Crossing the alternate sandy wastes and rugged mountain chains of the
Great Basin to the Valley of Humboldt’s River, they were obliged to
trust entirely to their worn and weary animals for reaching the Sierra
Nevada before the winter snows. The grass was scarce and now fast drying
up in the scorching heat of midsummer. The progress of the emigrants
along the valley of Humboldt’s River was slow and toilsome in the
extreme. This river, which lies entirely within the Great Basin, and has
no connexion with the sea, shrinks away towards the end of summer and
finally loses itself in the sand at a place called the Sink. Here the
single trail across the desert divided into three branches, many
companies stopping at this place to recruit their exhausted animals,
though exposed to the danger of being detained there the whole winter by
the snows of the Sierra Nevada. Another large body took the upper route
through Lawson’s Pass, which leads to the head of the Sacremento Valley;
while the greater number fortunately chose the old and travelled trails
leading to Bear Creek and the Yuba, by way of Truckee River, and to the
head waters of the Rio Americano.
“After leaving the Sink of Humboldt’s River, and crossing a desert of
about fifty miles in breadth, the emigrants reached the streams which
are fed from the Sierra Nevada, where they found good grass and plenty
of game. The passes, however, were terribly rugged and precipitous,
leading directly up the face of the great snowy ridge. As, however,
these mountains are not quite 8,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
are reached from a plateau of more than 4,000 feet, the ascent is
comparatively short, while on the western side more than 100 miles of
mountain country must be passed before reaching the level of the
Sacremento Valley. Many passes in the Sierra Nevada were never crossed
before the summer of 1849. All the emigrants concurred in representing
this western slope of the mountains as an abrupt and broken region, the
higher peaks of barren granite, the valleys deep and narrow, yet in many
places timbered with pine and cedar of immense growth.”
The advance parties arriving at San Francisco, brought the news of the
thousands who remained behind, and who, but for help, would probably
perish either among the terrible passes of the mountains or in the great
desert of the Sink. Relief companies were, therefore, despatched into
the Great Basin to succour the emigrants remaining there, and who for
want of provisions could not proceed. Not only did the authorities of
San Francisco exert themselves for this purpose, but private individuals
also. Major Rucker despatched a party with supplies and fresh animals by
way of the Truckee River to the Sink of Humboldt’s River, while he
himself took the command of the expedition to Pitt River and Lawson’s
Pass. The first party, after furnishing provisions on the road to all
whom they found in need, reached the Sink, and started the families who
were still encamped there, returning with them, and bringing in the last
of the emigration only a day or two before the heavy snows came on,
which entirely blocked up the passes. Major Rucker also brought in his
company of emigrants after immense labour, and Mr. Peoples, an auxiliary
whom he had found it necessary to send out in another direction,
accomplished also his work of mercy. A violent storm, relates this
gentleman, came on as they were passing the mountains of Deer Creek, and
the mules, unaccustomed to the severe cold, sank down and died one after
another. The people, whose spirit of enterprise and power of endurance
seemed in many deadened by their sufferings, were forcibly compelled to
hurry forward with the remaining animals. The women, who seemed to have
much more energy and endurance than the men, were mounted on mules, and
the whole party pushed on through the bleak passes of the mountains in
the face of the storm. By extraordinary exertions, they were all finally
brought into the Sacremento Valley, with the loss of many wagons and
animals.
“The greater part of those who came in by the lower routes,” continues
Bayard Taylor, “started after a season of rest for the mining region,
where many of them arrived in time to build themselves log-huts for the
winter. Some pitched their tents along the river, to wait for the genial
spring season, while others took their axes and commenced the business
of wood-cutting in the timber on its banks, and which wood, when shipped
to San Francisco, paid them well.”
“By the end of December, the last man of the overland companies was safe
on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, and the great interior
wilderness resumed its ancient silence and solitude until the next
spring; when again it would become populous with these modern
crusaders.”
Nor was the emigration to California confined alone to those who reached
it by land. Ships thronged the beautiful harbour of San Francisco,
bringing in their thousands likewise. So great was the concourse, that
between the 7th of December, 1848, and the 20th of January, 1849,
ninety-nine vessels left the ports of the United States alone for
California, and from Oct. 1849, to Oct. 1850, nearly 49,000 emigrants
arrived by sea at San Francisco, and about 20,000 by land.
At the presidential election of 1848, General Zachary Taylor, the hero
of the Mexican war, was chosen president, and Millard Fillmore, of New
York, vice-president. The following year, Minnesota, adjacent to the
head waters of the Mississippi, was admitted into the Union.
The vast growth of the national territory, and the consequent increase
of states governments which would sooner or later take place, gave rise
to the most violent contests between the slavery and the non-slavery
parties which as yet had been known. The north and the south were again
arrayed against each other, and the secession from the Union was the
threat to which South Carolina again resorted. Whilst this great
political battle was being fought in congress during the sessions of
1849–50, California, which had so suddenly acquired a population far
exceeding that required by the Constitution for the establishment of a
territorial government, could obtain no guidance or aid from congress,
excepting merely a law regarding the revenue. Amid this perplexing and
difficult state of affairs, however, the sagacity and prudence of the
Californians themselves saved them from anarchy and ruin, and proved how
true is the assertion that the American citizen is gifted with the
innate power of self-government. The wisest senate that ever sat could
not have reduced a social and political chaos into a state of more
perfect harmony and order, than did these legislators of the far west by
their simple and constitutional laws.
Again we turn to Bayard Taylor, whose work on California possesses all
the merits and intrinsic value of the early annalists of the Puritan
states. We will briefly follow him in his account of the state
organisation of California.
“In the neglect of congress,” says he, “to provide for the establishment
of a territorial, it was suggested that a convention should be called
for the framing of a state constitution, and that California should be
admitted at once into the Union, without passing through the territorial
stage, leaping with one bound, as it were, from a state of
semi-civilisation to be the thirty-first sovereign state of the American
Confederacy.
“On the 4th of September, the convention met at Monterey, when Dr.
Robert Semple, of the Sonoma district, was chosen president, and
conducted to his seat by Captain Sutter and General Vallijo. Captain
William G. Marey, of the New York volunteer regiment, was elected
secretary, after which the various posts of clerks, assistant
secretaries, translators, doorkeepers, sergeant-at-arms, etc., were
filled. The day after their complete organisation they were sworn to
support the Constitution of the United States.
