superior healthiness of Washington to those cities. In European cities, the annual deaths are, one to 28, making a vast difference in favour of Washington.

POPULATION. The population of the district of Columbia, at the last census (1810,) amounted to 24,023-now, in all probability, 30,000. The city contained 8,208, Georgetown 4,948, and Alexandria 7,227; Washington county 2,315, and Alexandria county 1,325 inhabitants.

COMMERCE.-Its commercial importance has, perhaps, never been duly appreciated. From its central situation, surrounded by a rich, fertile, and flourishing country, commanding the most extensive internal resources, it must soon become one of the richest commercial territories in the United States. In 1813, it exported, in domestic productions and manufactures, to the amount of 1,387,000 dollars; thus surpassing in exports alone, both Connecticut and Vermont; and in 1803 it paid in duties on imports 143,000 dollars. Its rising prosperity is marked and perceptible; and though it has been opposed by all the violence of prejudice, and all the obstacles of conflicting interests, it has risen with great rapidity, and promises to be of vast political and commercial importance to the United States Its natural advantages are calculated to promote that object: Situated on the great postroad from the northern to the southern extremities of the United States, and almost equi-distant from the Atlantic on the one side and the Ohio on the other, which yield it every facility of naviga

tion, and open to it all the trade of the west, it is impossible that it can avoid becoming the most wealthy and eligible territory in the Union.

MANUFACTURES.--Its manufactures are in a flourishing condition, and are daily increasing in variety and capital.

CONSTITUTION AND LAWS.By the constitution of the United States the national legislature have the power to exercise exclusive legislation over this territory, and to enact such laws in relation to it, as may be deemed necessary and proper. Whether Government could assume this right, consistently with the nature and principles of our political institutions, and thus exclude a large population from the privileges of freemen, we shall not now pause to examine. It is, however, certain, we are for many years destined to be deprived of the right of suffrage; a privilege so much and so highly prized by our countrymen.

The laws of Virginia and Maryland, prior to the year 1800, are still in force in the district, excepting such as have been repealed or modified by the national legislature, who have exclusive jurisdiction over it. Congress have, however, lately passed a law authorizing the Judges of the Circuit Court, in conjunction with the Attorney General of the United States, to form a code of laws for its government, which we trust will obviate all those difficulties hitherto experienced from the various and conflicting statutes of the adjacent States, and from the inconvenient organization of the District Courts.

WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON CITY.-The city of Washington, which forms an important section of the district of Columbia, was selected by General Washington, from whom it takes its name, as the metropolis of the United States; and no selection could have been more judicious or excellent. Its central situation-the romantic and picturesque beauty of its site-the salubrity of its climate-and the excellence of its water-all combine to render it the most desirable spot in the United States. It comprises a square of four miles in extent, and is watered by the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, which add to its natural beauty, and will contribute to the facility of its commerce. There are on each side of those rivers, and, indeed, in almost every possible direction, the most beautiful elevations, calculated for the residence of private gentlemen, of those who may wish to retire from the turmoil and bustle of the town. These heights command extensive and variegated prospects of the district, of the surrounding country, and of the meanderings of the Potomac, as far as the eye can reach while their convenience to the neighbouring towns of the district enables them to afford every advantage and pleasure that can result from a union of town and country. The city is divided into squares by streets running north and south, east and west; but to destroy the sameness and insipidity which this plan would produce there are diagonal streets, or avenues, leading from one public place to another, which tend to diversify and variegate prospects

naturally elegant. The avenues are called after the different states which constituted the union at the time the city was laid out, and are from 130 to 160 feet wide, including a pavement of 10 feet, and a gravel walk of 30 feet, planted on each side with trees. The other streets are from 90 to 110 feet wide, and are named numerically when they run from north to south, and alphabetically when from east to west. The Eastern Branch, or Anacostia river, affords from the depth of its channels, and its security from storms, one of the safest and most commodious harbours in the United States, and will unquestionably become, from the convenience which the canal, now nearly completed, will afford, the most commercial portion of the metropolis.

