Chapter II: Part 2

The light waggons are on the same construction, and are calculated to accommodate from four to twelve people. The only difference between a small waggon and a coachee is, that the latter is better finished, has varnished pannels, and doors at the side. The former has no doors, but the passengers scramble in the best way they can, over the seat of the driver. The waggons are used universally for stage carriages.

AMERICAN STAGE WAGGON.
_Published Dec. 21. 1798, by J. Stockdale, Piccadilly._
]

The accommodations at the taverns, by which name they call all inns, &c. are very indifferent in Philadelphia, as indeed they are, with a very few exceptions, throughout the country. The mode of conducting them is nearly the same every where. The traveller is shewn, on arrival, into a room which is common to every person in the house, and which is generally the one set apart for breakfast, dinner, and supper. All the strangers that happen to be in the house sit down to these meals promiscuously, and, excepting in the large towns, the family of the house also forms a part of the company. It is seldom that a private parlour or drawing room can be procured at any of the taverns, even in the towns; and it is always with reluctance that breakfast or dinner is served up separately to any individual. If a single bed room can be procured, more ought not to be looked for; but it is not always that even this is to be had, and those who travel through the country must often submit to be crammed into rooms where there is scarcely sufficient space to walk between the beds.[5] Strangers who remain for any length of time in the large towns most usually go to private boarding houses, of which great numbers are to be met with. It is always a difficult matter to procure furnished lodgings without paying for board.

Footnote 5:

Having stopped one night at Elkton, on my journey to Baltimore in the
public carriage, my first enquiries from the landlord, on alighting,
as there were many passengers in the stage, were to know what
accommodation his house afforded. He seemed much surprized that any
enquiries should be made on such a subject, and with much consequence
told me, I need not give myself any trouble about the extent of his
accommodations, as he had no less than _eleven_ beds in _one_ of his
rooms.

[Sidenote: PHILADELPHIA.]

At all the taverns, both in town and country, but particularly in the latter, the attendance is very bad; indeed, excepting in the southern states, where there are such great numbers of negroes, it is a matter of the utmost difficulty to procure domestic servants of any description. The generality of servants that are met with in Philadelphia are emigrant Europeans; they, however, for the most part, only remain in service until they can save a little money, when they constantly quit their masters, being led to do so by that desire for independence which is so natural to the mind of man, and which every person in America may enjoy that will be industrious. The few that remain steady to those who have hired them are retained at most exorbitant wages. As for the Americans, none but those of the most indifferent characters ever enter into service, which they consider as suitable only to negroes; the negroes again, in Pennsylvania and in the other states where steps have been taken for the gradual abolition of slavery, are taught by the Quakers to look upon themselves in every respect as equal to their white brethren, and they endeavour to imitate them by being saucy. It is the same both with males and females. I must here observe, that amongst the generality of the lower sort of people in the United States, and particularly amongst those of Philadelphia, there is a want of good manners which excites the surprize of almost every foreigner; I wish also that it may not be thought that this remark has been made, merely because the same deference and the same respectful attention, which we see so commonly paid by the lower orders of people in Great Britain and Ireland to those who are in a situation somewhat superior to themselves, is not also paid in America to persons in the same station; it is the want of common civility I complain of, which it is always desirable to behold between man and man, let their situations in life be what they may, and which is not contrary to the dictates of nature, or to the spirit of genuine liberty, as it is observable in the behaviour of the wild Indians that wander through the forests of this vast continent, the most free and independent of all human beings. In the United States, however, the lower classes of people will return rude and impertinent answers to questions couched in the most civil terms, and will insult a person that bears the appearance of a gentleman, on purpose to shew how much they consider themselves upon an equality with him. Civility cannot be purchased from them on any terms; they seem to think that it is incompatible with freedom, and that there is no other way of convincing a stranger that he is really in a land of liberty, but by being surly and ill mannered in his presence.

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+LETTER + III.

_Journey to Baltimore.—Description of the Country about
Philadelphia.—Floating Bridges over the Schuylkill, how
constructed.—Mills in Brandy-wine Creek.—Improvement in
the Machinery of Flour Mills in America.—Town of Wilmington.—Log
Houses.—Bad Roads.—Fine Prospects.—How relished by
Americans.—Taverns.—Susquehannah River.—Town of Baltimore.—Plan of the
Town.—Harbour.—Public and private Buildings.—Inhabitants.—Country
between Baltimore and Washington.—Execrable Roads._

MY DEAR SIR, Washington, November.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY TO BALTIMORE.]

ON the 16th of November I left Philadelphia for Baltimore. The only mode of conveyance which offers for a traveller, who is not provided with his own horses or carriage, is the public stage waggon; it is possible, indeed, to procure a private carriage at Philadelphia to go on to Baltimore, for which a great price is always demanded; but there is no such thing as hiring a carriage or horses from stage to stage. The country about Philadelphia is well cultivated, and it abounds with neat country houses; but it has a bare appearance, being almost totally stripped of the trees, which have been cut down without mercy for firing, and to make way for the plough; neither are there any hedges, an idea prevailing that they impoverish the land wherever they are planted. The fences are all of the common post and rail, or of the angular kind. These last are made of rails about eight or nine feet long, roughly split out of trees, and placed horizontally above one another, as the bars of a gate; but each tier of rails, or gate as it were, instead of being on a straight line with the one next to it, is put in a different direction, so as to form an angle sufficient to permit the ends of the rails of one tier to rest steadily on those of the next. As these fences, from their serpentine course, occupy at least six times as much ground as a common post and rail fence, and require also a great deal more wood, they are mostly laid aside whenever land and timber become objects of importance, as they soon do in the neighbourhood of large towns.

[Sidenote: FLOATING BRIDGES.]

The road to Baltimore is over the lowest of three floating bridges, which have been thrown across the river Schuylkill, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. The view on passing this river, which is about two hundred and fifty yards wide, is beautiful. The banks on each side are high, and for many miles above afford the most delightful situations for villas. A very elegant one, laid out in the English taste, is seen on passing the river just above the bridge. Adjoining to it are public gardens, and a house of entertainment, with several good rooms, to which the citizens of Philadelphia resort in great numbers during the summer season.

The floating bridges are formed of large trees, which are placed in the water transversely, and chained together; beams are then laid lengthways upon these, and the whole boarded over, to render the way convenient for passengers. On each side there is a railing. When very heavy carriages go across these bridges, they sink a few inches below the surface of the water; but the passage is by no means dangerous. They are kept in an even direction across the river, by means of chains and anchors in different parts, and are also strongly secured on both shores. Over that part of the river where the channel lies, they are so contrived that a piece can be removed to allow vessels to pass through. These bridges are frequently damaged, and sometimes entirely carried away, during floods, at the breaking up of winter, especially if there happens to be much ice floating in the river. To guard against this, when danger is apprehended and the flood does not come on too rapidly, they unfasten all the chains by which the bridge is confined in its proper place, and then let the whole float down with the stream to a convenient part of the shore, where it can be hauled up and secured.

The country, after passing the Schuylkill, is pleasingly diversified with rising grounds and woods, and appears to be in a good state of cultivation. The first town of any note which you come to is Chester, fifteen miles from Philadelphia; this town contains about sixty dwellings, and is remarkable for being the place where the first colonian assembly sat. From the neighbourhood of this town there is a very grand view of the river Delaware.

[Sidenote: FLOUR MILLS.]

About half a mile before you come to Wilmington is Brandy-wine River, remarkable for its mills, no less than thirteen being built almost close to each other upon it. The water, just above the bridge which is thrown over it, comes tumbling down with great violence over a bed of rocks; and seats, at a very trifling expense, could be made for three times the number of mills already built. Vessels carrying 1,000 bushels of wheat can come close up to them, and by means of machinery their cargoes are received from, or delivered to them in a very expeditious manner. Among the mills, some are for flour, some for sawing of wood, and others for stone. The improvements which have been made in the machinery of the flour mills in America are very great. The chief of these consist in a new application of the screw, and the introduction of what are called elevators, the idea of which was evidently borrowed from the chain pump. The screw is made by sticking small thin pieces of board, about three inches long and two wide, into a cylinder, so as to form the spiral line. This screw is placed in a horizontal position, and by turning on its axis it forces wheat or flour from one end of a trough to the other. For instance, in the trough which receives the meal immediately coming from the stones, a screw of this kind is placed, by which the meal is forced on, to the distance of six or eight feet perhaps, into a reservoir; from thence, without any manual labour, it is conveyed to the very top of the mill by the elevators, which consist of a number of small buckets of the size of tea-cups, attached to a long band that goes round a wheel at the top, and another at the bottom of the mill. As the band revolves round the wheels, these buckets dip into the reservoir of wheat or flour below, and take their loads up to the top, where they empty themselves as they turn round the upper wheel. The elevators are inclosed in square wooden tubes, to prevent them from catching in any thing, and also to prevent dust. By means of these two simple contrivances no manual labour is required from the moment the wheat is taken to the mill till it is converted into flour, and ready to be packed, during the various processes of screening, grinding, sifting, &c.

[Sidenote: MARYLAND.]