“The building in which the convention met was probably the only one in
California suited for the purpose. It is a handsome two-story edifice of
yellow sandstone, situated on a gentle slope above the town. It is
called Colton Hall, on account of its having been built by Don Walter
Colton, former Alcade of Monterey, from the proceeds of a sale of city
lots. The stone of which it is built is found near Monterey; it is of a
fine mellow colour, easily cut, and will last for centuries in that mild
climate. The upper story, in which the convention sat, formed a single
hall about sixty feet in length by twenty-five in breadth. A railing
running across the middle divided the members from the spectators. The
former were seated at four long tables, the president occupying a
rostrum at the further end, over which were suspended two American flags
and an extraordinary picture of Washington, evidently the work of a
native artist. The appearance of the whole body was exceedingly
dignified and intellectual, and parliamentary decorum was strictly
observed.
“The Declaration of Rights, which was the first subject before the
convention, occasioned little discussion. Its sections being general in
their character, and of a liberal republican cast, were nearly all
adopted by a nearly unanimous vote. The clause prohibiting slavery was
met by no word of dissent; it was the universal sentiment of the
convention. Without capitulating the various provisions of the
constitution, it is enough to say that they combined with few exceptions
the most enlightened features of the constitutions of the older states.
The election of judges by the people; the rights of married women to
property; the establishment of a liberal system of education, and other
reforms of late introduced into the States Governments east of the Rocky
Mountains, were all transplanted to the new soil of the Pacific coast.
“The adoption of a system of pay for the officers and members of the
convention occasioned some discussion. The Californian members, and a
few of the Americans, demanded that the convention should work for
nothing, the glory being sufficient. The majority overruled this, and it
was finally decided that all should be paid, the members receiving
sixteen dollars per day, and the different officers on a higher scale,
in proportion to their duties. The expenses of the convention were paid
out of the civil fund, an accumulation of the duties received at the
ports. The funds were principally silver, and at the close of their
labours, it was amusing to see the various members carrying away their
pay tied up in handkerchiefs or slung in bags over their shoulders. The
little Irish boy who acted as page was nearly pressed down by the weight
of his wages.
“One of the most exciting questions was a clause which had been crammed
through the convention on its first reading, prohibiting the entrance of
free people of colour into the state. On the second reading it was
rejected by a large majority; several attempts to introduce it in a
modified form also signally failed.
“The boundary too, which came up towards the close of the convention,
assumed a character of real interest and importance. The great point in
dispute was the eastern boundary, the Pacific being the natural boundary
on the west, the meridian of 42° on the north, and the Mexican line on
the south. After many attempts to extend this eastern boundary,
variously from the Sierra Nevada Chain, to the banks of the Colorado
River, it was settled by following the old Mexican boundary, which after
all appeared to satisfy every body. The state had thus 800 miles of sea
coast, and an average of 250 miles in breadth, including both sides of
the Sierra Nevada, and some of the best rivers of the Great Basin. As to
the question of slavery, the character of the country will settle that.
The whole central region, extending to the Sierra Madre of New Mexico,
can never sustain a slave population. The greater part of it resembles
in climate and general features the mountain Steppes of Tartary, and is
better adapted for grazing than agriculture.”
Among other creditable facts of this convention, it is worthy of mention
that various native Californians, with their chivalric Spanish names,
sat among the members, and were even elected to offices under the new
government.
On October the 12th, the convention brought its labours to an end, and a
ball was given by the members of the convention to the citizens of
Monterey, in the hall where they had sat, on the following evening.
Of the ball we need say nothing, but merely close our account with the
signing of the convention, which might not unworthily take its place, as
an historical picture, near that of the scene in the cabin of the
Mayflower, when the Puritan Fathers solemnly put their names to the
compact of good government before landing in the New World. Again we
turn to our agreeable eye-witness.
“The morning after the ball, the members met at the usual hour to
perform the last duty that remained to them, that of signing the
constitution. They were all in the happiest humour, and the morning was
so bright and balmy that no one seemed disposed to call an organisation.
At length, Mr. Semple being sick, Captain Sutter, the old California
pioneer, was appointed to his place. The chair was taken, and the
members seated themselves round the sides of the hall, which still
retained the pine-trees and banners left from last night’s decorations.
The doors and windows were open, and a delightful breeze came in from
the bay whose blue waters sparkled in the distance. The view of the
balcony in front was bright and inspiring. The town below, the shipping
in the harbour, the pine-covered hills behind, were mellowed by the blue
October haze, but there was no cloud in the sky, and the mountains of
Santa Cruz and the Sierra de Gavilan might be clearly seen on the
northern horizon.
“An address to the people of California, which had been drawn up by
committee, was first read and adopted without a dissenting voice. A
resolution was then passed to pay Lieutenant Hamilton the sum of 500
dollars for engrossing the constitution on parchment, a higher amount
than was ever paid before for similar services, but on a par with
payment in California. Before the convention for the signature of their
names, an adjournment of half an hour took place, during which I amused
myself by walking through the town. Everybody knew that the convention
was about closing, and it was generally understood that Captain Benton
had loaded the guns at the fort, and would fire at the proper moment a
salute of thirty-one guns, such, including California, being the number
of the United States. The citizens therefore, as well as the members,
were in an excited mood. Monterey never before looked so bright, so
happy, so full of pleasant expectation.
“About one o’clock the convention met again. Mr. Semple was now present.
First, salaries were voted; 10,000 dollars annually, and General Riley
as governor of California, and 5,000 to Mr. Halleck as secretary of
state, after which they affixed their names to the completed
constitution. At this moment a signal was given; the American colours
run up the flag-staff in front of the government buildings and streamed
out on the air. The next moment the first gun boomed from the fort, and
its stirring echoes came back from one hill after another till they were
lost in the distance.
“All the native enthusiasm of Captain Sutter’s Swiss blood was aroused;
he was the old soldier again. He sprang from his seat, and waving his
hand round his head, as if swinging his sword, exclaimed, ‘Gentlemen,
this the happiest day of my life. It makes me glad to hear those cannon;
they remind me of the time when I was a soldier. Yes, I am glad to hear
them! This is a great day for California!’ Then recollecting himself, he
sat down, the tears streaming from his eyes. The members, with one
accord, gave three tumultuous cheers, which were heard from one end of
the town to the other. As the signing went on, gun followed gun from the
fort, the echoes reverberating grandly around the bay, till finally, as
the loud peal of the _thirty-first_ was heard, there was a shout,
‘That’s for California!’ And everyone joined in giving three times three
for the new star added to our Constitution.”
