its waters, in the vicinage of Pittsburgh, may have an interest in
trading to the federal city, yet those who live towards the mouth of
that river will find an interest equally great in trading to New
Orleans, for the Ohio River is no less than eleven hundred and
eighty-three miles in length. How far down upon the Ohio a commercial
intercourse will be kept up with the city, will most probably be
determined by other circumstances than that of distance alone; it may
depend upon the demand there may be at one or other port for particular
articles, &c. &c.; it may also depend upon the season; for at regular
periods there are floods in the Mississippi, and also in the Ohio, which
make a great difference in the time of ascending and descending these
rivers. The floods in the Mississippi are occasioned by the dissolution
of the immense bodies of snow and ice accumulated during winter in those
northern regions through which the river passes; they are also very
regular, beginning in the month of March and subsiding in July. Those in
the Ohio take place between Christmas and May; but they are not regular
and steady like those of the Mississippi, for the water rises and falls
many times in the course of the season. These floods are occasioned by
heavy falls of rain in the beginning of winter, as well as by the
thawing of the ice.
The Mississippi has a very winding course[12], and at every bend there
is an eddy in the water. These eddies are always strongest during the
inundations, consequently it is then a much less difficult task to
ascend the river. With the Ohio, however, it is directly the reverse;
there are no eddies in the river; wherefore floods are found to
facilitate the passage downwards; but to render that against the stream
difficult.
Footnote 12:
In the year 1722, as a party of Canadians were going down the river,
they found at one place such a bend in it, that although the distance
across land, from one part of the river to the other, was not more
perhaps than two hundred yards, yet by water it was no less than forty
miles—The Canadians cut a trench across the land for curiosity—The
soil bordering upon the Mississippi is remarkably rich and soft, and
the current being strong, the river in a short time forced a new
passage for itself, and the Canadians took their boat through it. This
place is called Pointe Coupée. There are many similar bends in the
river at present, but none so great.
[Sidenote: NAVIGATIONS.]
Supposing, however, the season favourable for the navigation of the
Mississippi, and also for the navigation of the Ohio, which it might
well be at the same time, then Louisville, in Kentucky, is the place
through which the line may be drawn that will separate as nearly as
possible the country naturally connected with Washington from that
appertaining to New Orleans. It takes twenty days, on an average, at the
most favourable season, to go from Louisville to New Orleans, and to
return, forty; which in the whole makes sixty days. From the rapids in
the Ohio, close to which Louisville is situated, to Pittsburgh, the
distance is seven hundred and three miles; so that at the rate of thirty
miles a day, which is a moderate computation, it would require
twenty-four days to go there. From Pittsburgh to the Patowmac the
distance is one hundred and sixty miles against the stream, which at the
same rate, and allowing time for the portages, would take seven days
more, and two hundred and ninety miles down the Patowmac, at sixty miles
per day, would require five days: this is allowing thirty-five days for
going, and computing the time for returning at the same rate, that is
thirty miles against the stream, and sixty miles with the stream, each
day, it would amount to twenty-five days, which, added to the time of
going, makes in the whole fifty-nine days; if the odd day be allowed for
contingencies, the passage to and from the two places would then be
exactly alike. It is fair then to conclude, that if the demand at the
federal city for country produce be equally great as at New Orleans, and
there is no reason to say why it should not, the whole of the produce of
that country, which lies contiguous to the Ohio, and the rivers falling
into it, as far down as Louisville in Kentucky, will be sent to the
former of these places. This tract is seven hundred miles in length, and
from one hundred to two hundred miles in breadth. Added to this, the
whole of that country lying near the Alleghany River, and the streams
that run into it, must naturally be supplied from the city; a great part
of the country bordering upon Lake Erie, near Presqu’ Isle, may likewise
be included.
Considering the vastness of the territory, which is thus opened to the
federal city by means of a water communication; considering that it is
capable, from the fertility of its soil, of maintaining three times the
number of inhabitants that are to be found at present in all the United
States; and that it is advancing at the present time more rapidly in
population than any other part of the whole continent; there is a good
foundation for thinking that the federal city, as soon as the navigation
is perfected, will increase most rapidly; and that at a future day, if
the affairs of the United States go on as prosperously as they have
done, it will become the grand emporium of the west, and rival in
magnitude and splendor the cities of the old world.
[Illustration:
_Plan of the_ CITY _of_ WASHINGTON
]
[Sidenote: CITY OF WASHINGTON.]
The city is laid out on a neck of land between the forks formed by the
eastern and western or main branch of Patowmac River. This neck of land,
together with an adjacent territory, which is in the whole ten miles
square, was ceded to congress by the states of Maryland and Virginia.
