to such an extent that, during the year 1700, there were only twenty voters in the town; the number killed and taken captive being probably from forty to fifty persons. The inhabitants took an active part in the revolutionary war, and contracted heavy debts to furnish supplies for their townsmen in that struggle. This town is famous for being the birth place of Lewis Cass, the present Secretary of State of the United States, the first eighteen years of whose life were spent here, and the house in which he was born, in 1782, is still shown. A famous institution in Exeter is the Phillips Academy, founded in 1781 by the liberality of John Phillips, LL. D., who, at his death in 1795, donated to it a large part of his estate. This institution has been the Alma Mater of some of the most famous statesmen, orators, and scholars of modern times, foremost among whom were the Hon. Daniel Webster, also Hons. Edward Everett, John G. Palfrey, George Bancroft, and Jared Sparks, the historians, with many others who take a front rank among the statesmen and scholars in the country. Exeter is the shire-town of Rockingham County, and has a fine court-house and townhall built, at an expense of $32,000, and a new jail erected in 1857. The inhabitants are largely engaged in agriculture. The Exeter River at this place is navigable for the smaller class of vessels, and the falls here furnish a valuable water-power, which is improved by the Water Power and Mill Company and the Exeter Manufacturing Company, the former having a capital of $10,000. The last-named company have a capital of $165,000, and are engaged in the manufacture of cotton, employing 150 operatives, running 176 looms with 9,000 spindles, and manufacturing about 5,000 yards of cotton goods daily. This company commenced operations in 1828, and used to make No. 14 cotton. About five years since they commenced making finer work, No. 21 and 22 1-2, and put in new machinery. Their goods bear a high reputation, and their press for carding and packing is said to be superior to any in the country. The river here has a fall of thirteen feet, but during the dry season the mills are run by steam power. The factory is built of brick, 150 feet long by 40 feet wide, five stories high, with a new brick picker, machine-shop, and cloth room. Samuel Bachelder, Esq., is president of the company; Messrs. Johnson, Sewall & Co., of Boston, selling agents; and James R. Norris, resident agent. The New England Steam and Gas Pipe Company, located here, have a capital of $100,000. There are also extensive paper mills, where about $20,000 worth of paper is manufactured annually. The carriage-making business amounts to $75,000 annually, the largest firm getting out $50,000 worth in their large establishment, which is driven by steam-power. Morocco and other kinds of leather are produced to the amount of $25,000. The trade in wool amounts to $200,000 a year. There are two villages in Exeter; one is called the Paper-Mill Village, where, as its name implies, the manufacture of that article is extensively carried on; the other, the principal village, has many handsome residences and fine public buildings. Trains on the Boston and Maine Railroad stop here eight times daily. The population of Exeter is about 3,500.

The town of BRATTLEBORO', to which we propose to devote a portion of this article, is the oldest in Vermont. As early as 1724, the government of Massachusetts, of which State it was then supposed to form a part, com. menced the erection of a block-house or fort at what is now called "Dummers Meadows," in the southeast part of the town. This fort was named Fort Dummer, in compliment to the Governor of the State, and was gar

