off with the loss of twelve men. This occurred on the 26th of June, and General Custar was soon after recalled from that region by General Hancock. The latter officer continued his expedition, and held important conferences with several chieftains, but with no definite results, though the Indians professed to be desirous of peace, if it could be obtained on equitable terms. General Hancock returned in August to Fort Leavenworth, where he was afterward relieved by General Sheridan, and assigned to the command of the Fifth Military District, headquarters at New Orleans. The burning of the village on the Pawnee Fork had greatly exasperated the Indians. Depredations were continued during the summer without cessation, and operations on the Union Pacific Railroad were very seriously retarded. Engineers, while engaged in surveyng the route, and workmen employed on the part already laid out, were frequently waylaid and murdered; and stock and building-materials destroyed and carried away. Overland immigration and traffic were interrupted and constantly attended with danger. At intervals of a few days intelligence was received of the burning of stations, sudden attacks upon settlements, and the robbing of stages and express trains, but it was difficult to meet the warriors in a regular engagement. Early in August a freight-train from Omaha, in Nebraska, was thrown off the track near Plum Creek station by impediments placed across the rails by Indians, and all the employés upon the train, save one, were murdered, and the cars and merchandise set on fire. General Augur, in whose department this occurred, promptly sent a small detachment of troops to the scene of the disaster. On the 16th of August they succeeded in meeting some 500 Sioux Indians in an open fight, and a severe battle followed, in which sixty of the warriors were killed. The Federal troops were aided by a band of friendly Pawnees. The greater part of General Augur's forces, to the number of 2,000, had been sent under General Gibbon to the region about the sources of the Powder and Yellowstone Rivers, where the northern tribes were engaged in active hostilities. The most important engagement in that region took place on the 2d of August, near Fort Phil Kearney. A band of wood-cutters, attended by an escort of forty soldiers and about fifty citizens, was set upon by a large number of Indians, the wild estimates of the time say 1,500 or 2,000, and a terrible fight ensued, lasting for three hours, until relief came in the form of two companies of Federal troops with a howitzer, when the Indians were at length driven off with a loss of fifty or sixty killed, and a much larger number wounded. Other less important skirmishes occurred in the same quarter, but no decisive battle could be had with the Indians. Military operations against these tribes were entirely ineffectual in suppressing hostilities; and according to the testimony of General Sherman, 50 Indians could "checkmate " 3,000 soldiers. The same officer recommended peaceful negotiations as the only means of putting an end to the ravages on the plains. An act of Congress was passed on the 29th of March in which there was a provision for repealing "all laws allowing the President, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to enter into treaties with any Indian tribe;" but this part of the act was repealed in June following, and on the 20th of July an act was passed "to establish peace with certain hostile Indian tribes," which provided for the appointment of commissioners, with a view to the following objects: 1. To remove, if possible, the causes of war. 2. To secure, as far as practicable, our frontier settlements, and the safe building of the railroads looking to the Pacific. 3. To suggest or inaugurate some plan for the civilization of those Indians. The commissioners selected were as follows: N. G. Taylor, president; J. B. Henderson; W. T. Sherman, lieutenant-general; W. S. Harney, brevet major-general; John B. Sanderson; Alfred H. Terry, brevet major-general; S. F. Tappan; C. C. Augur, brevet major-general. These commissioners organized at St. Louis on the 6th of August, and set about obtaining interviews with the chiefs of the hostile tribes. Runners were employed to signify the pacific purposes of these commissioners to the Indians, and to endeavor to arrange a general council. In the mean time they visited various parts of the Military Division of the Missouri, taking evidence of the officers with regard to the conduct of the Indians and the causes of the war; they also issued orders through the military departments to the various superintendents and agents of Indian affairs, that appointments be made for a great council of the northern hostile tribes at Fort Laramie on the 13th of September, and of the southern tribes at Fort Larned on the 13th of October. Before the day appointed for the first general council, "talks "" were held with various bands of Dakota and Sioux Indians, the most important of which was at North Platte, on the Pacific Railroad, early in September. It was found very difficult to deal with the discontented warriors, but through the friendly exertions of Swift Bear, a chief of the Brulé Sioux, several powerful tribes were here represented, and something like a pacific disposition was inspired. It was found necessary as a preliminary to any negotiation, which should have a tolerable prospect of success, to promise them arms and ammunition, which was accordingly done by the commissioners. After the first clamors of dissatisfaction were appeased, by friendly promises, a fair understanding was arrived at, and mutual pledges given. It was found impossible to get the northern Cheyennes and Sioux, who still kept up a desultory warfare on the Powder River route, to assemble at Fort Laramie at the time appointed, and the meeting was postponed to the 1st of November. The In October the peace commissioners were engaged in endeavoring to bring about the council appointed with the southern tribes for the 13th at Fort Larned. The Kiowas, Camanches, and Apaches, who had not been engaged in any of the outrages upon the plains during the summer, were easily induced to meet the commissioners, and a treaty of peace was signed with them on the 20th of October. Cheyennes and Arrapahoes had been continually on the