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the daily employment of hackney coaches indispensable.

"Notwithstanding the unfavorable aspect which Washington presented on our arrival, I cannot sufficiently express my admiration of its local position. From the Capitol you have a distinct view of its fine undulating surface, situated at the confluence of the Potomac and its Eastern Branch, the wide expanse of that majestic river to the bend at Mount Vernon, the cities of Alexandria and Georgetown, and the cultivated fields and blue hills of Maryland and Virginia on either side of the river, the whole constituting a prospect of surpassing beauty and grandeur.

"The city has also the inestimable advantage of delightful water, in many instances flowing from copious springs, and always attainable by digging to a moderate depth; to which may be added the singular fact that such is the due admixture of loam and clay in the soil of a great portion of the city, that a house may be built of brick made of the earth dug from the cellar; hence it was not unusual to see the remains of a brick kiln near the newly-erected dwelling house or other edifice. In short, when we consider not only these advantages, but what in a national point of view, is of superior importance, the location on a fine, navigable river, accessi

ble to the whole maritime frontier of the United States, and yet easily rendered defensible against foreign invasion; and that, by the facilities of internal navigation and railways, it may be approached by the population of the Western States, and indeed of the whole nation, with less inconvenience than any other conceivable situation, we must acknowledge that its selection by Washington as the permanent Seat of the Federal Government, affords a striking exhibition of the discernment, wisdom, and forecast, which characterized that illustrious man. Under this impression, whenever, during the six years of my connection with Congress, the question of removing the Seat of Government to some other place was agitated-and the proposition was frequently made-I stood almost alone as a Northern man in giving my vote in the negative."

XX.

WHAT A FOREIGN MINISTER SAID OF THE PLACE IN JEFFERSON'S TIME.

Sir Augustus Foster, who was Secretary of Legation at Washington to the British Minister, Mr. Merry, during the years 1804-'5 and '6, has given some rather entertaining accounts of the state of society here, in the time of Mr. Jefferson.

They are the more interesting, as showing the impression made upon an intelligent foreigner, having access to the best circles. The following extracts are from the notice of his book (which was not published) contained in the Quarterly Review, in 1841:

"The Spanish Envoy, De Caso Yrujo, told Sir Augustus, it was difficult to produce a decent dinner in the new capital, without sending fifty or sixty miles for its materials. Things had mended somewhat before the writer's arrival, but still he found enough to surprise and bewilder him in the desolate vastness and mean accommodations of the unshaped metropolis. He attributes the selection of the locality, partly at least, to General Washington's partiality for the neighborhood of his own paternal property; but seems to think the inconveniences attending such a choice would have, ere long, produced a removal to some already large and well-supplied city near the Atlantic, but for certain considerations of a personal and not very dignified nature, which were of paramount importance with Mr. Jefferson."

CONGRESS IN 1804.

In the following we have a hit at Congress, which does not accord with the received notion of the dignity and gentlemanly breeding of

those who first attained that position in our country:

"The richer and more respectable members of Congress had, for the most part, always inclined to vote for returning to Philadelphia, or selecting some other town of practical importance, but every such proposal had been distasteful to the majority, it being in a great measure composed of rough and unfashioned persons, to whom it is of consequence to be in a place where they could be attended to more than in a large city. This majority had usually found support in the Government, so long composed of Virginians, who naturally preferred Washington to any remoter situation; but the removal could hardly, he apprehends, have been avoided, but for the determined personal opposition of Jefferson. This President alleged as his reason the danger of throwing open again a question so difficult and delicate as that of the choice of the Seat of Government."

CITIZENS.

Of private citizens, Sir Augustus says: "Very few private gentlemen have houses in Washington. I only recollect three: Mr. Brent, Mr. Tayloe, and Mr. Carroll." He enumerates, however, several country seats within an easy

distance, where there was abundant and even elegant hospitality; particularly those of Mr. Key, an eminent lawyer, originally an officer in the English service; Mr. Calvert, Mr. Ogle, and Mr. Lewis.

"There were a great number of rich proprietors in the State of Maryland. In the district nearest the City of Washington alone, of which Tontgomery county forms a part, I was assured that there were five hundred persons possessing est. tes which returned them an income of £1,000. Mr. Lloyd, a member of Congress, on the Eastern Branch, possessed a net revenue of between £6,000 and £7,000, with which he had only to buy clothes for himself and family, wines, equipage, furniture and other luxuries. Mr. Ringold possessed, near Hagerstown, a property yielding him an income of 12,000 dollars a year; and he rented his lands to tenants (whom he was at liberty to change, if he pleased, every year) for five dollars per acre, though he was to stand the expense of all repairs. Mr. Ringold kept but 600 acres in his own hands for stock. Mr. Tayloe, also, whose whole income exceeded £15,000 per annum, had a great portion of it in Maryland, chiefly at Nanjemoy, where he held 3,000 acres, which his father bought for £500!!! His property, too, must by this time be very considerably augmented,

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