VERMONT. The territory which is now included in the State of Vermont, and which lies between Lower Canada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York, was, for a long time after the surrounding settlements were made, in great measure unexplored by Europeans. In its vicinity, Canada was the first known and peopled by them, and a settlement was then made by the Dutch at Aurania, now Albany, and at the mouth of the Hudson. Then followed the settlements along the New England shores; but a considerable period elapsed before they penetrated the interior, and, consequently, that interior was hardly marked but by marauding parties of Indians, and the footsteps of their unfortunate captives.

It is not found that any large body of the natives was cantoned within the present limits of the state. There was, indeed, a tribe bearing the name of Coossucks in the north-east part of it; but these were inconsiderable in number, and hardly known in the records of warfare, being surrounded, although at no little distance, by larger tribes. These tribes consisted, in the first place, of the Five or Six Confederated Nations, at the head of whom figured the Mohawks. Among the French they bore the name of Iroquois, and had at an early period become their enemies, connecting themselves successively with the Dutch and English of New York, and adhering to their interests with great fidelity for more than a century and a half. The territory occupied by them, although denominated Canadian by Colden, in 1747, was included within the present boundaries of New York, being south of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, although their conquests extended far to the north and north-west. They were the terror of other tribes, yet seem never to have settled to the eastward of the Hudson, and the beautiful lake which was once denominated from them, but now has the name of Champlain.

The Indians who were in alliance with the French of Canada were principally the Algonkins, otherwise called Adirondacks, a tribe between whom and the Iroquois there were frequent wars, the result of hostilities previous to the arrival of Europeans. Whether or not the tribe denominated of St. Francis, as residing on the banks of that river, were of Algonkin or more eastern derivation, or whether connected with the Coossucks or not, is not clear. Charlevoix describes them as Abenakis, who had left their brethren of the east, and migrated to Canada for the benefit of an alliance with the French.

On the south-east and south, the Indians of the other New England States, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, inhabited mostly the sea-coast, and appear to have greatly dreaded the warlike character and prowess of the Mohawks. On the east were the Abenakis, Etechemins, and Micmacs, attracted also to the sea-shore, doubtless by the facility of procuring thence a portion of their provisions.

Thus it would seem that the interior country which now forms Vermont was, as it were, a thoroughfare between powerful contending Indian nations or tribes, without being conspicuous as the seat of any considerable body of natives. It was traversed, rather than settled by them; its water conveyances north and south admitting also an easy navigation by their canoes; and hence, in the remote periods of native history, has little that requires or can repay research. This is an observable peculiarity.

Another circumstance, which still more strikingly characterizes the country, is the history of the claims made on its territory by the states with which it is environed. To enter minutely into this history is no aim of the present work. But without adverting to it, our account would be exceedingly incomplete, as it tended not a little to mould the character of the inhabitants. For, in the process of settling the country, the lamentable conflicting of claims, as will be seen, imposed severe hardships on the enterprising men who ventured to leave the older settlements, and form in the wilderness homes for their growing families. Many a town contains in its rural burying-place the remains of repurchase their farms or leave them, suffering over again the grievances which disgraced the government of Andros, and ended in his seizure and confinement by the injured and enraged people. His arbitrary cupidity, in which he but too faithfully imitated his worthless master, the bigoted and tyrannical James II., set an unhappy example, which yet was followed, and produced a hardihood of opposition that nerved the men of Vermont to daring actions.

When the country which forms the sea-coast of New England began to be settled from Europe, the claim of Massachusetts to territory was extended to “three miles north of the River Merrimac.” Casting one’s eye on the map, it is easy to perceive, that a line drawn due west from this northern boundary, as it is formed by the bend of the river towards the north, not far from its mouth, would cut off a considerable portion of the southern part of what now constitutes Vermont. The Massachusetts government, therefore, when it extended its cares to the security of the northern frontiers against the Indians of Canada, without any hesitation or doubt, as it seems, formed, in 1723, a lodgment in what is now Brattleborough, on the western bank of Connecticut River. There, during the distressing war with the natives, aided by the French, their instigators, which spread such terror and desolation along the borders of the settlements of Maine and New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts, a fort was constructed by Lieutenant Governor Dummer, of the latter state, which received his name, and the next year a settlement followed. This was the first English settlement within the limits of Vermont.