Wilmington is the capital of the state of Delaware, and contains about six hundred houses, which are chiefly of brick. The streets are laid out on a plan somewhat similar to that of Philadelphia. There is nothing very interesting in this town, and the country round about it is flat and insipid. Elkton, twenty-one miles distant from Wilmington, and the first town in Maryland, contains about ninety indifferent houses, which are built without any regularity; it is a dirty disagreeable place. In this neighbourhood I first took notice of log-houses; those which I had hitherto seen having been built either of brick or stone, or else constructed with wooden frames, sheathed on the outside with boards. The log-houses are cheaper than any others in a country where there is abundance of wood, and generally are the first that are erected on a new settlement in America. The sides consist of trees just squared, and placed horizontally one upon the other; the ends of the logs of one side resting alternately on the ends of those of the adjoining sides, in notches; the interstices between the logs are stopped with clay; and the roof is covered with boards or with shingles, which are small pieces of wood in the shape of slates or tiles, and which are used for that purpose, with a few exceptions, throughout America. These habitations are not very sightly, but when well built they are warm and comfortable, and last for a long time.

A considerable quantity of wheat and Indian corn is raised in this neighbourhood, to the production of which the soil is favourable; but the best cultivated parts of the country are not seen from the road, which passes chiefly over barren and hilly tracts, called “ridges.” The reason for carrying the road over these is, because it is found to last longer than if carried over the flat part of the country, where the soil is deep, a circumstance which the people of Maryland always take into consideration; for after a road is once cut, they never take pains to keep it in good repair. The roads in this state are worse than in any one in the union; indeed so very bad are they, that on going from Elkton to the Susquehannah ferry, the driver frequently had to call to the passengers in the stage, to lean out of the carriage first at one side, then at the other, to prevent it from oversetting in the deep ruts with which the road abounds: “Now, gentlemen, to the right;” upon which the passengers all stretched their bodies half way out of the carriage to balance it on that side: “Now, gentlemen, to the left,” and so on. This was found absolutely necessary at least a dozen times in half the number of miles. Whenever they attempt to mend these roads, it is always by filling the ruts with saplings or bushes, and covering them over with earth. This, however, is done only when there are fields on each side of the road. If the road runs contiguous to a wood, then, instead of mending it where it is bad, they open a new passage through the trees, which they call making a road. It is very common in Maryland to see six or seven different roads branching out from one, which all lead to the same place. A stranger, before he is acquainted with this circumstance, is frequently puzzled to know which he ought to take. The dexterity with which the drivers of the stages guide their horses along these new roads, which are full of stumps of trees, is astonishing, yet to appearance they are the most awkward drivers possible; it is more by the different noises which they make, than by their reins, that they manage their horses.

[Sidenote: ROADS.]

Charleston stands at a few miles distance from Elkton; there are about twenty houses only in it, which are inhabited chiefly by people who carry on a herring fishery. Beyond it the country is much diversified with hill and dale, and the soil being but of an indifferent quality, the lands are so little cleared, that in many parts the road winds through uninterrupted woods for four or five miles together. The scenery in this neighbourhood is extremely interesting. From the top of the hills you meet with numberless bold and extensive prospects of the Chesapeak Bay and of the river Susquehannah; and scarcely do you cross a valley without beholding in the depths of the wood the waters of some little creek or rivulet rushing over ledges of rock in a beautiful cascade. The generality of Americans stare with astonishment at a person who can feel any delight at passing through such a country as this. To them the sight of a wheat field or a cabbage garden would convey pleasure far greater than that of the most romantic woodland views. They have an unconquerable aversion to trees; and whenever a settlement is made, they cut away all before them without mercy; not one is spared; all share the same fate, and are involved in the general havoc. It appears strange, that in a country where the rays of the sun act with such prodigious power, some few trees near the habitations should not be spared, whose foliage might afford a cooling shade during the parching heats of summer; and I have oftentimes expressed my astonishment that none were ever left for that purpose. In answer I have generally been told, that they could not be left standing near a house without danger. The trees it seems in the American forests have but a very slender hold in the ground, considering their immense height, so that when two or three fully grown are deprived of shelter in consequence of the others which stood around them being cut down, they are very apt to be levelled by the first storm that chances to blow. This, however, would not be the case with trees of a small growth, which might safely be spared, and which would soon afford an agreeable shade if the Americans thought proper to leave them standing: but the fact of the matter is, that from the face of the country being entirely overspread with trees, the eyes of the people become satiated with the sight of them. The ground cannot be tilled, nor can the inhabitants support themselves, till they are removed; they are looked upon as a nuisance, and the man that can cut down the largest number, and have the fields about his house most clear of them, is looked upon as the most industrious citizen, and the one that is making the greatest improvements[6] in the country.

Footnote 6:

I have heard of Americans landing on barren parts of the north west
coast of Ireland, and evincing the greatest surprise and pleasure at
the beauty and improved state of the country, “so clear of trees!!”

[Sidenote: TAVERNS.]

