RETURN FROM PITTSBURG 331 



The advantages which Baltimore has hitherto de- 

 rived from its trade, as the most productive source of 

 its prosperity, will arouse the envy and the imitation 

 of others. The city therefore cannot forever boast of 

 the exclusive trade of the Bay, and can scarcely con- 

 tinue to develope with the rapidity so far observed, 

 but from its situation it must remain always one of 

 the most important commercial places. Alexandria 

 and Georgetown on the Potowmack, and Norfolk at 

 the entrance of the Bay, (which during the war lay 

 in ashes, but is now beginning to revive), and other 

 Virginia towns besides are greedy for commerce, and 

 these must all do an injury more or less to the busi- 

 ness here, although they can never raise themselves to 

 a similar greatness. The merchants of Baltimore are 

 not careless of these things, and in order that their 

 trade may not be again distributed or seen to fall into 

 other hands, they have expressed the wish that a 

 ' Board of Trade,' or commercial collegium, be estab- 

 lished, the members of which should have the capacity 

 and the experience to hit upon regulations for the 

 maintenance and strengthening of their commerce. 



Soon after its settlement, the number of the inhabi- 

 tants of Baltimore was increased by many French 

 families who came hither from Acadia or New Scot- 

 land. This province having long since been given 

 over to England by the crown of France, all the French 

 families there remained in undisturbed possession and 

 in the full enjoyment of all rights and liberties along 

 with the other colonists newly brought in from Great 

 Britain. But they afterwards, despite of their oath of 

 allegiance, letting their secret and rooted enmity to the 

 English government and nation be seen on all occa- 



