ad reversed
their positions, and New York was the first, and Virginia the fifth.
(Rep., p. 120.) At the same rate of progress, from 1860 to 1900, as from
1790 to 1860, Virginia, retaining slavery, would have sunk from the
first to the twenty-first State, and would still continue, at each
succeeding decade, descending the inclined plane toward the lowest
position of all the States. Such has been, and still continues to be,
the effect of slavery, in dragging down that once great State from the
first toward the last in rank in the Union. But if, as in the absence of
slavery must have been the case, Virginia had increased from 1790 to
1860 in the same ratio as New York, her population in 1860 would have
been 7,789,141, and she must always have remained the first in rank of
all the States.

AREA.--The natural advantages of Virginia far exceed those of New York.
The area of Virginia is 61,352 square miles, and that of New York,
47,000. The population of Virginia per square mile in 1790 was 12.19,
and in 1860, 26.02. That of New York, in 1790, was 7.83, and in 1860,
84.36. Now, if New York, with her present numbers per square mile, had
the area of Virginia, her population, in 1860, would have been
5,175,654, and that of Virginia, reduced to the area of New York, on the
basis of her present numbers per square mile, would have been 1,320,000.
This illustrates the immense effect of area, as one of the great
elements influencing the progress of population. But, wonderful as are
these results, the great fact is omitted in this calculation, that
Virginia, in 1790, had largely more than double the population of New
York. Thus, if we reverse the numbers of New York and Virginia in 1790,
and take the actual ratio of increase of each for the succeeding seventy
years, the population of Virginia, in 1860, would have been 728,875, and
that of New York, as we have seen, would have been 7,789,141, making the
difference exceed seven millions, or very largely more than ten to one.
Reverse the areas also, and the difference would exceed eight millions.

SHORE LINE.--As furnishing cheap and easy access for imports and
exports, creating marts for commerce with great cities, and affecting
the interior most beneficially, the shore line, with adequate harbors,
constitutes a vast element in the progress of states and empires. Now,
by the last tables of the United States coast survey, the shore line of
Virginia was 1,571 miles, and of New York 725 mi