he New Engla

at of the New England township. As we shall presently see, it is in principle of all known forms of

hat the members of a congregation should have more voice than formerly in the church-government, and that the minister of each congregation should be more independent than formerly of the bishop and of the civil government. They also wished to abolish sundry rites and customs of the church of which they had come to disapprove. Finding the resistance to their reforms quite formidable in England, and having some reason to fear that they might be themselves crushed in the struggle, they crossed the ocean in order to carry out their ideas in a new and remote country where they might be comparatively secure from interference. Hence it was q

ers made their way inland and westward. The first river towns of Connecticut were founded by congregations coming from Dorchester, Cambridge, and Watertown. This kind of settlemen

ivation of great quantities of staple articles, such as rice or tobacco, so

ny in a compact neighbourhood. It appeared also that towns could be more easily defended against the Indians than scattered plantations; and this doubtless helped to keep people together, although if there

, gathered every Sunday, coming on horseback or afoot. The meeting-house was thus centrally situated, and near it was the town pasture or "common," with the school-house and the block-house, or rude fortress for defence against the Indians. For the latter building some commanding position was apt to b

ed proprietor with dependent tenants[1]; some had been yeomen, or persons holding farms by some free kind of tenure; some had been artisans or tradesmen in cities. All had for many generations been more or less accustomed to self-government and to public meetings for discussing local affairs. That self-government, especially as f

ompare the Sco

rds. The people tax themselves. Once each year, usually in March but sometimes as early as February or as late as April, a "town-meeting" is held, at which all the grown men of the township are expected to be present and to vote, w

s. At the town-meeting measures relating to the administration of town affairs are discussed and adopted or rejected; appropriations are made for the public expenses o

meeting at any time during the year when there seems to be need for it, but the warrant must always specify the subjects which are to be discussed and acted on at the meeting. The selectmen also lay out highways, grant licenses, and impanel jurors; they may act as health officers and issue orders regarding sewerage, the abatement of nuisances, or the isolation of contagious diseases; in many cases they act as assessors of taxes, and as overseers

ates and the number of votes for each in the election of state and county officers. He records the births, marriages, and deaths in the township, and issues certificates to persons who dec

oming in from the taxpayers, or whatever money belongs to the town. Out of this money he pays the public

a special officer is chosen for that purpose. When a person, fails to pay his taxes, after a specified time the collector has authority to seize upon his property and sell it at auction, paying the tax and costs out of the proceeds of the sale, and handing over the ba

se three or more assessors of taxes to prepare the tax lists; and three or more overseers of the poor, to regulate the management of the vil

se and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers; to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavours;" it was therefore ordered that every township containing fifty families or householders should forthwith set up a school in which children might be taught to read and wri

all the public schools at least once a month, and make a report to the town every year. It is for them to decide what text-books are to be used. They examine candidates for the position of teacher and issue certificates to those whom they select. The certificate is issued in duplicate, and one copy is handed to the selectmen as a warrant that the teacher is entitled to receive a salary. Teachers are appointed for a term of one year, but where their work

ng the roads and bridges in repair; field-drivers and pound-keepers; fence-viewe

now who is the owner he posts a description of the animals in some such place as the village store or tavern, or has it published in the nearest c

ences or walls, they may apply to one of the fence-viewers, of whom each town has at least two. The fence-viewer decides th

for firewood. The sealers test the correctness of weights and measures used in trade, and tradesmen are not allowed to use weigh

e of them are discharged by the selectmen. Of these officers, the selectmen, town-clerk, treasurer

divers conspicuous places not less than a week before the time appointed. Then, after making a note upon the warrant that he has duly served it, he hands it over to the town-clerk. On the appointed day, when the people have assembled, the town-clerk call

ded among the several towns and cities, so that each town pays its proportionate share. Each year, therefore, the town assessors know that a certain amount of money must be raised from the taxpayers of their town,-partly for the town, partly for the county, partly for the state,-and for the general convenience they usually assess it upon the taxpayers all at once. The amounts raised for the state and county are usually very much smaller than the amount raised for the town. As these amounts are all raised in the town and by t

real estate and personal estate. The tax assessed upon persons is called the poll-tax, and cannot exceed the sum of two

mpted from paying taxes; as, for example, churches, graveyards, and tombs; many charitable institutions, including universities and colleges; a

moved or carried about from one place to another. It thus includes ready money, stocks and bonds, ships and wagons, furniture, pictures, and books. It also includes the a

and income from employment to the extent of $2,000. The obvious intent of this exemption is to prevent taxation from be