But although the frontier towards Canada was thus extended, and, under the shelter of a fort, the labors of clearing and cultivating the land appeared practicable, yet the country was by no means in a state of security. We must never forget that American colonists were from different nations. Spaniards, we know, peopled the southern part of the continent, or overran it with their merciless troops, at an early period after its discovery by Columbus. And, jealous as they ever were of any encroachment on their power, wealth, or influence, they would not have left “the bleak, inhospitable north” to France or England, each of which nations took a portion of it, had they discovered in it any gold, which, as the commodity most available for immediate use, and soonest adapted to the gratification of eager avarice, they chiefly sought By Papal permission and decree, they claimed all America. But France resisted this claim, and labored to form there an empire of her own; and Charlevoix, the historian of it, boasts its extent as “greater than all Europe,” although the proud Spaniard termed it “of nothing worth.” § This empire she exerted herself to establish and enlarge by all practicable means. Among these was the employment of a religious influence over the minds of the natives. Hence, in no inconsiderable degree, the efforts of her able, sagacious, indefatigable missionaries, most if not all of whom were Jesuits, bound to an implicit obedience to their head, eager to extend to heathen nations the papal sway, which had suffered so much from Luther and the reformation, and expecting to merit everlasting life by their exertions and sacrifices in spreading the triumphs of their faith; at the same time looking on the English as heretics, beyond the pale of the church, and so doomed to everlasting perdition. Religious bigotry, and hatred, and contempt were all combined, in their almost unmitigated hostility; the full spirit of which seemed imparted to their native converts, in addition to their own savage propensities and habits. Can we wonder, then, at the dread of Indian warfare that pervaded the frontier settlements of New England on the north?

It must, however, be observed, that if treachery and cunning marked the Indian, as sensible of his disadvantages in open warfare with his foes of European origin; and breach of promise, and cruelty, and revenge, too often distinguished the Romanist, and led him also to connive at and permit in his Indian subjects and allies atrocities at which Christian civilization shudders; there was yet no disposition in the Puritans of New England to view with favor the character or conduct of a Papist. The very name was odious.

Vermont, then, as a “thoroughfare" between nations of different origin, pursuits, and interests, attractive as it was from its fertility and adaptedness to the purposes of agriculture and grazing, could not be occupied by peaceful farmers while the surrounding populations were struggling for mastery. Nor did the impediments end even here.

The French, in 1731, erected a fort on the eastern side of Lake Champlain, towards its southern extremity; but they soon demolished it, and chose a position on the western side, where they built the celebrated fortress generally called Crown Point, although named by themselves Fort St. Frederic. Their object was, to facilitate their way to the Six Nations, whether for war or proselytism, and to their own possessions on the Mississippi beyond them, in order to environ ultimately the English colonists, and confine them to the Atlantic coast. The lake and its water communications were familiar to them, therefore, and highly valued. But on the land, it would seem, they had not leisure to make permanent settlements; nor, perhaps, any present inducement, at such distance from their capital, and under other circumstances of the case. Meanwhile, as the lands of Connecticut and Massachusetts became occupied by the posterity of the first settlers, new fields of labor were sought. Applications were therefore made to the government of the latter state, by several of its inhabitants, who associated for the purpose, and a grant was made them to the northward of Fort Dummer, and on the eastern side of Connecticut River. This was in 1735, and the settlement took the name of No. 4, afterwards called Charlestown. But not ten years elapsed before war was again rife between England and France; and in 1746 this settlement was attacked by Canadian Indians, and, for the time, ruined. Nevertheless, the spirit of the early settlers was unbroken. They returned, built again, cultivated their lands afresh, although with their weapons beside them; were again and again attacked, waylaid, several of them made captives and sold in Canada; and thus persevered, with unabated zeal and bravery, through all their severe trials, until their efforts were, in the good providence of the God of their fathers, crowned with success.

It is almost impracticable, in these times of ease and security, to appreciate justly the hardships undergone by those who “made the wilderness to smile and blossom.” Especially may this remark be made in reference to Vermont, although applicable far more extensively.

