William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

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Chapter 28: Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is the best example of White progress in America, because nothing accidental, nothing temporary, rules the conditions of her growth. She has not been made a Royal residence, like Rome; the centre of a new imperial system, like Berlin. No great discovery of mineral wealth has drawn to her the daring spirits of all nations, like San Francisco. She is not the chief entry of immigrants from Europe, like New York. She has not sprung into fashion like Brighton and Saratoga. She owes no part of her fortune to having been made a free port, like Livorno, or to her having taken the fancy of a Caesar, like Madrid. Her growth is natural. Accidental growth is seen in many towns. A railway bridge secures prosperity to Omaha; a line of docks makes Birkenhead; a spring of oil gives life to Petrolia. But Philadelphia owes her wealth to