gave way and fell down,
swallowing up in its ruins 400 or 500 persons. No
details are given, but it is hoped that the number of the
killed is exaggerated.
A letter of the 17th inst. from Semlin states that an
insurrection against the Turkish government has broken
out in the three Bulgarian districts of Widdin,
Gurgissova, and Belgradsisza, and that the small fort of the
latter place has fallen into the hands of the insurgents.
There is intelligence from Persia of the detection of a
conspiracy at Tabriz, the capital of Aderbijean. Five
of the conspirators were beheaded on the 21st May, and
their bodies exposed, each with the head under the left
arm, over the gates of the town. Nine were executed
previously. Salar, the chief of the rebellion in
Khorassan, and uncle of the Shah, has been taken prisoner
and put to a cruel death, both his eyes having been torn
from his head before decapitation.
The advices from the United States come down to the
15th instant.
A Buccaneering Expedition to the Island of Cuba
sailed from New Orleans on the 8th of May, under the
command of General Lopez, a Creole soldier of fortune,
and consisting of about 600 men. The preparations were
so secretly made, that they did not transpire till after
the adventurers had sailed, when President Taylor sent
orders to all the out-ports to pursue and capture them if
possible. The invading force landed from the steamer
Creole at Cardenas, in Cuba, on the 19th of May, and
after a short struggle obtained possession of the town,
making the governor and his officers prisoners. The
same evening, a Spanish force having arrived from
Matanzas, the pirates were driven on board their vessel,
after a severe conflict, in which they lost 30 men, wliile
the Spaniards lost 150. On the 25th, Lopez arrived at
Savannah, when he was arrested under orders from the
President, and brought before the District Court, but
immediately liberated, no evidence being brought to
justify commitment. He was conducted to his lodging,
amid the cheers of the "sympathising" multitude,
whom he addressed, declaring his determination to
persist in the liberation of Cuba under every difficulty and
at all hazards. He was, however, again arrested and
taken to New Orleans, where he was held to bail in
3000 dollars.
An application for a writ of error in the case of
Professor Webster, lately convicted of the murder of Dr.
Parkman, was under the consideration of the Supreme
Court of Boston.
The convention between Great Britain and the United
States for the settlement of their common interests
in Central America, and for the perpetual neutrality of
the inter-oceanic line of communication by ship canal or
otherwise through the state of Nicaragua, has now
received the approval of the Senate of the United States,
and the ratifications will in all probability forthwith be
exchanged. The most important article of this treaty is
the first, which runs as follows:—"The governments of
the United States and Great Britain hereby declare that
neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain
for itself any exclusive control over the said ship
canal; agreeing that neither will ever erect or maintain
any fortifications commanding the same or in the vicinity
thereof, or occupy or colonise, or assume or exercise,
any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito
Coast, or any part of Central America; nor will either
make use of any protection which either affords, or may
afford, or any alliance which either has, or may have, to
or with any State or people, for the purpose of
maintaining or erecting any such fortifications, or of occupying,
fortifying, or colonising Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the
Mosquito Coast or any part of Central America, or of
assuming or exercising dominion over the same." With
respect to the construction of the canal itself, another
article of the convention provides that the British and
American governments will give their support and
encouragement to such persons or company as may first
offer to commence the canal with the necessary capital;
and a year from the date of the ratifications is to be
allowed to give such company a right of priority, and to
enable it to complete its arrangements and present
evidence of sufficient capital.
The latest accounts trom California state that during
the year preceding the 27th of March last upwards of
1000 vessels of all countries had arrived there, having on
board 46,285 passengers. Several rich deposits of gold
had been discovered. At one place two men dug out
twenty-eight ounces in a single morning, besides a lump
weighing more than a pound, of pure gold. Among these
adventurers the tone of society is sufficiently ferocious,
and fatal rencounters are not unusual in their "hells"
or gaming-houses. Two men, named White and Helm,
having got into a dispute in a game of cards, White
drew a revolver and shot Helm through the neck, killing
him instantly. He then turned on Helm's brother, who
had taken a part in the dispute, and presented another
pistol; but before he could fire, Helm seized his arm and
stabbed him several times in the side, causing his instant
death. No notice was taken of the affair.—A Chamber
of Commerce, Exchange, and Reading-room have been
established at San Francisco.
Accounts from Rio de Janeiro of the 6th of April
state that the deaths from yellow fever in that city,
since the 1st January, had been nearly 10,000, and that
the malady still continued to rage there. At Bahia and
Pernambuco the disease had abated.
NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.
THE publications of the month have been numerous, and in some instances of more than usual pretension
in respect of subject. The University Commission lingers still unappointed, but a new and gratifying
proof of the sincerity of ministers in regard to it has been offered by the letter of the Prince-consort, in his
character of Chancellor at Cambridge; wherein, replying to an appeal from the authorities of the University,
he states that he had not been advised with by the Premier before the issue of the Commission was resolved
upon, but that, finding Government irrevocably pledged to it, he would recommend the Heads of Houses not
to meet it with opposition, but to co-operate in rendering it complete. For this sound advice the Prince has
been severely taken to task by an eccentric Ex-Chancellor, who has somewhat fiercely warned his Royal Highness
of his '"false position" in being husband to the Queen yet aspiring to be anything else; has promised him a
"great unpopularity" in consequence; has denounced "Germanism" of all kinds and forms; and has given
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