Every ten or twelve miles upon this road there are taverns, which are all built of wood, and much in the same stile, with a porch in front the entire length of the house. Few of these taverns have any signs, and they are only to be distinguished from the other houses by the number of handbills pasted up on the walls near the door. They take their name, not from the sign, but from the person who keeps them, as Jones’s, Brown’s, &c. &c. All of them are kept nearly in the same manner. At each house there are regular hours for breakfast, dinner, and supper, and if a traveller arrives somewhat before the time appointed for any one of these, it is in vain to call for a separate meal for himself; he must wait patiently till the appointed hour, and then sit down with the other guests that may happen to be in the house. Breakfasts are generally plentifully served; there is tea, coffee, and different sorts of bread, cold salt meat, and, very commonly besides, beef steaks, fried fish, &c. &c.[7] The charge made for breakfast is nearly the same as that for dinner.

Footnote 7:

The landlady always presides at the head of the table to make the tea,
or a female servant attends for that purpose at breakfast and in the
evening; and at many taverns in the country the whole of the family
sit down to dinner with the guests.

This part of Maryland abounds with iron ore, which is of a quality particularly well adapted for casting. The ore is found in banks so near the surface of the earth that there is never occasion to sink a shaft to get at it. Near Charleston there is a small foundery for cannon. The cannon are bored by water. As I passed by, they were making twenty-four pounders, two of which I was informed they finished every week. The iron is extremely tough; very few of the guns burst on being proved.

The Susquehannah river is crossed, on the way to Baltimore, at a ferry five miles above its entrance into the Chesapeak. The river is here about a mile and quarter wide, and deep enough for any vessels; the banks are high and thickly wooded, and the scenery is grand and picturesque. A small town called Havre de Grace, which contains about forty houses, stands on this river at the ferry. A petition was presented to congress the last year to have it made a port of entry; but at present there is very little trade carried on there. A few ships are annually built in the neighbourhood. From hence to Baltimore the country is extremely poor; the soil is of a yellow gravel mixed with clay, and the roads execrable.

[Sidenote: BALTIMORE.]

Baltimore is supposed to contain about sixteen thousand inhabitants, and though not the capital of the state, is the largest town in Maryland, and the most considerable place of trade in North America, after Philadelphia and New York. The plan of the town is somewhat similar to that of Philadelphia, most of the streets crossing each other at right angles. The main street, which runs east and west nearly, is about eighty feet wide; the others are from forty to sixty feet. The streets are not all paved, so that when it rains heavily they are rendered almost impassable, the soil being a stiff yellow clay, which retains the water a long time. On the south side of the town is a harbour commonly called the Bason, which affords about nine feet water, and is large enough to contain two thousand sail of merchant vessels. There are wharfs and stores along it, the whole length of the town; but as a particular wind is necessary to enable ships to get out of this bason, by far the greater number of those which enter the port of Baltimore stop at a harbour which is formed by a neck of land near the mouth of the bason, called Fell’s Point. Here also wharfs have been built, alongside which vessels of six hundred tons burthen can lie with perfect safety. Numbers of persons have been induced to settle on this Point, in order to be contiguous to the shipping. Upwards of seven hundred houses have already been built there, and regular streets laid out, with a large market place. These houses, generally speaking, are considered as a part of Baltimore, but to all appearance they form a separate town, being upwards of a mile distant from the other part of the town. In the neighbourhood, Fell’s Point and Baltimore are spoken of as distinct and separate places. Fell’s Point is chiefly the residence of seafaring people, and of the younger partners of mercantile houses, who are stationed there to attend to the shipping.

[Sidenote: BALTIMORE.]

The greater number of private houses in Baltimore are of brick, but many, particularly in the skirts of the town, are of wood. In some of the new streets a few appear to be well built, but in general the houses are small, heavy, and inconvenient. As for the public buildings, there are none worthy of being mentioned. The churches and places for public worship are ten in number; one respectively for Episcopalians, Presbyterians, German Lutherans, German Calvinists, Reformed Germans, Nicolites or New Quakers, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and two for Methodists. The Presbyterian church, which has lately been erected, is the best building among them, and indeed the handsomest building in town. It is of brick, with a portico in front supported by six pillars of stone.

They have no less than three incorporated banks in this town, and the number of notes issued from them is so great, as almost to preclude the circulation of specie. Some of the notes are for as small a sum as a single dollar, and being much more portable than silver, are generally preferred. As for gold, it is very scarce; I hardly ever met with it during two months that I remained in Maryland.

Amongst the inhabitants of Baltimore are to be found English, Irish, Scotch, and French. The Irish appear to be most numerous; and many of the principal merchants in town are in the number. Since the war, a great many French have arrived both from France and from the West India Islands. With a few exceptions the inhabitants are all engaged in trade, which is closely attended to. They are mostly plain people, sociable however amongst themselves, and very friendly and hospitable towards strangers. Cards and dancing are favourite amusements, both in private and at public assemblies, which are held every fortnight. There are two theatres here, in which there are performances occasionally. The oldest of them, which stands in the road to Fell’s Point, is most wretched, and appears little better than a heap of loose boards; for a long time it lay quite neglected, but has lately been fitted up for a company of French actors, the only one I ever heard of in the country. Baltimore, like Philadelphia, has differed from the ravages of the yellow fever. During the autumn it is generally unhealthy, and those who can afford it retire to country seats in the neighbourhood, of which some are most delightfully situated.