Thus was California, as was represented on her great seal of state, born
full-grown, like Minerva, into the national confederacy.
The first Californian senators to congress were John C. Fremont and
William M. Gwin. On February 13th, 1850, the constitution of California,
together with her petition to be admitted into the Union, were sent to
congress by the president.
The clause excluding slavery from the new state awoke all the old
animosity of the slavery question, especially as the southern boundary
of California lay south of the line of the Missouri compromise. Nor was
this the only subject which agitated congress at this time. Texas
claimed the whole country as far as the Rio Grande, thus embracing a
portion of New Mexico, which the New Mexicans, of Santa Fe violently
resisted, being determined not to come under the rule of Texas. Colonel
Monroe was at this time American commandant of Santa Fe, and having
received private instructions from Washington, a convention was called
and a state constitution was framed, and while Texas was preparing to
seize the disputed territory by force, New Mexico petitioned to be
admitted into the Union. Again, on this very subject of disputed
territory, the north and south came to issue, the southern states
advocating the claim of Texas, which if established would extend the
area of slavery, and the north opposing it for the very same cause.
At length, after the two hostile parties had waged war for some time
without either gaining ground, Henry Clay brought in his Compromise
Bill, the object of which he stated to be, “to settle and adjust
amicably all existing questions of controversy between them, arising out
of the institution of slavery, upon a fair, equitable and just basis.”
The Compromise Bill was, in May, referred to a committee of thirteen,
and in September its measures passed as mutual concessions and
compromises for the sake of union, viz.: 1. California was admitted into
the Union as a state, with her constitution excluding slavery, and her
boundaries extending from Oregon to the Mexican possessions. 2. The
Great Basin, east of California, containing the Mormon settlement near
the Great Salt Lake, was erected, without mention of slavery, into a
territory, by the Indian name of Utah. 3. New Mexico, with a boundary
which satisfied her inhabitants, was also erected into a state without
mention of slavery; congress giving to Texas, in relinquishment of her
claims, ten millions of dollars, with which Texas was to pay former
debts for which the United States had been in honour bound. 4. A law was
passed abolishing the slave-trade, but not slavery, in the district of
Columbia; and 5. The Fugitive Slave Law was passed, a law so cruel in
its operations as to call forth, as it were, a universal groan from the
non-slavery states, and to fan up afresh the otherwise cooling embers of
hostility.
The census of 1850 reported the population of the United States to be
23,267,498, of which 3,197,589 were slaves. In the same year the amount
of emigration from Europe to America exceeded 300,000.
We have thus brought down the history of the United States to the middle
of the present century, and the reader cannot fail of having been
impressed with a sense of the vitality which has ever marked the
progress and development of the Anglo-American States, and which, from
the smallest beginnings on the Atlantic shore, have now extended with an
irresistible force to the far Pacific.
Politically and morally the Republic of the United States has been a
grand, successful experiment. While the nation has grown with an
unexampled rapidity, it has not overlooked the essential foundations of
national greatness—the religious and social advancement of the people.
The school-house and the place of worship have sprung up simultaneously
with human dwellings in the wilderness. And though anomalies exist in
the characters of her institutions, though the blot of slavery darkens
the page of her history, and her abundant harvest fields have been
watered by the blood of the Indian, still, even for the slave is there
hope of the amelioration of his condition, and it may be of his
redemption, through the growing enlightenment of the South. And as
regards the Indian, missionary-labour is increasing among his people,
and where they are capable of receiving the instruction and civilisation
of the whites, it is given. In 1850, there were 570 missionaries, more
than half of whom were women, labouring earnestly in the wilderness,
together with 2,000 preachers and helpers among the natives themselves.
A thousand churches, of various Christian denominations, have been
erected, and the number of professing Christian Indians amounts at this
time to 40,537. A great number of schools have been established, and are
increasing daily, where the Indian children, to the number of 30,000,
receive instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as in
handicraft trades. The women easily acquire these latter. Printing
presses have been introduced among them, and works in thirty different
languages produced.[86]
While these facilities are given for education among the Indians, those
which are afforded for society at large are on the most ample and
liberal scale. Education is indispensable to the man and woman of the
New World, and a system of school education is being universally
established there, which shall make the enlightenment of the moral and
intellectual being common to all, irrespective of creeds and parties,
open alike to man and woman.
We will conclude with a few facts drawn from the report of Messrs.
Whitworth and Wallis on the Industry of the United States in 1850. “The
energetic character of the American people,” say these gentlemen, “is
nowhere more strikingly displayed than in the young manufacturing
settlements that are so rapidly springing up in the northern states. A
retired valley and its stream of water become in a few months the seat
of manufactures; and the dam and water-wheel are the means of giving
employment to busy thousands, where before nothing more than a solitary
farm-house was found.
“Great facilities are afforded in many of these states for the formation
of manufacturing companies. The liabilities of partners not actively
engaged in the management are limited to the proportion of the capital
subscribed by each, and its amount is published in the official
statement of the company. In the case of the introduction of a new
invention, or a new manufacture, the principle of limited liability
produces most beneficial results.
“The cost of obtaining an act of incorporation is very trifling. In one
case, where the capital of the company amounted to 600,000 dollars
(£120,000), the total cost of obtaining an incorporation was fifty
cents—two shillings and one penny!
“In America, where labour is more expensive than with us, great
ingenuity has been used in the making of labour-saving machines. Timber
is sawn up for all kinds of purposes in building, laths are cut, boards
for flooring prepared and planed, doors, window-frames, or staircases
made, planed, tenoned, mortised and joined by machinery, at a much
cheaper rate than by hand-labour. Wood is sawn up at railroad stations,
and other places where a great consumption of fuel is required, by
sawing-machines, driven by horse-power. Boxes are made by the same
means, being tongued and grooved properly and put together by machinery.
