Italian plotters led by the notorious rebel Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Emperor Napoleon III as he rode in his carriage to the opera in Paris. Several bombs were thrown and although eight people were killed and more than a hundred injured the Emperor and Empress were unhurt. Most of the conspirators were arrested soon after; Orsini was tried and later executed. (By John Osborne)

The Association for the Promotion of Social Science had been founded in July 1857 and had attracted a wide participation of people from all influential areas of British life. It had held its first national annual gathering in Birmingham in October 1857 and held its annual meeting for 1858 this week in the port city of Liverpool. (By John Osborne)

Gold was discovered near the Fraser River in British Columbia. This caused a massive influx of prospectors, especially from the California goldfields. This, in turn, later caused tensions that lead to violence and the British moving swiftly to place the governance of the new province on a firmer footing. (By John Osborne)

Sick of the corruption in elections and the political violence on the streets of Baltimore, leading conservatives, mostly business people, inaugurated a "City Reform Association" under Samuel W. Smith. They vowed to clean up the city but little was done until the following year when in the October elections, several "reform" candidates were elected to the city council. Dickinsonian Charles J. Baker was one of these. (By John Osborne)

The Baltimore, Maryland fire department's first steam powered fire engine, dubbed "Alpha," arrived in the city. (By John Osborne)

Adapting to the changes of the age, Quakers at their annual assembly decided that mixed marriages be permitted and that the particularly Quaker way of dress and speech no longer be insisted upon. (By John Osborne)

Nicaragua adopted a new constitution. (By John Osborne)

After expelling William Walker, and despairing of United States cooperation, both Nicaragua and Costa Rica appeal to the European powers for protection against filibusters. (By John Osborne)