of the necessaries and luxuries of life," and returns laden with the spoils of a ransacked world."

The English, in disregarding the turbid principles of an austere and antiquated jurisprudence, were enabled to suggest and meet the exigencies of advancing science, and to build up a system affording more cheering views and better precepts for the operations of mankind. Inventions and discoveries were vital signs of progress. Rights of humanity, the limits and duty of government and laws of nations, were brought forth and defined. The confederated North American republic, leading on in the path of enlightenment, declared for the highest privileges of the English law, and added a recognition of inalienable rights, everywhere to be acknowledged among men. Through an unexampled solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion, the United States afford influences, as well in the frustration of the hopes of tyranny as in the advancement of Commerce. To secure fullest authority for trade, and in pursuit of its love for freedom, the sceptre has been wrested from kings: and, in giving its operations celerity, the lightning has been snatched from heaven. The press, the pulpit, the school have been active; the rail car, the steamship and magnetic line have been busy distance has been abridged; "space has been contracted and shrivelled up like a scroll." The progressive evolutions of trade, and those of its concomitants, are without parallel in history. Legal science has been correspondingly considered and enlarged. The American law system, as well on sea as on land, is broadly presented to the world. "Wherever there is an American ship," says Marsh,*" there is American law." "Especially in its improved and varied condition in America, under the benign influence of an expanded Commerce, of enlightened justice, of republican principles, and of sound philosophy," says Kent,t "the common law has becoine a code of natural ethics and enlarged civil wisdom, admirably adapted to promote and secure the freedom and happiness of social life." "Throughout the land, and more especially in thirty distinct and independent empires, many of them covering a territory exceeding the limits of the island of Great Britain, this body of law," says J. Anthon, "is subjected to an elaboration of the most expansive character, arising from new social positions, under novel forms of government, demanding equally novel applications of established rules and principles."

Had the voices of valor, with the emblazonry of the shield, still been the most captivating-had the terms of the civil law, impregnated with martial habits, won the primary attention of the people of the American confederacy, and the peaceful pursuits of Commerce been unencouraged the people of the United States might long have been numbered among the melancholy victims of misguided councils-must, at best, have been laboring under the weight of some of those forms which have crushed the liberties of the rest of mankind. But, happily, "a new and more noble course" was pursued. With the formation of the Constitution of the American Union, appeared an epoch in the history of governments; then arose a monument of wisdom, exhibiting to the study of the world a human record unrivaled in the annals

“On whatever errand an American vessel may be bound-whether, freighted with Commerce, she links continents together; or laden with provisions, she points her prow to a famishing people; whether she bears the emblems of a nation's progress to a convention of the world or brings from imprisonment the exiled patriotism of an ancient and heroic race; or, whether in search of some noble and gallant explorer, she rides on icy billows, and inter-penetrates the towering bergs of the Aretic circle; wherever she is and whatever her business-there, on her decks, invisible but commanding, stands erect the majestic form of American law."-Luther R. Marsh, Esq.

+ James Kent, LL. D.

of the family of man. Then ushered forth the light of genuine toleration and liberty, which, manifesting the spirit and essence of Christianity, elevated individual and social character, and irradiated society with a halo of genial liberality. The knowledge of circumstances, the suggestions of good sense, with the lessons of experience, prevailed over an undue regard for the opinions and habits of other countries, and a blind veneration for antiquity. Under this constitution and form of government-detached and distant from rival nations, espousing no foreign prejudice, entangled in no alliance-the courses of our country have been free, and the extensive. Advancing to a significant position of power, she has successscope of her progress fully buffeted impediments to free developments; and, already superseding Britannia on the waves, promises a grandeur surpassing the ancient as well as modern governments of the globe. While, whithersoever public energy has gone, or to whatever point inventive genius has led, regulating enactments haye followed; and with every wave of science, with every verge of enterprise or sovereignty, an o'er-hovering ægis has appeared in our system of law. The accumulating tide of American precedent and example, has tended with impetuous force from the new to the old world; and a polity already appears, destined, perhaps, by its exuberant wisdom, to overspread, with the sway of a freshet, the systems of the past.

A. H. R.

Art. II.-COMMERCIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES.

NUMBER XXXIII.

NEW YORK.

