LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II 00141146749 © Conservation Resources Lig-Free® Type I Ph 8.5, Buffered F 116 L895 Copy ! IIISTOIJ.V AM) ITS SOURCES \\ ADDRESS ■ . LONG ISLAM) HISTORICAL SOCIETY A. 1' THE A.NNI M, MEETING MA} .in 1S68 .1 A M ES CA RSO N I! I! EV OOB I x v V : D/c,m ni;f, BROOK LY N MDCCCLXVIU Extracted from the Report for the vk\i; lSti! S 150 Copies Printed. ■v | I Steam Fn bb, 10 ] rent Street, Brooklyn, S. v. [STORY AM) ITS SOURCES, I i cm ',ni . ,- terdav, tli\ all those who nol content with that which is of to-day only, delight to look on this world and its hist on . physical and spiritual, as a perfect whole a ,-lian. cue of progress towards a consummation which we diuil. cei\ ,'. and inusl all help in attaining. The success which has attended the work that has been favored In your support an eration is most gratity- ihl;-. and reflects honor on the lair city in which we live, and upon the country generally. Thai the originators ol this Society were nol mistaken in their views, in in the valuable treasures of historical mat, rial- gal in these rooms, and daih consulted by students from all parts ,,t the United States collections incomplete to be sure, but rapidly increasing both in varied interest and intrinsic worth. 4 HISTOID AND ITS SOCKCES. Our departments of Art and Science are thriving and expanding, but require more room for their full develop- ment. The Natural History department has grown in importance, and the conehological collections of Mr. Pike have added much to its interest and beauty. The reverses, or rather checks to prosperity in the commercial world, during the past year, have affected us slightly, but not seriously. We shall gather new vigor with the general increase of business. The library has been largely aug- mented by purchase and donations. The meeting-, at which a number of valuable and interesting papers were read, have been well attended. The Manuscript department has been enriched by many additions, more especially by the valuable correspondence of Henry and John Laurens, of South Carolina, purchased and presented to the Society by some of its members. These interesting historical materials will in time be anno- tated and published by the Society. The first volume of our Memoirs, published a year ago, as announced at the last annual meeting, has been received by historical stu- dents as a most precious contribution to the records of the condition and manners of the people in Colonial times. A new volume will soon be put to press, containing all that is known concerning the battle of Long Island, and the occupation of Kings County by the British during the Revolutionary war. together with plans, views and a full documentary appendix, prepared by one of our members. HISTORY \M> II- SOl'RCES. We liave our general and special funds securely invested, and lia\ e |>aid t wo-1 birds of t lie purchii ite of our permn i has been conl ributed by a port ii hardly 1"- necessar\ f ir me to sa\ i collect i"ii- were ^al liered by the untir Chairman of the Execul I 'in we alread \ owe ;o much in e\ erj w his personal labors to that end, would nol sustaining; fund, nor perhaps am t'timl- He liapp'N secret i if ■ their purses most liberally in a good cause, being able i" state in their t rue light the clai 1 1 1 •• > : i our fellow-cil \\ r e i as we can relv on his zealous exertions in • ■ we owe him a debt in life itself, as a Society. "'- reward must hi of a deserved of their labi >r. A few words may not be inapprop sard to the objects which Historical S i reach, and the efforts which are nunc of our members will e\ er w t will live a thousand \ ears, hut i >ur 1 1 and carefully laboring, may in I duable ma- terials which, while interesting and instructing us as we prosecute the work, will surely facilitate tl >sition of such a historv at a future i ime. <; HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. History is an abstract and comprehensive term which lines not admit of a satisfactory definition. Perhaps it may be considered as &"record of man's struggles to attain a stiihl, condition" this condition being one that best en- sures personal security and individual liberty to a whole community. The study of history becomes then, in reality, the study of all that has any connection with the life of man on earth. It requires close familiarity with the political changes of each nation, including the influences which brought about such changes, the personal character of the leaders, ami the relations with other peoples which led to any given result. A perpetual and all-pervading influ- ence on the character and course of a race is the history of the race itself, its ethnology, its migrations and na- 1 ional characteristics. A knowledge of its geographical situation and physical condition is also necessary, both of which have a silent but all-important effect on every group of individuals destined to increase and multiply into a nation. The scientific progress of the people must be accurate- ly studied, for its national prosperity will depend, in a great degree, upon its control of natural laws, and the intelligent use of material substances at its command. The tine arts, as furnishing the measure of a nation's aesthetic tastes or of its material tendencies, with the refinements which their cultivation may develop, must IIISTOUY AND ITS SOI It) I .