during four weeks, whilst waiting from Constantinople further orders as to the continuation of our sad journey to some distant shore.

"Even the ambassadors of England and France, to whom I ventured in the name of humanity to appeal, were so kind as to assure me of their full sympathy.

"His Majesty, the Sultan, was also so gracious as to give a decided negative to the inhuman pretensions of our extradition demanded by Russia and Austria.

"But a fresh letter from his Majesty, the Czar, arrived at Constantinople, and its consequence was the suggestion sent to us by an express messenger of the Turkish government, that the Poles and Hungarians, and particularly myself, Count Casimer Batthiany, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary under my government, and the Generals Messaros and Perczel, (all present here,) would be surrendered, unless we choose to abjure the faith of our forefathers in the religion of Christ, and become Mussulmans. And thus five thousand Christians are placed in the terrible alternative, either of facing the scaffold or of purchasing their lives by abandoning their faith. So low is already fallen the once mighty Turkey, that she can devise no other means to answer or evade the demands of Russia.

"Words fail me to qualify these astonishing suggestions, such as never have been made yet to the fallen chief of a generous nation, and could hardly have been expected in the nineteenth century.

"My answer does not admit of hesitation. Between death and shame, the choice can be neither dubious nor difficult. Governor of Hungary, and elected to that high place by the confidence of fifteen millions of my countrymen, I know well what I owe to the honour of my country, even in exile. Even as a private individual, I have an honourable path to pursue. Once the governor of a generous country-I leave no inheritance to my children-they shall, at least, bear an unsullied name. God's will be done. I am prepared to die; but as I think this measure dishonourable and injurious to Turkey, whose interest I sincerely have at heart, and as I feel it a duty to save my companions in exile, if I can, from a degrading alternative, I have replied to the Grand Vizier, in a conciliatory manner, and took also the liberty to apply to Sir Stratford Canning and General Aupich, for their generous aid against this tyrannic act. In full reliance on the noble sentiments and generous principles of your excellency, by which, as well as through your wisdom, I trust to be excused in enclosing copies of my two letters to the Grand Vizier and Sir Stratford Canning.

"I am informed that the whole matter is a cabal against the ministry of Reschid Pacha, whose enemies would wish to force him to our extradition, in order to lower it in public estimation, and render impossible its continuance in office. It is certain, that in the grand council, held on the 9th and 10th of September, after a tumultuous debate, the majority of the council declared in favour of our extradition, the majority of the ministry against it. No decision was come to, in consequence of the altercation which took place; but, notwithstanding, the ministry thought fit to make us the revolting suggestion 1 have named.

"This mode of solving the difficulty would not, I am convinced, save the ministry, because a protection only given, in contradiction of the Sultan's generous feeling, of the price of five thousand Christians abandoning their faith, would be revolting to the whole Christian world, and prove badly calculated to win sympathies for Turkey, in the event of a war with Russia, which, in the opinion of the most experienced Turkish statesmen, is approaching fast. "As to my native country, Turkey does, I believe, already feel the loss of the neglected opportunity of having given to Hungary, at least, some moral help to enable it to check the advance of the common enemy. But, it ap

pears to me, that it would be a very ill-advised mode of gaining Hungarian sympathy, by sending me to an Austrian scaffold, and forcing my unhappy companions to abjure their religion or accept the same alternative.

No friends to the Turkish government would spring up from my blood, shed by her broken faith, but many deadly foes. My lord, your heart will, I am sure, excuse my having called your attention to our unhappy faith, since it has now assumed political importance. Abandoned, in this unsocial land, by the whole world, even the first duties of humanity give us no promise of protection, unless, my lord, you and your generous nation come forward to protect us.

"What steps it may be expedient that you should take, what we have a right to expect from the well known generosity of England, it would be hardly fitting for me to enter on. I place my own and my companions' fate in your hands, my lord, and, in the name of humanity, throw myself under the protection of England.

"Time presses-our doom may in a few days be sealed. Allow me to make an humble, personal request. I am a man, my lord, prepared to face the worst, and I can die with a free look at heaven, as I have lived. But I am, also, my lord, a husband; son, and father; my poor, true-hearted wife, my children, and my noble old mother are wandering about Hungary. They will probably soon fall into the hands of those Austrians who delight in torturing even feeble women, and with whom the innocence of childhood is no protection against persecutions. I conjure your excellency, in the name of the Most High, to put a stop to these cruelties by your powerful mediation, and especially to accord to my wife and children an asylum on the soil of the generous English people.