But, added to the hardships attending the subduing of the soil, and to “the sword of the wilderness,” in the “peril” of which they often “gat their bread,” the disputes concerning titles to the land itself, to which we have before alluded, occasioned peculiar trouble. The boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was not settled until March 5, 1740, when it was established by George II., to whom applications had been made for that purpose, in the manner in which it has since been preserved, and now exists. On the establishment of this line, it appeared but reasonable to all parties that New Hampshire should extend on the west as Massachusetts extended in that quarter; and hence her claim to the lands west of the Connecticut, and north of the Massachusetts line. Grants were therefore made by the governor of New Hampshire without scruple, and as the courage or necessities of settlers might prompt their applications. In this manner the territory of Bennington was granted, in 1749, and other grants followed.

Again, however, war intervened; and, from 1754 until the final conquest of Canada by the British arms, in 1760, it raged with various success, but with great sacrifices and sufferings on the part of frontier settlers, exposed as they necessarily were, and furnishing no small number of the provincial troops.

The return of peace brought with its blessing still another trouble, in the claims that arose from a new quarter. The State of New York, settled, as we have seen, by the Dutch, a few years after the French had planted themselves in Canada, had indeed long since passed under the dominion of England, being finally subdued in 1664. But the Dutch has made a small settlement for trading with the nations on the Connecticut, and, for a considerable period, stoutly disputed the possession with the settlers from the jurisdictions of both Plymouth and Massachusetts. Indeed, they seem to have honestly purchased from the natives a right to the soil, with as much scrupulousness as the very Puritans at the east of them. Their claim, of a nature like that of the English, was made to extend, says Dunlap, “from Cape Cod to Delaware Bay, on the Atlantic, including the islands of the sea-coast; the River St. Lawrence seems to have bounded it on the north; on the south, some undefined line beyond Delaware Bay; and west, it was boundless.” Afterwards, however, it was narrowed down to the territory west of the Fresh River, as they termed the Connecticut. Mention is made of their purchasing of the Indians the territory between this and the North River, and “twenty-one miles inland;” and De Laet, one of their early historians, dwells on the pleasantness and fertility of the country, visited after Hudson, by Adrian Block, in 1614. Until recently, however, we have had little knowledge concerning the voyages of the Dutch navigators. Honor is at length given, and justice done them, in the Collections of the New York Historical Society.

Without entering too minutely into details, in this place, it may be sufficient to remark that, notwithstanding it has been asserted by some, that as early as 1623 the Dutch built a fortress at the present site of Hartford, yet Trumbull states it to have been as late as 1633, only three years before Governor Haynes and Mr. Hooker led their little colony thither. Disputes there were, sharp and long continued, with respect to boundaries. The English confided in their royal charter, and the ability of their king to sustain it; the Dutch in the liberty granted them by their high mightinesses the States General of Holland; and nothing but the superiority of British power, which effected the conquest of New York, and gave to the “colony of New Netherlands” a character, laws, alliances, and interests wholly English, prevented the establishment of a Dutch republic on these western shores. And it admits of question, whether true candor has, in this country, been shown to the claims of the noble-spirited people who authorized and forwarded the founding of New Amsterdam, “at a time,” said a worthy descendant from them, “when that nation [Holland] had just sprung into political existence, after a long, bloody, and most glorious struggle against civil and religious tyranny, during which all the energies of patriotism, courage, and talents had been suddenly and splendidly developed.”

To be brief in this rapid review, a long period of silence on the subject of the Dutch claims, or the claims of New York, in reference to territory north of Massachusetts and west of Connecticut River, seems to have been maintained. This, perhaps, was owing to two considerations; the one, that already more land was claimed and possessed than the inhabitants could occupy and cultivate; and the other, that the northern frontier beyond Massachusetts, open as it was to the invasion of the French and their Indian allies or subjects, presented no attractions to settlers.

When, however, the establishment of peace removed the fears of savage outrage, and rendered the subduing of the wilderness no longer a perilous enterprise, “the unsettled lands of the country acquired a new value, and were every where explored and sought after by speculators and adventurers. None appeared more inviting than the tract between Lake Champlain and Connecticut River. The soil was rich and fertile, favorable in many places to the production of grain, and in all to grazing and the raising of cattle. It was plentifully watered by streams and rivers, and abounded with necessary and useful timber. In such a soil and situation, the labor and hardships of a few years could scarcely fail of producing rich and valuable farms, with all the ease and independence naturally annexed to industry in the rural economy of life.”

