Sutter, situated in Coloma county, California, on a branch or the Sacramento river, while working on a mill race, discovered gold in the sands of the little stream. The precious metal was soon found to be in abundance in the neighborhood, and the news spread rapidly. It reached the United States about the time of the ratification of the treaty, and produced the most intense excitement. In the course of a few months thousands of emigrants were on their way to California to dig gold. Some went in steamers and sailing vessels around Cape Horn; some crossed the isthmus of Panama, and worked their way up the Pacific coast; and others, and by far the greater number, undertook the long and dangerous journey across the plains and the Rocky mountains, travelling generally in caravans.

In a short time multitudes came flocking from every coun

try in Europe to join the throng in search of the precious metal. San Francisco was the central point of this vast emigration, and that place soon grew from a village of a few miserable huts to a city of over fifteen thousand inhabitants. Within two years after the discovery of gold the population of California had increased to nearly 100,000; two years later, in 1852, it numbered 264,000.

The influence of the discovery of gold in California was not limited to this country. It gave an impetus to the commerce and industry of the whole world.

On the 21st of February, 1848, ex-President John Quincy Adams,

then a member of the House of Representatives in Congress, was stricken with paralysis in his seat in the House. He was carried into the speaker's room, where he died two days later, at the age of eighty.

On the 29th of May, 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union as a State, making the thirtieth member of the confederacy.

Before the return of peace with Mexico the slavery question had been revived in the United States, and had been the cause of an agitation full of trouble to both sections. On the 8th of August, 1846, President Polk sent a message to Congress asking an appropriation of three millions of dollars to enable him to negotiate a treaty of peace with Mexico, based upon the policy of obtaining a cession of territory outside the existing limits of Texas. During the debate upon a bill to grant this appropriation, Mr. David Wilmot, a representative from Pennsylvania, made the following amendment, known as the "Wilmot Proviso:" "Provided, That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any territory which shall hereafter be acquired, or be annexed to the United

lawfully reclaimed and conveyed out of said territory to the person claiming his or her labor or service." This amendment took no notice of the Missouri Compromise line, and was opposed with great warmth by the southern members, who declared it an Southern States in advance of their fair share might be won by the joint efforts of the States. Senate; but the announcement of the Wilmot slavery question in all its bitterness, and plunged the country into a state of profound excitement.

attempt to rob the of the territory that The bill failed in the Proviso reopened the

The agitation was renewed in January, 1847, when a bill for the organization of a territorial government for Oregon was reported to the House with the Wilmot Proviso incorporated in it. Mr. Burt, of South Carolina, moved to amend the bill by inserting before the restrictive clause the words: "Inasmuch as the whole of said territory lies north of 36° 30' north latitude." This was an effort to apply to the Oregon bill the principles of the Missouri Compromise; but the friends of the restriction rejected the amendment. The bill passed the House, but was de

feated in the Senate. During the next session the measure was revived, and a territorial government was organized for Oregon with an unqualified restriction upon slavery.

In the fall of 1848 the presidential election occurred. The Democratic party supported Senator Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for the presidency, and General William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for the vice-presidency. The Whig party nominated General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for the presidency, and Millard Fillmore, of New York, for the vice-presidency. The Anti-slavery or Free Soil party put in nomination for the presidency Martin Van Buren, of New York, and for the vice-presidency Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts. In the election which followed the political campaign, the candidates of the Whig party were elected by decisive majorities. The Free Soil party failed to receive a single electoral vote, but out of the popular vote of nearly three millions, nearly three hundred thousand ballots were cast for its candidates, showing a remarkable gain in strength in the past four years.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF ZACHARY TAYLOR AND MILLARD FILLMORE.

Character of General Taylor-Department of the Interior-Death of ex-President Polk— The Slavery Agitation—Views of Clay and Webster-California asks admission into the Union-Message of President Taylcr-The Omnibus Bill-Efforts of Henry Clay-A Memorable Debate-Webster's "Great Union Speech "-Death of John C. CalhounDeath of President Taylor-Millard Fillmore becomes President-Passage of the Compromise Measures of 1850-Death of Henry Clay-Dissatisfaction with the Compromise -The Fugitive Slave Law Nullified by the Northern States-The Nashville Convention -Organization of Utah Territory-The Seventh Census-The Expedition of Lopez against Cuba―The Search for Sir John Franklin-The Grinnel Expedition-Dr. Kane's Voyages-Inauguration of Cheap Postage-Laying the Corner-stone of the new Capitol --Death of Daniel Webster-Arrival of Kossuth-The President Rejects the Tripartite Treaty Franklin Pierce elected President-Death of William R. King.

HE 4th of March, 1849, fell on Sunday, and the inauguration of
General Taylor as president of the United States took place on
Monday, March 5th.

The new president was a native of Virginia, but had removed with his parents to Kentucky at an early age, and had grown up to manhood on the frontiers of that State. In 1808, at the age of twentyfour, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the army by President Jefferson, and had spent forty years in the military service of the country. His exploits in the Florida war and the war with Mexico have been related. His brilliant victories in Mexico had made him the most popular man in the United States, and had won him the high office of the presidency at the hands of his grateful fellow-citizens. He was without political experience, but he was a man of pure and stainless integrity, of great firmness, a sincere patriot, and possessed of strong good sense. He had received a majority of the electoral votes of both the Northern and Southern States, and was free from party or sectional ties of any kind. His inaugural address was brief, and was confined to a statement of general principles. His cabinet was composed of the leaders of the Whig party, with John M. Clayton, of Delaware, as secretary of state. The last Congress had created a new executive department-that of the interior-to relieve the secretary of the treasury of a part of his duties, and President Taylor was called upon to appoint the first secretary of the interior, which he did in

the person of Thomas Ewing, of Ohio. The new department was charged with the management of the public lands, the Indian tribes, and the issuing of patents to inventors.

A few months after the opening of President Taylor's administration, ex-President Polk died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 15th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.

Since the announcement of the Wilmot Proviso, the agitation of the slavery question had been incessant, and had increased instead of diminishing with each succeeding year. It was one of the chief topics of discussion in the newspaper press of the country, and entered largely into every political controversy, however local or insignificant in its nature. The opponents of slavery regarded the annexation of Texas and the Mexican war as efforts to extend that institution, and were resolved to put an end to its existence at any cost. The advocates of slavery claimed that the Southern States had an equal right to the common property of the States, and were entitled to protection for their slaves in any of the Territories then owned by the States or that might afterwards be acquired by them. The Missouri Compromise forbade the existence of slavery north of the line of 36° 30' north latitude, and left the inhabitants south of that line free to decide upon their own institutions. The Anti-slavery party was resolved that slavery should be excluded from the territory acquired from Mexico, and in the Wilmot Proviso struck their first blow for the accomplishment of this purpose. We have seen that they succeeded in prohibiting slavery, by a special act of Congress, in Oregon, although the terms of the Missouri Compromise would have excluded the institution from that Territory. Their object was fully understood by the southern people, and was bitterly resented by them. The agitation of the subject aroused a storm of passion throughout the country, and produced a very bitter feeling between the Northern and Southern States. In his last message to Congress President Polk had recommended that the line of 36° 30' north latitude be extended to the Pacific, and thus leave it to the people south of that line to decide whether they would have slavery or not. This proposition was acceptable to the south; but it was rejected by the Antislavery party. The Missouri Compromise line had been limited to the Louisiana purchase, which was entirely slaveholding, and had made more

ZACHARY TAYLOR.