VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS. 53 
the people of the United States would be de¬ 
sirous of having the metropolis of the coun¬ 
try as magnificent as it possibly could be. 
These two essential points are most happily 
combined in the spot which has been 
chosen. 
The northern and southern extremities of 
the United States are in 46° and 31 n north la¬ 
titude. The latitude of the new city is 38° 53 
north ; so that it is within twenty-three minutes 
of being exactly between the two extremities. 
In no part of North America either is there a 
port situated so far up the country to the west¬ 
ward, excepting what belongs to Great Britain 
on the river St. Lawrence, its distance from 
the ocean being no less than two hundred and 
eighty miles. A more central situation could 
certainly have been fixed upon, by going fur¬ 
ther to the westward ; but had this been done, 
it must have been an inland one, which would 
have been very unfavourable for trade. The 
size of all towns in America has hitherto been 
i 
proportionate to their trade, and particularly 
to that carried on with the back settlements. 
This trade consists in supplying the people of 
the western parts of the United States, or the 
back settlements, with certain articles of fo¬ 
reign manufacture, which they do not find any 
interest in fabricating for themselves at pre 
sent; nor is it to be supposed that they will, 
