1803. 
and ata fourth three or four unfinifhed 
carcafes ; fo that any very correét calcu- 
Jation of the number, or topographical 
defcription, of the whole cannot be ex 
pected. In.1799, the number of finifhed 
houfes might be about 400, and the un- 
finifhed, half of that number. In the 
beginning of 1802, the number of both 
together were nearly about 1200... The 
houfes are three ftories high, of very com- 
plete brick-work and flated. Befides thefe, 
there were a number of frame houfes, or 
temporary wooden buildings, for the ac- 
commodation of workmen, labourers, &c. 
Thele latter are, in time, to give way to 
moreelegant buildingsaccording to the ori- 
ginaldefign, The Capitol, from the appeare- 
ance of the only wing, which is built of 
hewn-ftone, promifes, when the centre 
and correfponding wing fhall be added, 
and the circumjacent grounds properly 
laid out, to bea very fuperb and well- 
decorated edifice; but as the architect, 
who built the wing now ftanding, has. 
quitted the United States, and left no 
plan of the centre, the tafte of this moft 
material part of the building refts with 
his fucceflor, and any further obfervation 
is precluded. When finifhed, it is in- 
tended to contain the two Houfes of Con- 
grefs; all the public offices, and national 
inflitutes. ; Ki 
The Prefident’s houfe, which is finifhed, 
{is a very neat piece of plain fquare archi- 
tecture of hewn ftone, in the modern ftile. 
It ftands nearly in the center between the 
two branches of the Potowmac, and about 
the diftance of a mile from their con- 
fluence... A fireet of the wideft dimenfions 
leads to it; at the eaflern end of which a 
brige of hewn-ftone is intended to be 
built, over that branch of the Potowmac, 
into Maryland. Over this bridge will be 
the main-road from the northern to the 
fouthern ftates. A little below where 
» this bridge is to be built, ftands the Navy 
Yard, in which a feventy-four gun fhip 
is now building; but it is, at prefent, 
like all the other navy-yards in the United 
States, uninclofed. ‘The Wathington-ho- 
tel, the chief houfe of public accommo- 
dation, is a very fpacious, and commo- 
dious brick building, fituated betweeas the 
Capitol and the Prefident’s-houfe, . Fhe 
other houfes are very fubftantial, commo> 
dious, and well-finifhed :- but as the build- 
ings are very detached, and the views, 
' from the intervening woods, very broken 
and interrupted, nothing but a bird’s-eye 
profpeét can give a perfect idea of this 
city iz embryo. Something like a guefs 
may be formed of the appearance of, here 
_ Montuiy Mac. No. 10x, 
Defcription of the City of Wa/bington. 421 
and there a fuperb public edifice ; brick 
houfes finifhed and unfinifhed ; mingled 
with temporary wooden huts, and inter- 
fperfed with lofty trees. Scarce any thing 
like conneétion is to be oblerved; but as 
the regularity of the plan is every where 
ftriftly obferved, when the chafms begin 
to diminifh, it muft form the grandeft 
piece of architeétural uniformity in the 
world. 
The Potowmac is a noble river; and 
the circumftance already mentioned, of a 
feventy-four being laid down on one of its 
branches, leaves no doubt of its channel 
being deep enough for mercantile fhips 
of any burthen to unload at the wharfs. 
The Americans cherifh a belief that, ac 
no very diftant period of time, Wafhington 
will be not only the handfomeft, but the 
largeft, city in the univerfe.  Briffot, in 
his <* Commerce of America with Eu- 
rope,’ condemns this rage for greatcities, 
in the Americans. He calls it a great 
evil, which will contribute more than any 
other thing to the ruin of republican 
fpirit. This may be true ina political 
point of view ; but ina moral one, it is 
quite the reverfe. It will be happy for 
mankind, if, following the example of 
the Americans, the conteft betwixt nations 
fhall hereafter be, which fhail build the 
fineft cities, not which fhall ravage the 
moft. It will be more congenial to hu- 
manity, to witnefs the competition between 
the heroes of the trowel, than thofe of 
the {word ; as well as more beneficial to 
pofterity ; fince itis obvious that Blen- 
heim-houfe hath long farvived the advan- 
tages reaped by the Britifh nation from 
the viétories which it was built to com- 
memorate. . 
Wathington ftands on a very command- 
ing fituation. The regularity of plan 
upon which the ftreets are laid out, and 
the uniformity of the conftru€tion of the 
houfes, will far exceed any thing of the 
kind ever before attempted ; and if thofe 
natural caufes, which mutt neceffarily be 
concurrent to the eablifament of large ci- 
ties, fhould be congenial, Wathington will 
tand a monument of the fpirit of enter- 
prize, activity and perleverance of “ts 
founders. But even thofe qualities, fo 
very effential to fuccefs, will not always. 
enfure it. Wafhington may never arrive 
at itsexpeéted grandeur; it may be even 
injurious to the United States that it 
thould. If Wafhington fhould become 
the emporium of the United States, the . 
other commercial cities and towns, Bof- 
ton, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
Norfolk, Charlefton, &c. may fall to de- 
Gh 5 8 cay 
