broad authority to build modern sanitary systems. July 5 – The Hungarian national revolutionary parliament starts to work. July 19 – Women's rights – Seneca Falls Convention: The 2-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York and "Bloomers" are introduced at the feminist convention. July 26 The Matale Rebellion breaks out, against British rule in Sri Lanka. The University of Wisconsin–Madison is founded. July 29 – Young Irelander Rebellion: A nationalist revolt in County Tipperary, against British rule, is put down by the Irish Constabulary. August 6 – HMS Daedalus reports a sighting of a sea serpent. August 14 – American President James K. Polk annexes the Oregon Country, and renames it the Oregon Territory as part of the United States. August 17 – The Independent Republic of Yucatán officially unites with Mexico, in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population. August 19 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January). August 24 – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants. August 28 – Louisy Mathieu becomes the first black member to join the French Parliament, as a representative of Guadeloupe. September 11 – The Croatian army of Josip Jelačić, encouraged in secret by the Habsburg government, crosses the Drava River and attacks Hungary, with the goal of ending the revolution in that country. September 12 – One of the successes of the Revolutions of 1848, the Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the US Constitution, enters into force, creating a federal republic, and one of the first modern democratic states in Europe. September 13 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head. September 16 – William Cranch Bond and William Lassell discover Hyperion, Saturn's moon. September 25 – The Hungarian king and Habsburg emperor Ferdinand V refuses to recognise the Hungarian government, led by Lajos Batthyány. The Batthyány government resigns and the National Defence Committee is formed, which is a temporary crisis government, totally independent from Vienna, under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth. September 26 – The University of Ottawa is founded in Canada as the College of Bytown, a Roman Catholic institution. September 29