CALIFORNIA. OFFICIAL ADVICES. (From the Washington Union.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 319, 20 June 1849, Page 3

CALIFORNIA. OFFICIAL ADVICES. (From the Washington Union.)

We arc indebted to the Secretary of the Navy for the following very interesting lettei's, just received from Commodore Jones. They were forwarded from Mazatlan by our consul, Mr. Parrot, thence arross land to "VVra Cruz, aud transmitted to Pensacola, thence by mail to Washington[No. 44.] Flag Ship Ohio, San Francisco, Dec. 22. Sir, — My letters from Noi. 33 to 42, inclusive, detpntched from Monterey, by Lieutenant Lanman, and from tbis place by the Lexington, will fully inform you of the operations of the squadron since our departure from the Gulf of California. Nothing mater ial ha occurred since my last date. Desertions are lebS frequent, the Ohio having lost but one man since her arrival here, nnd I think the disposition to desert is not so general ; but that may be owing to the inclemency of the season, wh.ch, for a while, must suspend the digging aud washing for gold, except by euch persons as are most amply mppli-d with good houses and all the necessaries of life requisite fur a winter's campaign in a rigid climate, affording nothing for the usf of man but gold. Inctediole qu»ntuies of gold are even yet daily collected, and tcircely a week elapses without aome new discovery of the precious metal, more startling than any previous one. It ia said that • small party of five or sii parsons, a ftw days past, struck upon a pocket, ai they term certain deposits, from which, in two days, they obtained 30,000 do.lars in pure gold ! I h»ve been living on shore at San Francisco now two weeks, and have had arop'e opportunity for examining the subject, and I am more than ever satisfied that the disposal of the gold regions in the territory of California is the bes*, if not the only practicable disposition that can be made of them in the present diso.ganised state of society out here. . . . The worst forebodings of evil consequent upon the want of certain aud energetic administration of justice in this territory are almost daily realised. Within the East three weeks we have certuin accounts of fifteen murders. In one instance »n entire household of ter persons — a respectable ranchero, his wife, two children, and six fervants. The man, whoie name wai Reed, had been very successful in the dtguings during- the lummer, and had returned to his home, near Sauta Barbara, with a large amount of gold. His house wa.B suprised by an armt d party, and the whole family, as above stated, were barbarously murdered, and the house rifled of its golden treasure. The perpetrators of this horrid desd are still at large. Of the other five cases, four are highway robberies, committed on persons returning with gold from the mines. In a word, 1 may say with truth, that both persons and property are insecure in Upper California at this time, and I am sorry to add that, in all casei of outrage and violence, as yet discoveted, emigrants from the United Statei, disbanded volunteers, runaway sailors, and deserters from the army and navy are believed to be the perpetrators. The mutinies, attended with murder, to which I alludtd in my letter No. 43, have been fully coufi mcd, aud— not without good reason— has caused much uneasiness to shippers of gold from this coast. To guard each Bnd every vessel failing hence with large sums in gold dust would require every ship in the navy. The best that I can do is to ke.p the vessels of thi> squadron at spa as much as possible, plying between the ports most frequented by our mrrcantile marine. Enclosed is a copy of a circular (No. 6,) which I have found it necessary to issue and make public, in the hope that it may have some tendency to prevent a repetition of such acts as have recently occurred on board the English schooner Amelia, and the Chilian barque Adelma. A recent arrival from Callao reports that the Adelina had been taken into that port, and the mutineers, eight Lo number, promptly executed. J bad received a request from the Governor of Valpar^j||^ through Mr. Moorhead, our consul at that portJß arrest and safe keep the AdelmH, should I be fortunate enough to fall in with her on the Mexican coast, where it was supposed the mutineers might take her. Ihnve the honour to be, Your obedient servant, Thos. Ap C. Jones, Commander-in-Cbief, U. S. Nuval Forces, Pacific Ocean. The Hon. John Y. Maion, Secretary oi the Navy. P.S.—Since the above letter was written, we have accounts of more murders, one in the town of &onuina, ftnd another in the vicinity, December 25, 1848.

