352 ADVANTAGES OF VIRGINIA. 



Alexandria in u Old Virginia.&quot; The day was fine, the 

 river broad and beautiful, and the town of Alexandria 

 well built and clean. But though in the &quot; old dominion,&quot; 

 it presented in its streets, houses, or public buildings, 

 no marks of such antiquity as could carry one quietly 

 back to other days, before the bustle and noise had come 

 in, and the incessant novelties of these feverish times. 



And yet Virginia is rich in subjects of reflection, and 

 the contrast of its past and present condition is full of 

 instruction. 



When the Constitution of the United States was 

 adopted, Virginia was the most powerful State in the 

 Union. Its population was double that of the State of 

 New York, its wealth greater, its political influence pre 

 dominant. It has alone given to the Union five of the 

 thirteen chief magistrates who have hitherto filled its 

 presidential chair. 



Virginia is also, with the exception of two or three of 

 the newest States of the Union, the most extensive in 

 area. It contains 70,000, while New York contains 

 only 47,000 square miles. It enjoys a delightful climate, 

 possesses a fertile soil, is rich in minerals and timber, has 

 magnificent rivers descending from the Blue Ridge and 

 the Alleghanies eastward to the Atlantic, and westward 

 to the Ohio, and rivals in its harbours the safest and 

 most capacious in the world. 



Since the Union it has increased in wealth and popu 

 lation and power, but it is no longer the first in any of 

 these respects. In all, it is now surpassed by each of 

 the three States New York, Philadelphia, and Ohio. 

 For the last twenty years its population has been 

 comparatively stationary ; and while new towns have 

 been springing up everywhere throughout the latter 

 States, only on a few spots along its borders is this mark 

 of progress visible in Virginia. 



It is not to be overlooked, that something of the more 