Application being made, as we have seen above, to the governor of New Hampshire, within whose territory this region was supposed to lie, he proceeded so far to issue grants, that in 1761 not less than sixty townships, of six miles square, were granted on the west of Connecticut River. In one or two years more, they amounted to one hundred and thirty-eight; keeping twenty miles east of the Hudson, so far as that extended northward, and then advancing to the eastern shore of Lake Champlain; thus enriching the governor, who, besides the fees and donations attending the business, reserved five hundred acres in each township for himself. This aroused New York. On the 28th of December, 1763, the lieutenant governor, Colden, issued a proclamation, in which he recited the grants made to the Duke of York by his brother, Charles II., asserted their validity, claimed the jurisdiction as far east as Connecticut River, and commanded the sheriff of Albany county to return the names of all persons who, under color of the New Hampshire grants, had taken possession of any lands west of the river.

This proclamation Governor Wentworth met by another, dated March 13, 1764, in which he declared the grant to the Duke of York to be obsolete, and asserted that New Hampshire extended as far west as did Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that the grants made by New Hampshire would be confirmed, even should the jurisdiction be altered. He exhorted the settlers not to be intimidated, but to cultivate their lands with diligence; and required the civil officers to exercise jurisdiction as far westward as grants had been made, and to punish all disturbers of the peace.

Two authorities were now up, and a contest between them might be anticipated. The assurances of the New Hampshire governor tended to quiet the minds of the settlers; but, on the part of New York, an express application was made to the crown. This stated-on what authority is, however, disputed-that the people were desirous to be included in that government, and that, as the course of business must ever lie towards New York, it would be for the convenience and advantage of the people, who, however, publicly disowned the application afterwards, to be united to that province. Nevertheless, it prevailed; and the king, on the 20th of July, 1764, ordered and declared “the western banks of the River Connecticut, from where it enters the province of the Massachusetts Bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two provinces of New Hampshire and New York.”

Nothing appeared in this decision to alarm the people. Concluding that their title to the lands they had settled would be but confirmed by it, they had no idea of disputing the jurisdiction of New York, or opposing its government. They supposed the words “to be” were designed to express the future, and not to refer to the past. But not so did the New York government. “They construed it,” says the historian, “as a declaration not only of what was to be for the time to come, but of what was, and always had been, the eastern limit of New York; and, of consequence, that the grants which had been made by the governor of New Hampshire were grants of what had always belonged to New York, and were therefore illegal, and of no authority.” Letters had indeed passed between the governors of New Hampshire and New York, Wentworth and Clinton, concerning their respective boundaries, as early as 1750, notwithstanding which the grants had still been issued; and it is surprising to see the confidence with which, on both sides, the claims were pressed. The late eminent Chancellor Kent, writing of the dispute, as it was in 1777, says, “The inhabitants of the northeast part of the state, (now Vermont,) which had been represented in the convention under the names of the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, renounced their allegiance, and set up for an independent state. On the 30th of June, in that year, they were knocking at the door of Congress for a recognition of their independence, and an admission into the Union.” On the other hand, Dr. Williams, speaking of the New York claim under the grant to King James, says, “There were no principles, which apply to human affairs, by which this grant would bear a strict examination.” He terms it “a blundering transaction,” and says that the geographical “bounds of it were contradictory, indefinite, and impossible.”

The time, however, came for enforcing authority; and the government of New York required the settlers to surrender the charters they had received from New Hampshire, and take out new grants from New York, attended with great fees and expense. Some settlers complied, and bought their lands a second time; while others absolutely refused. Actions of ejectment followed, commenced in the courts of the new counties which had been formed, and these were decided there in favor of New York. Great profits accrued to its rulers from these measures, for the amount of them was far higher than the original cost of the titles from New Hampshire.

But opposition was made in cases where ejectment by official authority was attempted; and the settlers, “instead of being depressed into submission, seemed to derive new powers from oppression; and the people,” says Dr. Williams, “soon began to associate, to defend one another in their opposition to the courts and officers of New York.” Ten years of litigation and of occasional violence followed, of which it is remarked by Belknap, “that although [the dispute] was carried on with a degree of virulence unfriendly to the progress of civilization and humanity, within the disputed territory, yet it called into action a spirit of vigorous self-defence, and hardy enterprise, which prepared the nerves of that people for encountering the dangers of a revolution more extensive and beneficial.”

