68 JAMES SMITHSON AND HIS BEQUEST. 



Tho other work in Smithson's library on America was by Isaac Weld, 

 the Secretary of the Royal Society. 



"Mr. Weld," says the London Monthly Review,* " feeling in common 

 with the inhabitants of Europe the desolations of war, and trembling 

 at the frightful progress of anarchy and confusion, was induced to cross 

 the Atlantic for the purpose of examining into the truth of the various 

 accounts which have been given of the flourishing condition of the 

 United States." 



Of Washington Mr. Weld remarks: "Were the houses that have 

 been built situated in one place, all together, they would make a very 

 respectable appearance, but scattered about as they are, a spectator 

 can scarcely perceive anything like a town. Excepting the streets and 

 avenues and a small part of the ground adjoining the public buildings, 

 the whole place is covered with trees. To be under the necessity of 

 going through a deep wood for one or two miles, perhaps, in order to 

 see a next-door neighbor, and in the same city, is a curious and, I be- 

 lieve, a novel circumstance. . . . The number of inhabitants is 

 6,000. . . . The people who are opposed to the building of the city of 

 Washington maintain that it can never become a town of any impor- 

 tance, and that all such as think to the contrary have been led astray by 

 the representations of a few enthusiastic persons. . . . They in- 

 sist that if the removal of the seat of government from Philadelphia 

 should take place, a separation of the States will inevitably follow." 



Notwithstanding the condition of the city of Washington at the begin- 

 ning of the present century, Mr. Weld indulged hopes of its future 

 greatness. He remarks : 



" Considering the vastness of the territory which is opened to the 

 Federal city by means of water communication, considering that it is 

 capable from the fertility of its soil of maintaining three times the num- 

 ber of inhabitants that are to be found at present in all the United 

 States, and that it is advancing at the present time more rapidly in 

 population than any other part of the whole continent, there is good 

 foundation for thinking that the Federal city, as soon as navigation is 

 perfected, will increase most rapidly, and that at a future day, if the 

 affairs of the United States go on as prosperously as they have done, it 

 will become the grand emporium of the West, and rival in magnitude 

 and splendor the cities of the whole world." t 



This view was undoubtedly entertained by Smithson, and experience 

 has shown how well-founded were his anticipations. The wisdom of his 

 selection has been fully justified. 



* Monthhj lievieio for September, 1799. London. 



t laaao Weld, li-avela throuah North America. 1807. Vol. i, p. 80. 



