Washington again claimed the forty-ninth parallel as the true boundary, but to this the American government refused assent. The matter involved came to an issue on the 15th of June, 1846, when the question was definitely settled by a treaty. Every point in the long-standing controversy was decided in favor of Great Britain. In the many diplomatical contentions between that country and our own the United States has always been able to maintain its position with this single exception of the northwestern boundary. The complete surrender to the British government in this particular was little less than ignominious, and can be accounted for only on the ground that the government of the United States, as it then was, was indifferent to the extension of her domains by the addition of free territory. At any rate the settlement was such as to deprive our country of a vast and valuable region inaccessible to slavery and extensive enough for ten Free States as large as Indiana.*

Scarcely had the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo been signed when an event occurred which produced a profound agitation throughout the civilized nations. A laborer em ployed by Captain Sutter to cut a mill-race on the American Fork of Sacramento River discovered some pieces of gold in the sand where he was digging. With further search other particles were found. The metal was tested and found to be genuine. The news spread as if borne on the wind. From all quarters adventurers came flocking. Explorers went out and returned with information of new discoveries here and there. For a time it seemed that there would be no end, no limit, to the quantity of gold which might be

Such was the indignation of the opponents of this treaty, especially the leaders of the Whig party, that the political battle-cry of "Fifty-four Forty, or Fight," became almost as popular a motto as " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" had been in the War of 1812.

had for picking up. Straggling gold-hunters sometimes. gathered in a few hours the value of five hundred dollars.

The intelligence went flying through the States to the Atlantic Ocean, and then to the ends of the world. Men thousands of miles away were crazed with excitement and cupidity. Workshops were shut up, business houses abandoned, fertile farms left tenantless, offices deserted. At this time the overland routes to California were scarcely known. Nevertheless thousands of eager adventurers started from the Western States on the long journey across the mountains and plains. Immigrants and miners poured in from all directions. Before the end of 1850 San Francisco had grown from a miserable Spanish village of huts to a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants. By the close of 1852 California had a population of more than a quarter of a million. The importance of the gold mines of California to the industries of the country and of the world has never been over-estimated, nor is their richness yet exhausted.

The year 1846 was marked by the passage of a Congressional act for the organization of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Twenty-two years previous James Smithson,* an eminent English chemist and philanthropist, had died at Genoa, bequeathing on certain conditions a large sum of money to the United States. In the fall of 1838 Smithson's nephew and only heir died without issue, and the properties of his uncle, amounting to five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, were secured by an agent of the National Government. The funds were at first deposited in the mint. Smithson's will provided that his bequest should be used for the establishment at Washington City of

Until after his graduation at Oxford, in 1786, this remarkable man was known by the name of James Louis Macie. Afterward, of his own accord, he chose the name of his reputed father, Hugh Smith, Duke of Northumberland, but added the syllable son to indicate his descent.

an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In order to carry out the designs of the testator, a plan of organization was prepared by John Quincy Adams and adopted by Congress. The result has been the establishment in the United States of one of the most beneficent institutions known in the history of mankind. The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" already amount to more than thirty volumes quarto, and the future is destined to yield still richer results in widening the boundaries of human thought and increasing the happiness of men.

The mortuary record of this epoch includes not a few illustrious names. First of these may be mentioned exPresident Andrew Jackson, who died at his home called the Hermitage, near Nashville, on the 8th of June, 1845. The veteran warrior and statesman had reached the age of seventy-eight. On the 23d of February, 1848, ex-President John Quincy Adams died at the city of Washington. After his retirement from the Presidency he had been elected to represent his district in Congress. In that body he had displayed the most remarkable abilities and patriotism. There he acquired the well-earned sobriquet of the "Old Man Eloquent." At the time of his decease he was a member of the House of Representatives. He was struck with paralysis in the very seat from which he had so many times electrified the nation with his fervent and cogent oratory.

In 1848 Wisconsin, last of the five great States formed from the territory northwest of the River Ohio, was admitted into the Union. The new commonwealth came with a population of two hundred and fifty thousand and an area of nearly fifty-four thousand square miles. In establishing the western boundary of the State, by an error of surveying, the St. Croix River instead of the Mississippi was fixed as the line by which Wisconsin lost to Minnesota a consider. able district belonging to her territory.

It was at this time that the new cabinet office known as the Department of the Interior was added to those already existing. At the foundation of the government three departments only had been organized. To these were added in course of time the offices of Postmaster-General and Secretary of the Navy. The Attorney-General of the United States had meanwhile come to be recognized as a member of the cabinet. The duties of the Department of the Interior were gathered by a division of labor from the Departments of State and the Treasury. The new secretaryship was first filled by General Thomas Ewing, of Ohio.

As Polk's administration drew to a close three parties and three candidates appeared in the field of political conflict. General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was nominated by the Democrats and General Zachary Taylor by the Whigs. The accession of vast and unoccupied territories by the successful war with Mexico had now developed in considerable vigor the anti-slavery sentiment among the American people. At first this sentiment was expressed in simple opposition to the extension of slavery into the hitherto unoccupied national domains. As the representative of this sentiment, ex-President Martin Van Buren was brought forward as the candidate of the new Free Soil party. The circumstances which gave rise to this party, destined to play so important a part in the future history of the country, may well be recounted.

The principles upon which the Free Soil party was based were aroused into activity by the treaty of the United States with Mexico and by the general results of the war. It was in 1846 that David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, introduced into Congress a bill to prohibit slavery in all the territories which might be secured by the treaty with Mexico. The author of the measure and many other statesmen and philanthropists had divined the bottom motive which was im

"an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In order to carry out the designs of the testator, a plan of organization was prepared by John Quincy Adams and adopted by Congress. The result has been the establishment in the United States of one of the most beneficent institutions known in the history of mankind. The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" already amount to more than thirty volumes quarto, and the future is destined to yield still richer results in widening the boundaries of human thought and increasing the happiness of men.

The mortuary record of this epoch includes not a few illustrious names. First of these may be mentioned exPresident Andrew Jackson, who died at his home called the Hermitage, near Nashville, on the 8th of June, 1845 The veteran warrior and statesman had reached the age of seventy-eight. On the 23d of February, 1848, ex-President John Quincy Adams died at the city of Washington. After his retirement from the Presidency he had been elected to represent his district in Congress. In that body he had displayed the most remarkable abilities and patriotism. There he acquired the well-earned sobriquet of the “Old Man Eloquent." At the time of his decease he was a member of the House of Representatives. He was struck with paralysis in the very seat from which he had so many times electrified the nation with his fervent and cogent oratory.

In 1848 Wisconsin, last of the five great States formed from the territory northwest of the River Ohio, was admitted into the Union. The new commonwealth came with a population of two hundred and fifty thousand and an area of nearly fifty-four thousand square miles. In establishing the western boundary of the State, by an error of surveying, the St. Croix River instead of the Mississippi was fixed as the line by which Wisconsin lost to Minnesota a consider. able district belonging to her territory.