s bonds are also especial

on the first day of May. Thus a man who lives in the Berkshire mountains, say for example in the town of Lanesborough, will pay his poll-tax to that town. For his personal property, whether it he bonds of a railroad in Colorado, or shares in a bank in New York, or costly pictures in his house at Lanesborough, he will likewise pay taxes to Lanesborough. So for the house in which he lives, and the land upon which it stands, he pays taxes to that same town. But if he owns at the same time a house in Boston, he

ns relate to every kind of property, and when the person addressed returns the list to the assessors he must make oath that to the best of his knowledge and belief his answers are true. He thus becomes liable to the penalties for perjury if he can be proved to have sworn falsely. A reasonable time-usually six or eight weeks-is allowed

s the owner. Deception is therefore extremely difficult, and taxation for real estate is pretty fairly distributed among the different owners. With regard to personal estate it is very different. It is comparatively easy to conceal one's ownership of some kinds of personal property, or to unders

ate at which the tax is to be assessed. In most parts of the United States a rate of one and a half per cent, or $15 tax on each $1,000 worth of property, would be regarded as moderate; three per cent would be regarded as excessively h

it has become common to tax a man for only three fourths or perhaps two thirds of what his property is worth in the market. This makes the rate higher, to be sure, but the individual taxpayer nevertheless seems to feel relieved by it. Allowing for this undervaluation, we may say that a man worth $50,000 commonly pays not less than $500 for his yearly taxes, or about one fifth of the annual income of the property. We thus begin to see what a heavy burden taxes are, and how essential to good government it is that citizens should know what their money goes for, and should be able to exert some effective control over the publ

to declare his opinions. Under this form of government people are not so liable to bewildering delusions as under other forms. I refer especially to the delusion that "the Government" is a sort of mysterious power, possessed of a magic inexhaustible fund of wealth, and able to do all manner of things for the benefit of "the People." Some such notion as this, more often implied than expressed, is very common, and it is inexpressibly dear to de

think loosely about the government of his state or the still more remote government at Washington, he is kept pret

s as a diffuser of information, is very apt to do its best to bemuddle and sophisticate plain facts. The period when town-meetings ware most important from the wide scope of their transactions was the period of earnest and sometimes stormy discussion that ushered in our Revolutionary war. Country towns were then of more importance relatively than now; o

Man of the Town Meeting, in "Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies," vol. II. no. i

s local affairs. Such regulations are known by a very ancient name, "by-laws." By is an Old Norse word meaning "town," and it appears in the

egulations of clubs, learned societies, and

ponsibility. This is especially to be noticed in the case of the selectmen. They must often be called upon to exercise a wide discretion in what they do, yet this excites no serious popular distrust or jealousy. The annual election affords an easy means of dropping an unsatisfactory officer. But in practice nothing has been more common than for the same persons to be reelected as selectmen or constables or town-clerks

NS ON T

ing the study of government with

nship in New England accordin

ement in

ason for coming

aders of

ction of the Massa

all f

against t

mits of a

age within

cial standing of t

ad they received i

verning in a New

own-meeting in accordance w

it. c. The place for holding it. d. The persons who

ccount of th

e reason for an odd nu

shed by Massachusetts in 1647, what

grades of schools w

ies of the Massachus

m of service of tea

duties of the fol

viewers. d. Surveyors of lumber. e. Measurers

duties of the fol

surer. c. Constables. d. Asses

warrant for a

poses than those of th

in the fo

ax on personal property,

estate are exempted f

ersonal property ar

l kinds of taxes be asses

ne town in the state to another before May 1

scertain the property for

s beset the taxation

igning values to property. What is t

h taxes operat

ich people who directly govern

ucational value of

by-laws? Expl

wer and responsibi

Origin of t

Greeks. These were popular assemblies, held in those soft climates in the open air, usually in the market-place,-the Roman forum, the Greek agora. The government carried on in them was a more or less qualified democracy. In the palmy days of Athens it was a pu

th Africa. Such family groups were what we call clans, and so far as is known they were the earliest form in which civil society appeared on the earth. Among all wandering or partially settled tribes the clan is to be found, and there ar

andinavians and Germans, when first known in history, had made considerable progress in exchanging a wandering for a settled mode of life. When the clan, instead of moving from place to place, fixed upon some spot for a permanent residence, a village grew up there, surrounded by a belt of waste land, or somewhat later by a stockaded wall. The belt of land was called a mark, and the wall was called a tun.[5] Afterwards the enclosed space came to be known sometimes as the mark, someti

