The inhabitants generally manufacture their own clothing, in the family way. Grain has been raised in such plenty within a few years paft, that they have been induced to attempt the manufacture of corn fpirits for this purpofe fix or feven ftills have already been erected, which yield a fufficient fupply for the people, and a profit to the owners. Vaft quantities of pot and pearl afhes are made in every part of the State; but one of the most important manufactures in this State is that of maple sugar; it has been estimated by a com petent judge, that the average quantity made by every family fituated on the back of Connecticut river is two hundred pounds a year: one man, with but ordinary advantages, in one month, made five hundred and fifty pounds, of a quality equal to imported brown fugar. In two towns, in Orange county, containing no more than forty families, thirteen thousand pounds of fugar were made in the year 1791. The probability is, that in a few years maple fugar wilk become an article of export. In fome part of the State the inhabitants are beginning to line the roads with maple trees; and it would certainly be a wife measure if this practice fhould become general throughout the States; orchards of thefe trees, planted on floping hills, fo as to render it eafy to collect the juice, might be attended with peculiar advantages to the owners.

LITERATURE AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Much cannot be faid in favour of the prefent ftate of literature in this State; but their profpects in this regard are good. In every charter of a town, as we have mentioned, provision is made for fchools, by referving a certain quantity of land folely for their fupport. The affembly of this State, in their October feffion in 1791, paffed an act for the establishment of a college in the town of Burlington, on lake Champlain, on the fouth fide of Onion river, and appointed ten trustees. General Ira Allen, one of the trustees, on certain conditions, has offered lands, &c. to the amount of four thou fand pounds towards this establishment.

The expediency of opening a communication between the waters of lake Champlain and Hudfon's river; and of rendering the navi gation of Connecticut river more eafy and advantageous, has been difcuffed by the legislature of this State; and measures have been adopted to effect the latter, by incorporating a company for the purpofe of locking Bellow's falls, who are to complete the work within four years from the paffing of the act, and to receive a toll for all

boats

boats that pafs; the toll to be a subject of regulation. The works are already begun, and when completed will be of great advantage to the State, by facilitating the exportation of their produce. The other propofed canal between lake Champlain and Hudson's river would also be important, but it is doubtful whether it will, at prefent, be accomplished.

Having thus given a concife account of this State, and nothing material occurring in its history to entitle it to a separate difcuffion, we fhall close it with a view of its conftitution and government.

CONSTITUTION.

The inhabitants of Vermont, by their representatives in convention, at Windfor, on the 25th of December, 1777, declared that the territory called Vermont was, and of right ought to be, a free and independent State; and for the purpose of maintaining regular government in the fame, they made a folemn declaration of their rights, and ratified a conftitution, of which the following is an abstract:

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

The declaration, which makes a part of their conftitution, afferts that all men are born equally free-with equal rights, and ought to enjoy liberty of confcience-freedom of the press-trial by jurypower to form new ftates in vacant countries, and to regulate their own internal police-that all elections ought to be free-that all power is originally in the people-that government ought to be inftituted for the common benefit of the community-and that the community have a right to reform or abolish government-that every member of fociety hath a right to protection of life, liberty, and propertyand in return is bound to contribute his proportion of the expence of that protection, and yield his personal service when neceffarythat he shall not be obliged to give evidence against himself that the people have a right to bear arms-but no standing armies fhall be maintained in time of peace-that the people have a right to hold themfelves, their houses, papers, and poffeffions, free from search or feizure-and therefore warrants without oaths first made, affording fufficient foundation for them, are contrary to that right, and ought not to be granted-that no person shall be liable to be transported out of this ftate for trial for any offence committed within this State, &c.

Vermont,

FRAME OF GOVERNMENT.

By the frame of government, the fupreme legislative power is vefted in the House of Representatives of the freemen of the State of Vermont, to be chofen annually by the freemen on the first Tuesday in September, and to meet the fecond Thurfday of the fucceeding October. This body is vested with all the powers neceffary for the legiflature of a free state.-Two thirds of the whole number of reprefentatives elected make a quorum.

Each inhabited town throughout the State has a right to send one reprefentative to the affembly.

The fupreme executive power is vefted in a governor, lieutenant-governor, and twelve counfellors, to be chofen annually in the fame manner, and vefted with the fame powers as in Con. necticut.

Every person of the age of twenty-one years, who has refided in the State one whole year next before the election of representatives, and is of a quiet, peaceable behaviour, and will bind himself by his oath, to do what he fhall in confcience judge to be most conducive to the beft good of the State, fhall be entitled to all the privileges of a freeman of this State.

Each member of the House of Representatives, before he takes his feat, must declare his belief in one God, in future rewards and punishments, and in the divinity of the fcriptures of the Old and New Teftament, and muft profefs the proteftant religion.

