. "I'll attend to you directly." She replied, "I want work, Boss, for Harriet Angel." He immediately called to his assistant, "Where is that work for miss Angel?"-The writer observes, What would a starving Manchester weaveress say to this? and how would sir Robert Peel feel affected, if thus addressed in the true language of honest independence?' Dedham, the chief town of Norfolk county, is ten miles distant from Boston, on the road leading to Providence, and contains 2,172 inhabitants. The public buildings are a court-house, three congregational, and one episcopal church; the dwelling-houses are mostly of wood and painted white. There are a number of grist and saw-mills in the neighbourhood, and the inhabitants carry on a considerable manufacture of shoes and wire-work. Northampton, the capital of Hampshire, is situated within a bend of Connecticut river, ninety-three miles from Boston, and contains 2,631 inhabitants, who carry on a considerable inland trade. There are in this town a spacious congregational church, a court-house, jail, and about 280 dwelling-houses, many of which are handsome buildings. Taunton, the principal town of Bristol county, is situated thirty-six miles from Boston, and contains between sixty and seventy houses, compactly built, a church, court house, jail, and an academy, incorporated in 1792: the population of the township amounts to 3,907. The chief manufacture in this place is of iron; which is wrought into spades, shovels, nails, &c.: wire-drawing, and rolling sheet iron for tin are also executed here. There is like wise a manufactory of a species of ochre, into paint of a dark yellow colour. Springfield, the chief town of Hampden county, is situate on Connecticut river, ninety-seven miles from Boston, and is a handsome and thriving town, containing 2,767 inhabitants; who carry on a considerable inland trade, and a respectable manufactory of fire-arms. The public buildings are a congregational church, and a courthouse; many of the dwelling-houses are both commodious and elegant. Brookfield, a post-town in Worcester county, is situated sixty-three miles west of Boston, and nineteen from the town of Worcester; it contains upwards of 3,000 inhabitants, and is surrounded by a rich fertile country, abound The familiar word Bass is the term used as a substitute for employer, or master, throughout every part of the United States; the latter appellation being debested, and never applied to any person, whatever may be his situation in life. ing in grain, grass, fruits, and vegetables. The great post road from Boston to Washington runs through Brookfield, and the river Quebang, like the other streams and ponds in this township, abounds with various kinds of fish; the country round contains great quantities of iron ore. There are four places for public worship; viz. three congregational meeting-houses, and one for baptists. Besides the towns here enumerated there are many others in Massachusetts, in a flourishing condition, to detail the particulars of which would extend this work far beyond its proposed limits. The religion of this commonwealth is established on a most liberal and tolerant plan. All persons of whatever religious profession or sentiments, may worship God agreeably to the dictates of their own consciences, unmolested; provided they do not disturb the public peace. Matters relating to public worship are managed by each sect in its own way, who are not suffered to interfere with the civil rights of their neighbours; so that the sting is drawn out of the tail of the scorpion of religious discord. No sect is elevated above another, and all have reason to be thankful for the blessings they enjoy, in the protection of laws which may truly be called equal. The principal part of the churches are established upon the congregational plan, the rules of church discipline and government of which are, in general, founded upon the Cambridge form, as drawn up by the synod of 1648. The other denominations of Christians in this state, according to their numbers, may be classed as follows, viz. baptists, episcopalians, quakers, presbyterians, methodists, and universalists. The condition of society is much the same here as in the other eastern states, with this essential difference from some of them, that slavery is totally abolished in all its branches. The air is, as has been said of the atmosphere of Britain, "too pure for a slave to live in ;" and, with regard to the white people, some will think it still more pure, for here they are all on an equal footing, having neither nobles, nor inquisitors, nor tythes, nor taxes. The inhabitants are almost universally of English descent, are generally tall, stout, and well built, and glory in possessing that spirit of freedom which induced their ancestors to leave their native country, and to brave the dangers of the ocean, and the hardships of settling in a wilderness. Their education, laws, and situation, serve to inspire them with high notions of liberty, which are preserved and cherished by a law respecting the descent of estates. By this law the possessions of the father are to be equally divided among all the children, excepting the eldest son, who is to have a double portion. In this way is supported that happy mediocrity among the people, which, by inducing economy and industry, removes from them temptations to luxury, and forms them to habits of sobriety and temperance. This is happily illustrated by the infrequency of crimes, which were of rare occurrence in Massachusetts, and indeed throughout the United States, before the year 1816, when an increase of emigration from Europe produced a corresponding increase of business in the criminal courts of America. Offences against the laws are punished very differently in this state from what they are in some others. For grand larceny, the punishment is seven years confinement in the state prison; passing bad money, ten years do.; forgery, three years do.: for this crime a person was convicted in June, 1818, for effacing the words "three months after date.' The militia of Massachusetts is composed of all the ablebodied white male citizens from eighteen to forty-five years of age, excepting clergy, schoolmasters, and civil officers; and is formed into regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery: the number returned to the war office for