OUR design in this article is to present not merely a statement of the absolute condition of the Great Emporium, but by comparison of the various particulars, with corresponding statistics of other cities of the United States, and of other countries, to show her relative position, in the several departments, among the cities of the earth-to point out her differences from them, and reveal her peculiar excellencies and deficiencies. Of course, the article, thus constituted, will be also, to a considerable extent, an exposition of the condition, absolute and relative, of the other cities, brought into the comparison; and will be in fact, excepting as to some details regarding New York, not followed out in the case of the others, a Comparative View, in their principal features, of some of the leading Commercial and Manufac turing Towns on the two continents.

DESCRIPTION OF NEW YORK.

Situation. The commercial metropolis of America stands upon an island, at the head of a bay formed by the junction of the Hudson, or North, with the East River, (a strait, connecting at the other end with Long Island Sound,) and at a distance of about eighteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean. It is separated from the mainland by a winding water-way of eight miles in length, called Harlem River on the east side, and Spuyten Duyvel Kill on the west, or North River side. This island, bearing the name of the city,

and called by the Indians Manhattan, is 13 miles long, from north to south, with an average width of one mile, 3,220 feet, or 8,500 feet, the greatest breadth being on the line of Eighty-eighth-street-12,500 feet, about 21 miles. Its area is about 14,000 acres.

The latitude of the city, reckoned from the City Hall, is 40° 42′ 43′′ north, and the longitude west from Greenwich, 74° 0' 41", or east from Washington, 30° 1' 13".

Its distance from various places, within the United States, by the nearest mail-routes, is as follows:

Surface. The surface of the upper part of the island is still considerably diversified; the highest point is 238 feet above tide-water. The lower part, the site of the city, was formerly varied with hills and hollows, swamps, ponds, marshes, rocks and acclivities, most of which diversity has been swept away by the hand of improvement. Many creeks and inlets on the margins of the rivers have also been filled up, and a considerable area in the southern part of the city is made-ground, considerably altering the original water-line. The Battery is an artificial esplanade, built upon a ledge of rocks, and a large part of water. Front and South streets, on East River, and Greenwich, Washington, and West, on North River, contiguous to the Battery, were reclaimed from the rivers. Pearl-street, to some distance above Wall, was the original shore of the East River. As improved, the site of the denser part of the city consists of a gentle slope from the center toward either river, Broadway, the principal street, running along the line of the ridge.

Formation. The soil is a sandy alluvion, and less fertile than in many other parts of the State. The basis is principally gneiss, but the north part of the island is composed of granular and primitive limestone, which is quarried, and known as Kingsbridge Marble. The gneiss foundation is covered by a bed of alluvial or tertiary sands, of considerable thickness, upon which lies the diluvium to the depth of ten to eighty feet.

Extent of the City. The city at present extends northward about three miles from the Battery, and covers about one-fifth of the island. The compact portion is over nine miles in circumference. The rest of the island is under cultivation.

Plan. The city was originally laid out without any regularity, the streets being mostly narrow and crooked. The founders had no idea of the destiny of their humble settlement. They knew little of the great advantages of its situation; the vast resource of the interior of the continent was to them as though it had no existence, and had they known of it, their sober imagination would never have dreamed of the artificial river which was to bring down the wealth of that far region. Little did they fancy their sheep-walks were to be the thronged avenues of a mighty trade. Could they have seen the future, even the phlegm of the old Knickerbockers would have yielded

to amazement.

The irregularities and deformities of the early period have been mostly corrected of late. After the Revolutionary War, great and systematic im

provements were undertaken, in view of the anticipated growth of the city. The upper portion of the island was surveyed between 1811 and 1821, and laid out into sixteen avenues, extending from Fourteenth-street in parallel lines, and cut through rocks and hills at great expense. These were intersected, at right angles, by 156 cross streets, running from river to river, and numerically designated, forming squares, varying not much from 200 by 800 feet. In the lower part, beside the improvements before mentioned, a great many streets have been straightened, widened, or extended, at enormous expense. The work is progressing, and in a few years more the whole city will be provided with spacy and commodious avenues. No other city, probably, has made as great expenditure in correcting defects of this nature. A style of building, combining a high degree of elegance with much enlarged conveniences, has superseded the old methods, and is rapidly supplanting the structures built after them. In the lower part of the city, the old stores and residences are giving way to large and magnificent stores and warehouses, many of them having brown stone, and a few marble fronts. Up-town, the dwellings are mostly built in large and uniform blocks of brick, with ornamented iron railings in front, and make a very pleasing appearance. Some of the private mansions are most elegant structures.