The ground on which the city immediately stands was the property of
private individuals, who readily relinquished their claim to one half of
it in favour of congress, conscious that the value of what was left to
them would increase, and amply compensate them for their loss. The
profits arising from the sale that part of which has thus been ceded to
congress will be sufficient, it is expected, to pay for the public
buildings, for the watering of the city, and also for paving and
lighting of the streets. The plan of the city was drawn by a Frenchman
of the name of L’Enfant, and is on a scale well suited to the extent of
the country, one thousand two hundred miles in length, and one thousand
in breadth, of which it is to be the metropolis; for the ground already
marked out for it is no less than fourteen miles in circumference. The
streets run north, south, east, and west; but to prevent that sameness
necessarily ensuing from the streets all crossing each other at right
angles, a number of avenues are laid out in different parts of the city,
which run transversely; and in several places, where these avenues
intersect each other, are to be hollow squares. The streets, which cross
each other at right angles, are from ninety to one hundred feet wide,
the avenues one hundred and sixty feet. One of these is named after each
state, and a hollow square also allotted to each, as a suitable place
for statues, columns, &c. which, at a future period, the people of any
one of these states may wish to erect to the memory of great men that
may appear in the country. On a small eminence, due west of the capitol,
is to be an equestrian statue of General Washington.
The capitol is now building upon the most elevated spot of ground in the
city, which happens to be in a very central situation. From this spot
there is a complete view of every part of the city, and also of the
adjacent country. In the capitol are to be spacious apartments for the
accommodation of congress; in it also are to be the principal public
offices in the executive department of the government, together with the
courts of justice. The plan on which this building is begun is grand and
extensive; the expense of building it is estimated at a million of
dollars, equal to two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds sterling.
[Sidenote: ERECTIONS.]
The house for the residence of the president stands north-west of the
capitol, at the distance of about one mile and a half. It is situated
upon a rising ground not far from the Patowmac, and commands a most
beautiful prospect of the river, and of the rich country beyond it. One
hundred acres of ground, towards the river, are left adjoining to the
house for pleasure grounds. South of this there is to be a large park or
mall, which is to run in an easterly direction from the river to the
capitol. The buildings on either side of this mall are all to be elegant
in their kind; amongst the number it is proposed to have houses built at
the public expense for the accommodation of the foreign ministers, &c.
On the eastern branch a large spot is laid out for a marine hospital and
gardens. Various other parts are appointed for churches, theatres,
colleges, &c. The ground in general, within the limits of the city, is
agreeably undulated; but none of the risings are so great as to become
objects of inconvenience in a town. The soil is chiefly of a yellowish
clay mixed with gravel. There are numbers of excellent springs in the
city, and water is readily had in most places by digging wells. Here are
two streams likewise, which run through the city, Reedy Branch and Tiber
Creek.[13] The perpendicular height of the source of the latter, above
the level of the tide, is two hundred and thirty-six feet.
Footnote 13:
Upon the granting possession of waste lands to any person, commonly
called the _location_ of lands, it is usual to give particular names
to different spots, and also to the creeks and rivers. On the original
location of the ground now allotted for the seat of the federal city,
this creek received the name of Tiber Creek, and the identical spot of
ground on which the capitol now stands was called Rome. This anecdote
is related by many as a certain prognostic of the future magnificence
of this city, which is to be, as it were, a second Rome.
By the regulations published, it was settled that all the houses should
be built of brick or stone; the walls to be thirty feet high, and to be
built parallel to the line of the street, but either upon it or
withdrawn from it, as suited the taste of the builder. However, numbers
of wooden habitations have been built; but the different owners have all
been cautioned against considering them as permanent. They are to be
allowed for a certain term only, and then destroyed. Three
commissioners, who reside on the spot, are appointed by the president,
with a salary, for the purpose of superintending the public and other
buildings, and regulating every thing pertaining to the city.
The only public buildings carrying on as yet, are the president’s house,
the capitol, and a large hotel. The president’s house, which is nearly
completed on the outside, is two stories high, and built of free stone.
The principal room in it is of an oval form. This is undoubtedly the
handsomest building in the country, and the architecture cf it is much
extolled by the people, who have never seen any thing superior; but it
will not bear a critical examination. Many persons find fault with it,
as being too large and too splendid for the residence of any one person
in a republican country; and certainly it is a ridiculous habitation for
a man who receives a salary that amounts to no more than £.5,625
sterling per annum, and in a country where the expences of living are
far greater than they are even in London.
