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SKETCH 
 
 OF TIIF, 
 
 RESOURCES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 WITH A VIEW OF ITS 
 
 MinilCIFM GOVEUNMZSNT, 
 
 POPULATION, &c. <fcc. 
 
 FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY TO THE DATE OF THE 
 LATEST STATISTICAL ACCOUNTS 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 G. & C. CARVILL, BROADWAY. 
 
 1827. 
 
Southern District of New-York, ss. 
 
 BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the 14th day ot July, A. D. 
 1827, in the 52d year of the Independence of the United States of 
 America, G. & C. Carvill, of the said District, have deposited in this 
 office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in 
 the words following, to wit: 
 
 “ Sketch of the Resources of the City of New-York. With a view of 
 its municipal government, population, &c. &c. from the foundation of the 
 City, to the date of the latest statistical accounts.” 
 
 In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled “ An 
 Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, 
 Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during 
 the time therein mentioned.” And also to an Act, entitled “ An Act sup¬ 
 plementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, 
 by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and 
 proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extend¬ 
 ing the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching 
 historical and other prints.” 
 
 FREDERICK I. BETTS, 
 
 Clerk of the Southern District of New-York . 
 
 Vanderpool & Cole, Printer?. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 -•SMkRfcs*—~ 
 
 In the following brief sketch of a City, the 
 progress of which during the last thirty-five years 
 has been almost without example in the history 
 of society, many material circumstances con¬ 
 nected with its general prosperity have been una¬ 
 voidably omitted. The limits, which the author 
 has assigned to himself, and the want of statistical 
 information have prevented him from giving many 
 subjects even a cursory examination, and ren¬ 
 dered it impracticable to enter minutely into the 
 
 details of anv. His aim has, therefore, been to 
 •/ 
 
 present a general view of the resources of the 
 city, unincumbered, as far as possible without 
 impairing its accuracy, with particular facts. 
 

 
CHAPTER 1 
 
 COMMERCIAL ORIGIN AND CHARACTER. 
 
 CHAPTER 11 
 
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT AND POLICE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 POPULATION AND INTERNAL RESOURCES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXTERNAL RESOURCES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FUTURE GROWTH ESTIMATED. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 COMMERCIAL ORIGIN AND CHARACTER. 
 
 The origin of every city may be traced either 
 to commercial or manufacturing interests. It 
 is the effect of agricultural pursuits, before the 
 existence of trade and manufactures, to scatter 
 mankind in a distribution, regulated by attractions 
 of soil and climate, over the face of the earth. 
 While the wants of life are supplied by the 
 direct productions of the soil, and while the 
 mechanical arts and the business of exchange are 
 unknown, it results from the regular and irre¬ 
 sistible operation of a natural law, that large 
 cities cannot exist. The condition of society 
 would furnish neither the elements of their growth 
 nor of their preservation. It is not until the 
 mechanical arts are cultivated, and the operations 
 of traffic and exchange become a part of the 
 practical system of men, that towns and cities 
 spring into life, and communicate to society a 
 new and more complex character. 
 
8 
 
 In extending the view to the growth and pro¬ 
 gress of cities, it is obvious that their prosperity 
 depends upon the continued operation of the 
 causes, from which they derive their existence. 
 If a city has risen to opulence and greatness from 
 the success of a particular manufacture, it will 
 decline to a certain extent when that manufacture 
 can no longer find a demand in the market. If 
 a city has risen from the success of a particular 
 branch ol commerce, it will, in like manner, 
 decline as soon as that branch of commerce is at 
 an end. But a total decline of a city rarely 
 follows the extinction of the cause, in which it 
 has its origin. The accumulation of capital and 
 the divisions of industry, incident to every pros¬ 
 perous city, become secondary principles of pre¬ 
 servation, which continue to operate when the 
 original principles, to which we have adverted, 
 have passed away. Thus, a large manufacturing 
 town in the interior of a country may, after the 
 decline of its manufacturing interests, remain 
 important as a depot for the prosecution of inland 
 trade, in consequence of the commercial habits 
 which it has acquired. On the other hand, a 
 commercial town may, after the decline of its 
 trade, continue important from the mechanical 
 arts, which have grown up under the influence 
 and protection of commerce. But this cannot 
 happen where manufacturing pursuits in the one 
 
9 
 
 case, or commercial pursuits in the other, consti¬ 
 tute the whole business of the citizens; and the 
 security of every city from the influence of those 
 fluctuations, which naturally accompany the pro¬ 
 gress of society, will be in precise ratio of its 
 dependance on a variety of interests. 
 
 These observations have been deemed neces¬ 
 sary, in order to illustrate conclusions, which will 
 be drawn in the sequel. 
 
 The city of New-York had its origin in com¬ 
 mercial interests. The first permanent establish¬ 
 ment had a view to trade, and was made by the 
 Dutch West India Company in 1609,* soon after 
 the discovery of the country, the title to which is 
 said to have been sold to that Company by 
 the discoverer, Henry Hudson.f This establish¬ 
 ment was forcibly broken up in 1618, by the 
 English South Virginia Company, who claimed 
 title on the part of the English government, by 
 virtue of the discoveries of the Cabots; but the 
 Dutch were peaceably reinstated in possession, in 
 
 * The date of the discovery of Hudson’s River, at the mouth of which 
 the city of New-York is situate, was long disputed, being assigned by some 
 to the year 1608, and by others to the year 1609 ; but it is now settled 
 that the discovery was made on the 3d September, 1609. See Chalmers’ 
 Political Annals, Chap. XIX. Yates and Moulton’s New-York, Vol. I. 
 Part I. Sec. 49. 
 
 t Chalmers, in the 19th Chapter of his Political Annals, disputes the 
 sale of the territory, on which New-York now stands, by Hudson, on the 
 ground that he could not sell it as a discovery, because it was previously 
 discovered by Cabot, and that he could not sell it on the principle of open 
 pancv, because be had never occupied the land. 
 
 I 
 
to 
 
 1620, by a permission from James I, under which 
 some temporary establishments were made, for 
 the purpose of supplying with water and provi¬ 
 sions the vessels engaged in trade between Hol¬ 
 land and Brazil. The growing importance of 
 the establishment induced the government of 
 Holland to take it under their protection, and in 
 1629 a province was erected under the name of 
 the Province of New Netherlands, which re¬ 
 tained its form until 1664, when its government 
 was dissolved by Charles II of England, who 
 took forcible possession of the settlement, and 
 transferred it by letters-patent to his brother, the 
 Duke of York, (afterward James II,) from whom 
 it received the name of New-York. In 1673, 
 the country again passed into the hands of the 
 Dutch by conquest, and in 1674 was restored to 
 England by treaty. During all these changes 
 the settlement retained its commercial character 
 and habits. 
 
 From this statement of facts connected with 
 the foundation and early history of New-York, it 
 is apparent that the causes, to which its origin is 
 to be traced, have little analogy with those, to 
 which the other settlements of the United States 
 owe their existence. The first settlers of New- 
 England, Pennsylvania, and the Southern States 
 were, with few exceptions, refugees from religious 
 and political persecution, and their abodes in the 
 
11 
 
 wilderness were selected—not as fixtures, with 
 a view to the general business of life, but—as 
 asylums to screen them from the oppression, which 
 had expelled them from their homes. These 
 settlements may, therefore, be considered as con¬ 
 secrated by the presence of a great moral princi¬ 
 ple. The first settlement of New-York was 
 without the benefit of any moral impulse of this 
 nature: her shores were occupied by a commer¬ 
 cial company, with a view to trade; and every 
 subsequent addition to her wealth and industry 
 is to be traced to the operation of the same cause. 
 
 The records of the city during its colonial 
 dependence are so imperfect, that neither the 
 amount, nor the distribution of her wealth, can be 
 ascertained with precision. But every historical 
 account of her early transactions ascribes them 
 all to the impulse of commercial interests. From 
 some statistical details of the year 1078* it ap¬ 
 pears that, with a population of less than 3500 
 souls, she was solely occupied with trade, in which 
 she employed between 15 and 20 vessels of dif¬ 
 ferent classes belonging to herself, and rather a 
 less number, the property of the mother country. 
 A similar account of the year 1756 exhibits the 
 same progress from the operation oi the same 
 causes.! At this time she was the market for 
 
 * Chalmers’ Polit. Annals, chap. xix. 
 
 i Smith's History of New-York, Part 6, Chap, iii. 
 
Connecticut and New-Jcrsey, and was extensive¬ 
 ly engaged in trade with the West-Indies and the 
 mother country. Besides 80,000 barrels of flour, 
 annually shipped to the West-Indies, large quan¬ 
 tities of bread-stuffs, fruit, lumber, animals, and 
 salt provisions were exchanged with those isl¬ 
 ands for rum, sugar, molasses, &,c. There was 
 also a considerable trade in logwood with Hon¬ 
 duras, and in furs with the mother country. 
 In little more than two months from the 9th Dec. 
 1755, 12,528 hogsheads of flax-seed were shipped 
 to Ireland. Cotton was also imported in large 
 quantities from St. Thomas and Surinam, for 
 re-exportation to the mother country. Thus it 
 appears that as early as the year 1756, New- 
 York was considered as the mart for the ex¬ 
 change of the agricultural produce of Connecti¬ 
 cut and New-Jersey with the manufactures of 
 England; and that a large portion of her com¬ 
 merce consisted in a similar system of exchanges 
 of these manufactures with the natural produc¬ 
 tions of the West-India islands and the territories 
 bordering on the gulf of Mexico, all of which 
 passed through her as the medium of communi¬ 
 cation between the commercial parties. 
 
 In neither of the accounts above cited is any 
 mention made of manufactures as ministering to 
 her prosperity. The island of Manhattan, on 
 which the city lies, has no facilities for manufac- 
 
13 
 
 turing pursuits, and the great natural advanta¬ 
 ges of New-Jersey and Connecticut with regard 
 to manufactures, will for ever confirm the direc 
 tion, which her capital and industry assumed 
 from the first stage of her existence. For agri¬ 
 cultural industry the island has as little natural 
 attraction. It is broken and sterile, and this con¬ 
 stitutional disability is confirmed by the superior 
 productiveness of contiguous soils. With these 
 obstacles in the adjacent country to manufac¬ 
 turing and agricultural industry, and with extra¬ 
 ordinary advantages for commerce, it was natural 
 that the character of the city of New-York should 
 at a very early day assume a fixedness, with 
 regard to the nature of her pursuits, from which, 
 in the whole course of her progress, it has never 
 for a moment departed. In a subsequent chapter 
 we shall have occasion to speak of a few manufac¬ 
 tures, which have grown up within the city; but 
 they are such as are independent of natural facili¬ 
 ties, and therefore are likely to arise wherever there 
 are large accumulations of capital and labour. 
 
 From the year 1756 to the year 1790 the gene¬ 
 ral progress of the city in population and re¬ 
 sources was nearly the same as that of most other 
 cities in the United States; but from about this 
 last epoch it was apparent, from the rapid exten¬ 
 sion of her commercial relations, that she was 
 destined to take the lead and gradually acquire 
 
 3 
 
14 
 
 the character of a general mart for the ex¬ 
 change of foreign and domestic productions. As 
 we shall hereafter see, the causes of her greatness 
 as a trading city are yet but imperfectly develo¬ 
 ped. She has grown to her present magnitude 
 and importance almost solely by the force of natu¬ 
 ral advantages; and it will not be until her facili¬ 
 ties for artificial communication are fully disclos¬ 
 ed, that all the principles of her future prosperity 
 will be brought into operation. 
 
 From a review of the foregoing observations 
 and facts, it appears that the establishment of the 
 city of New-York received its impulse from com¬ 
 mercial causes; and that she has for more than 
 two centuries maintained a steady progress from 
 the developement and growth of the particular 
 interests, in which her foundations were laid. It 
 is also apparent from a consideration of her local 
 peculiarities, that she can never flourish by the 
 force of any other interests than those of trade. 
 Manufactures are precluded by physical disabili¬ 
 ties. So long as her commercial importance is 
 preserved, her increase in wealth and resources 
 will be rapid and progressive; but a stagnation of 
 her commerce will involve a stagnation of her 
 prosperity, and inevitably lead to the dissolution 
 and decay of that industry, which, by the variety 
 and spirit of its operations, excites and vivifies 
 every section of the country. 
 
15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT AND POLICE. 
 
 In the early constitutions and laws of the pro¬ 
 vinces and towns of the present United States, 
 framed during their colonial dependance, there 
 are striking points of diversity, arising from the 
 different nature of the sources, in which they had 
 their origin. Those which originated with the 
 sovereign authority of the mother country, are 
 marked with the vigorous spirit of her institu¬ 
 tions : those, on the other hand, which grew out 
 of the deliberations of the colonists, are indued 
 with the milder and more cautious temper of 
 democracy. Under the charters of the British 
 kings energetic systems of authority were built 
 up and enforced ; while the enactments, funda¬ 
 mental as well as administrative, of the colonial 
 assemblies were carefully guarded against the 
 admission of arbitrary principles. The preserva¬ 
 tion, for a long time after the establishment of 
 
10 
 
 our national independence, of many of the ori¬ 
 ginal charters, under which the cities and prov¬ 
 inces were first organized, has given an air of 
 incongruity to portions of the local jurisprudence 
 and government of the United States, which would 
 not readily be accounted for fry those, who do not 
 trace these diversities back to their source. These 
 monuments of arbitrary rule seem to rise up in 
 the broad field of liberal government in order to 
 mark the career of free principles, and to illus¬ 
 trate the authority of opinion, by the force of which 
 their influence is counteracted and subdued. 
 
 The first charter of the city of New-York was 
 granted by James II. and bears date the 22d 
 April 1686, about fourteen months subsequent to 
 the commencement of his reign. The following 
 detail contains some of the principal features of 
 the charter, and is all that is necessary to under¬ 
 stand the general scope of its operation. 
 
 The corporation was designated by the name 
 of the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the 
 city of New-York. They were empowered to 
 purchase, hold and dispose of property to the 
 amount of the yearly value of £1000. The 
 royalties of fishing, hunting, fowling and mines 
 (except gold and silver) were granted to them. 
 The mayor, recorder and three or more aldermen 
 and assistants were to compose a common council, 
 with power to make, alter and repeal laws, which 
 
were not to remain in force more than three 
 months, unless confirmed by the governor and 
 council. Discretionary fines and amerciaments 
 might be levied by the common council for the 
 violation of their own ordinances: the remedy, by 
 distress and sale of the offender’s goods. The 
 mayor and sheriff were to be appointed yearly 
 by the governor and council. The recorder, 
 town-clerk and clerk of the market were to be 
 appointed by the king, or, in default thereof, by 
 the governor or commander in chief. The mayor, 
 recorder, and three or more aldermen, to be 
 justices of the peace for the determination of all 
 matters, civil and criminal, arising within the 
 limits of the city. Aldermen, assistant aldermen 
 and petty constables to be chosen yearly by a ma¬ 
 jority of votes of the inhabitants of each ward. 
 The mayor to appoint the high constable; and the 
 chamberlain to be chosen by the mayor and three 
 or more of the aldermen with three or more of the 
 assistant aldermen. Mayor, aldermen and com¬ 
 monalty authorized to hold a court of common pleas 
 every Tuesday. They were authorized to lay out 
 streets &c. but not to interfere with vested rights 
 of property, except by consent of the owners. 
 
 In 1708, Queen Anne, by letters patent, con¬ 
 firmed the above charter, and granted some 
 further powers, principally relative to the estab¬ 
 lishment of ferries. 
 
18 
 
 On the 4th Oct. 1732 an act was passed under 
 George II. confirming previous grants of power 
 with some important modifications. The follow¬ 
 ing is an analysis of the charter of the city, as 
 modified by this act, into its principal details. 
 
