Page:Charters of the Weehawken ferry company.djvu/16

Rh unequalled extent, contiguous to the ocean, with navigable rivers running from many directions to it, (C) the city has unsurpassed advantages conducing to its progress. Connected by lines of railroads with extensive agricultural regions, and having telegraphic communications with all important points of the Union, it may be termed the heart of the western hemisphere. Contemplating its past progress, (D) we find, when ceded to the English in 1674, the city contained a population of about three thousand. Nearly three quarters of a century later, in the year 1748, the city numbered twelve thousand inhabitants. In 1786, the city numbered upwards of twenty-three thousand inhabitants.

New-York City, under the genial influences of a republican government, became still more prosperous and thrifty. At the commencement of the current century, the population of New-York City was above sixty thousand; that of the country at large being five and a half millions. Twenty years passing, with an intervening war, in 1820, the population was nearly one hundred and twenty-four thousand; that of the Republic being about nine and a half millions. In the year 1830, the population of New-York City exceeded 200,000; and in 1840, ten years later, it exceeded 300,000. Its commerce had increased in activity, and its wharves were crowded with ships of all classes. (E) Suburban cities and villages, increasing with celerity in extent and population, participated in the prosperity of the port. Brooklyn, in 1830, numbered 15,394; in 1835, 24,539; and in 1840, 36,233. Williamsburg, Jersey City and Hoboken, rapidly augmented their numbers; and dwellings and lands not a quarter of a century previous surrounded by the quietness of rural life, yielded to the encroachments of the metropolis. In 1845, the population of New-York City was 371,223 souls; being an increase of about 70,000 in five years, or 14,000 per annum. In 1850, the latest official census, the population was 515,394; being an increase of about 144,000 in five years, or nearly 30,000 annually. The environs also exhibited prolific increases in proportion. (F) Taking the aggregate population of the city and suburbs as indicated by the late census, we had, in 1850, a population of about seven hundred thousand; this is rapidly, almost incalculably increasing. The number and magnificence of the hundreds of new buildings which are annually erected, show animated progress. (G) The harbor is well defended, and commercial relations are rapidly extending. (H) Immigration is continually increasing; (I) the arts and sciences, and every kind of learning are in the ascendant. The streets and ways of the city are crowded; and multitudes of vehicles bear to and fro its commodities and denizens. Communication is increasingly demanded with contiguous regions; and active enterprises are