0 0 7 4 Three hundred yards of cloth, at 1s. per yard, is £15 Suppose the same fabric manufactured in America. 09 0 0 £ 4 10 0 0 Value of similar cloth imported from Britain.... £21 15 Leaving for the various branches of manufacture £17 5 0 Being more than double the price paid to the British manufacturer. It will be observed by this calculation, that the cotton is taken at its highest price, and for every cent that it falls, the proportional advantage to the American manufacturer is increased; because a great part of the difference consists in duties and charges, which are not materially affected by the fall. Upon the whole it is evident, that the cotton manufacture will increase in America; and that it holds out a very good inducement for men of capital to embark in it.' In this state, particularly in the counties of Plymouth and Bristol, the manufacture of various articles made from iron is carried on to an immense extent; and furnaces, slitting and rolling-mills, trip-hammer and nail shops are very numerous. Besides these manufacturing establishments, there are many other branches in iron and steel, viz. cut nails, spades and shovels, saws, card-teeth, scythes, metal buttons, cannon balls, bells, fire-arms, &c. In these counties are also manufactured hand-bellows, combs, sheet-iron to make tin-plates, wire, linseed-oil, snuff, stone and earthenware. The celebrated iron works éalled the Federal Furnace, are seven miles from Plymouth harbour. Massachusetts, generally speaking, is better adapted for grazing than for grain, though a sufficient quantity of the latter is raised for home consumption; if we except wheat, which is imported in considerable quantities from the middle and southern states. The high and stony ground is in many places covered with clover, and generally affords the best of pasturage; and here are raised some of the finest cattle in the world, and the quantity of butter and cheese made for exportation is very great. Moderate size ed farms usually contain all the different kinds of land, in varied proportions, and plaster of Paris is used for manure, in the interior; but it does not succeed near the sea-coast, Arable land in the immediate neighbourhood of Boston, is worth from £11 2s 6d to £22 5s Od an acre, farm-house and buildings included: orchards the same price. Land of equal quality at from ten to thirty miles from Boston, brings from £4 10s Od to £6 10s Od an acre; meadow and pasturage, from £2 5s 0d to £6 Os Od; wood land, near towns, is more valuable than any other, its worth increasing yearly. There are many wealthy farmers in this state, but generally it is not an occupation by which more than a comfortable living can be made: gentlemen who follow agriculture do not make common interest on their money. The more opulent farmers, from twenty to forty miles from Boston, own large pastures, at the distance of fifty or sixty miles from their residence, in the mountainous parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, where cattle and sheep are fattened for the Boston market. Constitution.-The constitution of Massachusetts, established in 1780, contains a declaration of rights and a frame of government. The declaration asserts the natural freedom and equality of men; liberty of conscience; freedom of the press; trial by jury; sovereignty and independence; that all power is derived from the people; that every man may keep arms, but that standing armies shall not be maintained in time of peace; that no taxes shall be levied without the consent of the people, &c. &c. By the frame of government, the power of legislation is vested in a senate and house of representatives, styled the general court; a governor, lieut.-governor, and council. The senators are forty in number, and are elected annually in districts; the representatives are also elected annually, in townships: every corporate town containing 150 rateable polls elect one, those containing 375, elect two; those containing 600, elect three; and so on, making 225 the number for every additional representative. Every male inhabitant of twenty-one years of age and upwards, having a freehold estate in the commonwealth, of the annual income of £3, or any estate of the value of £60, may vote for the senators or representatives. The governor is styled his Excellency, and must be possessed of a freehold of £1,000 per annum; he is elected annually by these qualified to vote for senators and representatives. The lieut.-governor is styled his Honour, and must have the same qualifications, and be elected in the same man. ner as the governor. The council consists of nine persons, chosen from the senators by joint ballot of the senators and representatives. History. By referring to page 12 of this Work, it will be seen, that in the year 1628, in consequence of a purchase trom the New England council, Mr. Endicot planted a small colony in Massachusetts,* at the place now called Salem. A few months afterwards, about 200 persons, furnished with four ministers, came over and joined this colony; and the next year they formed themselves into a regular church. This was the first church gathered in Massachusetts, and the second in New England; the church at Plymouth had been collected eight years before. In 1630, seventeen ships from different ports in England arrivedin Massachusetts, with more than 1,500 passengers, among whom were many persons of distinction. Incredible were the hardships they endured, from the cruelty of the Indians, the want of provisions, and other ealamities; so that before the end of the year, 200 of their number were carried off by sickness. About this time settlements were made at Charlestown, Boston, Dorchester, Cambridge, Roxbury, and Medford. The first general court of Massachusetts, was held on the 19th of October, 1631, not by representation, but by the freemen of the corporation at large; 109 freemen were admitted at this court. By the resolutions passed on this occasion, the freemen were in future to choose the assistants, and