YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 05389 9952

r*!heve are our
Nation's credentials?
Adelaide Estella Bear.
Camden, 1916.

• Y^iE°¥MHViEi&sjrirY° • iLiiiBi^Ai^f •

WHERE ARE
OUR NATION'S
CREDENTIALS?

WHERE ARE
OUR NATION'S
CREDENTIALS?

BY
ADELAIDE ESTELLA BEAR, AB.
• > •
FORMER EDITOR OF
THE PHILOSOPHER'S MAGA2INE

Camden, New Jersey
1916

Copyrighted 1916
BY
ADELAIDE ESTELLA BEAR

I LTHOUGH four years have passed since the
matter of establishing a National Archives
Building in which to deposit all government
documents which are not in active use for the
purpose of administration (those to remain in
the department to which they were sent) was presented before
the United States Senate by Mr. Williams in the behalf of the
Department of Archives and History of the states of Mississippi
and Alabama, and although Congress has done nothing except
publish the petition at the expense of the Government, the spirit
of the movement is still alive. There seems never to have been
a systematic plan of archives for public documents in the
United States, which accounts for the ease with which docu
ments have been lost, mislaid, destroyed, not deposited in any
archive at all or deliberately taken away. The present move
ment is to check destruction and to preserve for the Nation her
credentials. Many of the individual states are already provid
ing for the safeguarding and the preservation of their public
documents now on file as well as for the collection of those
which have been lost. Their activity in this respect has been
openly demonstrated from time to time by injunctions against
auction sales of the public documents of their respective states.
The recent temporary injunction against the sale of New
Hampshire state papers at public auction, procured by the
Attorney General of that state, recalls to mind long lists of
important papers, letters and documents which belong by right
to either the United States government or to the individual
state governments, but which, on the contrary, are bought and
sold freely through public auctions. These papers belong in
the public archives and are parts of the authentic records of
the history of our country — staj£ and nation. The minute
records of no other country, perhaps, are guarded so loosely
as are those of the United States. This carelessness is not just
recently acquired, but is of long standing, as de Tocqueville
attested when he wrote on his return to France from his visit
here: "The authority which public men possess in America is
so brief, and they are so soon commingled with the ever-chang
ing population of the country, that the acts of a community
frequently leave fewer traces than the occurrences of a private
family. The public administration is, so to speak, oral and
traditionary. But little is committed to writing, and that little
is wafted away forever, like the leaves of the Sibyl, by the
smallest breeze.
"The only historical remains in the United States are the
newspapers, but if a number be wanting, the chain of time is
broken, and the present is severed from the past, I am con
vinced that in fifty years it will be more difficult to collect

4 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS ?
authentic documents concerning the social conditions of the
Americans at the present day than it is to find remains of the
administration of France during the Middle Ages; and if the
United States were ever invaded by barbarians, it would be
necessary to have recourse to the history of other nations in
order to learn anything of the people which now inhabits
them. "The instability of the administration has penetrated into
the habits of the people: it even appears to suit the general
taste, and no one cares for what occurred before his time. No
methodical system is pursued; no archives are formed; and no
documents are brought together when it would be very easy to
do so. Where they exist, little store is set upon them; and I
have among my papers several original public documents which
were given to me in answer to some of my inquiries. In
America society seems to live from hand to mouth, like an
army in the field."
We are awakening to find that the prophecy which the
young Frenchman made nearly a hundred years ago has come
true. If we wished to compile a history of our government
from original documents, we should have as great a job on our
hands as if we set out to gather up a handful of mustard seeds
we had just blown into the wind. The majority of our state
papers seem to have passed into private collections. The
"Minutes of the Continental Congress" have been spread broad
cast by the hundreds till they attract neither great attention nor
great price. Indeed, so accustomed have we Americans become
to the sale of our "State documents" that we made little com
ment when the "original and engrossed copy of the Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States" was
advertised and offered for sale at public auction, a document
second only in importance to the Constitution itself. Beneath
a full size facsimile of the Amendment the auctioneer has
printed the following explanation: "To understand the value
of this precious document we must take into consideration
that this is the seal attached to the document which is regis
tered in Heaven, to promulgate which, so many thousands of
our beloved brothers gave up their lives on the field of battle.
That the great Lincoln foresaw the importance of this act, is
fully attested from the fact that this original and engrossed
copy of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States was prepared for him, at his request, and signed
by all members of the Senate and Congress who voted for it.
The signatures were obtained by a friend of the President, but
before the parchment could be delivered Lincoln had been
assassinated. The parchment remained in the possession of
his friend, and at his death passed into the hands of the