the year 1818 amounted to 70,736 effective men. The great body of these are landholders, and cultivators of the soil; the former attaches them to their country, and the latter, by making them strong and healthy, enables them to defend it. The boys are early taught the use of arms, and make the best of soldiers; nor is there a country upon earth, of equal extent and population, can furnish a more formidable army than this part of the Union. Learning is more generally diffused here, among all ranks of people, than in any other part of the globe, arising from the excellent establishment of schools in every township; and a person of mature age, who cannot both read and write, is rarely to be found. According to the constitution, "every town having fifty householders or upwards, is to be provided with one or more schoolmasters, to teach children and youth to read and write, and instruct them in the English language, arithmetic, and decent behaviour; and where any town has 200 families, there is also to be a grammar school set up therein, and some discreet person, well instructed in the Latin, Greek, and English languages, procured to keep the same, and be suitably paid by the inhabitants. The penalty for neglecting of schools in towns of fifty families, £10.; those of 100 families, £20.; and of 150 families, £30. Another very valuable source of information to the people is the news papers, of which about three millions are printed annually, and circulated throughout every town and village in this state. Thus, by means of the general establishment of schools, the extensive circulation of public journals, and the consequent spread of learning, every township in the country is furnished with men capable of conducting the affairs of their town with judgment and discretion. These men are the channels of political information to the lower class of people (if such a class can be said to exist in the United States) where every man thinks himself at least as good as his neighbour, and believes that all men are, or ought to be equal. Commerce, manufactures, and agriculture.—The exports of this state are provisions, timber, ashes, nails, flaxseed, bees-wax, fish, oil, saddlery, cabinet-work, boots and shoes, tow cloth, iron utensils, glass, spirits, &c. The imports are British manufactures, tea, wine, silks, spirits, coffee, cotton, &c. Commerce is pursued with an ardent spirit; and it is said that this state, in conjunction with the. district of Maine, owns more than three times as many tons. of shipping as any other state in the Union, and more than one-third part of the whole that belongs to the United States. The amount of exports in 1817 was 11,927,997 dollars; but 6,019,581 dollars consisted of foreign produce, and of the remainder, a considerable portion was that of other states, particularly New Hampshire and Vermont. There are very extensive fisheries carried on here, the product of which is annually of great value. The greater part of the manufactures have already been enumerated in the account of Boston; but it may be observed, that in the interior there is a great variety of domestic manufactures, and several others upon a large scale, particularly of woollen and cotton. It has been already noticed, that the cotton manufacture had been successfully introduced at Patucket by an English gentleman, with improved machinery. Several other persons have followed his example, and this branch is likely to increase to a great extent in that district. It has been generally supposed that the American manufactures would be unable to cope with the British, on account of the high wages they are obliged to pay to their workmen; and this supposition is founded on a belief that the people of America have such an attachment to agriculture, as will prevent them from settling at sedentary employments. But upon examining the subject, it will be found that there is no foundation for this opinion; throughout the country there is a sufficient proportion of masons, carpenters, smiths, tanners, shoemakers, hatters, tailors, and other mechanics, none of whom are engaged in agriculture. All these, and many other branches, are practised with persevering industry, because men are well paid for their labour, and their comforts are equal to those arising from husbandry. In every community there are many people better adapted for labour in the house than in the field; and this remark applies peculiarly to the cotton business, in which a large portion of the work is performed by machinery, and a considerable part of the remainder by women and children. But labour of all kinds is much better paid for in America than in Britain, the proportion being not less than two to ove; and whatever may have been said or written to the contrary, this is actually the case at the present time (1819;) therefore, if the cotton trade will afford this advance to the workmen, it will bear a competition with similar manufactures of Great Britain, and not else. But the most striking circumstance in favour of the cotton manufacture, is the cheapness of the raw material, which is the produce of the United States. In Massachusetts they manufacture principally upland cotton, and the price, including carriage, is about 1s. 2 d. a pound lower than it can possibly be bought in Great Britain. The next circumstance, is the heavy charges to which British manufactured goods are subject before they come into the American market. These may be reckoned at least fortyfive per cent.; namely, carriage, insurance, and shipping charges five per cent.; American duties and importer's profit, twenty-five per cent.; American merchant's profit and contingencies fifteen per cent. Now supposing 100lbs. of cotton to be manufactured into cloth that will sell for 1s. sterling a yard in Britain, the number of yards will be about 300; and by producing this in the American market, subject to these different charges, we can easily calculate the price that can be obtained by the manufacturer in America; and from thence we may determine the probable increase of the cotton manufacture in that country. It is to be observed, that the demand for cotton goods in the United States is immense, and there is no material competition except with British manufactures. 6 One hundred lbs. of cotton purchased in the south- Nearly 16d. per lb......... ...... 1 68 £ 6 12 8 |