(Circular — No. 6.) San Francisco, Dec. 18, 1848. Sir,— ln consequence of the late mutinous and murderous proceedings on board the Chilian barque Adaliaa, and the |English icliooner Amelia, increased vigilance is required to guard the livei and property of all lawfully navigating the high teas. You will therefore henceforth, in making passages from pert to poit, scrutinize closely the appearance and manwuTring of all vessels you fall in with at sea ; and should you have reasonable doubts of their character, you will board them, for the purpoie of ascertaining if such auspicious vessels remain in possession of the person who cleared them from the last port. Should you rind, on boarding any vessel, that any act of mutiny or other unlawful act of violence has been committed to the prejudice of the rightful owners, you will repair the injury in the beit way you can, by restoring order on board, and by taking out any murderer or mutineer that the matter or owner on board •uch vessel may request you to take on board. Should it be necessary to send any such vessel into port, ifi other than one sailing under the flag of the United ! States, she must be sent to the port from whence iht last lailed, if west of Cape Horn, with a letter to the Government or consul of the nation whose flag she may bear. Individuals and Americans seat in under this order will be sent to this port. In discharge ot (he foregoing highly important and delica'e dutiei, moderation and great circumspection are sti icily enjoined on you; and whenever it is necessary to board a vessel, especially when under a foreign flag, you will do so with the leaat practicable delay or hindrance, tak'ng care to make known to the master the true and only object of your visit. Respectfully, your obedient servant, Thos. Ap. C. Jones, Commavder-in-Cbief U. S. Naval Forces, Pacific Ocean.

The following letter from Cuptain Folsom, in California, to Geueral Jeisop, is the latest from Sun Francigco :—: — Saw Francisco, California, Dpc. 25, 1848. My dear Sir, — Commodore Jones has but this moment informed me that the Ohio will sail to-dtiy for Mazatlan. Since I last wrote to you the affairs of this country have been constantly getting worse. We have no Government here, either civil or military, and the country is full of lawless men, who are committing the most shocking outrages. Murders and robberies are of daily, and I might almost say, of hour'y occurrence. Not an arrival occurs from ihe north, south, or the intrior, but noiifies the community of new acts of villainy, which go unpunished. Within six weeks more than twenty murders bate occurred in a whi'e population of less than 15/100 souls. The people are now acting in self-defence, and four or five oUys since three men were hung by Lynch law sixty miles from this place. It is of the last importance that the distressing condition of California should Ie impressed upon tho-s at Washington who have the power to apply a remedy. The people aro now preparing to organize a provisional governmtnt ; . . . but should Congress give us a territorial organization at the present session, it will supercede the popular local urbanization now taking place, but which cannot go into effect befoie the ensuing iron'h. The United States revenue laws are now in force here, and will yield nn income of «ay 450,000 dollars the ensuing jear, and perhaps more ; but fourfifths of this amount will be collect' d at this port. Much dissatisfaction exiiU at the payment of such a tax on the part of the inhabitant, wi hout either a government or a representation. This feeling U gaining ground Aom c.'*y to day. . . . I wrote you a very long semi-official letter some time since (Si'plemoer 18), going at length into ihe history of the gold mmci. I trust tlut you hive received that communication, at it accompanied other official papers, all of which, I am informed, were correctly fit nt from Mazatlan to Vera Cruz, about u\x weeks since. I have only time now to inform you that everything stated in that letter ha* been more than real zed up to this date. The gold mines continue to be ai rich a>. before, although the rainy season bat caused many to suspend their work. There can be no doubt but that at least 4 000,000 dollaitof god, at 16 dollar per ounce, troy, has been taken from the minei. Ihe mod accurate eitimates I am able to mak» show that 1,500,000 dollars have been sent from the country, and I,' 00,000 dolluri of it have gone from this port. One vessel took 400 000 dollars. Two-thhds of all that rtai been ri potted has gone to foreign countries and conktquently to foreign mints. I am, sir, in great haste, truly yours, J. L, Foleom* Geu. Jesup, Washington.

