By our tables of latitude and longitude, it will
be seen that Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, and Chicago
lie within a fraction of the same degree of lati-
tude with Boston; and as these four places are
the chief depositories of the immense produce of
the west, and as the great marts for this produce
in Europe — Liverpool, Havre, St. Petersburg,
and other ports — lie some degrees N. of Boston, it
must be evident that every variation to the S. of
this line of communication will by so much
increase the distance on this great channel of
commercial intercourse. And the capitalists of
Boston, aware of this fact, are expending large
sums of money in the extension of these improve-
ments. To say nothing of several enterprises
more remote, or in their more incipient stages,
we learn from authentic sources, that probably
one third of the entire line from Albany to Buffa-
lo ; one half of the Vermont Central, the Rutland,
and the Canada roads; two-thirds of the Og-
densburg, connecting the Vermont Central with
Lake Ontario; and two thirds of the Michigan
Central, extending"from Detroit to Chicago, are
owned in Boston.

As a mart for our domestic manufactures, Bos-
ton, from these various facilities, possesses great
advantages; and especially as the metropolis of
New England, which is already, and seems des-
tined to be more and more, the great manufactur-
ing district for the country.

There is probably no place in the world better
provided than Boston with the necessary accom-
modations for her extensive commerce. The
whole margin of the city on the E. andN. is, lined
with about 200 docks and wharves, affording
altogether an extent of wharfage of over 5 miles.
Some of these wharves are among the most stu-
pendous structures of this description in the
country. Long Wharf, at the foot of State Street,
extends into the harbor 1800 feet, having upon it
a line of 76 spacious warehouses. Central Wharf.
S. of this, is 1379 feet long, with a uniform range
of warehouses running the whole length, 50 feet
wide and four stories high. Between these two
wharves, on Commercial Street, stands the Cus-
tom House. South of Central Wharf is India
Wharf, 980 feet long, with a range of 39 warehouses
in the centre. Among the most extensive wharves
towards the northern part of the city are Granite
or Commercial Wharf, Lewis's Wharf, and the
Eastern Railroad Wharf. On each of these is a
range of massive granite warehouses, unequalled
by any thing of the kind in the United States.
On the Eastern Railroad Wharf there are two
such ranges, and the avenue to the railroad sta-
tion passes between them. That on the south
side is occupied by an extensive flouring mill,
in which 2500 bushels of wheat daily are manu-
factured into the finest flour. South of these
are other important wharves; among these is
Russia Wharf, formerly Griflin's Wharf, where
that memorable demonstration of the spirit of
resistance to British oppression was given, in the
presence of several of her ships of war lying be-
fore the city — the emptying of about 340 chests
and half chests of tea into the ocean. One of the
greatest accommodations recently provided is
that at the termination of the Grand Junction
Railroad at East Boston, by which all the railroads
coming to the city are immediately connected with
a system of warehouses and wharves, where
vessels are laden and unladen. This important
improvement was opened on the 17th of Sep-
tember, 1851, the day of the grand festival held
by the city for celebrating tbe completion of the
last of the great lines of railroad centring here,
by which the River St. Lawrence, at its two most
important points, the port of Ogdensburg and the
city of Montreal, one the outlet of the commerce
of the great lakes, and the other the head of
ship navigation entering the British provinces by
that mighty river, became connected with the port
of Boston. This was a proud day for the New
England metropolis, which, after years of incredi-
ble enterprise and expenditure, saw the completion
of that magnificent scheme of internal commu-
nication by which the most distant sections of
our country, and the neighboring provinces of
Great Britain, became commercially annexed to
her domain. As was natural, the highest public
functionaries, and many of the wealthy merchants
and others from Canada, were present, by invita-
tion, to unite in the festivities of the occasion.

No maritime port in this country enjoys finer
advantages than Boston in respect to the capa-
ciousness and security of its harbor, and the
unobstructed ingress and egress of shipping to its
wharves at all seasons of the year. Of Boston
harbor we have given a particular description on
page 173, to which the reader is referred. For
statistics of the commerce, banks, &c., see Sta-
tistical tables.

The first settlement of Boston was in 1630,
when John Winthrop, the first governor of Mas-
sachusetts, and the company of immigrants with
him, having arrived and tarried for a short time
at Charlestown, removed their location to the pe-
ninsula. There was one solitary inhabitant there
at an earlier date, the Rev. William Blackstone,
of whom Mather speaks as “ a godly Episcopa-
lian," who in 1626 had built a cottage near what
is now called Spring Street, in the western part of
the city. In 1634, fifty acres of land were set off
to Mr. Blackstone, which was about one twelfth
part of the peninsula, he being “ the first Euro-
pean inhabitant." Not long afterwards, when he
wished to remove, the town purchased all his
“ right and title to the peninsula of Shawmut "
for £30, each freeholder paying six shillings, and
some of them more. Mr. Blackstone afterwards
settled in Rhode Island. In 1673, the first wharf
was built. In 1677, the court appointed John
Hayward postmaster, “ to take in and convey
letters according to direction," which was the first
commencement of the post office system in Amer-
ica. In 1690, the first paper money was issued.
In 1701, the representatives of Boston were in-
structed by the town to use their influence to
obtain the abolition of slavery — one of the ear-
liest movements in the world on this subject.
April 17, 1704, the first number of the Boston
News Letter, the earliest newspaper in America,
was published by John Campbell. The year
1706 is rendered memorable in the annals of
Boston by the birth of Benjamin Franklin.
October 1, 1768, after the disaffection of the col-
onists with the British government had become
serious, two regiments of British troops were
landed at Boston, who took up their quarters in
the old State House. March 5, 1770, the Boston
massacre occurred, by the firing of the troops
upon the citizens, and killing three persons and
mortally wounding three others. March 31,1774,
the Boston port bill was passed in the British.
Parliament, shutting the port of Boston and.
producing great distress among the citizens.