[Sidenote: BUILDINGS.]
The hotel is a large building of brick, ornamented with stone; it stands
between the president’s house and the capitol. In the beginning of the
year 1796, when I last saw it, it was roofed in, and every exertion
making to have it finished with the utmost expedition. It is any thing
but beautiful. The capitol, at the same period, was raised only a very
little way above the foundation.
The stone, which the president’s house is built with, and such as will
be used for all the public buildings, is very similar in appearance to
that found at Portland in England; but I was informed by one of the
sculptors, who had frequently worked the Portland stone in England, that
it is of a much superior quality, as it will bear to be cut as fine as
marble, and is not liable to be injured by rain or frost. On the banks
of the Patowmac they have inexhaustible quarries of this stone; good
specimens of common marble have also been found; and there is in various
parts of the river abundance of excellent slate, paving stone, and lime
stone. Good coal may also be had.
The private houses are all plain buildings; most of them have been built
on speculation, and still remain empty. The greatest number, at any one
place, is at Green Leafs Point, on the main river, just above the
entrance of the eastern branch. This spot has been looked upon by many
as the most convenient one for trade; but others prefer the shore of the
eastern branch, on account of the superiority of the harbour, and the
great depth of the water near the shore. There are several other
favourite situations, the choice of any one of which is a mere matter of
speculation at present. Some build near the capitol, as the most
convenient place for the residence of members of congress, some near the
president’s house; others again prefer the west end of the city, in the
neighbourhood of George Town, thinking that as trade is already
established in that place, it must be from thence that it will extend
into the city. Were the houses that have been built situated in one
place all together, they would make a very respectable appearance, but
scattered about as they are, a spectator can scarcely perceive any thing
like a town. Excepting the streets and avenues, and a small part of the
ground adjoining the public buildings, the whole place is covered with
trees. To be under the necessity of going through a deep wood for one or
two miles, perhaps, in order to see a next door neighbour, and in the
same city, is a curious, and, I believe, a novel circumstance. The
number of inhabitants in the city, in the spring of 1796, amounted to
about five thousand, including artificers, who formed by far the largest
part of that number. Numbers of strangers are continually passing and
repassing through a place which affords such an extensive field for
speculation.
[Sidenote: CITY OF WASHINGTON.]
[Sidenote: DISCONTENTS.]
In addition to what has already been said upon the subject, I have only
to observe, that notwithstanding all that has been done at the city, and
the large sums of money which have been expended, there are numbers of
people in the United States, living to the north of the Patowmac,
particularly in Philadelphia, who are still very adverse to the removal
of the seat of government thither, and are doing all in their power to
check the progress of the buildings in the city, and to prevent the
congress from meeting there at the appointed time. In the spring of
1796, when I was last on the spot, the building of the capitol was
absolutely at a stand for want of money; the public lots were at a very
low price, and the commissioners were unwilling to dispose of them; in
consequence they made an application to congress, praying the house to
guaranty a loan of three hundred thousand dollars, without which they
could not go on with the public buildings, except they disposed of the
lots to great disadvantage, and to the ultimate injury of the city; so
strong, however, was the opposition, that the petition was suffered to
lie on the table unattended to for many weeks; nor was the prayer of it
complied with until a number of gentlemen, that were very deeply
interested in the improvement of the city, went round to the different
members, and made interest with them in person to give their assent to
the measure. These people, who are opposed to the building of the city
of Washington maintain, that it can never become a town of any
importance, and that all such as think to the contrary have been led
astray by the representations of a few enthusiastic persons; they go so
far even as to assert, that the people to the eastward will never submit
to see the seat of government removed so far from them, and the congress
assembled in a place little better than a forest, where it will be
impossible to procure information upon commercial points; finally, they
insist, that if the removal from Philadelphia should take place, a
separation of the states will inevitably follow. This is the language
held forth; but their opposition in reality arises from that jealousy
which narrow minded people in trade are but too apt to entertain of each
other when their interests clash together. These people wish to crush
the city of Washington while it is yet in its infancy, because they
know, that if the seat of government is transferred thither, the place
will thrive, and enjoy a considerable portion of that trade which is
centered at present in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York. It is
idle, however, to imagine that this will injure their different towns;
on the contrary, although a portion of that trade which they enjoy at
present should be drawn from them, yet the increase of population in
that part of the country, which they must naturally supply, will be
such, that their trade on the whole will, in all probability, be found
far more extensive after the federal city is established than it ever
was before.
A large majority, however, of the people in the United States is
desirous that the removal of the seat of government should take place;
and there is little doubt that it will take place at the appointed time.
