<> CD 3281 .A3 Copy 1 REPORT OF THE REV. DR. ETHAN ALLEN, IN RELATION TO AND LETTER FROM JOHN H. ALEXANDER, ESQ, IN REFERENCE TO IiHl: c. hi 2 DEC 1905 P, fp ( ^ REPORT OF DR. ETHAN ALLEN, IN RELATION TO RECORDS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. To His Excellency, Thos. Holliday Hicks, Esq., Governor of Maryland: In the execution of your commission, under date of Sep- tember 11, 1860, directing me ci to collect from any and all places of deposit or offices, where such may be on loan, or be found, the record books and original documents of all kinds belonging to the Council Chamber or relating to the Upper or Lower Houses of Assembly, and which belong to the State of Maryland, to be, when so collected, deposited for safekeeping in the fire-proof Record Office," &c, I have had the unbound papers and documents of previous date to 1820, and also the unbound volumes hereinafter specified, such as I have been able to discover, deposited in the office above designated, as required. Respecting the papers and documents, I may remark, that, as in years past, they still are in a state of perfect confusion, and many of them of ruinous decay, which must soon end in their entire loss, unless means are taken to prevent it. I spent some days in turning them over, in order to get a general idea of what they were, and what was their value, and do not hesi- tate to say that many of them are of great interest and im- portance ; but, to find anything among them which may be desired, will bid defiance to any one. A paper sought for, may perchance be stumbled upon, but cannot be found by any regular search, without an amount of labor certainly not an- ticipated. They require, consequently, to be regularly ar- ranged, labelled and indexed. This is indispensable in order to bring them within the reach of a successful examination for any purpose, either by committees of the General Assem- bly, officers of the General Government, or others. The mass of papers is large and of astonishing variety, being the remnant of a hundred and fifty years accumulation. Among them are found addresses of Governors to the Assem- blies of generations past, and their replies ; letters of states- men, members of the bar, generals and army officers, clergy- men, merchants, government agents ; petitions of every variety, &c, of no little interest, whether to the Executive or Legislative departments, or to the historian ; and ought not for the honor of the State to be left in their present state of confusion. Much has been already lost ; what remains should be preserved — it is due to posterity, as well as the present and the past. Of the bound volumes — numbering not far from one hun- dred and sixty — which have been transferred to the Record Office, in addition to those found in the Executive Chamber, some were found in the present and some in the old Library rooms, and some in other places ; of these, there are the fol- lowing classes : 1st. Executive and Council Proceedings 28 volumes. 2d. Journals of the Upper House 33 u 3d. Journals of the Lower House 44 " 4th. Commission Books 12 u 5th. Letter Books 9 << 6th. Pardons, &c, granted 4 i( 7th. Papers relating to Mason and Dixon's line 5 " 8th. Record of Confiscated Property and Bonds 2 " 9th. Transcribed "Maryland Archives" 1 volume. 10th. Journals of Maryland Conventions 2 volumes. 11th. Correspondence of the Council of Safety, 1776 1 volume. And about a dozen other volumes, relating to the Militia estab- lishment, Subscriptions to the Potomac Canal, Applications, Taxables, Army Officers' Accounts and others, Court of Dele- gates, Levels of Tide Water, Votes and Proceedings of Senate, Elections, &c. Of the first class mentioned, Executive and Council pro- ceedings, some six or seven volumes are wanting — Liber Z., for the years 1637 to 1642; Liber A, 1647 to 1650; and Liber B., 1648 to 1650; of these however, there are copies in the Land Office, and are held as belonging to that department — Liber II. II., L656; 1669 and A. M., 1669, 1674; are in the Library of the Historical Society in Baltimore, having been loaned to that Society by a resolution of the General Assem- bly some years since. I did not think it within the limits of your commission to ask their return, supposing 1 the Legisla- ture only could authoritatively require it; Libers 1674 to 1692, and 1703 to 1728, are probably lost; and it might be well to compare the examination made by Legislative autho- rity just after the revolution, to ascertain whether they were lost before or since that time. The earliest records thus, now in possession of the Executive of this class, begin with Liber K, 1692, and with the exception of a single volume are con- tinuous down to 1770; two however need rebinding for their preservation. I have gathered up the leaves which were scattered and put them in their places. The volume of 1770 to 1776, is missing; but all save one from 1777 to 1835, are now in the Record Office; those following 1835 were not removed. Of the second class the Upper House and Senate Journals; the series is complete down to the Revolution, since that period, the volumes embracing the years from 1777 to 1779: from 1784 to 1795; from 1803 to 1804; from 1811 to 1815; and for 1835 and 1836; being 10 volumes, are all missing. Of the third class the Lower House Journals: Of Z, 1637, 1642, there is a copy in the Land Office; Liber Y, 1649 to 1669, is in the Historical Library in Baltimore, and wants binding. The volumes 24 in number, from 167$* to 1676; from 1759 to 1775; from 1781 to 1803, 1821, 1824, 1825 and 1839; these are all missing and none are known to exist after 1840. Of all the three classes, there are more than fifty volumes missing from their place; mostly however, of dates since the Revolution. We can only account for these missing volumes by supposing that when used by committees, they were never returned, their rooms being scattered over the city. I have arranged each of these classes by