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 5
executors of his estate, the late Judge Hayden, from whom the
late Colonel Donaldson obtained it.
"Next to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu
tion of the United States, it is the most important document
relating to our government and registers one of the most
important and bravest acts of the civilized world. It is hoped
that it will find a fitting resting place.
"During the latter part of the life of Colonel Donaldson, a
scheme was on foot, and being managed by the late Doctor
Pepper, to secure the document for the University of Penn
sylvania, several gentlemen had contributed $500.00 each
towards the purchase, but the untimely death of Colonel
Donaldson and Doctor Pepper put an end to all negotiations."
(For this document a bid of $1 700.00 was withdrawn —
refused.) There should be but one resting place for public docu
ments — and that place — public archives.
What are our public documents when they can be bought
and sold as quaint and curious relics, when they are considered
to have fulfilled their duty as soon as the last signature has
been placed upon them and that they are therefore useless
except as curiosities in museums public or private, more often
the latter? The Declaration of Independence and the Constitu
tion of the United States together with all its amendments,
belong to the people of the United States, and are supposed
to be properly cared for at the National Capitol, the chief seat
of government. They were never intended to be trafficked from
one private individual to another. Public documents are always
needful for the maintenance of public liberty and justice —
copies of these documents lack strength.
Boundary lines are most important, and it may happen that
on some occasion the letter written by John Habersham,
Savannah, March 22, 1787, signed also by George Lachlan
Mcintosh and John Houston and sent to Governor George
Matthews in reference to settling the boundary lines between
the states of South Carolina and Georgia, may be as urgently
needed as in 1842, one hundred and sixty years afterwards,
it was found necessary to produce the original lease from
James, Duke of York, of the "Town of Newcastle and a circle
of twelve miles around to William Penn," dated Aug. 2 1 , in
the four and thirtieth year of the reign of Charles the Second
(1682), signed by James, Duke of York, afterwards King of
England, in order to prove conclusively the title of the State
of Delaware to Pea Patch Island, the island on which Fort
Delaware has been built. It was a celebrated case and the
document a highly important one.
In the same sale in which the lease of "the Town of New
castle and a circle of twelve miles around" was sold, there was

6 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS?
sold also the original "Charter of Liberties granted by William
Penn to the Province of Pennsylvania, dated 25 April, 1682."
This is only one charter among the many which have passed
and are passing through the hands of auctioneers.
A short time previous, the original survey of "Lands
patented in the name of George Washington, on the Ohio
River" was sold by the same auctioneer. Another relic of the
great Washington, one which by every right belongs to the
most sacred archives of our country, is — "the original manu
script military order book (all in his own autograph) from
June 22 to August 8, 1779." The auctioneer says of it:
"This is one of the most interesting and highly important
historical documents I have ever had pass through my hands.
The book is all in the handwriting of General Washington,
and contains the orders issued by him as Commander-in-Chief
of the Continental forces during the most trying period of the
Revolutionary War, June 22-August 8, 1 779. With the excep
tion of a few extracts the book has never been published, and
it is well known by collectors as the celebrated 'Order Book,"
which contains his stringent order against 'swearing in camp.'
The historical data to be found within its pages will help fill
many a gap in the history of that eventful period, and I think
I am safe in saying that this will, in all probabilty, be the last
opportunity that anybody will have of possessing a relic of
the greatest of all men as interesting and as important as this."
(Sold for $275.00.) One notable example of how our price
less documents have been disposed of even abroad, is evidenced
by the fact that the original plan of the Valley Forge Encamp
ment made by Dupor-Tail, General Washington's Chief Staff
Engineer, in 1 778, was found by Ex-Governor Pennypacker in
a museum in Antwerp. It was purchased by the University of
Cornell and now is in the library of that institution instead
of in the National Archives Department in Washington. This
is, perhaps, the only plan of the encampment in existence.
Ano f her letter of great interest and importance is a letter to
the Governor of New York from Henry Fox. First Lord Holland,
Secretary of War and Secretary of State, Whitehall, March 13,
1 756, "In relation to the plans for conducting the War in
America. The mode of raising troops in the Colonies. The
prohibition of any trade or commerce with the French, etc."
These records, which deal with the great epoch-making
events in the development of our country, especially those
recording what took place in the severing of ties to the mother-
country and how the present method of government was estab
lished, should be religiously protected by the American people
as a whole for the generations succeeding them, should not be
bought and laid away in some vault as a money-making invest
ment for the son of some financier.