[Sidenote: ROAD, AND BRIDGES.]

From Baltimore to Washington, which is forty miles distant, the country wears but a poor appearance. The soil in some parts consists of a yellow clay mixed with gravel; in other parts it is very sandy. In the neighbourhood of the creeks and between the hills are patches of rich black earth, called Bottoms, the trees upon which grow to a large size; but where there is gravel they are very small. The roads passing over these bottoms are worse than any I ever met with elsewhere. In driving over one of them, near the head waters of a branch of Patuxent river, a few days after a heavy fall of rain, the wheels of a sulky which I was in sunk up to the very boxes. For a moment I despaired of being able to get out without assistance, when my horse, which was very powerful, finding himself impeded, threw himself upon his haunches, and disengaging his fore-feet, made a vigorous plunge forwards, which luckily disengaged both himself and the sulky, and freed me from my embarrassment. I was afterwards informed that General Washington, as he was going to meet congress a short time before, was stopped in the very same place, his carriage sinking so deep in the mud that it was found necessary to send to a neighbouring house for ropes and poles to extricate it. Over some of the bottoms, which were absolutely impassable in their natural slate, causeways have been thrown, which are made with large trees laid side by side across the road. For a time these causeways afford a commodious passage; but they do not last long, as many of the trees sink into the soft soil, and others, exposed to the continual attrition of waggon wheels in a particular part, breaking asunder. In this state, full of unseen obstacles, it is absolutely a matter of danger for a person unacquainted with the road to attempt to drive a carriage along it. The bridges over the creeks, covered with loose boards, are as bad as the causeways, and totter as a carriage passes over. That the legislature of Maryland can be so inactive, and not take some steps to repair this, which is one of the principal roads in the state, the great road from north to south, and the high road to the City of Washington, is most wonderful!

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+LETTER + IV.

_Foundation of the City of Washington.—Not readily agreed to by
different States.—Choice of the Ground left to General
Washington.—Circumstances to be considered in chusing the Ground.—The
Spot fixed upon central to all the States.—Also remarkably
advantageously situated for Trade.—Nature of the Back Country
Trade.—Summary View of the principal Trading Towns in the United
States.—Their Prosperity shewn to depend on the Back Country
Trade.—Description of the Patowmac River.—Its Connection with other
Rivers pointed out.—Prodigious Extent of the Water Communication from
Washington City in all Directions.—Country likely to trade immediately
with Washington.—Situation of Washington.—Plan of the City.—Public
Buildings.—Some begun, others projected.—Capital President’s
House.—Hotel.—Stone and other building Materials found in the
Neighbourhood.—Private Houses and Inhabitants at present in the
City.—Different Opinions respecting the future Greatness of the
City.—Impediments thrown in the Way of its Improvement.—What has given
rise to this._

MY DEAR SIR, Washington, November.

THE City of Washington, or the Federal City, as it is indiscriminately called, was laid out in the year 1792, and is expressly designed for being the metropolis of the United States, and the seat of the federal government. In the year 1800 the congress is to meet there for the first time. As the foundation of this city has attracted the attention of so many people in Europe, and as such very different opinions are entertained about it, I shall, in the following pages, give you a brief account of its rise and progress.

[Sidenote: CITY OF WASHINGTON.]

Shortly after the close of the American war, considerable numbers of the Pennsylvanian line, or of the militia, with arms in their hands, surrounded the hall in which the congress was assembled at Philadelphia, and with vehement menaces insisted upon immediate appropriations of money being made to discharge the large arrears due to them for their past services. The members, alarmed at such an outrage, resolved to quit a state in which they met with insult instead of protection, and quickly adjourned to New York, where the session was terminated. A short time afterwards, the propriety was strongly urged in congress, of fixing upon some place for the meeting of the legislature, and for the seat of the general government, which should be subject to the laws and regulations of the congress alone, in order that the members, in future, might not have to depend for their personal safety, and for their freedom of deliberation, upon the good or bad police of any individual state. This idea of making the place, which should be chosen for the meeting of the legislature, independent of the particular state to which it might belong, was further corroborated by the following argument: That as the several states in the union were in some measure rivals to each other, although connected together by certain ties, if any one of them, was fixed upon for the seat of the general government in preference, and thus raised to a state of pre-eminence, it might perhaps be the occasion of great jealousy amongst the others. Every person was convinced of the expediency of preserving the union of the states entire; it was apparent, therefore, that the greatest precautions ought to be taken to remove every source of jealousy from amongst them, which might tend, though remotely, to produce a separation. In fine, it was absolutely necessary that the seat of government should be made permanent, as the removal of the public offices and the archives from place to place could not but be attended with many and very great inconveniences.

