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vessels ; that of Pensacola into which a fleet may sail, and ride with safety, and that of St. Joseph’s, into which vessels not drawing more than seventeen feet water may sail at all times 5 it must be highly important in a commercial point of view, and if connected with the country north of it, capable of prescribing ma-ratime regulations to the Gulf of Mexico.
In a political point of view, West Florida may be considered as an object of the greatest importance to a large division of the United States; because that power, which holds the avenues to commerce, may give a tone, to the measure* of another, should it be unfriendly to liberty, and pyblic happiness. -
The population of West Florida is very inconsiderable. The principal settlement is on the Mississippi, between the boundary and the Iberville. On the north side of the Iberville, and the lakes, to the Gulf of Mexico there are a few scattering inhabitants. Thence along the coast, to Mobile Bay, there are a few** more. - There are likewise a few about the Bay. From the city of Mobile,’ up the Mobile, and Tensaw Rivers, to the libundary, there may possibly be forty families. From Mobile Point to Pensacola Bay, there are no inhabitants, and not more than half a dozen farms on the Bay. From the head of the Bay, up the Coenecuh to the boundary, theUe are two plantations or farms. The population of the cities of Mobile, and Pensacola, does not exceed fifteen hundred inhabitants. From Pensacola Bay to-St. Mark’s, there are no inha' bitants.
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CHAP.