volumes as presents from persons at home to their friends here, and as they could not be included in the entry which I was required to make, under the sanction of an oath, respecting my own luggage, I showed them to the searching officer, and at once obtained his permission to send them ashore. All that he detained was a selection from a bundle of tracts, which he begged me to give him with a view to their being reprinted here;-few persons in the same profession at home would have been likely to prefer such a request. I have now spent several weeks in New York, but shall postpone for the present any remarks upon the social, moral, or political characteristics. of its inhabitants, in the hope that I shall hereafter have abundant opportunities of more extensive observation; the remaining pages of this letter shall rather be devoted to brief notices of the more remarkable peculiarities of their city. New York is built upon the southern point of Manhattan island, and enjoys a situation in every respect admirably suited for commercial purposes. The Hudson, or North River, passes it upon the one side; a narrow part of Long Island Sound, familiarly termed the East River, washes it upon the other; while in front is a noble bay, expanding between the shores of Long Island and New Jersey, in which the united navies of the world might spread their canvass. Below the bay are the Narrows, facilitating the defence of the harbour, and at va LOCAL ADVANTAGES OF NEW YORK. 25 rious points above and below them are forts of such imposing strength, that it seems impossible that any naval armament can ever reach the city, unless in consequence of the co-operating exertions of a powerful land force. Ice very rarely, now, obstructs the navigation, and about twenty miles from the city the Atlantic opens to the vessels, without a rock or island thereafter to annoy them. With the eastern coast of America, there is a convenient and safe communication through Long Island Sound; and the Hudson, having its source in the upper part of the state, affords an inland navigation, even for large vessels, of more than a hundred and fifty miles. Extensive as the commerce of the Hudson al-' ready is, the great canals which are now in progress, between Lake Erie on the one side and Lake Champlain on the other, must operate powerfully to augment it. New York will thus become the concentrating point, for the greater part of the commerce of the great lakes on the left, and the state of Vermont on the right; and the stimulus which is already to a considerable degree felt from steam navigation, must, from the nature of the country, operate more powerfully in this district than in any other of this vast continent. The population of the upland country will now advance more rapidly than ever, and not a tree will be felled which does not necessarily operate to increase the trade and riches of New York. The harbour of New York is one of the best in the country, and is capable of almost unlimited extension. The wharfs skirt both sides of the island, and piers project at right angles into the stream, leaving intermediate slips, which have many of the advantages of wet docks and are free from several of their inconveniences. The tides rise and fall about six feet, but there is always water enough abreast of the piers to float the largest merchantmen. They do not however enjoy the advantage of dry docks, for the tide does not ebb sufficiently to empty them and mechanical means have not yet been resorted to; but vessels which need repair are hove down in shallow water, first upon the one side and then upon the other. With such accumulated advantages, in possession and in prospect, it is not surprising that New York has been hitherto the commercial capital of the United States, and the principal point of communication between North America and Europe; it is probable indeed that it will long retain this pre-eminence. Masts surround the city like reeds on the margin of a pool; and when one passes along the wharfs, and witnesses the never ceasing operations of loading and discharging, warping out and hauling in, vessels of every description arriving and sailing with every breeze that blows, together with the bustling of shippers, custom-house officers, sailors, and carmen, he cannot but be impressed with the great extent of the commerce, which can HARBOUR-STREETS. 27 supply such extensive means with such unceasing employment. The streets in the lower and older portion of the city are very narrow and crooked, and what is more immediately inexcusable, kept in very bad order. Garbage and litter of almost every kind are thrown out upon the pavement, where a multitude of hogs of all ages riot in abundance. The foot walks are encumbered with projecting steps and cellar doors, lamp posts, pump wells, and occasionally poplar trees; and where any open space occurs, barrels, packing-boxes, and wheelbarrows, are not unfrequently piled up. The citizens could not, I think, do better than import half a dozen of our Glasgow police officers, to make a reform in their street regulations, and instruct them in the mysteries of common-sewers and gutters. No town affords greater facilities for subterraneous drains, for the ground slopes on both sides from the centre to the water, and no town that ever I saw stands so much in need of them. The more modern streets are greatly superior in every respect; they are in general wide and straight, and the footwalks comparatively free of projections and encumbrances. The city is throughout very indifferently lighted, and in many places the feeble glimmerings of a solitary oil lamp, must struggle past two stately trees, which stand like sentinels to defend it. Broadway, the Trongate of New York, passes longitudinally through the centre of the city, and occupies in general the highest part of the ground; it is wide and straight, and pretty compactly built for nearly two miles. It contains a great many well built houses of brick, but there is still a considerable intermixture of paltry wooden ones; a few scattered poplars skirt each side, but I cannot think them any improvement; their bareness in winter increases the dreariness of the prospect, and they are too ragged and dusty in summer to be at all beautiful. The early Dutch settlers, with a pertinacious but characteristic adherence to national customs, imported bricks from Holland to construct their dwellings, and a few of these houses still remain; they are one story in height, with the gable end to the street and a little iron weathercock perched upon the top of it. The British settlers, however, of more innovating dispositions, laid the surrounding forests under contribution for building materials, and a considerable proportion of the older part of the city is still constructed of wood. Frequent and destructive fires were the natural consequence of this system, and these are still every winter grubbing out a few of the remaining wooden tenements. The erection of wooden houses is now prohibited, and the brick ones which succeed them are built with a neatness which is unknown in houses of a similar material at home. The bricks are made of a very fine clay, which affords a very close and smooth grain, and the buildings are al |