These labour-saving machines are applied also to the making of furniture
and agricultural implements, mowing and reaping machines, and
self-acting churns, in the making of all of which labour-saving tools
are again used. Among machines of this class must not be omitted the
sewing-machine, the use of which is carried to great extent in the New
England states. One large manufactory at Waterbury is occupied
exclusively in the manufacture of under-vests and drawers, the cloth
waistbands of the latter being stitched by the sewing-machine at the
rate of 430 stitches per minute. In a shirt manufactory of New Haven,
entire shirts, excepting only the gussets, are made by sewing-machines.
By the aid of these machines one woman can do as much work as from
twelve to twenty hand-sewers. The workwomen work by the piece, and are
frequently able to finish their estimated day’s work by two o’clock, and
when busy work overtime. When will the older countries be able to give
sufficient remunerative employment to their women, so as, like these
happier New England states, to dispense with the starvation-drudgery of
the poor needlewoman, and make the “Song of the Shirt” applicable no
longer?
“The railroads of America are constructed on a much less expensive scale
than with us. Economy and speedy completion are the points which are
especially considered in that country. A single line of rails nailed
down to transverse logs, and a train at rare intervals, are deemed to be
sufficient as a commencement, and as traffic increases additional
improvements are made.
“As regards either a railroad or a telegraphic line, if a company or a
private individual should propose or construct them, or could show that
they would be beneficial to the public, an act may be obtained
authorising him to proceed, as a matter of course; no private interests
can oppose the passage of the line through any property; there are no
committees, no counsel, no long array of witnesses and expensive
hearings; compensation is made simply for damage done, the amount being
assessed by a jury, and generally on a most moderate estimate. With a
celerity that is surprising a company is incorporated, the line is
built, and operations are commenced.
“As may be well conceived, the advantages derivable from the Electric
Telegraph were at once appreciated by the United States, and that
wonderful discovery, which opened a system of communication annihilating
distance, received immediate encouragement both from the federal
government in Washington and the governments of the different states. In
1844 congress made a liberal grant to put in operation the first
telegraphic line that was erected in the states—that between Washington
and Baltimore; and before seven years had elapsed, the committee on
Post-offices and Post-roads presented to the senate their report on the
route which they had selected for a gigantic telegraph line, nearly
2,500 miles in length, connecting San Francisco with Natchez on the
Mississippi, and thence with the vast network of lines that by that time
had covered the Atlantic states. Such was the rapid development of this
system of communication, supported by the federal government and
fostered by that of the states, which passed general laws authorising
the immediate construction of telegraph lines whenever they could be
conducive to the public interest, and affording every facility for
companies for that purpose.
“The aggregate length of the telegraphic lines in the United States
exceeded, in 1852, 15,000 miles, and this number is continually
increasing. The average cost of constructing a line is estimated at £37
per mile. So moderate is the scale of charges by the telegraphic wires,
that the electric telegraph is used by all classes of society as an
ordinary means of transmitting intelligence; government dispatches and
communications taking the precedence. Newspapers make great use of it,
as well as commercial houses.
“The most distant points connected by electric telegraph are Quebec and
New Orleans, which are 3,000 miles apart; while a network of lines
extends to the west as far as Missouri, about 500 towns and villages in
those remote wildernesses being provided with stations.
“The cotton manufactures of the United States are principally
centralized in New England and Pennsylvania, but out of the thirty-one
states of the Union there are seven only in which the spinning or
manufacture of cotton is not carried on, viz., Louisiana, Texas,
Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California. The census of 1850
returns 1,054 establishments for the manufacture of cotton goods,
consuming 641,240 bales of cotton, and manufacturing goods to the value
of £1,000,000 sterling. The number of persons employed in these mills
are 33,150 males and 59,136 females. In Alabama slave labour is said to
be largely employed, with whites as overseers and instructors. The mills
at Lowell, in Massachusetts, on the falls of Powtucket on the Merrimack
river, are the most celebrated in the United States, as having been the
first where advantage was taken of great natural advantages, with a
large and well directed capital, resulting in extensive and systematic
operations for the realisation of a legitimate profit; whilst the social
position of the operative classes was sedulously cared for, and their
moral and intellectual elevation promoted and secured. These works at
Lowell were commenced about thirty years ago, and the town now contains
35,000 inhabitants. The example of the Lowell manufacturers has been
followed throughout the Union, and in every case with the same
favourable results. The number of operatives in the Lowell mills is
6,920 females and 2,378 males.
“By the census returns of 1850, twenty-four of the thirty-one states of
the Union, and the district of Columbia, had establishments engaged in
some department of the woollen manufacture. The seven states in which
this branch of industry had not been commenced, were South Carolina,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and California. The
New England States had not so many establishments in operation as the
two states of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and only five more than those
of New York and Ohio. Thus it will be seen that, whilst the cotton
manufacture is located more exclusively in the Eastern States, the
woollen manufacture is extended in almost equal proportions over the
whole of the Middle States, and extends itself into the western regions
and towards the south. The extent of the woollen manufactures of
Massachusetts, however, is seen in the fact, that whilst in the 380
mills of Pennsylvania the consumption of wool is 7,560,379 lbs.,
employing 3,490 males and 2,236 females, producing 10,099,234 yards of
cloth and 1,941,621 lbs. of yarn, of the annual value of 5,321,866
dollars, about £1,300,000 sterling; 119 establishments in the
first-named state consume 22,229,952 lbs. of wool, employ 6,167 males
and 4,963 females, and produce 25,865,658 yards of cloth and 749,550
lbs. of yarn, of the annual value of 12,770,565 dollars, about
£3,000,000 sterling. The difference of the modes of manufacture in the
two states above-named, as illustrated by the cotton trade, is here
shown again in the fact, that a very large proportion of the woollen
mills of Pennsylvania is yarn only, a large amount of this being
consumed in home manufacture for domestic use, or in the weaving of
mixed goods and carpets by hand, and this, too, in addition to the
home-spun woollen yarns mentioned as being worked up with the cotton
yarns produced for that purpose. The 130 establishments in Ohio, as well
as 121 in Virginia, 25 in Kentucky, and 33 in Indiana, would appear to
manufacture the greater portion of the yarns spun therein; it is
probable, therefore, that the yarns of Pennsylvania are largely used for
the supply of the west in the materials for home weaving. After all,
however, this department of industry is becoming daily more and more
exceptional; but it is interesting as illustrating the early condition
of a new country in its efforts to supply its own wants, in the absence
of that larger development of manufacturing means and appliances which
capital, skill, and a large and ever-increasing demand can alone
establish on a firm and enduring basis.