 The city was made a free city. The munici¬ 
 pal government to be administered by one mayor, 
 one recorder, seven aldermen, seven assistant 
 aldermen, one sheriff, one coroner, one common 
 clerk, one chamberlain, one high constable, six¬ 
 teen assessors, seven collectors, sixteen consta¬ 
 bles, and one marshal. The governor to appoint 
 the mayor, sheriff and coroner annually. The 
 mayor to appoint one of the aldermen his deputy 
 to act in his place in case of sickness, absence or 
 death. Freemen and freeholders to choose the al¬ 
 dermen, assistant aldermen, collectors and con¬ 
 stables annually. The mayor and four or more 
 aldermen and assistants to appoint a chamber- 
 lain yearly in common council. The mayor to 
 appoint the high constable. The major and re¬ 
 corder and four or more aldermen with four or 
 more assistants, to be a common council, with 
 power to make laws, which were to remain in 
 force twelve months from their date and no lon¬ 
 ger, unless confirmed by the governor and coun¬ 
 cil. The corporation had power to indict penal¬ 
 ties by fines and amerciaments, or by disfranchise¬ 
 ment for disobedience of their own laws. The 
 
19 
 
 common council had power to lay out streets and 
 make city improvements at their discretion. The 
 mayor, deputy mayor, recorder and aldermen 
 to be justices of the peace with power to hold a 
 court of sessions; to be justices of oyer and ter¬ 
 miner and of the goal delivery; to have power to 
 hold a court every week to try all actions, real, 
 personal, and mixed. The mayor, recorder and 
 aldermen to have a several power to try all causes 
 with or without jury, where the thing in demand 
 did not exceed 40 shillings in value. The corpora¬ 
 tion empowered to purchase, hold and dispose of 
 property to the value of £3000 per annum. 
 
 In these different grants of power, it will be 
 perceived that very little essential difference pre¬ 
 vails. The manner in which the principal mu¬ 
 nicipal officers were created, was such as to de¬ 
 prive the people of much of their proper influence 
 in the affairs of their own government. From 
 James to Anne, they were for the most part 
 appointed directly by the sovereign; and by the 
 act of George II. they were indirectly appoint¬ 
 ed by him through the intervention of the provin¬ 
 cial authority. The dependance of the corpora¬ 
 tion was, during the whole of this time, secured 
 by the negative exercised by the governor and 
 council over their enactments. The general mass 
 of municipal power remained nearly the same. 
 The most remarkable point of difference was be- 
 
20 
 
 tween the power conferred by the charter of 
 James II. on the common council to make citv 
 
 J 
 
 improvements limited in its operation by rights 
 of private property, and the power conferred by 
 George to make similar improvements without 
 any such limitation. The fiscal powers of the 
 corporation were nominally trebled; but the 
 real increase will be obtained by deducting from 
 the amount of this difference the amount of the 
 diminished value of money from the middle of the 
 seventeenth to the middle of the eighteenth cen¬ 
 tury.* 
 
 The following changes by acts of the state legis¬ 
 lature and by the constitution of 1821, are modi¬ 
 fications of the charter as confirmed by George 
 II. In the view here presented the minor fea¬ 
 tures have not been considered, the object being 
 to give merely a general idea of the municipal 
 powers. 
 
 By the act of 9th April, 1813, the city was di¬ 
 vided into ten wards. The electors of each ward 
 to choose one alderman, one assistant alderman, 
 two assessors, one collector and two constables. 
 The mayor, recorder, and not less than five 
 aldermen and five assistant aldermen to be a 
 quorum of the common council. A register 
 appointed for registering mortgages, recording 
 deeds, conveyances, &c. Office of the com- 
 
 * See IV. Hume’s England, Chap. 71st. 
 
mon clerk abolished and clerk of the Common 
 Council created. Office of Clerk of the market 
 granted to the corporation. Laws of the Common 
 Council to remain in force three years, unless en¬ 
 acted for a shorter period or unless repealed by 
 themselves, and renewable at their pleasure; sub¬ 
 ject, however, to be repealed by the state legisla¬ 
 ture. Corporation authorized to alter and lay out 
 streets, &c. and for this purpose, empowered to 
 take private property upon paying to the owners 
 the value thereof, to be ascertained by commission¬ 
 ers appointed by the Supreme Court of the State. 
 
 The Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen have the 
 power of police judges, empowered to act as 
 conservators of the peace. 
 
 The Common Council are authorized to pass 
 and provide for the execution of ordinances 
 for the prevention and extinction of fires: this 
 embraces a large class of powers. 
 
 The Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen to be 
 supervisors of the city. 
 
 The Corporation to cause sewers to be made, 
 streets paved and cleansed, and vacant lots filled 
 in—the expenses to be estimated and assessed by 
 individuals appointed by themselves. 
 
 The Corporation to be commissioners of high¬ 
 ways ;—authorized to build bridges, make ditches, 
 construct causeways, &c. to make wells and 
 pumps. &c. to lay out wharves, piers and slips. 
 
 f 
 
i Common Council to make regulations tor wharves, 
 piers and slips.—Convicts to be employed at the 
 discretion of the Corporation. 
 
 By the seventh section of the fourth article 
 of the constitution of the state, the sheriff, register 
 and clerk of the city and county are to be chosen 
 by the electors once in three years, and as often 
 as vacancies happen. They are removable by 
 the governor at any time within the three years 
 for which they are elected. 
 
 By the tenth section of the same article, the 
 mayor is annually chosen by the Common 
 Council. 
 
 By the eleventh section of the same article, 
 coroners are elected in the same manner as 
 sheriffs, with the same tenure of office, and subject 
 to the same power of removal. 
 
 By the fourteenth section of the same article, 
 the special justices and the assistant justices and 
 their clerks are to be appointed by the Common 
 Council, to hold their offices for four years, unless 
 removed by the county court for causes specially 
 assigned by the judges thereof. 
 
 By the sixth section of the fifth article, the 
 recorder holds his office for five years, unless 
 removed by the senate, on the recommendation 
 of the governor. 
 
 The charter of the city, as it now stands, is a 
 singular illustration of the changes, which hnve 
 
been wrought in the government of the United 
 States, by their transition from colonial subjection 
 to national independence, and by the general 
 progress of opinion throughout the country. It 
 is a fabric of arbitrary powers, resting upon a 
 popular basis. Almost all the grants of the 
 English kings are retained, and many important 
 additions have been made to the powers of the 
 Corporation by acts of the legislature. But, in 
 confirming and extending the authority of the 
 municipal government, its organization has been 
 subjected to the popular principle of representa¬ 
 tion, and the citizens have directly or indirectly 
 a voice in the election of most of their officers. 
 
 The following instances may serve to illustrate 
 the foregoing remarks:— 
 
 In addition to the powers above recited, and 
 many others not mentioned, comprehending 
 almost all the relations, which belong to the 
 business transactions of society, the Corporation 
 have a general power to make city improvements 
 at their discretion, to appropriate to this object 
 private property, upon paying its value, and to 
 tax the property of the citizens to an unlimited 
 extent, in order to carry their plans of improve¬ 
 ment into effect.* Under this power, property 
 
 * The preservation of this power is the more remakable, as in the first 
 charter of the city granted by James II. it was expressly provided, that 
 private property should not be taken by the Corporation but by consent, 
 of the owner. 
 
has sometimes been taxed, by the commissioners 
 appointed for that purpose, beyond its value in 
 the market, and the proprietors have offered to 
 surrender the whole subject of taxation, to satisfy 
 the tax assessed upon it. A tax professes to be a 
 sum equal to the rated proportion of a given 
 amount of property; and a tax, which exceeds the 
 whole value of that amount, is without a prece¬ 
 dent in any country. These impositions cannot, 
 by any collection of facts or chain of reasoning. 
 
 It may be said that the appeal, which lies to the Supreme Court of the 
 State, from the assessments of the commissioners, is a security against the 
 abuse of this power. But the process of redress is often expensive and 
 always troublesome; and it is only in aggravated cases of abuse that it 
 will be resorted to. The case reported in 20 Johnson 430, with others, to 
 which it is unnecessary to refer, indicates the propriety at least of guarding 
 the exercise of this power by additional restrictions. It is not alone in the 
 occasional injury done to individuals that the evil consists, nor in the 
 example of an arbitrary power under a system, which should be popular in 
 its operation as well as in its forms—but it is a universal evil, which, by 
 connecting with the tenure of real estate a liability of this sort, is a posi¬ 
 tive diminution of its pecuniary value; and in this diminution, every 
 holder of real estate is virtually taxed on account of the insecurity of his 
 possession. 
 
 By the law of Massachusetts of 22d February, 1822, incorporating 
 the city of Boston, no other powers are conferred on the Corporation 
 with regard to these objects, than those which belong to the selectmen 
 of the towns throughout the state. 
 
 The law of Pennsylvania, 25th March, 1805, regulating the powers of 
 the Corporation of Philadelphia with regard to certain improvements, 
 deprives them of all control over private property. Commissioners are 
 appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions, on petition, from individuals 
 who are neither residents nor landholders in the city, for the purpose of 
 viewing and laying out the improvement. If their report is confirmed by 
 the court at its next session, other commissioners are appointed in the same 
 manner, and with the same restrictions, to make assessments of damages, 
 &c. &c. and their report is submitted in like manner for confirmation.—By 
 the force of these guards, abuse is utterly precluded. 
 
be made to appear just: they have been submitted 
 to, because they have been made with all the 
 prescribed forms of popular sanction; but they 
 are far more arbitrary and oppressive than many 
 impositions, which, in the absence of these forms, 
 have led to insurrection and revolution in govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 By the fourteenth section of the third article 
 of the state constitution, the special justices and 
 assistant justices are to be appointed by the 
 Corporation, who have also the power of altering 
 their salaries. The pecuniary limits of their 
 judicial authority are such as to give them juris¬ 
 diction in almost all cases, in which the Cor¬ 
 poration is a party to suits for the recovery of 
 penalties incurred by a violation of the municipal 
 laws. The tribunal to decide these cases be¬ 
 tween the Corporation and the citizen is, there¬ 
 fore, created by one of the parties to the con¬ 
 troversy, and the fundamental rule of natural 
 justice, that no party shall be a judge in his own 
 cause, is violated. This defect in the organiza¬ 
 tion of a judicial authority, which has an imme¬ 
 diate control over the persons and property ot 
 the citizens, has, perhaps, produced no inconve¬ 
 nience whatever; but in less virtuous times a 
 corrupt influence might be acquired and exercised 
 to the detriment of the public and of individuals; 
 and against the possibility of such abuses it is 
 
the business of legislation to guard, by every 
 possible precaution. In fundamental provisions, 
 which are less liable to change than the ordinary 
 legislation of government, these precautions are 
 the more necessary; and in the case under 
 consideration, the limited tenure of office affords 
 facilities for management and influence, which 
 should be counteracted by the conditions of the 
 office itself. 
 
 Under the law of 9th April, 1813, a police 
 office is established, and the police judges, (other¬ 
 wise called special justices,) are authorized to 
 exercise certain powers, which belong to aider- 
 men when out of sessions. By an act of 9th 
 February, 1788, justices of the peace are au¬ 
 thorized to commit, for sixty days, any vagrant, 
 disorderly person, &c. on their own view, without 
 a trial by jury. By an act of 3d March, 1820, 
 the term of commitment is extended to six 
 months. Thus, the police justices have the power 
 of taking up and imprisoning any individual at 
 their discretion, without the form of trial by 
 jury. The constitution of the state of New- 
 York* provides for the exercise of this power, 
 by subjecting to trial by jury, those cases only in 
 which that form of trial “has been heretofore 
 used. The powers conferred by previouslv 
 existing laws are, therefore, confirmed by this 
 
 * Article 7th. 
 
27 
 
 specification of cases. This provision is in direct 
 collision with the constitution of the United 
 States,* which declares that “the trial of all 
 crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
 by jury.” That so arbitrary a power has been 
 retained even by legislative provision, and that 
 its exercise has been tolerated by those who are 
 subject to its operation, can only be accounted 
 for by the supposition that it has not been abused, 
 and that the authority of opinion has been such 
 as to restrict it to cases, wherein the rules of 
 justice have been rigidly observed. But a pro¬ 
 vision, which is defective in principle, is not the 
 less objectionable because it has not been oppres¬ 
 sive or tyrannical in practice. The abuse of a 
 system should not only be restrained by the 
 external influence of opinion, but it should be 
 absolutely precluded by the force of provisions 
 inherent in itself. 
 
 The time cannot be far distant when these 
 defects in the city government will be remedied. 
 That they will produce any serious inconvenience 
 in the existing state of public opinion is not to 
 be apprehended; but the first stretch of authority 
 beyond the natural limits of that responsibility, 
 which gives a character to all our public institu¬ 
 tions, will be the signal for an interposition of 
 the people, and for a total reformation of the 
 
 Section ii, Article 
 
28 
 
 municipal government according to a more popu¬ 
 lar standard. 
 
 It is a remarkable characteristic of an enlight¬ 
 ened state of public opinion, though resulting 
 from the operation of obvious principles, that 
 a greater degree of power may be introduced 
 into a frame of government, which has its origin 
 in the people themselves; and that this power 
 may be exercised with less public excitement 
 and discontent, than a similar degree of power 
 under a system, which has its origin in an irre¬ 
 sponsible source. In the former case, every 
 measure, which is adopted in pursuance of the 
 constitutional powers of government, is regarded 
 by those, who are subject to its operation, as 
 emanating from themselves; and its inconve¬ 
 nience or severity is mitigated by the considera¬ 
 tion, that it is not imposed by any arbitrary 
 interference with their own prerogatives. In 
 the latter case, every act of government, whether 
 arbitrary or otherwise, is viewed as emanating 
 from an illegitimate source, and becomes an 
 object of as much odium as a despotic act 
 committed without any of the forms of popular 
 sanction. Accordingly, it has sometimes hap¬ 
 pened that a power when exercised under an 
 arbitrary system has produced violent opposition, 
 and, on a reform of government, has been adopted 
 and exercised bv the reformers themselves: show- 
 
 V 
 
29 
 
 mg a spirit of hostility less to the substance of 
 the power, than to the principle in which it has 
 its origin. To these causes may be traced the 
 steady existence ot a form of government so 
 arbitrary in its spirit as that of the city of New- 
 York, while almost every other constitution and 
 charter in the United States has been so modi¬ 
 fied as to meet the enlightened character of the 
 people, and to keep pace with the general march 
 of opinion. The power of electing their princi¬ 
 pal officers, and the responsibility thereby secured 
 to the people themselves, have cast over the 
 municipal authority an illusion, which would be 
 immediately dispelled by the adoption of a less 
 popular mode of providing for its administration. 
 
 The police of New-York, with regard to crimes, 
 is rather remarkable for success in detecting, 
 than for vigilance in preventing them: scarcely 
 a crime of any magnitude has been committed 
 for many years, of which the perpetrators have 
 eluded detection and punishment. 
 
 The police of the city, in the commonly re¬ 
 ceived sense of the term, is perhaps inferior to 
 that of any northern city in the Union, and has 
 been the subject of reproachful comparisons by 
 strangers, who are not familiarly acquainted 
 with the causes. It will appear by future state¬ 
 ments, that the commercial transactions of the 
 city are equal to all the commerce of the five 
 
30 
 
 other principal cities in the United States; that 
 its population is increasing in a much greater 
 ratio, and that the construction of dwellings, 
 store-houses, &c. is carried on in all the principal 
 streets, to an unparalleled extent. It is the inevi¬ 
 table result of these active and constantly extend¬ 
 ing operations to crowd the streets with merchan¬ 
 dise and the materials of building, and to collect 
 quantities of dirt from the innumerable carts, 
 carriages and animals employed, which even the 
 daily industry of a large body of scavengers 
 cannot altogether remove. That these are the 
 true causes, and that the condition of the prin¬ 
 cipal streets of business is not to be traced to 
 any inattention on the part of the municipal 
 authority to the cleanliness and health of the 
 city, is obvious from the fact, that the streets, 
 in which these causes do not exist, exhibit about 
 the same degree of neatness, which prevails in 
 the best regulated cities in the Union. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 POPULATION AND INTERNAL RESOURCES'. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 The first statement of the population of New- 
 York on record, is contained in a note appended 
 to the 19th chapter of Chalmers’ Political An¬ 
 nals, by which it appears that the number of 
 colonists throughout the province in the year 
 1678 amounted to 3,430. The manner, in which 
 the enumeration was made, is not stated. It ap¬ 
 pears also, that the number of dwelling-houses at 
 the same time amounted only to 343. These 
 dwellings could have been, in general, nothing 
 more than cabins, since those of a much later 
 period were extremely rude in construction and 
 limited in dimensions, compared with those of 
 the present day. The proportion of 10 persons 
 to a dwelling was, therefore, very large; but is 
 readily accounted for by a reference to the cir¬ 
 cumstances peculiar to the condition of youthful 
 
settlements in a wild and barbarous region, and 
 in a rude and uncultivated age. 
 
 The population of the colony in 1731, accord¬ 
 ing to an authentic computation, amounted to 
 50,291 souls. 
 
 In the year 1755 the whole number of souls in 
 the province was computed at 100,000, and the 
 county of New-York was estimated to contain 
 about one-third of the whole amount of popula¬ 
 tion and resources.* But in the year 1756, ac¬ 
 cording to an official enumeration, by the sheriffs 
 of the several counties, the colony contained only 
 96,756 persons, 13,542 of which were blacks.! 
 
 The first regular enumeration of the inhabit¬ 
 ants of the United States, under the authority of 
 the general government, was made in the year 
 1790, when the population of the city of New- 
 York amounted to 33,131. In the year 1800, 
 the number had increased to 60,489; in 1810, to 
 96,373 ; and in 1820, to 123,706. An enumera¬ 
 tion was made in the year 1825, under the state 
 authority, by which it appears that the city con¬ 
 tained 166,085 souls. 
 
 According to the rate of increase from 1790 
 to 1800, the population of the city would have 
 
 * Smith’s History of New-York, Part VI. Chap. 1st and 2d. The colony 
 of Connecticut at the same time contained above 133,000 inhabitants. 
 
 t Spafford’s Gazetteer, page 48. In the year 1749 the population of 
 New-York was also estimated at 100.000 souls. Pitkin’s Statistical View 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
doubled in little more than 12 years. By a re¬ 
 ference to the history of the United States, it will 
 appear that this whole period was one of unexam¬ 
 pled commercial prosperity. By means of wars 
 and political dissensions, the Old World was 
 making constant and almost unlimited demands 
 upon the industry of the IVew; our commercial 
 intercourse with Great Britain, the principal tra¬ 
 ding country of Europe, was established upon 
 the basis of a treaty during the greater part of 
 this period: commercial conventions existed be¬ 
 tween us and Sweden, Holland, and other trading 
 countries ; and, excepting our differences with 
 France, which were brief in their duration, and 
 at no time seriously prejudicial in their effects, 
 nothing occurred, during this long season of tran¬ 
 quillity, to disturb our citizens in their enterpri¬ 
 ses abroad. The resources of the city of New- 
 York, which began to assume the character of 
 a general market for the whole country, were 
 brought into full operation by these favouring 
 circumstances, and the increased demand, which 
 arose for men and means, would naturally draw 
 from other quarters the necessary supplies of 
 both. To these causes, and to no other, is to be 
 traced the rapid growth of the city from 1790 
 to 1800. 
 
 According to the rate of increase from 1800 
 to 1810. the population of the city would havo 
 
doubled in a little less than seventeen years. It 
 will be remembered, that more than half this 
 period was one of depredation on our commerce 
 by foreign nations, and of restriction by our own 
 government. Captures and condemnations, em¬ 
 bargoes and acts of non-intercourse, had so dimi¬ 
 nished the profits of trade, and rendered com¬ 
 mercial operations so precarious, that a large 
 amount of capital was withdrawn from them ; 
 and the city of New-York was, as will be seen 
 by a comparison of the rate of increase in popu¬ 
 lation with that of the previous ten years, a prin¬ 
 cipal sufferer from these embarrassments. 
 
 The period of ten years, which followed, was 
 one of still greater commercial calamity. From 
 1810 to 1812, the evils of the preceding period 
 were unmitigated, and from 1812 to 1815, the 
 still greater evils of war were substituted for 
 them. During this time, the foreign commerce 
 of New-York was nearly extinct; and from the 
 entire dependence of the city on commerce, no 
 principle of increase was in operation, by the 
 force of which she could keep pace with the other 
 parts of the United States. From 1815 to 1820, 
 trade again became active, though not uniformly 
 so, and a portion of this period was marked by 
 numerous individual reverses, (the reaction of ex¬ 
 cessive enterprise) so that the aggregate increase 
 of these last five years, was altogether inadequate 
 
35 
 
 to counterbalance the unfavourable results of the 
 live years, which preceded them. Accordingly, 
 it appears from the rate of increase during this 
 period, (1810 to 1820,) that the population of 
 the city would not have doubled in thirty-five 
 years, a rate far below the average progress of 
 population throughout the country. During the 
 same period, population throughout the State of 
 New-York, was increasing at a rate, according 
 to which it would have doubled in about twenty- 
 three years.* The testimony of this fact alone 
 would be conclusive with regard to the position, 
 that the city of New-York has heretofore been 
 altogether dependant on commercial operations 
 with foreign states, and that, these operations 
 being interrupted, there has been no other prin¬ 
 ciple, by the force of which she could maintain 
 an equal progress with other sections of the 
 country. 
 
 According to the rate of increase from 1820 to 
 1825, the population of the city would have dou¬ 
 bled in about fourteen years and a half. During 
 this period, commerce was altogether unre¬ 
 strained, and the rate of increase was about the 
 
 * The population of the state of New-York, was in 1810, nine hundred 
 and fifty-nine thousand and forty-nine, and in 1820, one million, three 
 hundred and seventy-two thousand, eight hundred and twelve. While 
 the population of the state was increasing in a ratio of 4. 34 per cent, per 
 annum, the population of the city was increasing in a ratio of only 2 . 83 
 per cent. 
 
mean of the two highest rates during former 
 periods. The difference between this period and 
 the ten years previous to the year 1800, is to 
 be traced to the decrease of the carrying trade 
 and to the inferior degree, in which our agricul¬ 
 tural, and through it our commercial, industry 
 was tributary to the demands of Europe and the 
 dependencies of European states. Their exemp¬ 
 tion from wars has left them at liberty, not only 
 to supply their own wants by the production of 
 their own industry, but also to carry for them¬ 
 selves whatsoever they produce and export to 
 supply the wants of other countries. 
 
 There is a concurrence in the testimony of all 
 these facts and circumstances connected with the 
 progress of New-York, which is so convincing 
 with regard to the position, which they are 
 brought to illustrate and sustain, as to render 
 further comment unnecessary. Assuming then, 
 the average rate of increase during the several 
 periods above referred to, as a just basis for an 
 estimate of the future increase of the city,* its 
 population in half a century from the year 1825, 
 will amount to more than a million of souls. 
 
 On the accuracy of this calculation, estimates 
 
 * la a subsequent chapter the grounds of this estimate will be exam¬ 
 ined in detail, and an attempt will be made to show that there exists no 
 sufficient reason to apprehend that the city will be restrained in its growth, 
 to narrower limits than those of European capitals of the first magnitude 
 
37 
 
 ot the future value of real estate, beyond the pre¬ 
 sent limits of the city, must essentially depend. 
 The whole island would not contain many more 
 than 1,400,000 inhabitants. It is estimated that 
 about one-eighth of the whole surface of the 
 island, including villages, is already occupied. 
 If this distribution were uniform and equal to the 
 greatest density of the city population, the island 
 would not contain more than about 1,300,000 
 inhabitants; but, on a portion of the eighth now 
 occupied, population is susceptible of greater 
 condensation, and, according to the average 
 proportion of inhabitants to surface in the cities 
 of the United States, it is believed that the 
 final amount of the population of the island will 
 not differ materially from the number first stated. 
 From these data, general estimates may be readily 
 made with regard to the future value of property 
 in lands. For instance, it would follow from these 
 premises that the whole surface of the island, about 
 the year 1780, will be in demand for building- 
 lots, and the increase in value of the various por¬ 
 tions from year to year will be in ratio oltnnir 
 distance from^t he ^pres ^nt^ compact part of the 
 city—a ratio di^M«*sh4««^with the approach of 
 population and settlement. The value of par¬ 
 ticular situations will necessarily be relative to 
 their importance with regard to trade, (foreign 
 or domestic) and that of other situations to their 
 
fitness for private residences. These differences 
 are in their nature incapable of being foreseen; 
 but the general result, which has been stated, 
 may be safely relied on as authorized by a fair 
 comparison of the present with the past.* 
 
 The population of the city is exceedingly 
 mixed. It was so in its early stages, and new 
 causes have arisen during its progress to confirm 
 and enlarge its prevailing character. The Dutch 
 families, by which the first settlement was 
 formed, are still represented in their descendants, 
 who constitute a considerable portion of the 
 whole number of inhabitants. The descendants 
 of the English families, who established them¬ 
 selves in the province during its colonial depend¬ 
 ence on Great Britain, are still more numerous. 
 New-England has furnished a large number of 
 the citizens; and the commercial character of 
 
 * It is supposed by some, that the extension of the population of the 
 city and its environs, will be nearly uniform in all directions from the 
 present centre of business ; and, as a consequence, that the growth of 
 Brooklyn _yill postpone, in some degree, the settlement of the island. 
 Thi*supposition ought be verified, if the present and future centre of bu¬ 
 siness were to be tlii^ same. But it is apparent from the configuration of 
 the island, as well as from recent indications, that the increase of inland 
 trade will bring into use the sftb?e Y>f*tlie' NVt.h' R^ver to a great distance 
 from the southern extremity ; and, if the future extension in this direction 
 is in proportion to the past, the most remote point of the island will, in a 
 very few years, be, with regard to convenience, as near the centre of 
 trade (certainly of inland trade,) as the nearest point of Brooklyn. There 
 can be no cause of apprehension, therefore, that the growth of the city will 
 be retarded, in this manner, to so great a degree as to affect the general ac¬ 
 curacy of the foregoing calculations. 
 
the city is such that natives of almost every 
 country in the world may be found in the streets 
 and counting-houses. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 It was intended by the author of this sketch, 
 to give a detailed view of the internal resources 
 of the city ; but in making the attempt, obstacles 
 presented themselves at the outset, which seemed 
 to him to be in their nature insuperable. A 
 general result might have been obtained, but not 
 of such a character as to be useful. The only 
 details, which are capable of being reduced to 
 certainty, are connected with the condition of 
 incorporations and regularly organized establish¬ 
 ments. All the rest is, in a great degree, the 
 result of loose and uncertain conjecture. The 
 value of dwellings and their appurtenances, of 
 private establishments devoted to the common 
 arts of life, and buildings in general, cannot be 
 determined according to any strictly accurate 
 standard of valuation. Indeed, il an accurate 
 result could be obtained, it is believed on reflec¬ 
 tion that it would be of no value. Facts of this 
 sort are only useful, when compared with other 
 facts of the same nature. It would be of little 
 importance to know that all the buildings in 
 
40 
 
 New-York of a particular class amounted to a 
 certain sum in value, unless it could be ascer¬ 
 tained that all the buildings of the same class in 
 Philadelphia or Boston, according to the same 
 standard of valuation, amounted to another cer¬ 
 tain sum: and, as will be seen in a subsequent 
 chapter, there is no mode of ascertaining these 
 facts. There are certain kinds of property, 
 which are an index of particular conditions of 
 the public industry, and these it will be our 
 business to consider. But, in the absence of 
 the data necessary to accurate estimates, cal¬ 
 culation will be altogether abandoned, with 
 regard to every other species of property. 
 
 The amount of capital employed in monied 
 and other institutions, connected with the ordi- 
 nary business of the city, cannot be taken as a 
 guide in estimating the general amount of wealth. 
 A large portion of the capital (about four-fifths 
 of the whole amount) of the insurance compa¬ 
 nies consists in bonds and mortgages on real 
 estate. The one, therefore, is but a representa¬ 
 tive of the other; and, in order to render accu¬ 
 rate an individual account of either, the amount 
 of the other would necessarily be deducted from 
 it. But, with regard to calculations connected 
 with the activity of commercial transactions, and 
 the rapid circulation of the subjects of exchange, 
 the amount of capital invested in monied institu- 
 
41 
 
 tions, &/C. is undoubtedly a correct guide. It is, 
 perhaps, the best illustration that can be given 
 of the activity of the commercial operations of 
 the city. But it is far from being an accurate 
 measure of the magnitude of those operations. 
 In New-York almost every species of fixed 
 property, by means of hypothecations familiar to 
 the common course of trade, becomes a circu¬ 
 lating capital, which is constantly changing its 
 form, and yielding at every conversion a profit to 
 its employers. It is principally in the degree to 
 which this practice prevails, that New-York is 
 distinguished from all the other mercantile towns 
 of the United States. In a city increasing so 
 rapidly in population by the force of external 
 impulses, the extending demand for capital would 
 render this a natural and almost a necessary 
 resort. From the same cause, considerable 
 investments of capital have been made in New- 
 York by non-residents, so that other cities, and 
 even other countries, by means of these invest¬ 
 ments, are interested in its prosperity* 
 
 * The common notion that the employment of foreign capital is 
 prejudicial to the country in which it is invested, is nearly exploded. 
 The most superficial examination will exhibit a gain, instead of a loss, in 
 every such investment. The interest of this capital goes to the foreign 
 capitalist, but the profits of the industry, which it puts in motion, com¬ 
 prehending the subsistence and compensation of the individuals employed, 
 is obviously a gain to the country, in which the investment is made. The 
 industry of New-York has been in some degree stimulated by contributions 
 
 of this nature. 
 
42 
 
 The state of the monied institutions of the 
 city, according to the latest account, is as follows: 
 
 There are fourteen banks in operation, which 
 are authorized by the laws of the state ; and of 
 which the capitals amount to the aggregate sum 
 ol $14,750,000. From this amount is to be 
 deducted the sum of $1,150,000, on account of 
 a portion ol the capitals of certain companies, 
 which, by the condition of their charters, can 
 appropriate only a part of their funds to banking 
 purposes—leaving a balance of $13,600,000. 
 
 The Branch of the Bank of the United States 
 is authorized to employ, in its operations in the 
 city, a portion of the capital of the parent bank 
 equal to $2,500,000. 
 
 These two sums amount to $16,100,000, which 
 may be stated as constantly employed in strictly 
 banking operations. 
 
 Since the 1st of January the Dry Dock Com¬ 
 pany has gone into operation with a capital of 
 $200,000 applicable to banking, and $500,000 
 applicable to other objects. 
 
 There are eleven marine insurance companies 
 with capitals amounting to $5,000,000. Four of 
 these companies, with capitals amounting to 
 $1,800,000, made no dividend during the year 
 1826; two made but one dividend, and one com¬ 
 pany had not gone fully into operation at the 
 close of the year. The dividend, therefore, 
 accrued on a capital of $3,100,000. 
 
