UNITED STATES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 620, 16 October 1858, Page 4

UNITED STATES.

By the way of Pauama, we have news to the 30fch June, being eleven days later than former advices.

The proceedings of the Vigilance Committee of New Orleans have terminated peaceably. The committee have laid down their arms, but are not yet disbanded. The principal elections passed off quietly. Girard. Smith the KnowNothing candidate, was elected Mayor;. the same party was also successful in the City Council by a small majority. General Walker has been bound over in heavy bonds not to violate the neutrality law for one year.

The latest news from Utah is the belief that tbe Mormon difficulty will be peaceably arranged.

A telegraphic message to the New Orleans Delta, dated, New York, June 15th, says:— Lieutenant Richardson, of the Navy, arrived today in the Syren, bearer of despatches from Sir Houston Stewart, Admiral at Bermuda, to Lord Napier. The despatches say that every step has been taken by Stewart to prevent any recurrence of the visits or searching of American vessels, and that those already made are condemned. It is supposed the despatches will prove satisfactory to the United States Government.

The New Orleans papers contain lamentable accounts of the disaster occasioned by the recent storms and overflowing of the rivers in the States. The ' Delta' says:—lt would be difficult to record in detail the disasters which have been produced by the elements, in different sections of the Union, during.the last month. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, whole villages have -been swept away by tornados, involving the loss of many lives and immense destruction of property. In Mirginia, Maryland, and elsewhere, unprecedented hailstojpis have destroyed the crops of the farmer. But when it comes to dollars and cents, the Mississippi Valley has suffered more than all the balance of the country combined. From the Balize to the Upper Mississippi, we hear of nothing but disaster, The damage to

the sugar and cotton alone amounts to millions, from the overflow which is now devastating the great father of waters. We also hear of overflows on nearly all the tributary streams. The latest accounts state that every building in Cairo, it is believed, will be washed away. The whole town was under water. The great Yazoo Pan has given way, and the entire valley would undoubtedly be entirely deluged. Thousands of feet of the track of the Illinois central Railroad have been carried away. Mound city is threatened with an overflow. The water is still rising at this point. All the upper streams are pouring out floods. The river rose 29 inches during the forty eight hours, ending at six o'clock on the night of the 12th. It is now about four and a half feet below the highest mark reached in the great freshet of 1844. The Upper Mississippi is still rising at Dubuque, the head-water of the Illinois, the river is again swelling. The Missouri was falling at Boonville on Saturday, but there is now an additional rise coming from above. Cairo, June 15.—The water is still rising, and is novr sweeping over the Ohio levee. Mound City is under water. The depot grounds, which is the highest point in the City, are covered four or five inches deep. Mr. Ashley, chief engineer of the Illinois, gives the opinion that one foot more rise will sweep Cairo entirely away. Nearly all the houses were tumbling down, drifting away, or sinking. Scarcely a building in the city was expected to withstand the flood.

A terrible catastrophe happened on the Mississippi river on Sunday morning, June 13. The steamboat Pennsylvania, of Pittsburg, while on the way from New Orleans to St. Louis, when at Ship Island, about 75 miles below Memphis, exploded her boilers, caught fire, and burnt to the water's edge. Of 350 persons on board, it is believed at least 100 perished, while of those saved nearly all were more or less injured. A. telegram of the 15th June, states, that "a passenger estimates the number on board at 450, and thinks that 250 were lost."

Advices have been received at Boston, announcing that a heavy gale had taken place on the Banks of Newfoundland, attended with immense loss of life and proporty to the French fishermen. Besides the loss of vessels, it is said that no less than 300 men perished during the storm.