is some compensation for the evil they cause in the interruption of navigation. Some of the most considerable of these mill-seats are directly upon the tide water, so that they have all the advantages of being contiguous to navigation.

A great facility of communication, from good roads or navigable rivers, is an important benefit to our manufactures. They are no where at any great distance from a market, either for local consumption or for exportation. The extensive and hourly increasing market that is afforded within the limits of the United States, where no duty or restriction can be laid upon them, is an advantage, a very powerful one, which they partake in common with the rest of the Union. The raw material of the most important production is obtained, within the United States; the materials of others, wool, iron, flax, &c. are produced in considerable quantities, and may hereafter be made adequate to a full supply.

The present produce of our manufactures, is of the most useful kind, and the best calculated for securing them a preference with the consumer. They are principally the coarse kinds of goods, and are much more substantial than European or India merchandise of the same prices. They have, therefore, obtained a character in this respect, which makes them always in demand. The public gain too, in a general way, since these domestic productions are so much more durable. This substantial quality they can, in most articles, always maintain ;-in cotton stuffs, for instance, since the raw material comes

to them so much cheaper, that in those cloths where the quantity of material employed forms a great part of the price, the foreign manufacturer, who is obliged to purchase it at a much higher rate, must make his fabrics slighter, and thus very inferior in quality ;trying to obtain a sale by a superior finish and appearance. Our fabrics commence with acquiring a reputation for durability; they will gradually add that of variety and elegance.

There are no people more ingenious in the use and invention of machinery, no country more prolific in patents, than the one under consideration. Good mechanics are to found in every one of the mechanic arts, and the improvements they have made in some old, and the invention of many new instruments, are strong proofs of their skill and enterprise. These are not shown merely in the common tools in use in various trades, but in the most complicated and useful machines. Such, for instance, are the card and nail machines, which are so extensively used in the United States. These are entirely of their own invention. They have also improved the machines used in Europe, in the process of spinning and weaving;-though the machinery was considered almost perfect there, they have made many ameliorations. In this department, also, we have an advantage over the European manufacturer;— no resistance is made here to the introduction of any machinery; every kind of labour-saving machine is eagerly sought after, and new ones constantly coming into use. In Europe, the manu

facturer is often limited in this respect; he is often afraid to make use of machinery that would be of essential service to him. Machinery that is used in one county, sometimes cannot be brought into another, without producing a riot among the workmen. Within a few years the most serious mischief, alarming and long continued disturbances, have arisen from this source. Our manufacturers have no fears

of this kind to encounter.

With these advantages, to which may be added a healthy climate, a numerous, active, free population, we are certainly capable of becoming an important manufacturing district. Nothing is wanting but capital, largely engaged, and personally attended to, for the immediate extension of manufactures. I have no doubt that this will all happen in due time no one can wish to see it forced prematurely, who is governed by sound and enlightened views. Individual enterprise is less thwarted in this country than in any other, by the interference of government, either in the shape of prohibition or bounties.. An intelligent, industrious people are left to pursue what they find most advantageous; and the aggregate of individual, forms the noble mass of national prosperity, that we enjoy.

LETTER XI.

REMARKS ON CERTAIN POINTS OF ADMINISTRATION IN DIFFERENT STATES.

You know, my dear Sir, that in regard to a late Envoy from a foreign court, it was cited, as a convincing proof of the amiable, not to say skilful, policy of this gentleman and his wife, soon after their arrival, that they were resolved to be popular ; -they were pleased with every thing, "even the road from Baltimore to Washington." I am happy to acknowledge that a "bad eminence” is taken from the road in question; but I believe it still remains with some others in its vicinity. Now, it was, you know, after a winter's excursion over these perilous roads, which are most powerfully described in Milton's narration of Satan's passage through chaos, and which makes a journey over them more dangerous and painful, than a voyage across the Atlantic; that "all smarting with my wounds," I discovered some petulance at the injustice with which we in the east were treated; and the total disregard or oblivion of the peculiar burdens, to which we subjected ourselves for the common advantage. I promised you, when my irritation had subsided and my bruises were gone, that I would make some

remarks on our relative contribution to the public good; without intending to make invidious comparisons, or to vaunt our own merits, which, are owing to those wise views that were designated by our ancestors in their earliest regulations.

This subject involves a consideration of the process for the management of public affairs, in the Eastern states, and will show how this differs from the mode of administration, in other parts of the Union. I have no intention of going into the whole of this; it would require an epistle of tedious minuteness. The plans of the different commonwealths in our national system, are governed by the same general laws, and gravitate to the same centre; and though there is almost as much difference in the size of these bodies, as there is in the planets of our system, yet they all revolve in symmetry and harmony. There is some difference in their mode of action, though there is a great similarity in the result.

The states of New-York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some others, have raised large funds and carried on extensive schemes of internal improvement; which prove their administrations to be directed by a far-sighted, enlightened policy, the advantages of which will be more and more developed. There is an air of grandeur in these extensive plans of utility, that does honour to the states that adopt them; and many great objects of general advantage are thus attained, that would never be undertaken by individuals. It must be borne in