EOACRAMENTO City has been once inundated by

the Rio Americana. “It came," says Mr. Colton, *** upon the inhabitants like a thief in the night; they had only time to jump from their beds; the roaring flood was at their heels: some reached the shipping,

and some sprung into the tops of the trees.” A levee has since been built to exclude the water from the city.

With regard to the extent of the newly-acquired territories, it may be remarked that Oregon, California, New

Mexico, and Texas, constitute a territory more than half as large as that owned by the United States previous to their acquisition. These four tracts contain 763,559,040 acres; the other States and territories contain 1,318,126,058 acres. The territory of our republic is now nearly as large as the whole of Europe. The Mississippi, so lately its frontier, is now its great central river. No one, we think, will dispute the assertion of Mr. Polk, that the acquisition of California and New Mexico, the settlement of the Oregon boundary, and the annexation of Texas, extending to the Rio Grande, are results which, combined, are of greater consequence, and will add more to the strength and wealth of the nation, than any which have preceded them since the adoption of the Constitution.

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HE inauguration of General Taylor would have taken place on the 4th of March as usual, but as that day was the Sabbath, it was deferred until the 5th, when the new administration was organized with highly impressive ceremonies. The Senate

was convened at eleven o'clock; and its future presiding officer, Mr. Fillmore, delivered a brief address, from which we extract the following interesting passages :

"It will not, I trust, be deemed inappropriate to congratu

late you upon the scene now passing before us. I allude to it in no partisan aspect, but as an ever-recurring event contemplated by the Constitution. Compare the peaceful changes of chief magistrates of this republic with the recent sanguinary revolutions in Europe. There, the voice of the people has been heard only amid the din of arms and the horrors of domestic conflict; but here, in our own favoured land, under the guidance of our Constitution, the resistless will of the nation has, from time to time, been peacefully expressed by the free suffrages of the people, and all have bowed in obedient submission to their decree. The administration which but yesterday wielded the destinies of this great nation, to-day quietly yields up its power, and, without a murmur, retires from he capitol.

“I congratulate you, Senators, and I congratulate my country, upon these oft-recurring and cheering evidences of our capacity for

self-government. Let us hope that the sublime spectacle which we now witness may be repeated as often as the people shall desire a change of rulers, and that this venerated Constitution and this glorious Union may endure forever."

FTER the president elect, with the ex-president, and committee of arrangements, had entered the senate-chamber, a procession was formed, and, passing through the rotunda, arrived at the eastern portico of the capitol. Upon a staging above the stairs of the portico, and in presence of at least twenty thousand people, General Taylor delivered, with a remarkably distinct utterance, and with full and clear emphasis, his admirable inaugural address-a plain, sensible, well-written document, which, for its brevity and elegance, is a model worthy of all future imitation. In the discharge of his manifold duties, he said that his guide would be the Constitution, for the interpretation of which he should look to the decisions of judicial tribunals established by its authority, and to the practice of the government under the earlier presidents, who had so large a share in its formation. He regarded himself as chosen by the people, under the assurance that his administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to the support of particular sections, or merely local interests. He should recommend to Congress such constitutional measures as might be proper for the protection of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, the improvement of rivers and harbours, the speedy extinction of the public debt, the maintenance of strict accountability on the part of all the officers of the government, and the observance of the utmost economy in all public expenditures.

"In conclusion," says General Taylor, "I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us seek to deserve it by prudence and moderation in our councils; by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion; by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles; and by enlarged patriotism which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own wide-spread epublic."

ADMINISTRATION OF TAYLOR.

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HE oath of office was next administered by Chief Justice Taney. At the close of the inaugural cere monies, the roar of artillery resounded from one end of the city to the other. The Senate had been summoned by Mr. Polk to meet upon that day, and aid in the organization of the new government. On the 6th, General Taylor submitted his nominations for members of the Cabinet, and his nominations were duly confirmed, viz., John M. Clayton, of Delaware, Secretary of State; William M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, Secretary of the Home Department; George W. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of War; William B. Preston, of Virginia, Secretary of the Navy; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, Attorney General; and Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, Postmaster General. The removals from office were fewer than under some former Presidents, the old General being resolutely opposed to such removals, when designed merely as proscriptions-thus taking a position with which some of his former supporters were very much dissatisfied.

One of the important diplomatic acts of General Taylor's administration, was the negotiation of a treaty with Great Britain for the construction of a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Its perpetual freedom is guaranteed to all nations upon just and equal terms. This measure is one of the most important steps taken in the march of human improvement during the present century. The conditions of the treaty exhibit that enlightened and enlarged spirit of national philanthropy which does great honour to Mr. Clayton and Sir Henry Bulwer, the British minister to the United States. In connection with the miraculous growth of California, and the immense emigration to that country, as well as in other relations, what must be the effects of this treaty upon the improvement and prosperity of the civilized world!

During this year, the awful fatality, which marked the progress of the Asiatic cholera, excited almost universal consternation. Pursuing a direction contrary to that of 1832, it reached our shores at the southwest, and for a long time committed the most dreadful ravages in Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico, and in the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio, before it made its appearance at the North. In appalling numbers the people fell before the dreadful scourge, the fatal results being no doubt multiplied by the inexperience of the

physicians in this disease, and by fear, improper diet, and that want of cleanliness which is, in some measure, unavoidable by the poorer classes in all our cities. Its malignancy at St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, and the smaller towns upon the Mississippi and Ohio, is unparalleled in the history of modern epidemics. In the latter part of November, 1848, it appeared at San Francisco, and many a young man from the States, while far away from his home and his kindred, fell a victim to the terrible destroyer. Business, in many places, suffered greatly from the prevalence of the disease. In a few weeks it gradually abated, and in the following month entirely disappeared. On the 14th of May, it broke out in New York city, the first cases occurring at a place celebrated for its filth, vice, and destitution. During the week ending on the 21st of July, 714 persons died of cholera in the city of New York. The whole number of deaths was 5017; the whole number of cases is unknown. elle

N view of this fearful visitation, the President recommended that the first Friday in August be observed throughout the nation as a day of fasting and prayer. New York and the Atlantic cities were relieved from the cholera in the fall; but it still lingered in the

southwest, and, even in the fall of 1850, raged more or less severely at various places in that portion of the Union.

It had been, for some time, rumoured that an armed expedition against Cuba was contemplated in the United States. In

August, 1849, the President issued a proclamation, warning the citizens of the republic against engaging in an enterprise “so grossly in violation of our laws and treaty obligations." What effect this proclamation had in preventing such attempts for the future, will be seen in a subsequent part of this chapter.

The rapid growth and brilliant prospects of California, her adoption of a constitution by which slavery was to be forever excluded from her territory, and her intended application for admission into the Union, produced the most intense excitement in every section of the country. Men looked forward with unusual interest to the meeting of Congress. The anti-slavery men of the North exulted in the present situation of affairs, thinking it to indicate a state of public sentiment which would lead to the utter extermination of slavery. The politicians and leading planters of the South, fearing perhaps for the present safety of their institutions, resolved to prevent, at all hazards, the admission of California with her present boundaries and