The capitol is a large and massy edifice of free-stone, built according to the Corinthian order, and situated on a beautiful elevation of ground, equidistant from the Eastern Branch and the President's house. But two wings of this elegant edifice have yet been completed, and these were unfortunately very much injured by the rude hand of our late foe. They are, however, in a fair way to be speedily repaired, and restored to more than their pristine beauty and elegance: which will be augmented when the capitol square, lately authorized to be graduated, shall have been laid off into walks, planted with trees, and decorated with taste. The wall around the square is nearly completed; the coping of stone is now on one third of it, and a portion of the iron-railing will go on this season. A delightful ave

nue

nue leads from the capitol to the President's house, another elegant edifice, built also of free-stone, according to the Ionic proportions. This, like its companion, the capitol, has been partially destroyed by the hand of our late enemy. The barbarous and absurd policy of waging a savage and destructive warfare against the productions of art cannot be sufficiently reprobated. We had hoped that at this period of the world, when the refinements of civilization had introduced a liberality of sentiment and generosity of feeling into modern war, such arts of Vandalism would have been avoided. We had hoped, that a nation that had so frequently boasted of her refine ment, and of the encouragement and protection she has afforded to the productions of human ingenuity, would have been the last to have cast the firebrand amid the monuments of those arts she affects to be solicitous to protect and defend.

The next object in the city to which the attention is attracted is the naval yard. This establishment is at present resuscitating from the smouldering ruins of war, and will, from the attention Government seems to pay it, soon surpass the flourishing condition which it had once attained. They have now nearly completed the line of battle ship, and promise to be speedily able to build vessels of any magnitude less than a 74. There is, perhaps, no situation in the United States better calculated than this for a national establishment of this kind. The facility with which materials and munitions of war can be procured, the

depth and excellence of the harbour, and its security from destruction by storms and enemies, particularly when the Chesapeake, which is now in contemplation, shall be properly and effectually defended, contribute to render it an essential object of governniental attention. In this yard, near its entrance, the officers of the navy have erected a monument to the memory of Wadsworth, Israel, &c., those gallant young men who voluntarily sacrificed themselves on the altar of freedom, rather than become the slaves of despotic barbarians. This monument, which is of marble, was executed in Italy, by eminent artists. It has not yet, however, received its last polish, and still remains for the hand of the mas

ter.

It is a small column of the Doric order, with emblematical embellishments, and crowned with an eagle in the act of flying. This pillar rests on a base, sculptured in basso-relievo, representing Tripoli, its fortresses, the Mediterranean, and our fleet in the fore-ground; and on each corner stands an appropriate figure, elegantly executed. The one represents Columbia, directing the attention of her children to History, who is recording the daring and intrepid action of the American heroes; the third represents Fame, with a wreath of laurel in one hand, and a pen in the other; and the fourth represents Mercury, or the God of Commerce, with his cornucopia and caduceus. These are the principal monuments of art which Washington contains. We must not, however, neglect to mention, among other curiosities of the metropolis, a curiosity

curiosity of literature which it possesses. The national library, formerly the library of Mr. Jefferson, is an object calculated to attract the attention and gratify the curiosity of the enlightened traveller. It contains almost all the rare and valuable works in literature and science; and though much has been objected to it by ignorant men, it is not perhaps surpassed in literary value, selection and arrangement by any institution of the same character and extent in Europe. This library was purchased of Mr. Jefferson for a sum trifling in comparison with the real value of the collection, to supply the loss of the former library of Government, destroyed by the British. While the liberality of Congress was so munificently extended to themselves, it ought not to have escaped them, that an institution like this, so beneficial in its moral and intellectual tendencies, was entitled to their most serious attention. It became them, in a peculiar manner, as a body of enlightened men, to foster and encourage, by every possible means, an establishment calculated to reflect so much honour on the country: and, instead of the petty appropriation now made, at least five thousand dollars should have been annually bestowed, in order to increase the establishment, and render it worthy of a free and enlightened nation.

It rests with us now to make a few remarks on the prospects of future greatness, prosperity, and permanence held out to this city. It has been said, that much good often originates from much ap

parent evil; and the truth of this aphorism is exemplified by the late calamity which the city experienced from the invasion of the late enemy. Great prejudices had existed in the legislative branch of the Government against this place, and many powerful efforts had been made to remove the seat of Government without success. The shock it received by its recent destruction had a tendency to further the object of its enemies.

An attempt was therefore made with every prospect of success; but that attempt also failed, and now there scarcely remains a single doubt of its stability, or of the disposition of Congress to abandon every effort that may lead to the removal of the seat of Government. The invasion and destruction of the city, though an event in itself to be deplored, has yet been productive of much benefit, by begetting a confidence in the permanency of the seat of Government, and producing a disposition, on the part of Congress, to afford it every assistance and encouragement within their power. It is not necessary to look far forward to see this the most flourishing city in the United States. From the rapidity with which it has recently increased, in the value of its property, the number and respectability of its population, and extension of its internal commerce, we cannot avoid beholding the brilliant destiny to which it is hastening; and in its progress to that elevation to which it is certain, at no distant period, to attain, it has our warmest and most cordial wishes.

JOURNEY