-. equally be the subject of careful and discriminating study, [n certain cases the faculty of appreciating these arts seems in have a definite limit beyond which the\ be come merely subservient to sensual gratification; while in a few cases the pursuit of them is a never-ending one, and certifies to the possession oi a superior and godlike sense thai cannot be satisfied with anything less than perti The literature of a race i- at the same time the vehicle by which its history is transmitted, and the expression of it- intellectual power, giving us a perfect insight into the workings of the mind and fancy of those by and I it i- designed. Lastly, the philosophical and moral attain- ments nt' a race, calling forth, as they do, the h powers of the mind to the statement and pro d oi abstract truths not evident to the material senses, but put forth with the hot f being universally accepted, will in the same degree call for the deepest research on the part nf the historian who wishes to trace and n influence on man'- strivings to lead a pure and noble life. When the proud and complex systems of the at schools gave way to the heaven-inspired and positive truth- Hi' the l'eit\ revealing Himself in the form of a humble Galilean mechanic, all history was to he re-written in a new lie;ht. and by a new standard were all nations to be judged. It would hardly be necessary here to dwell on instances that mighl illustrate the landmarks just glanced at, S HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. and by which history must be written; for they must be acknowledged by all as essential, and more or less necessary to the completeness of any historical scheme or story. But as no one mind can possibly grasp or contain all that is requisite to a full understanding of all these sub- jects — subjects that may lie said to embrace all that man lias ever done or thought — so it becomes a necessity that in our times, the history id' each department of human knowledge should he separately studied by those best fit- ted for the special task. These histories, at the present day. are becoming more and more numerous and interest- ing. Memoirs and biographies have been published dur- ing the last century winch would of themselves consti- tute a large library. Histories of detached subjects in arts, science and philosophy, have been prepared, that are deeply interesting to the inquiring scholar, and easily un- derstood by the uninitiated. Polite literature, as it is termed, though some of it is far from being 'polished, has grown with a weed-like growth, until it has become the mission of countless crit- ics to devote their lives to the work of pointing out the good, or warning us against the indifferent and the bad productions which drop from the press like the meteors in the star-showers. Fiction is sometimes historical in its tendency, and works of fiction would not be written unless they could IlISTOKY AM' ITS SOI KOI S. be sold to eager readers. Three nations have nil been I I proi lucers of thi >f works. < ' are now t rying t uulate I . < • lisli w riters. I >anish, Russian and Sj>;i appeared within a few years, and we Mexi can novels, it' tint people would em drama somev lial Philosophies are again springing up ; each century has it- schools wit md live t heii excit ing fierce discu premises, thai rut lis of < ity, 1 ■ ii lent to all n it featun . e nun saj of t he [>re ent ccntu and pn >t place which i- ace n'ded to the exai With a fasl waning prejudi . the laws ■ it' n.-ii ure and t heir act ion i m mat ter are i ively and closely inquired into by hosts "t' patient and ■ ■' impel ''tit observers. One of the most interesting of these studies (Je must ii' ii 1"' considered I ban in the inl de\ elopment, and its lm best know how much will have to be done before full can be placed "ii the cosmical history o1 'h. or of any part "I' it. as interpreted by them. Even in Geometry, the oldest of all tl led exact '''-.new truths arc being constantly discovered, and 10 HISTOIiY AND ITS SOURCES. <>1<1 errors exposed or corrected; while as an aid to all other researches its value is becoming more and more ap- parent. Astronomy is attracting much attention, and is popu- larizing its great discoveries and eternal laws. The new and powerful instruments now constructed are opening a wide field of hitherto untried research, and the method of correcting instrumental errors, and of recording obser- vations, is becoming a science in itself. A tine and pow- erful equatorial, constructed by Mr. Alvan G. Clark, has been recently placed in a thoroughly well-built private observatory in this city, and Brooklyn may now have an asteroid or a comet of iis own, it' we can earliest detect one in the stellar field. The ever-increasing importance of science applied to the arts is daily becoming more obvious ; but this progres- sive physical influence <>n our condition as a people is too extensive in its bearings to be here considered, and in its