43 
 
 There are thirty-three fire insurance compa¬ 
 nies, of which the capitals amount to the aggre¬ 
 gate sum of $12,450,000. Five of these com¬ 
 panies made no dividend during the year 1826, 
 and two new ones, authorized by law, but not 
 in operation at the close of the year, are exclu¬ 
 ded from this statement. The dividends made 
 by these companies accrued on a capital of 
 $10,300,000.* 
 
 The Savings Bank receives deposits to be with¬ 
 drawn at the option of the depositors. The funds 
 of this institution amounted on the 1st January, 
 1827, to $1,600,392. 
 
 There are several other incorporations, with 
 capitals amounting to the sum of $3,200,000. 
 
 The whole amount of the stocks of the city on 
 the 1st January, 1827, may, therefore, be stated 
 at $39,500,392, and this exclusive of the surplus 
 capital and funds of several of the banks and 
 insurance companies. 
 
 The increase of stocks since the year 1800, is 
 exhibited in the following statement: 
 
 1800,. $6,000,000. 
 
 1810,. 11,100,000. 
 
 1820,. 24,100,000. 
 
 1827,. 39,500,392. 
 
 * For the principal part of the above information relative to the mo¬ 
 nied institutions of the city, the author is indebted to a view prepared by 
 Mr. T. H. Goddard, published in the Daily Advertiser of the 1st of Jan¬ 
 uary, 1827, and politely furnished by the editor of that journal. 
 
44 
 
 Of this last sum, nearly two-thirds has been 
 employed in banking, or in operations connected 
 with foreign commerce; and about 35 of the 39 
 millions of stock has been employed profitably for 
 the holders. These facts, taken in connexion with 
 the rapid increase of population, are a further illus¬ 
 tration of the augmenting resources of the city. 
 
 According to a digest of returns of the manu¬ 
 facturing establishments of the United States, 
 prepared under the direction of the Secretary of 
 State, and reported to Congress with the census 
 for the year 1820, the capital invested in manu¬ 
 factures in the city of New-York amounted to 
 $1,780,950. The largest item in the sums which 
 make up this amount, is $300,000, invested in the 
 manufacture of steam engines and castings of every 
 description; the next is the sum of $238,750, in¬ 
 vested in refining sugar; and the third, $185,000, 
 invested in the distillation of malt-liquors. All 
 the other sums are comparatively small, and are 
 generally employed in the production of articles 
 of common use and daily consumption within the 
 city. 
 
 These details fully sustain the statement made 
 in Chapter I. that the city of New-York has no 
 manufactures, excepting such as are altogether 
 independent of local facilities, and such as are 
 likely to grow up wherever there are large accu¬ 
 mulations of men and means. 
 
From 1801 to 1811, the population ot‘ the city 
 of London increased from 900,000 to 1,050,000. 
 At this rate it would have doubled in sixty years. 
 During these ten years, according to a statement 
 in the New Monthly Magazine for February. 
 1811, there had been annually added to the city 
 one thousand dwelling-houses. New-York, in 
 the year 1824, had a population of about 160,000 
 souls, increasing at a rate, by which it would 
 have doubled in less than fifteen years. The dif¬ 
 ferent proportions being observed in the amount 
 of population and rates of increase in these two 
 cases, there should have been added to the city 
 of New-York seven hundred and ten dwelling- 
 houses in the year 1824. But it appears from 
 actual enumeration, by the personal industry 
 of a private individual, that the number of 
 new buildings erected in that year amounted 
 to sixteen hundred and twenty-four. Of these, 
 at least fourteen hundred were dwelling-houses: 
 only seventy-six less than the whole number, 
 which, according to the relative increase ol 
 dwellings and inhabitants in London, will be 
 annually required, when New-York shall con¬ 
 tain twice the present amount of inhabitants, 
 augmenting at the present rate of increase. 
 But as the proportion of persons to each dwel¬ 
 ling is greater in this calculation than the exist- 
 
46 
 
 mg proportion* throughout the city, it is pro¬ 
 bable that the future annual increase of dwell¬ 
 ings will be to the annual increase of inhabitants, 
 as the number erected in 1824 was to the increase 
 of inhabitants in that year. But the year 1824 
 was one of great activity—and it is possible that 
 the new buildings may have exceeded, by a small 
 number, the average proportion. 
 
 * There has been no regular enumeration of the dwelling-houses in 
 the city for many years. The number was estimated at seventeen thou¬ 
 sand, when the population amounted to 100,000,—a proportion of six 
 persons to a dwelling. But this was mere conjecture, and it is now be¬ 
 lieved to have been far beyond the real number. 
 
47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXTERNAL RESOURCES. 
 
 In the first part of this view, it has been seen 
 that the growth of New-York is owing entirely 
 to the flourishing condition of her commerce. In 
 the last chapter, her internal resources have been 
 briefly surveyed, rather as the evidences of her 
 past and present prosperity, than as the elements 
 of her future growth. The great causes, from 
 which the city is to derive her prosperity and 
 power, lie without; the means, which she has 
 accumulated within, are secondary, and can only 
 be regarded as important, with a view to her 
 future extension, when taken in connexion with 
 the operation of the primary causes, to which we 
 have just adverted. The former are mere mate¬ 
 rials for the application of industry and enter¬ 
 prise; but the latter furnish, in a large and pro¬ 
 gressive ratio of increase, both the materials 
 themselves and the powers, which are to assem¬ 
 ble and combine them. 
 
48 
 
 We shall now proceed to examine the imme 
 diate sources of her future prosperity. 
 
 SECTION I.—CANAL NAVIGATION. 
 
 The system of internal communication by ca¬ 
 nals, which the state of New-York adopted a few 
 years ago, and in the execution of which she has 
 made such rapid progress, has given an impulse 
 to the industry of her citizens, of which no fore¬ 
 sight can properly estimate the results. A coun¬ 
 try of vast extent and inexhaustible fertility has 
 been penetrated to its centre, and its productions 
 brought, by the virtual annihilation of distance, 
 which arises from increased facility of transpor¬ 
 tation, to the very skirts of the city. On the 
 other hand, the productions of foreign countries 
 accumulated within the city by the operations of 
 commerce and exchange, are distributed with the 
 same ease to the various parts of the state, which 
 have become mutually tributary to the wants of 
 each other. It is not within the scope of this 
 examination to consider the beneficial changes, 
 which have been, or are to be, wrought in the 
 social and political condition of the state by the 
 progress of internal communication, or even to 
 ascertain the additions which have been made to 
 the general wealth and resources of the commu- 
 
41) 
 
 nity. Consistently with its design, the system 
 can only be viewed in connexion with the par¬ 
 ticular interests of the city, and as subordinate to 
 the commercial prosperity, which it is destined so 
 powerfully to stimulate. 
 
 From the facts, which have been developed 
 during the progress of the Erie canal, it is clear 
 that its final advantages have been greatly under¬ 
 valued. The first estimates of the cost of execu¬ 
 tion fell short of the cost as estimated by the canal 
 commissioners in their report of 1825, by nearly 
 three millions of dollars; but the first estimates 
 of the profits were underrated in a still higher 
 degree. In that report, it was estimated that the 
 canal fund, if properly invested, would, at the end 
 of ten years from 1826, amount to above eight 
 millions of dollars, a sum exceeding the whole of 
 the debt contracted in the execution of the work.* 
 As the principal part of this revenue is derived 
 from the imposition of tolls upon articles trans¬ 
 ported on the canal, the greater part of which pass 
 through New-York for her own consumption, for 
 exportation, or for transmission into the interior, 
 it will at once be seen that the commercial indus¬ 
 try of the city will receive vast accessions of mate¬ 
 rials for employment, and that her general increase 
 will be stimulated in proportion. The amount of 
 
 * See Appendix, A. 
 
50 
 
 tolls for 1826, was $*765,104 97 but from the 
 manner in which the tolls are assessed and col¬ 
 lected, it is impossible to ascertain the precise 
 value of the articles, on which they are imposed, 
 as may be done in the case of an ad valorem 
 imposition. 
 
 If this great channel of communication were 
 limited to the operations of trade within the 
 state, the city of New-York would possess 
 greater sources of wealth, and more abundant 
 materials for commercial enterprise and industry 
 than any other city in the United States. The 
 region of country from Albany to lake Erie, the 
 two extremities of the canal, furnishes more of 
 the elements of human industry than any other 
 region of equal magnitude in any other state. 
 There are, perhaps, sections of country on the 
 western side of the Alleghany mountains, which 
 produce in greater abundance the materials for 
 supporting animal life; but there are none, which 
 yield at the same time so great an amount and so 
 great a variety of natural productions. The 
 
 * The annual increase of tolls has been as follows : 
 
 1823 , .$ 119,988 08 . 
 
 1824 , . 289,320 58 . 
 
 1825 , . 566,279 49 . 
 
 1826 , . 765,104 97 . 
 
 The amount of the two first years above stated accrued upon transpor¬ 
 tation on a portion only of the whole line of canal communication. An 
 annual increase may be expected for several years to come, though in a 
 ratio regularly diminishing with the augmentation of the general amount. 
 
51 
 
 salt works of Salina are exhaustless, and distribute 
 throughout the state one of the first necessaries 
 of life, at a rate of cost comparatively of no 
 account. Immense beds of gypsum have been 
 discovered, and are gradually coming into use; 
 and evidences have been given of the presence of 
 mineral treasures of great variety, extent and 
 value, in the mountainous districts of country 
 intersected by the canal. These productions, 
 excepting such a portion as is demanded for the 
 consumption of the interior, will find their way 
 to the city, and add to her wealth by the profits of 
 exchange. The amount in quantity and value of 
 the commodities, which will enter into the inland 
 trade of the state, cannot be calculated upon any 
 data now before the public, in consequence of 
 the uncertain ratio of progress, which a country 
 makes in population and resources, when all the 
 principles of increase are not fairly brought into 
 operation. In countries possessing a full popula¬ 
 tion, skilled in the various pursuits of industry, 
 all further progress will be dependant upon some 
 improvement in the arts, which will furnish 
 means of sustaining upon the same surface a 
 greater amount of animal life. But in new coun- 
 tries, rich in unoccupied lands and natural pro¬ 
 ductions, where the divisions of industry are few 
 and imperfect, and a vast theatre is open for 
 their application, augmentations of wealth arise 
 
from the exertion of those natural powers, which 
 are brought into operation by the agency of arts 
 already known to society. So long as there is 
 room for the application of those powers, every 
 addition to the general mass of industry becomes 
 the principle of a further increase, the force of 
 which might be obtained by multiplying the 
 materials and the principle into each other, if 
 the power of each could be ascertained. But in 
 the absence of the data necessary to mathemati¬ 
 cal precision, speculation must be resorted to, 
 guided in its views by such facts as are in our 
 possession. It was conjectured by Fulton that 
 the number of tons transported upon the canal, 
 in the event of its construction, (which was at 
 the time of his death undetermined,) would 
 amount to 100,000. Others have estimated the 
 final amount, when the full powers of the country 
 are brought into action, at 500,000 tons, without 
 any reference to the extension of commerce 
 beyond the limits of the state. Assuming the 
 last of these estimates to contain the true amount,* 
 augmented by the productions of that portion of 
 the western country, which will hereafter be em¬ 
 braced by this chain of connexion, and it will 
 
 * This estimate will not be deemed extravagant, when it is stated that 
 the number of tons transported in the year 1826 below the point of junc¬ 
 tion of the Erie and northern canals amounted to 352,074. As soon as 
 the powers of the country are brought into full operation, an augmenta¬ 
 tion far beyond the amount of this estimate is to be expected. 
 
53 
 
 be difficult to assign a limit to the influence, 
 which it will exert over the growing fortunes of 
 the city, where these masses of wealth are to be 
 assembled for distribution. 
 
 When the practicability of the Erie canal 
 became fully established, and experiment had 
 shown that the profits on the capital employed 
 would be greater than those of ordinary invest¬ 
 ments, similar improvements were projected in 
 other states. Two canals of great importance 
 to the city of New-York have been marked out, 
 and are already in a train of execution. The 
 first of these is the Ohio canal, intended to 
 unite the waters of the Ohio river with those of 
 lake Erie. This communication may be consi¬ 
 dered as an extension of the Erie canal, and will 
 render the city of New-York the market for the 
 agricultural productions of a large portion of 
 Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. These states have 
 a surface of 132,780 square miles, are rich in 
 fertility of soil, and furnish in abundance all the 
 materials for manufacturing industry. With 
 these sources of production it is difficult to esti¬ 
 mate the increase of trade, which will arise from 
 the diminution of time, expense and labour, by 
 the agency of canal transportation. Few of the 
 productions of these states will stop short ol the 
 terminating point of the Erie canal, as the indus¬ 
 try of the interior of New-York, being applied to 
 
 8 
 
the production of the same articles, both agricul¬ 
 tural and manufacturing, the state will be sup¬ 
 plied by her own capital and labour, and the 
 proceeds of western industry will find their way 
 to the city of New-York, for the purpose of effect¬ 
 ing exchanges with foreign commodities. It is 
 also to be expected from the high manufacturing 
 character of the New-England states, especially 
 Rhode-Island and Connecticut, and the facility 
 with which their productions are introduced into 
 the New-York market, that western manufac¬ 
 tures will be for a long course of years effectually 
 excluded, and that this canal will consequently 
 be subservient to agricultural, and not to manu¬ 
 facturing, industry. 
 
 It may not be improper in this place to observe 
 that a scheme has been formed of cutting a canal 
 from Albany to Boston, for the purpose of extend¬ 
 ing to New-England the benefits of the industry 
 and resources of the interior of New-York; and 
 it lias been supposed by some that this new com¬ 
 munication, by opening another market, would 
 divert from the city of New-York a large portion 
 of the productions of the west, and make Boston 
 the market for the exchange of those productions 
 with importations from foreign countries. But it 
 will appear, upon the slightest examination, that 
 this inference is drawn from a very partial view 
 of the subject. According to the rate of trans- 
 
portation on the Erie canal at the present 
 moment, a barrel of flour may be carried from 
 Utica to Albany (109 miles) for thirty-two cents. 
 Assuming the distance between Albany and 
 Boston to be 170 miles, the expense of transport¬ 
 ing a barrel of flour at the same rate would be 
 forty-nine cents. The expense of transportation 
 from Albany to New-York by the freight barges 
 is, according to present rates, only twelve cents; 
 making a difference of thirty-seven cents per 
 barrel, or $3 70 per ton in favour of the New- 
 York market. The calculation, being predicated 
 upon the supposition of an equal rate of freight, 
 is unfavourable to New-York, because the ex¬ 
 pense of transportation is regulated by the 
 rate of toll, which would, it is supposed, be 
 higher between Albany and Boston than between 
 Albany and Utica, as the country would be 
 penetrated with greater difficulty by a canal 
 communication, and of course a higher rate of 
 imposition would be necessary to defray the 
 expense of the work. But, even according to this 
 calculation, the difference exhibited in favour of 
 the New-York market would inevitably exclude 
 from the Boston market every article produced 
 in the interior of the state of New-York or in 
 the western states, and designed for exportation. 
 It is to be remembered also, that when once a 
 city has acquired an established character as 
 
the great commercial emporium of a country? 
 whether from local advantages or fortuitous cir¬ 
 cumstances, the course of trade becomes settled 
 by flowing regularly in the same channel, perma¬ 
 nent investments of capital are made, and the 
 foreign as well as the inland commerce of the 
 country takes a direction, which nothing but the 
 developement of extraordinary superiorities ot 
 position in some other place can change. The 
 present superiority of New-York over every other 
 city in point of local facilities for the prosecu¬ 
 tion of foreign and internal trade is indisputable; 
 and it is only necessary to glance at her physical 
 relations with the different sections of the coun¬ 
 try, to see that no other position can gain an 
 ascendency over her; for there is no other posi¬ 
 tion, which is endowed with equal advantages. 
 These have already been seen; and, as it is 
 intended in another chapter to extend the view 
 still farther, it will be unnecessary to recapitulate 
 them here. The city, which approaches most 
 nearly to New-York in local facilities for the 
 operations of foreign commerce, is New-Orleans. 
 This city occupies the ‘terminating point of the 
 only natural channel, through which the produc¬ 
 tions of the south-western states seek a passage 
 to the ocean, and where inland must be exchanged 
 for external navigation. But her advantages of 
 position, with regard to internal communication. 
 
are counteracted in some degree by disadvantages 
 of climate; and the approach to the city from 
 the ocean, with all the improvements that art 
 can devise, will never cease to be inconvenient 
 and dilatory. The immense power of production, 
 which the western states possess in fertility of 
 soil, and in facilities for the application of labour 
 to manufacturing purposes, is destined to rank 
 them among the most industrious and productive 
 sections of the country. But it may be fairly 
 calculated that the immense regions, which the 
 Columbus canal will open to lake Erie, including 
 a large portion of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 
 will become tributary to New-York, from the 
 greater ease and economy of sending their pro¬ 
 ductions to her, as well as from her superiority 
 as a market. The vicinity of New-Orleans to 
 the West-India islands will secure to her a large 
 portion of the profits of the trade between them 
 and the western states, and South America will 
 share largely in her commercial industry. But 
 on these causes her growth will be almost 
 entirely dependent. New-York, on the contrary, 
 besides absorbing the products of a vast interior, 
 abounding in mineral productions and the fruits 
 of agricultural and manufacturing industry, 
 which is already opened to her, will divert as has 
 been supposed, a large portion of the proceeds 
 of western capital and labour from its natural 
 
58 
 
 destination, and render it subservient to the 
 enlargement of her own wealth and power. 
 