The Murders on Board tub Amelia — Last week w« published a ihort account of the horrible catastrophe, which took place in the midbt of the Pacific Ocean, on board the Amelia, bound from California to China, wilh gold for the purchase of silks. We are now favoured with extracts from a private communication from Hanavooraßay, in Wahooa, one of the Sandwich Islands (on which stands the town of Honolulu), received vid Mazatlan, per the Weit India Mail, by a mercantile house in Mancheiter, which corroborates every main fact of the account we have already published, giving, 1 however, fuller paiticulari, and the dates of the horrible tragedy .—". — " On the night of the 3rd October, in the middle watch, three of the crew, namely, Jose Cabrero, Josl Torres, and Andrei BoJdevto, mutinied, attacked the mate, nnd killed him. Captain Alva (a Spaniard), and Mr. Francis Cooke, passenger, hearing the noiie, came on deck. Two of the ruffians attacked them, killed Mr. Cooke, and immediately threw him overboard, and badly wounding the captain, but who, nevertheless, mcceeded in getting down into the cabin, to arm himself, and came on deck again with a cutlass, but the murderezi stabbed him in the neck with a knitV, and he fell a corpse. Mrs. Coeke, her rrmid-se.vant. Mary Hudson, and the Flig-captain, M'Nally (a native of Dublin), who were below when the tnurdeious icene commenced, were confined to their itate rooms ; and the mutineers, who were all Peruvians, shaped their course for Peru. Oa the following morning Capt. MI S ally offered, with the a»sistance ot the carpenter, to leave the ill-fated «hip, with the females, provided the mutineers would give him one of the boats and the necessary provisions. This they seemed to astent to, but on his going on deck he was seiz d, bound, and thrown overboard, they then threw the papers and documents alto overboard, and getting out a large quanti y of gold, divided it amongstthe remainder of the crew compelling each to take a part. On (he night of the sth, the murderers having drunk freely, two of them went to sleep, when the carpenter, in accordance with a plan at ranged by some of the crew, killed them with his axe, while others attacked the third murderer, who resisted, but was likewise despatched by Smith, and the vessel was brought to these islands (the Sandwich) by the apprentices, Thomas Gaunon and Charles M'Douald. SuaMi, the carpenter, is a native of Rotterdam Gannon and M'Donald are from London. '1 he specie, a'out ■5300,000, has been secured by Her Majesty's Consul-General. Mrs. Cooke and servant are living on shore, and it is expected will return to the coast of Mexico when an opportunty offeri,"— Weekly D(B» patch, Feb, 10 f

{From the Morning Chronicle, February 24, 1849.) The debate in the Lords, which took place on Thursday evening, though not so derogatory to the dignity of the present Government as tbtt of Tuesday in the Commons, must have been most distressing 1 to all who wish well to Lord Grey — whoever they may be. The 13. shop of Ox'ord, after an eloquent speech pointing out the absurdity of blowing hot nnd cold in the same breath — of consuming the sugar of the Brazil ans, yet zealously chasing from their coasts the slavers laden wfth the human machinery used by them in Us manufacture—conc'uded by moving the appointment of a Committee " to consider the best mean* which Great i Bri'ain can adopt {or providing; lor the final extinction ! of the slave !rad«." To this Lord Latudowne, on the I part of Government, briefly assented. Lord Stanley then pointed out, that, since the Act of 1846, the slave-trode had doubled, in epite of our steamers on the African coast ; and he Risked whether •■ we were not exhibiting a gross, glaring, and wbsurd inconsistency in continuing these sacrifices of life and mo* ney, whilst our fiscal legislation produced a directly contrary effect." Earl Grey then threw himself, £ corps perdu, upon all and sundry. He appeared to have come down, not to talxo a dignified and useful share in the debate, or to meet argument by argument, but to quairel and '• complain." He wei obviously iore all over — nothing pleased him. He had no " noble friends"-— he would have none. They were all " noble lord?." Whatever Lord Stanley had said, whatever Lord Brougham had, and had not, done, was, accoiduig to htm, " unjustifiable." He, the Head of the Colonial Department, J actually had the effrontery to declare that Lord Stanley's mode of conducting a debate was derogatory to the House of Lord* ; and Lord Stanley had the marvellous forbearance to represi the obvious retort, which ! mus>t have spontaneously risen to his lips. Whether j the »lave trade hid doub'ed, or not, wnce JBl6 — whether our colonies were ruined or uot — his lordship