I then visited the city of New York,--at that time a town of 18,000 inhabitants.

I tarried, while in that city, at the house of John Jay--a man whom I name, and whom all will remember, as one of the most illustrious of the distinguished patriots who carried our beloved country through the dark period of the Revolution.

Mr.Jay, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, under the Congress of the Federation, was laying the foundation of a house in Broadway, but which was separated by the distance of a quarter of a mile from any other dwelling.

At that time, being eighteen years of age, I received an invitation to visit western New York; and I have regretted often, but never more than now, that I had not accepted that invitation.

Oh! what would I not have given to have seen this part of this great State then, that I might be able to contrast it with what it now is.