 The Morris canal of New-Jersey, for the 
 execution of which a company has been incorpo¬ 
 rated by a law of that state, is considered by its 
 projectors as subservient to the interests of manu¬ 
 factures, rather than to the interests of agricul¬ 
 ture. The country, which it penetrates, abounds 
 in mineral productions and materials for the 
 fabrics of art; but they are so distributed that 
 a channel of communication is necessary to unite 
 them at a given point, at such an expense, 
 including the cost of manufacture, as will enable 
 them to compete with foreign articles of the 
 same nature. The section of country bordering 
 upon the western extremity of the canal fur¬ 
 nishes inexhaustible mines of the Lehigh coal, 
 which will, without doubt, supersede the use 
 of every other species of fuel for household and 
 manufacturing purposes, wherever it can be 
 economically carried. The interior section is 
 rich in iron ore, copper, zinc, manganese, cop¬ 
 peras, plumbago, serpentine, marble and lime. 
 The section bordering upon the eastern extremity 
 of the canal abounds in water power, by the 
 agency of which the products of the other sec¬ 
 tions may be brought into active and useful 
 operation. There is little doubt that the agri¬ 
 cultural improvements of the state will be 
 
materially aided by the facility of procuring, at 
 a small expense, lime, gypsum, and other manures 
 to assist the natural powers of the soil, and by- 
 gaining a less expensive market for its produc¬ 
 tions, in consequence of the diminished cost of 
 transportation. But it has been supposed that 
 the principal utility of the canal would consist in 
 the power, which it will afford, of bringing into 
 operation the raw materials of an extensive and 
 fruitful region, and of introducing into the mar¬ 
 kets of the United States, without imposing any 
 tax upon other departments of industry, an 
 abundant supply of many manufactured articles, 
 for which we are now indebted to foreign coun¬ 
 tries. 
 
 This subject is very interesting, especially as 
 connected with the interests of the city of New- 
 York; and as it has been but little discussed, it is 
 proposed, in order to exhibit more fully the advan¬ 
 tages, which are likely to result from the canal, 
 to give a separate examination to the state of those 
 productions, which will be brought into activity 
 as the subjects of trade.* 
 
 The commodity, which is destined to be of most 
 value to the city, is the Lehigh coal, as a substi¬ 
 tute for the fuel now in use for domestic purposes. 
 The rapid growth of the city renders it extremely 
 
 The facts here stated are principally derived from a report of the 
 Commissioners appointed to inquire into the practicability and expediency 
 of the canal under consideration. 
 
60 
 
 desirable that some cheap substitute should be 
 procured to supply the increasing demand, and to 
 prevent that augmentation of price, which always 
 follows an increase of inhabitants, where wood is 
 in common use. Forests are limited in their 
 power of production: a large and increasing 
 population will consume more rapidly than na¬ 
 ture can produce; and the demands of an aug¬ 
 menting population upon new lands for agricul¬ 
 tural purposes are constantly narrowing the limits, 
 within which the powers of nature are in opera¬ 
 tion. Old countries have, therefore, of necessity 
 penetrated the bosom of the earth for those sup¬ 
 plies, which could no longer be found upon its 
 surface. The importance of coal mines to manu¬ 
 facturing industry is quite as great, as there is no 
 country of full population, where furnaces, if 
 dependent on the productions of the forest, would 
 not yield to such an extension of agriculture as 
 would be necessary to supply its inhabitants with 
 the means of subsistence. 
 
 It has been estimated that the consumption of 
 coal in New-York, according to results obtained 
 by an examination of the consumption of Euro¬ 
 pean cities in a similar climate, would amount to 
 115,632 tons; and this exclusively of the coal 
 required for manufactures, steamboats, &c. In 
 this estimate, an allowance has been made for the 
 superiority of the Lehigh over the imported coal 
 
in the principle of combustion, the difference 
 being about 100 per cent in favour of the former.* 
 The saving, which this coal would produce to the 
 city, cannot be accurately calculated; wherever 
 it superseded the use of wood, there would be a 
 difference of about 500 per cent.—In superseding 
 the use of Liverpool coal, the difference would be 
 100 per cent. The latter cannot enter into com¬ 
 petition with the former in the American market, 
 for it is well known that it is never imported, 
 excepting as ballast. As merchandise, charged 
 with freight, it would not pay for itself. An esti¬ 
 mate of the gain to the city by substituting the 
 Lehigh coal for the fuel now in use, cannot safely 
 be made until the canal is completed; but it may 
 be safely assumed that several hundred thousand 
 dollars will be annually saved, thus creating a 
 new capital to that amount, ready to undergo a 
 profitable investment in some productive depart¬ 
 ment of industry. 
 
 The article, next in importance to Lehigh coal, 
 is iron. This article is considered second in im¬ 
 portance to the other, because, without its agency, 
 the ores, with which the region intersected by the 
 
 * This fact has been ascertained by chemical analysis. The writer of 
 this is also authorized by Alderman M‘Queen to state, that in the manu¬ 
 facturing- processes, to which he has applied it, the result is the same. He 
 has found it equal to a double quantity of imported coal, and he is of the 
 opinion that the iron manufactured by its agency is more valuable in some 
 of its properties. 
 
 9 
 
i>2 
 
 canal abounds, could not be brought to a labora= 
 ted state. Of ninety-three forges in the county 
 of Morris, thirty-nine have been suspended in 
 their operations on account of the expense of fuel, 
 which is constantly increasing with the progress 
 of population and agriculture.* The canal, by 
 furnishing an abundant and regular supply of 
 coal at a comparatively cheap rate, will bring 
 these establishments into operation again, and in 
 a very few years it may be safely calculated that 
 the iron of New-Jersey will expel the iron of 
 Europe from the markets of the United States. 
 This calculation proceeds upon the following 
 facts:—1st. The iron of New-Jersey, when well 
 manufactured, is superior in some of its properties 
 to imported iron, without being inferior in any.f 
 2d. It can be afforded in the New-York mar¬ 
 ket, from which the other sections of the country 
 principally draw their supplies, at a much inferior 
 expense. A ton of Swedish iron commands in 
 New-York about one hundred dollars. It is esti¬ 
 mated that the diminished expense of manufac- 
 
 * This expense is calculated to absorb two-thirds of the profits of every 
 forge, by compelling the proprietors to keep large tracts of wood-land in 
 the neighbourhood. Thus, for a forge of the value of 500Q dollars, 10,000 
 dollars must be invested in forest land to keep it supplied with fuel. It is 
 in consequence of these enormous investments that so many of the forges 
 have become extinct. 
 
 t The superiority of foreign iron heretofore has arisen from the differ¬ 
 ence in the European and American processes of manufacture —a differ¬ 
 ence, which is constantly diminishing with our experience. 
 
ture, from the cheap supply of fuel and the re¬ 
 duced cost of transportation, will enable the iron 
 of New-Jersey to be sold in the same market for 
 fifty-five dollars per ton. The diminished cost of 
 the article, combined with its superior value in 
 use, must have the effect of banishing the imported 
 iron from the market, the moment the supply 
 equals the demand. 
 
 The whole amount of iron imported into the 
 United States in 1822, was 37,077f- tons. At 
 -$90 per ton, which is not far from the average 
 value, the amount of these importations would 
 be $3,336,997 50. This amount, as soon as the 
 market is supplied by the domestic production of 
 the article, may be invested at home, and will 
 add so much to the sum of our own industry. 
 
 The articles next in value are lime, free-stone 
 lor building, marble for architectural purposes, 
 and various metallic minerals, which may be 
 procured at a comparatively small expense and 
 in exhaustless quantities. The diminished ex¬ 
 pense, from the increased facility of transporta¬ 
 tion, will virtually bring all these bounties of 
 nature to the very wharves of the city, and afford 
 them in her markets at an expense but little 
 above that of extracting them from the earth and 
 preparing them for use. The stimulus, which 
 will be given to the business of the city by these 
 additions to the materials of industry, can better 
 
be fancied than explained by any regular train of 
 calculation. 
 
 It may be apprehended by some that the 
 growth of the manufactures of New-Jersey will 
 have a tendency to impair the commercial inte¬ 
 rests of New-York, by withdrawing from employ¬ 
 ment that portion of her tonnage, which is 
 engaged in the importation of articles to be 
 superseded by domestic production. This appre¬ 
 hension must be limited to the article of iron ; 
 and it may be safely assumed that the general 
 extension of trade in other commodities arising 
 from the causes, which have been investigated, 
 will, even in the first stage of this manufacture, 
 counterbalance any decrease, which may proceed 
 from the home production of that article. The 
 first effect of the success of a domestic manufac¬ 
 ture is to banish all foreign articles of the same 
 species from the market. If this manufacture is 
 not forced into existence by arbitrary imposi¬ 
 tions upon other branches of industry, but grows 
 up with the natural developement of the powers 
 and resources of a country, its success is not 
 limited to this result. It is almost certain, from 
 the economy of labour and expense, arising from 
 improvements in the process of manufacture, to 
 be ultimately produced in such a quantity and at 
 such a cost as will enable it to bear the further 
 expense of exportation for the consumption of 
 
foreign countries. This is almost always the 
 case with manufactures, which grow up of them¬ 
 selves, and sometimes with those, which are 
 stimulated in their growth and protected from 
 competition in infancy by the artificial provisions 
 of government. It is in this maimer that com¬ 
 merce is indemnified for the sacrifices, which it 
 sometimes makes in favour of other departments 
 of industry.* But in this case, no such decrease 
 of commerce is to be apprehended. The markets 
 of New-York are to be crowded by the produc¬ 
 tions of one of the richest agricultural and 
 mineral regions in the world. These productions 
 will be exchanged for other commodities, which 
 will be sent to meet them: the materials for 
 commercial operations will be augmented to an 
 incalculably large amount; new capitals will be 
 created and invested in such a manner as to give 
 an impulse to the general business of the society; 
 and, amid this universal augmentation of wealth 
 and industry, it is impossible that any interest 
 can be a sufferer. 
 
 From a review of the statements relative to 
 the progress of the several canal communications, 
 which are to have their termination at the city of 
 New-York, and the productive powers, which 
 they are destined to bring into operation, it is 
 apparent that no position in this country, perhaps 
 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 
m the world, unites so many facilities tor be¬ 
 coming permanently great and prosperous. It 
 has been seen that the countries, which will 
 become tributary to her commerce, besides a 
 fertility of soil not surpassed by that of any 
 other country, abound in materials for manufac¬ 
 turing industry, and in all the varieties of mineral 
 production. It remains only to examine the 
 extent and population of the country, which the 
 canals will supply, and all the data lor an estimate 
 of so much of her future progress as will proceed 
 from these causes will have been obtained. It 
 may be fairly calculated that two-thirds of the 
 inhabitants of those states, which communicate 
 with the ocean by the Erie canal, will derive 
 their supplies of merchandise from the city of 
 New-York, and remit to her, in discharge of the 
 debt, the productions of their industry to the 
 same amount in value. The surface, over which 
 this population is spread, upon the hypothesis of 
 an equal distribution, will be as follows:— 
 
 New-York, (two-thirds of her 
 
 Square miles. 
 
 surface) 30,800 
 
 Ohio, - 
 
 do. 
 
 - - 25,900 
 
 Indiana, - 
 
 do. 
 
 - - 23,200 
 
 Illinois, - 
 
 do. 
 
 - - 39,420 
 
 Territory of Michigan, 
 
 do. 
 
 - - 36,000 
 
 
 
 Total, 155,320 
 
07 
 
 The population, according to the census ot 
 1820, will be as follows : 
 
 New-York, (two-thirds of the amount) 
 Ohio, - do. 
 
 Indiana, - do. 
 
 Illinois, - do. 
 
 Territory of Michigan, do. 
 
 915,808. 
 
 387,622 
 
 98,118 
 
 36,807 
 
 5,930 
 
 1,444,285 
 
 Thus it is seen, that the industry of a popula¬ 
 tion of 1,444,285 souls will be made subservient 
 by a single line of communication to the commer¬ 
 cial interests of the city, and that a country of 
 155,320 square miles in extent, rich, as we have 
 seen, in every variety of production, will pour its 
 treasures into her bosom, and draw from her the 
 same amount of value in return. To the results 
 of this calculation, are to be added the population 
 and extent of the country opened by the Morris 
 canal, which will, at the smallest possible estimate, 
 be equal to one half of the population and surface 
 of the state of New-Jersey, and we shall obtain 
 the sum of 1,583,072 inhabitants, and 159,480 
 square miles of country rendered dependent by 
 canal navigation upon the commercial transac¬ 
 tions of a single city. In this final sum, it is to 
 be recollected that the last addition contains a 
 larger portion of the manufacturing principle in 
 the natural powers of the soil and in the charae- 
 
08 
 
 ter of its productions than any section of equal 
 magnitude in the United States. It is also to be 
 recollected, that a large portion of the state of 
 Vermont, which is supplied by the northern canal, 
 is excluded from this estimate, although it might 
 fairly be brought in to swell the amount. As it 
 is, the exclusion of this region of country may 
 serve, if necessary, to counteract any supposed 
 exaggeration in the data, from which the results, 
 above presented, have been drawn. 
 
 SECTION II.—FOREIGN TRADE. 
 
 From the foregoing examination it is apparent 
 that the inland trade of New-York is yet in its 
 infancy. Until within a very few years, the 
 communications of the city with the interior 
 have been made by the navigation of natural 
 channels, and by land transportation from the 
 points, at which those natural channels have 
 terminated. The great system of internal com¬ 
 munication, from which vast streams of wealth 
 and power are destined to flow, has been briefly 
 sketched; and we shall now proceed to the 
 examination of that portion of her commercial 
 resources, which the city employs in her commu¬ 
 nications with foreign states. The original 
 foundation of the city in commercial interests. 
 
