The first permanent settlement in this important State was made on the 7th day of April, 1788. Though this fine territory lay nearest to the most populous and enterprising of the original States, the intrigues of the French before the Revolution, the hostility to which they excited the Indians, and the difficulties arising from the various claims of different States to

the lands, which rendered titles insecure, prevented any permanent settlement until about the time when the present Constitution of the United States was originated. All these difficulties were now removed, and emigration, long restrained, rushed like a flood down the Ohio. 20,000 persons, during this year (1788), passed down the river in pursuit of new homes. Cincinnati and many other places were settled about this time. From 1790 to 1795 there was much suffering from the hostility of the Indians; but this period having passed, the settlements multiplied and grew apace.

The settlers were, in large part, from New England; accustomed to wring a thrifty living from a rocky soil; and their industry soon brought great results from this more generous field. The population increased rapidly. In 14 years it

amounted to 72,000; and was admitted into the Union with that number Nov. 29th, 1802.

The climate is healthy and mild, the soil generally very fertile, and her inhabitants have made the most of it. Coal, iron, and marble are very abundant. Manufactures have not been much developed in this State, but they are steadily growing. The lake on the north, and the river on the south, with more than 5,000 miles of railway and canals, furnish all the elements of a great and steady growth.

It was, on its admission, the seventeenth State in the Union. It has an area of 39,964 square miles, equal to 25,576,960 acres. The population in 1870 was 2,665,260. entitling her to twenty Members of Congress.

It is in the sixth judicial circuit, and forms two judicial districts, the Northern and Southern.

This State has three ports of entry-Cleveland, Toledo, and Portland; and four ports of delivery, to be located where the President directs.

The capital of this State is Columbus. The State election is now held on the second Tuesday of October. The Legislature meets on the first Monday of January, biennially.

The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio."

The Spaniards, who found so much gold in other parts of the American continent, made repeated explorations of the region

lying near the mouths of the Mississippi in the hope of discovering it there. Failing in this, they made no settlements. The French planned the establishment of a vast empire covering the best territory now in the bounds of the United States, and explored the Mississippi and its tributaries with untiring courage and zeal, both from the Great Lakes and from the mouth of the river. A few years after La Salle had perished in his bold wandering, a French naval officer, Lemoine D'Iberville, formed the first settlement in Louisiana (so named after the French King, Louis XIV., by La Salle.) This was in 1699; but no great progress was made until the Mississippi Company vas formed in France, under the idea that Louisiana was rich in gold and diamonds; when, in 1718, eight hundred persons emigrated from France and settled at New Orleans. In 1732 the colony contained, in all, seven thousand five hundred persons, and continued to prosper until 1763, when, by the peace of Paris, all the French possessions in America except the territory west of the Great River, were given up to England. This remnant soon passed to the Spaniards, and again to the French, from whom it was bought by President Jefferson for $15,000,000, in 1803.

This purchase was regarded, even by Jefferson, as probably exceeding the powers of the government, under the Constitution; but it was essential to the development, unity, and greatness of the country. The Mississippi Valley is the heart of North America, and the use of the river as necessary to the value of the prairie States lying east of it, as to the defense and strength of the country. The possession of it could, alone, make the United States a great power among nations. Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of the French Republic, designed, in ceding it to the United States, to give England, his relentless enemy, a powerful rival; but even his keen foresight could not have anticipated the wonderful growth in which the Louisiana Purchase was so necessary an element.

The surface of Louisiana is low, and the southern part often overflowed by the high water of the rivers. Many islands

of great fertility and beauty lie along the coast; one of them consisting of an immense bed or mine of rock salt. Fruits grow to great perfection and orange trees are specially fruitful, a single tree often bearing 5,000 oranges. Cotton and cane sugar are the principal staples. New Orleans has an extensive commerce, and manufactures will sometime find in it a profitable field. The palmy days of this, as of all the other Southern States, is in the future; her most valuable resources having been scarcely touched. New Orleans will naturally become the third great commercial city of the Union, New York and San Francisco, only, being likely to take precedence of her.

Louisiana was admitted into the Union April 8th, 1812, making the eighteenth State.

She has an area of 46,431 square miles, equal to 29,715,840 acres. The population in 1870 numbered 726,915; she has six Representatives in Congress.

Louisiana forms a part of the fifth judicial circuit, and constitutes one judicial district, viz.: the district of Louisiana. This State has two collection districts, denominated the districts of New Orleans and of the Teche. New Orleans and Franklin are the ports of entry. The shores of the river Ohio, and all the rivers emptying into the Mississippi, are attached to the district of New Orleans, though most of them do not lie in the State. Several of the cities and towns on these rivers are made ports of delivery. Collection districts are not always confined to one State.

New Orleans is the capital. The Legislature meets on the first Monday in January, once in two years. The State election is held on the first Monday in November.

The enacting clause of her laws is as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened."