Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1803-09-24
isiana would, in some degree, most certain.

IN or WOuIu any oi tilC CldtCo JC lil'i Z III
iuriously affected by the opening Of new
drains forvast emigrations toward and G.
ven 5eyond the Mississippi, than the State
of New-Yotk. This State, were il as po-
pulous as France, would contain conside-
rable more people than there now are in the
whole Union. Its lands are excellent /;
and it possesses superior advantages for
water carriage. "Such is the intersection
of the whole State, by the Hudson and It's
branches. and By the branches of the Della
ware, the Susquehannah, and other rivers,
that there are few places, throughout its
whole extent, that are more than fifteen or
twenty miles from some boatable or naviga-
bic stream" This State is now mostly a
wilderness. The only very considerable
settlements therein, llwithin few years,
are Long, Island, and also two long and.
narrow strips OF land, each about twenty
miles wide, extending Northward from the
city of York, on either side of the
Hudson. Most of the country towns, even
in the neighborhood of the Hudson, are so
thinly settled that very little of their lands,
through scartity of laborers, is brought IN
to high cultivation and much is still un-
cultivated and useless; in the mean time,
the dispersed situation Of the inhabitants,
or the rennoteness Of neighbours from each
other, renders good scb9ois at convenient
distances, totally impracticable. This last
circumstance is very serious evil, espcci-
ally in free republican country. Lately,
on the Mohawk river, and into the Gen
.nessee country, forming an obtong bearing
West and South West from Albany, popu-
lation has extended with such rapidly, and
has been attended with such improvements
in cultivation and in buildings, as perhaps
no other portion Of the globe ever witness
ed, in SO short time. There has been
most favorable prospect Of speedily turning
the residue of that vast wilderness, whose
soil is exceedingly luxuriant, into fruitful
fields.
Attempts to settle Louisiana would cloud
this prospect; the lures held oct from that
quarter.would prove irresistible. Much mo-
ney wosld be employed in specializing there
which otherwise mightbe employed IN pro-
noting useful improvements here. Many
INDUSTRIOUS families would emigrate beyond
the Mississippi, who, but for the newly
opened source of land speculation, might
help to FIJI up the vast "vacuums" in this
State. The injurious consequences are SO
plain, that it is. needless to Particllarize
them.
There is another important consideration
growing out Of this subject, and directly
affecting the interests of the Eastern and
Middle States, which, IS it might be lngi-
dGous to urge it, snail but slightly notice.
The seat OF empire, IN the United States,
is drawing fast towards the Western wa
tiers; there, as Its centre, IL 8.uSt ultimately
fix. 1t was remarked in the first of these
essays, on the authority Of Dr.. Morse, that
the river Mississippi, together with its
Eastern branches, waters fve-eights Of the
United States. Three States, within a We
ry few years, have risen into existence on
the banks of the Mississippi and the Ohio;
another state, it is expected, will soon be
received into the Union others still, at no
great distance of time, may succeed. If
an immense region, West of the MISSISSIPPI
pi, should be annexed to the Union, and
measures should be used, under the pa
tronage of government, to settle it,
several States might quickly grow up
there. In such an event, the men of the
East, while they would inevitably expert
ence the diminution and almost total loss of
their political weight and consequence,
might still, perhaps, console themselves by
recounting the valorous deeds of their fa-
Tiers, in achieving our national indepen-
dence.
CALCULATOR.
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