However, notwithstanding this measure appeared to be beneficial to the interest of the union at large, it was not until after the revolution, by which the present federal constitution was established, that it was acceded to on the part of all the states. Pennsylvania in particular, conscious of her being a principal and central state, and therefore likely to be made the seat of government if this new project was not carried into execution, was foremost in the opposition. At last she complied; but it was only on condition that the congress should meet at Philadelphia until the new city was ready for its reception, flattering herself that there would be so many objections afterwards to the removal of the seat of government, and so many difficulties in putting the project into execution, that it would finally be relinquished. To the discriminating judgment of General Washington, then president, it was left to determine upon the spot best calculated for the federal city. After mature deliberation he fixed upon a situation on the banks of the Patowmac River, a situation which seems to be marked out by nature, not only for a large city, but expressly for the seat of the metropolis of the United States.

In the choice of the spot there were two principal considerations: First, that it should be as central as possible in respect to every state in the union; secondly, that it should be advantageously situated for commerce, without which it could not be expected that the city would ever be distinguished for size or for splendour; and it was to be supposed, that the people of the United States would be desirous of having the metropolis of the country as magnificent as it possibly could be. These two essential points are most happily combined in the spot which has been chosen.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]

The northern and southern extremities of the United States are in 46° and 31° north latitude. The latitude of the new city is 38° 53´ north; so that it is within twenty-three minutes of being exactly between the two extremities. In no part of North America either is there a port situated so far up the country to the westward, excepting what belongs to Great Britain on the river St. Lawrence, its distance from the ocean being no less than two hundred and eighty miles. A more central situation could certainly have been fixed upon, by going further to the westward; but had this been done, it must have been an inland one, which would have been very unfavourable for trade. The size of all towns in America has hitherto been proportionate to their trade, and particularly to that carried on with the back settlements. This trade consists in supplying the people of the western parts of the United States, or the back settlements, with certain articles of foreign manufacture, which they do not find any interest in fabricating for themselves at present; nor is it to be supposed that they will, for many years to come, while land remains cheap, and these articles can be imported and sent to them on reasonable terms. The articles chiefly in demand consist of hardware, woollen cloths, figured cottons, hosiery, haberdashery, earthen ware, &c. &c. from England; coffee, rum, sugar[8], from the West Indies; tea, coarse muslins, and calicoes, from the East Indies. In return for these articles the people of the back settlements send down for exportation the various kinds of produce which the country affords: wheat and flour, furs, skins, rice, indigo, tobacco, pitch, tar, &c. &c. It is very evident, therefore, that the best situation for a trading town must be upon a long navigable river, so that the town may be open to the sea, and thus enabled to carry on a foreign trade, and at the same time be enabled, by means of an extensive water communication in an opposite direction, to trade with the distant parts of the country. None of the inland towns have as yet increased to a great size. Lancaster, which is the largest in all America, contains only nine hundred houses, and it is nearly double the size of any other inland one. Neither do the sea-port towns flourish, which are not well situated for carrying on an inland trade at the same time. The truth of this position must appear obvious on taking survey of the principal towns in the United States.

Footnote 8:

Sugar is not sent very far back into the country, as it is procured at
much less expence from the maple-tree.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]

To begin with Boston, the largest town north of New York, and one of the oldest in the United States. Though it has a most excellent harbour, and has always been inhabited by an enterprizing industrious set of people, yet it is now inferior, both in size and commerce, to Baltimore, which was little more than the residence of a few fishermen thirty years ago; and this, because there is no river in the neighbourhood navigable for more than seven miles, and the western parts of the state of Massachusets, of which it is the capital, can be supplied with commodities carried up the North River on much better terms than if the same commodities were sent by land carriage from Boston. Neither does Boston increase by any means in the same proportion as the other towns, which have an extensive trade with the people of the back settlements. For the same cause we do not find that any of the sea-port or other towns in Rhode Island and Connecticut are increasing very fast; on the contrary, Newport, the capital of the state of Rhode Island, and which has a harbour that is boasted of as being one of the best throughout the United States, is now falling to decay. Newport contains about one thousand houses; none of the other towns between Boston and New York contain more than five hundred.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]

