ville, twenty-five miles, French creek is lost in Allegany river, at Franklin, in Venango county. The entire comparative course of French creek is about eighty miles.

There is no other feature in the hydrography of the United States more remarkable than the country from which Chatauque and French creek have their sources. The extreme north-west waters of the former, flow from within three, and those of the latter from within five miles, of the margin of Lake Erie. This very important fact will be more particularly noticed, and its bearing on navigable communication shewn, in the sequel.

Taken as in a state of nature, the Allegany and its branches are the recipients of the northern part of the great western basin of Pennsylvania, and are but little impeded by falls, though rapid as to current, from the declivity of their plane of motion.

The Monongahela, formed by two branches, the Monongahela proper, and Cheat river, rising in Pocahontas, Randolph, Harrison, Lewis, Monongahela, and Preston counties, of Virginia, unite two miles within the south boundary of Pennsyl vania. The general length, above Pennsylvania, about one hundred miles, in nearly a north course. Preserving the latter direction, sixty miles in Pennsylvania, and receiving the Youghiogany from the south-east, the Monongahela mingles with the Allegany at Pittsburg, and form the Ohio.

The various branches of the Monongahela, which derive their sources from the western chains of the Appalachian system, similar to the Potomac, claim a more than ordinary share of attention, as presenting the connecting links of a proposed line of canal improvement. Cheat river flows from the northwestern slope of Allegany mountain, and draining the eastern part of Randolph county, passes Chesnut Ridge, enters Preston county, and there a navigable stream continues north, to within five miles from the south boundary of Pennsylvania. Turning to the west through Laurel Hill, and thence northwest, crosses the south line of Pennsylvania, and unites with Monongahela.

Youghiogany rises in the extreme south-western angle of Maryland, between the sources of Potomac and Cheat rivers. Pursuing a northern course over Maryland into Pennsylvania, and augmented by Castleman's river, its northern branch, the Youghiogany, turns to north-west, and breaking through Chesnut Ridge and Laurel Hill, joins the Monongahela at M'Keesport, eighteen miles above Pittsburg. This is a fine mountain stream, which in all seasons, except in periods of long drought, contains more than sufficient water for a supply of the most

capacious canal; general comparative course, about one hundred miles; thirty in Maryland, and seventy in Pennsylvania, The Youghiogany heads with the Cheat branch of Mononga hela, with the north branch of Potomac, and by Castleman's river, with Juniata and Kiskiminitas. Should the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal be seriously undertaken, the channel of the Youghiogany, from relative position, presents the most direct route to unite the waters of the Potomac with those of Monongahela.*

At Pittsburg, the Ohio is formed, as we have seen, by the confluent waters of Allegany and Monongahela. The former is the principal stream, flowing with a more rapid current than its rival. From Pittsburg to Beaver river, the Ohio pursues a north-west course twenty-five miles; thence winding to the west twenty miles, in which it leaves Pennsylvania, and enters Ohio. Within the latter state, the Ohio river inflects to a course a little west of south, seventy miles, reaching in that direction, nearly the same latitude with the south boundary of Pennsylvania. The peculiar courses of the Monongahela and Ohio, forms one of the most remarkable intermediate peninsulas presented by the topography of the United States. The two streams flow in very nearly opposite directions; the intervening space from thirty-five to forty miles wide, and with a mean length of sixty miles. Though hilly rather than mountainous, this peninsula is elevated to from 600 to 1000 feet in the dividing line of its waters, above the adjacent rivers. A number of creeks, none of which can exceed a comparative course of twenty-five miles, are poured from the interior spine into the respective recipients. The dividing ridge, is evidently continued north of Ohio river, broken by that stream a few miles below Pittsburg The northern extension is continued, inflecting between the western sources of Allegany, and the eastern sources of Big Beaver river, and is finally lost on the south-eastern shores of Lake Erie; the southern, stretching between the confluents of Ohio and Monongahela rivers, mingles with the Appalachian chains, between the sources of the latter and Little Kenhawa. This ridge is the western buttress of the upper basin of Ohio, and affords a very striking example of the real dif ference between a chain of hills and one of mountains.

The descent from the rivers to the Western ridge of Penn sylvania is so gradual, and the hills scattered in such promis cuous winding, through the sources of the streams, that ar ascent of six or seven hundred feet, in a few miles, is imper * See Section III.

VOL. L-E

No. 1.

ceptible; on the contrary, the mountain chains extend in regular lines uninfluenced, in their direction, by the water courses, and are abrupt and steep in their declivities. The mountains seem to have existed previous to the rivers, whilst the hills appear to have been formed by the abrasion of water. Big Beaver, the first river which enters Ohio, pours its current from the north, and falls into its recipient, twenty-five miles below the confluence of the Allegany and Monongahela. Big Beaver is formed by the Mahoning, Shenango, Neshanock, and Conequenessing creeks. The Shenango rises in Ashtabula county of Ohio, and Crawford of Pennsylvania, within twelve miles from the south-east shore of Lake Erie, interlocking sources with those of Grand river, Coneaut, and French creek, and pursuing a nearly south course over Mercer, receives the Conequenessing from the north-east, and entering Beaver county, unites with the Mahoning, and forms Big Beaver.

