singularly large collection of disaffected seikhs near the prison of Chutter Singh and his family, which dispersed on finding the authorities on their guard; but the prisoners speak openly and confidently of their hopes of escape. The undying animosity and daring of the seikhs were exhibited, about the same time, in the attempt of thirty-nine prisoners to master the guard that was conveying them down the Ganges in a barge towed by a steamboat. Among them were Narain Singh and Goluh Singh, considered among the most turbulent of the rebel chiefs. The prisoners were placed in fetters, and then linked together by a continuous chain, the guard consisting of eighteen men. When near Patna, at a signal from Narain Singh, they sprang up, released themselves from the chains, seized the arms that were stacked on the deck, killed some of the guard, mastered the others, and gained possession of both vessels. Unable to navigate the steamer, they landed, and endeavoured to escape and reach Nepaul. When the alarm was given at Patna, a large force was ordered out, and thirteen were recaptured.

On the northwest frontier the Afreedes had again become troublesome; they were waylaying and murdering travellers, and the opinion is expressed in Calcutta that "nothing short of an inroad into Teera, the chief nest of the swarm, will have a beneficial effect; that some signal chastisement must be inflicted on the marauders," and intimations are given of the necessity of training "a body of guerilla soldiers for future frontier guards, for the empire is every where surrounded by similar tribes." In the Nizam's dominions an intestine war had broken out, and the Newab of Elichpoor had defeated the force sent against him to dispossess him of his Jagheers.

Sir Charles Napier, the commander-in-chief, has resigned his command, in consequence of a dispute between him and the governor general, the Marquis of Dalhousie, as to the extent of his powers. Sir Charles conceived that his authority extended to all purely military questions independently of the governor general, and had therefore disbanded a regiment of native infantry without consulting him. The governor protested against this assumption of power, and wrote an official letter to the general to that effect. The latter resigned, but his orders, to which the exception was taken, were suffered to stand uncancelled.

It is due to justice to remark, that in the midst of these commotions and this disordered state of the government, there is said to exist a better state of things in the Punjaub, where evidences of security and prosperity are daily becoming more apparent. The report is, that "undertakings of public utility, roads, bridges, canals, works of irrigation, are in progress, testifying to the de

sire of the new rulers to make up, if possible, for years of past neglect, and revive once more that former flourishing condition, of which the tokens every where strike the eye of the observing traveller."

AFRICA.

The accounts from Liberia are of a cheering kind. Its independence has been recognised by England and France, and many enlightened and philanthropic men, both in Europe and America, are looking with anxiety to the new republic, and devoting their means to its advancement. In Massachusetts a proposition has been made to endow and charter a college for Liberia, and several substantial evidences of sympathy and approbation have been manifested. Already has a gentlemen presented $10,000 towards an endowment fund for the proposed institution, besides $8000 subscribed in smaller sums.

Another gentleman has given the American Sunday School Union $10,000, as a permanent fund, the net income of which is to be annually expended in their useful publications for circulation among the sabbath schools of Liberia.

A recent arrival from the West Indies brings the intelligence that a large number of the coloured population of Barbadoes and Antigua have formed themselves into a society, for the purpose of emigrating to Africa. They had adopted an address, plan, rules, &c., on the subject, which are remarkable for their excellent good sense and appropriateness. About one hundred of the most intelligent and wealthy residents of these islands are preparing for the change, the most of them being able to bear all the expenses, in addition to taking with them means and stock to a considerable extent.

Mr. James Richardson, who was sent out by the English government to explore the interior of Africa, had arrived at Algiers; and it is stated that efforts are being made in this country for a scientific exploration of Africa; and that individuals residing in Cincinnati and Louisville have offered to bear all the expenses of a botanical mission. All these circumstances indicate a growing disposition as well to ascertain the condition and capabilities of the unknown regions of Africa, as to give to the coloured race a home and a country enlightened and prosperous.

CHRONICLE.

JANUARY, 1850.

Jan. 3d. Pursuit of the Apache Indians.-Advices have been received at Santa Fe from the detachment of American troops under Major Grier, which went in pursuit of the Apache Indians, the captors of Mrs. White and others. They were accompanied by a party of mounted Mexicans, who numbered forty-two. Of the Americans there were forty. They marched from Taos in the direction of the "Point of Rocks," and, after they discovered the Indians, ran their horses sixteen miles before they overtook them. Then they had a running fight, which resulted in the death of several of the Indians, and their dispersion in the direction of the mountains. The party found in the Indian camp, which consisted of thirty lodges, a quantity of bridles, saddles, robes, ponies, &c. They found there, also, the body of Mrs. White, which was yet warm, penetrated by a rifle ball. She seemed to have died with-1 out a struggle. It is believed she was shot because she refused to retire with the Indians, and notwithstanding her pitiable and almost naked and destitute condition, she managed to retain to her dying moment her " Book of Common Prayer." Mrs. White was wrapped in the cloth of a tent, and laid in the cold earth, and every possible precaution taken to prevent the discovery of the sacred and lonely spot where her mortal remains repose, by burning the brushwood, weeds, and grass for acres round.