history and active encouragement belongs to us only un- til a society, specially interested in those subjects, can take charge of them exclusively. We have many valua- ble technological works in our library, from Scott Rus- sell's Treatise on Ship-building, in three huge folios, to the little hand-books for the practical mechanic; but we cannot till out the list of works really needed for the formation of even a moderately complete library of refer- ence in these branches, and have not the room nor the HISTORY AND ITS SOI KCKS. I I means thai are requisite for their proper care, exhibition and use. Brooklyn, as a manufacturing city, ought to I", u i Mechanics [nstitute, with a library and museum, and the means can be found to establish one, if enei efforts shall be directed to secure such an invaluable centre for the diffusion of practical science. A ociations for special inquiries can besl sifl out the truth from the chaff, encourage the beginner, and guide the veteran in the pursuit of science through all its varied applications ; but as we hero take charge; ofhistoiy in its wide i ense only, we cannot pretend to furnish n plete library of reference to all the technical arts, hut must endeavor simply to place on our shelves the bent works which record their history and influence on the progress oi mankind. The records of the political changes and workings of our self-imposed government are peculiarly vain both as a guide to avoid that which lias been already tried and as a landmark by which we may judge of our pro gress in t he attainment of rational liberty of thought action. We are a new but our history is a devel opment of ideas that originated and were taught in the old world, and is, therefore, a corollary of the history of Euro] i The first settlers from Europe were led hither, some by the desire to secure toleration for their religious or politi- cal tenets, and some by the wish to better their condition. 12 HISTORY ANI> ITS SOTJECKS. All were successful in their object, but they fouud a con- tinent before them, with savage nature and still more savage men to be subdued. The task seemed herculean, but the grateful and virgin earth rewarded them for their toil, and the red man disappeared before the advance of the plough. The early colonial days were rough and trying, and there was little time ami less ability to record what was done by the sturdy ami hopeful colonists of these shores. The little they left, and the little that lias been preserved as a record of those times, might to lie precious to us. and must he gathered by our Historical Societies, and treas- ured as carefully as were the brazen tables of Rome ; but let us hope, without an ultimate fate, similar to theirs at the hands of the Goths. Such materials consist of letters, journals, reports, church and village records, accounts, public and private, law papers, and indeed manuscripts of every kind that time has spared. Valuable too are the little ill-printed and worse spelled pamphlets, stained and dog's-eared, which may he hidden away in cupboards and garrets, with tic continual risk of falling into the hands of the cook or the rag-picker. Finally, the early newspapers, which began to lie printed when the want of them was felt, of a size and make-up that appear laughable when compared with our great daily sheets, exist in complete files only as rari- ties, and even single copies of them are always desirable in our collections. m-ic no wii i is s..i ui i s, 1.1 All kinds "I' material arc n efiil, and as our Librari: the best judg;e of what is wort Tving, prav bring to him your bundles of i)ld , manuscript and print- ed. [Ie will pr ise to destroy all love letters and lame poetieal effusions found among them, it' not hist in their tendency The Revolutionary war, our lesser wars, and the late Civil war, must be illustrated by all the manuscript and printed materials that we can procu history of the first of these is just now ; clear to us, and the last must wait until a patient Motle\ can, a hundred \i"ir liencc, it down and narrate with an unprejudiced pen it- t rue en uses ami chief e\ cuts. Time is constantly reveal I tit to illus- tratehiston letters, me irs.and diaries ulii reason or another, have been withheld IV puhlication, ami which beeonn the actors mentioned in them have passed away. All these details present, in a new light, eircumstunci had I. mil;- been supposed to be incontro\ but which are explained away, or more clearly exposed b> tide of truth thus passing over them. Sometimes centuries may roll away before the truth of historical events is finally set i led beyond di The memoirs of Talleyrand, who died in Ls:U', are now, after the thirty years seclusion t<> which lie had ordered them, to be given t>> the public, and will throw a whole flood of Light on the history >>t' hi- 14 HISTORY AM) ITS SOURCES. time. The Duke of Wellington, in the same way, left material which excited much speculation among his co- temporaries, and once, when questioned concerning his view of certain characters, his answer was : " When my papers are published, many statues will have to be taken down." As a proof of the value of a carefully