did not care ; he was certain that his measures had all be-n judicious, that they were disapproved of only because they ware misuiide'Stood, aud that everything would turn out well some day or other. He then tct on Lord Biougl.am, and " complained* of him. Thnt learned lord had monioned the word " Ceylon," in Lord Grry's absence ; and he "complained" of that; it is a subject he does not like to be talked of behind his back, nor does it seem to put him in the best of humours when it is mentioned before his face. He aisum?d the polemical pose of an im'atcd Celt at a " pattern," and said that he should consider it as a per»onal farour if »omebo<ly would oblige him with all attack on that point— 'hit he and hh colleagues were prepared to defend and explain every hing — lorgetting I that his colleague, Lord .Tobn had declined, on Tues day night, to hazard any opinion on Lord Torringtou's pr-inkg. A.ll he wanted was a fair and manly fight, which Lord Brougham assured Mm, with grave irony, he should be indulged in, perhaps sooner than he desired, complimenting him "on the possession of a singular temperament, upon which the most obvious defeat, and the most manifest and glaring want of success, produced the lame effect that the most triumphant victory did upon the minda of other men." All this may bd very exciting co politicians, and very amusing to general readers— but it s very sad. so far as the interests of our colonies is concerned. Instead of being engaged in the calm consideratian of the best means of ameliora'ing the condition of our numerous dependencies, the whole of Lord Grey's time is apent — and is likely to be spent for some time to come — in squabbling and whining. His career, during the last two years, has indeed, been ruinous to our colonial interests — but it has been far more ruinous to his own character. We would much rather be owners of a Weit Indian estate, or even shareholders in Mr. Smith's Jamaica Company, than sit under the gallery of the House of Commons and listen to what hii lordihip had to liiten to on Tuesday last, were it said of us. We know not which was worst — the factitious effervf sconce of Mr Hawes (as different from real indignationas Brighton sham is from real Seltzer water), or Lord John's smmmrrinK asserun, tha f , after the able vindication of Lord G ey by his over official Undersecretary, it was needless for him to say more. We do not wish to be unjust towards Lor I Grey. We believe him. to be an honourable man, driven by his evil temper to commit dishonourable acts, which his pride induces him to justify. We are even willing to suppose, that he is unconscious of the ucpotic tendency of his disposition, and that he beliitea the descendants of the Earl Grey have an hereditary claim on the emoluments of office which it is unfair and vindictive to dispute. He has great courage, and, unfortunately. unbending 1 obstinacy. He deipiies all who differ with him — he is the dupe of every adventurer who flatter-? him. And, for these reasons, he is, and ever n ill be, an incubus on our unfortunate colonies, a most uncomfortable colleague, and an inveterate selftormentor. Had he, last year, when detected in the mutilation and perversion of documents, coma down at once to the House— acknowledged hs en or— and declared, what we firmly believe to be the case, that he had, in the heat of debate, been unfortunately betrayed into a fault, which he scorned to justify and which he deeply deplored— we shou'd have bteu amongst the ilr*t to stigmatize, as ungenerous, the man who ever again reverted to the subject. But, to long as his Lordship, on the contrary, talk.s big, and declares tha v he has a right to do as he pleases, and that be despises those who object tohii course*, he deserves, and he Khali meet with, no quarter from us — nor will he me.H with any from a Parliament of Englishmen. Obstinate as he is, he will not succeed in convincing honest men that wrong is right— that fictions are facts. Ltthote who think the colonial interests are ■vindictive towards the Secretary for the Colonies, recollect the ionmnerable mis-statements respecting them of which be was convicted last year. Let them reculllect that he had not the manliness to acknowledge and apologise for a single one of them. Let them also recollect that he hai not only ruined hundreds, aye, thousands, of Britibh colonitti, by his rashness, but that he wilfully wi h~ held their true condition from the knowledge of the Legislature, assembled for the express purpose of ale Vlftting their misery ; and that he has, moreover, insulted them, and all connected with them, in the hour of tneir agony ; and let them then say, whether it is to be expected that men, thus goaded, should not tutn and rend their oppressor ?