sections of land, according to the government surveys, was secured to the State of Indiana by a compact with the United States, in 1820, when it was covered with a dense forest, as a permanent seat of government. In the spring of 1821 the town was laid out and surveyed by commissioners appointed for that purpose. The original plat of the town, which is on an extended plain, was a mile square; but it has since been extended in different directions beyond these limits. It was laid out into regular four-acre squares, each to contain 12 lots; and these squares were divided through the middle by alleys, from east to west, 30 feet wide, and from north to south 15 feet wide. The streets, in general, were laid out 90 feet in width. Washington Street, which passes through the centre, and is the great business street, is 120 feet in width. Through this street the great national road passes. Near the centre of the town a square has been appropriated, as a site for the mansion of the governor of the state. In the centre of this square stands the Governor's House, on ground slightly elevated, 60 feet square, and having four elegant fronts. A circular street, 80 feet wide, encompasses this enclosure, and four streets extend from it diagonally, towards the four corners of the city. The streets, with the exception of these four, all intersect each other at right angles. They bear the names of the different states of the Union.

The State House at Indianapolis is beautifully located, in the centre of one of the 40 acre squares, handsomely laid out and enclosed. It is one of the

most splendid buildings in the west. It is 180 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 40 feet high, to the top of the cornice, and is surmounted with a handsome dome. It is on the model of the Parthenon at Athens, with the omission of the columns on the sides; for which pilasters, 13 in number, are substituted. On each front there is a beautiful portico, with 10 Doric columns. The two halls for the legislature are in the second story, to which the entrance is through a hall and rotunda in the centre. The Court House, which was formerly occupied as the State House, is also a handsome building. Some of the church edifices are large and of fine appearance.

Indianapolis is the centre of a number of stage routes from different sections of the west, and is fast becoming a place of extensive business. It is connected by railroad with Madison, on the Ohio River, a distance of 86 miles; being by this route about 150 miles from Cincinnati, and about the same distance from Louisville, Kentucky. The railroad will soon be completed to connect it with Peru, on the Wabash and Erie Canal. Population, 1850, 8091; in 1857, 14,000.

NEW ALBANY.

City, and seat of justice of Floyd County. 126 miles south by east from Indianapolis. Situated on the north bank of the Ohio River, about two miles below the foot of the falls in that river, at Louisville. This is one of the largest places in the state. It is laid

out with entire regularity, having six streets parallel with the river, nearly east and west, and eleven running back from the river, intersecting them at right angles. It has churches of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Campbellite Baptist, and Roman Catholic denominations. There are a male and a female seminary, a lyceum, and other excellent provisions for the education of the young. A donation of $5000 was made by the original proprietors to constitute a fund for the support of a public school. There are several ship yards at New Albany, in which a number of steamboats are built annually, and a large business is done in various branches of manufacture. Population in 1840, 4226; in 1850, 10,000; in 1857, 15,000.

ILLINOIS.

THIS Comparatively young member of the American Union was, nevertheless, partially settled, by civilized adventurers, as early as the year 1673. A party of enterprising Frenchmen from Canada accompanied M. De la Salle in his second exploration of the country, in the above year, when in search of the River Mississippi, and founded the villages of Kaskaskias and Cahokia. These settlements continued to flourish for some years; but the people, by constant intercourse with the surrounding savages, gradually reduced themselves to a semi-barbarous condition, and for a long period their numbers were but little augmented by immigration. By the treaty of peace between the French and English, in 1763, the Illinois country, together with Canada, was ceded by the former to the latter, who took formal possession two years afterwards. It remained in their hands, under several successive military governors, until 1778; in which year a body of Virginia troops, commanded by General Clarke, penetrated the country, and subdued all the fortified places. In the same year, a county called Illinois was organized by the legislature, and placed under the care of a deputy governor. The country had been considered, hitherto, as a part of the territory included in the charter of Virginia; and the claim founded thereon was recognized by the treaty of