Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/35

25 made in 1811 there were at that time hut 40,950,000 in a state of cultivation.

The greatest advantage which nature has bestowed upon the country is the abundance of its waters, which not only lend facilities to agriculture, but also to internal and external commerce, to manufactories and ship building. But, nevertheless, the want of canals, and of roads through the interior, prevents the use of this natural advantage from being extended, except upon a very reduced scale between the different states of the Union.

Louisiana which, as I have said, doubled the extent of the Anglo-American territory, and which contains an immense variety of beautiful grounds susceptible of every species of cultivation, has only begun to be attended to within a few years, and may be regarded as yet in its infancy. I shall say more of it hereafter.

The population of the United States, according to the census of 1810, amounted in that year to 7,230,514 souls, of which must be reckoned about two millions of negroes and mulattoes, and of these, about 1,600,000 slaves. At present the 4