war-path, indulging in indiscriminate murder and plunder, and had been hunted down by the soldiers wherever they could be found. They were consequently suspicious of the motives of the commissioners, and shy of meeting them. An interview, however, was at length obtained, and a joint treaty concluded with the southern Cheyennes and Arrapahoes. The commissioners then proceeded to the north to fulfil their engagement with the northern tribes at Fort Laramie in November. A delegation of Crows awaited them at that point, but Red Cloud, the terrible chieftain of the Sioux, who was the leader in the war of the north, refused to hold any conference with the whites. The Crows as a tribe had not been engaged in the hostilities which had spread terror through that region. The utmost efforts of the commissioners failed to induce Red Cloud to meet them, to treat upon the terms of peace; but he assured them that war would cease whenever the military garrisons were withdrawn from the Powder River trail, and their hunting-grounds were left to them free from molestation. The commissioners, having no authority to promise the withdrawal of the forces, tried to obtain a cessation of hostilities, and the promise of Red Cloud to meet them next spring or summer. This proposition was reluctantly acceded to, and a general suspension of hostilities now exists, in anticipation of a final adjustment of all difficulties in the course of the coming spring or summer. The northern tribes of Indians to the east of the Rocky Mountains number upward of 60,000, and include the powerful bands of the Sioux, Crows, northern Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, besides numerous less important nations. The southern tribes include the large nations of the Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws, as well as the Kiowas, Camanches, and southern Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, and various lesser bands, forming a sum total of more than 85,000. Each of these two grand divisions it is proposed to collect on a reservation of their own; the northern district to be bounded on the north by the 46th parallel, east by the Missouri river, south by Nebraska, and west by the 104th meridian; the southern district to be bounded north by the State of Kansas, east by Arkansas and Missouri, south by Texas, and west by the 100th or 101st meridian. This whole important subject of the manage Soon after the opening of the session, Governor Oliver P. Morton sent in his resignation, in consequence of having been elected to the United States Senate, in response to which a joint resolution passed both branches of the Legislature, highly complimentary to the character and abilities of that officer. Since that time the chair of the State Executive has been filled by Lieutenant-Governor Conrad Baker. One of the earliest measures of the session was a joint resolution ratifying the amendments to the Federal Constitution, proposed by Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, which were intended to constitute all persons born in the country or subject to its jurisdiction, "citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside," without regard to race or color; to reduce the congressional representation in any State in which there should be a restriction of the exercise of the elective franchise, on account of race or color; to disfranchise persons, there in named, who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States; and to declare that the validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law shall not be questioned. This joint resolution was referred to a committee, the majority of which reported in favor of its adoption; a report was also submitted by the minority, taking strong grounds against the ratification of the proposed amendments. The report of the majority was adopted by a decisive vote. An act was passed dividing the State into eleven congressional districts and apportioning the representation thereto. One of the most important measures of the session provides for the registry of voters, the punishment of fraudulent practices at elections, and for the appointment and compensation of certain officers to constitute a board of registration. This board is to consist in each township of two freeholders appointed by the board of commissioners of the county, together with the township trustee of such township; in cities, these freeholders are to be appointed in each ward by the city council. The members are required to file with the auditor of the county, or with the city clerk in cities, an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Indiana, and faithfully to perform the duties assigned them by this law. Twenty days' residence in a township, city, or ward, is required to qualify any person to vote therein. The penalty provided for cases of false registration, or fraudulent personation of registered voters, is imprisonment in the State prison for not less than one year for each and every offence. The provisions relating to the mode of forming and correcting the lists of qualified voters and of inspecting and counting the votes are very stringent. The concluding sections of the law are in the following words: SEO. 23. All ballots, which may be cast at any election hereafter held in this State, shall be written or printed on plain white paper, without any distinguishing marks or embellishments thereon, except the name of the candidates and the office for which they are voted for, and inspectors of election shall refuse all ballots offered of any other description, provided nothing herein shall disqualify the voter from writing his own name on the back thereof. SEC. 24. That whereas frauds have been practised upon the ballot-box-to prevent the same, and to secure to the people of this State a fair expression of their wishes at all elections, at the earliest practicable time-an emergency is hereby declared to exist, and this act is declared to be in force from and after its passage. A bill which elicited a good deal of discussion, and was finally passed into a law against, a strong opposition, provides for the protection and indemnity of all officers and soldiers of the United States and soldiers of the Indiana Legion, for acts done "in the military service of the United States, and in the military service of the State, and