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THE CABILDO, OLD COURT BUILDING, JACKSON SQUARE.
For a short space, popular joy rioted in wild rejoicings. But it was only for a moment that the French flag fluttered over the place d'armes, a bare three weeks. Then it descended its staff and the American flag rose in its place. In the Casa Real, the seat of the Spanish Cabildo, the ceremony of the cession of Louisiana to the United States took place, the most important event, judged by results, that has taken place in the history of the Republic, enlarging the United States in domain by a territory three and a half times as great as its original size, raising it in political sovereignty to parity with the greatest European powers. The Spanish walls were demolished, but the Amer-