We now come to New York, which enjoys the double advantages of an excellent harbour and a large navigable river, which opens a communication with the interior parts of the country; and here we find a flourishing city, containing forty thousand[9] inhabitants, and increasing beyond every calculation. The North or Hudson River, at the mouth of which New York stands, is navigable from thence for one hundred and thirty miles in large vessels, and in sloops of eighty tons burthen as far as Albany; smaller ones go still higher. About nine miles above Albany, the Mohawk River falls into the Hudson, by means of which, Wood Creek, Lake Oneida, and Oswego River, a communication is opened with Lake Ontario. In this route there are several portages, but it is a route which is much frequented, and numbers of boats are kept employed upon it in carrying goods whenever the season is not too dry. In long droughts the waters fall so much that oftentimes there is not sufficient to float an empty boat. All these obstructions however may, and will one day or other, be remedied by the hand of art. Oswego river, before it falls into Lake Ontario, communicates with the Seneka river, which affords in succession an entrance into the lakes Cayuga, Seneka, and Canadaqua. Lake Seneka, the largest, is about forty miles in length; upon it there is a schooner-rigged vessel of seventy tons burthen constantly employed. The shores of these lakes are more thickly settled than the other part of the adjacent country, but the population of the whole track lying between the rivers Genesee and Hudson, which are about two hundred and fifty miles apart, is rapidly increasing. All this country west of the Hudson River, together with that to the east, comprehending the back parts of the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and also the entire of the state of Vermont, are supplied with European manufactures and West Indian produce, &c. &c. by way of New York; not directly from that city, but from Albany, Hudson, and other towns on the North River, which trade with New York, and which are intermediate places for the deposit of goods passing to, and coming from the back country. Albany, indeed, is now beginning herself to import goods from the West Indies; but still the bulk of her trade is with New York. Nothing can serve more to shew the advantages which accrue to any town from an intercourse with the back country, than the sudden progress of these secondary places of trade upon the North River. At Albany, the number of houses is increasing as fast as at New York; at present there are upwards of eleven hundred; and in Hudson city which was only laid out in the year 1783, there are now more than three hundred and twenty dwellings. This city is on the east side of the North River, one hundred and thirty miles above its mouth. By means also of the North River and Lake Champlain a trade is carried on with Montreal in Canada.

Footnote 9:

Six inhabitants may be reckoned for every house in the United States.

But to go on with the survey of the towns to the southward. In New Jersey, we find Amboy, situated at the head of Raritan Bay, a bay not inferior to any throughout the United States. The greatest encouragements also have been held out by the state legislature to merchants who would settle there; but the town, notwithstanding, remains nearly in the state it was in at the time of the revolution: sixty houses are all that it contains. New Brunswick, which is built on Raritan River, about fifteen miles above its entrance into the bay, carries on a small inland trade with the adjacent country; but the principal part of New Jersey is naturally supplied with foreign manufactures by New York on the one side, and by Philadelphia on the other, the towns most happily situated for the purpose. There are about two hundred houses in New Brunswick, and about the same number in Trenton on Delaware, the capital of the state.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]

Philadelphia, the largest town in the union, has evidently been raised to that state of pre-eminence by her extensive inland commerce. On one side is the river Delaware, which is navigable in sloops for thirty-five miles above the town, and in boats carrying eight or nine tons one hundred miles further. On the other side is the Schuylkill, navigable, excepting at the falls, for ninety miles. But the country bordering upon these rivers is but a trifling part of that which Philadelphia trades with. Goods are forwarded to Harrisburgh, a town situated on the Susquehannah, and from thence sent up that river, and dispersed throughout the adjoining country. The eastern branch of Susquehannah is navigable for two hundred and fifty miles above Harrisburgh. This place, which in 1786 scarcely deserved the name of a village, now contains upwards of three hundred houses. By land carriage Philadelphia also trades with the western parts of Pennsylvania, as far as Pittsburg itself, which is on the Ohio, with the back of Virginia, and, strange to tell, with Kentucky, seven hundred miles distant.

Philadelphia, however, does not enjoy the exclusive trade to Virginia and Kentucky; Baltimore, which lies more to the south, comes in for a considerable share, if not for the greatest part of it, and to that is indebted for her sudden rise, and her great superiority over Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. Annapolis, although it has a good harbour, and was made a port of entry as long ago as the year 1694, has scarcely any trade now. Baltimore, situated more in the heart of the country, has gradually drawn it all away from her. From Baltimore nearly the entire of Maryland is furnished with European manufactures. The very flourishing state of this place has already been mentioned.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF TRADING TOWNS.]

As the Patowmac river, and the towns upon it, are to come more particularly under notice afterwards, we may from hence pass on to the other towns in Virginia. With regard to Virginia, however, it is to be observed, that the impolitic laws[10] which have been enacted in that state have thrown a great damp upon trade; the Virginians too have always been more disposed towards agriculture than trade, so that the towns in that state, some of which are most advantageously situated, have never increased as they would have done had the county been inhabited by a different kind of people, and had different laws consequently existed; still however we shall find that the most flourishing towns in the state are those which are open to the sea, and situated most conveniently at the same time for trading with the people of the back country. On Rappahannock River, for instance, Tappahannock or Hobb’s Hole was laid out at the same time that Philadelphia was. Fredericksburgh was built many years afterwards on the same river, but thirty miles higher up, and at the head of that part of it which was navigable for sea vessels; the consequence of this has been, that Fredericksburgh, from being situated more in the heart of the country, is now four times as large a town as Hobb’s Hole.

