ited; and it will be well to show the effects produced by the same course in the increased wealth, population, intelligence, and general prosperity of Massachusetts. But it was thought best to precede this with a brief sketch of the leading characters of its inhabitants, in order to show how such events would be likely to influence the institutions to which they gave rise, and how the examples of suct. characters would be likely to mould and form those of their posterity; and, this having been done, a description of the present state of Massachusetts, its resources, cities, ports, population, and institutions, will more appropriately follow. CHAPTER XXX. Description of the State of Massachusetts.-Extent of Area, Soil, Climate, and Productions.-Manufactures.-Shipping and Commerce.-Colleges and Academies for higher Education.-Public Schools.-Statistics and Revenue.-Religious Establishments.Sects and Churches.-Legislature of Massachusetts.-Governor.-Number of Members in each House.-Qualifications of Voters.-Scale of Taxation.-Principal Cities, Ports, and Towns of Massachusetts.-Progressive increase of Population from 1700 to 1837.-Analysis of Males and Females.-White and Coloured.-Early attempt of New-Englanders to abolish Slavery.-Opposition to this made by the British Government.-Annals of Boston from 1621 to 1832. MASSACHUSETTS is so called from the name of the Indian tribe by which it was peopled when the first European settlers landed on its shores. It is one of the earliest in its foundation, and, from the industry, intelligence, and opulence of its inhabitants, it is also one of the most powerful in its influence among all the states of the Union. It is bounded on the north by New-Hampshire and Vermont, on the south by Rhode Island and Connecticut, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the State of New-York. Its average length from east to west is 140 miles, and its breadth from north to south 70 miles. Its area, therefore, contains about 8500 square miles, or 5,440,000 acres. It is called, for distinction, "The Bay State," from the fine Bay of Massachusetts, lying between Cape Cod on the west and Cape Ann on the east, within which Salem, Marblehead, Boston, and its surrounding ports are situated. Its territory presents three distinct belts from east to west, of which that nearest the sea is a marine deposite, not much elevated above the level of the sea, and is sandy and not very fertile. The second belt is a hilly tract, which is mostly of granite rock, with a scanty soil, succeeding abruptly to the more level plains near the sea. The third belt is more beautiful and more productive, including part of the valley of the Connecticut River, and the mountainous and fertile tract of Berkshire, up to the western extremity of the state. SOIL, AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, ETC. 319 The soil is extremely varied, from sandy and almost barren tracts to spots of the greatest fertility; every part of the state is well watered by rivers and smaller streams, and in no part of the United States is agriculture better understood, or its processes and operations more skilfully performed. The smallest farms contain at least 100 acres, and the largest do not exceed three times that extent. The roads are better than in any other part of the Union; the fences are also more neatly arranged, and kept in gocd repair; and the whole aspect of the country betokens intelligence, industry, order, and general competency. Grain of every kind is grown in perfection, and cattle are produced in great variety and abundance. Gardening is better understood and more generally practised in New-England than elsewhere, and vegetables and fruits are more carefully and successfully cultivated than in any other part of the country; so that the traveller is more frequently reminded of the parent-country, Old England, by the neat villages, flowery fields, herds, flocks, orchards, and gardens of her younger namesake, New-England, than he is in journeying through any of the states south or west of the Hudson River. There are mines of iron in several parts of Massachusetts, especially in the counties of Plymouth, Bristol, and Berkshire; and in each of these counties are establishments for manufacturing it. Lead mines are worked also, and are productive. Quarries of excellent marble exist in Stockbridge, Sheffield, Lanesborough, and Pittsfield. Limestone is abundant in Berkshire, and freestone in almost every part of the state. Soapstone is found at Middlefield, slate at Harvard, Bernardson, and Lancaster; and a fine gray, close-grained granite, equal to the finest Aberdeen stone for building, is obtained from Chelmsford, Tyngsborough, and Quincy, so that all the materials for constructing the most splendid edifices are close at hand. Commerce, however, is the most distinguishing feature and most general occupation of the inhabitants of Massachusetts; the fisheries form also a large source of employment and profit. Manufactures have been more recently introduced; but, by the operation of the tariff laws, which exclude British goods from competition, and by the constant application of skill and capital, the manufactures of this state have already grown up, within the space of a few years only, to be greater than that of any state in the Union; while internal navigation, and intercourse by canals and railroads, has been so improved of late, that there is now a cheap and speedy communication between every part of the state, from one extremity of it to the other. The shipping of Boston are second in amount of tonnage to those of New-York only. Its imports in 1837 exceeded 17,000,000 dollars; its exports were above 10,000,000. It is stated that upward of 50,000,000 dollars are engaged in manufactures alone; 20,000,000 are invested in banking capital, and 8,000,000, at least, in insurance offices; while the capital invested in canals and railroads in different parts of the state is thought to be quite equal to the residue of 100,000,000 dollars. Institutions for the promotion of learning and education were more early founded, and have been more liberally supported, in Massachusetts and New-England generally, than in any other part of the United States; it is this, indeed, that constitutes the true glory of this northern section of the Union. The University of Cambridge, or Harvard College, about four miles distant from Boston, was founded as early as 1638, within less than twenty years after the first settler landed on the shores of the country; and it is still maintained in full vigour, having educated upward of 7000 students. Williams College, in the northwest part of the state, was incorporated in 1793. The Theological Seminary at Andover was founded in 1808, and the college at Amherst in 1825. Harvard has an excellent library of more than 30,000 volumes, and is provided with ample funds. Andover is richly endowed by private bounty, and, within ten years after its first foundation, it received in donations upward of 300,000 dollars from seven individuals only. Besides these larger institutions for the more finished education of those designed for the higher walks of life, and many private seminaries and academies for the tuition of youth