“The total number of persons employed in the various establishments for
the manufacture of woollen goods in the United States in 1850 was 22,678
males and 16,574 females.
“The state of Massachusetts is largely engaged in the manufacture of
paper. At Lee, Berkshire County, there are 19 paper mills employing a
capital of about 200,000 dollars (about £50,000 sterling). In Norfolk
County, Massachusetts, there are 17 mills, and in Worcester County 15
mills, employing a capital of £100,000 sterling in this manufacture. In
1845, up to which date the last general statistical information on the
state of Massachusetts is published, there were 89 paper mills consuming
12,886 tons of materials, and making 4,763 tons, giving 607,175 reams of
paper per annum, the value of which was 1,750,373 dollars (about
£430,000 sterling), and employing 1,369 operatives; and this certainly
gives no exaggerated view of the general position of the paper trade in
nearly all the New England states,—New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania,—at the present date.
“The materials used are chiefly raw cotton and mill waste. Linen rags
are imported from Europe, but the principal consumption appears to be
cotton, either as above-named or in rags. The general character of the
printing paper is of a low quality, with a very small amount of dressing
or size. In writing papers the make is quite equal to the general run of
European papers, but the finish is not always so perfect. It is stated,
however, that whilst the Americans try to imitate the English finish,
the latter are trying to imitate that of makers of the United States.
“The printing operations are extensive and well conducted, particularly
in book-work. The printing of newspapers alone forms a large item in the
industry of the country. In the New England states, according to the
Abstract of the Census of 1850, there were 424 newspapers; in the Middle
states, 876; in the Southern states, 716, and in the Western states,
784; and the following table shows the daily, weekly, and monthly
issues, and aggregate circulation, as given by the above authority:—
┌──────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ │ │ │ Number of │
│ │ │ │ copies │
│ │ │ │ printed │
│ │ Number. │Circulation.│ annually. │
├──────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│Dailies │ 350│ 750,000│ 235,000,000│
│Tri-weeklies │ 150│ 75,000│ 11,700,000│
│Semi-weeklies │ 125│ 80,000│ 8,320,000│
│Weeklies │ 2,000│ 2,875,000│ 149,500,000│
│Semi-monthlies│ 50│ 300,000│ 7,200,000│
│Monthlies │ 100│ 900,000│ 10,800,000│
│Quarterlies │ 25│ 29,000│ 80,000│
├──────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ │ 2,800│ 5,000,000│ 422,600,000│
└──────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
“With an educated people, taking a vital interest in all public
questions, the newspaper press is likely to increase even in a greater
ratio than it has done during the past decade. The number of German
emigrants has caused the establishment of newspapers for their use; and
at Cincinnati alone there are four daily newspapers published in the
German language.
“Typefounding is carried on to a great extent at Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia, and there are single establishments in several other of
the large cities. The whole of the type used in the United States,
besides a large quantity exported to the British provinces and the
various states of South America, is produced in these foundries.
“The boot and shoe trade of the United States is of a very extensive
character, and the systematic manner in which it is carried on worthy of
being understood and adopted elsewhere. A scale or series of sizes is
adopted, say in women’s and children’s shoes from one to six, and even
higher numbers, the half constituting a size between each. The various
portions of the boots and shoes are cut out to these sizes and
half-sizes. These are put up with all the requisite trimmings necessary
to complete the articles, in sets of 60 pairs for the common kinds, and
24 pairs for the finer qualities.
“Being cut out and made up into sets, they are sent to be ‘fitted’ for
the maker—that is, the various parts of the upper leathers are stitched
together. Much of this is now done by one of the various kinds of sewing
machines. The neatness, accuracy and strength of stitch is superior to
hand work. The upper leathers thus ‘fitted’ are then sent to the
‘binder,’ who finally prepares them for the ‘maker,’ by whom they are
soled and heeled. Being complete in make they then go to the ‘trimmer,’
whose work consists in punching the string-holes, stringing and putting
on buttons, and in ladies’ shoes, bows and rosettes.
“Soles are cut out by machinery. A knife with a curvilinear edge is set
in a frame and worked with a treadle, after the manner of a lathe. By a
lateral motion in the machine, it can be adapted to the cutting of any
requisite width of sole, and being once fixed to a given width, the
process of cutting is very rapid, and material is saved by the leather
being cut at right angles to the surface, instead of diagonally, as by
the ordinary knife.
“When finished, the goods are made up in boxes containing one dozen of
assorted sizes. They are then sent in cases to the wholesale dealer, who
supplies the retailer. A case contains five boxes making up the 60 pairs
of assorted sizes of which a set of the commoner kind consists as
manufactured. These manufactures are found in all parts of the New
England states, but chiefly in the states of Massachusetts, Maine,
Vermont, and New Hampshire. The finer quality of hoots for gentlemen are
chiefly made at Randolph and Abington, Massachusetts; the heavier kind
of shoes, and the coarsest kind, usually called ‘brogans,’ at Danvers in
the same state. These ‘brogans’ are chiefly manufactured for the
Southern markets, for the use of slaves, and are similar to the shoes
worn by the miners of South Staffordshire.
“The following table, compiled from the ‘Statistics of the Condition and
Products of certain branches of industry in Massachusetts for the year
ending April 1st, 1845,’ will show the extent of the boot and shoe trade
in the six above-named towns at that date:—
┌─────────┬──────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ Towns. │Kinds.│Number of │ │ │
│ │ │ Pairs │ Males │ Females │
│ │ │ made. │employed. │employed. │
├─────────┼──────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│Randolph │{Boots│ 227,131 }│ │ │
│ │{Shoes│ 332,281 }│ 815│ 649│
│Danvers │Both │ 1,150,300│ 1,586│ 980│
│Lynn │{Boots│ 2,000 }│ │ │
│ │{Shoes│ 2,404,722│ │ │
│ │ │ }│ 2,719│ 3,209│
│Reading │Shoes │ 274,000│ 358│ 385│
│Woburn │{Boots│ 909 }│ │ │
│ │{Shoes│ 350,920 }│ 425│ 484│
│Haverhill│Shoes │ 1,860,915│ 2,042│ 1,680│
└─────────┴──────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
“Pennsylvania is the largest iron-producing state in the Union, although
by the census of 1850, twenty-one states are returned as producing pig
iron, and only two, Florida and Arkansas, as not having establishments
for the manufacture of iron castings; whilst in nineteen states wrought
iron is made.
