the Supreme Being, and their right to render that worship in the mode most consistent with their consciences, no person shall be by law compelled to join or be classed with any religious association.  The line of argument is hardly logical, the conclusion not being in accordance with or hanging on the first of the two premises.  But nevertheless the meaning is clear.  In a free country no man shall be made to worship after any special fashion; but it is decreed by the constitution that every man is bound by duty to worship after some fashion.  The article then goes on to say how they who do worship are to be taxed for the support of their peculiar church.  I am not quite clear whether the New Yorkers have not managed this difficulty with greater success.  When we come to the Old Bay State—­to Massachusetts—­we find the Christian religion spoken of in the constitution as that which in some one of its forms should receive the adherence of every good citizen.

Hartford is a pleasant little town, with English-looking houses, and an English-looking country around it.  Here, as everywhere through the States, one is struck by the size and comfort of the residences.  I sojourned there at the house of a friend, and could find no limit to the number of spacious sitting-rooms which it contained.  The modest dining-room and drawing-room which suffice with us for men of seven or eight hundred a year would be regarded as very mean accommodation by persons of similar incomes in the States.

I found that Hartford was all alive with trade, and that wages were high, because there are there two factories for the manufacture of arms.  Colt’s pistols come from Hartford, as also do Sharpe’s rifles.  Wherever arms can be prepared, or gunpowder; where clothes or blankets fit for soldiers can be made, or tents or standards, or things appertaining in any way to warfare, there trade was still brisk.  No being is more costly in his requirements than a soldier, and no soldier so costly as the American.  He must eat and drink of the best, and have good boots and warm bedding, and good shelter.  There were during the Christmas of 1861 above half a million of soldiers so to be provided—­the President, in his message made in December to Congress, declared the number to be above six hundred thousand—­and therefore in such places as Hartford trade was very brisk.  I went over the rifle factory, and was shown everything, but I do not know that I brought away much with me that was worth any reader’s attention.  The best of rifles, I have no doubt, were being made with the greatest rapidity, and all were sent to the army as soon as finished.  I saw some murderous-looking weapons, with swords attached to them instead of bayonets, but have since been told by soldiers that the old-fashioned bayonet is thought to be more serviceable.