columns with a contribution from the American pioneer in letters.
In discussing the growth of New York and speculating on her
future destiny, the patriotic and sagacious author seems to have
anticipated the terrible crisis through which the nation is now
passing; there is a prescience in the views he expresses, which
is all the more impressive inasmuch as they are uttered by a
voice now silenced for ever. They have a solemn interest, and
were inspired by a genuine sympathy in the progress and
prosperity of the nation. It should be remembered that, when
these observations were written, the public mind had been and was
still highly excited by the "Compromise Measures"--the last vain
expedient to propitiate the traitors who have since filled the
land with the horrors of civil war.}




NEW YORK

THE increase of the towns of Manhattan, as, for the sake of
convenience, we shall term New York and her adjuncts, in all that
contributes to the importance of a great commercial mart, renders
them one of the most remarkable places of the present age. Within
the distinct recollections of living men, they have grown from a
city of the fifth or sixth class to be near the head of all the
purely trading places of the known world. That there are
sufficient causes for this unparalleled prosperity, will appear
in the analysis of the natural advantages of the port, in its
position, security, accessories, and scale.