“In the production of pig iron 377 establishments were in operation in
1850; and of these 180 were in Pennsylvania, 35 in Ohio, and 29 in
Virginia.
“The capital invested amounted to 17,346,425 dollars (about £4,500,000
sterling), the produce being 564,755 tons per annum, employing 20,291
males and 150 females.
“In the manufacture of iron castings, 1,391 establishments were engaged.
Of these 643 were in the states of New York and Pennsylvania,—323 in the
former and 330 in the latter; 183 others being in the state of Ohio. The
capital invested amounted to 17,416,361 dollars, being about the same as
in pig iron. 322,745 tons of castings are produced per annum, giving
employment to 23,541 males and 48 females; the value of the castings,
and other products, being estimated at about £6,250,000 sterling.
“Wrought iron is manufactured at 422 establishments in 19 states.
Pennsylvania has 131, New York 60, New Jersey 53, Tennessee 42, and
Virginia 39; the remaining 97 being situated in 14 other states. The
capital invested was 14,495,220 dollars, or about £3,500,000 sterling;
13,178 males and 79 females being employed. The quantity manufactured
amounted to 278,044 tons, the value of which, with other products, was
16,747,074 dollars, or about £4,100,000 sterling.
“In nearly all the large cities, iron foundries are to be found,
cast-iron being largely employed in the construction of buildings both
of wood and brick; and in Philadelphia, as also to some extent in other
cities, whole elevations of houses, used as retail shops in the
principal streets, are of cast-iron. In these cases, the construction of
the building is usually modified to suit the material of the front, and,
in some instances, an approximation is made towards adapting the
decorative part of the elevation to the material and the construction.
In general, however, the ordinary forms, as used in stone and wood, are
followed, and the whole painted and sanded in imitation of Connecticut
red sandstone. The construction of some of these elevations is at once
simple and effective, alike for strength as architectural effect, and
there appears to be very little difficulty in taking out an old front
and substituting a new one, as the whole is well braced together by ties
and screws—the side walls sustaining the structure in all essential
points. This use of cast-iron may eventually produce a style of street
architecture of a different character to that which now prevails, and
which is in imitation of European modes of construction and decoration.”
We have merely given above the slightest idea of the vast industrial
operations of the United States, which embrace every branch of arts and
manufactures; but that little is enough to show how great are their
resources, and what an immense field is opened to their enterprise, to
their skill and inventive genius.
As we have already said, education is one feature of the American
national character, and art-education, as applied to manufactures, is
now beginning necessarily to attract serious attention in the United
States. Hence schools of design have been established in Philadelphia,
New York, Boston, Baltimore and other cities; most of these being,
however, intended for the art-education of women.
From art-education, which can only be available for a portion of the
public, we pass to that which is made indispensable by the wise
legislation of the United States.
“The compulsory educational clauses adopted in the laws of most of the
states, and especially those of New England, by which some three months
of every year must be spent at school by the young factory operative
under fourteen or fifteen years of age, secure every child from the
cupidity of the parent, or the neglect of the manufacturer; since to
profit by the child’s labour during _three-fourths_ of the year, he or
she must be regularly in attendance in some public or private school
conducted by some authorised teacher during the other fourth.
“This lays the foundation for that wide-spread intelligence which
prevails amongst the factory operatives of the United States; and though
at first sight the manufacturer may appear to be restricted in the free
use of the labour offered to him, the system re-acts to the permanent
advantage of both employer and employed.
“The skill of hand which comes of experience is, notwithstanding present
defects, rapidly following the perceptive power so keenly awakened by
early intellectual training. Quickly learning from the skilful European
artizans thrown amongst them by emigration, or imported as instructors,
with minds, as already stated, prepared by sound practical education,
the Americans have laid the foundation of a wide-spread system of
manufacturing operations, the influence of which cannot be calculated
upon, and are daily improving upon the lessons obtained from their older
and more experienced compeers of Europe.
“Commercially, advantages of no ordinary kind are presented to the
manufacturing states of the American Union. The immense development of
its resources in the west, the demands of a population increasing daily
by emigration from Europe, as also by the results of a healthy natural
process of inter-emigration, which tends to spread over an enlarged
surface the population of the Atlantic States; the facilities of
communication by lakes, rivers, and railways; and the cultivation of
European tastes and consequently of European wants; all tend to the
encouragement of those arts and manufactures which it is the interest of
the citizens of the older states to cultivate, and in which they have so
far succeeded that their markets may be said to be secured to them as
much as manufacturers, as they have hitherto been, and will doubtless
continue to be, as merchants. For whether the supply is derived from the
home or foreign manufacturer, the demand cannot fail to be greater than
the industry of both can supply. This once fairly recognised, those
jealousies which have ever tended to retard the progress of nations in
the peaceful arts, will be no longer suffered to interfere, by taking
the form of restrictions on commerce and the free intercourse of
peoples.”
THE END.
-----
Footnote 1:
Hildreth.
Footnote 2:
Hildreth.
Footnote 3:
Bancroft.
Footnote 4:
Bancroft.
Footnote 5:
Hildreth.
Footnote 6:
Ibid.
Footnote 7:
Hildreth.
Footnote 8:
Bancroft.
Footnote 9:
Hildreth.
Footnote 10:
Hildreth.
Footnote 11:
Hildreth.
Footnote 12:
Willson.
Footnote 13:
Willson.
Footnote 14:
Hildreth.
Footnote 15:
Hildreth.
Footnote 16:
Hildreth.
Footnote 17:
Hildreth.
Footnote 18:
Hildreth.
Footnote 19:
Hildreth.
Footnote 20:
Hildreth.
Footnote 21:
Willard.
Footnote 22:
Hildreth.
Footnote 23:
Hildreth.
Footnote 24:
Hildreth.
Footnote 25:
Annual Register, 1779.
Footnote 26:
Annual Register, 1779.
Footnote 27:
Hildreth.
Footnote 28:
Knight’s “Pictorial History of England.”
Footnote 29:
Willard.
Footnote 30:
Hildreth.
Footnote 31:
Annual Register.
Footnote 32:
Hildreth.
Footnote 33:
Hildreth.
Footnote 34:
Hildreth.
Footnote 35:
Hildreth.