Not the slightest discovery was made in reference to Mrs. White's daughter and servant, but the best informed of the Indian character are of the opinion they are yet alive, and with the Indians who fled on the morning of the attack.

Major Grier was wounded, and also D. Reed, of Taos, in a hand-to-hand fight with an Indian. A violent snow-storm was encountered by the party the day after the battle, and it is believed that the difficulties which they had to contend with would not have been surmounted, and the expedition itself would have" proved a complete failure, but for employment of Kit Carson, Leroux, and Fisher, as guides. Only one person was lost, and that was the coloured servant of the commanding officer.

Iron from China.-There has been recently received at Liverpool, from Hong Kong, nine thousand quintals of Chinese iron. It is the first time that this metal from the mines of the celestial

empire has been imported into England. Numerous trials which have been made of this iron, prove that it is in all respects, at least equal to English, Swedish, or Russian iron.

Increase of Iron in Wales.-In 1820, the amount shipped from Newport was 45,462 tons; in 1847, 240,637. The quantity at Cardiff in 1820 was 50,157 tons; in 1847 it was 220,953 tons; and this is exclusive of a quantity of iron shipped from similar ports, which owe their existence to the last twenty years. We scarcely believe that any other country could show a similar result in one branch of business. The quantity of coal sent in 1846, from the four ports of Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelly, and Newport amounted to 1,847,348 tons. The value of the shipments of iron, alone, from the counties of Monmouth, Glamorgan, and Carmarthen was estimated, in 1847, at four millions sterling.

The spindles of the world.-A German paper gives the following estimate of the number of spindles at work:

4th. Twenty pilots drowned.-An English brig struck on a bar at the mouth of the Tyne, in a heavy gale, with a strong sea running at the time. The Providence lifeboat was immediately got out to rescue the hands, and as quickly manned with South Shields pilots. Twenty-four of them sprang into her. They rowed her down to the brig, and laid her alongside, on the starboard side of the brig, the brig lying with her bows to the sea. A rope was thrown from the brig, which they caught, and fastened the boat to the brig by the bow. As they were getting ready to take in the brig's crew, however, a sea broke round the bow, caught the boat on the larboard side, completely upset her, and threw the crew into the water. They plunged about in a mass, and she did not right, but broke her painter, and drifted away bottom up.

There were no means for assisting them, and the crew of the

brig had to suffer the anguish of witnessing those who had come off to rescue them from peril sink one by one into a watery grave. Of the twenty-four men who went off, only four came ashore alive. The scene that afterwards ensued on shore was heartrending. Most of the men drowned left large families.

5th. A whaling voyage.-The ship Junior, of New Bedford, returned at this date from a cruise through the Northern and Southern oceans, in which she penetrated to the icy barrier in the southern seas, and thence proceeded to the Arctic ocean. She made, in seven months and twenty days, a run of more than ten thousand miles, exclusive of the distance in cruising for whales, and obtained in the meantime a full cargo of oil and bone; accomplishing the distance from the south polar circle to the north polar circle, and taking 1900 barrels of oil in five months and ten days. The New Bedford Mercury says, "we are not aware that a similar achievement has been performed by a ship of any nation."

A novelty.-A thieves' convention has been held in London, for the purpose of adopting measures to procure an honest livelihood. Two hundred and seven avowed thieves attended. The meeting was opened with prayer and a hymn. An address was proposed to Lord Ashley, asking if any hope was presented of their obtaining an honest living in the British colonies. His lordship expressed his willingness to befriend them, as it was his duty to do. He candidly told them that there was little hope for them, unless they turned their attention to the back settlements of the new world. Suggestive of levity as may be these facts, there is something serious and solemn in them. "We must steal or die," was the response of one of the thieves: "prayer is very good, but it will not fill an empty stomach." Can any thing be more expressive of the depraving influences of the social evils of English society?

14th. Exhibition of languages at Rome.-The Roman propaganda held the celebrated exhibition of languages at Rome on the 14th of January, in spite of the disturbed condition of the times. Fifty-two different discourses were delivered in forty-four different languages, without reckoning the salutatory in Latin, which was pronounced by Kugan, the East Indian from Agra, and the beautiful concluding oration in Italian by a favourite little negro from Rio Janeiro, Signor Teodor Ribeira, who had before spoken in Portuguese. The expressive gestures of the pupils, and their peculiar intonations, which more or less betrayed their respective nationalities, gave an interest to the ex