risoned by a small military force. The people suffered considerably from the attacks of the French and Indians, their exposed situation beyond the borders of civilization seeming to render them an easy prey; but in 1728 the garrison was withdrawn, and the fort converted into a truck house. In 1753, the town received a charter, and was named Brattleboro', in honor of Col. William Brattle, of Boston, who was the principal proprietor. The settlement progressed but slowly, and the inhabitants were annoyed, and many of their energies paralyzed by the drawbacks and discouragements common to the early settlers of our country. In 1780, the town sent its first representative to the Legislature of New Hampshire, difficulties with New York, which prevented the boundary lines being definitely fixed, having probably stood in the way of their being represented earlier. The town was then prosperous, and has since risen steadily to its present flourishing condition. It is now quite a busy place, with some four thousand inhabitants; having a melodeon factory which employs twenty-five hands; three carriage manufactories, making from three to four hundred carriages yearly, and giving employment to fifty men; three machine shops; one iron foundry; a manufactory of sewing machines; a rule factory, employing fourteen persons; and a furniture manufactory, employing ten. A paper mill, which is in process of erection, will soon commence work. It has been built on the spot where a similar establishment was burned in the great fire of 1857. A woolen factory here gives employment to twenty operatives, and consumes fifteen hundred pounds of raw material weekly. The Brattleboro' Gas-Light Company, which went into operation last year, have a capital of $20,000, and are doing a very good business. There are two banks, having a combined capital of $250,000; and an institution for savings. The two water-cure establishments are capable of accommodating about three hundred patients, and are well patronized, as they give much. satisfaction and are cheap, the prices of board varying from seven to ten dollars a week. The Vermont Asylum for the Insane at this place was founded by Mrs. Anna Marsh, who bequeathed to the institution the sum of $10,000, to which the Legislature of Vermont added $26,000. The buildings are of brick, and are very pleasantly situated. The institution is well known for its popularity and good management, and has, at the present time, about five hundred inmates. In the vicinity are two smaller villages, the first of which, West Brattleboro', is quite a resort for city boarders during the warm season, and is admired for its pleasant scenery, and clear, bracing mountain air. The town has two churches, two hotels, a tannery capable of tanning one thousand hides a year, and several smaller places of business of various kinds. The small village of Centerville is situated midway between those of Brattleboro' and West Brattleboro', and is a place of some business; it has an ax factory, a grist mill, a shoe-peg factory which makes from six to eight thousand bushels of shoe pegs a year, and a large tannery, owned by Messrs. Keen, Reed & Bryant, of Boston, built some four or five years since, and capable of tanning about five thousand hides a year. Brattleboro' is situated on the west bank of the Connecticut River, and is connected with the town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, on the opposite shore, by a substantial bridge, built in 1804. population of Brattleboro' is 3,816.

The

Next to Brattleboro', ROCKINGHAM is worthy of notice. It was settled about the year 1753; the early inhabitants devoted most of their time to fishing, and the progress of the settlement was slow, and in 1771 the pop

ulation was only 225. Bellows' Falls are in the Connecticut River, near the southeast corner of the town; the river above the falls is about twenty rods wide. A large rock divides the stream into two channels, and the water passes over the falls with enormous force; there are six or eight different falls within the space of half a mile, the whole descent of the river being about forty-two feet. The first bridge over the Connecticut was built here in 1785; it is 365 feet long, and is supported in the middle by the rock which separates the stream. The town of Rockingham has five pleasant villages, the principal one being that of Bellows' Falls. There are a woolen factory, a paper mill, an iron foundry in the town, and a shoe-peg factory, making seventy-five bushels of shoe-pegs daily. At Bellows' Falls village the junction of four railroads is formed, viz., the Rutland and Burlington, the Vermont Valley, the Cheshire, and the Sullivan. The bank of discount and deposit has a capital of $100,000, and in the savings bank the deposited fund amounts to $200,000. The village is pleasantly situated and easy of access from all parts of New England. Its fine railroad facilities and great natural advantages undoubtedly destine it, eventually, to take a front rank among the towns of the State.