As to my poor, my loved, and noble country, must she, too, perish for ever? Shall she, unaided, abandoned to her fate, and unavenged, be doomed to annihilation by her tyrants? Will England, once her hope, not become her consolation?

"The political interests of civilized Europe, so many weighty considerations respecting England herself, and chiefly the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire, are too intimately bound up with the existence of Hungary for me to ose all hope. My lord, may God, the Almighty, for many years shield you, Hat you may long protect the unfortunate, and live to be the guardian of the fights of freedom and humanity. I subscribe myself, with the most perfect respect and esteem, (Signed) L. KOSSUTH."

CALIFORNIA.

Secretary of War to the President.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 18, 1850. Sir: I have the honour of laying before you copies of documents embracing the information called for from this department by the resolution of the house of representatives on the 31st ultimo.

I beg leave to reinark that the exercise of civil authority by any military officer in California, since the termination of the war with Mexico, was first assumed by Brevet Brigadier General Mason, under his proclamation, which was issued

the 7th of August, 1848, the next day after the intelligence reached him that Peace had been restored between the United States and Mexico. This proclaination was communicated to the department on the 22d of November, 1848, and its receipt acknowledged by the proper bureau on the 27th of January, 1849, without any comment.

On the 13th of April, 1849, this officer was relieved of his command in Cali

fornia, and was succeeded by Brevet Brigadier General Riley. At this period it appears to have been the purpose of this latter officer, with the advice of his predecessor, to have secured to the people of that territory a further enjoyment of the laws, customs, and usages applicable to their condition and wants, and at the same time to have provided for the organization of a government, such as is contemplated by the ninth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the constitution of the United States. The cause of delay in executing the purpose of this officer is fully explained by the following extract from a communication from the commanding general of the Pacific division, dated January 20, 1849, to this department.

"Under the hope that some act of the last congress had provided, or at least defined, the government of California, it was thought prudent to await intelligence of the close of the session, and then, if nothing had been done in Washington, to put in action the machinery of the laws already existing here, and at the same time propose to the people of California to form a state constitution, and present it at the next session of Congress, when their admission into the Union as a State would at once solve so many difficulties; and, while it removed a cause of disagreement at home, would give them an opportunity of legislating for themselves.

"The steamer Edith has been sent to Mazatlan for the necessary intelligence, and, on her arrival with information that no other than a revenue law had been passed, General Riley issued a proclamation for the election of the necessary executive and judicial officers under the existing laws, and recommending, at the same time, the election of delegates to a convention to form a State constitution. Mr. King arrived at the time these proclamations were about being issued, and it was matter of great congratulation that the Government, by anticipation, had approved of the latter measure. Every means will be used to give the people of California an opportunity of expressing their wishes on this point, and of bringing the matter to a happy conclusion."

The necessity of a civil government in California, adequate to protect and control its increased population, composed of persons who had flocked from all quarters of the globe, was daily rendered more apparent. The common employment in which every interest was directly or remotely connected, and of a mass so dissimilar in habits and languages, and probably a part not without a lively • sense of an exclusive enjoyment, showed the absolute want of an authority capable of upholding public and private rights. Indeed, this want was so obvious and urgent, that legislative assemblies were established in several districts of California, and by their authority the existing customs and laws, already adverted to, were attempted to be superseded. The whole plan was considered as irregular, and would, in the end, have been dangerous to the public peace and the public interests.

The first duty of the army was to execute the order of March 15, 1818, "to take measures with a view to its (California) permanent occupation;" and the second, in my opinion, was to separate, as far as practicable, the citizens from the control of martial law. The executive powers exercised by the two commanding officers in California were varied only by the emergencies as they arose, which may be seen by their several reports on the civil affairs of that territory. In their respective administrations, each has endeavoured to avoid the application of the principles and practices of military law.

To the PRESIDENT.

Respectfully submitted,

G. W. CRAWFORD."

INDEX TO VOL. III.

Adelaide, Queen Dowager, (obit.) 497. | Burr, Aaron and Daughter, 204.-

Army of U. S. (Adj. Gen. report,) 392. Chronicle, Quarterly, 44, 350.

Court, Supreme, of U. S. convened, 371. Gallatin, Albert, (biog.) 227.
Cuba, statistical account of, 389.

Education, Convention of Friends of, Historical Register, 5, 309.

interposes in behalf of Turkey, 340. Johnson, A. G., on Tenure of land, 437.