signs a treaty with the British to prevent and combat the slave trade in the Arabian Gulf. May 31 – Second Treaty of Erzurum: the Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire. June – E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the northern England supermarket chain Booths, is founded when tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth, 19, opens a shop called "The China House" in Blackpool. June 1 – The first congress of the Communist League is held in London. June 9 – Radley College, an English public school, is founded near Oxford as a High Anglican institution. June 26 – The first passenger railway wholly within modern-day Denmark opens, from Copenhagen to Roskilde. July–September July 1 – The United States issues its first postage stamps (pictured). July 24 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. July 26 – Liberia gains independence. July 29 – The Cumberland School of Law is founded at Cumberland University, in Lebanon, Tennessee. At the end of this year, only 15 law schools exist in the United States. August 12 – Mexican–American War: U.S. troops of General Winfield Scott begin to advance along the aqueduct around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco in Mexico. August 20 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Churubusco: U.S. troops defeat Mexican forces. August – Yale Corporation establishes the first graduate school in the United States, as Department of Philosophy and the Arts (renamed Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1892). September 14 – Mexican–American War: U.S. general Winfield Scott enters Mexico City, marking the end of organized Mexican resistance. September 30 – The Vegetarian Society is formed in the United Kingdom (it remains the oldest in the world). October–December October – The last volcanic eruption of Mount Guntur in West Java occurs. October 12 – German inventors and industrialists Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske found Siemens & Halske to develop the electrical telegraph. October 19 – Charlotte Brontë publishes Jane Eyre under the pen name of Currer Bell in England. October 31 – Theta Delta Chi is founded as a social fraternity at Union College, Schenectady, New York. November 3–29 – Sonderbund War: In Switzerland, General Guillaume-Henri Dufour's Federal Army defeats the Sonderbund (an alliance of seven Catholic cantons) in a civil war, with a total of only 86