[2] The new constitution of Louisiana prescribes that the legislature shall establish free schools throughout the state, appoint a superintendent of education, and provide means for defraying the expense by taxation. The proceeds from the sale of all public lands granted by the United States, the estates of deceased persons escheating to the state, as well as certain other named emoluments, are to remain a perpetual fund, sacredly to be applied to the support of such schools. A provision is also to be made for establishing a college in the city of New Orleans, to be called _the University of Louisiana_, to consist of four faculties, viz. law, medicine, the natural sciences and letters--of which the Medical College of Louisiana, as now organized, is to constitute the faculty of medicine. The legislature is to be under no obligations to contribute to the support of this institution by appropriations. [3] For many satisfactory particulars, see McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, under article _Madder_. NEW ORLEANS [Illustration: Mouth of the Mississippi] New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana, stands on the right side of the Mississippi, in ascending, ninety-two miles from its mouth. The river here makes a considerable bend to the northeast, and the city occupies the northwestern side, although its situation is east of the general course of the stream. It is in latitude 29° 57' north, longitude 90° 8' west; by the river 301 miles below Natchez; 1220 miles below St. Louis; 1040 below Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio; 2004 below Pittsburgh; and 1244 south-west from Washington city. In 1718, Bienville, then governor of the province, explored the banks of the Mississippi, in order to choose a spot for the chief settlement, which had hitherto been at Biloxi. He selected the present site, and left fifty men to clear the ground, and erect the necessary buildings. Much opposition was made, both by the military and the directors of the Western Company, to removing the seat of government to this place. Another obstacle, for a while, threatened almost insurmountable difficulties to his design. In 1719, the Mississippi rose to an extraordinary height; and, as the company did not possess sufficient force to protect the spot from inundation, by dykes and levees, it was for a time abandoned. In the November of 1722, however, in pursuance of orders, Delorme removed the principal establishment to New Orleans. In the following year, agreeably to Charlevoix, it consisted only of one hundred cabins, placed with little order, a large wooden warehouse, two or three dwelling-houses, and a miserable store-house, which had been used as a chapel, a mere shed being then the only accommodation afforded for a house of prayer. The population did not exceed two hundred. Thus commenced what is now called the "Crescent City;" which, in a commercial point of view, and in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, has not an equal upon the face of the globe.