No. 149.] 311 



climate genial and a soil fruitful beyond comparison, surpassing 

 in richness even the lands of Egypt. The sprouts and scions of 

 titled greatness, crowded at home, were established there in the 

 relation of Master and Slave ; and to produce for export, while 

 looking for supplies to import from tlie parent country. Thus 

 early was implanted the deep feeling derived from the Spaniards, 

 which spread to other countries during the dark ages, but which 

 is now against Commerce and Manufactures, with a peculiar In- 

 stitution, opposed by the civilized world. The genius and the 

 dignity of Labor fled the land. 



The eastern portion of this country, now known as New Eng- 

 land, was in those days deemed a God-forsaken region, cursed 

 with a climate too inhospitable for a Christian to endure, and a 

 soil too barren to afford even to labor anything beyond a miserable 

 subsistence. The government, however, wearied with the cutting 

 off of heads, and at length convinced of the great truth "that 

 the blood of the martyrs was the seed of their church," gracious- 

 ly concluded the region was good enough for Puritans, and 

 that the good of the parent country thereafter required only the 

 expulsion and exile of such transgressors to such a place. The 

 door was then shut against the prosperity of the Colonies, by laws 

 making it a penal offence to undertake Commerce, or to attempt 

 to Manufacture, even for their own supplies. They were re- 

 quired to remain mere consumers of supplies from the parent 

 country. This region became the land of the Pilgrims, — the 

 home of Industry, of Law, of Liberty, and of Religion. 



The Puritans introduced the congregational polity ; the Puri- 

 tans introduced also the free schools. In the log huts of the 

 early settlers in Massachusetts were commonly found the Bible 

 and ' Paradise Lost.' 



"Full of faith," says Sir C. Lyell, "and believing that their 

 religious trusts must be strengthened by free investigation, they 

 held that the study and interpretation of the Scriptures should 

 not be the monopoly of a particular order of men, but that every 

 layman was bound to search them for himself. Hence they were 

 anxious to have all their children taught to read. So early as 

 the year 1647 they instituted common schools, the law declaring 



