nsumed. Of
the Senate-house, the President's palace, the barracks, the
dockyard, &c., nothing could be seen, except heaps of smoking
ruins; and even the bridge, a noble structure upwards of a mile
in length, was almost entirely demolished. There was, therefore,
no further occasion to scatter the troops, and they were
accordingly kept together as much as possible on the Capitol
Hill.

Of the city of Washington I have purposely declined attempting
any minute description, because it possesses no leading features,
by catching which I might hope to convey to a person who has not
seen it, something like an accurate notion of the whole. It was
then, and is, I believe, still in its infancy, few of the streets
being finished, and many containing not more than three or four
houses, at wide intervals from each other. But its situation
gives to it advantages such as few capitals either in the new or
old world can boast of, and if it continue to be the head of the
American States for another century, it will become, I doubt not,
one of the most flourishing cities in existence. America is, and
always will be, a commercial nation, nor can a single town
throughout the whole of that vast continent boast of a better
harbour than Washington. Standing upon the Potomac, one of the
most navigable of all the rivers that empty themselves into the
Chesapeake, the depth of which is sufficient to float a frigate
for some way above the town, it possesses unrivalled facilities
for the carrying on of an extensive trade; whilst its distance
from the coast is such as to place it, in a great measure, beyond
reach of insult from an enemy. Such an assertion, coming from
one who has just detailed the particulars of its capture, may,
indeed, appear to partake not slightly of the nature of a
paradox; but there is no denying that the fall of Washington
ought to be attributed much more to the misconduct of the
Americans themselves, than to the skill or enterprise of those
who effected it. Had the emergency been contemplated, and in a
proper manner provided against, or had the most moderate
ingenuity and courage been displayed in retarding the progress of
our troops, the design, if formed at all, would have been either
abandoned immediately, or must have ended in the total
destruction of the invaders.

Like other infant towns, Washington is but little ornamented with
fine buildings; except the Senate-house, I really know of none
worthy to be noti