itself, and in chro- nological order. But putting the different classes together, which have been mentioned, we have a continued series with no break of docu- mentary history, such as it is believed no other of the colonies have, and historically, they are of great value. They furnish us with a full documentary history of our State, such as many other of the States, which have arisen out of the old colonies, have already published, copies of which are now found on the shelves of our State Library, much redound to their honor, and yet none are so complete, as we believe our own to be, and why should Maryland be so behindhand in this work? It was indeed entered upon some few years ago, but soon ceased to be prosecuted; still State pride, historical justice, common education, literary interest, and our civil courts even, all require that the matter should not he suffered longer to he put off. Why cannot, at least, one volume of our docu- mentary history, selected with judgment from our early records, as a specimen of what we actually possess, be published? In former times, the places of deposit, for the books and papers of Government were designated and fixed by an act of the Legislature. But no such designation has been made respecting the present fire-proof Record Office. An order is consequently required to be passed; so that each department may know what the Government intends upon this subject, and there be no ground of conflict among those in office. Permit me in conclusion to add a few suggestions; an order is evidently required by various considerations, not necessary to be here specified; that no volume, paper or document, in this department in the Record Office, be allowed by the one in charge to be taken out of the room; it being nevertheless open to all requisite examinations during office hours. In the case of the missing volumes of the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, such as on further search cannot be found, should be supplied from those which have been printed, so that the complete series may be found together, as perfect, as it possibly can now be made. There are many of the 6riginals of the proceedings of both the Upper and Lower Houses, which have been copied into the bound volumes, perhaps fifty or more, which might well be given to the Maryland Historical Society, where they may be preserved, as matters of historical interest and curiosity. So also might be granted such copies of documents and papers as have been transferred into those bound volumes, of which there are not a few, and serve now only to cumber the shelves where they are, and make examinations more difficult. Still further, might it not be advisable to place the volumes in the new office, containing the manuscript acts of the Gene- ral Assemblies of Maryland, from the beginning down, many were never printed, and of those that have been, no full col- lection can now be made; making it desirable that a fire-proof room being now provided, they should be placed there, be- yond the reach of distruction by fire. How needful their preservation is, our courts know and our history proves. Another series of volumes, being the only copy in existence, seems also required to be placed there. I mean the Maryland Gazette, having so many and various items of our personal and individual history, and existing no where else. Should it not 1)0 preserved with the most religious care? All which is most respectfully submitted, Ethan Allen. Baltimore Co., November 20th, 1861. LETTER FROM J. H. ALEXANDER, Esq., IN REFERENCE TO CALENDAR OF DOMESTIC STATE PAPERS. Baltimore, 21st May, 1861. His Excellency, Thomas H. Hicks: Sir: — I have the honor to forward to-day, for your Excel- lency's inspection and acceptance, three copies of an Index to the First Volume of a Calendar of our Domestic State Papers. The motives for printing this Index are sufficiently explained in the preface which I have prefixed; viz: to make practically useful as much as has been hitherto done in regard to those State Papers. A dozen hitherto almost inaccessible and nearly unknown manuscript volumes are thus laid open to every one interested in knowing their contents. I hope that both this end, and the mode of attaining it, will meet the approval of your Excellency. I have to ask your Excellency's approval, also, for a farther step which I propose to take in the distribution of the printed copies remaining; and which, I think, will be a wholesome reform in the ordinary way of dealing with such public docu- ments. Instead of leaving such distribution to individual caprice, or making the copies themselves, as usual, a perqui- site of the members of the Legislature, I propose to put them on sale with booksellers, here and elsewhere, at cost; the proceeds of sale to be returned to the existing fund, in reim- bursement of the expenses of printing and binding. Mr. Waters, of this city, has agreed, very public-spiritedly, to undertake this part of the operation without any commission or compensation for his trouble. I hope that, with this con- tribution on his part, at the very low prices at which the copies can be put, viz: 25 cents and 50 cents respectively for the paper and muslin copies, a considerable portion of the l«2»i,° F EGRESS 8 027 211 ST edition can be disposed of, and means, to some extent, be obtained for continuing the work. This method will, at least, afford means for testing the amount of interest existing in the community for such continuance; and if my expectations should be otherwise disappointed, the result will serve to shew that no more public money or private leisure need be applied for a purpose in which, it will then be evident, the individual members of our community feel little or no concern. Of course, however,, I await your Excellency's expression of approval, before taking any further steps. And, mean- while, I remain, with great respect, Your Excellency's obedient servant, J. H. Alexander. LIBRARY OF CONGRE: III 027 211 121