09 
 
 and her subsequent growth by the force of those 
 interests, have already been examined 
 
 If it were intended to give a detailed view of 
 the condition of the city, with respect to her 
 commercial resources, at different stages of her 
 progress, it would be necessary for this purpose 
 to assume three dates, viz. 1678, 1783, and 1825. 
 The first date terminates a period of about 64 
 years from the date of the first commercial 
 establishment: the second date terminates a 
 period of 105 years from the first date; and the 
 third date terminates a period of 48 years from 
 the second. 
 
 During the first of these periods, the progress 
 of settlement was opposed by the rudeness of the 
 country, the scarcity of its productions from the 
 want of cultivation, the hostility of its original 
 possessors, and the uncertain tenure by which it 
 was held, in consequence of the conflicting claims 
 deduced from successive adventurers in the career 
 of discovery. This first period comprehends 
 only about fourteen years of administration 
 under British regulations, the Dutch having held 
 it, at sufferance or by permission of the British 
 king, from about the time of discovery until 1664. 
 
 During the second period, almost all the 
 causes, which were in operation during the first, 
 continued, although in a minor degree; and the 
 
 progress of the city was farther retarded by 
 
 to 
 
70 
 
 sanguinary wars with neighbouring colonies, in 
 which they were involved by the domestic differ¬ 
 ences and disputes of the mother countries, and 
 by the arbitrary and impolitic measures, which 
 were frequently adopted by the governors of the 
 province, in the direction of its capital and indus¬ 
 try. But her connexion throughout these two 
 periods with two countries of vast commercial 
 resources, engaged in trade to every part of the 
 world, gave a stimulus to her progress, which 
 these obstacles could not effectually oppose. 
 That the early growth of New-York was aided 
 by the power of Holland and Great Britain, there 
 is no doubt; but the influence exerted in her 
 behalf was subjected to the principles of the 
 modern doctrine of colonization, by which the 
 mother country is at liberty to appropriate to her 
 own use all the profits of that wealth and indus¬ 
 try, of which she has furnished the elements. It 
 was from this cause, more than any other, that, 
 the progress of New-York was retarded during 
 the second stage of her history. Oppressive 
 regulations were invented to shackle her trade, 
 and give her industry a direction entirely different 
 from that, which it would have sought in the 
 absence of restriction. These embarrassments 
 were shared in common with all sections oi 
 colonial America, which were subject to British 
 rule; and they are so well understood, that it is 
 
merely necessary to cite them here as one of the 
 most powerful causes, by which the prosperity of 
 the city of New-York was diminished and post¬ 
 poned. During the latter years of the second 
 period, although in possession of Great Britain, 
 her general condition and progress were nearly 
 the same as those parts of the country, which 
 were not occupied by a hostile force. 
 
 During the third period, her progress has been 
 rapid, regular, and unrestrained. As soon as the 
 revolutionary war was at an end, and all com¬ 
 mercial restrictions removed, trade became active 
 and spirited, and she began to assume a high 
 commercial character among the great cities of 
 the confederation. But it was not until near 1800 
 that her commercial advantages were properly 
 estimated, and foreign states began to look to her 
 as the future general mart of the country. The 
 hostilities, in which we have been involved since 
 that period, have had an adverse influence upon 
 her prosperity, especially as her foreign com¬ 
 merce, upon which she has been wholly depend¬ 
 ent, was for a time almost completely suspended. 
 But from these temporary suspensions she seems 
 to have emerged with renewed energy and vigour, 
 and she is now advancing in a ratio of increase, 
 which has been but once exceeded, and that but 
 slightly, at any stage of her progress. 
 
 To present a full view of the foreign commerce 
 
of the city would require more time and labour 
 than the author of this sketch is at liberty to 
 devote to it; and, if obtained, would swell it 
 beyond its prescribed dimensions. There is 
 scarcely a country, which is not visited by her 
 commercial adventures, or a branch of trade, 
 which she does not share with other nations; and 
 it would be difficult to enter minutely into the 
 detail of these extensive relations. Into an 
 estimate of the external resources of a trading 
 city every thing properly enters, which is exclu¬ 
 sively devoted, whether directly or indirectly, to 
 operations carried on abroad. The permanent 
 establishments, which are created with a view to 
 trade, are of this nature; but the precise value 
 of these it will be impossible to ascertain. In 
 estimating the value of real property in the 
 United States there is an insuperable difficulty in 
 procuring results, by which comparisons may be 
 made between different places, in consequence of 
 the absence of direct taxation under the authority 
 of the central government. In most European 
 cities, on the contrary, all such property is sub¬ 
 jected to taxation under a general authority; and 
 from the valuation, which is made in order to 
 determine the amount of the imposition, may be 
 obtained the relative, as well as the aggregate 
 amount of value of all the objects, on which 
 impositions are laid. The want of such a gene- 
 
73 
 
 ral system in the United States, in time of peaces 
 renders it impossible to procure, at stated periods, 
 the statistical information, which is necessary to 
 give an accurate relative view of the progress of 
 one city with another in the accumulation of 
 wealth. The valuations, which are made by 
 particular states, having no common standard, 
 cannot be safely taken as the basis of any com- 
 parative view. For these reasons we shall only 
 exhibit the amount of shipping, and, as nearly as 
 possible, the extent of the commercial operations 
 of the city of New-York, without attempting to 
 estimate the value of those fixtures, which are 
 subservient to her trade. 
 
 The tonnage of the city on the 31st December, 
 1824, according to the Custom-house books, was 
 as follows:— 
 
 Tons. 95ths. 
 
 Registered tonnage, 128,702 56 
 Licensed do. 132,443 36 
 
 total, 261,145 92 
 
 According to the laws of the United States, no 
 vessel can be employed in foreign trade without 
 being registered, and no vessel can be employed 
 in the coasting-trade without being licensed or 
 enrolled. The registered tonnage above stated 
 exhibits, therefore, the amount belonging to the 
 city of New-York, which is engaged in foreign 
 
74 
 
 commerce, and the licensed, that portion, which 
 is employed in the coasting-trade. This division 
 is not, perhaps, strictly accurate, as some regis¬ 
 tered vessels, without surrendering their certifi¬ 
 cates of registry, are employed by their owners 
 in the coasting trade; but this does not often 
 occur, as registered vessels pay the same amount 
 of duties at every entry, which licensed vessels 
 pay per annum. 
 
 From the above statement, it would appear that 
 the tonnage of the city is less than it was in 1810, 
 according to a statement made by Mr. Pitkin, # 
 who estimates it at 268,548 g\ tons. To recon¬ 
 cile these inconsistent statements, inquiries have 
 been made at the custom house, the result of 
 which is as follows: The amount stated by Mr. 
 Pitkin included all the tonnage, which had been 
 registered for a number of previous years, making 
 no deduction for the licenses and certificates of 
 registry, which had been surrendered, or for the 
 losses, which had occurred during the three pre¬ 
 ceding years of depredation on our commerce by 
 foreign powers, and of counteracting restrictions 
 by our own government. The amount stated 
 was, therefore, far above the real amount. 
 
 The shipping belonging to the city, engaged in 
 foreign trade, is principally employed with that 
 class of operations, which is strictly commercial 
 
 * Statistical View, Chap. XI, 
 
ill its nature, and not in the carrying trade. The 
 latter has been almost entirely conducted by the 
 shipping of the eastern states; and New-York 
 has probably at this moment a proportionably less 
 amount of tonnage employed in that trade than 
 she ever has had at any period of her history. In 
 commercial operations strictly her own, she, in 
 fact, employs a considerable amount of the ton¬ 
 nage of other cities. The faculty of commerce 
 must not be confounded with the faculty of navi¬ 
 gation. The latter is the instrument, by the 
 agency of which effect is given to the powers of 
 the former. Commerce rests essentially upon 
 surplus production: navigation, or the business 
 of carrying, is entirely independent of production, 
 and may be carried on by a nation, which has no 
 sources of productive industry at home. This 
 distinction is strongly illustrated by the distresses 
 incident to the late war, and the restrictive sys¬ 
 tems, by which it was preceded. 
 
 The value of the goods imported into the city 
 in 1824, for which duties were paid at the custom 
 house, was #37,783,147; and the duties, which 
 accrued on them, amounted to #11,178,139 39. 
 The value of her exports during the same period, 
 was #22,309,362, and the duties on tonnage of 
 every species was #27,592 60. 
 
 The progress of a city or state in wealth and 
 industry can only be understood by a comparison 
 
76 
 
 of the particular facts, which mark the successive 
 stages of its increase. The real value of a fact 
 connected with such an increase is not properly 
 estimated, until its relative value is disclosed; and 
 for this purpose, we shall bring the statements 
 above presented to the standard of similar state¬ 
 ments at earlier stages of our national history. 
 
 The amount of tonnage belonging to all the 
 United States in the year 1793, was 489,804 || 
 tons, including licensed, enrolled, and registered 
 vessels. It appears, therefore, that the tonnage 
 of the city of New-York in the year 1824, 
 amounted to more than one half as much as all 
 the tonnage of the United States in 1793. 
 
 The amount of exports from the United States 
 in the year 1792, was 820.753.098. The amount 
 of exports from the city of New-York in 1824, was 
 greater (as will be seen above) than the amount 
 of exports from the whole country in 1792. 
 
 The amount of receipts from the customs in 
 the year 1804, at all the ports in the United 
 States, was $11,098,565 33. So that the duties 
 on foreign merchandise, imported into the city of 
 New-York in 1824, without including tonnage 
 duties, light money, &c. exceeded the whole value 
 of the customs of the United States in 1824. # 
 
 It is not to be inferred from this comparison that the amount of com¬ 
 modities imported into New-York, in 1824, was greater than the whole 
 amount of commodities imported into the United States in 1804. It is to be 
 
The amount of imports into the United States 
 in the year 1795, was $69,756,258. So that the 
 amount of importations into the port of New- 
 York, in the year 1824, was more than half the 
 amount of all the imports into the United States 
 in 1795. 
 
 It may not be improper to observe here that, 
 by a reference to the statement of imports and 
 exports of New-York for the year 1824, it will ap¬ 
 pear that the former exceed the latter in value by 
 the sum of $15,473,885, making a balance to 
 that amount against the city. This unfavourable 
 balance is apparent, and not real, as, notwith¬ 
 standing the manner of estimating their value, it 
 is well known that a large portion of these imports 
 is destined to other parts of the United States as 
 returns for articles of domestic growth, which 
 have been exported directly from the places of 
 production. In comparing, therefore, the value 
 of the imports and exports of the city, the value 
 of these returns should be subtracted from the 
 value of the former. But, independently of this 
 fact, the different modes of valuing the imports 
 and exports, render all inferences drawn from the 
 apparent amount altogether erroneous. It is 
 pretty generally admitted, that all estimates ot 
 
 remembered, that there has been a considerable increase in the rate ot 
 duties from 1804 to 1824, by the force of which the same amount of duties 
 would accrue upon a smaller amount of merchandise. 
 
 1 l 
 
78 
 
 the commercial prosperity of a nation, which are 
 founded upon the balance of trade, are fallacious. 
 The manner of keeping custom-house books 
 affords a very uncertain criterion of the value, 
 both of the productions, which a country imports, 
 and of those, which it carries abroad; and from 
 these books are drawn the data, upon which an 
 estimate ol the balance of trade is founded.* In 
 estimating the trade of one country with another, 
 the excess of importation may be counterba¬ 
 lanced by an excess of exportation to a third; and 
 in estimating the whole commerce of a country 
 with all other nations, the precise amount of loss 
 or gain could be obtained only by ascertaining the 
 exact amount in value of the productions, which 
 are sent abroad, at the place of exportation, and 
 of those, which are received in return, at the place 
 of importation.f In a large commercial country, 
 this value cannot be precisely ascertained. In 
 the custom house books of the United States, the 
 value of imported goods, paying ad valorem duties, 
 is estimated according to the actual cost in the 
 
 * Inferences drawn from the course of exchange between any two 
 countries are admitted to be futile. Ganihl, a distinguished French 
 writer, in his work on political economy, says, (Book IV. Chap. 9.) that 
 there is no certain and positive mode of estimating the balance of trade in 
 any country. 
 
 I The cost of production affords only a ground of inference with regard 
 to the value of commodities; since the true criterion must be, the utility 
 of the commodities parted with, compared with the utility of the objects 
 received in return: 
 
79 
 
 countries, from which they are imported, with 
 the addition of 20 per cent, if brought from 
 the Cape of Good Hope, or any country beyond 
 it, or of 10 per cent, if brought from any other 
 place or country. On the other hand, the exports 
 are valued according to their price at the place, 
 from which they are exported, excluding, of 
 course, the cost of freight and other charges, 
 which accrue upon them before their introduction 
 into the foreign market. In fact, this mode of 
 valuation is such that the real balance ought to 
 be considered the reverse of the apparent balance, 
 so that the gain, which a country effects by a par¬ 
 ticular branch of foreign commerce, would be 
 exactly equal to the excess of its imports over its 
 exports. But any just mode of valuation, by 
 which the real utility of the objects of exchange 
 to the exchanging parties could be ascertained, 
 will always exhibit a mutual gain ,* for it is only 
 upon such a basis that any system of traffic can 
 be continued for a length of time. The rapid 
 
 increase.of New-York affords conclusive evidence 
 « *• 
 
 *thht hVrVprhmerCial operations have been highly 
 beneficial to her interests, and the constant aug¬ 
 mentations of population, capital, and industry, 
 throughout the country in nearly a uniform pro- ♦ • 
 gression # foi\ many years, are the most effectual * * ' * 
 refutations, -which can be given to the popular 
 notion of an unfavourable balance of trade derived 
 J>om partial and inaccurate data. 
 
 W 
 
 » 
 
 • * 
 
80 
 
 The following statement of the actual receipts 
 into the national treasury, on account of customs, 
 during the years 1824 and 1825, at some of the 
 principal ports of the United States, will exhibit 
 the relative importance of New-York as a com¬ 
 mercial emporium.* 
 
 For the year 1824. 
 
 New-York, 
 
 . . . $8,025,110 
 
 Philadelphia, . 
 
 . . . 2,932,004 
 
 Boston, . . . 
 
 . . . 2,675,148 
 
 Baltimore, . . 
 
 . . . 871,271 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 . . 719,276 
 
 New-Orleans, . 
 
 . . . 675,659 
 
 For the 
 
 year 1825. 
 
 New-York, 
 
 . . $9,803,397 28 
 
 Philadelphia, . 
 
 . . 3,103,194 22 
 
 Boston, . . 
 
 . . 2,999,053 14 
 
 Baltimore, 
 
 . . 906,674 17 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 . . 669,989 86 
 
 New-Orleans, 
 
 . . 679,066 82 
 
 By this statement it appears that tne importa¬ 
 tions into the city of New-York in 1824, exceeded 
 by the sum of $151,752 the whole amount of 
 i m P or lations into the five other principal ports of 
 * the Union. It also appears, that tn<Timportations 
 
 lie l 
 
 A 
 
 * For this statement, the author is indebted to the politeness of one of 
 the principal officers of the Treasury department. 
 
81 
 
 into the city in 1825, exceeded by the^suni of 
 $1,455,419 3? the whole amount mtmp&rtations 
 into those ports during the same^'year. The 
 extraordinary excess of the last year is a fact 
 connected with the growing importance of the 
 city, which cannot be misunderstood; it is not 
 only an index of the consequence she has already- 
 gained, but it is also prophetic of her future 
 march to a degree of eminence beyond the most 
 sanguine predictions of the past. 
 