in enforcing the law and preserving the peace of the country." The leading provisions of this law are as follows: SEC. 2. That in all suits and actions, civil or criminal, against individuals, arising out of the acts done by officers or soldiers of the United States, or of the militia of the State of Indiana, in the preservation of order and the suppression of the late rebellion, or in making any arrest, taking or entering upon any property, or in holding or detaining any person or property, it shall be a full defence to prove that the acts done or omitted, and for which suit is brought, were done or omitted under orders either written or oral from any military superior. SEC. 5. In all actions for libel or slander, for imputing the crime of treason to the plaintiff, during the late rebellion, it shall be a full defence to prove that the party complaining was a member of, or affiliated with, any society or organization, other than as a political party, in sympathy with the rebellion; and in any case where, for technical reasons, a full defence cannot be made according to the provisions of this act, the measure of damages, in case of recovery, shall be five dollars, and no more, with out costs. It is further provided that in the "suits and actions" alluded to in the first of the sections given above, when a full defence cannot be made, the measure of damages in case of recovery shall be five dollars and no more, without costs; and the Governor is authorized, on written application of the party sued or prosecuted, to employ at the expense of the State competent counsel to conduct the defence. Besides an act passed at this session of the Legislature making specific appropriations for the support of the benevolent institutions of the State, and several acts looking to the encourage ment of schools and education, provision was made for the establishment of three new institutions for benevolent and educational objects. First was an act to establish a Soldiers' Home, the corner-stone of which was laid on the 4th of July at Knightstown. Next was an act making the necessary appropriation for the erection of the State Normal School, to be located at Terre Haute. The erection of suitable buildings was commenced early in the summer and the corner-stone was laid in August with appropriate ceremonies. This institution is designed to be one of the foremost of the kind in the West. The estimated cost is $150,000, and it will be completed during the coming year. The Legislature also provided for the establishment of a House of Refuge for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders. Children under eighteen years of age may be sentenced, upon regular trial, to this house instead of being sent to the penitentiary or county jail. According to the plan adopted by the commissioners to whose management the institution has been intrusted, it will partake more of the character of an industrial reform school than of a juvenile prison. In case of children sentenced thither by judicial decision, the expense for care and keeping is borne, one half by the State, and the other half by the county from which the child is sent. When sent by the parents or guardians, such parent or guardian, if able, must bear the expense. This institution has been located near Plainfield, in Hendricks County, and was ready for the reception of inmates on the 1st of January, 1868. The Legislature adjourned on the 11th of March, having been in session upward of sixty days; $1,500,000 in money had been appropriated by law for general and specific purposes during this time. The question of locating the Agricultural College and of disposing of the Government land which had been granted for its benefit was brought up and discussed, but not disposed of. The financial condition of the State on the 31st of October, the close of the fiscal year, is exhibited in the following items taken from the report of the Auditor of the State: Balance on hand November 1, 1866... Total Warrants drawn on the treasury during the year............... Balance on hand October 31st.. $381,521 89 4,210,336 44 $4,591,858 33 4,446,505 54 $155,352 79 The total revenue of the common-school fund amounted to $1,336,762.50. This vast amount of money is distributed exclusively for the benefit of the common schools. The principal of the fund is nearly ten millions, the interest on which can never be reduced or diverted from its proper channel. The Indiana election occurs on the second Tuesday in October. In 1867 no State officers or members of Congress were chosen, but an animated canvass was carried on in the various counties for the election of local officers, and the returns show a gain on the part of the Democrats over the vote of the previous year. Soon after the local elections in October, the Democratic State Central Committee issued a call for a State convention to be held on the 8th of January at Indianopolis, for the purpose of nominating a State ticket for the next regular election, of electing delegates to a National Democratic Convention, and for the further purpose of selecting candidates for presidential electors for the State of Indiana. A convention was held in each county on the 14th of December to appoint delegates to this State convention, which met in accordance with the call of the committee on the 8th of January. Corresponding action on the part of the Republican party was subsequently taken in the year 1868. INDIUM. This metal has been obtained from the blue dust which condenses in the zinc-works of Gosler, Germany. The dust contains about one part of oxide of indium in one thousand. To extract the metal, the deposit is boiled half an hour with hydrochloric acid, and the clear liquid then digested with pieces of zine for six hours at the ordinary temperature. There is then deposited a black metallic powder, which is washed with water, and which contains copper, arsenic, cadmium, thallium, and indium. By boiling this with a concentrated solution of oxalic acid, a solution of cadmium, thallium, and indium is obtained; the latter is precipitated by ammonia, and the precipitate is boiled with ammonia and afterward with water till the washings contain no more thallium. The oxide of indium is then almost pure, containing only traces of iron, from which it is easily freed, and is reduced to the metallic