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 7
Besides General Washington's "Order Book," there is Gen
eral Moultries' "Oderly Book," also kept during the Revolution
ary War, June 20, 1 775, to December 6, 1 776, telling of the
defense of Fort Sullivan (now Moultrie), in Charleston Har
bor, against the British fleet. In the same sale were two
"Orderly Books," kept during the War of 1812 — that of Gen
eral Winchester, Commander of the Northwestern Army — and
that of the Kentucky Volunteers under Isaac Shelby, Governor
of Kentucky. These are records of the maneuvers of the armies,
plans of battles, etc., historical records which, once lost, can
never be replaced. Together with these was sold the "Livre de
Bord de Pierre Joseph Jennet." The original log book of the
French Frigates "Lyon" and "Zele" during the American Revo
lution, "containing many most interesting and hitherto unpub
lished details of the French Fleet, particularly in the Chesa
peake Bay and the West Indies. About 275 pages of manu
script. Circa, 1777-1780.
"This is one of the most important Revolutionary manu
scripts, being the log book kept by an officer of the French
Fleet (Pierre Joseph Jennet) during the operations in the
Chesapeake and St. Kitts and the other West Indian Islands.
It gives a complete list of all the important battleships of both
the French and English Fleets, their armament, names of
officers, size, etc., and illustrates the size in a series of ten
water-color drawings (mostly folding) of the vessels both in
action and otherwise. It is also interspersed with valuable
data relating to the siege of York, the surrender of Corn
wallis and other important events in the American Revolution,
including many interesting details hitherto unknown. It will
be well to mention that the Frigate 'Zele' Was one of the most
celebrated French ships in the American Revolution, taking
part in nearly all the naval engagements of that period, and
especially in the Chesapeake Bay."
Then again it would seem right that the following letter
from General Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Ameri
can Army during the Revolution, to Lord Cornwallis, dated
"Headquarters Camp at Middle Brook, June 2, 1 777, be filed
with the other data of the same period.
"My Lord,
It it with infinite regret that I am again compelled to
remonstrate against that spirit of wanton cruelty that has
in several instances influenced the conduct of your soldiery.
A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy officer of ours,
Lieutenant Martin, convinces me, that my former representa
tions on that subject, have been unvailing. That Gentleman,
by the fortunes of war, on Saturday last, was thrown into
the hands of a party of your horse and unnecessarily mur
dered with the most aggravated circumstances of barbarity.
I wish not to wound your lordship's feelings by commenting
on this event, but I feel it my duty to send his mangled body

8 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS?
to your lines as an undeniable testimony of the fact shonld
it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your Humanity far
the justice of our complaint
I have the honor to be with doe respect
Your Lordship's most obedient servant
George Washington."
Authentic records of our early struggle for existence are
scarce enough. They should have no price levied upon them
by speculators in the field of manuscripts and rare editions.
All letters on official business ought to belong to the office
and not to the man, and should be filed in public archives in
the department to which they belong, but it would seem that
a tacit understanding of a reverse policy is responsible for the
sale of such letters as: "An official ietter to the President of the
United States from the President of Chili, Manuel Montt, dated
Santiago, Nov. 14, 1853."
Two famous petitions from the two most famous prisons
of the Civil War, sent to the President of the Union, are not
filed away in the War Department as they ought to have been,
and as Mr. Taft, when asked how they had been disposed
of, suggested they probably were; both these petitions from the
prisoners of the Andersonville Prison and the prisoners of the
Charlestown Prison, were sold at public auction a few years
ago. Now they are held as valuable papers by private indi
viduals, but not as sacred documents of the American people
by the American people for the American people.
One lot of six pieces by Robert Morris, the great financier
of the Revolution, in regard to the finances of the Revolution
(dated Jan. 8, March 9, May 13, Oct. 21 , 1782; May 12, Sept.
1 6, 1 783) , invaluable as public records, were purchased by a
collector for $.25 (twenty-five cents). Another letter, which
would undoubtedly enlighten us in respect to the financial con
ditions of the young country, was the letter to John Steele,
Comptroller of the United States, from President Thomas
Jefferson, on financial matters.
A resolution of Congress August 3, 1 780, in reference to the
removal of the loan offer from the states of South Carolina
and Georgia during the invasion by the British: again, another
abstract dated October 1 0, 1 780, in relation to bonds that may
be ceded to the United States by the different states: then
again, another abstract dated February 20, 1 783, a resolution
relative to the foods imported for the use of German and
British prisoners of war — all three documents signed by Charles
Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress: besides, there
is an estimate of monies loaned to the United States at certain
periods, and reduced to specie value by the table of deprecation
— dated Auditor General's Office, February 16, 1 781 : and from
Delaware, an abstract from the minutes of the Assembly of

