This town, whose population is inconsiderable, is yet immense in area.
Distances are almost as great as in Paris.
The consequence is that the houses are scattered here and there, without connection between them, without order and without symmetry. Outside of the fact that it makes a very ugly panorama, it's very annoying for those with visits to make. Forty years ago, when it was a question of building a capital for the Union, they looked, as reasonable men would, for the most favorable spot. On the banks of the Potomack was located a green plain, which they selected. Washington, in twenty years, would be the centre of the domestic and foreign trade of the Union.