WASHINGTON, the capital of the United States of North America, is finely situated on undulating ground in the triangle formed by the junction of the navigable river Potomac with the Eastern Branch, in the centre of the federal district of Columbia, an area of 100 square miles, ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States for the site of their capital. The plan of the city, as originally laid out, forms nearly a parallelogram of about four miles by two and a half, consisting of streets crossing at right angles in the direction of the cardinal points, and traversed diagonally by larger avenues, named after the several states of the union; but only a small portion of the plan has yet been executed, and the city consists only of straggling clusters of houses placed at inconvenient distances from each other. Almost the only part that is complete, built is that which extends along Pennsylvania Avenue, between the president's house and the Capitol,
both of which are handsome buildings of white freestone. The Capitol contains the halls of the senate and house of representatives, the library of congress, and numerous other apartments, some of which are spacious and tastefully embellished. It is a large square building, surmounted in the centre by a massy dome, its eastern front adorned with a Corinthian colonnade, and it is surrounded by grounds tastefully planted and laid out. There are various other public buildings, of neat and substantial but unpretending architecture, as the city hall, the halls of Columbia College, the penitentiary, twenty churches, the medical hall, &c. About a mile south-east of the Capitol is the navy-yard, on Eastern Branch, which is deep enough along shore for the largest vessels; and just above it is the naval hospital. At the junction of the two rivers stands the United States arsenal. The principal educational establishment is Columbia College, founded by the Baptists, with nine instructors, besides four professors connected with the medical department. The city was founded in 1791, and became the seat of government in 1800. In 1830 the population amounted to 18,827, including 3129 free blacks and 2319 slaves; but during the sessions of congress the place is thronged with visitors from all parts of the world. Notwithstanding its advantageous situation on a large navigable river, and in the centre of a productive country, Washington has never become the seat of trade; and its growth is solely to be attributed to the expenditure of government and the public functionaries. It has a bridge, one mile in length, over the Potomac, leading to Alexandria, and two across Eastern Branch. The Baltimore Railroad affords an easy communication with the north, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with the west, and the Potomac, to different points, on which regular lines of steam-packets run, with the south. Long. 76. 58. W. Lat. 38. 55. N. (C. H.)