It maj- be mentioned here that, before the selection of the site on the Potomac, a very strong feeling existed in favor of locating the capital of the nation at Morrisania. The files of the New York Historical Society contain the draft of a petition which Lewis Morris forwarded to Congre.ss on that subject. It bears no date, but must have been written shortly prior to 1790, when Congress had the question of a site under consideration. It is as follows :

*' To his Excellency the President and the Honorable the Memher» of the Congress of the United StttO-s nf America.

"The Memorial of Lewis Morris, of Morrisania " Respectfully Sliewetli.

" That your Memorialist hii3 heard that Congress inteud, on the fii-st Miinday in October next, to fix on some proper place for their future permanent residence, and that propositions are to be given in from different places in oiilcr that the most eligible choice be made on that day.

" That your Memorialist therefore is induced to address your Honorable tHHly in behalf of the Manor of Morrisania, in the State of New York, and humbly conceives and ho^K^sthat it will fully api)ear evident to Congress that the said 31anor is more advantageously situated fiU' their residence than any other place that has hitherto been proiH»sed to them, and nuich better accommodated with the necessary requisites of convenience i>f access, health and security.

"That the convenience of acce-su lo )Iorrisania from most of the parts of the United States is much more easy, safe and expeditious than to any other place as yet proposeil for the residence of Congress ; that vessels from the four Kastern States may arrive at Morrisania through the Sound, which scjiarates Long Islanil from the main, in the course of a very few hours, and that ships from the Carolinas and (ieorgia may perform voyages to Morrisania with much mure siifety and dispatch than they can to the (lortsofeither Philadelphia or .\nnapolis, not lieing incommoded with tedious imssages of two huntlred miles each up Bays and Rivers which often consume a fortnight or three weeks -- ^uissiiges rendered hazartlons by rocks and shoals, and annually olotructed by ice.