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 9
Delaware empowering the Commander-in-Chief to draw for
10,000 pounds for debts due the militia, and a resolution of the
same Assembly, dated September 2, 1 775, to raise 3,000 pounds
to purchase arms and ammunition for the defense of the
colony, both signed by James Booth, Clerk of the Assembly of
Delaware; every one of these papers Would be priceless in
piecing together our financial records, yet perhaps the highest
price paid for any one was the $1.00 (one dollar) paid for the
resolution of the Assembly of Delaware dated September 2,
1775. The loss of muster rolls and resignations shows an indiffer
ence in the government towards its patriots. A good example
of the resignations from the army and the navy is that of
General Robert E. Lee at the outbreak of the Civil War, that
letter in which he surrendered his commission in the army of
the United States ; dated "Arlington, Washington city, P. 0. 20
April, 1861 — to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, Command
ing the Army.
"Gen'I Since my interview with you on the 18th inst. I have
felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the
Army. I therefore tender my resignation,- which I request
you will recommend for acceptance.
It would have been tendered at once but for the
struggle it cost me to separate myself from a Service to which
I have devoted all the best years of my life, all the Ability
I possessed. During the whole of that time, more than thirty years,
I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors,
the most cordial friendship from my Companions. To no
one general have I been so much indebted as to yourself
for uniform kindness and consideration, and it has always
been my ardent desire to merit yonr approbation.
I shall carry with me to the grave the most grateful
recollections of your kind consideration and your name and
fame will always be near and dear to me. Save in the
defense of my Native State, I never desire again to draw my
Sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the
continuance of your happiness and believe me most truly
yours R. E. Lee."
Amongst other letters of resignation which it seems right
should be in public archives to fill out the annals of our country
is the letter of John M. Schofield, Secretary of War, dated
Washington, March 11,1 869. But this, too, was sold at public
auction. Arthur St. Claire, President of the Continental Congress,
sent a letter to the Governor of New Jersey, dated April 13,
1 781, respecting the treaty of peace between the United States
and Great Britain and the duty of every state in enforcing the
treaty:

10 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS?
From the office of Finance, January 8, 1 782, Robert Morris
wrote to the President of Pennsylvania, informing him of the
incorporation by Congress of the Bank of North America, and
speaking of the great benefits the bank will confer:
John Hancock wrote to Thomas Pickering a communica
tion to the state of South Carolina, dated Boston, February 1 6,
I 788, giving notice of the ratification of the Constitution of
the United States by Massachusetts, and asking concurrence
in several amendments:
Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the United States
Army, while at Headquarters in Augusta, January 31, 1836,
wrote to Governor William Schley, of Georgia, calling on him
for troops to act against the Seminole Indians in Florida :
An official report of the Battle of Gainsville, Va., August
28, 1862, and of Bull Run, August 29-30, 1862, sent from
Headquarters by Abner Doubleday:
A letter signed by twelve members of the Confederate Con
gress sent from North Carolina, dated January 25, 1864, to
Governor Z. E. Vance, a document of great historical impor
tance because in reference to entering into negotiations for
terminating the war:
8 A. M., May 11, 1864, General Grant wrote from
Headquarters in Virginia to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of
War: The members of the General Assembly of Tennessee sent a
petition to President Andrew Johnson, praying that he cause
the Sixth Regiment Tenn. Cavalry to be mounted and sent into
West Tennessee to assist the people in establishing Law and
Order and Bring to Justice the Marauding Bands and Guerrilas,
dated Nashville, May 6, 1865, signed by thirty-one members
of the Legislature, this was endorsed on the back "Executive
office, May 15, 1865, respectfully referred to Lieutenant General
Grant who will please grant the request — Andrew Johnson."
(Sold for $1.50.) All of these and hundreds more of com
munications from one official to another, from one state depart
ment to another, are found listed in auctioneers' catalogues,
together with notifications of laws and oaths of office as that of
Daniel D. Tompkins, "Signed three times, July 1, 1831. The
three separate oaths of office taken by him on his inauguration
as Governor of New York."
And the oaths of office signed twice by George Clinton,
upon his inauguration as Governor of New York, July 1 , 1 801 .
Then pages from the minutes of the various departments
as: "An original page from the manuscript minutes of the
Legislature of New Jersey, containing the resolution concerning
sending commissioners to the New Haven convention to
regulate labour, manufactures, etc, signed by John Hart as