of both sexes, the number of public schools supported at the public expense is greater, in proportion to the whole population, than in any country in the world, Prussia, perhaps, alone excepted. The superintendence of these public schools being a duty undertaken by the secretary of the state, an elaborate and faithful report is rendered by him to the State Legislature every year. The last report presented, for 1837, fills an octavo volume of 300 pages, closely printed, in which is given a tabular return from every separate town, with remarks of the several committees appointed to examine them, forming a valuable annual mirror of the state of education throughout the whole province. From this report I have selected some of the more prominent features, which will show at a glance the statistics of public education at the present moment in Massachusetts. No. of towns making returns Valuation of property in 1830, in dollars 294 691,222 $206,457,662 Population, 1st May, 1837 No. of public schools No. of scholars attending school No. of scholars between four and sixteen years of age No. of teachers, males 2370, females 3591 Wages per month, with board, to male teachers Wages per month, with board, to female teachers Public taxes paid for support of schools Public taxes paid for teachers' wages Voluntary contributions in aid of schools No. of academies or private schools PUBLIC EDUCATION.-RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. 'Aggregate of scholars in private schools Aggregate paid for tuition in private schools 321 27,266 $32,826 $189,536 $9571 Annual income arising from this. In consequence of this ample provision for education, there is not a single child in the state for whom gratuitous instruction may not be secured; and, in point of fact, all are educated to such an extent as the means of their parents will allow of the children continuing at the public schools for a greater or lesser degree of time. Within a few years the single city of Boston alone is said to have expended upward of two millions of dollars in support of her literary, religious, and benevolent institutions, in addition to an annual amount of $200,000, or £40,000 per annum, for the support of public schools alone; while the utmost amount that could be obtained from the British government a few years ago for the whole kingdom of Great Britain was only £20,000, not for a single year, but for an indefinite period. What a contrast does this single fact exhibit between the two nations as to their expenditure for education! The religious establishments of Massachusetts are as numerous, in proportion to the whole population, as in the most favoured states, and all are liberally supported by the voluntary system. Even among the Presbyterians, the churches are chiefly congregational; that is, each congregation selects and supports its own minister, and manages its own affairs, independently of synods or presbyteries. This is also the case with the Unitarians, Baptists, and Universalists; though the Methodists are governed by a Conference, the Episcopalians by a bishop, and the Catholics by their usual ecclesiastical authorities. All, however, are maintained by the voluntary system, though all are not so chosen or appointed. The Presbyterians or Calvinists have 387 churches, the Unitarians 120, the Baptists 135, the Methodists 97, the Episcopalians 30, the Universalists 42, the New Jerusalem eight, the Roman Catholics four, and the Shakers five communities. Among them all, toleration seems now to be so perfectly established, that the harmony of the whole is rarely disturbed, even in the mildest forms of religious controversy. The Legislature of Massachusetts consists of a House of Representatives, containing upward of 600 members, a Senate of about 50 members, and a governor. The suffrage is nearly universal, the elections annual, and the vote is by ballot. The members for the House of Representatives are chosen for towns, each town in proportion to its population. Boston, for instance, sends fifty-six members, and other towns in the same proportion to the number of its inhabitants; the only qualifications of the voter being citizenship, mature age, residence in the town for which his vote is given, and the payment of a poll-tax of about a dollar and a half per anVOL. II. S s num. The payment of this entitles him to have his name entered on the list of voters; but if the payment is withheld, and his name is consequently not on the list, his vote is not allowed to be given at the poll. While the House of Representatives represents the numbers of the community, the Senate represents its property, as the senators are chosen by the counties, and each county sends a number proportioned to the amount of taxes paid by it to the state, the taxes being an assessment on the property of each individual. But while the amount of property determines the number of senators which each county shall send, the voters for such senators are precisely the same as the voters for the members of the House of Representatives, the qualification for the suffrage being the same for each. There are three classes of taxes paid by individuals to the state, and one other description paid to the General Government. First, there is the town-tax, for municipal purposes, paid by every resi dent in each town in the state, the proceeds of this being applicable solely to municipal purposes. Secondly, there is the poll-tax of a dollar and a half per head for each voter, which may be called the representative tax. Thirdly, there is the tax on property, according to the county assessment, which goes to the funds of the state. And, fourthly, there are the duties paid on foreign produce and manufactures imported, and paid at the Custom-house, which goes to the revenue of the General Government, and is under the control of the Congress of the United States. The municipal tax in Boston, where it is heaviest, does not exceed one per cent. on the assumed property of the individual; but, though the assessment is rarely higher than one half of the actual property known and admitted to be possessed by the party taxed, thus making the tax only half per cent. on his actual wealth, it is often evaded by the very richest of the inhabitants, who leave their town residences before the 1st of May, pay their town tax in some smaller place near which their country abode may be, and thus avoid their liability to the larger tax, which, as resident inhabitants of Boston, they would otherwise be obliged to pay. The poll-tax is often avoided also by those who do not deem the electoral privilege worth that sum, and who, by neglecting to pay, are not registered, and are by this neglect disfranchised accordingly. The county-tax on the property of the inhabitants is not to be thus escaped from; but this is even lighter than the municipal. The heaviest tax of all is the unseen duties paid on foreign commodities; but this is not so unpalatable as the others, because its payment is made in the extra price of the articles; and the display of luxury and wealth which fine furniture, fine clothes, and other external signs of opulence enable those who pay these duties to make among their neighbours, seems amply to repay them, in the |