WINDSOR is quite an old town, having been settled in 1764 by Capt. Steele Smith, who emigrated hither with his family from Farmington, Connecticut. Before the close of the year sixteen other families located themselves here. Six years after its first settlement, the population was 203. The inhabitants took an active part in the boundary difficulties then pending between New York and New Hampshire. These disputes were however, settled, and Vermont was admitted as an independent State, and was admitted as the fourteenth State in the Union, on the 4th of March, 1791. In this town a convention was held in 1777, having for its object the adoption of a State Constitution. The first Legislature was convened here in 1778, and its annual sessions were held here until 1804, when the seat of government was removed to Montpelier, where it has since remained. The population of Windsor is about two thousand, and the soil is well adapted to agricultural purposes. Windsor is beautifully laid out on the elevated ground bordering the Connecticut River, and is one of the handsomest and most flourishing towns in the State. The inhabitants are enterprising, and many of them quite wealthy. A stone dam across Mill Brook, was constructed here in 1835, furnishing a large water power, which is improved to a fair extent. The Vermont State Prison, located here, is a stone edifice, built in 1809. It is eighty-four feet long, thirty-six wide, and three stories high. It has a large workshop, and a building for the keeper and guards; the cost of these was $39,000. A building for solitary confinement was erected in 1832, at a cost of $8,000. It is one hundred and twelve feet long, forty feet wide, and four stories high. Within are imprisoned eighty convicts, all of whom are employed by Messrs. Lawson, Goodenough & Co., of New York city, in the manufacture of scythe snaths, of which they make twenty-five dozen a day. Messrs. L., G. & Co. are also engaged in manufacturing sewing machines, outside of the prison, where they make about ten machines daily. The Union Arms Company manufacture guns and machinery here; there are also manufactories of tin ware, furniture, harnesses, etc., etc. On Main-street a building is in progress, 60 by 80 feet, and three stories high. It is being built by the United States Government, of brick, stone, and iron, in the most substantial manner, and is to be usi or the United States Court and Post-office. Underneath are cells for prisoners, and the cost is reported to amount to $77,000.

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.

IMPORTANT OPINION ON THE TARIFF THE QUESTION OF DUTY ON CAUSTIC SODA.

In the United States Circuit Court. Before Hon. Judge SMALLEY. Benjamin H. Field vs. Augustus Schell.

This is an action of assumpsit for money claimed to have been illegally exacted by the defendant, who is Collector of the port of New York, and paid by the plaintiff for duties upon the importation of an article called caustic soda. There were several importations, all since the passage of the tariff act of 1857, and entered as caustic soda, paying a duty of four per cent ad valorem. A duty of fifteen per cent was charged by the defendant, and paid under protest. It was agreed that the article of caustic soda was enumerated either in the tariff acts of 1842, 1846, or 1857. Much evidence was introduced, tending to show that the article in question bore a close similitude in material, quality, and the uses to which it was applied, to soda ash, which, under the tariff act of 1857, paid a duty of four per cent, and more nearly resembled soda ash than any other enumerated article. The court, among other things not excepted to, charged the jury that, if from the evidence they were satisfied that caustic soda resembled soda ash in its material, quality, and the use to which it was or might be applied, or either of them, and raise them to any other enumerated article, that four per cent duty only should have been charged, and their verdict should be rendered for the plaintiff for the excess. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, and the defendant moves for a new trial, on the ground of an alleged misdirection of the court to the jury. Whether there was error in the charge of the court, depends upon the question whether the 20th section of the tariff act of 1842 was repealed by either of the acts of 1846 or 1857. That 20th section was as follows:

That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on each and every non-enumerated article which bears a similitude either in material, quality, texture, or the use to which it may be applied, to any enumerated article chargeable with duty, the same rate of duty which is levied and charged on the enumerated article which it most resembles in any of the particulars before mentioned; and if any nonenumerated article most resembles two or more enumerated articles, on which different rates of duty are chargeable, there shall be levied, collected, and paid on such non enumerated article, the same rate of duty as is chargeable on the article it resembles paying the highest rate of duty; and on all articles manufactured from two or more materials, the duty shall be assessed at the highest rates at which any of the component parts may be charged.

The 3d section of the act of 1846 provides

That from and after the 1st day of December next, there shall be levied, collected, and paid, on all goods, wares, and merchandise imported from foreign countries, and not specially provided for in this act, a duty of 20 per cent ad valorem.

The 12th section of the same act reads:

Be it further enacted, that all acts and parts of acts repugnant to the provisions of this, be and the same are hereby repealed.

