The distance from Albany, New- York, Philadelphia or Baltimore, does not exceed in a direct course, one hundred and eighty miles, and, by the roads now in use, not much above two hundred miles ; and to the Federal City the distance is about two hundred and sixty five miles: and the improvement of the intermediate country will not only facilitate the travelling, but by opening new and more direct roads, will considerably lessen the distance. At present the journey to any of these cities is generally performed in five or six days.

The settlement of this country was first attempted by Mr. Phelps, in the year 1789; but this attempt was attended with great and almost insurmountable difficulties: there was no access to the country but by Indian paths, and the nearest settlement was above one hundred miles distant: the Alleghany Mountains, then never passed, lay on the south, and Lake Ontario to the north ; to the west was one boundless forest. It is not to be wondered at, that, under such circumstances, the country made little progress in population and improvement for some years. By the census taken in 1790, it appears that there were only nine hundred and sixty souls, including all travellers and surveyors, with their attendants, who happened at that time to be within the bounds of the country. That you may form some idea of the progress of improvements in this country since that period, I shall give you an account of the journey of a gentleman into the Genesee Country in February, 1792, in his own words. --