1: Pronoun

jurisdiction over the land, the lord's steward and bailiff came to supersede the reeve and beadle. After the Norman Conquest the townships, thus brought under the sway of great lords, came to be generally known by the French name of manors or "dwelling places." Much might be said about this change, but here it is enough for us to bear in mind that a manor was essentially a township in which the chief executive officers were di

urches were gradually set up all over the country, and districts called parishes were assigned for the ministrations of the priests. Now a parish generally coincided in area with a township, or sometimes with a group of two or three townships. In the old heathen times ea

ants of the lord's manor, or as a group of parishioners of the local church. In the latter aspect the parish retained much of the self-government of the ancient town. The business with which the lord was entitled to meddle was strictly limited, and all other business was transacted in the "vestry-meeting," which was practically the old town-meeting under a

re added. There were also churchwardens, usually two for each, parish. Their duties were primarily to take care of the church property, assess the rates, and call the vestry-meetings. They also acted as overseers of the poor, and thus in several ways remind one of the selectmen of New England. The parish officers were

the vestry clerk is the counterpa

stable, such as keeping order in church, punishing petty offenders, waiting on the clergyman, etc. In New England towns there

ated. It was simply the English parish government brought into a new country and adapted to the new situation. Part of this new situation consisted in the fact that the lords of the manor were left behind. There was no longer any occasion to distinguish between the township as a manor and the township as a parish; and so, as the three names had all lived on together, side by side, in England, it was now the oldest and most generally descriptive name, "township," that survived, and has come into use throughout a great part of the United States. The townsfolk

e point should here be briefly mentioned in anticipation of what will have to be said hereafter;

and this process has too often been destructive to political freedom. Such a result is, of course, disastrous to everybody; and if it were unavoidable, it would be better that great national governments need never be formed. But it is not unavoidable. There is one way of escaping it, and that is to give the little government of the town some real share in making up the great government of the state. That is not an easy thing to do, as

ied on a much wider scale. It was applied to the whole kingdom, so that the people of all its towns and parishes succeeded in securing a representation of their interests in an elective national council or House of Commons. This great work was accomplished in the thirteenth century by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and was completed by Edward I. Simon's parliament, the first in which the Commons were fully represented, was assembled in 1265; and t

sen by popular vote. These essential points reappear in the early history of New England. The township was not only a self-governing body, but it was the "unit of representation" in the colonial legislature, or "General Court;" and the assessment of taxes, whether for town purposes or for state purposes, was made

which have to a considerable extent the power of managing their local affairs. Such a village community is called a mir, and like the English township it is lineally descended from the stationary clan. The people of the Russian mir hold meetings in which they elect sundry local officers, distribute the burden of local taxation, make regulations concerning local husbandry and police, and transact other business which need not here concern us. But they have no share in the national government, and are obliged to obey laws which they have no voice in making, and pay taxes assessed upon them without their consent; and accordingly we say with truth that the Russian people do not possess political freedom. One reason for this has doubtless been that in times pa

NS ON T

UESTIONS AND

he followin

own wa

town

mit, a certificate,

ave an offic

of the schoo

town for a warrant, inclosing a stamp for the reply. City d

egoing documents th

ccount of th

taxes raised in your t

he rate, the proposed

tment of the town govern

of the oversee

f your town, public se

fying it, the obstacle

,

t it discuss live local questions in accordance with articles in a warrant. For helpful details attend a town-meeting

utset for the teacher to assign to the several pupil

rator. He may, as teacher, pause to give such directio

requirements of parliamentary law, and shown ho

such a right, are there any limits to the exercise of it? Does the right to dire

rivate educational instit

, to be appointed for one year

rve during good behaviour? What classes may be

your own state (if it is not Massac

wledge the difference between r

for the $1000? Why? Is it right to tax both for $1000? Suppose B with

he assessors. In their ignorance the assessors tax him for $50,000 only

ies beset the work

personal property from taxation? If so,

ne absolutely

ayer pay, in any sense,

without seeming to know it? If so, wha

the same name in a community, descendants of early settlers, etc.). What import

Is it a good spirit or a bad one?

k of towns whose names contain these words; also of t

of the tithing-man i

used in the United States? Is the parish the sam

e taxes of the township. How did this come about? In this pr

United States. What important change in the parish idea

not vote represente

irls represented i

a town who is not repres

of a town represented

a town represented in

ot of a single voter in a town might affe

RAPHICA

ood account in Martin's Text Book on Civil Govern

o American Institutional History; I., ii. iv. viii. ix.-x. H. B. Adams, The Germanic Origin of New England Towns, Saxon Tithing-Men in America, Norman Constables in America, Village Communities of Cape Ann and Salem; II., x.

e United States, vol. i. "Township, Hundred, and Shi

asse's Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages, London, 1872; Laveleye's Primitive Property, London, 1878; Phear's Aryan Village in India and Ceylon, London, 1880; Hearn (of the University of Melbourne, Australia), The Aryan Household, London & Melbourne, 1879; and the following work

1886, contains an extensive bibliography of the