preserved scrap of manuscript in illustrating events of by-gone days, one or two instances that are near at hand may he interesting. Here is an old foolscap sheet, brown withage, written over in an uncouth, old-fashioned hand, and in great haste too, as a glance at it will show, it was written at Springfield, Mass., August 4, Ki7r>, nearly two centuries ago, when that thriving city, now in the heart of New England, with railroads diverging from it to every point of the compass, was a frontier settlement, exposed to the attacks of hostile Indians, and inhabited by a few bold farmers. The Narragansetts of Rhode Island, under the leadership of Philip of Pokanoket, had been roused, in 1675, to commit many deeds of violence, and driven from their old haunts, were spreading terror among the inland frontier settlers. In tin.' second year of this unexpected rising of the Aborigines, Major John Pynchon, son of one of the first Pilgrims, who was a settler in Springfield, and whose house was burned by the Indians a few days after- wards, wrote in haste to the magistrates of Connecticut for help. Here is the identical letter, preserved and re- HI8TUU1 \ % I ' 1 I ~ - ■ • I 1 . • I i.> cciii l\ printed in the iipuciidix to Mr. Drake * edition "I Mather's I ndian War : Si'it'u. An .- I , . Hon Sns. Or Indians have dow brought me Dews o( a 1ml 2 d agoe at Quabaug & about II Engl killed Bome houses burnt & all ye English got toono house &c and i ye alien ne .hiilali Trurable who went lost nighl in ye night to Qua is returned. lie went wh'in 40 Rod of ye houses, and discerned Coys house and barne burnt and saw '-' bouses more saw one Indian will a gun, but Doe English man At tl.ia dismal Bight he re- turned, \ his horse Tyring came in a foote ven much Bpent. We are very Raw & or People of this Towne extreal ■ owue Place needs all & bow -none these Indians n iwne we know not We earnestly request yl yo would Please to sen. I win yo may judge n Hull either to release ye Kngl yet lefl if any be alive at Quabaug, or to] S mccor is n- some Trusty Indians also to be joined may be g 1 but noedi ay prsenl chase to be given to those Indian- is absolutolj necessarj & so it may be to long to stay lor Indians unless \! or 3 or I II it were possible to have ye forces liere tomorrow morning Mr Glover thinks at least 50 Boldiers needfull least, having to fen a pursuit be made of ym I shall not add but beg yor Spedyness ye Oood l.d guide .V undertake for ii~ Yor l.o tl'r .\ Serv't .11 H IN PYNCHON : The lud discovered Trumble, & hid himselfe in ye bushes as Trumble says. Muskets are bes! & nol Pistoli s, so yi horse in any waj of dragoons is most to be desyred. These For ye Bonorabli I & Magistrate or to j ■• First Magistte in ( lonecti cott Collony : at Windsor or Hartford Post hast For speciall service win put delay. Ill HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. The brave Colonel's house, not the one " with the seven gables," was the one in which the English had taken refuge, and we can imagine the anxious (lavs spent by the help- less women and children gathered within its walls, the flying reports brought to it of Indian outrages, the slow hours of agony endured by its inmates, until the dark cloud of fear was dispersed. But here our records fail. and the framework furnished by the little we have .>f tact must he tilled in by the sympathetic heart, which can imagine itself placed in like circumstances. Here is another piece of manuscript. It was signed bj 7 the daring Naval commander who first carried the flag iif the United Colonies, (thirteen stripes only, with a rattle-snake on them, and the motto, "Do not tread on ///<,") around the whole of Great Britain. In 177* he had with the Ranger, an eighteen gun ship, captured the Drake, of twenty guns, in the Irish Channel, and. by his daring feats, had alarmed tin.' coasts within his reach. It was during this cruise that his sailors took Lord Selkirk's silver at St. Mary's Isle, which was purchased from them by their commander, who returned it, accompanied by the well-known letter to Lady Selkirk'. In 177'.' he sailed from Brest with a squadron of five small vessels, which had been mostly equipped by the help of France, then about to come to our aid in the struggle with the mother country, and passing around Scotland, where he attempted to make a descent near Edinburgh, HISTORY AMI [TS SOURCES. I , lie attacked, on the 23d of Sept.. I 779, the *Serits, Cant. L'earson, which with another vessel was convovinn the Baltic fleel homewards. With the />'<"< Ihnnmt RiclmrJ, lie engaged the S'erujrix near Flamborough [lead, and fought that naval battle which proved that American sailors were equal to their British foemen, in pluck and endurance. The Serajux surrendered after si murderous contest, lasting from half-pasl seven to half-pasi twelve .