Footnote 10:

For some account of them see Letter XIII.

York River, from running so closely to James River on the one side, and the Rappahannock on the other, does not afford a good situation for a large town. The largest town upon it, which is York, only contains seventy houses.

Williamsburgh was formerly the capital of the state, and contains about four hundred houses; but instead of increasing, this town is going to ruin, and numbers of the houses at present are uninhabited, which is evidently on account of its inland situation. There is no navigable stream nearer to it than one mile and a half, and this is only a small creek, which runs into James River. Richmond, on the contrary, which is the present capital of the state, has increased very fast, because it stands on a large navigable river; yet Richmond is no more than an intermediate place for the deposit of goods passing to and from the back country, vessels drawing more than seven feet water being unable to come up to the town.

[Sidenote: VIEW OF TRADING TOWNS.]

The principal place of trade in Virginia is Norfolk. This town has a good harbour, and is enabled to trade with the upper parts of the country, by means of James River, near the mouth of which it stands. By land also a brisk trade is carried on with the back parts of North Carolina, for in that state there are no towns of any importance. The entrance from the sea into the rivers in that state are all impeded by shoals and sand banks, none of which afford more than eleven feet water, and the passage over some of them is very dangerous from the sand shifting. Wilmington, which is the greatest place of trade in it, contains only two hundred and fifty houses. In order to carry on their trade to North Carolina to more advantage, a canal is now cutting across the Dismal Swamp, from Norfolk into Albemarle Sound, by means of the rivers that empty into which, a water communication will be opened to the remote parts of that state. Added to this, Norfolk, from its contiguity to the Dismal Swamp, is enabled to supply the West Indian market with lumber on better terms than any other town in the United States. It is in consequence increasing with wonderful rapidity, notwithstanding the disadvantages it labours under from the laws, which are so inimical to commerce. At present it contains upwards of five hundred houses, which have all been built within the last twenty years, for in the year 1776 the town was totally destroyed by orders of Lord Dunmore, then regal governor of Virginia.

Most of the rivers in South Carolina are obstructed at their mouths, much in the same manner as those in North Carolina; at Charleston, however, there is a safe and commodious harbour. From having such an advantage, this town commands nearly the entire trade of the state in which it is situated, as well as a considerable portion of that of North Carolina. The consequence is, that Charleston ranks as the fourth commercial town in the union. There are two rivers which disembogue on each side of the town, Cooper and Ashley; these are navigable, but not for a very great distance; however, from Cooper River a canal is to be cut to the Santee, a large navigable river which runs a considerable way up the country. Charleston has unfortunately been almost totally destroyed by fire of late, but it is rebuilding very fast, and will most probably in a few years be larger than ever.

The view that has been taken so far is sufficient to demonstrate, that the prosperity of the towns in the United States is dependant upon their trade, and principally upon that which is carried on with the interior parts of the country; and also, that those towns which are most conveniently situated for the purpose of carrying on this inland trade, are those which enjoy the greatest share of it. It is now time to examine more particularly how far the situation of the federal city is favourable, or otherwise, for commerce: to do so, it will be necessary, in the first place, to trace the course of the Patowmac River, on which it stands, and also that of the rivers with which it is connected.

[Sidenote: PATOWMAC RIVER.]

The Patowmac takes its rise on the north-west side of Alleghany Mountains, and after running in a meandering, direction for upwards of four hundred miles, falls into the Chesapeak Bay. At its confluence with the bay it is seven miles and a half wide; about thirty miles higher, at Nominy Bay, four and a half; at Aquia, three; at Hallowing Point, one and a half; and at Alexandria, and from thence to the federal city, it is one mile and quarter wide. The depth of water at its mouth is seven fathoms; at St. George’s Island, five; at Alexandria, four; and from thence to Washington, seven miles distant, three fathoms. The navigation of the Patowmac, from the Chesapeak Bay to the city, one hundred and forty miles distant, is remarkable safe, and so plain that any navigator of common abilities, that has once sailed up the river, might venture to take up a vessel drawing twelve feet water without a pilot. This could not be said of any other river on the continent, from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. In its course it receives several large streams, the principal one of which falls in at the federal city. This river is called the Eastern Branch of the Patowmac; but it scarcely deserves that name, as it extends no more than thirty miles up the country. At its mouth it is nearly as wide as the main branch of the river, and close to the city the water is in many places thirty feet deep. Thousands of vessels might lie here, and sheltered from all danger, arising either from freshes, or from ice upon the breaking up of a severe winter. Thus it appears that the federal city is possessed of one essential qualification for making it a place of importance, namely, a good harbour, from which there is a ready passage to the ocean; it will also appear that it is well situated for trading with the interior parts of the country.

[Sidenote: WATER COMMUNICATIONS.]