 The facts, which have been presented in the 
 foregoing pages, render it almost unnecessary to 
 say that New-York, as a commercial emporium, 
 stands alone among the other cities of the Union. 
 The commerce of the latter has been, especially 
 for the last few years, almost exclusively confined 
 to the exchange of articles, the produce of then- 
 own states or of the states in contiguity with them, 
 for foreign productions to supply the wants of the 
 producers of those articles. In other words, every 
 city, excepting New-York, has been a particular 
 emporium, limited in the extent of its operations 
 by local disabilities. This remark applies to 
 Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Charleston and 
 even New-Orleans. None of these cities have 
 ever had the character of a general mart, where 
 the domestic productions of all sections of the coun¬ 
 try have been collected for exportation, and where 
 the importations from foreign countries have con¬ 
 centrated for general distribution at home. Bos- 
 
ton has been the market for New-England, Phila- 
 
 i # • 4 f_V ^ t ^ 
 
 delphia for Pennsylvania and portions of the con¬ 
 tiguous states, Baltimore for Maryland, Charles¬ 
 ton for South Carolina, and New-Orleans for the 
 country upon the Gulf of Mexico and the Missis¬ 
 sippi; and to these limits their respective com¬ 
 mercial operations have been restricted. But 
 New-Yorkhas acquired with regard to the Union 
 the same relative character, which these markets 
 bear to particular states. The productions of every 
 section of the country are accumulated in her 
 warehouses, and the fruits of foreign industry 
 meet them in her markets for the purposes of ex¬ 
 change. She receives the tobacco of Virginia, 
 the rice of South-Carolina, the sugar of Louisi¬ 
 ana, and the cotton of Alabama, and sends them 
 abroad to those countries, whose manufactures 
 are tributary to our agriculture. As a part of 
 the same operation, she receives the products of 
 Europe and the Indies, and distributes them to 
 those sections of the country, from which she has 
 derived the commodities, with which they have 
 been purchased. She may be emphatically called 
 
 THE GREAT COMMERCIAL EMPORIUM OF THE CON¬ 
 FEDERACY ; and when the influence of an estab¬ 
 lished character is considered in connexion with 
 local advantages, which no adversity can destroy, 
 there can be little doubt that she will always re¬ 
 tain her ascendency over the other great markets 
 of the country. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FUTURE GROWTH ESTIMATED. 
 
 To attempt to predict with precision the 
 progress, which a city or country is destined to 
 make in population and resources, is always a 
 precarious speculation. The omission of any 
 circumstance, which contributes in the slightest 
 degree to the result, necessarily vitiates the 
 estimate; and the constantly varying phases, 
 which are presented by a country of great natu¬ 
 ral resources in the process of developement, 
 either by means of new connexions abroad, or 
 new improvements at home, are an endless source 
 of doubt and uncertainty with those, who ven¬ 
 ture to extend their view to the future, in with¬ 
 drawing it from the past. There are cases, 
 however, where the operation of a cause has 
 been so long and uniformly continued as to 
 justify the belief that it is still to be resorted to, 
 
84 
 
 as a principle of steady efficacy, in inferences 
 with regard to the future. Of this nature is the 
 case of New-York, in its dependence on com¬ 
 mercial interests, as has been seen in the first 
 and third chapters of this sketch; and if the 
 degree, in which trade is hereafter to remain 
 free or become embarrassed, could be ascer¬ 
 tained with precision, the future increase of the 
 city might be predicted with the same certainty. 
 
 The facts presented in the first and third 
 chapters establish not only that the city of New- 
 York has been exclusively dependent upon trade, 
 but also upon foreign trade. From 1810 to 1820, 
 internal communication was uninterrupted, the 
 coasting-trade, though occasionally hazardous, 
 was still carried on; and yet, during this period, 
 her population from a previous rate of increase, far 
 above that of the general increase throughout 
 the countrv, fell down to a rate far below it. 
 
 Hereafter, new interests are destined to co¬ 
 operate with the principle of foreign commerce 
 in stimulating the growth of the city. The great 
 system of canal navigation, which has been cur¬ 
 sorily surveyed in the last chapter, makes her the 
 depot for the productions of an immense region of 
 country; and, if foreign trade should be alto¬ 
 gether extinguished, she would still remain the 
 medium of communication between the different 
 sections of the Union. The productions of the 
 
85 
 
 south and north-west must meet for exchange in 
 her markets, and the amount of these will increase 
 with the extension of manufactures in the north 
 and east—an interest, which, by the force of 
 natural facilities, will eventually overcome all the 
 obstacles opposed to its progress.* It may, there¬ 
 fore, be safely assumed, that if the foreign con¬ 
 nexions of the city should, by any future adversity, 
 be cut off, her progress will not be checked to so 
 great a degree as it has been heretofore: her 
 dependence on external trade is no longer exclu¬ 
 sive; and she will be sustained, in its absence, by 
 the force of new principles, less efficacious and 
 more restricted in their operation, but which 
 ought at least to enable her to keep pace with the 
 general march of the country in population and 
 resources. 
 
 New-York will undergo no change of charac¬ 
 ter by means of these new developements. Ex¬ 
 ternal may be exchanged for internal trade ; but 
 she will still be purely a trading city, and to the 
 principle of commerce her prosperity is here¬ 
 after, as at present, to be traced. 
 
 It has been common to assume, that the limits 
 of a trading city cannot extend beyond a certain 
 point, from some supposed inefficacy beyond that 
 point in the principle of commerce itself, or on 
 
 * See Appendix, (C.) 
 
 12 
 
86 
 
 account of some physical inconvenience, by which 
 its operations would be restricted to a limited 
 sphere. But in the attempts, which have been 
 made to assign that point, there has been a great 
 want of concurrence. It is also assumed, as a 
 consequence of the former assumption, that Lon¬ 
 don, Paris, and some other European capitals, 
 eould not have grown to their present magnitude, 
 but for the presence and patronage of a court; 
 and the principle is applied to the city of New- 
 Y ork with a view to establish that her progress, 
 after attaining a certain point in population and 
 resources, will terminate by an exhaustion of its 
 own force. It is almost unnecessary to say, that 
 these inferences are derived from a very vague 
 conception of the subject. With regard to the 
 great European capitals just referred to, all that 
 can safely be asserted is, that the presence of a court 
 is an additional power, by virtue of which a city 
 may be carried beyond the point, at which, with¬ 
 out the influence of that power, its growth would 
 have terminated. But it does not prove, that 
 other cities, under peculiarly favourable circum¬ 
 stances, may not attain an equal degree of wealth 
 and power from the operation of other causes. 
 
 It may be laid down as a principle, that the 
 dimensions of a city, which is purely commercial 
 in its character, will be in a compound proportion 
 to the wealth and resources of the country, which 
 
87 
 
 it supplies, and to the degree, in which it is 
 tributary to the supply of that country. 
 
 Trading cities, both ancient and modern, may 
 all be brought to the test of this principle. If 
 the latter have not grown to the dimensions of 
 other cities not purely commercial, it is because 
 commerce has been restrained by some want of 
 facilities, which it is believed will be readily dis¬ 
 closed by a particular examination of each indi¬ 
 vidual case. There is no trading town in Europe 
 that bears to the country, to which it belongs, 
 the same relation, which New-York bears to the 
 United States. The commercial cities of Europe, 
 with the exception of large capitals, (these are 
 excluded, because their growth is to be traced to 
 a compound influence,) are for the most part 
 tributary as markets to countries of limited 
 means, or tributary in a limited degree to coun¬ 
 tries of extensive means. The cities of Ham¬ 
 burgh, Lisbon, Genoa, Venice and many others, 
 may be cited as instances, in which the countries 
 supplied are limited in extent and resources, and 
 where the principle of commerce would be 
 restrained by physical disabilities. Amsterdam, 
 Liverpool, Bordeaux and others may be ci¬ 
 ted as instances, wherein, although the countries 
 supplied are vast in extent or resources, yet, 
 commerce being shared by other cities, their 
 growth would be relative to the degree, in which 
 
i 
 
 m 
 
 they severally participate in it. But even these 
 cases, upon the most narrow view, would not all 
 concur in giving strength to the assumption under 
 examination. Liverpool has grown to a magni¬ 
 tude, and is increasing with a degree of rapidity, 
 which, taken in connexion with the rivalry of 
 London and other commercial towns in England, 
 are conclusive as to its fallacy. The cities of 
 Manchester and Birmingham have risen, in the 
 same manner, from the impulse of manufacturing 
 interests. All of these have been without the 
 benefit of any of those influences, which are 
 derived from the presence of royalty. These 
 cases are only cited to show, that there is but one 
 rule with regard to the progress of towns—and 
 that, regulated by the degree in which they are 
 capable of ministering, by any species of industry, 
 to the industry of other societies. Apprehensions, 
 therefore, of the interruption of a commercial 
 city in the course of its progress, for any other 
 reason than the common one—that there is no 
 further demand for the products of its industry— 
 are derived from a notion, which is defective in 
 point of reasoning, and equally so in point of 
 fact. 
 
 New-York, as a commercial city, is almost 
 without restriction of any sort. She has the 
 character of a general market, which natural 
 facilities have enabled her to establish, and which 
 
the same facilities will enable her to maintain: 
 and the country, which requires the aid of her 
 commercial industry, is, by means of natural 
 advantages and powers, increasing with a degree 
 of force, of which no foresight can venture to 
 assign the limits or estimate the results. It is 
 fair to infer that her growth will be, in some 
 degree, relative to the growth of the country, with 
 which, as we have seen, she is inseparably con¬ 
 nected ; because, with the increase of the latter 
 in population and wealth, there must also be an 
 extension of commerce; and, in ministering to 
 this, the city will become endowed with enlarged 
 capacities. When this commerce shall have 
 attained its utmost limit of extension, it would 
 follow, from the principle we have constantly kept 
 in view, that the city will cease to make further 
 advances, excepting so far as it participates in 
 that general progress of the country, the induence 
 of which is communicated in some degree to all 
 its parts. But the growth of the contiguous or 
 dependent regions referred to is in itself a very 
 considerable power to the city, and to comprehend 
 its importance, it may not be improper to go 
 into a brief examination, in order to bring it to 
 the standard of the average rate of increase 
 throughout the United States since the year 1790. 
 
 The population of the United States in the 
 year 1790 amounted to 3.929.326 souls: in 1800 
 
 it ' ' 
 
90 
 
 to 5,309,758; in 1810 to 7,239,903; and in 1820 
 to 9,625,734. During the first of these periods 
 of ten years, the rate of increase would be 3.51 
 per cent, per annum, according to which the 
 population of the country would double in about 
 28 years and a half: during the second period 
 the rate of increase would be 3.63 per cent, ac¬ 
 cording to which it would double in about 27 
 years and a half; and during the third period 
 the rate of increase would be 3.29 per cent, ac¬ 
 cording to which it would double in 30 years and 
 a third. The average rate of increase during 
 the three periods would be 3.47 per cent, accord¬ 
 ing to which the population of the country would 
 double in about 29 years.* 
 
 In Chapter IV it has been seen that a popula¬ 
 tion of 1,444,285 souls in the interior of the 
 country would become dependent by canal navi¬ 
 gation upon the city of New-York for those sup¬ 
 plies, which are procured by exchange with 
 foreign countries. According to the average rate 
 of increase above stated, the surface, over which 
 this population is spread, would, in the year 1749, 
 
 * This rapidity of increase is best illustrated by a single comparison. 
 According to a statement of Mr. Malthus, in his work on population, (Book 
 2d, Chapter ix,) the highest estimates of the population of England at the 
 close of the eighteenth century, would not make it double in less than 125 
 years. The rate of increase would only be equal to four-fifths per cent. 
 —'a striking contrast with the progress of the United States, and appa¬ 
 rently extraordinary, when the great prosperity of that country is consi¬ 
 dered, although readily explained by difference of circumstances. 
 
contain 2,888,570 souls; and in the year 1878 
 the number would amount to 5,777,140. In pro¬ 
 portion as new countries become occupied, the rate 
 increase in population is naturally diminished, 
 because the necessaries of life, in proportion to 
 the demand for them, become less abundant, and 
 are procured with a greater amount of labor ;* 
 but by referring to the chapter above-mentioned, 
 it will be seen that the portions of country, which 
 will be tributary to the city of New-York, are 
 precisely those, where the highest rate of increase 
 during the last 30 years may be expected to con¬ 
 tinue, those portions being extremely fertile, rich 
 in the materials for manufacturing industry, and, 
 for the most part, but thinly inhabited. The 
 contiguity or dependence of a region of country, 
 in which population and wealth are rapidly in¬ 
 creasing, cannot be without effect; and, in the 
 
 * This observation is confirmed by the statements above presented. 
 From 1790 to 1 tiOO, the population of the country, as has been seen, in¬ 
 creased at the rate of 3.51 per cent. From 1800 to 1810, it increased at 
 the rate of 3.63 per cent, but it is to be remembered, that during this 
 period Louisiana was added to the territories of the United States, the 
 population of which, (amounting to 97,401 souls,) according to the census 
 of!810, being deducted from the whole amount obtained by the enumera¬ 
 tion of that year, would reduce the rate of increase to 3.48 per cent.— 
 somewhat below the rate of the previous ten years. From 1810 to 1820, 
 the rate was still lower, being only 3.29 Thus it appears that the rate of 
 increase throughout the United States has been regularly diminishing as 
 settlement has extended and population h’ks become condensed, although 
 certain parts of the country, by means of extraordinary natural facilities, 
 have advanced in a ratio far exceeding the general average. 
 
92 
 
 event of a temporary interruption of commerce 
 with more distant or less dependent regions, this 
 augmentation in the section referred to would 
 have a powerful influence in sustaining the city 
 under the pressure of its embarrassments. 
 
 In estimating the future growth of New-York, 
 a measure must be sought in an examination of 
 her past progress, and not in any external view. 
 It would be inaccurate to assume as a standard 
 the average rate of increase throughout the Uni¬ 
 ted States; because principles are in operation 
 within the city, the influence of which is felt no¬ 
 where else. Nor would it be accurate to take 
 the region of country, which is dependent on her 
 commercial enterprises, and measure the growth 
 of the one by that of the other; because new 
 channels of communication are constantly open¬ 
 ing to her new regions of country, external trade 
 is presenting new objects of employment, and the 
 sum of all these is to be added to the influences 
 now in operation in order to determine the rate 
 of her future increase. The true criterion is to 
 be derived from her past progress, modified by 
 the new powers, which have been brought into 
 operation by recent improvements. But, in 
 order that the standard may rather be too low 
 than too high, all consideration of these powers 
 will be discarded and the average rate of her in- 
 
93 
 
 crease from the year 1790 # to the year 1825 will 
 be taken as the basis of the estimate. As this 
 period of 35 years includes five years of great 
 commercial embarrassment, and five years of 
 almost an entire stagnation of trade, the result 
 ought not at least to be considered as exaggerated. 
 
 By referring to Chapter III it will be seen that 
 the population of the city from 1790 to 1825, 
 according to four successive enumerations, 
 increased as follows, viz. 
 
 From 1790 to 1800, at the rate of 8.25 per 
 cent, per annum, by the force of which it would 
 have doubled in a little more than twelve years. 
 
 From 1800 to 1810, at the rate of 5.96 per 
 cent, by which it would have doubled in a little 
 less than seventeen years. 
 
 From 1810 to 1820, at the rate of 2.83 per 
 cent, by which it would have doubled in about 
 thirty-five years. 
 
 And from 1820 to 1825, at the rate of 6.86 per 
 cent, by which it would have doubled in about 
 fourteen years and a half. 
 
 The average of these four rates of increase 
 
 * It is only since the adoption of the federal constitution that the growth, 
 of any part of (he United States has been regulated by principles, which 
 can be considered uniform or fixed. Colonial subjection, revolutionary 
 disorder, or the unsettled condition of the government would render the 
 results of every previous year an inaccurate measure of those, which fol¬ 
 lowed. The estimate is, therefore, founded upon the results of the years 
 subsequent to 1789, at which time the government was organized and went 
 into operation upon the federal plan, 
 
 13 
 
94 
 
 will be 5.97 per cent, according to which the 
 population of the city would double in less than 
 seventeen years.* 
 
 According to this rate, then, the population of 
 the city in the year 1842 would amount to above 
 300,000 souls; in the year 1859, to above 600,000; 
 and in the year 1876 to above 1,200,000. The 
 estimate made in a preceding chapter, that the 
 population of the city would, in half a century 
 from the year 1825, amount to above a million 
 was not, therefore, overrated. 
 
