&c. at four the same day, arrived in this city, distant from annapolis one hundred and forty one miles, and from baltimore one hundred and eleven. farewell. yours, &c. _philadelphia, march 1st, 1794._ dear sir, i perfectly agree with you, that the form of government in a great measure _affects_, or rather _forms_ the manners, and way of thinking of the people; but must decline answering the queries in your last, at least for the present. i have not been long enough in these states to draw any fair conclusions on these subjects; but that you may not be wholly disappointed, i send you two anecdotes, on which you may depend. peter brown, a blacksmith of this city, having made his fortune, set up his coach; but so far from being ashamed of the means by which he acquired his riches, he caused a large _anvil_ to be painted on each pannel of his carriage, with two naked arms in the act of striking. the motto, _by this i got ye_. benjamin whitall, high sheriff for the county of gloster, west jersey, being obliged soon after his appointment to attend an execution, not approving of jack ketchs clumsy method of _finishing the law_, fairly tucked up the next criminal _himself_. such behaviour in germany would have branded him with eternal infamy, but is in this country (i think justly) thought a spirited action of a man, who was above receiving the emoluments of an office, without performing the most essential duty annexed to it himself. i have often heard it asserted, that a servant should be born under an absolute monarchy: whether this observation is just or not, i cannot tell, but i know, that a republic is _not_ the place to find good servants. if you want to hire a maid servant in this city, she will not allow you the title of _master_, or herself to be called a _servant_; and you may think yourself favoured if she condescends to inform you when she means to spend an evening abroad; if you grumble at all this, she will leave you at a moments warning; after which you will find it very difficult to procure another on any terms. this is one of the natural consequences of liberty and equality. farewell, &c. _march 3d, 1794._ dear friend, philadelphia, the present seat of government, both of the state of pensylvania, and of the whole federal union, consisted, in the year 1681, of half a dozen miserable huts, inhabited by a few emigrants from sweden; when the celebrated william penn obtained a charter from king charles the second, for a certain tract of unsettled country in north america, extending from twelve miles north of newcastle, along the courses of the delaware, and a meridian line from its head, to the 43d degree of north latitude, and westward, 5 degrees of longitude from its eastern bounds. in the year following, he arrived, and in 1701 the city was finally laid out from cedar-street to vine-street, forming an oblong square of two miles in length, from the river delaware to the scuylkill; and about a mile in width. it was the wish of the founder, that the fronts facing the _two_ rivers should be _equally_ built upon; by which means the city would naturally meet in the centre; but they have not only deviated from the original plan, by running the city along the banks of the delaware, _beyond_ the aforesaid streets, which formed the bounds in that direction, but have left the _scuylkill_ front without a single street. philadelphia is situate in latitude 39 deg. 56 min. north, and long. 75 deg. 8 min. west from greenwich, on a narrow neck of land, between the rivers delaware and scuylkill, on the pensylvania banks of the latter, where this river is about one mile wide, and one hundred and twenty (following its course) from the atlantic ocean. this noble river affords a safe navigation for vessels of a thousand tuns burden up to the wharfs of the city. the scuylkill (though by no means so wide) has nearly the same depth of water. philadelphia is the first port in the union. the total value of its exports in the year 1793, was 695736 dollars; the total of flower shipped in the year 1792 was 420000 barrels, and in the spring only of 1793 it exceeded 200000 barrels. the total of inward entries at philadelphia, in 1793, was 1414 vessels of different sizes, of which 477 were ships or brigs. it is foreign from the subject of this city, but i cannot help informing you, that the imports of the _united states_ from _great britain_ alone, in the year 1791, were stated at 19502070 dollars, (chiefly of _manufactured articles_) and have been considerably increasing every year since. by a slight inspection of the plan, you will perceive the great regularity observed in laying out this city; the streets intersect each other at right angles, the centre street, north and south, is 113 feet wide; that east and west 100 feet; and the other principal streets 50 feet wide. had equal care been taken to build the houses uniformly, and their height in proportion to the width of the streets, this city would have been uncommonly beautiful; but except that the fronts of the buildings were not permitted to extend beyond the line laid down in the plan, every man built his house (to use the language of the first settlers,) as it seemed good in his own eyes. the first object of an industrious emigrant, who means to settle in philadelphia, is to purchase a lot of ground in one of the vacant streets. he erects a small building forty or fifty feet from the line laid out for him by the city surveyor, and lives there till he can afford to build a house; when his former habitation serves him for a kitchen and wash-house. i have observed buildings in this state in the heart of the city; but they are more common in the outskirts. our friend wright is exactly in this situation; but i am afraid it will be many years before he will be able to build in _front_. the buildings in this city are about two thirds of brick, and the rest of wood. the foundations of the former are in general of a species of marble; the bricks are uncommonly well manufactured; and these buildings are more firmly constructed than in europe. those of wood are the reverse, which you will easily credit, when i inform you, that when a house of this description is offered for sale, it is by no means understood, as in england, that the _land_ on which it stands is included in the purchase. they have a method of removing these buildings _entire_. a house _travelling_ in this manner through the streets of the city is to a european a truly grotesque and extraordinary sight. during the time the british troops had possession of this city in the last war, they were much distressed for fuel, and obliged to cut down all the wood they could meet with; upwards of a thousand acres of peach and apple orchard were destroyed, belonging to one family. this destruction of the trees has materially hurt the prospects for three or four miles on the pensylvania side; the opposite jersey shore (except the plantations) is one entire forest. philadelphia is at present supplied with water from pumps, placed in different parts of the city; but a company of adventurers are bringing water from above the falls of scuylkill, in the manner of the new river in london: but mean to improve on sir hugh middletons plan, by making their aqueduct also serve the purposes of inland navigation. the inhabitants are in general very fond of theatrical representations; their new theatre is an elegant building, from a design the subscribers obtained from london, where the principal scenes were painted by richardson and rooker. the receipts of the house have exceeded one thousand six hundred dollars. the fair philadelphians are by no means so fond of walking, as the english ladies; not that they have any _great dislike_ to a _trip_ into the _country_, but it is not fashionable even for a maid servant to make use of her _legs_ on these occasions; the consequence is, that there are 806 two and four wheeled machines entered at the office, and pay duty, as _pleasure carriages_, most of which are for hire; and yet the inhabitants do not exceed 50000, of whom there are not three individuals but follow some profession, trade, or employment. in a few days i shall have an opportunity of sending you a publication, which will give you a more ample account of this city than you now receive from yours, &c. since writing this letter, the seat of government of the state has been removed to lancaster, as being nearer the centre; for the same reason, that of the general government of the united states, will, in the year 1800, be removed to the federal city, now building in the district of columbia