the latter, from among themselves, were to elect the governor and deputy-governor; the court of assistants to have the power of making laws and appointing officers. At the next general court, in the same year, the freemen passed a most extraordinary law, "that none but church members should be admitted to their freedom;" and this absurd and unjust law continued in force until the dissolution of the government. In 1632, and the year following, great additions were made to the colony, and such was the rage for emigration to New England, that the king thought fit to issue an order to prevent it. The order, however, was not strictly obeyed, for this year came over Messrs. Cotton, Hooker, and Stone, three of the most famous pillars of the church; Mr. Cotton settled at Boston, and the other two at Cam • The Indian word is, Mais-tchusaeg, signifying the country on this side the hills. bridge. Two years after this period, at a meeting of the general court, some of the principal inhabitants appeared as representatives of the body of freemen, and resolved, "That none but the general court had power to make laws, &c.; that four general courts should be assembled yearly, and not be dissolved without the consent of the majority; and that the freemen of each plantation had a right to send representatives to the said general court." Thus was established the legislative body, which, except reducing the number of court meetings to only two in the year, continued the same as long as the charter lasted. In 1636, Mrs. Hutchinson, a very extraordinary woman, who had joined the colony four years before, made great disturbances in the churches. Two capital errors with which she was charged, were, "That the Holy Ghost dwells personally in a justified person; and that nothing of sanctification can help to evidence to believers their justification." Disputes ran high about the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, and involved both the civil and religious affairs of the colony in great confusion. The result was, that a synod was held at Cambridge, in 1637, which was attended by both ministers and magistrates; when, after three weeks disputing, they condemned as erroneous above eighty points or opinions, said to have been maintained by some one or other of the colonists. In consequence of this, Mrs. Hutchinson and several of her followers were sentenced to banishment; and she, with her husband and family, settled at Aquidnick, Rhode Island, where, in 1642, Mr. Hutchinson died. She afterwards removed to the Dutch colony beyond Newhaven, and next year, she and all her family, being sixteen souls, were murdered by the Indians, except one daughter, who was carried into captivity. The year 1637 was distinguished by the Pequot wars, in which were slain 5 or 600 Indians, and the tribe almost destroyed; this struck such terror into the natives, that for forty years they never openly attacked the English. The following year was rendered memorable by a very great earthquake throughout New England. In 1640, the importation of settlers ceased; the motives for emigrating having been removed by a change in the affairs of England. Up to this period, there had arrived in 298 ships, 21,200 passengers, men, women, and children; probably about 4,000 families. It was judged that they had, at this time, 12,000 neat cattle, and 3,000 sheep; the charge of transporting the families and their substance; was computed at £192,000 sterling. Next year, the la dians united under Miantinomo, a leader of the Narraganset tribe, for the extirpation of the English; but the confederacy was fortunately discovered in its infancy, and produced no mischief. In 1646, the colony was disturbed by some of its principal inhabitants, who had conceived a dislike to certain of the laws, and to the government. Several of these disaffected persons were imprisoned, and the rest compelled to give security for their future good behaviour. An epidemic disease passed through the country the next year, and swept away many of the English, French, and Dutch inhabitants. In 1648, we have the first instance of the infatuation respecting witchcraft, which for some time prevailed in this colony. Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, was accusedof having so malignant a quality, as to cause vomiting, deafness, and violent pains, merely by her touch: she was accordingly tried, condemned, and executed! Happy would it have been, had there been no other instance of this miserable infatuation; but why should we wonder at the magistrates of New England, when we find the celebrated lord chief-justice Hale, and others of high-rank, in Old England, shortly after, chargeable with as great delusion. The fact is, that the same spirit prevailed at this time in the mother country, and was brought from thence, as were most of the laws and customs of the first settlers in America. In 1665, a distemper, like that which happened eight years before, went through the plantations; but was not attended with a great mortality. In the year following, began what has been generally called the persecution of the Quakers. The first persons who openly professed the principles of this sect in Massachusetts, were Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, who came from the West Indies in July of this year: a few weeks after, nine others arrived from London. Upon the 8th of September, they were brought before the court of assistants, for having affirmed that they were sent by God to reprove the people for their sins. On being questioned how they could make it appear that God sent them? after pausing for a time, they answered, that they had the same call that Abraham had to go out of his country: to other questions they gave rude and contemptuous answers, which is the reason assigned for committing them to prison. A great number of their books, which they had brought for distribution among the people, were seized and condemned to the fire. Soon after this, on a Sunday, as the governor was |