Business Locations. The population principally resides in the upper part of the city, and the lower part is nearly engrossed in the accommodation of business. The principal business portion-that where the great commercial establishments are located-lies within the lines described by the lower end of Broadway, Fulton-street, and the East River. A great part of this section was burned down in the fire of December, 1835, but was soon rebuilt in superior style. Wall-street is the focus of the great monetary operations, that are watched with great interest not only over the United States, but in Europe. Here are the great speculations in stocks, bonds, houses, lands, and other merchandises. It is occupied by the offices of brokers, banks, insurance companies, &c., and contains also the Merchants' Exchange and Custom-House. South-street is occupied by the principal shipping houses, and the offices of most of the foreign packet lines. The dry goods jobbing and importing business, formerly confined to Pearlstreet, has extended to William, Broad, Pine, Cedar, Liberty, &c. On Water and Front streets, and the vicinity, are the wholesale grocers, commission merchants, and mechanics connected with the shipping business. Broadway is not less an avenue of business than the promenade of beauty and fashion. It contains the chief bookstores, jewelry, upholstery, hat and cap, tailoring, millinery, retail dry goods, and other like establishments. The hardware trade is chiefly in Platt and Pearl streets, and the leather dealers occupy Ferry and Jacob streets.

Wharves. The water edges of the city are fringed with seven miles of wharves and docks. On each river there are about sixty piers, averaging 200 to 300 feet in length, and 50 to 60 wide. The shipping lies principally on the East River, as being a more secure position than on the other side. The docks are usually crowded with vessels, waiting their turn for the berths.

To furnish the facilities in building wharves, piers, basins, &c., which the increasing Commerce of the city demands, the Legislature, in 1840, chartered the Atlantic Dock Company, with a capital of $1,000,000.

Rivers and Harbor. The width of North River is one mile to Jersey City at the ferry, and one-and-a-half miles across at Hoboken. The width of the East River is one-third to one-half a mile. At the South Ferry it is 1,300 yards at Fulton Ferry 731 yards-at Catherine Ferry 736 yards.

The bay is from 1 to 5 miles broad-average 3-8 miles long, and about 25 miles in circumference, forming a basin in which all the navies of the world might ride at anchor in safety. The Bay of New York communicates with Newark Bay through the Kills, in the west, between Staten Island and Bergen Neck, and with another bay, at the south, called the Outer or Lower Harbor, through the Narrows, a compressed strait between Staten and Long Islands. This latter bay opens directly into the ocean. The inner harbor, as well as being one of the best, is also one of the most beautiful in the world. Besides all the natural beauty of the scene, there can hardly be a finer spectacle than is presented in the great city spread before you, with its piers crowded with a dense forest of masts, bearing the flags of all nations-the shipping at anchor in the bay-and the countless steamboats, and vessels of all descriptions, coming and going perpetually in all directions.

Depth of Water and Tides. The currents in the rivers and bay are very strong, keeping these waters open, often, when the rivers and bays much farther south are frozen up. The whole harbor was covered by a solid bridge of ice in 1780, and not again until 1820. Very rarely since has either river been frozen. Last winter the East River was obstructed for a short period, but the North remained open.

The rise of the tides is near seven feet. Going northward the rise increases, and in the Bay of Fundy is 90 feet, the maximum of the coast. Southwardly it decreases, and in the Gulf of Mexico is but 18 inches. The time of tide at other places on the coast, or on waters connecting with the ocean, varies from that of New York as follows:

At the

The depth of water at the wharves is 6 or 7 feet, and increases rapidly outward. It is sufficient in either river to float the largest ships. old channel, on the bar at Sandy Hook, the depth is 21 feet at low, and 27 at high water. That of the new channel discovered by Captain Gedney, in the United States surveys, is at low water 32 feet. The channel inside varies from 35 to 60 feet.

Defenses. The harbor is well defended. The principal works are at the Narrows, which, at the point selected, is but one-third of a mile wide. Here are built, on the Long Island shore, Forts Hamilton and Lafayette, the latter on a reef of rocks, 200 yards from the shore, with three tiers of guns. On the Staten Island side, are Forts Tompkins and Richmond, the former situated on the hights, and provided with a number of subterranean passages. These forts are in excellent condition. The entrance from the Sound to East River is defended by Fort Schuyler, on Throg's Neck. Within the harbor there are batteries on Bedlows' and Ellis' Islands, on the west side of the bay-and on Governor's Island, 3,200 feet from the city, are Fort Columbus, in the form of a star, commanding the south side of the channel;