Courts of justice are to be established in every county throughout the State.

The fupreme court, and the feveral courts of common pleas of this State, befides the powers ufually exercised by such courts, have the powers of a court of chancery, fo far as relates to perpetuating teftimony, obtaining evidence from places not within the State, and the care of the perfons and estates of those who are non compotes mentis, &c. All profecutions are to be commenced in the name and by the authority of the freemen of the State of Vermont. The legiflature are to regulate entails fo as to prevent perpetuities.

All field and staff officers, and commiffioned officers of the army, and all general officers of the militia, fhall be chosen by the general affembly, and be commiffioned by the governor.

Every seventh year, beginning with the year 1785, thirteen perfons, none of whom are to be of the council or affembly, fhall be shofen by the freemen, and be called "the council of cenfors,"

3

whofe

middle of the river, to its most northerly head, which is a pond, fituated partly in the town of Wakefield, and partly in the town of Shapley, in the county of York; a diftance from the mouth of the harbour, of about forty miles, in N. N. W. courfe. From the head of this pond, according to the royal determination, in 1740, the dividing line was to run "north, two degrees west, till one hundred and twenty miles were finifhed, from the mouth of Pafcataqua har. bour, or until it meet with his Majefty's other governments." The reafon for mentioning this fpecific diftance in the decree, was, that one hundred and twenty miles were the extent of the province of Maine. At that time, no other government fubject to the Britis crown lay in that direction. In 1763, the new province of Quebec was erected, and its fouthern boundary was "a line paffing along the high lands, which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the fea." By the treaty of peace between America and Britain, in 1783, all the lands fouthward of that line, reckoning it from the eastward "to the north-west head of Connecticut river, and thence down along the middle of that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude," were ceded to the United States. Thefe determinations have been fo conftrued, as to favour an extenfion of the line between NewHampshire and Maine, to the high lands which bound the province of Quebec; a distance of twenty-five miles beyond the northern limits of the province of Maine.

New-Hampshire is bounded on the north by the British province of Quebec. The north-eastern extremity of this boundary line is a birch tree, marked N. E. New-Hampshire, 1789. This line extends, along the high lands, feventeen miles and two hundred and feven rods, to the head of the north-western branch of Connecticut river; at which extremity is a fir tree, infcribed N. H. N. W. 1789. Thence the boundary descends to the forty-fifth degree of latitude, along the middle of the north-western branch, which there unites with the north-eaftern, or main branch of the river.

AIR, CLIMATE, AND SEASONS.

The air of New-Hampshire is generally pure and falubrious. During the winter months, the prevailing wind is from the northweft, which is dry, cold, and bracing; it rarely brings fnow, but when it does, the degree of cold is increased. That the coldness of the north-west wind is owing to the great lakes, is a vulgar error,

often

often retailed by geographical writers, and adopted by unthinking people. All the great lakes lie weftward of the N. W. point, and fome of them fouthward of W. It is more natural to fuppofe that the immenfe wilderness, but especially the mountains, when covered with fnow, give a keennefs to the air, as a cake of ice to a quantity of liquor in which it floats; and that this air, put in motion, conveys its cold as far as it extends.

The deepest fnows fall with a north-eaft wind, and storms from that quarter are most violent, and of longest duration; after which, the wind commonly changes to the N. W. and blows briskly for a day or two, driving the fnow into heaps. This effect is produced only in the open grounds; in the foreft, the fnow lies level, from two to four feet in depth throughout the winter. On the mountains, the fnow falls earlier, and remains later than in the low grounds. On those elevated fummits, the winds alfo have greater force, driving the fnow into the long and deep gullies of the mountains, where it is fo confolidated, as not to be eafily diffolved by the vernal fun, Spots of fnow are feen on the fouth fides of the mountains as late as May, and on the highest till July,

Light frofts begin in September; in October they are more fre quent, and by the end of that month, ice is made in small collections of water, but the weather is mostly ferene. November is a va riable month, alternately wet and dry; the furface of the ground is frequently frozen and thawed. The fame weather continues through a part of December, but commonly, in the course of this month, the rivers and the earth are thoroughly frozen, and well prepared to receive and retain the fnow. January often produces a thaw, which is fucceeded by a fevere froft. In February, the deepest fnows and the coldest weather prevails; but the lowest depreffion of the ther'mometer is generally followed by wet and mild weather. March is blustering and cold, with frequent flights of fnow; but the fun is then fo high as to melt the fnow at noon. In April, the open country is generally cleared of fnow, but it commonly lies in the woods till May. This is the ufual routine of the wintry season, but there are sometimes variations. In 1771, the fnow did not fall till the end of January; in 1786, it was very deep in the beginning of December. When the fnow comes early, it preferves the ground from being deeply frozen, otherwise the froft penetrates to the depth of

three feet or more.