BOOK soil is of a mixed character, pretty good, but dry in the LXXX. south-east, poor and stony in the north-east, generally rich, but sometimes marshy in the north-west, and hilly, but well adapted for grazing in the south-west. The climate also is considerably diversified: it is cold in the north, towards the St. Lawrence; but milder in the south-east, and in the country lying along the southern shores of Lake Ontario. The State abounds, beyond any other, in beautiful and picturesque sheets of water. Lake Champlain, 128 miles long, and from half a mile to 12 miles broad, is chiefly in New York. It affords good navigation, and has a considerable amount of shipping on it, including one or two steam boats. Lake George, 35 miles long, and higher by 100 feet, is beautifully situated among lofty mountains. A series of long and narrow lakes, all extending in a south and north direction, and surrounded by eminences richly clothed in wood, adorn the fertile country south of Lake Ontario. The largest are, Oneida lake, 22 miles long, Seneca 35 miles, Cayuga 36 miles, Canandaigua 16 miles, Crooked lake 20 miles long, Skeneateles 14 miles, Owasco 11 miles, and Onondago 9 miles. They are almost all situated upon the courses of rivers, and are generally navigable. Wooden bridges strong enough to bear waggons are built over some of these lakes. The Americans are remarkably skilful in this sort of carpentry. One bridge, which crosses the Cayuga, is a mile in length, and cost 25,000 dollars. It is but twenty years since settlements began to be formed in this rich district, and it already possesses a large and prosperous population. "With Utica," says Lieutenant Hall, speaking of the country south of Lake Ontario, "commences that succession of flourishing villages and settlements which renders this tract of country the astonishment of travellers. That so large a portion of the soil should, on an average period of less than twenty years, be cleared, brought into cultivation, and have a large population settled on it, is in itself sufficiently surprising, but this feeling is increased when we consider the character of elegant opulence with which it every where LXXX. smiles on the eye. Every village teems like a hive with BOOK activity and enjoyment: the houses, taken generally, are on a large scale, for (excepting the few primitive log huts still surviving) there is scarcely one below the appearance of an opulent London tradesman's country box; nor is the style of building very unlike these, being generally of wood, painted white, with green doors and shutters, and porches or verandas in front."*"In passing through the United States," says another observer, who went over the same tract, "the traveller is particularly struck with the elegance and magnitude of the villages; and often feels inclined to ask where the labouring classes reside, as not a vestige of the meanness and penury that generally characterises their inhabitants is to be discovered. One would almost suppose Canandaigua and Geneva to have been built as places of summer resort for persons of fortune and fashion; since so much taste, elegance, comfort, and neatness are displayed in the design, appearance, and arrangement of the houses which compose them." New York, the principal town in the State, is the greatest commercial emporium in the new world, and is perhaps second only to London in the magnitude of its trade. It is finely situated at the south end of Manhattan island, at the head of a beautiful bay, nine miles long, and has an admirable harbour of unlimited extent, and capable of admitting vessels of any size close to the quays. The city extends about three miles along the harbour, and four miles along East River, and its progress has been so rapid that its population, which was only 35,131 in 1790, amounted to 123,706 in 1820.(a) It is less regular in its plan than Philadelphia, but its situation is more picturesque and commanding. The houses are of brick, and many of them handsome. There are sixty [in 1825, 100] places of worship, some of which are elegant. The city is adorned with several other fine buildings, the most celebrated of which is the City Hall. Travels in Canada and the United States in 1816 and 1817, by Francis Hall, p. 181. + Howison's Sketches of Upper Canada, &c. 1821. p. 290. (a) [In 1825, it amounted to 167,059.]—AM. ED. BOOK The Hudson, now united with Lake Erie by one canal, and LXXX. with Lake Champlain by another, affords New York advantages for inland trade far surpassing those of any other city in the United States except New Orleans. About half the foreign commodities used in the United States are imported here, and the export in 1820 amounted to 13,162,000 dollars, (£2,800,000,) of which 7,898,000 was domestic produce. There were nine or ten daily newspapers published in the city in 1822. According to returns made in 1821, 10,039,804 yards of cloth, of cotton, woollen, or linen, were made in the state that year. There were, at the same period, 184 cotton and woollen manufactories, 172 trip hammers, and 4304 saw-mills. The tonnage belonging to the state in 1821 was 244,338 tons. The population in the interval between 1790 and 1820 increased from 340,120 to 1,372,812,—a rate of increase not paralleled in any other of the old States. (a) Among the public improvements in the State, it would be unpardonable