-it night, within sight of the English coast, ami was possess! I' by tin' American, whose vessel --auk within a. few hours after. Making his way, in a crippled condi t int" tin' /"//'A /•/••. In- anchored off the Texel, and refitted his squadron. While thus occii])ied, the En Minister in Holland persuailed the Dutch to oppo ■ being done in a neutral port. The Dutch Admiral had notified the American Conn lore accordingly, but the I'Vcnrli Minister furnished the gallant and victorious hero, the fame of whose exploits was ringing throughout Eu- rope, with a false French commission, and the following memorandum which I now read in an English version: Mons. I.' Commod >n Pn ' roes will Btal i :•< Mons le Vice-A Iteyn that, although as an American lie had only used the commission of the United States.it was not the less true thai be had a French one, which was lost at the time of the Binkingof tin- Bon II >> and .>f wliich the document now sent to him is a copy Mons. le Commo. dore Paul Jones will even make this declaration in writin;:, ami will Bign it in case Mmis. le Vice Admiral should require it. Below this hint ai a sneaking way of avoiding embarrass- ment and delay, and penned in a large and clear hand, is the following memorandum : IS HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. N. li. The above is the proposition that was given me in writing, the 13th December, 177H, on board the frigate Alliance, at the Texel, by M. le < Jhevalier de Lironcourt, to induce me to say and sign a falsehood. PAUL JONES. This paper, labelled No. 7 merely, was filed away among Jones' papers, and was not published until Sherburne cop- ied it in the second edition of his life of Jones, appearing in 1851. It shows the man's whole character in one terse paragraph. Chivalric, honest and fearless, he scorned a subterfuge, and a few days afterwards lie sailed boldly out of the roads, and sought his foes again, passing through the English channel, exercising his men in gun practice close to tin- channel coasts of -England; but cruising in vain, so far as glory was concerned, he captured several prizes and entered Corunna. When Jones heard that Captain Richard Pearson had been knighted for the gallant defence he had made in the Serapis, he observed: "Well, he deserved it, and should I have the good fortune to fall in with him again, I will makea lord of him." The signature to this paper, which with others, including a large letter-book, and a complete list of the English Navy, was given to Fenimore Cooper, by a nephew of Paul Jones, and by him presented to the late Henry Bre- voort, was torn off by a vandal autograph seeker who was enjoying Mr. Brevoort's hospitality. Such scraps, and I only mention these because they are close at hand, prove the value which may attach to a frag- IIISTOKY AND II- -"I KCKS. iiMiii of manuscript in making up our estimate of histori eal cliaracters. I lie i thnologj of the races that preceded us as possessors of thi* continent, must he the object of careful study, and memorials of their unwritten history mnsl he sought for, to be preserved and compared in a collectio c hope i" begin when we have our own building. The language, habits, migrations and mi.il ual r< I if the 1 I ribes, must be invi h ful arc Luyard or Riv [slander w e hope, and a member of the Luig Island II! ■>! The geographical p isil ion we ant influence on our historv, as on that of all i from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, n the Gull ul' Mexico to the Lakes, there is hardly a mile of i land. Excepting Wetlu r Held, in < -ut, whie some little Saharas of its own. i c been turned count, however, b\ onion-growers, we can hardly name a sterile district of any extent. I'rof ' assures 11 there is just enough deserl here to serve as j itjieei Our lakes, rivers and mountains seem placed by Provi denc.e in the position best calculated to make one nation of us all. Even the 1 lollanders, who e N'ew N'eth erlands, penetrated the country to a greater distance from the sea than ever a Dutchman did before. To be sure thr\ could do it without the labor of walking, a labor indeed, it' 20 HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. the garments they wore are correctly described by Diedrich Knickerbocker. The rich bottoms of the Mohawk, easily readied by sailing up the Hudson, were too tempting, and were early planted by the Holland settlers. Imagine the Alleghanies running east and west, or the Mississippi discharging itself into the Lakes or the ocean — what a different history would ours he! Were it aland like Mexico, or portions of Africa — a high table land — we should have had no navigable rivers, and consequently no steamboats; with a climate so dry as to he unfavorable to agriculture; with clashing interests, and perhaps distinctly drawn national lines, as in the case of the Hebrews and Phoenicians. Africa has a long coast line, without deep mediterranean seas and gulfs, and but few navigable riv- ers. See the effect of these on Europe and on us. A na- tion scattered on small and widely-separated islands has no history, as witness the Polynesians. Nations settled on pe- ninsulas, as Greece and Rome, Denmark and Scandinavia, make too much history for their own or their neighbors' comfort. A nation living on a large island, near a conti- tent, is liable to constant invasions, as Great Britain, suc- cessively invaded and conquered by Saxons, Danes and Normans, and subject to be much terrified by the threats of an invasion, be it from a Bonaparte