458 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



any use of coercive party influences, intended 

 to aflfect the vote of Senators in Congress on 

 the impeachment of the President, then pend- 

 ing before that tribunal. On the general sub- 

 ject of Federal relations, the following were 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That Massachusetts, foregoing, as a Chris- 

 tian Commonwealth should, all desire for vindictive 

 measures toward those who waged against the nation 

 a long, bloody, and cruel rebellion, does yet insist, 

 with an emphasis which her costly sacrifice of the 

 life of her heroes and the lavish expenditures of her 

 means entitle her to use, that every thing shall now 

 be done to secure in peace the fruits of war ; and that 

 it is both the right and duty of Congress to insist on 

 suitable conditions upon which power may be restored 

 to the States, lately in rebellion, as members of the 

 national Union. 



Resolved, That we approve the general policy of 

 Congress in regard to the measures of reconstruction : 

 and that we deplore that the President has thwarted 

 and embarrassed that policy and retarded a just set- 

 tlement of all matters necessary for the permanence 

 of peace throughout our land. 



Resolved, That we recognize impartial suffrage in 

 the rebel States as an indispensable condition of per- 

 manent pacification ; that it is alike demanded as a 

 measure of justice to our loyal allies, who should be 

 allowed the ballot to defend what the bullet has won, 

 and as a measure guaranteeing the perpetual loyalty 

 of the Southern States. 



Resolved, That disclaiming all right to interfere 

 with the local laws of the loyal States, we do earnest- 

 ly appeal to our sister Commonwealths to sweep 

 from their constitutions and their statute-books all 

 those distinctions between man and man which are 

 founded upon color, as relics of slavery, as opposed 

 in spirit to the fundamental charter of our own liber- 

 ties, and as a reproach to our civilization. 



Resolved, That the observance of the greatest good 

 faith is the highest interest as well as the noblest 

 fame of a nation ; and that the people of our Com- 

 monwealth with one voice demand that every nation- 

 al obligation to pay money shall be discharged in 

 what the whole world recognizes as money, and in 

 nothing else, unless otherwise specially stipulated in 

 the bond. 



Resolved, That the aims of Massachusetts find a fit- 

 ting summary in the security of liberty and loyalty, 

 justice and public safety, throughout our whole coun- 

 try. 



Nearly $9,000,000 were appropriated during 

 the session. Among the appropriations were 

 the following : $75,000 to the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology in Cambridge, $75,000 to 

 Williams College, $50,000 to the State Agri- 

 cultural College, $40,000 to the Mount Hoi- 

 yoke Female College, and $25,000 to the Asy- 

 lum for the Blind. 



The great enterprise of constructing a rail- 

 road from 'Greenfield to Troy, through the Hoo- 

 sac Mountains, has assumed a more definite 

 shape than heretofore, and it is confidently 

 expected that the work will be completed in 

 the course of the next five years. The Legis- 

 lature, just before its adjournment, passed a 

 law, authorizing the Governor and Executive 

 Council to contract for the whole work of con- 

 structing the Hoosac tunnel, limiting the cost 

 to $5,000,000, and the time within which it 

 must he completed to seven years. A supple- 

 mental act authorized the use of $250,000, to 

 be taken from the $5,000,000, to continue op- 



erations until the proposed contract should be 

 made. Proposals were advertised and negoti- 

 ations conducted, which resulted in a contract 

 for the construction of the tunnel, executed on 

 the 24th of December, by the Governor and 

 Council with Walter Shanly, of Montreal, and 

 Francis Shanly, of Toronto, for the sum of 

 $4,594,268, to be paid in United States Treas- 

 ury notes, or other current funds. The con- 

 tractors are men of large experience in con- 

 structing railroads and prosecuting mining op- 

 erations, and have great financial resources at 

 their command. In the contract it is agreed 

 that no sum whatever shall be paid until work 

 has been performed to the amount of $500,000 

 and approved by the Governor and Council, 

 and the full sum of $1,000,000 is to be kept 

 back until the completion of the whole work. 

 The contract limits the time to March, 1874, 

 with power, on the part of the Governor and 

 Council, to grant an extension of. six months; 

 and furthermore these authorities may at any 

 time terminate the entire contract on three 

 months' notice to the contractors. The entire 

 cost of this work, with the railroads which 

 are to be accommodated by it, may be stated 

 follows : 



Cost of railroad thus far $1,666,250 



Money already laid out on the tunnel. . . . 3,002,176 

 Am't to be paid on the present contract. 4,594,263 



Total $9,262,694 



This would make the entire cost of the rail- 

 road from Boston to Troy, with its immediate 

 connections, about $16,000,000. 



The conditional loan of $3,000,000 to the 

 Boston, Hartford, and Erie Railroad Company, 

 authorized by the Legislature, in 1867, was 

 consummated this year, after a careful investi- 

 gation into the condition of the corporation, 

 and the probability of its completing its line 

 from Boston to Fishkill before May 27, 1872, 

 which investigation was made by commission- 

 ers appointed by the Governor under the act 

 of 1867, authorizing the loan. The condition 

 of this loan was, that it should be made to 

 appear, satisfactorily to the Governor and 

 Council, that the company would be able to 

 complete this line of railroad in five years from 

 the passage of the act. 



Work has been continued at Cape Cod for 

 the protection of the harbor at Provincetown. 

 A survey was made, and it was found necessary 

 to close up the inlet of East Harbor to prevent 

 the tide from cutting entirely through the neck 

 of land at that point, and destroying the harbor. 

 This was accomplished by means of a strong 

 dike built across the mouth of the inlet, at an 

 expense of about $150,000. This is regarded 

 as an important public work. 



All the institutions of reform and of charity 

 in Massachusetts have been in successful and 

 efficient operation through the year. At the 

 State Prison, in Charlestown, $27,646.49 were 

 earned beyond the entire expenses of the insti- 

 tution. The number of commitments, prior to 