form by the established method. INGRES, JEAN DOMINIQUE AUGUSTE, a French historical painter, born at Montauban, France, September 15, 1781; died in Paris, January 14, 1867. He first applied himself, while yet a child, to music, in Toulouse, but his taste for painting was so strong, that his father was finally persuaded to allow him to take lessons in drawing and landscape painting. He made such progress in these branches that he was same time named member of the Imperial Council of Public Instruction. IOWA. The population of the State of Iowa has increased very rapidly during the last two years. The State census, taken in 1867, gives the whole number of inhabitants as 902,400, of whom 4,715 are colored. This shows an increase in the total population of 150,000 since the census of 1865. The assessed value of real and personal property in the State is put down at $256,517,184. Though agriculture is the leading interest of the State, manufactures are greatly on the increase, the capital employed in them in 1867 being more than fifteen millions of dollars, while two years before less than one-half of that amount of money was invested in that department of industry. The fiscal term in the financial transactions of this State is a period of two years, the last one ending November 2, 1867. At the beginning of this period there was a residue in the Treasury of $47,236.62. The total receipts of the State Treasury during the two years amounted to $1,365,158.57, the expenditures to $1,315,654.74, leaving an unexpended surplus of $96,740.45. $300,000 of the disbursements were made under extraordinary appropriations for the Orphans' Home, Agricultural College, and Asylums for the Blind and the Insane. $114,000 have been devoted to the liquidation of the bonded debts of 1858 during this fiscal term, and $85,000 of that debt remain unpaid. Besides this, the State has a debt of $300,000 in seven per cent. bonds, issued in 1861, to raise money for war purposes, and due on the 15th of January, 1881. The State has claims upon the Federal Government to the amount of $300,000 for military expenditures, which are in process of adjustment. Liberal provision is made in Iowa for the support of common schools. The amount of money expended for this purpose during the year is $2,069,597.82, or over eight dollars for each pupil attending the schools. Aside from this indispensable class of educational institutions, there are in the State already sixty-two academies, colleges, and universities. Among the latter is a State University, provided for by the constitution and placed under the control of the Legislature; a new building for the use of this institution has been completed during the year. A building is also in course of construction for the State Agricultural College, which will be one of the finest edifices in the State. Most of the charitable institutions of Iowa were projected on a liberal scale, and have been uniformly under efficient management, but the provision made for the care of the deaf and dumb was felt to be inadequate, and the last General Assembly passed an act permanently locating an asylum for that unfortunate class of persons, at Council Bluffs, and appointing commissioners to choose the site, prepare a plan of the building, and make a contract for its construction. The work of these commissioners has been done during the past season, and a contract entered into for erecting a suitable building at a cost of $310,000. The Orphans' Home, for the care of the children of deceased soldiers, was originally founded as a private corporation, and supported by voluntary contributions, but was adopted by the State by an act of the General Assembly passed in July, 1866. Since that time, $106,864.58 has been paid from the State Treasury for its support. It is located at Davenport, but there are branches also at Cedar Falls and Glenwood. The whole number of children maintained at the three establishments at the present time is 834. There are 160 convicts in the State penitentiary, which is nearly double the number confined in that institution at the close of the year 1865; as the State has no reform school, a large proportion of these are youthful offenders, who would be fit inmates for an institution of a reformatory character especially adapted to their needs. A geological survey of Iowa has been going on for two years past, under the direction of C. A. White, the State geologist ; two years more will be required for its completion according to present estimates. One of the most important subjects of investigation, and one to which much attention has been given during this survey, is whether coal exists in sufficient quantity for profitable mining. Beds of considerable thickness and of excellent quality are found along the valley of the Des Moines and in Jefferson County. In both these localities successful mining operations have been carried on for some time, and are constantly increasing in extent. Considerable deposits of building-stone are also found and extensively used for local building purposes; it consists chiefly of a variety of limestone. The agricul tural resources of Iowa are unexcelled, the soil being very productive and easily worked. Cattle and hogs are raised in great abundance for exportation. Large quantities of wool are also produced, both for exportation to other parts of the country and for home consumption. rapidly-growing manufactures of the State are chiefly of woollen fabrics. The The trade of all the States on the Northern Mississippi is seriously impeded by the Des Moines and the Rock Island rapids. The former extend from the city of Keokuk to Montrose, a distance of eleven miles, with a fall of twenty-one feet. The obstructions to navigation consist of a series of ridges of solid rock. A canal on the Iowa side of the river is proposed for the relief of the navigation of the Upper Mississippi at this point. The design is, to cut this canal through the rock in the bed of the river, with sufficient depth and width to float the largest river steamers at any season of the year. The estimated cost of the work is $2,100,000, one-third of which has been al ready appropriated by the Congress of the United States. The Rock Island rapids extend fourteen miles and a half, from Davenport to Le Claire. The obstructions here consist of reefs of |