 If there be any, (and doubtless there are,) who 
 may consider this estimate extravagant, it is to be 
 observed in reply to their objections, that in this 
 estimate of the future, the rule has been obtained 
 by a fair comparison of the present with the past. 
 Every estimate with regard to the future is a 
 speculation, and in the very term speculation 
 uncertainty is implied. But he, who derives his 
 standard from the present and the past, is more 
 likely to be right than he, who departs from that 
 standard. If the future does not not conform to 
 it, the variation is occasioned by a contingency, 
 
 * It would be more strictly accurate and more favourable to an estimate 
 of the future increase of the city, to consider these four periods as a single 
 period of thirty-five years, and to assign to every future period of thirty- 
 five years the same number of duplications, which took place in the 
 former. According to this mode, the population of the city would double 
 in about fifteen years and a half; and this has been thereAl increase. But 
 here again, as in other cases, the lowest standard has been assumed. 
 
95 
 
 which is in its nature not susceptible of being 
 foretold. But in departing from that standard, 
 there is no other, which can be obtained by any 
 legitimate course of reasoning; because, in aban¬ 
 doning fact, recourse must be had to conjecture ; 
 and he, who supposes a variation of one per cent, 
 from it, is as likely to err as he, who supposes a 
 similar variation of 99 per cent. The supposi¬ 
 tion, therefore, that the city of New-York will 
 never increase beyond its present dimensions, is 
 just as capable of being supported by fact or 
 reasoning, as the supposition, that the rate of 
 increase will be ten or fifty per cent, lower than 
 has been stated, unless it can be established that 
 the influence of some principle now in operation 
 is to be diminished or discontinued.* 
 
 In the foregoing estimate of the future increase 
 of New-York no reference has been made to 
 wealth and resources, because there are no cer¬ 
 tain data for an estimate, with regard to their 
 augmentation. It may, however, be asserted 
 that the proportion, in which population and 
 
 * In estimating the future increase of the city of New-York the only 
 real ground of difference between different, speculators would be in calcu¬ 
 lating the influence of new or accessary powers. The estimate made 
 above abandons all consideration of such powers, and proceeds upon the 
 lowest rate of increase, according to the most unfavourable standard. A 
 more moderate calculation could not be made upon any imaginable data, 
 and to assume a lower standard would be to convert an estimate founded 
 upon certain principles into one of mere hypothesis. 
 
resources increase, is more uniform in the United 
 States than elsewhere, in consequence of the ab¬ 
 sence of large establishments of every kind, and of 
 great masses of wealth in the hands of a single in¬ 
 dividual. In a country, where the spirit of society 
 and the spirit of established political institutions are 
 both adverse to monopoly, and where it is the regu¬ 
 lar operation of law to dissolve those accumulations 
 of wealth, which are the fruit of superior industry 
 and talents, an increase of wealth necessarily 
 carries with it a nearly uniform increase of popu¬ 
 lation. Property may be as abundant as in other 
 countries; but its effects are less apparent, 
 because it is more diffused. Wherever property 
 exists in large masses a much greater portion of 
 it is invested in objects of ostentation and luxury 
 than in countries, where it exists in a more 
 uniform distribution. The millions, which in one 
 country, lie unproductive in the form of a palace 
 and its vast array of decorations, would in another 
 take the shape of a thousand productive invest¬ 
 ments, from the proceeds of which as many fami¬ 
 lies would derive a subsistence. In the former, 
 increase of wealth does not necessarily involve 
 increase of population; but in the latter, the one 
 is a necessary consequence of the other; because 
 the wealth, which is created, is as rapidly diffused; 
 and in every such addition to the general mass of 
 
resources is contained the principle of a further 
 increase of inhabitants.* It may, therefore, be 
 stated as a principle, that, so long as the operation 
 of law upon property in the United States is 
 uniform, the multiplication of men and means 
 will bear nearly a regular proportion to each 
 other. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The investigations, which have been made in 
 this sketch, have not, as was stated in the preface, 
 contemplated any detailed exhibition of the re¬ 
 sources of the city of New-York. The limits 
 assigned to it rendered such an object impracti¬ 
 cable. It proceeded upon the supposition, that 
 the importance of the city, in its relations with 
 the country at large, was not generally under¬ 
 stood, and with the design of presenting the 
 
 % The truth of this proposition will be obvious upon stating, and ex¬ 
 amining the grounds of the converse—an increase of population will 
 necessarily involve an increase of wealth. This must take place in 
 countries where property is generally diffused, but it is not necessarily the 
 case, where it is preserved in large masses by the force of law. in the 
 latter, numerous classes of dependants are the usual companions of great 
 capitalists and large establishments; and the common result of the fall of 
 one of these is to consign a whole district to want and suffering. But in 
 the United States, where no such disparities exist, where the accumula¬ 
 tions of one generation melt away in the next into the common mass, the 
 absolute dependence of man upon man is almost unknown, and every member 
 of society must necessarily rely upon his little stock of wealth. This con¬ 
 dition of property may be expected to continue, so long as we are without 
 a rule of primogeniture and a system of entails, which were cast off with 
 the other badges of our dependence on a regal state. 
 
98 
 
 causes of its prosperity—past, by historical refer 
 ences, and future, founded upon existing facts— 
 as briefly as possible. 
 
 There is no instance on record, ancient or 
 modern, of so rapid a growth as this city has had 
 since its liberation from the embarrassments of 
 colonial servitude; and it is confidently believed 
 that its growth will continue undiminished till it 
 transcends the bounds of every commercial t ity 
 in Europe. The minutest circumstance con¬ 
 nected with its rise and progress is, therefore, 
 valuable: and the author will be amply indemni¬ 
 fied for the few pains he has taken, if any facts 
 he has collected, or any suggestion, which he has 
 ventured to make in the course of his inquiry, 
 prove of the least use to those, who may have 
 leisure to give the subject a full examination 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) 
 
 It has been seen by a statement of the Canal Commis¬ 
 sioners, that the revenue of the canal fund will be adequate to 
 discharge the regular accumulations of interest on the sums 
 loaned to execute the work, and at the end of ten years, to 
 refund the principal of these sums. A new capital will be 
 created, therefore, to the amount of the sums loaned; and a 
 further new capital to the amount of the difference, in which 
 the interest of these sums is exceeded by the net profits of the 
 system. Monies applied to purposes of internal improve¬ 
 ment, where merely the interest of the sums expended is regu¬ 
 larly paid by the profits of the works, in which they are invested, 
 stand precisely on the ground of ordinary investments, unless 
 the improvement affords facilities for the application of the public 
 industry to objects of profit or convenience. In this case, it has 
 a value, which is not susceptible of being reduced to numerical 
 precision. But investments, which discharge the interest and 
 ultimately reimburse the principal of the sums employed consti¬ 
 tute an increase of capital equal and generally superior to their 
 own amount. To illustrate these observations by applying them 
 to the canal system:—The sums, which are applied to the 
 execution of the work are a capital withdrawn by the individ¬ 
 uals who loan them to the state, from some productive employ¬ 
 ment ; but, to induce those individuals to make the transfer, the 
 profits of that employment must be less or the risks greater than 
 of the employment, which is offered by the state. The act of 
 transfer, is therefore, a gain to the individuals. As soon as the 
 work is completed, a profit is rendered equal to the interest, 
 which the state contracted to pay. As long as the new invest- 
 
100 
 
 ment atiords the same profit as the old, there can be no pecu¬ 
 niary gain or loss, either to the state or individuals. But the 
 increased industry which the work puts in operation gradually 
 raises the amount of profits above the amount of interest, and 
 the excess goes to the reimbursement of the sums expended in 
 its execution. The process of extinguishment is the more rapid, 
 because by the force of well-known laws of numbers, every 
 reduction of the principal involves a reduction of the future 
 interest, and the sum of both is the principle of the ratio, upon 
 which the future reduction proceeds. As soon as the sums 
 loaned by the state are reimbursed, the individuals, from whom 
 the loans are obtained, are restored to their previous condition, 
 by being put again in possession of the capitals withdrawn, 
 together with the regular profits on their employment. The 
 state is in possession of the work executed by the agency of 
 those capitals, and here the principal accession of wealth is 
 visible. The state has incurred no expense, the work having 
 paid for itself. That portion of the profits of the work- there¬ 
 fore which equals the interest of all the sums expended on it, 
 represents a capital invested in the work to the amount of all 
 those sums. This is obviously a newly-created capital. The 
 portion of the profits, to which we have just referred is not 
 in strictness (though in effect it is,) a new capital but must be 
 considered as reserved from this estimate in the nature of 
 interest on the new capital invested in the work. But the resi¬ 
 due of the profits, that is the excess over the amount of such a 
 portion as is equal to the interest on the sums expended, is also a 
 new capital, a capital constantly increasing in a ratio founded 
 upon the annual excess. These details are very simple so much 
 so, that to some it may seem unnecessary to state them. But they 
 may serve to illustrate the observation—that, if the estimate of the 
 canal commissioners with regard to the extinction of the canal debt, 
 be not overrated, (and there is every reason to believe it is not) 
 the effect of the surplus proceeds of that work must be to render 
 the state of New-York more prosperous, and capable of greater 
 achievements in proportion to her numbers, than any nation 
 which now exists. 
 
it is not an uncommon argument with manufacturers, that 
 many of the branches of industry, in which they are concerned, 
 suffered immense losses in consequence of the decay of manu¬ 
 facturing establishments at the close of the last war, and, on 
 that account, have claims on the other departments of industry 
 for present encouragement. It will appear, upon examination, 
 that, as an argument in favour of any such claim, the position is 
 altogether destitute of force, inasmuch as the capital invested in 
 domestic manufactures during the late war was principally drawn 
 from the commercial capital, which had been diverted from its 
 accustomed employment by a long course of restriction. That 
 it could have been drawn from no other source will be apparent 
 from a train of very simple reasoning. Before the adoption of 
 the restrictive systems, which preceded the late war; the capital 
 of the country was distributed in a beneficial proportion among 
 the various departments of industry. Commerce and navigation 
 had their share, and so had agriculture and manufactures. The 
 first effect of those restrictive measures was to occasion a total 
 revulsion in commercial industry by altogether arresting its 
 operations. Agriculture was checked to an inferior extent, be¬ 
 cause the amount of decrease would only be in proportion to the 
 degree, in which it was subservient to the supply of foreign 
 demands ; and even this decrease would soon be compensated 
 by the increased demand of an augmenting population. Manu¬ 
 factures alone, by the diminution of foreign imports, were stimu¬ 
 lated in proportion to the decline of the other branches of industry. 
 The operation of these causes upon the capital of the country 
 depends on very obvious principles, and may be seen at a glance* 
 A portion of the capital invested in commerce and navigation, 
 becoming totally unproductive, would immediately seek, wher¬ 
 ever the nature of the investment would admit of transfer, new 
 objects of employment. It could not go to agriculture, because 
 the capital employed in that department of industry would already 
 exceed the demand, and a portion of the latter would, for the 
 t ime, be withdrawn from employment, or the profits on the whole 
 amount would be diminished. The capital withdrawn from 
 
 14 
 
102 
 
 commercial operations could, therefore, only procure an invest¬ 
 ment in manufactures, the capital already employed in the latter 
 being unequal to the demand for its productions, and of course 
 yielding a higher rate of profit than any other source of produc¬ 
 tion. Transfers of commercial capital were consequently made 
 to manufactures ; immense establishments were created at war 
 prices ; and on the recurrence of peace, the profits of the capi¬ 
 tal employed were so reduced from the influx of foreign commo¬ 
 dities, that many of these establishments were abandoned leaving 
 the whole amount of capital invested a loss to manufacturing, 
 and also to commercial, industry, from the latter of which it was 
 originally drawn. This loss might, therefore, as well be de¬ 
 plored by commercial men as by manufacturers. It certainly 
 cannot constitute a claim on the part of the latter for sacrifices 
 in their favour by any other class of society; and it is with a 
 view to establish this position only, that the subject has been 
 considered. If instances should be brought to counteract this 
 conclusion, the reply is, that the general reasoning, from which 
 it is drawn, cannot be confuted by opposing to it the testimony 
 of particular facts ; for these differ from general principles only 
 in being derived from a more narrow and limited experience. 
 
 (C.) 
 
 For several years subsequent to the adoption of the Constitu¬ 
 tion of the United States, the relations of the country with foreign 
 states were such that its labour was more beneficially employed 
 in agriculture than in manufactures. There was an urgent de¬ 
 mand in Europe for the products of our agricultural industry ; 
 and the United States, having the use of more land, in propor¬ 
 tion to their population, than any European nation, was not 
 under the necessity, in supplying that demand of having 
 recourse to poorer soils at an increased cost of production. 
 But the condition of the country now is altogether different. 
 To have rendered our industry permanently tributary, in the 
 same proportion with regard to its amount, to the countries of 
 Europe, it would have been necessary that the foreign demand 
 for the products of our agriculture should regularly extend in 
 
103 
 
 ratio of the increase of our population. But, while that demand 
 has diminished our increase in numbers has been immense; 
 and population may be said to have reached a point beyond 
 which every further increase diminishes the relative quantity of 
 our agricultural productions, and stimulates the establishment, 
 and growth of domestic manufactures.* The productions of the 
 earth in every country, where there are vacant lands, or a further 
 power of production in cultivated lands are limited by the de¬ 
 mand, and not by the powers of the soil. Where the demand is 
 already supplied agriculture will only be extended to keep pace 
 with an increase of population ; and as the whole labour of this 
 increased population applied to the cultivation of the earth, 
 would yield a greater amount of the articles of subsistence than 
 would be required to supply its own wants the excess of labour 
 would, from the operation of natural laws, seek an employment 
 in commercial or manufacturing industry. This is precisely the 
 condition of the United States; and, as commercial operations 
 can only be enlarged by an extension of the foreign market for 
 our own productions the excess of labour, just adverted to above 
 the amount required to sustain the natural increase of popula- 
 lation, will necessarily be applied to the production of those 
 articles of manufacture, which the country demands, and of 
 which it furnishes the materials. From these premises it fol¬ 
 lows, that every farther increase of population in the United States 
 must diminish the relative amount of agricultural productions, 
 and promote the extension of manufacturing establishments. 
 This fact gives to the latter an advantage over the other divi¬ 
 sions of industry, which deserves to be considered in every ques¬ 
 tion affecting them. From the operation of the same causes, 
 
 * If any occurrence should take place, by which a demand should be 
 created in Europe for the products of our agriculture, manufactures would 
 be in a degree retarded in their growth, and a portion of capital might be 
 diverted from the latter to the former, because there is still a considerable 
 amount of unoccupied land of great fertility, to which recourse can be had 
 without increased expense of cultivation. But such an occurrence is a 
 mere contingency, which is not perhaps likely to take place, and which, if 
 it were, could not be permitted to affect the result of any calculation pro¬ 
 ceeding upon general principles. 
 
104 
 
 our exports of raw materials, our importations of foreign manu ¬ 
 factures and our revenue upon the latter, will increase in a ratio- 
 less than population. This result was anticipated and pointed 
 out by Albert Gallatin, in a sketch of the finances of the United 
 States, as early as the year 1796. And such, in fact, is the 
 natural result of the laws of labour in every country, where there 
 is a rapidly augmenting population and where no artificial 
 causes are brought in to violate their operation. 
 
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