or a Fenian. The desire of the artist is to preserve, in a permanent form, a pleasing and effective representation of a natural or artificial scene or object. The key word of this definition HIST0RT \M> ITS SOURCES, •_M is the term pleasing, which is a quality that varies as the eye and the mind arc more or less trained and skilled in artistic judgment. A healthful education of this last fac ultv will develop a new sense, which i-- affected through the medium of vision, in the same manner as music im- pre i the same sense through the organ of hearing. The (■(instant study of works pronounced excellent by those who have already acquired this standard of judgment, will im- plant this sense in all who arc nol purposely obtuse or in- differenf to a feeling for the beautiful. With the formation of public galleries, such a taste will b ue a civilizing influence, with a humanizing etibel : which in the case of Grecian art, and Roman imitation of it, was not so apparent, because its cultivation probabh was confined to an upper class, and to only a lew centres of empire; or because it was principally exercised in the erection of proud architectural monuments, or in the pro duetion of statues of imaginary and gross deities, wi a Christian inspiration or a purely poetical sentiment to '_ri\ e meaning to them. Our Society has collected many tine w orks that represent art in all it- varied developments; and these arc beginning to be appreciated, and arc creating an interest among our members thai cannot fail to be lasting and protital ile. When our sister Society, which directs its efforts to the encourage- ment of art only, has si local habitation, we may properh transfer the sapling we are training, to their exclusive guar- dianship and care. 22 HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. In the early and tribal existence of a race, when war is perpetual between small nations, and their traditions relate merely to personal teats of valor, or to success won Ivy strat- agem, there is no history, properly so called. There is a mere record of detached events, which after the lapse of ages become fabulous and mythological in their narration and are added to and embellished by the poets, troubadours or skalds, who alone are the depositaries of such history. His- torians proper do not appear, until the events to be narrated have some bearing on those which preceded or followed them, and only then do we understand the logical sequence nf men's acts as a body or community, under the title of a nation. It is, however, at even a later stage than this that men begin to require more detail, and seek to unveil the so-called secret history of a people, that is, the causes or influences which originated or directed' a certain course of action leading tn known results. This kind of historical narration generally takes the form of memoirs or biographies The Ancients have left us few of these histories. They began to multiply with the invention of printing, and now admirably illustrate the more general works of the historian proper. In Europe such byways of history may be found in manu- script, to be consulted by those interested in procuring true and connected narratives, and may never be printed. We have on our shelves a French work, in one hundred and thirty-iine volumes, of such memoirs, printed from authentic [IISTOKY AMI II 3 S< 'I I.' I ■_'•'! manuscripts by the froucli government, fur the u«c of his toriaus and tlie delight of 1 lie deep reader. Of varied but often of local intercsl only are the detailed histories of cities, towns and counties, . ical memoirs and the smaller biographical si are multiplying rapidly both in Europe and in thir country. These minor records, however unpretending, may interest main who by birth or by residenci come identified with i [daces; while g the researches of the conscientious and pains taking lii-i • These plain and h -lv annals link and endear the |»ast to the present, while they put us on our good beh by reminding us that a note may be made of our most trifling acts, affecting our good name in the iin of those who alone perhaps will know that we ever b'ved. This is but an imperfect review of the objects which a Historical Society must continually keep before it : but the time that we have to pass here together is brief, and your patience must not be tried by following each subject through all the ramifications which it- mere enunciation suggests. Much matter tor history is. no doubt, yel to be made by u- a- American-, and we shall,] trust, have long periods of peace in which it may be written. We have pro\ ided much material for history in the few veal's of our existence as a nation ; and it cannot be said of us, as of the ?w< ly Jcnife- (ji'nnh r, or of those nations that live and die without lea\ tng more than a name, that we have UO history & LIBRARY OF CONGRESS INI III I II! 1 1 llll II III I II 014 114 674 9 •• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II i III 111 I II 014 114 674 9 O Conservation Resources Lif-Free* Type I Ph 8.5, Buffered LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0014 1146749 Conservation Resources Lig-Free® Type I Ph 8.5, Buffered