MASON, JAMES M. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



489 



The aggregate funded and guaranteed debt 

 f)f the city of Baltimore on the 31st of October 

 was $27,683,025.47. Of this, $24,399,125.47 

 was funded, an increase of $292,400 during 

 the year; and $2,990,500 was guaranteed, an 

 increase of $625,500 during the year. On 

 $15,785,959.22 of this aggregate funded and 

 guaranteed debt the city has to pay the in- 

 terest by annual levy. The receipts of the 

 year amounted to $5,509,600.52; disburse- 

 ments, $5,549,482.03 ; excess of payments over 

 receipts, $39,881.51. On the 31st of October 

 the floating debt was $749,585.29 ; estimated 

 floating debt, January 1, 1872, $759,627.64. 

 The taxable basis of 1871 was $210,310,975. 

 The amount collected to October 31st, on 

 this basis, was $1,834,857.27. A large share 

 of the city credit has been loaned to rail- 

 roads in exchange for their securities which 

 it holds, to the amount of nine millions. The 

 commerce and trade of Baltimore are steadily 

 increasing. Its imports during the year end- 

 ing June 30th amounted to $24,672,871 ; and its 

 domestic and foreign exports, to $15,124,228. 

 Only two other cities in the country exhibit 

 larger amounts of importations viz., New 

 York and Boston. 



MASON, JAMES MUERAY, an American Sen- 

 ator and diplomatist ; born on Analostan Island, 

 Fairfax County, Va., November 3, 1797 ; died 

 at Clarens, near Alexandria, Va., April 28, 1871. 

 His early education was obtained in the schools 

 of his neighborhood and in Georgetown, D. 0., 

 and in 1814 he entered the University of Penn- 

 sylvania at Philadelphia, whence he graduated 

 with honor in 1818. He studied law at Wil- 

 liam and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va., and 

 in the office of B. W. Leigh, of Richmond, Va., 

 and settled in practice at Winchester. He was 

 a fair legal practitioner, but it was his ambition 

 to distinguish himself in political life, and at 

 twenty-eight years of age he was a member of 

 the Virginia House of Delegates, and was sub- 

 sequently twice reflected to the same body. 

 He was also a member of the Virginia Consti- 

 tutional Convention of 1829. In 1837 he was 

 elected a Representative in Congress from his 

 district, and at the expiration of his term was 

 offered, but declined, a reelection, and returned 

 to the practice of his profession. In 1847 he 

 was elected by the Virginia Legislature United 

 States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of 

 Senator Pennybacker, and in 1849 and in 1855 

 reflected. His last term would have expired 

 in 1863, but he left his seat to take part in the 

 southern movement early in 1861, and in the 

 summer of that year was expelled from the 

 Senate for participation in the secession. 

 During his term of fourteen years in the Sen- 

 ate he made no great speeches, and was never 

 regarded as a brilliant Senator, but he mani- 

 fested sound sense, good abilities, and a capacity 

 for steady work, which made him a very val- 

 uable member. For several sessions he was 

 chairman of the Committee on Foreign Rela- 

 tions, and acquitted himself with credit in that 



important position. He was disposed to stand 

 upon his dignity in his intercourse with Sen- 

 ators from other sections and the representa- 

 tives of foreign governments ; but those who 

 knew him best esteemed him most highly. 

 Politically, though nominally a Democrat, he 

 was a strict constructionist of the State 

 Rights school, and nothing horrified his soul 

 so much as any demonstration against slavery, 

 or, as he phrased it, "our Southern institu- 

 tions, guaranteed to us by the Constitution." 

 For years he had fought the growing radical- 

 ism of Congress ; had united with Slidell, Jef- 

 ferson Davis, Benjamin, and others, in the vain 

 effort to stem the tide; and when at last the 

 South was goaded into the secession move- 

 ment, he joined it with all the ardor and zeal of 

 which his somewhat unimpressible nature was 

 capable. His selection, by Jefferson Davis, as 

 fellow-commissioner with Mr. Slidell to Eng- 

 land and France, would very possibly have 

 proved injudicious, but for Captain Wilkes's 

 stupendous blunder, which, by making Slidell 

 and Mason martyrs, greatly enhanced their 

 importance and dignity abroad. Mr. Slidell 

 was undoubtedly far the more astute diploma- 

 tist of the two; but, coming to England after 

 their surrender by the United States Govern- 

 ment, in the role of a martyr, Mr. Mason's dig- 

 nity and reserve well became him, and ho 

 received credit from English statesmen for his 

 knowledge, and perhaps somewhat in excess of 

 due merit. He was at first treated with great 

 attention, especially by those who were hos- 

 tile to the Union, but eventually these atten- 

 tions fe]l off, and before the close of the war 

 Mr. Mason felt himself neglected. After the 

 close of the war Mr. Mason came to Canada, 

 and remained there nearly three years, under 

 the impression that he would be arrested and 

 imprisoned if he ventured into the United 

 States, an impression which had no foundation 

 save in his own mistaken ideas of the im- 

 portance of his mission and the great injury he 

 had done to the United States Government. 

 In 1868, after President Johnson's second 

 proclamation, being assured that he would 

 not be molested, he ventured back into 

 Virginia, and, as his home in Winchester 

 had been laid in ruins by the vicissitudes of 

 the war, he purchased a small place near, 

 where he lived in quiet and obscurity till his 

 decease. 



MASSACHUSETTS. The year 1871 has 

 been a period of general prosperity and im- 

 provement in Massachusetts, and the material 

 interests of the State were never in a more 

 flourishing condition. The total taxable prop- 

 erty of the State, on the 1st of May, was 

 $1,497,351,686, which indicates an increase 

 of $80,000,000 in one year. Of this, $992,- 

 008,033 is real estate, and $505,343,653 

 personal property. Of the total valuation, 

 $971,558,730, or nearly two-thirds, belong to 

 the cities of the State, distributed as fol- 

 lows : 