Among the hardy, resolute, and brave men whom these difficulties were now nurturing, few became more distinguished than Seth Warner and Ethan Allen. Scenes of the revolutionary struggle were fast developing the character of our countrymen. One and another aggression of the British ministry, intent on carrying their favorite point, the civil subjection of the colonies, was provoking the opposition, not of the New England colonies alone, but others along the Atlantic border. The successful resistance to the stamp act of 1765, and which produced its welcome repeal, became an encouragement to the friends of liberty, who, in various ways, evinced their determination to make their value and consequence known and felt by the mother country. Of these a better appreciation was indeed made in that quarter than had heretofore been entertained. But still the progress of events conducted to an open rupture, on the special history of which it is not our object here to enlarge. Suffice it to say, that the territory now included in Vermont was very peculiarly exposed, and the situation of its inhabitants in many respects very singular.

It would, in fact, be difficult to produce a parallel to the anomalous state of these settlers Their improvements, made on the lands they had purchased, were effected at imminent peril Their titles to the lands themselves had been honestly acquired on their part, but were disputed by contending governments, which yet exercised over them no effectual authority, and the total loss of them hazarded. To neither of these governments could they appeal without slighting the other; nor, consistently with their own interest, and duty to their families, submit to either. They felt, therefore, constrained to temporize; and while, with the rest of their brethren, they entered, as individually called by an imperious sense of duty, into the scenes of the revolution, they were nevertheless not unmindful of the peculiarities of their own case.

But it is not to be supposed, as it surely will not be by any true “Green Mountain Boy,” or New Englander, that frontier settlers, coming out from such a state of society as had been constituted originally by the Pilgrim Fathers, and handed down from them, could consent to live without law, order, or those social institutions on which order and law depend. No! The towns, small and exposed as they might be, and struggling, as inevitably they must, with the hardships incident to settlements in the wilderness, cannot thrive without government; and they who are, at least for a season, beyond reach of the laws that govern the larger communities, from which they are providentially separated, become “a law unto themselves.” They have their town meetings; they decide on the qualifications of voters in them; they choose their moderator, their town clerk, their selectmen, to manage the affairs of their little, but, to themselves and their families, all-important community. The school and the school committee, the church and its pastor, the constable and the justice of the peace, must all be included. The citizen of New England, place him where you will, whether in the Old Colony or California, in Vermont or Iowa, cannot feel contented or happy until these are all provided for the civic association of which God, in his providence, has made him a member; and thanks be to God that a clear, sober view of the real wants and true interest of society forces this just appreciation on so many energetic minds!

Still there were many, doubtless, who entered the wilderness of Vermont, as they have other regions of frontier exposure and peril, without having previously imbibed a “love of things that are excellent”-men of rude passions, uneasy temperaments, reckless of rule or resolved to resist it, lawless, selfish, and overbearing. Such are found in all ages and countries. But the progress to social order either shakes them o off,or humanizes them, or neutralizes, in time, their baleful influence.

The state of society and the emergency of their times have often in our country produced individuals of that class which we are early led to admire in the histories of ancient Greece and Rome-men who become eminent, not for the possession and cultivation of a single talent only, but for the development of the various powers bestowed on human nature, in their several fair proportions, as the necessities of their condition may demand. Such, in New Hampshire, was Meshech Weare; in Massachusetts, Elisha Williams, characterized so justly and beautifully by Doddridge; Ashmun also, of whom one of the “favored of the Muses” writes that he was

“A leader when the blast of ruthless war swept by,

A teacher when the storm was past, and guide to worlds on high.”

And the circumstances which called forth the vigor and courage of Warner and Allen, whose names only have been mentioned here, but on whose history we cannot dwell, brought into active and beneficial exercise the talents and virtues of Thomas Chittenden, who, though enjoying in early life but few advantages of education, shone, nevertheless, under the requirements of his trying times and high office, and has left a name which posterity cannot but honor, as his contemporaries revered and loved it.

The anomalous condition of the settlers, to which allusion has been made, requires a further description. They had represented their case to the throne as early as 1764; and, in 1767, an inhibition was issued to the governor of New York, who was required to desist from making any further grants until the royal will should be made known, “upon pain of his majesty’s highest displeasure.” This notwithstanding, grants were made, and resisted; and a series of altercations excited so greatly the animosity of the opposite parties, that a civil was most have been the issue, had not the events which occurred at Lexington and Concord, in 1775, arrested the attention of all, and fixed it on the interests of the whole country.

