T the presidential election held in the fall of 1848, the candidates of the whig party-General Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore-were chosen to fill the office of President and Vice President, and were inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1849.

General Taylor's cabinet was composed of men who had never been distinguished as ultra partisans, yet whose abilities were sufficient for the administration of affairs. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, was placed at its head, as Secretary of State. Congress, at its previous session, had created a new department, called the Department of the Interior, which greatly lightened the duties of the Secretaries of the State and Treasury departments. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, was appointed to discharge the duties of the new office.

The inaugural address of General Taylor was brief, but eloquent, and clearly indicated the moderate course he intended to pursue.

Congress assembled on the first Monday in December. In

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THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

the Senate, the democrats had a decided majority. In the House, parties were equally balanced; and several members, who had been elected as independent "free soil men," held the balance of power. An exciting contest occurred upon the balloting for the speakership. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, and Robert E. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, were the principal candidates. On the sixty-third trial, Mr. Cobb was chosen, receiving one hundred and two votes. Much difficulty was experienced in choosing a clerk and sergeant-at-arms, and the election of a door-keeper and postmaster was postponed until the 1st of March, 1851.

The agitation of the question whether slavery should be extended into territory then free had continued during the interval between the adjournment of the preceding Congress and the assembling of the new one; and in the Northern States, a "free soil ticket" for President and Vice President received over three hundred thousand votes. It soon became evident that very little business could be transacted in Cor-|| gress until the exciting question was settled.

On the 19th of April, on motion of Mr. Foote, of Mis sissippi, a select committee of thirteen, known as the Compromise Committee, was elected by ballot in the Senate, Mr. Clay! being chosen chairman. On the 6th of May, the committee reported the Omnibus Bill to the Senate. This bill provided for the settlement of the slavery question, by uniting measures calculated to satisfy the Southern people with those which the Northern people demanded. California was to be admitted as a State; territorial governments were to be given to Utah and New Mexico; the claim of Texas upon the territory of New Mexico was to be adjusted by the payment to that State of ten millions of dollars, in consideration of the relinquishment of the claim; provision was made for the more effectual execution of the clause of the constitution regarding the restitution of fugitive slaves, and for the abolition of the slavetrade in the District of Columbia.

In May, an expedition, which had been for some time preparing at the Southern ports, with the object of revolutionizing

DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR.

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Cuba, arrived off the coast of Yucatan. Six hundred and nine men were on board of the steamer Creole, under the command of General Lopez. On the 19th of May, the Creole reached Cardenas; the men were disembarked, skirmishing ensued, and the town surrendered. In the evening, after another slight skirmish, the invaders went on board the Creole and sailed from the town. The loss of the invaders was between thirty and forty, killed and wounded. That of the Cubans was much greater. This expedition, so piratical in its nature, was generally condemned by the people of the United States. The government had by proclamation declared its intention to maintain its neutral laws; and on the 21st of May, the Creole was seized by the United States revenue officers at Key West. General Lopez was arrested at Savannah, Georgia, but discharged for want of evidence. Several distinguished personages were charged with abetting the expedition, but nothing has yet been elicited to sustain the

accusation.

The debate upon the Compromise Bill called forth the eloquence of the ablest men in the Senate. Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster were the principal supporters of the bill, and advocated its passage in speeches which did full justice to their powers. The opposition, however, was quite as ably sup ported, and by some of the oldest and most distinguished senators. Successive amendments reduced the bill to the single measure of providing a Territorial government for Utah, and in this state it passed the Senate, on the 31st of July.

Before the exciting question was settled, the nation was thrown into mourning for its chief magistrate. President Taylor died on the 9th of July, after an illness of five days. He had been in office about fifteen months. His last words expressed the character of his life-"I have endeavoured to do my duty." Few men have been more universally lamented. Men will differ as to his abilities and the wisdom of his policy; but all will agree that a more honest and well-meaning man can scarcely be found in history.

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HE Vice President, Millard Fillmore, constitutionally succeeded to the Presidential chair. The members of the cabinet immediately tendered their resig nation, and they were accepted. After some delay, a new cabinet was framed,

Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, being appointed Secretary of State, and the heads of the other departments being selected from among the most distinguished members of the Whig party, in various parts of the Union. Mr. Fillmore had long been a member of the Whig party, and the policy of his administration could not be doubted. He was known to be decidedly in favour of the compromise measures then under discussion in the Senate, and this gave them a new impetus. Many senators, who had strenuously opposed the Omnibus Bill, were in favour of two or three of its provisions, and these were readily passed when separated. The bill for the admission of California into the Union passed Congress in the early part of August, and the other compromise measures, with some amendments, were adopted without

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