The discontents indeed, which an opposite measure would give rise to in
the south could not but be alarming, and if they did not occasion a
total separation of the southern from the northern states, yet they
would certainly materially destroy that harmony which has hitherto
existed between them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+LETTER + V.
_Some Account of Alexandria.—Mount Vernon, the Seat of General
Washington.—Difficulty of finding the Way thither through the
Woods.—Description of the Mount, and of the Views from it.—Description
of the House and Grounds.—Slaves at Mount Vernon.—Thoughts thereon.—A
Person at Mount Vernon to attend to Strangers.—Return to Washington._
MY DEAR SIR, Washington, December.
FROM Washington I proceeded to Alexandria, seven miles lower down the
river, which is one of the neatest towns in the United States. The
houses are mostly brick, and many of them are extremely well built. The
streets intersect each other at right angles; they are commodious and
well paved. Nine miles below this place, on the banks of the Patowmac,
stands Mount Vernon, the seat of General Washington; the way to it,
however, from Alexandria, by land, is considerably farther, on account
of the numerous creeks which fall into the Patowmac, and the mouths of
which it is impossible to pass near to.
[Sidenote: MOUNT VERNON.]
Very thick woods remain standing within four or five miles of the place;
the roads through them are very bad, and so many of them cross one
another in different directions, that it is a matter of very great
difficulty to find out the right one. I set out from Alexandria with a
gentleman who thought himself perfectly well acquainted with the way;
had he been so, there was ample time to have reached Mount Vernon before
the close of the day, but night overtook us wandering about in the
woods. We did not perceive the vestige of a human being to set us right,
and we were preparing to pass the night in the carriage, when luckily a
light appeared at some distance through the trees; it was from a small
farm house, the only one in the way for several miles; and having made
our way to it, partly in the carriage, partly on foot, we hired a negro
for a guide, who conducted us to the place of our destination in about
an hour. The next morning I heard of a gentleman, who, a day or two
preceding, had been from ten o’clock in the morning till four in the
afternoon on horseback, unable to find out the place, although within
three or four miles of it the whole time.
[Illustration:
VIEW _of_ MOUNT VERNON _the seat of_ GEN. WASHINGTON
_Published Dec. 21. 1798, by J. Stockdale, Piccadilly._
]
[Sidenote: MOUNT VERNON.]
The Mount is a high part of the bank of the river, which rises very
abruptly about two hundred feet above the level of the water. The river
before it is three miles wide, and on the opposite side it forms a bay
about the same breadth, which extends for a considerable distance up the
country. This, at first light, appears to be a continuation of the
river; but the Patowmac takes a very sudden turn to the left, two or
three miles above the house, and is quickly lost to the view. Downwards,
to the right, there is a prospect of it for twelve miles. The Maryland
shore, on the opposite side, is beautifully diversified with hills,
which are mostly covered with wood; in many places, however, little
patches of cultivated ground appear, ornamented with houses. The scenery
altogether is most delightful. The house, which stands about sixty yards
from the edge of the Mount, is of wood, cut and painted so as to
resemble hewn stone. The rear is towards the river, at which side is a
portico of ninety-six feet in length, supported by eight pillars. The
front is uniform, and at a distance looks tolerably well. The dwelling
house is in the center, and communicates with the wings on either side,
by means of covered ways, running in a curved direction. Behind these
wings, on the one side, are the different offices belonging to the
house, and also to the farm, and on the other, the cabins for the
SLAVES[14]. In front, the breadth of the whole building, is a lawn with
a gravel walk round it, planted with trees, and separated by hedges on
either side from the farm yard and garden. As for the garden, it wears
exactly the appearance of a nursery, and with every thing about the
place indicates that more attention is paid to profit than to pleasure.
The ground in the rear of the house is also laid out in a lawn, and the
declivity of the Mount, towards the water, in a deer park.
Footnote 14:
These are amongst the first of the buildings which are seen on coming
to Mount Vernon; and it is not without astonishment and regret they
are surveyed by the stranger, whose mind has dwelt with admiration
upon the inestimable blessings of liberty, whilst approaching the
residence of that man who has distinguished himself so gloriously in
its cause. Happy would it have been, if the man who stood forth the
champion of a nation contending for its freedom, and whose declaration
to the whole world was, “That all men were created equal, and that
they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
amongst the first of which were life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness;” happy would it have been, if this man could have been the
first to wave all interested views, to liberate his own slaves, and
thus convince the people he had fought for, that it was their duty,
when they had established their own independence, to give freedom to
those whom they had themselves held in bondage!!