not to mention the grand canal which connects Lake Erie with the Hudson. It commences in the (b) neighbourhood of Albany, follows the course of the Mohawk river, and thence proceeding in a line parallel to the southern shores of Lake Ontario, it joins Lake Erie at Buffalo. It is 362 miles long, 40 feet wide at top, 28 at bottom, and 4 deep, and has an aggregate rise and fall of 654 feet, which is effected by 81 locks. It was begun in 1817, will be finished in 1824,(b) and cost about five millions of dollars. The canal is the property of the State, which advanced the funds for its execution, and must be admitted to be a noble monument of the opulence and public spirit of so small a community. It is impossible to praise in adequate terms the enlightened zeal which this State has shown in promoting education. According to a report made to the legislature in March 1824, there were in the State, in 1823, no less (a) [Population, in 1825, 1,616,548.]—Aм. En. (b) [The Erie Canal commences at Albany; and was completed in the aufuma of 1825.1-AM, ED. than 7382 common schools, at which were educated 400,534 young persons, being 27,000 more than the whole number of children between the ages of five and fifteen, and actually exceeding one-fourth of the entire population. In no other country in the world, as the reporter observes, is the proportion of persons attending the schools nearly so large. There are besides, 40 academies, and five colleges, which receive altogether about a million of dollars annually. The prevailing religious sects are the Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Dutch Reformed, German Lutherans, Quakers, &c. all of which support their own preachers without receiving any assistance from the State. The constitution, as amended in 1821, vests the legislative power in a Senate and House of Representatives, elected, the former for four years, the latter for one, by all the free citizens paying state taxes. This constitution is remarkable as containing (we believe) the first concession of political rights to the free blacks, (a) who are here allowed to vote at elections if they have been citizens three years, and possess a clear freehold of 250 dollars. BOOK LXXX. New Jersey lies between Pennsylvania and New York, New and occupies an area of 6900 square miles. The soil is Jersey. generally sandy and poor towards the coast, and hilly in the interior. It has very little commerce, but a considerable proportion of manufactures, particularly of iron, cotton, and leather. The State is rather deficient in common schools, but has a college at Princeton which enjoys a considerable reputation.(b) The population was 184,189 in 1790, and 277,575 in 1820. The Presbyterians are the most numerous denomination. vania, Pennsylvania. The name of Penn gave an early cele- Pennsylbrity to the republic of Pennsylvania. This benevolent individual, who received his grant from Charles the Second, (a) [This statement is by no means correct. No distinction is made between the free blacks and the whites, with regard to the right of voting at elections, by the constitutions of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.]-AM. ED. There is also a college at New Brunswick.]-AM. ED. BOOK in 1681, carried out a great number of Quakers with him, LXXX. from England, united them into a political society by a contract or constitution, and founded Philadelphia, which became the capital of the State. For the first time the peculiar principles of this sect were rendered practically operative in the concerns of government, and furnished the philosophers of Europe with a fine theme for speculation. Penn and his followers, unlike most of the other colonists, were guided by strict justice and good faith, in their transactions with the Indians. In all their public proceedings there was seen that singular plainness of speech, and patriarchal simplicity which characterize the Quakers; private differences were adjusted by arbitrators instead of judges; and, under the protection of the mother country, the Pennsylvanians were enabled to exhibit the remarkable spectacle of a political community subsisting without the smallest trace of military force; for the Quakers acted rigidly on the principle of not carrying arms, and for a long number of years there was not even a militia in the State.* As the numbers and business of the colonists increased, however, and as the adherents of other sects multiplied, this primitive simplicity gradually disappeared; but modern travellers still observe traces of its existence, in the sobriety, decorum, and orderly habits of the Philadelphians, and in the general moderation of the Pennsylvanians in the political affairs of the federal body, though there has been no want of jealousies and bickerings among themselves. Of 500 congregations in the State, in 1816, only 97, or about one-fifth, belonged to the Quakers. There were, at the same period, 86 congregations of Presbyterians, 94 of German Calvinists, 74 of German Lutherans, 60 of Baptists, 26 of Episcopalians, and a few of other sects. According to Dr. Morse, about one half of the inhabitants are of English or New England origin, one-fourth German, one-eighth Irish, and the remainder Scots, Welch, Swedes, and Dutch. The British Empire in America, containing the History, &c. of the British colonies. 2 vol. 8vo. 1741, 1, 296. |