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 11
speaker of the House," have for years been sold at public
auctions, not to mention the letters and documents which pass
from one collector to another in consideration of a good, round
profit minus the auctioneer's fee.
There was sold also "extracts from the resolutions of the
Continental Congress relating to the supplies for the army and
mentioning Washington, dated September 15, 1780," together
with the memoranda also signed by Charles Thomson, February
21, 1784, of the states which were represented in the Federal
Congress from February 7 to 21, 1784, showing how difficult
it was to get a full attendance. "From February 7 to 21, the
highest number of states represented was seven and the lowest
five, and the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary
land, North Carolina and Georgia were not represented at all."
Not a whit less interesting and valuable is the report of
General Jonathan Williams, United States Commercial Agent at
France, to the Commissioner of the United States, dated Nantes,
July 30, 1 775, in reference to prizes at French ports.
The original of the first Thanksgiving Proclamation by a
President of the United States, issued and signed by George
Washington on the third day of October, 1 789, and
The original draft of the celebrated Resolutions in the
Virginia House of Burgesses, May, 1 765, against the Stamp
Act, by Patrick Henry, ought to be in public archives.
A few of the letters which should be in the departments to
which they were sent, but which were sold at public auction for
a mere song, are —
May 4, 1795, to the chief coiner of the Mint, from David
Rittenhouse, first Director of the United States Mint:
Nicholas Biddle, President of the Bank of the United States,
to John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, respecting matters of that
institution :
President John Tyler, June 22, 1842, to Mr. Spencer, Secre
tary of War, in relation to Dorr's Rebellion:
General R. E. Lee, August 12, 1861, to General S. Cooper,
in reference to exchanging of prisoners:
Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, 1841, to Hon.
John C. Spencer, urging that proper and effective increase be
taken to provide for the national defense:
John Quincy Adams, President, August 1 4, 1 794, to the
Secretary of State in regard to his mission to The Hague.
A lot of papers relating to the early history of Pennsyl
vania — the return of prisoners, etc., sold for $.87 (eighty-seven
cents). A lot of documents relating to the Mexican War brought
$.15 (fifteen cents).
Another lot relating to the Mexican War and signed prin-