Footnote 36:
Annual Register, 1781.
Footnote 37:
Hildreth and Marcius Willson.
Footnote 38:
Mrs. Willard.
Footnote 39:
Hildreth.
Footnote 40:
Hildreth.
Footnote 41:
Annual Register and Hildreth.
Footnote 42:
Hildreth.
Footnote 43:
Annual Register.
Footnote 44:
Hildreth.
Footnote 45:
Hildreth.
Footnote 46:
Annual Register.
Footnote 47:
Annual Register.
Footnote 48:
Annual Register.
Footnote 49:
Hildreth.
Footnote 50:
Willson.
Footnote 51:
Wraxall’s Memoirs.
Footnote 52:
Knight’s “Pictorial History of England.”
Footnote 53:
Knight’s “Pictorial History of England.”
Footnote 54:
Hildreth
Footnote 55:
Hildreth.
Footnote 56:
Hildreth.
Footnote 57:
Hildreth.
Footnote 58:
Hildreth.
Footnote 59:
Hildreth.
Footnote 60:
Hildreth.
Footnote 61:
Hildreth.
Footnote 62:
Hildreth.
Footnote 63:
That is to say, slaves.
Footnote 64:
Hildreth.
Footnote 65:
Jared Sparkes.
Footnote 66:
There are very few national American ballads: so few, indeed, that
whenever an historical event has become a portion of popular
literature, we may be sure that it took an unusually strong hold on
the popular mind, and as having done so it is additionally worthy of
the historian’s notice. The Ballad SAINCLAIRE’S DEFEAT is a sort of
“Chevy Chase” of the Western Territory, and abounds with deep pathos:—
’Twas November the fourth, in the year of ninety-one,
We had a sore engagement, near to Fort Jefferson;
Sainclaire was our commander, which may remembered be,
For there we left nine hundred men, in t’West’n Ter’tory.
At Bunker’s Hill and Quebeck, where many a hero fell,
Likewise at Long Island—it is the truth I tell,—
But such a dreadful carnage, may I never see again,
As happened at St. Mary’s, upon the river plain.
Our army was attacked, just as the day did dawn,
And soon was overpowered and driven from the lawn,
They killed Major Ouldham, Levin, and Briggs likewise,
And horrid yells of sav’ges, resounded through the skies.
Major Butler, he was wounded by the very second fire;
His manly bosom swelled with rage, when forced to retire;
And as he lay in anguish, and scarcely could he see,
Exclaimed, “Ye hounds of hell! Oh! revenged will I be.”
We had not been long broken, when General Butler found,
Himself so badly wounded, was forced to quit the ground.
“My God!” says he, “what shall we do? we’re wounded every man;
Go charge them, valiant heroes, and beat them if you can.”
He leaned his back against a tree, and there resigned his breath,
And like a valiant soldier, sank in the arms of death,
When blessed angels did await, his spirit to convey,
And unto the celestial fields he quickly bent his way.
We charged again with courage firm, but soon again gave ground,
The war-whoop then redoubled, as foes did us surround;
They killed good Major Ferguson, which caused his men to cry,
“Our only safety is in flight, or fighting here we die!”
“Stand to your guns,” says valiant Ford, “let’s die upon them here,
Before we let the sav’ges know, we ever harboured fear!”
Our cannon-balls exhausted, and artill’ry men all slain,
Obliged were our musket-men, the en’my to sustain.
Yet three hours more we fought them, and then were forced to yield,
Three hundred bloody warriors lay stretched upon the field.
Says Colonel Gibson to his men, “My boys, be not dismayed,
I am sure that true Virginians were never yet afraid;
“Ten thousand deaths I’d rather die, than they should gain the field;”
With that he got a fatal shot, which caused him to yield.
Says Major Clarke, “My heroes, I can no longer stand;
We’ll try to form in order, and retreat the best we can.”
The word “retreat” being passed around, there was a dismal cry,
Then helter-skelter through the woods, like wolves and sheep they fly.
This well-appointed army, which but the day before,
Defied and braved all danger, had like a cloud passed o’er.
Alas! the dying and wounded, how dreadful was the thought,
To the tomahawk and scalping knife, in misery are brought.
Some had an arm and some a thigh broke on the field that day,
Who writhed in torments at the stake, to close the dire affray.
To mention our brave officers is what I wish to do;
No sons of Mars e’er fought more brave, or with more courage true.
To Captain Bradford I belonged, in his artillery;
He fell that day among the slain, and a valiant man was he.
Footnote 67:
Willson.
Footnote 68:
Hildreth.
Footnote 69:
Hildreth.
Footnote 70:
Tucker’s “Life of Jefferson.”
Footnote 71:
Life of Jefferson.
Footnote 72:
Life of Jefferson.
Footnote 73:
Life of Jefferson.
Footnote 74:
Ibid.
Footnote 75:
Willson.
Footnote 76:
Willson.
Footnote 77:
Knight’s Pictorial History.
Footnote 78:
Willson.
Footnote 79:
“Letters on Freemasonry,” by J. Q. Adams.
Footnote 80:
Willson.
Footnote 81:
Miss Bremer’s “Homes of the New World.”
Footnote 82:
Mrs. Willard.
Footnote 83:
R. H. Mason.
Footnote 84:
Goodrich’s United States.
Footnote 85:
Goodrich’s United States.
Footnote 86:
Miss Bremer’s “Homes of the New World.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
“They do honor to American Literature, and would do honor to the
Literature of any Country in the World.”
THE RISE OF
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.
A history.
BY JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY.
New Edition. With a Portrait of WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 3 vols. 8vo,
Muslin, $6 00; Sheep, $6 75; Half Calf antique, $9 00; Half Calf,
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We regard this work as the best contribution to modern history that has
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country, and to compose an able history of our own.—_Christian Examiner_
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This work bears on its face the evidences of scholarship and research.
