CITY OF ALBANY. 235 



part of the Union. A. further impulse for I can honestly 

 say, that in the State of New York, both in Albany and 

 elsewhere, I met with a very large number of intelligent 

 and zealous men, who were already most anxious to 

 improve and promote the agriculture of their native 

 country. There are, of course, here as in other countries, 

 many drags on their wheels, and a large infusion of the 

 same spirit prevails in New England which in Old Eng 

 land still retards the introduction of new and the aban 

 donment of old and less profitable methods of husbandry. 



Albany, the seat of government of the Empire State, 

 is a city of 45,000 inhabitants. It is prettily situated on 

 the banks of the river Hudson, which, skirting the river 

 with a narrow edging of flat land, ascend with a rapid 

 slope on either shore. On this flat margin, and along 

 the steep slope, the city stands. Upon the summit of the 

 slope, knolls of higher ground here and there occur, and 

 tufts of the old forest, which present from the river 

 many agreeable points of view, and afford pleasant sites 

 for houses, of which the wealthier citizens of Albany 

 are very generally availing themselves. The town is 

 well built, chiefly of brick, and has some remnants of 

 young antiquity about it in a few of the original houses 

 which were built by the old Dutch settlers, and with 

 clinkers brought from Holland. It appears to us now a 

 very simple proceeding to bring bricks dug from the 

 fens of Holland across the Atlantic to build houses on 

 banks of stiff clay, clothed with forests of abundant fuel ! 

 The State House, called the Capitol, stood on what was 

 the highest part of the city at the time it was built ; but 

 the city has since extended, and the Roman Catholics 

 have possessed themselves of the real summit or highest 

 part of the bank, and are building upon it a magnificent 

 cathedral. 



The Romanists are a powerful body in Albany, and 

 command a very numerous vote. They had a bazaar for 