12 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS?
cipally by Major U. S. Bliss, consisting of military orders, etc.,
attracted only $.20 (twenty cents).
A collection of documents and letters relating to Pennsyl
vania in the War of 1812, and signed by Governor Snyder,
sold for a mere song.
Old treaties with the Indians and others are worthless to
the nation, so it seems, when they are sold in lump ^lots as
"Lot 4 — Official letters, documents, etc., about 600." — "Lot —
Deeds, Bonds, Commissions, Treaties, etc. —
One treaty which must have been unusually valuable.
brought $4.00 (four dollars)— "Timothy Pickering, Quarter
master General of the Revolutionary War and Secretary of
State, Philadelphia, Dec. 22, 1 795, Treaty with the Wyandottes,
Delawares, Shawanoes, Ottawas and other Indians.
De Tocqueville was right when he wrote that the only true
historical records that the United States will possess are the
newspapers, and if a number be missing then a link in the
chain is gone. From the very beginning we seem to have given
our original documents to whomsoever asked for them, and
that the recipients were not restricted to Americans is shown
by the fact that such documents are listed in the catalogues of
auction sales in foreign countries. In the light of the frequency
with which our public documents are met in auctions in this
and other countries, it is strange how few of the public docu
ments of other countries are sold. At a meeting of "Archivists"
in New York a few years ago, we were told that in France all
officials must leave all papers relating to their office with the
State at the expiration of their term. That official papers
found amongst the effects of a deceased, or papers and docu
ments found anywhere and which could be proved to have
belonged to public archives or to be State documents could be
seized upon by the State.
It isn't France alone that has a system of Public Archives,
and maintains a State ownership for State papers, but nearly
every country in Europe has a Repository for Public Docu
ments, where they are classified and cared for till needed. The
British Museum and the Heralds Office in London contain
records for a thousand years which are so accurately arranged
as to be available easily for either historical purposes or as
evidence in court. Compare with this the "hundred inade
quate and unsuitable repositories in the City of Washington"
where our public documents are "packed in boxes" and are
available for neither historical or administrative purposes. It
has been said that the Government pays $50,000 annually for
the use of these buildings which are neither fireproof nor suit
able. The dampness, the dust, moths and mildew cause dis
integration to set in among the papers packed in the cellars

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS? 13
and garrets and thus many valuable papers are lost to us for
ever when a little care and sunlight and fresh air would pre
serve them.
Strange to say, it seems never to have occurred to the
United States government that the letters and State papers of
the Confederate States were of any importance whatever to
the Federal Government, that they possessed any value as
historical records in the development of the Nation. Their value
was little. To historical societies and collectors they meant
curious relics and not priceless documents which were of vital
importance in the maintenance of the Federal Government.
Recently the United States Government seems to be awakening
to a realization of the value of these documents and now it is
said that it intends to buy up the letters and papers of General
P. G. T. Beauregard which are to be sold soon at public auction.
On the title page of his catalogue, a reproduction of which
is given here, the auctioneer shows the importance he
attributes to these Confederate papers.
The Beauregard Papers
[General P. O. T. Beauregard of the Confederate States Army)
Being the Letters of the various Confederate
Generals to him, and his Autograph and
official copies of his own letters in answer
THE WHOLE FORMING
A South-side History of the War
From the First Preparations against Fort Snmter to the Surrender
of Genl. Jos. E. Johnston
Embracing Important Letters from the Generals who com
manded in Virginia, The Carolinas. Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida,
all of them containing more or less information about
Battles, Military Movements, and affairs relating to the
organization of the Confederate States Army
The most historically important collection ever offered
for sale on the subject
TO BS SOLD
Monday Afternoon and Evening, Oct. 25, 1915,
AT 2.30 AND 8.00 O'CLOCK P. M.
Order op Sale:
First Sitting, - - Lots i to 500
Second " - " joi to end

14 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS ?
These papers consist of official reports of battles and move
ments of the armies, of plans of battles as well as letters and
they are true historical records. The introductory remarks of
the auctioneer in his catalogue evidences the great importance
he lays upon the value of keeping these papers together invio
late. "It is probable that many of the letters herein enumerated
will be lost or destroyed, as in a short time they will be scat
tered through the medium of an auction to the four quarters of
the earth, consequently I have copied their contents for the use
of history, and therefore the catalogue should be preserved
for such use, and those interested in the history of the Civil
War should read it thoroughly.
"Part two of this correspondence, of which I am preparing
a catalogue, will embrace the letters to General Beauregard, of
Southern Generals immediately after the war, and Northern
Generals during the war. The letters from the various Gover
nors of the Southern States, the official Correspondence from
the various officers of the Confederate Government, nearly five
thousand military telegrams, many important reports of battles,
including those of Bull Run, Manassas (the second Bull Run)
and Shiloh which is really the only report on that battle from
either side, in existence, several hundred war maps and plans
of battles, etc., etc.
But then the United States has not taken care of the official
reports of the battles or the plans of the battles or the letters
to and from the commanders of the armies of any war, if the
descriptions of these documents given in the auctioneers' cata
logues speak true, and it seems not unlikely that they do when
the prices paid for them are considered. There are official
reports of battles and plans of battles of every war in which
the United States has indulged from the Revolutionary (and
before) to the Spanish-American which have been purchased
by some collector and hidden in an obscure corner where they
will be a benefit to nobody.
It is unwise for a nation to give away her State papers
which are her credentials, her munitions. The law requires
every man to show upon demand his certificates of birth, vac
cination, school, marriage, divorce, etc., hence he guards them
carefully. The credentials of the United States are her State
papers and they are being sold and resold without restriction
among private individuals to whom they represent no more
than the money invested. There are far too many papers of
which, pressed by necessity, the United States could show only
copies. In the light of all these facts, it seems a duty incum
bent upon the present government to make and enforce laws
for the filing of all official papers, letters and documents in the
archives of the departments to which they belong, and to
require that they remain on the files ready to be produced at a

WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS ? 15
moment's notice, so long as they are in active use for the pur
poses of administration, thereafter to be placed in a Public
Archives Building where they should be classified and cared for
properly. It has been said that some of the prominent auctioneers
have standing orders with some of the government clerks to
procure for them for a nominal fee, letters, &c, bearing cer
tain autographs. IF this be true, then it is high time for the
government to check this ruthless rifling of its files of public
documents, in spite of the assertion that "such papers have
done their duty and are not worth anything except to a col
lector. That they only clutter up." Such a law may hamper
the auctioneers' business slightly, but it will preserve for her
the Nation's credentials, many of the earliest of which are rest
ing in various parts of the globe. Only a hundred and forty
years have passed since the signing of the Declaration of
Independence and yet many of the important documents of our
early history have been lost, destroyed or fallen into the hands
of private individuals throughout the world. These precious
relics of our infant nation will enhance in value and interest as
time runs on. Individual states are recognizing this fact and
are collecting and preserving all documents of public character.
The state of New Jersey is now and has been for some time
past, engaged in compiling and publishing all the data filed in
the various offices as well as compilations and extracts from
newspapers and advertisements of changes in the schedules of
steam-boats and stage-coaches between New York, Philadel
phia and the South, and advertisements of lotteries for building
churches and colleges and rewards for run-away slaves — all of
which are invaluable. They are particularly interesting as New
Jersey is one of the thirteen original states or rather colonies and
the matters mentioned are res domesticae — household history
of that period. This activity is not restricted to New Jersey
alone, but is carried on in many other states.
The interest shown by the separate states in forming
archives for their state documents gives confidence that the
movement for protecting our National Documents in a National
Archives Building in Washington will succeed, gives hope that
the petty jealousy amongst the various departments and the
added jealousy between the candidates for the honor of accom
plishing such a Herculean task will vanish and all will work
together for the ultimate good of the Nation. As the process
of construction is slower and less visible than that of destruc
tion, the establishing of such an institution is slower than the
demolishing would be.
That AMERICANS and historians are working together for
that end is shown not only by the above mentioned petition
before Congress and the injunctions against auction sales of

16 WHERE ARE OUR NATION'S CREDENTIALS?
state papers, but also by papers read before the American His
torical Society and by articles which have appeared from time
to time in the press. It seems incredible that these priceless
and sacred relics which give the history of the epochal period
of our country's formation and of its great internal struggles
should be huckstered about as if they were the original manu
script copies of poems and novels instead of invaluable
evidences of a great nation's history.
There remains but one step for the present government to
take to preserve her credentials — and that is the IMMEDIATE
passage of a bill through Congress to establish an Archives
Department for housing such documents after they have ful
filled their immediate purposes and until they are called upon
as historical data or evidence in time of trouble. Every Sena
tor and Representative in the United States Congress, the Presi
dent and his Cabinet, and the Governor of each individual state
should become interested in the immediate passage of such a
bill through Congress. To the Colonial Dames, the Sons and
the Daughters of the Revolution, the Grand Army of the
Republic and kindred organizations the passage of the bill
should strongly appeal and they should either by securing a
resolution of the individual state Legislatures recommending
their representatives to vote for such a bill or urge their repre
sentatives personally to have it passed.
The immediate passage of such a Bill for the establishing
of a National Archives Building for all State papers now on
file, and for collecting and depositing therein those which are
"scattered to the four quarters of the earth" would not only
be a most patriotic act of the present Congress — but would
also fulfill a long neglected duty — that of preserving for all
generations of Americans their inheritance from their American
forefathers — their historic State papers.