The Mahoning is in reality the main branch; rising in Columbiana, Stark, Trumbull, and Portage counties, Ohio; its course is first nearly north, thirty miles, to near Warren in Trumbull. Winding to south-east, it pursues that course thirty-five miles, entering Pennsylvania in the south-west angle of Mercer, and joining the Shenango at N. Lat. 41°, about two miles within Beaver county. Below the junction of the Mahoning* and Shenango, Big Beaver flows a little east of south, twenty miles, into Ohio river. Conequenessing is the eastern constituent stream of Beaver, draining the peninsula between the Allegany, Ohio, Big Beaver, and Shenango rivers.

The valley of Big Beaver is nearly circular, and about seventy miles diameter; area 3850 square miles. It is worthy of remark, that the general courses are nearly on a direct northwest line; of the Youghiogany, below the mouth of Castleman's river, Monongahela and Ohio, from the mouth of Youghiogany to that of Big Beaver; and the latter and Mahoning, to about three miles above Warren. This range of navigable water is upwards of one hundred and thirty miles direct, and from one hundred and eighty to two hundred miles, following the sinuosities of the streams.

The sources of the Mahoning interlock with those of the Tascarawas branch of Muskingum, and Cayahoga, and Grand river, of Lake Erie.t

We have thus completed a general delineation of the moun

The confused nomenclature of the rivers and mountains of the United States, strike the geographer at every step. In the inclosed sketch, we have found two rivers Mahoning, within fifty miles of each other. Such repetitions are frequent, and produce an oppressive perplexity.

† See Section III,

tain chains and river valleys of Pennsylvania, and extended our sketches sufficiently, to give the connections with the adjacent states. This is only to draft the skeleton of the natural geography of the region under review. It remains to examine the component rocks of the mountain chains; the formation of the mountains and valleys; the relative slope and height of the mountains and valleys; and the facilities afforded to natural and artificial transportation by land and water. The geographical section of this number can be only considered as a preface, or introduction to the much more important inquiry which is to follow in the numbers immediately subsequent to the present.

SECTION II.

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCUMSTANCES of a peculiar nature and primary interest, are interwoven, not only into the colonial history of Pennsylvania, but also into that of the parent state, which produced the existence of such a colony. As a colony, it was established under the influence of, and direct emigration of men instigated by motives, in many respects essentially different from those which led to any other English, or indeed any other European colony in America. The primeval character of its founders gave colour and texture to its institutions, and to the social features of society. Pennsylvania continues to exhibit much of the pristine materials of its structure, admixed with other substances more or less discordant. To catch those intermingling shades, and to delineate their varieties with truth of design and justice of colouring, is the duty of the historian. I enter upon the execution of the task, with that undefinable anxiety which all men must feel who engage to perform an enterprise of such magnitude.

Long habituated to consider a competent knowledge of our colonial, as indispensable to a due comprehension of our independent history, I first open that of Pennsylvania, by briefly developing the causes, and tracing the events, which preceded and produced, her political situation and importance, at the epoch of that revolution which eventuated in creating the United States.

It is also a due consideration of the dependence of the individual colonial history of Pennsylvania upon that of her

more ancient sister colonies, that has induced me to preface the latter by a brief sketch of the former.

The English North American colonies were founded upon very dissonant principles, and were of three species:

First, Royal grants, ruled immediately by governors, whose authority emanated from the crown, and who personally represented the king.

Second, Royal proprietary grants, governed in the name of the proprietary.

Third, Voluntary associations of individuals, who, from the outset of their establishment, were ruled by governors of their own choice, and who never submitted to royal negative, either direct or indirect.

The colonies founded under royal grants were, in many respects, proconsular; for although, in every instance, sooner or later, the colony assumed self-legislation, the royal representative retained the power of absolute veto.

Of the proprietary royal grants, Maryland and Pennsylvania, were very prominent examples. Indeed, in the latter, the extremely complex provisions of its charter, laid the solid foundation for that series of perpetually recurring disputes between the proprietary governors and the provincial assemblies, which distracted the government during the period of its existence as a colony. The vague expressions, also, of both charters, involved the proprietaries, and people of Pennsylvania and Maryland, in an embittered contest respecting their mutual limits, which endured upwards of seventy years, and gave birth to rancorous feelings, which have not yet entirely subsided. The governor's power of inqualified negative, was more frequently used; particularly in money bills, in Pennsylvania, than in any other English North American colony; and as will be seen in the sequel, in a great measure nullified the best provisions of the charter. In all the colonies, where it could be exercised, the veto of the representatives of the crown, contributed more than all other causes, to create and foster amongst the colonists, an inveterate spirit of suspicion and resistance. The English North American colonies, although in some respects proconsular, were not, however, provinces formed by assumption or conquest. The original adventurers, and more especially, those who removed to America under the authority of a charter, brought with them all the rights of Englishmen. The value of those immunities were known and cherished. The crown of England, and its minions in America, seem to have been constantly instigated by a spirit of encroachment. Thus, exertions of power on one hand, and stern resistance to its advances on the other,