The arrangement is clear and effective; the style energetic, lively, and
often brilliant. * * * Mr. Motley’s instructive volumes will, we trust,
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value.—_Protestant Episcopal Quarterly Review._
To the illustration of this most interesting period Mr. Motley has
brought the matured powers of a vigorous and brilliant mind, and the
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result is, one of the most important contributions to historical
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We would conclude this notice by earnestly recommending our readers to
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There are an elevation and a classic polish in these volumes, and a
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Mr. Motley’s work is an important one, the result of profound research,
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those who are most familiar with the history of the period will find in
it a fresh and vivid addition to their previous knowledge. It does honor
to American literature, and would do honor to the literature of any
country in the world.—_Edinburgh Review._
A serious chasm in English historical literature has been (by this book)
very remarkably filled. * * * A history as complete as industry and
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revolt of the United Provinces. * * * All the essentials of a great
writer Mr. Motley eminently possesses. His mind is broad, his industry
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Mr. Motley’s volumes will well repay perusal. * * * For his learning,
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M. Lothrop Motley dans son magnifique tableau de la formation de notre
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Our accomplished countryman, Mr. J. Lothrop Motley, who, during the last
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The authority, in the English tongue, for the history of the period and
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This work at once places the author on the list of American historians
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THE OLD REGIME
AND
THE REVOLUTION.
BY
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE,
OF THE ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, AUTHOR OF “DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA.” TRANSLATED
BY
JOHN BONNER, ESQ.
12mo, Muslin, $1 00.
A calm, philosophical inquiry into the causes of the French Revolution,
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the daily avocations of life; what was the real condition of the
nobility, of the clergy, of the middle classes, of the “people,” of the
peasantry; wherein France differed from all other countries in Europe;
why a Revolution was inevitable. The information derived under these
various heads, it may safely be said, is now first printed. It has been
obtained, as M. de Tocqueville informs us, mainly from the manuscript
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labor devoted to the task, an idea may be formed from the author’s
statement, that more than one of the thirty odd chapters contained in
the volume, alone cost him a year’s researches.
“I trust,” says M. de Tocqueville in his Preface, “that I have written
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acknowledge, therefore, that in studying the society of the Old Regime
in all its details, I have never lost sight of the society of our own
day.”
The work abounds with allusions to the Empire and the Emperor. It need
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COMPLETION OF GROTE’S HISTORY OF GREECE.
A HISTORY OF GREECE,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE CLOSE OF THE GENERATION CONTEMPORARY
WITH ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
BY GEORGE GROTE, ESQ.
Vol. XII. contains Portrait, Maps, and Index. Complete in 12 vols. 12mo,
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allow to have been very splendid. He has made great Greeks live again
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added a great historical work to the language, taking its place with
other great histories, and yet not like any of them in the special
combination of merits which it exhibits: scholarship and learning such
as we have been accustomed to demand only in Germans; an art of grouping
and narration different from that of Hume, different from that of
Gibbon, and yet producing the effect of sustained charm and pleasure; a
peculiarly keen interest in events of the political order, and a wide
knowledge of the business of politics; and, finally, harmonizing all, a
spirit of sober philosophical generalization always tending to view
facts collectively in their speculative bearing as well as to record
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Athenæum, March 8, 1856._
Mr. Grote will be emphatically the historian of the people of
Greece.—_Dublin University Magazine._
The acute intelligence, the discipline, faculty of intellect, and the
excellent erudition every one would look for from Mr. Grote; but they
will here also find the element which harmonizes these, and without
which, on such a theme, an orderly and solid work could not have been
written.—_Examiner._
A work second to that of Gibbon alone in English historical literature.
Mr. Grote gives the philosophy as well as the facts of history, and it
would be difficult to find an author combining in the same degree the
accurate learning of the scholar with the experience of a practical
statesman. The completion of this great work may well be hailed with
some degree of national pride and satisfaction.—_Literary Gazette, March
8, 1856._
The better acquainted any one is with Grecian history, and with the
manner in which that history has heretofore been written, the higher
will be his estimation of this work. Mr. Grote’s familiarity both with
the great highways and the obscurest by-paths of Grecian literature and
antiquity has seldom been equaled, and not often approached, in
unlearned England; while those Germans who have rivaled it have seldom
possessed the quality which eminently characterizes Mr. Grote, of
keeping historical imagination severely under the restraints of
evidence. The great charm of Mr. Grote’s history has been throughout the
cordial admiration he feels for the people whose acts and fortunes he
has to relate. * * We bid Mr. Grote farewell; heartily congratulating
him on the conclusion of a work which is a monument of English learning,
of English clear-sightedness, and of English love of freedom and the
characters it produces.—_Spectator._
Endeavor to become acquainted with Mr. Grote, who is engaged on a Greek
History. I expect a great deal from this production.—NIEBUHR, _the
Historian, to Professor_ LIEBER.
The author has now incontestably won for himself the title, not merely
of a historian, but of _the_ historian of Greece.—_Quarterly Review._
Mr. Grote is, beyond all question, _the_ historian of Greece, unrivaled,
so far as we know, in the erudition and genius with which he has revived
the picture of a distant past, and brought home every part and feature
of its history to our intellects and our hearts.—_London Times._
For becoming dignity of style, unforced adaptation of results to
principles, careful verification of theory by fact, and impregnation of
fact by theory—for extensive and well-weighed learning, employed with
intelligence and taste, we have seen no historical work of modern times
which we would place above Mr. Grote’s history.—_Morning Chronicle._
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE, N. Y.
CURTIS’S HISTORY
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A book so thorough as this in the comprehension of its subject, so
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it a careful perusal.—_National Intelligencer._
We know of no person who is better qualified (now that the late Daniel
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It will take its place among the classics of American
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The author has given years to the preliminary studies, and nothing has
escaped him in the patient and conscientious researches to which he has
devoted so ample a portion of time. Indeed, the work has been so
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the sources have been exhausted, and the materials put together with so
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A most important and valuable contribution to the historical and
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To trace the history of the formation of the Constitution, and explain
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We have seen no history which surpasses it in the essential qualities of
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Should the second volume sustain the character of the first, we hazard
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to supply, and the evils which it was intended to remedy.—_Boston Daily
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This volume is an important contribution to our constitutional and
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gladly welcome it. The author has presented a narrative clear and
interesting. It evinces careful research, skillful handling of material,
lucid statement, and a desire to write in a tone and manner worthy of
the great theme.—_Boston Post._
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DICKENS AND BONNER’S
CHILD’S HISTORIES.
BOOKS FOR THE FIRESIDE, THE SCHOOL-ROOM, AND THE FAMILY AND SCHOOL
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Bonner’s Child’s History of Rome is the best in the market for young
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Mr. Bonner excels as a historian for the young. His simple, vigorous
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.