These sections, considered by themselves, would seem to indicate quite decidedly, an intention to repeal the 20th section of the act of 1842, and if this was an open question, I should have had great difficulty in coming to the conclusion that such was not their design and effect. It cannot now, however, be regarded as an open question. The Supreme Court, in the case of STUART, et al., vs. MAXWELL, 16 How., 150, after an elaborate argument and full consideration, decided

That there was no necessary repugnance between the act of 1846 and the 20th section of the act of 1842, and consequently the former did not repeal the lat

ter, and the duty (which in that case was assessed under the 20th section of the act of 1842) was rightly assessed.

The case turned upon that question. It was the only point made or decided, and this court must be governed by it. It was argued by the defendant's counsel that in the case of STUART, et al., vs. MAXWELL, the government sought to avail itself of this 20th section to enforce the payment of a bigher rate of duty than it would otherwise have been entitled to, and thus increase the revenue; and that the decision being in favor of the government, was not applicable to this case. It is very difficult to see why if this 20th section is to operate in favor of the government in one case, to increase the revenue, it should not operate in a similar case against it, although it diminish the revenue. Why the government should be permitted to avail itself of this 20th section for the purpose of increasing the duties, and the importer should not be permitted, under the same or similar circumstances, to avail himself of it for the purpose of diminishing the duties, I am at a loss to conceive. But if there could, at any time, have been a doubt upon that question, it is removed by the case of Ross vs. PEASLEE, 2 Curtis' Rep., 499, in which Justice CURTIS (who delivered the opinion of the court in STUART, et al., vs. MAXWELL,) held that this 20th section was in force, and did operate to reduce the duties which in that case were from twenty to fifty per cent. That brings us to the act of 1857. Does that act repeal the 20th section of the act of 1842? There is much less reason for saying that it does, than for saying that the act of 1846 did. There is nothing in the act of 1857 which indicates any intention to extend the act of 1846, or in any way to change or interfere with the construction given thereto, further than generally to reduce the duties, take certain articles from one schedule and place them in another, and to put others into the free list. The case of STUART, et al., vs. MAXWELL, was decided in 1853; and that of Ross vs. PEASLEE in 1855. Congress, therefore, can hardly be supposed to have been ignorant of these decisions at the time the act of 1857 was passed, and I think it cannot be presumed that, with such knowledge, it intended to alter that important provision of the law, without some definite expression of that intention. There are no repealing words in the act of 1857, and neither from the phraseology nor the general purpose of the act can I see any reason for supposing that it was designed to have an effect on this 20th section, which the courts had decided the act of 1846 did not have. It is clear that the words "non-enumerated articles," in the 20th section of the act of 1842, not specially provided for in this act in the third section of the act of 1846, and not enumerated in said schedules in the 1st section of the act of 1857. mean the same thing and should receive the same construction. The distinction attempted to be drawn between them by the defendant's counsel cannot be sustained. This view of the subject is fully sustained by Judge GILES, in the Maryland district, in a case precisely like this, and in relation to this same article of caustic soda, (GAMBLE et GAMBLE US. MASON,) reported in the Philadelphia Law Register for January, 1859. The result is, that the 20th section of the act of 1842 was neither repealed by the act of 1846 nor by that of 1857, but remains in force. There is, therefore, no error in the instructions given by the court to the jury, and there must be judgment on the verdict.

P. S.-Since writing this opinion I have submitted it and the case to Judge NELSON, which he has examined, and I am authorized to say that he fully concurs in the decision.

IMPORTANT ACTION ON A COMMERCIAL CONTRACT.

In the United States Circuit Court, at Chicago. Richard Atkinson vs. Gurdon S. Hubbard & Co.

Judge DRUMMOND presiding.

Some time on or about the 4th day of November, 1858, Mr. J. K. FISHER, an extensive produce broker in this city, having several orders from different parties for the purchase of pork, called at the office of HUBBARD & HUNT, and ascertained from Mr. HUBBARD that they had one thousand barrels mess pork, which they would sell at $15 per barrel, February and March delivery, sellers'