New York from Governor's Island (No. 20 of The Hudson River Portfolio)

From New York Harbor, we here look back toward Manhattan and the mouth of the Hudson. Agg's related text traces the city's history from a Dutch settlement to a center of world trade whose population was estimated at 140,000 in 1824. "Possessing advantages which are scarcely to be surpassed, in its proximity to the ocean, and its facilities of intercourse with the interior by means of that splendid system of internal navigation which has been so successfully carried into effect, its commercial character must rapidly increase; and the time may not be very remote when it will outstrip, in its wealth, population, and credit, the most extensive sea-ports of the old world. In the view which lies before us, the forest of masts, the spires, and forts, combine to impress the mind with a pretty correct idea of the present importance of the city."