Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 8.djvu/163

Rh which filled up the land two hundred and fifty years ago, as confident in their “manifest destiny” as their civilized successors are to-day. It is painful consider the fate of the thousands of men who once filled the forests of New England! We know of no justification for the conduct of our fathers, who often treated the Indians like beasts of prey. But even now the Americans are scarcely more merciful. There are 1,122,463 of the Caucasian race: of these 877,280 are natives of the United States; 244,685 are foreigners; 498 are of unknown nativity. Putting all together, black, red, and white, there are 886,575 inhabitants of Massachusetts who were born here, 245,263 foreigners, and 531 of doubtful origin. Besides, in 1850, 199,582 natives of Massachusetts were living elsewhere in the United States, and there are 30,000 or 40,000 probably now residing in other countries of the earth.

The historical growth of the population of Massachusetts is a little remarkable. In 1620 the first white settlers—not counting the Scandinavians, who actually came in the Middle Ages—dropped their anchor in the shallow waters of “New Plymouth.” The following tables show the subsequent growth in numbers. The first table is conjectural:—

The figures of this last table rest on actual official count. Truly this is a pretty respectable increase in two hundred and thirty-five years. Our fathers started with Puritanism and the wilderness, and this is the numeric result which has come of their ciphering!

2. They are thus distributed in respect to sex:— 550,034 are males, 582,335 are females; thus there are 32,301 more of womankind than of mankind in the State—106 women to 100 men. More males are born every