The seizure of Ticonderoga by Colonel Allen and his associates, of Crown Point by Colonel Warner, and of Fort St. John by Arnold, soon gave to the American forces the command of Lake Champlain in its whole extent; while the subsequent capture of Burgoyne, after the partial engagements of Hubbardton and Bennington, prevented any further fears, at least for a season, respecting the northern frontier.

In the mean time, great want was felt of some well-defined government over the population formed on the " Grants.” A Congress had been constituted of delegates from the greater part of the colonies, and held its first session in 1774. At its second meeting, the next year, a committee was sent on to Philadelphia to consult with its members. On their return, this committee, by issuing circulars and reporting the result of their mission, prepared the way for a convention of delegates from the several towns, which had now become accustomed for some time to act together for mutual defence. This convention met on the 16th of January, 1776, and presented its petition to Congress; but this was subsequently withdrawn, in consequence of a recommendation to submit for the present to New York; and finally, after other preparatory steps, the territory was declared, January 15, 1777, a free and independent state, assuming the picturesque name of Vermont.

This important measure was taken with great firmness, moderation, and unanimity. Yet it was followed, as under existing circumstances might have been anticipated, by opposition on the part of New York, petitioning the Congress not to acknowledge the act; and on the part of New Hampshire, claiming several of the towns which had embodied themselves in the new state. Nor was it until after a variety of changes, and much negotiation, of which the details might fill a volume, that these external concerns were adjusted, and Vermont became an integral part of the new American Union. That happy event took place, after a satisfactory settlement of all disputes with the states both of New Hampshire and New York, March 4, 1791. The general history of the state since is blended with that of the nation.

Under all their difficulties and embarrassments, in the adjustment of land titles, the subduing of the wilderness, the arrangement of their political concerns, and the horrors of warfare, the inhabitants had not neglected the claims of religion and good learning. The. settlement of the ministry in the small towns, as they were successively formed and grew able to sustain it, was followed up with a good degree of zeal and perseverance. The condition of society seemed to require, and effectually obtained, a free toleration of religious sentiments, with no distinction in the claims of sect or denomination. An entire sundering of bonds between the church and the state was accomplished, and the result has seemed to show that then the religion of the gospel flourished best, when left to its own heavenly resources, and the zealous love and efforts of its sincere friends; human laws being only then appealed to, when infractions of special civil compacts rendered such appeal needful. Hence absolute contracts for the support of the ministry can be exacted by law, but the law does not compel any to form such contracts. Revivals of the power of religion have not been unusual. Nearly 20,000 communicants were found in June, 1848, connected with the 189 churches embodied in the “General Convention of Congregational Ministers and Churches," which then held its session at Brandon. And the statistics of other denominations, which are found in this state, as in the rest of New England, bear comparison with this result.

For the cause of education Vermont has done nobly; and she deserves the high honor of being ranked among the few governments that have wisely discerned and followed out with energy the permanent welfare of those who sustain them. The school system of the other New England states has been introduced into Vermont, where upwards of 2400 district schools are maintained by a local tax levied by the inhabitants on themselves, and attended by upwards of 50,000 pupils-being a sixth part of the whole number of inhabitants; and besides these schools, the state has from time to time chartered a large number of academies; several of which, however, have since ceased to exist, while several among them are sustained by different religious denominations and private benefactions.

To crown this system, Vermont has a “State University” at Burlington, now in a flourishing condition, and a college at Middlebury, possessing at least equal advantages. Both are high in public favor; the latter being attended by about 100 pupils, the former by 70. There is also a medical college.

Medical societies, and societies for benevolent purposes, have been greatly multiplied in the state. Its agriculture, manufactures, and, by means of Lake Champlain, its navigation also, have been encouraged, developed, and become greatly successful. As yet, no state survey of its geology has been completed; but the progress of its railroads, so vigorously prosecuted, and promising such advantages in bringing the riches of the west to the sea-coast, will doubtless make apparent also, at an early period, the worth of such a measure.

In 1842 began the celebration of Forefathers’ Day; and that whatever was commendable in their character and spirit may, under the blessing of their and our God, flourish in this now thriving state, is our hearty wish and prayer.